[81alum]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=11425.msg109195#msg109195 date=1419906275]
I visited campus Saturday for the first time in five years, the longest time I've ever been away. Even with most everything still closed for Christmas break, it's wonderful to be back. Yet it's also a little disconcerting. Maybe it's just because I'm seeing five years of accumulated change all at once instead of one or two or three, but I'm befuddled by all the old things that are gone and all the new things that have been introduced.
...
So I guess my bemusement is part of a Stanford space-time continuum that goes back to about 1892. That doesn't stop me from hoping that the pace of change slows down, just a bit, just for a while. I dread the day when I drive down El Camino and Hoover Tower is gone.

It's hell getting old, Garvin.  The cops are my grandchildrens' ages, 30 year old cashiers call me "Hun" and no one respects the old ways.  The kids don't use email anymore, they have never heard of an IBM selectric or an HP calculator, it only takes two fingers and two thumbs to type a report, never heard of NoDoze and pot is legal in two states.  When I tell them my frat house (ATO) had a burn time of 13 minutes they just look at me croos-eyed, and when I explain that when grandma first visited me at Stanford she stayed at the guest house instead of with me. I started to tell them that Prof. Hilton required papers typed on foolscap, but by then they were texting their friends.  No wonder I drink.
[/quote]
I bike around the campus every couple of weeks and I still am amazed at the amount of construction and the pace of change.  Part of me is happy that my alma mater has the resources to so vastly improve its facilities and to beautify its campus.  The fact that it has done so makes it a very attractive destination, even for my bike rides!  But part of me finds it a bit ostentatious.  Stanford had a more middle class feel to it when I attended.  I remember the criticism way-back that Stanford felt like a country club, and I thought quite otherwise when I attended.  We had our bowling alley, crummy cider block dorms like Stern and the trailers, etc.  There is no mistaking the new atmosphere for that.  I benefit from it personally and am not too nostalgic for the formerly crummy parts of campus--but I also get philosophical about what values this growth represents, and the extent to which it is all needed to further the educational mission. 

[81alum]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=11425.msg109195#msg109195 date=1419906275]
I visited campus Saturday for the first time in five years, the longest time I've ever been away. Even with most everything still closed for Christmas break, it's wonderful to be back. Yet it's also a little disconcerting. Maybe it's just because I'm seeing five years of accumulated change all at once instead of one or two or three, but I'm befuddled by all the old things that are gone and all the new things that have been introduced.
...
So I guess my bemusement is part of a Stanford space-time continuum that goes back to about 1892. That doesn't stop me from hoping that the pace of change slows down, just a bit, just for a while. I dread the day when I drive down El Camino and Hoover Tower is gone.

It's hell getting old, Garvin.  The cops are my grandchildrens' ages, 30 year old cashiers call me "Hun" and no one respects the old ways.  The kids don't use email anymore, they have never heard of an IBM selectric or an HP calculator, it only takes two fingers and two thumbs to type a report, never heard of NoDoze and pot is legal in two states.  When I tell them my frat house (ATO) had a burn time of 13 minutes they just look at me croos-eyed, and when I explain that when grandma first visited me at Stanford she stayed at the guest house instead of with me. I started to tell them that Prof. Hilton required papers typed on foolscap, but by then they were texting their friends.  No wonder I drink.
[/quote]
I bike around the campus every couple of weeks and I still am amazed at the amount of construction and the pace of change.  Part of me is happy that my alma mater has the resources to so vastly improve its facilities and to beautify its campus.  The fact that it has done so makes it a very attractive destination, even for my bike rides!  But part of me finds it a bit ostentatious.  Stanford had a more middle class feel to it when I attended.  I remember the criticism way-back that Stanford felt like a country club, and I thought quite otherwise when I attended.  We had our bowling alley, crummy cider block dorms like Stern and the trailers, etc.  There is no mistaking the new atmosphere for that.  I benefit from it personally and am not too nostalgic for the formerly crummy parts of campus--but I also get philosophical about what values this growth represents, and the extent to which it is all needed to further the educational mission.