Grad office dress code

The dress code in my office (population: 10 grad students, with about 20 more who walk through to get to the kitchen and go to seminars) is casual: jeans and t-shirts are normal. There are a few people who dress up on days that they lecture to undergrads, or just wear collared t-shirts or polo shirts. Informal dress is standard.

Now that the weather is summery, some people have switched from a t-shirt and jeans to a t-shirt and shorts. That's fine. Today is particularly sunny and warm (84F, 29C) and so I am wearing a sun dress. It is modest (school-appropriate) and comfortable, made of cotton and tie-dyed. I think of it as a very casual garment, the sort of thing I'd wear over a bathing suit when going to the beach.

I have received several comments from my fellow grad students (all men) to the effect of "why are you all dressed up?" and "isn't that a bit formal for the office?" No. It's very casual. I wouldn't wear this to a formal event, or even a normal dress-code-abiding office, because I would look frumpy in a wrinkly tie-dye sun dress. I tried to explain this to one of them, but he just didn't get it.

I eagerly await the return of the (only) other female grad student (in this research group).


This post's theme word: peignoir, "negligee."

Levels of security, irony

My official academic registration with the university does not have my correct name. It's missing my middle name. This record originated with my application to graduate school, where there was no separate field for middle name and so I only entered my first and last. (It must have originated there -- on all other documents, including the passport on which I entered the country, my name is complete.) Now that I'm getting a diploma, I'd like my name -- my full name -- to be on it.

In order to change my on-record name, I need to present a birth certificate (back in the US), a baptismal certificate (same), a marriage certificate (?), or a court name change. But my name hasn't changed! I think it's ridiculous that the barrier for changing the record is so high when there was no security limiting the creation of the record. How ironic. Or whatever. (If you're applying this year, test the system and give yourself a fake middle name, like "Awesome.")

Apparently a non-Canadian passport is also sufficient, so that's what I'll be using.

[UPDATE 5/27: My passport was sufficient, and now my name is changed. At least, in the system that prints diplomas and transcripts. It might still be wrong in other places.]

This post's theme comic is a statement on irony: