Members Only

Thursday was a temporary glimpse into the lap of luxury -- I had both lunch and dinner at members only clubs.

Lunch was a gathering of some of the women in the department. One of my colleagues is a member at the Carolina Club, the campus alumni center, and so we went there for lunch. (Any faculty member is allowed to join -- apparently we're somehow grandfathered in as honorary alumni if we're willing to pony up enough cash to the alumni association -- but it's fairly expensive, so not many of us younger folks do it. One of my colleague's relatives is an alum and retired faculty member, so he gives her family the membership as a Christmas gift each year.) It's quite a swanky place, the type that has little baskets in the restroom with hairspray, mouthwash, and other odds and ends that someone might need on their evening out. The dining room had beautiful big windows overlooking a pretty outdoor view, and a tasty lunch buffet that was actually quite reasonably priced. One of the cool parts is that one of the hallways is decorated with huge wooden carvings of circus animals -- if only I'd had my camera with me!

Dinner was an Eckerd event at the University Club in Durham (jackets required for gentlemen). It turns out that the University Club is the top floor of the big glass tower that stands above everything else on the Chapel Hill side of Durham. It's visible from miles away, and it looks like it ought to be something really special because it's the only tall building around. It's a landmark, but when we asked people what it was, the answer was "oh, just an office building." So, we were very excited just to get to go inside it and learn more about this mystery building! Most of it is, in fact, offices, but the 17th floor is the University Club (I believe the University, in this case, is Duke.) It has a great view, although since it was already dark by the time our event started, we didn't get to take full advantage of it. One of the people hosting the event said that in the daytime, you could see all the way to UNC's campus.

The event itself was very nice; there were people there from different graduating classes, and even a student who will be enrolling as a freshman next year. We didn't know anyone beforehand except for the person from development and one retired professor (if you're reading this, Chris, Howard Carter remembered you and said hello), but it was a friendly group, and it was fun to hear about all the different things people were doing (our table included a lawyer working with migrant farm workers, a guy whose hobby was building electric cars, and a woman who's in charge of lots of the logistical and procurement operations at Duke). And as usual, President Eastman gave a great speech about all the wonderful things that were going on at EC.

Another high point was the amazing dessert. It was a chocolate mousse/souffle, with a bowl of whipped cream on the side -- but then they came around and poured hot liquid chocolate into the mousse. Yum!!!

I'm sure this pampering will be followed at some point by a request for donations, which we will be happy to give once we're a two-income family again. :)