A festive day

Today was the day when the Institute planned to celebrate the retirement of my predecessor and to welcome me. The festivities began a bit early, however, when I arrived to find that all of the furniture had vanished from my office because my new furniture was supposed to arrive. I took the liberty of taking over a friend's office, and my new furniture did indeed arrive mid-morning, followed by a technician to install it and to give me a new training session on my very high tech desk chair (some chairs are really more complicated than computers). The new furniture really is quite beautiful. The wood is cherry. The new chairs for my conference table have not come yet, however. Those in the picture are still the old ones.

The celebration had a standingroom only crowd in the eveing. Everyone who spoke used notes or a prepared speech -- except me. They also all stood behind a table that served as a podium. I sat on the table. But I explained that I was an American and did that sort of thing, and that I had three points to make in increasing order of importance. The first was about teaching and reasearch and the balance between practical professional knowledge and the need to provide a solid social science base. The second was about students and how the Institute needed to make an effort to find them jobs. The third and most important, I said, was the toilets. This brought a good laugh, because the toilets in the building are really a problem. I explained that the VP for the the physical plant had promised to do something about the toilets. Everyone clapped. So my real fame, I continued, would not be as the new "W3" Professor (the top rank in Germany), but as the "WC" Professor. The response was splendid!