Without further ado...

Now that Mary Liz has seen it, I now present the chapel, construction (apparently) done, though still missing the doors and furniture.

(this hallway is new.  It's not really an interesting picture, but I'm including it so that I can mention what ML said when she saw it: "Oh, yay!  Now the garbage doesn't have to roll past Jesus anymore!")

Chapel Update

I have purposely refrained from putting up the latest chapel photos, solely because I want Mary Liz to be surprised when she comes out this weekend*. Well, the construction is done, and now all that's left is for the furniture to come in. It's actually a really remarkable transformation; the chapel is unrecognizable from the way it was. So, photos to come this weekend.

*As opposed to the surprise that she'll feel when she sees North Quad :-( .

Yay - wood flooring! Everything that's not already floored will have carpeting (of the nice, non-shag variety).

Wood paneling for the walls and pillars.

Chapel Update

Well, the ceiling is back in, which IMHO makes the room seem a lot more finished. No vaulted ceiling for us, but ah well...

Chapel Update

There hasn't been a whole lot of progress on the chapel lately (they've been working on the electrical wiring and other less-visible aspects), but I found a photo that I thought I had posted a while ago, but apparently never did (mea culpa).

So, from June 5:

(apologies for the quality; I literally just stuck my arm through the plastic sheeting over the doorway and snapped a photo without looking)

The view from the lobby has changed somewhat; as you can see, the wall has been put up to divide the lounge and the chapel. No, the chapel walls aren't purple (it's just the sheetrock - see below for the real color).

And then, from today:

The same view as above, but now painted. Obviously, we're still waiting on the stained glass, but the mysterious packages may just contain the wood flooring...

I didn't realize this photo was so fuzzy until I got in onto the computer, but you can still tell what it is. Yes, that's right: a place where the altar should obviously and rightly stay! It's such a crazy idea, it might just work!

Random thoughts at 8:00 am

• I don't know who exactly thought it was a good idea to put the classes of '68 and '63 in PE & PW, but that really should be rethought. None of these buildings were here when these guys were, and they have absolutely no sense of direction.
• Also, while I'm glad they're working on the chapel, I think I may be driven to desperate measures by the noise today. Did they have to choose today to knock down a wall (and for that matter, to start at 7:00)? I should have more pictures to put up in the next few days. I'm still trying to get a peek at the plans...
  
• Random reslife trivia learned during staff training: during the last 3 weeks of classes, ResLife dealt with 85 cases of students who had been contacted by the recording industry re: illegal downloading.
• Construction dust set off our fire alarms yesterday afternoon. There were two of us working the front desk at the time, and we followed the emergency protocol, which was to go to the alarm system display board, which supposedly would tell us where the alarm had been triggered (we were then supposed to go to that spot and determine whether there was an actual fire). Well, we went to the display, which gave us a nonsensical (to us, at least) string of numbers. So much for that.
• My Ravelry invitation came through yesterday. What an addicting site! It's a good thing I just don't have that much spare time, or I'd spend all day looking at patterns and knitting. I'm about an inch and a half done with one sock, and as I mentioned, I think there'll be a lot of trial-and-error involved with this pattern, so it should keep me occupied for a while.

I think that's all I've got for now, but given that I'm on-duty at the desk until 1:00, I'm pretty sure my idleness will lead to more thoughts.

"Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you." (Exodus 25:9)

When I found out that I'd be staying in PE for the summer, one of the things I was most excited about (besides the dorm's sentimental value and air conditioning) was the chance to witness firsthand the chapel renovation. This chapel was the unfortunate victim of '80's architecture and a pantsuit-nun rector, and featured such lovely furnishings as the "Birdcage Tabernacle" and lots of pillows (Mary Liz and Em - I don't have any pictures of the chapel at the height of it's sadness; do you?). According to the hall manager, this summer the chapel will see $800,000 of renovations, including stained glass, getting rid of the pillars, and knocking down walls. Below are pictures of the chapel as it is today, with the altar and everything else moved out and the "bulldozing" (the rector's word) having just begun. I'm planning to post updates as often as something significant happens. While I'm sure that the space won't turn into sometime magnificent, I'm hopeful that something good will happen.