I like to read the profiles of people sending interesting posts, but often they are so poor.. The space is not very much, but, for example, why don't you describe in the location something more, maybe even what you are seeing from your window? Ciao Emanuela
> The space is not very much, but, for example, why don't you describe in the location something more, maybe even what you are seeing from your window?
Hi Emanuela,
I could use my imagination but the truth is that the view from my window looks straight out onto my building's lightwell. Just lots of concrete walls and bricks, unfortunately. This office, well it has a great view of the mountains - mountains of paperwork and books and dossiers. No wonder I spend so much time online - with little to distract me.
This is the reason I describe myself and not the place where I am sitting.
love the idea emanuela! i can see apartment buildings which have huge balls on top that i think collect water, but i still don't really know. i can also see my local sushi shop, run by an old guy and his wife (where it's okay to just drink beer). in the other direction i can see a huge temple where even i went to pray for a good year at new year two years ago and which turned out to be the toughest of my life. i can also see some tiny birds darting around the telephone wires maybe come to chat with my budgie currently screaming his head off on the balcony. and if it wasn't so flat i could see the entertainment district where a couple of the best bars in the world are just closing up in the dawn.
Yookoso, William! (God it looks ugly in romaji!) Japan is a really bad (or good?) place to be an alcoholic you know.... As for my window, all I can see is the pale green blinds because I only ever get to log on when I am home from work in the depths of the evening. (Why isn't there a markup for 'tear'???) But I should confess it's not that bad. When we southern hemisphere types get onto summer, I'll be able to admire the veggies going haywire in the back garden. And all the avocados falling off our tree, because apparently they don't set unless you have two trees. again. Meanwhile, there's always the fishtank.
found it bridget. and thanks. avaocado trees sounds like a dream - endless guacamole! luckily my salary manages to pay the rent and the beer bills. i guess that's what you mean...
I see a rather dry back yard, with dogwoods and magnolias struggling to survive the 3-year drought we're experiencing here in the deep south of the US. I'm an amateur bird-watcher, and it's always a joy to see the robins, cardinals, bluejays, mockingbirds and brown thrashers who tend to congregate in this neighborhood. One day last month I had the pleasure of watching a mama mockingbird teach two chicks how to fly. There are also squirrels, chipmunks and the occasional possum out back. Speaking of (o)possums, are the indeed the only species of marsupial in North America?
emanuela, you started this thread but haven't told us yet what you see out your window.
Anna, I wrote it in my profile! In any case, my office has a beautiful view on the old medieval center of the town, I see several ancient buildings... Moreover, I can see also the remains of the Etruscan wall around the top of the hill, and an Etruscan Arch (more than 2000 years old) . And trees... And ... I hate it ... a lot of cars: there is a parking in front of the building! Ciao Emanuela
We've got a dogwood in the FRONT yard (did have two, the same drought got one year before last), and the people across the street have a magnolia! (When they bloom, my husband "borrows" one of those heavenly, lemony-scented, creamy bowls of beauty off the tree near where he parks downtown, and brings it home to me.)
I see all the birds you mentioned, and our neighbors behind us have a hummingbird feeder. When I go over to the park, I can see goldfinches, several sizes of woodpeckers, rufous-sided towhees, tiny brown creepers, occasionally the great horned owls, and if I'm really lucky, the bluebirds! This year I got to see mama and papa mallard, and their seven ducklings, pit-pat, waddle-pat. We often see red-tailed, red-shouldered, and broad-winged hawks flying above, also, scree-ing as they go.
>why don't you describe in the location something more, maybe even what you are seeing from your window?
I see trees and hills. On the smaller hills I can see olives, almonds and some carob trees. Behind them I see higher hills covered with pines. Crisscrossing this landscape there is a web of small paths and wide firebreaks. And I know every single one. From time to time some primillas (a local kind of hawk) fly looking for prey.
Everybody has a much better view than I do . Some of them sound so beautiful too. Meanwhile, my computer is in the basement that has a dug-out window (if you know what I mean). It's underground facing aluminum siding that stops the soil from coming right by the window. (Not much sunlight but at least it gets me some fresh air ) My bedroom, on the other hand, is two stories up from the basement and faces a courtyard accross which is another part of the townhouse complex I live in.
I'm digging through the old threads, and I rather liked the idea of this one, so here it is again, everybody. All you other pledges can add to this, too.
From my office, I see the buildings across the concrete canyon from mine. One is a 1920s limestone with classic lines, and another is a modernish brick-and-glass with a nod to deco. Street level is ten stories down.
From my home, I see woods, filled with oak, larch and wild cherry, and grape vines; meadow, full of wildflowers and raspberry brambles, and populated with groundhog, rabbit, deer, skunk, all kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and our dog; and our yard, with children's toys and swings. Also, at this time of year, a covered up pool, and lots and lots of snow. There are feeders on the decks, and we have visits (depending on the time of year) from red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, blue birds, hummingbirds, mourning doves, grackles, red winged blackbirds, orioles, house finches, goldfinches, phoebes, chickadees, house sparrows, chipping sparrows, purple finches, grosbeaks, and others I am sure I am forgetting. A pair of redtailed hawks hunt our meadow. Blue herons hunt the adjacent ponds.
Right now it's a snowy view broken by the wood fence that encloses my back yard where little "Pearl" (a 13-year-old Bichon Frise) loves to frolic. The fence is turning a lovely driftwood grey, finally. I have a family of squirrels that are endlessly amusing and who chatter at Pearl as she tries to catch them. Then, each in its season, birds flit by. In front of the big window I have a whirling windsock to keep birds from flying into the glass after they feast on the berry-laden bushes that are available even in the cold. In another few months I will have snowdrops and violets and brave dandelions poking their heads up. There is a big wooden tub that I will plant with flowers for summer. The wall with the window borders the path to my front door so I have a view of anyone arriving. It's a pleasant prospect. wow
I see the beautiful Pacific Ocean, framed by pink, red, white and lavender geraniums which i have placed in hanging baskets across the expanse of my rear balcony. I can see, as well as hear, an eclectic orchestra of windchimes, with the dominant voice being the hollow melancholy sounds resonating from the Hawaiian bamboo. The trees are all in gentle motion thanks to the welcome arrival of some warm winds, and the sun is shining brightly.
And in case i ever forget, there's a sign above my window that reminds me it's just "Another Day In Paradise".
I'd like to stick my neck out, and offer my opinion that what Emanuela wanted was more information about our background, special fields, tastes and interests. I think her remark about what we could see out of window was an afterthough, almost an apology for asking for personal details that might help her know what messages might be appropriate. My own bio is skimpy because my qualifications for participion here are not very impressive, and I didn't have clear idea how to present myself in acceptable way. Perhaps a lot of us are modest in an unhelpful way. Bill Hunt
Outside window is a pinic table that 3/4 or the year students etc have meetings at while looking out at the binary sculpture & ugly box style lab building. At the moment it's after sundown, because of our wierd windows if any one was out there they can see me & I can only see the shimmer of the ice & snow in the quad & lights on the cars heading in & out of the parking lots. It just about student shift change. We seem to be always open
My office, being in the middle of an industrial corridor, offers very little : a distant church bell tower (on the other side of the river) sticking up past a single story warehouse... out the back door window is a view of a beautiful older style Chicago public school building (about a half a block away) which is blocked by wires: cable tv, old telephone, new optical fibre, 110 and 220 services, three phase 220...
My house looks at a typical city street scene with blocks of 25x125foot lots of various house styles. Summer is good with trees as every fourth house lot on average has one... A lot of Norway Maples (climate demands), the Elms are all but gone (Dutch elm disease about 20 yrs ago) an occasional Willow or Oak and a number of Douglas Fir and Evergreen... the wildlife is very active here, Grey Squirrels, Robins, Woodpeckers, Sparrows, Norway Rats (it's a Scandanavian neighborhood), Lots of loud BlackBirds (huge ones), Pigeons, Yellow Jackets, Monarch Butterflies (getting rarer), a pack of wild roaming dogs that clearly someone feeds (every city should have one), fire flies, crickets, and mosquitoes... and then, of course, the people!
Well, I liked your idea and so before I began, I checked out your profile and I think it is so beautiful and interesting that somehow no matter what I write it will seem dull. But anyway--we live on a hill and I can see the valley below and the hills on the other side----a span of 5 miles----in the valley are train track, a bike trail, a brick plant and a pond. And many many trees. Behind our house our backyard slopes upward and continues upward through the woods were there are trails for hiking and biking and a trickling waterfall where my sons and I have explored many times before they became teenagers. Now everything is white and frozen--but the small pond is perfect for ice skating and moonlight bon fires---which we used to do---but well--those days are gone too. Replaced with weekends spent in the wood shop or in the garage working on engines etc
My computer is in my office, not at home. My office is on the northwestern edge of Baltimore, about a mile from the main headquarters of the Social Security Administration, (most people are surprised to find that the SSA HQ is not in Washington) which is in a complex of large, modernistic office buildings and large parking area (there are about 15,000 employes). But that mile makes a huge difference. My office windows look out over a public park which is kept in its wild, natural state -- there is only road through it, no man-made structures except a couple bridges over the stream which runs through it, and a nature trail for hiking. At the moment, it's not much to look at, since most of the trees are deciduous and they are bare; but depending on the weather, they will start turning green by early April, they'll be fully green by mid-May, and glorious in the fall. The only downside of being by the park is that since it's so wild, it's a popular place to dispose of inconvenient corpses; at least 2 or 3 times a year, hikers find a dead body, hence, people tend to avoid the park and the area surrounding it. That's fine by me.
Looking out my window right now (forced to lean a little bit, as I'm in cubicle-land) I see the sun reflecting off San Francisco Bay, which extends 30-40 miles south from where I'm sitting in SF, with Pacific Bell Park (the new baseball stadium) and a number of old ships (big grey merchant-marine types - the engine room of one was used to film the engine room scenes in Titanic) tied up in the foreground. I'm trying to enjoy the view while I can, as I also see lots of cranes, building lots of news buildings, spurred on by all the mad growth of this internet thingie I keep hearing about.
In other words I can see a periwinkle, a Japanese aralia, a corkscrew hazel (Harry Lauder's walking stick) a honeysuckle and a cabbage tree from New Zealand!
It depends on the day of the week and time of the day as to what I can see from my window. At work, apart from the large curatin, dating from the late sixties, with psychedelic designs on it, and a clock in the shape of a fat cat with a wagging tail, I can see through a window to my right onto a fairly busy paved area with a yellowinsh brick wall the other side. There are evergreesn trees in aplot within my line of sight. There is a sporadic flow of students and colleagues going past, with people waving to me - even those that I know, occasionally! It is easy to keep my eyes away from the outside, so I often don't know what the weather is doing outside. This is more often than not an advantage, in the wet and windy climate of Northern Emgland.
At other times, when I am at home, I can see across the small and untidy plot which is my garden to a grassy field inhabited by an old horse. Well, it looks old - I'm no expeert where hores are concerned. The hedges round the field are alive with birds - a situation that one of my cats (Chaos by name and nature!) is trying to alter, damn his claws. Mostly they are starlings and sparrows, with a resident robin and wren and occasional blue-tits and great-tits. There is a noisy colony of magpies nearby, who often visit and sit on the roof of my house calling out what sounds suspiciously like rude comments on all they see.
Beyond the field, past and estate of houses, I can see the low hills that separate my house from the nearby estuary of the river Lune. These are grassy, and inhabited by cows and sheep, who shelter from sun and rain under a clump of trees at the top. "A pleasanter spot you ne'er did spy . . ." (Browning)
And all this a ten minute bus-ride from the vast metropolis of Lancaster!
From my office above Wellington's main street I can see ... buildings. Immediately across the road and nine stories down, a new building is beginning to take shape. When completed it will be 23 stories tall and will incorporate the facade of the building it replaces. The facade, nine stories tall itself, is supported by a large network of girders and reinforcing. It's also only about 20 metres from the western Pacific fault line - the building I'm in actually straddles it! If I look over my left shoulder I can see down a street to the harbour, which is currently cerulean blue under summer sunshine.
At home, from my office desk I can see a stark country scene but it's a picture, not the real thing. My office window looks out at the cabbage trees and punga trees growing on the bank which slopes up to the street. But from our lounge windows we can see from the Pacific Ocean and Wellington Harbour across the airport, Wellington's Oriental Bay and the CBD in the distance to the bush-clad slopes of Horokiwi and the Belmont Regional Park below and across the Korokoro Valley from us - we're 500 feet above sea-level.
From my window, right now, in my office, well, I see the wall across the hall. And a handsome heavy moss green it is too . I know, it is odd to have a window on an inside office. I guess they wanted to make me feel the office was bigger somehow.
Well no matter, I am more often on the road so out of my car window (mobile office) I see anything and everything. I see the signs of changing seasons in nature, in how people dress and the colour of the sunlight. I see beautiful countryside on my long hauls and cityscape for my city clients. I drive through blizzards (exciting and beautiful) and perfectly white through all my windows.
My favorite part is coming back from out of town at night. I can see the reflection of the city lights from miles away. I am going home. As I get closer I can see the whole downtown core, millions of lights, looking like so many jewels. On the mountain I see the top of St Joseph's Oratory calling the faithful home. It is all quite beautiful...I always feel like this is MY city. It makes me proud.
My office looks out across the parking lot to a bluff which faces the Mississippi River. There are piles of snow pushed thigh high and higher all around. We have already had 55 inches so far with one more snow month to go. I work in Minnesota but actually live on the Wisconsin side. That bluff also views the Mississippi River but my windows look down into the river valley that feeds the mighty Miss. Eagles are the bird watchers favorite here. Two years ago in spring I counted 13 eaglets soaring right near our bluff. I've also seen pileated wood peckers, hummingbirds, crows or ravens or blackbirds, (I don't know which they are but I don't like them anyway so it doesn't matter) hawks, a barn owl and a snowy owl, mourning doves, herons, cardinals, chickadees, blue birds, blue jays, pheasants, a prairie chicken (yesterday) swallows, bats, red fox, coyote, skunk, opossum, deer, raccoon, gophers, and groundhog on the bluff, some but not all in my yard, some as road kill. My two labs keep everything out including the wild turkeys which always seem to just barely make it off the ground in time. satin
From my ground-floor study room I can see a car park. Beyond that is another car park. Beyond that is a row of small houses, but in between the second car park and the houses is a long row of tall trees. I can see the houses now because the trees have no leaves, but in the summer it is like a wall of greenery screening the houses from sight. And above it all is a great big stretch of the sky, as there are no high buildings anywhere around. Yes, ok... the sky is often cloudy, but it is also often very beautiful.
From now on, following Aenigma's suggestion, I shall spell "ok" as "Okamoto".
I still regret that so many of us are willing to give a lot of details about the view from their window, but are so stingy with details about themselves that would help others know how to respond to their posts. And I very much enjoy the private messages from those who have sent them to me.
I have a BA in business administration from Michigan State University, 1978, and a JD from Ohio State University, 1981. GO (green and white) SPARTANS! GO (scarlet and gray) BUCKEYES!
And guys, this question came up on a sports board today: will you all please post the nicknames/mascots of your schools. And their colors.
(Sorry for the rah-rah, but its almost the High Holy Days of basketball, and I'm psyched!)
Alas-- i have no view most of the time--in a cubicle. I rarely post from home-- i have been meaning to up grade hardware.. (486!) but somehow, something more important comes up... I do have access to windows at work.. and can look uptown Manhattan.. and see Empire state building Chrysler building, CityCorp center.. and many other landmarks.. My boss's conference room looks down town, towards Twin towers.. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Bridge is hidden from site by the NY Municiple building! .
Briefs-- and my unknown college (not a university) Audrey Cohen College, Purple and White.
Oh and which of your two schools is the one that figures so much in basketball? [ducking from the bricks emoticon!] i'm not a much of a sports fan...
Maybe I don't understand the question. I can't remember any colours at school. I got a funny green sash for hockey once which they called "hockey colours" but the teacher didn't get round to getting any from the suppliers so I only had a "virtual" green sash. I think that the University of London had some purple colours for something but I don't remember seeing any team games whilst I was there.
Just so you'll know what an oddball I am, I never went to a college sporting event. I was always working on one or more jobs, and had neither money nor time for games. About three months before graduation, the head of the business office of the hospital where I worked the graveyard shift on the switchboard told me sadly, that because her godson, who worked the first half of the night was delicate, and a candidate for honors, I was going to have to work both shifts with no extra pay.I had no choice.
AS BeingCJ has said, it is much easier to be open here than face-to-face - so, here you are, the truth behind the RhubarbCommando's suave facade
I left school at the age of sixteen with five "O" levels - one of which was in woodwork. My teachers had more or less written me off as a dunce, albeit a well-meaning and co-operative one. I started teaching adult literacy as a volunteer in 1976, and acquired a taste fort teaching - other teaching-type ssituations occurred over the years. So I decided to go for higher education in order to become a full-time Education Officer in the Trades Union movement. Two years at Ruskin College, Oxford, at the age of 43-45, brought me a Diploma in Labour Studies, and a request from my personal tutor that i apply to attend University - which I had not even considered before. (Don't forget, I still thought of myself as a dunce) Lancaster University, which has a good reputation for accepting mature students, gave me a place, where I duly obtained my BA in History with Politics as a minor (I wish now, that I had taken linguistics as minor - it would have been more interesting and more useful) In my third year, one of my history tutors - who had also become a social friend - asked if I had applied for funding to do my PhD. Again, I hadn't even considered doing such a thing. He convinced me, became my supervisor ofr my thesis, and here I am, doing an academic administration job part time, plus whatever teaching I can get on a freelance basis. As a Doctor of Philosophy I am far too expensive for anyone to hire me to do what I'm trained for and best at.
But, on the bright side, I retire in just under four years time - I only have it worked out in days, so far - eighteen months time, I'll work it out in minutes!
Oh - and "boxers" - I take the Victor Sylvester approach to comfort of the lower extremities!
Michigan State is the defending national champion in basketball, having won the NCAA tournament in April 2000. They just clinched a share of this season's Big Ten regular season title, making it a record-tying four titles in a row. They are the two-time defending Big Ten tournament champs, and have a decent chance to repeat as national champs this year. They made it to the semi-finals of the nationals in 1999 as well. MSU is currently ranked third in the country in hoops.
GO SPARTANS!
As for my Buckeyes, they can't match MSU's record, but nobody can. OSU's team is currently in third place in the Big Ten, and tied for the regular season championship last year. The Buckeyes made it to the semi-finals of the NCAAs in 1999. They are doing well at this end of the regular season, having now adjusted nicely to the loss of their outstanding backcourt from last year.
GO BUCKEYES!
Aaaannnndddd - MSU's hockey team is currently #1 in the nation. Woohoo!
As to you non-US'ns and the confusion about school colors: most colleges in the US have sports programs associated with them. The teams are comprised of students of the schools, and they adopt nicknames and mascots and team colors. The team uniforms are made of those colors, and the cheerleaders and fans wear them as well. You can buy signs, shirts, hats, statues, and whatever else you can think of (yes, including toilet seats) in your school's colors and logos. MSU stuff is green and white, and has Sparty or a green block S on it. OSU's stuff is scarlet and gray, and their nickname is Buckeyes (a nut, believe it or not).
College sports is a very big business. MSU's football stadium seats 72,000, and 60 miles away Michigan's stadium seats 105,000 and they are both sold out on Saturdays in the fall. MSU's basketball arena (15,000) and hockey rink (7,000) routinely sell out on the same night. This time of year, you can find multiple games on TV on any night.
Here's a web page with MSU sports info and links, which will show you examples of the sports mascots and colors:
AB Johns Hopkins University 1961. Humanities major, English concentration. The "Bluejays" colors are blue and black.
Hopkins does not engage in basketball, swimming, or croquet (the specialty of St. Johns College in Annapolis MD). They play football and baseball, but never do much with them. However, they are one of the great powerhouses of the world in lacrosse; they have, in the last 10 years, become a big deal in fencing, which is since my time and I wouldn't know anything about it but for a recent article in the alumni magazine. In spite of the fact that I live only about 4 miles from the University, and have done for the last 37 years, I have not set foot on campus more than 10 times since I graduated. I may attend the reunion this year, since there are special events for our class for our 40th anniversary.
the "...um..." Come now, Jackie, O puissant goddess to whom the gutter is not entirely unknown, even the fair Helen gave her preference. (We didn't really expect it to be boxers). Those who want to avoid can write it like this. Otherwise, we may be forced to conclude they don't wear anything! There are some persons, of both sexes, who have that preference.
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.
(Why isn't there a markup for 'tear'???) But I should confess it's not that bad. When we southern hemisphere types get onto summer, I'll be able to admire the veggies going haywire in the back garden. And all the avocados falling off our tree, because apparently they don't set unless you have two trees.
)
No Old School Tie ?
can write it like this. Otherwise, we may be forced to conclude they don't wear anything! There are some persons, of both sexes, who have that preference.
