I had to...one more on printing.

So, I think that I have sufficiently tired everyone out from all my talk about printing. But stay with me people...one more thing. I wanted to thank Paul and all the other commentors for sharing their thoughts on improving the computer experience here at UB.

I was at another academic institution this week and actually had the ability to experience an idea that was brought up in my first post. It was said that OTS was looking into "adding a PIN keypad to the printers for authentication of print jobs," with the purpose of reducing waste and unclaimed jobs. I can't say I love the idea. It does fulfill both of those purposes--but creates its own problems, I think. The first trouble is a potential bottleneck at both the pin machine--and again at the printer itself sorting through papers. It adds a step. And the step requires you to stand with other people. It also means I can't print something big and do something else for a few minutes while it is printing. I guess this isn't huge, but what about my flow?? My print swagger is important. I'm just saying...

Again, I love the job our OTS staff and students are doing in creating a sweet comp lab.

Rant & Rave: More Printing & More Sweating

Last week, I think I established my impassioned concern for printing here at UB. This week is no exception. Oh yes... here comes my next rant (but soon matched by a rave).


I would like the ability to add printer pages to my UB account online.


Please say it can be so! So yeah, while I didn't lose that much sleep over this issue, I did lose study time. Monday, I walked to the Academic Center to print out about 40 pages of readings. Suddenly, after launching five separate print jobs, I realized that the room was quiet. Too quiet. Aside from the hum of the fluorescent bulbs, there was no mechanical murmuring from the printers. My account had run dry. And what was I to do??! It was about 9pm. Without an option to increase my printing allocation, I could either read the scanned-in articles on the screen as PDFs or just scrap the studying plans until I could show up in-person at OTS and add more pages. I chose the latter idea. It spoke to my heart.

Well, I digress. I really do bow down before the tech staff here at UB. It's a thankless job to keep all our data efficient and virus-free. And it's also pretty sweet that each of us can have our own account for data storage. That's a unique benefit here at UB. So techies...I'm at your mercy!

CarolB actually beat me to the meat of my rave this week: UB's fitness center. I just think they've done an excellent job with the fact that it's tucked away on top of classrooms and uncomfortably partitioned into four sections around a basketball court (not to mention that the only access is through the slave-quarters stairs and a cold-war-inspired elevator shaft). The fitness center is just cool.

First, the fitness staff is friendly. Second, they seem to constantly be cleaning something--much appreciated maintenance given that it can get stuffy up there with only a few windows. Moreover, there is a high water fountains to students ratio. I'm convinced that this last plus will one day be a factor in US News rankings.

And if you're just now about to board the Good Ship Fitness at UB these days, you'll be able to take advantage of some pretty amazing new gym equipment. I've rarely seen a gym replace old fitness benches and workout mats to the extent that happened this May. It really speaks to the dedication of campus health going on the third floor!

One last thing: there is golf in the mornings and I think a Nintendo Wii in the evening too. Golf. Next to a foosball table. Seriously.

Going Green...One Step at a Time

I've been continually impressed by the UB administration's commitment to "going green" these days. I mean, who can't appreciate sunlights, solar panels, and some smart recycling? It'll also be pretty cool to see some gardening on top of the new law school building (http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=3090).

Still, I can't help but think that there is more we can do. In particular, it just seems to make sense that for a campus to really be committed to sustainability, the students--in addition to the administration--need to asked or given an option to get involved.

So this brings me to my first rant of the summer season: printing at UB sucks.

I'm not talking about how the printers are always "warming up" or how the printers like to take their smoking "breaks" and send your print job into cyber limbo. I'm talking about how wasteful printing at UB can be. There is simply too much excess paper caused by the student ID coversheets. I know it seems like I'm being fickle, but hear me out. The often-discarded student ID coversheets swarm the printing desks and overflow in the little recycling bins.

According to UB tech staff I once asked, those sheets are mandatory. You can't turn them off. OK, yes, it's nice to separate your print jobs. And recycling is there--but we can do better. So, borrowing a few concepts I've seen at other universities, I'd like to put these ideas out there for the good techies at UB to do with what they will:

Double-Sided Printing... I don't make printers for a living or even as a hobby (thankfully), but I've seen it done and I think our printers look fancy enough to have this capability. It doesn't really take any longer to complete the print job, it looks more professional/book-like when you get your final paper, and it saves trees by reducing paper use...well...in half. Holla.

ID Watermark on the First Page...Let's see if I can describe this clearly. What I'm talking about is giving students the option to NOT print a coversheet; but rather, to have their student ID automatically printed in small font on the top of the first page of their print job. Now, we know that no one is going to want to print something uber important with a UB ID on it. But if I'm printing out Google maps or a draft, why not? I would also like to think that the Great Printer Wait--that eternal line of students standing in queue for their print jobs--would be reduced even if only a third of students were printing one fewer page.


Alright...rant over. As my buddy Kermit would point out: "It's not easy being green."