Over a decade ago, when I was discovering British TV, I imagined a ridiculous hypothetical crossover of all my favorite shows. For example, Sir Humphrey from ‘Yes, Minister’ turned out to be the Master from ‘Doctor Who.’

In 2022, I joined the prescription sunglasses club. It’s great, but it requires making certain I’m packing any glasses I’m not wearing. That failed yesterday, so I’m wearing old, scratched indoor glasses until I can get my good ones from work.

Looking at the haul of new library books in our living room today, I realized that we’re both a family that buys a lot of books and a family that saves huge amounts of money thanks to the library.

Sounds like my tenure application has completed unit-level review and is on its way to college review. I guess there’s time for a sigh of relief before I start holding my breath again.

I love that I got to vote early this year, but it also means I keep forgetting that today is Election Day.

Le mec sur RTS Option Musique dit que Johnny Hallyday a fait une version française de « Sweet Home Alabama », et je ne sais pas comment réagir.

A mentor in Community of Christ is encouraging me to attend the April 2023 World Conference—and even to register as a voting delegate. The idea of a church conference that asks for bottom-up consensus is very different than my previous, top-down ecclesiastical experience.

Kiddo is coming with me to class this afternoon, which is fun—but complicated by the fact that my lecture today is the most controversial and ‘adult’ of the semester for this class. Still, maybe a kid will have important insight on controversies surrounding content moderation?

I worry about how often events in my country seem to echo the Dreyfus Affair of late 19th/early 20th century France. As one author put it, truth and justice were set aside by those who perceived them as threats to their vision of the country.

Kiddo after waiting and watching patiently while I filled out ballot at early voting: ‘I have to admit, that was pretty fun!’

I feel like I am constantly fine-tuning how I do assessments in my classes. I want to trust students and avoid policing them, but I’m frustrated when they respond to this approach by acting like it exempts them from attending class and participating.

Finished reviewing my ballot for early voting tomorrow!

Hier, je voulais identifier une chanson française dont je me souvenais. Je ne savais ni son titre ni son auteur—juste que le mot « admiration » figurait plusieurs fois parmi ses paroles. Grâce à DuckDuckGo et pas mal d’effort mental, je l’ai trouvée ! « Bidon » de Alain Souchon.

Ce matin, j’ai couru mes cinq petits kilomètres sans écouteurs—un évènement rarissime. Je dis pas que je vais faire comme ça tout le temps, mais je suis content de savoir que je peux laisser les podcasts et la musique chez moi quand je veux.

Among my least typical but most cherished souvenirs of the time I lived in Europe are the legal and quasi-legal documents I picked up along the way. In my campus office, I have a French residency permit, a Swiss driver’s license, lots of public transportation passes…

Je suis en train de ranger et numériser de vieux fichiers, lettres, et souvenirs. Après la numérisation, j’en jette la plupart, mais le reste va au travail pour ajouter un peu de nostalgie à mon bureau. Et c’est donc pour ça que j’ai un permis de conduire suisse au travail.

To get my current driver’s license, I was asked to take off my glasses for the photo and told it had something to do with facial recognition. That terrified me, but my hope is that since I ALWAYS wear my glasses, the software is going to struggle matching me to that photo.

Just made a pact with an academic colleague that we wouldn’t hold back from telling each other that it’s time to retire and make room for new faculty.

This morning, I am remembering the officially Wendy’s-branded tabletop roleplaying game ‘Feast of Legends,’ which is preposterous but also seems like it could work if you really wanted it to.

My parents are hosting (almost) everyone from my big family for Thanksgiving this year. Given growing numbers of food preferences and restrictions among us, I wonder whether we’ll have a big inclusive-but-non-traditional Thursday feast or whether dinner gets balkanized.

The best figure I’ve ever included in a scholarly publication was a screenshot of a joke I made in a tweet and was especially proud of. The screenshot happened to demonstrate a Twitter feature I was trying to explain, which seemed justification enough.

It is fun to see all my neighbors’ Halloween decorations tonight. It is less fun to see how many of them have Ring doorbells capturing my comings and goings.

I am rereading through old FoxTrot comic strips and bookmarking all the tech ones I think I might use in lectures next semester. Wish I’d done this years ago.

Using the Stardew Valley soundtrack as a chores anthem seems to get kiddo more excited (or at least less resentful) about helping out around the house.

I liked the She-Hulk finale, but one thing that’s been irritating me is the way its gimmick reinforces the locking in of content to streaming subscriptions rather than letting people own content. Can you even buy Disney+ stuff on disc?