How to forget winter and spring into spring

1. Hit the sidewalks. UI Wellness has maps of several walking routes through campus and downtown. Routes are one-half mile to 1.75 miles in length, and maps are available to print from the UI Wellness web site at www.uiowa.edu/hr/wellness/index.html. Or create your own route around the Pentacrest to enjoy the new dome. Vigorous walking for at least 30 minutes can burn anywhere from 180 to 250 calories. For more on the benefits of walking, go to www.uihealthcare.com/reports/familymedicine/010702walk.html.

2. Pass it on. You can enjoy bouquets of spring flowers and so can your coworkers—when you share. Bring a colorful bunch of tulips, daisies, or whatever you fancy to work with you, enjoy them at your workspace for an hour or two, then give them to someone else and ask them to do the same.

3. Calling all green thumbs. All employees in USB have been invited to bring bulbs, seeds, or cuttings of plants they have at home and enter a drawing where participants exchange what they brought with others. FSG has been doing this in fall and spring for a while now; other departments may want to make it a tradition, too.

4. Couch potato alert. All those who spent the winter lounging in front of the tube: April 21-27 is National TV Turnoff Week. Join Family Services and UI Wellness in celebrating by vowing to participate in family activities in and around Iowa City. Make the commitment and you could even win a prize. To find out more, visit www.uiowa.edu/hr/wellness.

5. Celebrate Mother Earth. April 22 is Earth Day. Mark the occasion by joining others on campus for some spring cleaning and enviro-conscious activities. The UI Environmental Coalition is sponsoring several events, including a presentation of a documentary on mining in the Appalachian Mountains by Sasha Waters, assistant professor of comparative literature, at 7 p.m., April 21, 40 SH; a lecture on the effects of factory farming in Iowa at 7 p.m., April 22, 345 IMU; and a campus cleanup along the riverside, early afternoon, April 24.

6. Laugh your head off. Exercise your funny bone and your quick wit. It’s National Humor Month. For starters, attend The Flea in Her Ear, the Department of Theatre Arts’ final offering in the 2002-03 University Theatres Mainstage season, April 10-20 in E.C. Mabie Theatre. This classic French farce offers nonstop mixups and mayhem as a woman plots to trap her innocent husband in an infidelity.

7. Say thanks! Find a campus grounds-keeper and say thank you—for the snow removal of the past months and the promise of beautiful lawns and flower beds to come. Or just be nice for no reason at all. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation offers inspiration: www.actsofkindness.org.

8. Go fly a kite. Go outside for lunch or a break. Take a friend and a Frisbee. Pack a picnic. Fly a kite. Blow bubbles. Jump rope. Enjoy the season!

Article by compiled by Amy Schoon, fyi associate editor, and Nancy Noyer, program associate for UI WorkLife