The University of California at Berkeley can be a pretty ghetto school, especially in the southside liberal arts buildings that don't get corporate donors fawning all over them (as opposed to Soda Hall (computer science) up north and the Haas School of Business on the east hill). The last two times I've used this physics building computer lab, I've used two different computers, and each time I've had to contend with a sticky mouse. That's the sort of usability problem that peeves me just enough to get my blood ready to simmer. (Serves three.)

I wonder how I would feel if I attended graduate school, say, at some (gasp!) well-funded university. Smooth pavements? Freshly painted walls? Sofas in well-appointed study areas? Everywhere?! At least after Berkeley I'd be grateful for it.