Ideas from a resident - Spring 09

[Bret]

b) Beach horse-back riding trip

c) Addressing the movie-watching problem: Buying DVD players for a)
the 6th floor lounge tv bc although there is a TV, the DVD player does
not read the DVDs. b) buying a DVD player for the game room.
Although there is both a Wii and a PS, neither read DVD's.

d) Having an easier way to encourage people to use council funds to
rent instruments that are too big to bring to the US (cello's, tubas
-- yes, there is a tuba player, albeit inactive, amongst us!

e) Buying another water fountain that is a hot-water maker for
another floor other than just the 4th floor

f) Ski/snowshoe cabin rental for a weekend in Kirkwood/South Tahoe

g) Day-sailing trip around Golden Gate - I have a non-resident friend
who has a skipper's license and can charter a boat.

h) Full-moon and half-day kayak trips through Cal Adventures

i) Meditation/stress/self-massage and self-acupressure workshops
(particularly before midterm season or finals)

j) surfing lesson trips around Santa Cruz

k) San Francisco Ballet Swan Lake Feb 21- Mar 1
http://www.sfballet.org/performancestickets/2009season/program3.asp

l) Bay to Breakers race- IHouse team!

m) International dessert party -- once every two weeks, we get people
to teach other people how to make a certain sweet treat (cookies,
puddings, cakes, etc.)

n) Maki and Japanese arcade party - make your own sushi and do DDR,
guitar hero, karoake (American Idol singing or whatever similar game
for Wii). Have a Mac with Photo Booth software to make silly pictures
and later print/post them on a website

o) I-House Olympics in the park by the Rose Garden in May! Teams
have to be international (no Dutch team, etc) made from each floor (so
11 teams total = 8 floors (maybe two teams for the 3rd and 4th floors)
+ 1 team of RA/Night supes/security monitors+ Program Coordinator
Office and staff like Maribel, accounting, computing center, etc. ).
T-shirts are encouraged. Events include: scavenger hunt, tug-of-
love, sack races, wheelbarrow races, orange passes, M&M sorting, most
creative song/dance, eggs on spoon relay, and cardboard sliding in
Rose Garden. Barbecue, silly prizes, lots of photos.

p) alternative Thursdays: buy art supplies (brushes, tape, paper,
washable fingerpaints, crayons, markers, etc), have a cupcake budget
(i.e. cupcake liners), and let people get creative :-D

q) activities that get people out to Oakland (first Fridays or
whatever it's called out here in on the West Coast when the art
galleries open up to everyone) and realize that it's not as scary as
people make it seem

r) hiking trip around Point Reyes

s) Discover a new part of Berkeley day other than Telegraph and
campus - trip to Farmer's Market, Ashby flea market, Rose Garden,
Lawrence Hall of Science, Gourmet Ghetto, Berkeley Marina wind-
surfing, etc.)

t) make renting out the kitchen easier - (not many Europeans use
checks, and with Bank of America, I don't need checks because they
send out checks for bill pay for me) Can you guys brainstorm ideas?
This is not so much as a proposal requiring money, but something that
requires ideas bounced back amongst people who know official
policies. There ought to be a difference between renting the kitchen
key out for a quick baking session as compared to a full-on dinner
that takes more hours and requires more space and use of the gamble
lounge.

u) make signing out the gamble lounge key to the dvd cupboard more
standardized or efficient. Could there be a reservation system? This
would be less of a problem if there were more places in which to watch
movies

v) V is for volunteering! I always thought that the international
community might gain a lot about the different facets of American life
if they get involved in more than student life or middle-class
suburbia. Have regular sign-ups for volunteer days (coordinate a
Habit for Humanity trip, get the group involved with a Rotaract
project, bay clean-up, book-reading day, clothing drive at a women's
shelther, or with the Rotary Clubs...) Give a certificate or
something for completion of so many hours. We could get a driver to
the site...that would be the only budget thing, plus maybe sandwiches
for lunch.