Dear Flu-Like Symptioms,

You are not alone.  Many students have had to miss classes to regain their strength and to prevent the spread of H1N1.  Please bear in mind that under long standing policy, University Health Services does not issue medical excuses to ill students. The CDC recently affirmed this approach as an important means for mitigating the burden a severe flu season will have on university and local health
service providers.

Therefore the responsibility is yours to communicate with your PE teacher.  Let them know your past symptoms and your course of action.  Work with them to develop a plan to make up the sessions or other alternatives.

Do this immediately.  Teachers and professors want to take care of these absence cases right away.  They will be much less symtathetic if you go to them at the end of the semester and say you missed class due to illness.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Drowning,

Sorry that you have been inundated by those trying to help others.

Assuming it's a Cornell-hosted mailing list, you can leave the list by emailing listname-request@cornell.edu (replacing listname with the name of the mailing list, including the -l) with a message with a blank subject that simply has the word leave as the entire body of the message.  So if you were on a mailing list spam-l, you would email spam-l-request@cornell.edu a message that has no subject and the word "leave" in the body. Instructions (with pictures!) for doing this can be found at http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html.

Alternatively, if you're a bit more technically inclined, there is a link in the header of every message you receive from a Cornell mailing list that is marked "List-Unsubscribe" - click this link and click send and you're done.

Hope that this helps and leaves you spamless.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Curious,

If you are in the Arts and Sciences College you would need to meet with an advising dean to petition to go below 12 credits.  A first semester freshman can do so relatively easily.  All other students need to make a case for being 'underhours.'  Direct "Curious" to 55 Goldwin Smith (if a freshman or soph.) or 172 GS.

If you are in one of the other colleges at Cornell, please check with your Academic Advising or Student Services Office. 

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Tree Lover,

Over the summer, a tree inventory project was conducted by Fred Cowett, a Ph.D. student in horticulture, and Chris Gruber, a third-year graduate student in landscape architecture. In the course of two months, the project identified 7,205 trees, ranging across 225 species, throughout Cornell’s campus.

Here is an answer from Fred Cowett:

"There is a large diversity of tree species planted on the Cornell Campus (over 200 species) so it is a bit difficult to know for certain which trees are being referred to.  However, in front of Balch Hall facing Thurston Ave are some large Northern Red and Black Oaks (Quercus rubra and Quercus velutina respectively); there are several large English Elms (Ulmus procera) inside the Balch Courtyard as well as a good sized European Spindletree (Euonymus europaeus); and there are many large Honeylocusts (Gleditsia triacanthos) in the quad flanked by Clara Dickson, Court, and Bauer Halls.  Honeylocusts have compound leaves and perhaps this is the tree species being referred to."

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Night Driver,

There are many places to park on campus after 5 without a permit.  Look at the Cornell Transportation website to see which lots are closest to Comstock.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Southern Driver,

Driving in the snow can sometimes be difficult for those of us who have been here for decades.  On the other hand it might be a mild winter.  No telling how you will do, but if you are nervous about it already, that is one reason to leave your car at home.  The other might be the expense of parking it...over $600 a year, probably prorated per semester, but I'm not sure.  See the Cornell Transportation site for more information, http://www.transportation.cornell.edu/tms/parking/campusparking/students/undergraduate/index.cfm.

Better option, use Carshare...much cheaper.  Cars right there when you need them and you can feel free to take the bus when it is snowing and drive when the weather is nice.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Bus Rider,

With University Avenue closed for the Milstein and Johnson Art projects, the bus cannot make the West Campus swing. I think we can anticipate the detour will end when the road reopens, which will be a while.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Old-school Nephews,

Before talking firewood, your Uncle wants to make sure this fireplace and chimney are in good working condition (professionally cleaned and inspected), all of which may be the landlord’s responsibility — but your neck is on the line if something goes wrong.  Creosote in unclean chimneys catches on fire very easily.

Okay? Let’s go shopping with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Brett Chedzoy, a specialist in natural resources in nearby Schuyler County, who advises: “The most practical way to get firewood would be to buy seasoned firewood delivered to the door.  There are still a few vendors in Schuyler Co who sell delivered firewood for ~$150/full cord (4x4x8’), but the going price is probably closer to $200 in Ithaca.  Any of the local pennysavers or Ithaca Times (or craigslist-Ithaca} have ads.  Wood should be seasoned for at least three months (possibly less if Ash), but preferably longer.  Unseasoned wood produces creosote which causes chimney fires - deadly!

Note that the vendor will dump the wood in a pile wherever they can reasonably reach with their pickup or small dump truck – they won’t stack the wood for the delivered price.”

Be there to accept delivery; find out where the landlord wants the wood stacked and how to keep it dry.  If a “full cord” is too much for occasional fireplace use, you might be able to get delivery on a “face cord,” which is about one-third as much wood and should cost somewhat less.  Supermarkets sell wrapped bundles of firewood (and artificial logs to light the evening’s fire lit) but CCE Agent Chedzoy knows of no U-cut opportunities hereabouts. He directs you to the forest manager (http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/arnot/) at the University’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in Van Etten, NY (607) 589-6095.  You will need training in chainsaw safety, he adds.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Global Health minor,

The course is indeed on the list of the Global Health minor's elective courses that count toward the degree. So it'll count, regardless of the grade option, as a half course.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Achiever,

Cornell makes the daily exercise easy, just climb the hills to classes.  Scheduling in a regular exercise routine is usually the best bet for success.  If you can choose something you enjoy (dancing, tennis, volleyball, hiking, working out in the gym) and plan to do it with a friend you will be even more likely to follow through.

Uncle Ezra