Hotel Dorms

The newest dorms, Balz-Dobie and Watson-Webb, are hotel dorms. Seriously.

This is my fourth year at UVA (hello class of 2012), and it took my four years to get air conditioning. Of course when the air conditioning comes with the free room, which is your stipend for having serious responsibilities like crisis control, administrative paperwork, and human management, you realize that things in life aren't free.

Unless you live in Balz-Dobie or Watson-Webb.

Now again, to be fair to the prospective students and parents who are gasping with horror, they aren't the only dorms that have air conditioning. In fact, most of the dorms that have recently been renovated or built have air conditioning. (My building probably got built in the 40's or 50's... or earlier.) However, BD and WW provide so much more. When dorms start to "[offer] modern amenities" and promise to "[foster] intimate, secure, close-knit communities"(Housing), you start thinking about high end hotels, gated communities, and country club residential areas. Furthermore, when it is announced that "Romer said the structures will also exclusively house the Echols and Rodman scholars," because "these scholars, who used to live in Webb and Maupin houses, are placed together for programmatic reasons" (UVA Today), you wonder.

I have personally been in BD and it is a hotel. The toilets flush up and down (up for #1, down for #2), have motion-sensitive lighting, and beautiful lounges. I believe they are LED-certified buildings, and this statement makes me jealous: "The air handler has an energy recovery wheel that captures the heat from exhaust air and recycles it, and the whole precinct is fed by steam from McCormick Road and chilled water from the Aquatic and Fitness Center." It's like the environmentally-friendly version of caviar and Perrier.

So what can you do to get exclusive rights to enter BD and WW? Well you heard the man! Romer said that you can be an Echols or Rodman scholar. For those of us who aren't trying too hard, Housing has a secret sauce that is almost equivalent to that of Google's search. Good luck!

The Return

I'm returning to Charlottesville in 5 days!

Prices of Rooms onGrounds

Housing FINALLY posted up the prices of different rooms on Grounds. The 2011-2012 prices reflect an increased price.

Option		# Bedrooms	Occupancy	2010-11 Rate	2011-12 Rate	Comments
Bice House		2	Double	$5100	$5330
		3	Double	$4980	$5200
Brown Residential College		2	Single	$5430	$5670
Copeley Apartments		2	Double	$5100	$5330
Faulkner Apartments		4	Single	$5570	$5820
		4	Single	$6480	$6770	Large bedroom
Maison Française (French House)		1	Double	$5070	$5300
		1	Double	$5220	$5450	Large bedroom
		1	Single	$5590	$5840
German House		2	Double	$5100	$5330
		3	Double	$4980	$5200
Hereford Residential College		1	Double	$4660	$4870
		1	Single	$4720	$4930
International Residential College		1	Single	$5240	$5480	Munford and Gwathmey
		1	Single	$5480	$5730	Lewis and Hoxton
		1	Single	$5710	$5970	Lewis and Hoxton (private bath)
		1	Double	$4680	$4890	Munford and Gwathmey
		1	Double	$4830	$5050	Lewis and Hoxton (small)
		1	Double	$5070	$5300	Lewis and Hoxton
Johnson, Malone and Weedon		1	Double	$4660	$4870
		1	Single	$4720	$4930
Lambeth Field Apartments		2	Double	$5100	$5330
		3	Double	$4980	$5200
Lawn		1	Single	$5240	$5480
		1	Single	$5110	$5340	Small, no fireplace
Russian House		1	Double	$5050	$5280
		1	Single	$5500	$5750
Shea House		1	Double	$5070	$5300
		1	Single	$5590	$5840
Casa Bolivar (Spanish House)		1	Double	$5070	$5300
		1	Single	$5590	$5840
University of Virginia Foundation Properties
Off-Grounds Housing

A Hereford single is about 98.21 square feet and costs $4930. This means each square foot costs about $50.20, (vs. IRC Munford single $35.58, Lawn room with fireplace $31.64).

Random Fact: Did you know that UVA owns property? This includes Cavalier Inn, the gas station on the corner of Emmet St and Ivy Road, apartments and more!

Information from UVA Housing website: http://www.virginia.edu/housing/compare.php?type=upperclass.

New layout!

With the end of classes and the nearing of Graduation (for some!), I thought it would be appropriate to have a new, fresh layout. Let me know if you like it! Leave a comment!

"What I Wish My New Employee Knew" - Repost

The thing about hiring motivated, smart, creative young people is that motivated, smart, creative young people – while invaluable – can also be hard to manage sometimes.

I wish my new employee knew that we were genuinely psyched that they found us; that we were flattered by their interest and thrilled by their acceptance of our offer. (We tell them that, sure, but I worry it rings hollow sometimes.)

I wish my new employee knew that some clients are a-holes, and some clients are incredibly appreciative, but they must all be treated equally. That means that the level of effort can’t flag for the prickly client. That means that you shouldn’t use your water-cooler time to gossip or kvetch about the tough cases; it’s unhelpful and nothing good comes of it. (Along with this, it helps to know that the nice clients far outweigh the jerks, over time. Never let the turkeys get ya down.)

I wish my new employee knew that Quality Counts. A typo in an email might not seem like a big deal. But it doesn’t take long for the client to wonder if that sloppiness extends to the way the agency is cultivating their image to the outside world.

I wish my new employee knew that we absolutely and gladly fire clients who are truly abusive. We’re vigilant about this, but most new employees assume that the client is always right and stay quiet for too long.

I wish my new employee knew that when I say I’ve got an open-door policy, it means swing by anytime you have a question about anything. I don’t bite. It’s not hard for me to offer two cents: it’s my job. And I love my job.

I wish my new employee knew that the beginning part of a career is usually a slog. It’s not all Social Media fun & games, sorry. To be effective & accountable strategists, we need databases, research, detailed reports. That’s how everybody starts out, even the rockstars.

I wish my new employee knew that “eagerness is everything.” If you’re eager; if you’re leaning forward; motivated, I’ll lie on the train tracks for you. If you’ve got a dark cloud over your head, its shadow casts a pall over the entire office. That includes my office.

I wish my new employee knew that it’s all fun and games til you complain about working til 8 o’clock every night. Barring a huge project or crisis, we don’t want you working that late; it doesn’t impress us, it makes us question your efficiency. Following a string of late nights in our SF office, we began to require written permission from a manager if someone felt the need to work past 6:30pm. People began to leave on time. Productivity soared. So did morale.

I wish my new employee knew that it’s okay to screw-up sometimes. The sooner you tell your manager, the smaller the screw-up will look in retrospect. If you never fall down, how can you learn to pick yourself back up?

I could go on forever.

-Reposted from PR Squared