Jimmy John's (South Gilbert)

I have spent the last week or so trying to figure out what bathroom
this is. I finally remembered, but should the score suffer due to the
seeming unremarkable nature of this easily forgottn bathroom? I feel
like I've written on this topic before, I can't remember.

3/5

Cheba Hut

Cheba Hut is a counter-culture themed sandwich shop. By that, I mean,
weed. For a place that is supposed to cater to people who are looking
for a sandwich to fill the void in their stoned stomach, a trip to the
bathroom seems buzzkillingly complicated.
Finding the bathroom was not overly complicated, but finding my way back almost set my sober mind into a pot-induced state of paranoia. More signage is probably required, or the kind employees of Cheba Hut might start finding the remains of rastas littering the long hallway one must complete, like a maze, to make room for more of the Kool-Aid from the delicious looking fountain.

3/5

George's

I probably go to George's once a week, but this is probably the second
time I've been in the bathroom. The bar always feel so personal to me,
is the bathroom the same way. At first, I thought no. Then I saw this
inscribed on the wall beyond the toilet:

"Workshop: where the aggressively inarticulate get their (like)
teaching certificates."

4/5

Olive Garden

If there is one thing that can really make me feel at home in a public restroom, it's pictures from the old country. By old country, of course, I'm referring to aisle E7 of the nearest Target Superstore.
Vistas of the beloved peninsula with the sounds of Dean Martin and a man coughing up the phleghm of a thousand smoke-filled nights spent in a plaza drinking wine and harrassing the local women assured me that I was receiving an authentic Italian experience, even in the bathroom.
The sink had the high level of quality and care that I have come to expect from a casual dining restaurant, with more bells and whistles than one would see in a rustic village home. Still, it is true that when you pee here, you pee with family.

3/5

Adler Journalism Building

Nearing the end of my academic career, I find myself growing
nolstalgic for the bathrooms I frequented as an undergrad. The places
I spent much of my time, killing time between classes on campus, in a
point in my Iowa City career when I differentiated between campus and
off-campus. When I visited this bathroom before sneaking into a long
film class, preparing for a short nap during the first half hour,
hoping only not to snore and to gain back a bit of the energy I had
lost staying up too late the previous night, knowing I would need the
rest to do the same that night. Those were times I miss, but I have
grown past them. I am a different person now. It's not quite the same
to go back. You feel old. You can't go home again, not really, but
perhaps you can pee there.

3/5

Biology Building East

Free newspapers in the bathroom? City of literature indeed! Don't have the need or time for one right now, thanks. No, no, just passing through, if you get my meaning. Thanks again! 2/5

Mesa Pizza

Toppings are the word when you go to Mesa. You can use toppings to satiate any non-pizza cravings. Want a gyro? Have gyro pizza! Want a taco? Have taco pizza! Want a pizza pizza? Fine, you ingrate, eat up. Going into the bathroom, I was puzzled to see that the toppings carried over into this most private of places. What is that on top of that toilet? What is it, I wonder. I will not eat it, but I shall order a plain toilet with no toppings, in the future, thanks. 2/5

Painting Building First Floor

Hidden bathroom of the painting studio, you are covered in rust that comes from when creativity meets academia, plastic cups for drinking bleach/urine cocktails, art magazines to insulate my coat to brave the cold walk home after a night's work wasted. Hidden bathroom, I wish you had stayed hidden. 2/5

Speakeasy

I'm leaving the bathroom at Speakeasy, the nom de guerre of a house I'm sure is on its way to becoming legend, and I am rather charmingly greeted by this contemplative cowboy. He enters and sits down, pondering and thinking in such seriousness that I would give him as many pennies as I could muster for a single solitary thought. The bathroom was mostly unremarkable, yet unforgettable, as it is the place I will alway remember for my rendezvous with this lone ranger. 4/5

Main Library 2nd Floor North

You are a secret bathroom, this is for sure. I've seen others go in, but you are not well known. More interesting is the room next door to you. The one with the signs that say "attention, we can hear you next door". We can hear everything you are saying next door. If you think you are speaking in private, you are not. If you think you are a secret bathroom, perhaps you are. I still prefer the 5th floor.

3/5

North Hall

The Janitor is IN, but I'm on break and I gotta go. The floor is wet,
I hope not from something gross and awful. This a bathroom, and
even the best case scenario is a little disgusting, but I have shoes on
and I gotta go. I sneak past him, which is easier due to recently
weight loss and I feel bad about interrupting his work, but I gotta
go. The door on the stall doesn't close and he's listening, but I
gotta go. I feel like I can't take a picture, I would wait for him to
leave, but break is almost over. I gotta go.

3/5

Waterfront Hyvee

Waterfront Hyvee, you've been going through so many changes lately.
You've been growing. Developing a greater appreciation for wine and
spirits. Sure, you're not looking your best right now. You look and
probably feel a little bit awkward. But this is something we all go
through. We all understand. It's sometimes hard to go through
something like this, because you don't know some things and people
might not know how to tell you. I just wanna come out and say it. You
have a bathroom problem. I mean, it's fine, nothing too bad, but at
your age, hygiene can become more of an issue, and I'm not trying to
embarass you, but I just want you to be the best you can be, as you go
through this time in your life, with growing pains, blossoming like a
flower to be fertilized. 2/5, but I know you will work on it. I'm
here if you ever want to talk. About anything.

TCB

I remembered this place so differently, so wrongly. I had held up this
bathroom as a bastion of public space, one of the nicest, cleanest
bathrooms in Iowa City. I remembered warmth and comfort. I remembered
wood. Stained, dark wood grains, perhaps oak. I remembered it so
fondly, but with years between visits, it is either my recall or the
bathroom itself that has faded. Once my favorite bathroom, my
inspiration for much of this writing, my heart breaks over what I
found here. How could I have distorted this in my mind so horribly?
Does the bathroom I pine for exist anywhere now, or had it always been
a hallucination, the result of a drunken trip in a bar I did not
frequent? Now it is nothing but barely adequate and instantly
forgettable to most. As for myself, this 3/5 bathroom will always be
one of the great tradgedies of my life.

Sycamore Marcus Theater

I just wanted to let you know I'm getting better. Kind of. I have a
compulsion, you see, or perhaps more of an obsession, a fear perhaps,
that I will sit down to watch a long film, and I'll have to pee the
whole time. I can't go during the picture, you see, I'm no heathen. So
I visit this room once upon arrival at the theater, and once during
the commercials before the trailer, and perhaps I will get a drink of
water, and by this I mean pee again, after the trailers but before the
movie. I can't help it. I am a nervous guy, cinematcally. But I just
wanted to let you know, I'm getting better. Oh, and 3/5.

Buffalo Wild Wings

On this blog, I purport to review more than just the bathroom, I'm in
it for the experience. I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, drinking more iced
tea than perhaps was smart, not necessarily needing to pee. A friend
of mine walks up and tells me that there is a couple having sex in the
men's room?
"A couple guys?
"No, a COUPLE"
Suddenly, I felt the need to investigate. My bladder demanded it. Upon
entering, there were noises. As I tried to tighten my belt with one
hand, my other in a sling, I heard her tell him, "pull your pants up,
I wanna go."
She left as I washed my hands. I rushed out after her to point her out
to my girlfriend. The folks in the bar saw a girl rush out, and a guy
in a sling pointing and laughing, thinking that he made up the male
half of the couple. Average bathroom, memorable experience, slightly
above average score: 4/5

RagStock

The "work" bathroom has always been a very important place for me.Just as smokers have always been able to lay claim to extra breaks in order to smoke, I have always made sure I give myself extra breaks throughout the workday to use the restroom, even if I don't have to go. This "resting" can often just mean sitting there, doing nothing but enjoying not talking to anyone and not being on your feet. At jobs in the past, I have pretty much turned restrooms into unofficial offices. Not so at RagStock. The bathroom is nice enough, I actually appreciate the character of the room quite a bit. Perhaps I enjoy the work more, and don't find the need to take refuge. Perhaps I feel self conscious that it's not hidden away in a corner somewhere, like employee bathrooms often are. I guess I will have to contemplate this next time I work. Maybe in the bathroom, which I will be rating a 3/5. More likely I'll be tagging shirts on the sales floor. I like it out
there.

Saloon

Saloon, this I am sure of. Looks a lot like Pints. Or at least I think
that was Pints. You see, I had been drinking. At that time I mean. I
suppose I had been drinking at Saloon, but not so much that I have a
hard time remembering where and when I peed that day and this time, I
had no trouble identifying my bathroom pictures. Sometimes it can be
hard. I wonder if the people at Pints know their bathroom is a bit
generic. It would be unfair to rate this bathroom much lower than
their's. It doesn't have that white bit to look at. This is either a
good thing or a bad thing. I'll give it a 3/5 while I decide.

Slippery Pete's

I have often thought that the bathroom at ETC was one of the absolute
worst bathrooms I have ever seen. Completely covered in stainless
steel, it almost begged for you to pee just anywhere, knowing that
they were just gonna hose the whole place down later. Well, as ETC
became Slippery Pete's, I had hoped that the trans-Atlantic influence
would mean a change in the lavatory as well. I was wrong and the
bathroom remained slippery. No walls, no toilet paper, just a giant
room in which one could pee, with little difference between the urinal
and the floor. I'll look out into the bar through the tacky one-way
mirror with sadness as I use this 1/5 room.

Pints

This is Pints, I think. I'm not quite sure. I did have a few drinks,
you know. And I know I went at Pints. This must be the picture. It
must be, I think. I remember this bathroom, seeing that white bit on
the wall, wondering what it might be. I was a bit distracted, I did
have a few drinks you know. I do remember this being a comfortably
dark, clean, roomy, and pleasant bathroom. I didn't stay in this 3/5
bathroom very long, I was having a few drinks, you know.

Quinton's

Far away, in a dark, damp place you will find this less than lovely
lavatory. Though technically this room is big enough for quite a few
people, I'm not sure that's a good thing. Whether it is more harrowing
to go into this cave alone or to enter and finds others waiting, I am
not sure. I am sure that I don't want to find out. I have been to
Quinton's many times since starting this blog, but tonight was the
first time since that I ventured back to this hole. I wish it were to
be the last. This 2/5 makes holding it indefinitely sound like a safe
option.