(Author’s note: I wrote this blog post and then thought about it and realized I told the story wrong. The content is almost identical, but I just re-arranged it and added heading) I have this Sony alarm clock. My children love it. It has buttons. It makes noises and does things. They loved turning on […]
Teaching and learning: they’re obviously linked but as different sides of the same coin. I have been doing both recently, and although the situations are very different, neither one is long enough to make a good blog post. So this is two-for-one that I’m pretending is more connected than it actually is. Learning (with AI) […]
After a two year streak of staying on the ground, I recently took a plane trip with my family. We got the major logistics right, like packing, getting through the airport, getting on the plane, and so forth. However, while we were on the plane, I found myself in an odd predicament. The Setup The […]
My parents may disagree, but as a child, I was pretty obedient. Their instructions were mostly sensible. Or I followed without questioning. Or I was oblivious to what was actually going on. However, some things never quite made sense to me. Some were probably just quirks of my parents as humans. Others now make a […]
I intended to write a post about the Olympics, but on the day of the closing ceremony, one of my children tested positive for COVID. And in a few days, we all had it. Thankfully, we are all previously vaccinated and have no other notable risk factors. We were never actually worried and didn’t have […]
A few days ago, I realized my current Dungeon World game wasn’t working. My players frequently were completely stuck about what to do next. I would follow through on the natural consequence of the players’ actions, and it often felt really harsh. I presented quest hooks, and my players would just move on. In short, […]
I have struggled tremendously to keep plants alive. Despite the power of nature to thrive in all sorts of environments, I am consistently able to take them out. I’m not alone in this. The internet is filled with house plant memes. I don’t quite identify with the obsessive streak, but I do know how difficult […]
A few weeks ago, I reached a streak of 1000 days of Duolingo. After almost three years of consistently studying Mandarin every day (except for the stray streak freezes), I then quit with no intention of continuing. Here’s my story with Duolingo.
I never really understood birdwatching. There are plenty of birds out there, and it never really struck me that there was anything special to seeing one in particular. It’s there, you see it, it’s gone, and that’s apparently a successful outing. However, birds have cropped up as a point of interest recently for a few […]
Since the beginning of the year, we have watched a few TV shows. I don’t have in-depth critique or reviews of most of them, but perhaps all of them in some will amount to one good blog post. Of course, there are lots of spoilers, so skip around. Star Trek: Discovery Season 4