Turns out that biking to and from soccer practice might be a bit too much to ask of kiddo in a single night. At least I got to chat kids and bikes with one of the other soccer dads.

I’m getting this second-hand, but it sounds like the textbook for one of our classes is giving students the impression that Aaron Swartz was a cybercriminal, and now I have lots of curriculum questions.

“By the way, daddy, I don’t really have laser eyes. I just made that up as part of the game.”

Doing some quick math to compare how old I was when I first watched Star Wars to kiddo’s current age. Also hoping my parents haven’t tossed out the cassettes I got at that age in case I want to hunt down a VHS player and watch it that way.

I’ve never really gotten any practical use out of my political science minor from college (understandable, since it was mostly a way to recoup classes after changing majors), but I appreciate how it makes me look smart to my spouse when we watch politically-themed media.

Several times in recent weeks, I’ve packed a lunch, “realized” I’d forgotten a fork, rushed to add one to my lunch bag, and then opened my lunch on campus to find two forks in there. I often joke that I became a professor because I already had the “absent-minded” part down, but still…

“You’re not a dentist. You’re just my parent who occasionally checks my teeth.”

This week has enough writing (and deadlines!) that the utilitarian appeal of ChatGPT is finally clear to me; and yet, it’s also so much clearer that I would rather do fewer things well and on my own.

Okay, my new favorite fun fact about myself for ice breaking activities is that Wil Wheaton has read my name aloud as part of his recording of a Cory Doctorow audiobook.

My Apple Watch is generous and congratulates me for a full night’s sleep even if I miss my goal by a few minutes. My body, on the other hand, is more demanding and keeps reminding me I needed more sleep.

Present me forgot to take pseudoephedrine this morning and was dreading having a congestion headache all day, but past me left a stash in my campus office that I’ve just raided. Thanks, past me!

Everyone else seems to be getting over The Family Cold, so if I can just avoid catching it in the first place, we’ll be on track for a fun weekend.

Trying to figure out which circle of hell it is when three people in a row fail to recognize a message is coming from a university listserv and reply all with “hey, think you meant to send this to someone else!”

I spent 12 hours last week working on a small, open journal’s WordPress site, and I came away from that with a new, begrudging respect for what they’ve done with the Gutenberg site builder. The same things that made me cranky in terms of my personal site make sense for larger scale projects.

“Dad, what’s a… lunch-ee-on?” “A Luncheon? It’s an evolution of Eevee. Lunch-type Pokémon.” “Dad! No, it’s not!”

It’s remarkable how much of my service in academic organizations has come down to “oh, hey, you know WordPress, don’t you?”

Sometimes, a run produces a runner’s high and sometimes it just makes me tired the rest of the day. Stayed up too late last night, so there’s a lot riding on this morning’s outcome.

I think what bothers me about “improving learning” approaches to educational technology is that it tends to prioritize utilitarianism at the expense of everything else. Ethical concerns about AI don’t matter if grades go up, what students should learn about is largely shoved aside, and so forth.

Can anyone recommend a newsletter/CRM platform for a small academic organization with a limited budget? I’m managing our membership and emails through Mailchimp right now, but they’re pivoting hard to AI, and I’m ready to leave once I find a solid alternative.

I like that there’s a They Might Be Giants lyrics bot to follow on Mastodon, but I’m dealing with a lot more TMBG songs stuck in my head these days.

Hier soir, j’ai rêvé d’une France post-apocalyptique où les Parisiens ne reconnaissaient plus les noms des villes « en province ». Juste avant de me réveiller, je partais à pied explorer un pays oublié et enneigé.

I’d love to complete a seminary degree one day, but I’m also having to convert the ten hours of video lectures for the non-credit church class I’m taking to audio so I can squeeze them in at 2x speed while I do dishes, so I doubt I’ll get to that part of my bucket list anytime soon.

English speakers who insist on pronouncing “coup de grâce” without the final /s/ sound are actually saying “coup de gras,” which evokes pelting someone with a lump of fat.

Après un vélotaf sous la pluie, une tisane à la réglisse fait beaucoup de bien.

Le vélotaf exige de l’effort—surtout quand l’ascenseur est en panne au bureau et on doit monter son vélo électrique au 2ème étage par l’escalier.