I know academia isn’t known for its luxurious office spaces, especially for support staff, but my office has been especially crappy of late. When I first started here, I had my own office. Then, because of some staff shakeups, I was asked if I minded vacating my office to make room for a newly minted manager-type. I said sure. They put me in a room with the sysadmins, in a cubicle. Then construction on the building next to us invaded our space and so we all moved up to another, smaller, space, supposedly temporary, at least for me. Finally, they carved out new space from the prevously construction-invaded space and to make the best of things, we named the space the ETC, or Educational Technology Center.

All was good for a while. Then the fumes started. And the noise. Well, right now at this very moment, I can hear a very loud conversation from the office next door (the wall is quite thin; this happens quite often) and banging, drilling and other construction noises. It is nearly impossible to concentrate under these conditions. I’ve been listening to my iPod for the last 6 months or so and didn’t notice all this. Today, I forgot to bring it. I don’t see how anyone without headphones can get any work done.

Obviously, I’m not.