don't think all that taupe is going to hold me back

The room that will be my office at Northwestern is being renovated (in anticipation of my arrival? I'm not sure.) The only part over which I was given input was the choice of paint colors, and then only from the neutral palette. One of my options, though, was called "Marilyn's Dress." I started at Wisconsin in January 2001, which means I'm now in my seventh year post-Ph.D., and so the idea of picking a color that was a reference to Seven Year Itch was so amusing to me that I chose that on those grounds alone.

I haven't decided whether or to what extent I'm going to do up my office with the magnets, science toys, mobiles, and Magic 8-balls like I did at Madison. (A couple people at Madison were fond of bringing visitors by my office when giving tours, with the assessments including "It's sort of like a pediatrician's office" and "It's sort of like a county fair.") On the one hand, I'm more grown-up now. On the other hand, I've thought there might be some virtue on straightaway getting a high calibration on the eccentric-o-meter. An extra digit on the other hand is also that, back when I was in Madison, I had this nagging worry that my office might be perceived as being juvenile and this could adversely affect my tenure; now, I have this nagging worry that it might be perceived as juvenile and, and, eh, so what?