Grad House Opens Sept 8

At long last the renovations are done!
Amand and Alyshia (above) are among the staff returning (in groovy new shirts!).

We are celebrating the completion of the Summer of Renovations with a low-cost barbecue lunch September 8.

We are also opening at 10 am Sept 8 and selling coffee and cookies prior to the lunch rush.

Regular opening hours 11:30 am.

Come by and check out the spanking new kitchen!

Some new features to watch for:

New menu featuring fresh, local food
During renovations our Chef and Manager, Alan King-Jones toured farms all over southern Vancouver Island. The Grad House will feature lots of local fare--all our meat, seafood, eggs, cheese, milk and yes, hazelnuts (!) will be from southern Vancouver Island. As much of the produce will also be local, whenever it is in season. All smoked food will be smoked in house now--including salmon, tomatoes, and chicken. Don't worry--your favourites like yam fries and the house-smoked chicken sandwhich will still be there!

Watch for our menu launch at the end of the month!

David Clode Room offers grad student hangout
You asked for grad student space, and you got it. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday the small half of the restaurant is a lounge for grad students and has no food service. The small room is being renamed the "David Clode Room" in honour of Mr. David Clode who served UVic students for over 40 years and retired this summer. David was an AMS chair, then manager of the AMS, helped found the GSS, was a key part of founding the UVic childcare, and has been a tireless supporter of students for his entire working career. We will miss having him on our side in the meetings with UVic admin!!

We recognized a restaurant doesn't always feel like the best place to spread out your books and study, or to bring your own lunch, so the David Clode will be open whenever the building is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (ie 8am to 9pm) for grad students to come hang out by the fireplace, bring your lunch, read a book. We are moving the lovely flat screen tv in there, along with all the comfy couches. Come by and relax in your space!

The Grad House will expand into the David Clode Room and offer table service on Thursdays and Fridays.

Take home dinners
Beginning this fall the Grad House will offer dinners you can pick up and take home on those long nights of studying when cooking seems impossible to manage. All in compostible containers made of corn that can go in your oven!!

New look for meeting rooms
We know grad students want to have social meetings for students in their departments--but when you need to book the restaurant the minimum catering charges can be too much for a student group. It was often the case that people didn't want to have their social meeting in the meeting rooms because they were too officey. So... we have repainted the meeting rooms (rooms 108-112) a warm brown colour that does not look like an office, and will be making them truly multipurpose as we upgrade the furniture over the next year.

TVs for sale!

TVs made redundant by renovation are up for best offer. First priority is any grad student group or department that can make use of these TVs. If such a need exists, the TV can be provided for free. Failing that, its best offer at Friday, March 29th. email me at gssmgr [-at-] uvic.ca

Big thing gets moved

I think this is some kind of venting system for the grill.

Working during a reno

Well, I never really believed the office part of the reno would be done exactly on time. Looks like it will take two weeks, rather than just the one week we all took off and closed the office.
As such, the staff are camped out amongst our haphazardly boxed office supplies and records.

Here's Juliet valiantly checking her email at the one internet-connected computer!

It's all for the good, however, as the result will be a better workspace for the staff.

We are adding two private office spaces, which will mean (for me) I can talk to students in private when they come for advice or support, and for our bookkeeper, she can have some quiet and order in a room also used for Executive and staff meetings.

Here's a peek at the main GSS office thus far:

This is the view in from the door. Directly ahead students will see the person to talk to, and there will now be a waiting area for students to sit down if there is a line.

Perhaps we should get a video game terminal in the waiting room like my son's dentist?

One thing about this renovation, you can really see how dirty our office carpet is. Yech!

Rename the IQ contest

Hey! We are renaming Room 114 (currently "IQ Bistro") because I just cant take being made fun of for using an acronym that claims "intelligence" at the same time as misspelling "quisine" for one day longer.

Got a great idea of what the grad students's restaurant should be named? Submit it to gsscomm@uvic.ca --you could win a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant formerly known as IQ.

What about the small side, you ask? Well that is just about the worst kept secret on campus... what has happened to your gossip networks?

Dig it!

There's really no going back now! The digger is in the back ripping out our GSS delivery drive.

I must say I greet this with a bit of relief. Deadlines for completion being what they are, and the demand for construction workers being so high, I was nervous the whole week between the GSS Executive approving the release of capital funds, and the various levels of approval going from my notice up to the Vice President Finance office, and then the letter to the contractors to say they can go ahead.

Hopefully, now all our various levels of approval and bureaucracy are done, construction will speed along handily. (I will keep you posted on progress!)

Going, going, GONE

Well, congrats to Biochemistry & Microbiology and English departments who have grad reps that are quick on the draw! (I love grad reps that read email from me!)

They are each taking one couch and one chair. . . so if you find yourself nostalgic for the 90's IQ Bistro, wander over to their departments and have a seat.

Have a seat!

From June 10 to June 20, the offer stands to any grad reps (or their delegate) to obtain one or more of these old blue leather couches or chairs for FREE for use by graduate students in their department grad space. This offer applies to the couches an chairs in the photo, not the newer ones in IQ Bistro.

The couches are large and heavy (but comfy) and quite scratched. Check you really have space before you send a request:

There are two couches: 84"W x 37"D x 36"H
and two chairs: 40"W x 37"D x 36"H

Offers from department grad reps will be taken via email to gssmgr[at]uvic.ca on a first come first served basis until June 20 at 10 am.

June 23-July 2 grad students can request to take one of the items home at their own cost of removal. (no charge). Also first come first served, by emailing gsscomm [at] uvic.ca.

You will be required to show valid UVIC GRAD ID to obtain the chairs for personal use.

On July 2, the any chairs/couches remaining will be removed by UVic for resale or disposal.

It's a go!

In an exec meeting June 9, the GSS accepted a bid for kitchen renovations and office renovations from PRIMA construction. PRIMA is already working on several projects at UVIC.

The cost of the project, along with associated capital costs, is within the budget approved by GSS members at the Special General Meeting, and the GSS does not anticipate borrowing any funds to complete the work.

Al, the restaurant manager wasted no time in selling the old kitchen equipment. June 10 most of the kitchen equipment was removed.


Mike was kind enough to allow me to record the moment he removed the salad prep table for blogging posterity! (Good old prep table!)

One thing I will certainly not miss is the display case (commonly known as the "evil muffin coller" around the office. We have been putting off the removal until the renovation for as long as I have been here--since removing it leaves a huge gaping hole in our bar on the small side of the restaurant. This it sat, full of creamers and catsup.Noisy and ugly, I look forward to our new bar where once this beast sat gurgling and whirring its fan.

Opening the bids

So... nothing is settled yet, but the latest update is there was an "opening of the bids" June 5. Larry (from Facilities Management) made fun of me for bringing a camera so of course I have to put his picture up. Here is Larry, Carl and the other fella:Larry is in the middle--he's our project manager from UVIC. Carl has the fancy tie--he is the architect who is overseeing the reno (and who designed the Halpern Grad Centre in the first place!). The other fella is the other fella.
More news Monday.