ISI Orbs of Joy

ISI Orbs of Joy FAQ

• What are the OOJ?
• Care and feeding
• History of the OOJ
• Timeline
• About the logo on the reverse
• Table of color schemes, Orbmasters, and owners of specimen
• List of Orbettes
• The Joy of OOJ Assembly (separate page)
• The Joy of Orbmastering
• Y2K Compliance Statement

PLEASE send additional information to the Orbmaster

What are the OOJ?

The Orbs of Joy are ornamental spheres of holiday wonderment. They are distributed each year near the ISI Holidays Party.

They are inscribed with names and dates, using both metallic and non-metallic paint pens, and are hung with a festive loop and bow. The obverse is inscribed with the owner's name (first name, sometimes including last initial or last name). The reverse is inscribed with the year of their distribution and an equally festive rendition of the former ISI logo.

Though round, they are not funny.

Care and feeding

The OOJ are distributed with their own OOJ food, usually a candy cane, but sometimes a pack of other candy.  OOJ, like the current Orbmaster, are fueled by sugar. Do not attempt to feed them anything healthy, and don't let them get wet or feed them after midnight.

Orbs are now (as of 2005) hung with nonmarking tape on the recipients' door frame or nearby wall, to avoid the holes left by pushpins (the previous method). Alternately, if tape is not available, orbs are left on the recipient's desk. Orbs are, however, safe to leave unattended.

History of the Orbs of Joy

The OOJ were started by Chloe Holg (pictured here at ISI's 15th Anniv, with Keith Uncapher, ISI's first director, in 1987), an ISI employee, as a contribution to the Holiday spirit. At this time, ISI held its Holidays Party on-site, in the 11th floor conference room. Volunteers decorated, provided music, arranged for (and sometimes brought their own) dinner and desserts. The Orbs were Chloe's way of participating. Chloe used to call herself "Cruise Director," and was the self-appointed director/encourager of morale and fun, as Sheila Coyazo recalled in 1999.

By 1992, the position of Orbmaster had passed to Linda Louie (Mizushima).  That year, Joe Touch arrived at ISI and began to assist in orb preparation for Division 7. In 1994, he assumed the role of Orbmaster from Linda, and has held it since.

Timeline:

• 2010 - the year that almost didn't have orbs!
• 1998 - the sweeping letter ISI logo is no more, but persists on the orb!
• 1994 - Joe Touch started doing the ISI logo on the back
• 1994 - Joe Touch subsumes the role of Orbmaster
• 1991 - Linda Mazushima is Orbmaster
• ~1982? - Chloe Holg, the original Orbmaster, started it all

About the logo on the reverse

Since 1994, Joe has been putting the (then) ISI logo on the back of the orbs, in addition to  the current year. The logo is a rendition of ISI's sweeping letter logo, which dates back (anyone know to when?). That logo was retired around 1998, and has been replaced by (in 1998) a USC/ISI logo, involving either stacked Times-font letters or the USC seal, and more recently (2001) by a sweeping swirl blue and silver logo, which recently morphed into more traditional USC colors in 2002. Because these newer logos are prohibitive to render on an orb using a paint pen, and in honor of ISI's past, the old logo persists today (excepting 2006-present, because Joe is on an IPA assignment with the USAF).

Color Schemes, Orbmasters, and specimen owners:

Orbettes

An Orbette is an assistant to the Orbmaster, and has helped produce the Orbs. Orbettes organize orbs alphabetically for distribution, but their names are listed in arbitrary order, for no apparent reason.
 

The Joy of Orbmastering

Being an orbmaster is simple, but requires a little advance planning. Typically the materials are obtained in mid-November, just before Thanksgiving. At least three weeks are planned for assembly, with the goal of distributing the Orbs on the morning of the ISI Holiday Party, which has ranged from early to mid-December. Here are the steps and ingredients:

Steps:

• Send mail to previous Orbettes in particular, and to ISI in general, requesting participation
• Obtain a list of ISI staff (typically reuse the previous year's).
• Assign one Orbette from each division to verify the names on the list; names should be spelled correctly, use nicknames if applicable.
• EVERYONE working at ISI when orbs are assembled receives an orb; they need not be on payroll. In general, everyone with a nameplate for sure, and anyone else who wants one.

Ingredients (numbers vary from year to year; we typically get 5-10% extra to account for breakage):

1. 360 2" glass ornaments
   • typically 22 boxes of 15 @$1.99/box at Target
2. 360 2' lengths of 1/4" wide ribbon
   • typically 22 10-yard spools @ $0.44/spool at Michaels
3. 360 small (2-3" tall) candy canes
   • typically 60/box @ $1.50/box at SaVon
4. 5 wide-tip permanent paint pens
   • typically Deco brand @$4.50/pen at Michaels
   • make sure these are the toxic ones; non-toxic won't stick to the orb.
   • Gold and silver Sanford brand pens can be obtained from the Business Office via advance (1-2 week) order
5. 2 boxes of pushpins or nonmarking tape (as desired)
   • obtained from the Business Office in the supplies closet; no advance order is typically required, unless single-color (vs. assorted) is desired

Y2K Compliance Statement

The OOJ have always used 4-digit date codes on the reverse, and so have always been Y2K compliant.

Footnotes:

• The movie "Raising Arizona,"  1987.
• The movie Gremlins, 1984.
• # The official "Millenium Edition" ISI orb.
• * 2.5" size for ISI's 25th anniversary. Others from 1992-present are 2". Sizes before 1992 varied.
• ** this year, a handful of orbs are green, due to a severe shortage of fully-ripend silver orbs.