It's a new semester and that means it's time to recap mysteries on campus, both new and old.

For example, has anybody else seen the new "shopping cart barrier" in the SDH foyer? What exactly is that for? Do they have a big problem with people taking things that roll from one door to the next while in between the doors?

Another thing I wonder about is the signs in DeBartolo that loudly scream: NO FOOD OR DRINK PERMITTED IN CLASSROOMS! Who puts these up? Does anyone pay any attention to them? Is it not enough that there are no posters posted in DeBartolo's sterile hallways? Are we in high school? Are we incapable of cleaning up after ourselves when we eat?

As if Mother Nature were watching us, after a basically clement first semester, it began snowing the INSTANT students began arriving on campus. The first day of class was filled with slush. D6 is a nightmare. Does the administration have a direct line to God? Do they call God up and say, "Hey, we think it would be pretty funny if those professors and students had to slog through snow on their fist day back; could you arrange that for us?" Or is it sort of an independent smiting from God, perhaps a commentary on our athletic ethics?

There are STILL no clocks in O'Shaughnessy. What is so hard about putting up a few clocks? They managed to put benches in Decio and hang the doors backwards on the first floor of O'Shag to stop the "nose broken by swinging door" trend. What's so hard about clocks?

Speaking of clocks and O'Shag, is the clock on the front of O'Shag EVER going to work?

Who in the registrar's office is out to get me? When I signed up for my classes, they were scheduled in normal places. Two of them were moved, and now I begin on the third floor of DeBartolo, have to book it to 925 Flanner, and then back to O'Shag for my third class. What did I ever do to the registrar? I thought that was the one office on campus I've managed NOT to irritate in my four years here.

How much did the Basilica spend on the decorations for Advent? How much of that money could have gone to the CSC missions? Not that they weren't pretty, just that it makes you wonder.

Do the voice mail lady and the DART man have something going on?

Why is it impossible to extract the bottles from the soda machines that dispense bottles? Couldn't they have made the openings a little bigger to make it easier to get the bottles out? Does anybody else have this problem? Does anybody else feel like an idiot when five people are waiting behind you to get their soda and you can't get yours out of the machine?

Who planned that winding road that goes from Main Gate to the Rockne Memorial? It's far too narrow and everybody speeds on it. It's only a matter of time.

Why does everyone go to dinner promptly at 6 p.m.? Why is nobody ever on time for anything else?

How many more awards can Father Hesburgh win? Does he have them all yet? Where does he keep them?

And finally, does it bother anyone else when people pronounce it "Notra" Dame?

• Mysteries of Notre Dame