Apocalypse or no, today's the last day

Well, here we are.

Today is the last working day of 2012. In a few hours, the university will close for its longest holiday of the year, and apart from a few people providing round-the-clock essential services, the institution will sleep until 2013 under a blanket of snow.

I'm sorry, did I say snow? A bit of it did fall last night and continues to do so today, with forecasters calling for flurries over the weekend.

White Christmas or otherwise, 'tis the season for holiday video messages. The Faculty of Environment and the Provost have issued videos, to name but two.

Today is payday for faculty, staff, graduate students and temporary employees on the monthly payroll. Employees on the biweekly payroll received their paycheques last on December 14 and will be paid again on December 28. Employees can check their payroll information by logging onto myHRinfo, and the Human Resources site now lists information about the 2013 pay schedule.

Unofficial marks for the fall term will start appearing in Quest today. The "fully graded date," when students can view their official term grades in Quest, is set for January 21, 2013.

The majority of food services outlets have already closed for the season. The University Club, Pastry Plus, and the Tim Hortons locations in the Student Life Centre, Davis Centre, and South Campus Hall all close at 2:00 p.m. today and will remain closed until the New Year.

Most of the commercial services offered by the Federation of Students closed up on December 15, with the Bombshelter Pub, Federation Xpress, Wasabi!, and Campus Bubble all re-opening on January 7. Feds Used Books is open today but will be closed at 5:00 p.m. for the rest of the year.

The Dana Porter and Davis Centre Libraries close at 5:00 p.m. today.

The Computing Help & Information Place (CHIP) in MC1052 will be open for regular hours today — 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.— and its services include Media Resources, Equipment Loans, Software Distribution, Exam Scanning, and Helpdesk Services.

All Retail Services stores—The Book Store, Waterloo Store, Write Stuff, E Smart, Campus Tech and Media.doc locations in the Davis Centre, Dana Porter, the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology (CEIT), Math & Computer, and the Student Life Centre—have special hours today: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in case you need to do some last-minute shopping before heading home from work today.

The Physical Activities Complex and the Columbia Icefield will be open today until 4:30 p.m.

Waterloo residences will close at 12 noon today, except for Columbia Lake Village-North, where residents live year-round.

The School of Architecture's administrative offices close today at 4:30 p.m.

Custodial staff who usually work later in the evening will start today's shift at 4:00 p.m. and work until midnight. During the holiday break, grounds staff will be on call only to do winter maintenance of emergency routes on campus as requested by UW Police or the Central Plant.

Central Stores will be providing normal scheduled service today.

Rick Zalagenas, Director of Maintenance and Utilities, says building conditions will be held at normal night and weekend setback temperatures starting tonight, and most ventilation will be turned off. "The university is closed," he stresses, "and anyone who elects to be here should not be expecting normal services and temperatures." Zalagenas invites everybody's help with conservation, ensuring all appliances, office equipment and unused fumehoods are turned off. "And please make very sure all windows are closed before you leave." Go ahead and lock those doors, too.

The Green IT Advisory Group reminds us to power off any non-essential computers, monitors, departmental printers or other electronics, and even unplug them if possible during the holidays to conserve electricity.

As you prepare to leave your office or residence behind for the holidays, don't leave any personal valuables or other attractive items behind. Secure them in a locked cabinet or remove them to your homes for safekeeping over the holidays.

The time has also come for laboratories to be shut down for the holiday break. The safety office has told managers of laboratories what precautions they should take before they lock the doors and head out for a holiday break. A web page dealing with the Christmas and New Year's shutdown warns that, among other things, labs have to be prepared for the power going off during the holidays: "Due to winter weather conditions utilities, especially electricity, may be affected. It is a general rule that all laboratory processes be designed to safely survive a service failure." Emergencies can be reported to ext. 33793 and concerns relating to hazardous materials spills to ext. 22222.

One other development to note that may impact driving over the holidays. Apparently Phillip Street is once again open to traffic, effective yesterday, after the first half of the street's reconstruction was completed. Phase two will take place at some point in the New Year.

Police will begin locking the buildings on campus at 5:00 p.m. today. Buildings will remain locked over the holidays, the police wish to remind everyone, and anybody who needs to get in will have to have made prior arrangements with the faculty or department responsible for the building.

Most university buildings will be closed December 22 through January 1, reopening on Wednesday, January 2.

 

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Your guide to a campus on holidays

From tomorrow through January 1, the libraries (including the Musagetes Library in the School of Architecture), Retail Services stores, food services outlets, recreational facilities, and offices will all be closed. Phones will ring off the hook if called, and email messages will pile up unanswered. Geese will roam unchecked, of that you can be sure.

However, all parking lots will be open and free throughout the holidays, except for lot D under Needles Hall and the Early Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) lot at the Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology (PAS) building. Gates to the lots around campus are being opened one by one in the course of this afternoon, says parking manager Sharon Rumpel, who also notes that there’s a bargain rate of $5 for the day in effect today at lot D and at the “visitor” portion of lot H near University Avenue. From now until the morning of January 2, there's no need to put money into any pay-and-display machines.

Students who live in residence and are leaving their cars on campus over the break should register with Parking Services and will be told just where to put the car, for the sake of snowplow operations. Enforcement of parking rules on fire routes and in handicapped spaces will continue, the university police say.

Snow removal on the main campus over the holiday period will be "limited", according to the plant operations department. "Grounds staff will respond to serious snow issues," is the officially word, especially to clear priority areas such as the ring road.

Although residences are closed during the holiday break, the International Experience team has organized Winterloo 2012, writes Sabrina Hutchinson of Housing and Residences. The event is a chance to experience a variety of holiday traditions around our community.

"Everyone is welcome to attend Winterloo activities so register today if you are staying around Waterloo for the holidays."

Please note: Winterloo will provide events and activities for Waterloo students and their families, but you must make your own arrangements for accommodations.

A major exception to the 11-day campus closing is the Student Life Centre. Scott Pearson, Operations Manager of the SLC, writes that the building will be open throughout the holiday as always. The Turnkey Desk (519-888-4434) "will be staffed 24 hours a day with friendly Turnkeys to provide assistance to those who stay on campus," says Pearson. "Hot coffee is always available, as well as some snack and beverages. Food bank hampers are also available at the desk".

The Airporter will make its usual stops at the Student Life Centre.

Most of the businesses in the SLC will shut down entirely throughout the break including Apple II Hair Salon, Life Touch Photography, Campus Tech, Tim Hortons, Brubakers, The Bombshelter, Federation Xpress, Student Health Pharmacy & SOS Physiotherapy.

CIBC will have its basement branch open on December 22, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 31. The branch will close early on both Christmas Eve & New Year's Eve.

GO Transit and Greyhound will continue to service campus throughout the Shutdown, although some days the schedules will operate on holiday scheduling. Full ticketing and travel information is available at the Turnkey Desk. Pearson also states that "on New Year's Eve all transportation on GO Transit is free system-wide after 7:00 p.m. No Tickets are required."

As of December 31, GO Transit monthly paper passes will no longer be available, and riders can instead obtain a PRESTO card at the Turnkey Desk. Cards are free with a minimum $ 10 load, and offer a greater discount on travel than the previous paper pass.

The School of Pharmacy and the Waterloo Stratford campus will both be following the university's main campus shutdown schedule.

The UAE campus closes for the holidays today and remains closed until January 1. It reopens January 2 and classes will begin Sunday, January 6.

The School of Architecture in Cambridge will remain open for faculty and students to use their offices and studios during the closure period between December 22 and January 1, but school facilities will be in "closure-mode" with heating at a minimum. There will be limited access to Melville Café and the Riverside Gallery, with the café open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. December 22 to 24 and December 26 to December 31, and the gallery open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 22, 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on December 23, closed December 26, open 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on December 27 and December 28, open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. December 29, and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on December 30. The building will be completely closed on December 25 and January 1. The offices open at 8:30 a.m. on January 2.

Health services will close at 1:00 p.m. today for a Christmas celebration and remain closed until January 2 at 8:30 a.m. Students with medical problems over the holidays are encouraged to first call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 for medical advice. There will be a physician on call for health services who can be reached by following the telephone instructions on the health services line, 519-888-4096.

"Co-operative Education and Career Action will be closed during the break and re-open on January 2," says Olaf Naese of the co-op department. "For co-op students still needing January-April 2013 employment, JobMine postings will resume in the first week of January." it should be noted that the revamped JobMine with PDF resumé functionality is back online today.

"If you notice an outage of the campus network or any major IST-maintained computing facility, you can leave a voice message with the CHIP help desk at 519-888-4357 or submit a request online," writes Peggy Day. "Voicemail and Request items will be checked daily."

Barring any unexpected system outages, “The Quest student information system and the library's Primo catalogue and database will be available all through the holidays," writes Mark Walker of the Registrar's Office. Please note that Quest support will not be available over the holidays, and any issues that arise will be dealt with in January.

Not all work will grind to a halt over the holidays. A number of construction and renovation projects will continue throughout the break, including construction in B2 corridor 120, ongoing work on the Health Services addition (which is looking quite nice, I must say), work on the second floor of EIT and the installation of power cables in E2 and E3. Minor renovations in the Safety Office (located in the COM), E2, NH, E3, and ESC will also continue, as will work in the renovated sections of DWE and and some finishing touches in the QNC.

Companies and services in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park will set their own holiday schedules.

 

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Looking ahead to that most wintry of terms

Wednesday, January 2 will be the first working day of the Winter 2013 term, although lectures do not start until Monday, January 7. Offices, athletics facilities, libraries, food services and retail outlets will begin re-opening on January 2.

Food Services outlets will come back online starting January 2, with the SLC Subway open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Pastry Plus in Needles Hall open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Davis Centre Tim Hortons from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and South Campus Hall Tim Hortons open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. These hours are in effect from January 2 to January 4, after campus has re-opened but before the start of lectures. REVelation reopens at 11:00 a.m. on January 6, and Mudie's is open on January 6 at 10:00 a.m. The remaining units will reopen on January 7.

The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries will be open for reduced intersession hours between January 2 and 6, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 5:00 p.m. on weekends.

The Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield will be open at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 2.

"All Waterloo residences will re-open at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 6 for residence move-in," writes Sabrina Hutchinson. "Students have until 12 noon on January 7 to check into their rooms and we except to welcome almost 1000 new students to rez for the winter term!"

Retail Services operations will have extended Back to School hours in the New Year with The Book Store, Waterloo Store, and Write Stuff opening at 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 2 to Friday, January 4, and 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 5 and Sunday, January 6. I will announce further extended hours openings after the break.

Winter term orientation for students starting their studies in January will commence on January 6 and run until January 11, 2013, with a number of events on offer. Students can register online to be included. International student orientation takes place at 9:30 a.m.  Sunday, January 6 in the Student Life Centre's multipurpose room.

Feds Used Books opens at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 2.

The Student Awards & Financial Aid office is reminding students that OSAP procedures have changed for 2012-2013 and an electronic process will now be used to confirm enrolment directly with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, instead of the old procedure, which required lining up at the office. As for OSAP availability in the new year, the university o will begin confirming enrolment at the start of classes on January 7, and eligible students will find their OSAP funding deposited to their bank accounts approximately 7 business days after enrolment is confirmed.

Finally, the Daily Bulletin returns on the morning of Wednesday, January 2. Any emergency announcements before that date will be made through a headline on the university's home page.

 

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A thank-you to contributors

The Daily Bulletin is by no means a one-man show. Throughout the past year, I have had the privilege of working with a number of talented people across the university's campuses and beyond who have provided engaging content and hopefully helped you to learn something new about the university community to which you belong. I would like to recognize and thank the following contributors, and if I have forgotten anyone, my sincere apologies (and also sincere thanks):

Christian Aagaard, Amer Abu-Khaji, Dan Ackerman, Angelo Alaimo, Amy Aldous, Stacey Ash, Saeed Bagheri, Marta Bailey, Andrea Banerjee, Dipali Batabyal, Christine Bezruki, Beth Bohnert, Brooke Bondy, Matt Bondy, Avery Broderick, Linda Brogden, Kirsty Budd, Rebecca Burwell, Andrea Chappell, Nancy Collins, Elle Crevits, Mari-Beth Davis, Jude Doble, Michelle Douglas-Mills, Ryan East, Donna Ellis, Livia Fama, Bronwyn Forbes, Chantel Franklin, Nan Gao, Karina Graf, Kim Ho, Colin Hunter, Sabrina Hutchinson, Kajia Hutteri, Emily Huxley, Kate Jenkins, Karen Kawawada, Ryan King, Jennifer Konkle, Lindsay Kroes, Terry Labach, Patty Mah, Jacqueline Martinz, Sheila McConnell, Margaret McKerron, Sharon McFarlane, John Morris, Florence Ngan, Gloria Pageau, Wendy Philpott, Chris Redmond, Angela Roorda, James Skidmore, Pamela Smyth, Mary Stanley, Jodi Szimanski, Myles Tan, Carol Truemner, Sam Toman, Marsha Wendell, and May Yan.

As well, many thanks to those who submitted photographs. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks, and I will see you in 2013!

 

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