I spent a full day at the EAB in Washington, drinking from the higher-education-research fire hose. Luckily the lobby offers two visual distractions — one moss-covered wall and another decked out with cylindrical beads.

Each bead is engraved with the name of a member institution. I found UW-Madison and UMaine. By coincidence, Edgewood College is located adjacent to the Maine bead… something I did not notice until I loaded the image onto a larger screen.

Yes, I’m told they water the wall daily. No word on bead maintenance.