Time Spirals

On August 29, the University of Washington underwent its Google Change where our shared gmails and drives for certain shared accounts stopped working. This change affected my office, but besides some tedious hangups with Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive, I think we managed.

I had scheduled two appointments that day since I figured if anything broke, I wouldn’t be able to fix it right away anyway. On August 29, after all, Skynet becomes self-aware. At least back in 1997.

August 29 is also the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, yet it’s salient. During my sophomore year of high school, I adopted a style change that led to longer hair. For the most part, my hair had been cut short, but eventually I grew out my bangs and sides.

A picture of a yearbook picture.
Post-Katrina sophomore A.J.

 

I was early so I picked up a treat, noticing three very similar, yet distinct choices: Wetzel’s Pretzels, Auntie Anne’s, and Cinnabon. All things equal, Cinnabon wins for me because of Better Call Saul, and general overall deliciousness.

 

Hair

Overall, my haircut took about an hour, but I wonder how much shorter it would have if I didn’t laugh.

Part of the ritual included a shampooing and an awkward walk back to the chair. One side of my hair was longer than the other. Whenever she ran the comb through she pulled up strands of long hair. The mullet-like, Tiger King style midpoint Halfway through the haircut, I started laughing so hard because her deliberate cuts and sneaky footwork reminded me of Salt Bae. She started laughing, then I laughed because she laughed. We managed, but the serious face led to more laughing.

The spin with the mirror to look at the back of my head is a smile and nod.

I didn’t shave, so my shorter hair blended into the beard, a look I just wasn’t used to.

 

Between Time

Since my bus transfer pass had until 5:30, I took a trip to a different mall with a convenient route back. The app gave accurate timings for transfers, so I budgeted my time and picked up some new threads and comic books. The comic book store had new DC books out already, although the traditional “New Comic Day” is Wednesday.

 

Teeth

After a trip involving a long walk from the transit center, I took a five-minute appointment at the orthodontist for “Looks good. You might want to check with a periodontist for any final detailing. Any questions? I’m here for you.” I have a removable retainer for right now, and I called the periodontist’s office for an appointment in three weeks.

 

Discussion

I don’t mind occasional appointments with professionals when they get results.

 

[Draft update.]

Back Home [August 2023, Days 10 – 11]

I was supposed to have an uneventful flight taking the Link back to my Seattle apartment around 9:30 p.m. PST. Takeoff was scheduled around 6 p.m. CST. I had an aisle seat close to the front with no checked bags, so I was ready to get home, and write up a post.

This was supposed to be my last look out before flying back to Seattle.

We boarded, backed out, and then stopped.

“Uhhh, we just got word from the crew on the ground that something came off the wheel. You know as much as we do.” We waited around 30 minutes.

“We recommend deplaning at this time, so you can get some dinner. Come back around 7.”

I was glad, since even though I was in row 11, I had to put my bag in row 13. I shook my head since I couldn’t place my bag like a book on a shelf. Someone stowed their musical instrument that should have been checked in. My carryon was full, taking a CPR-style compression to close and zip. With deplaning, I figured it would reset the overhead bin space so I can actually put my bag closer to me.

Dropped off clothes from Seattle to New Orleans,
so packing was lighter on the way back.

I jumped up and took back my bag before Row 13 got up. I walked around, and came back. I washed my hands. I laughed at the sign because instead of singing Happy Birthday, it prompted you to sing “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. I tried, but the water was scalding. I tried, but stopped at “Red roses, too.”

Strolling around, watching the Alaska Airlines 737 wheel get patched.

“We now have an estimated boarding time of 9:30. We will be landing in Seattle tomorrow. Our flight crew wants to get back home, too.”

Around 10, they finally cancelled the flight. They sent people to the 3^rd floor, and in the confusion, I walked ahead of everyone. The worker at the desk calmly, but firmly told first-class passengers “Back up, calm down. We don’t like this any more than you do.”

There was a sign for a QR code, and a few texts with support in Seattle cleared it up for me in about five minutes. My seat was upgraded to row 6. I left the line since I didn’t need hotel arrangements. I was satisfied, since instead of arriving really late, I’d just be arriving midday tomorrow.

If this happened to my brother, he’d send a karenesque email “Make it right.” Some of it would be expected, but then he’d probably over ask while vaguely threatening to take business elsewhere.

Incidentally, they’ll be sending a coupon for future travel. I guess I’ll be flying Alaska Airlines for Christmas and New Year’s coming up.

 

Waiting

I stayed at my uncle’s place, and read Nimona with plans to watch it some other day. I slept around 4 hours. We left for around 5 that morning for a 24-hour IHOP where I got the plant-based power combo with pancakes and fruit. That wasn’t on the menu before so I tried it over the usual omelet. Slow wallet.

 

Picked up some New Orleans flavors.

We had a lot of time, so we went to three different grocery stores looking for the smaller snack size Elmer’s Chee Wees. In retrospect, I could’ve gotten a larger bag, but opted for the mid-size barbecue flavored one. I also picked up some red beans seasoning, since here in Seattle, the version on the shelf already has dried beans in it. I could get Zapp’s honey mustard pretzels here in Seattle, but the Chee Wees come at a premium price.

 

Mulligan

Getting through security at MSY never takes long. I walked around the concourse, appreciating the art, realizing how much different A was compared to B and C, more business-oriented wings. I took a slow walk, thinking whether this art should be set aside or more integrated with the rest of the airport. I wondered what happened to the golden, hanging Icarus statue in old MSY.

 

I wish there were plaques with details, not signs to not touch it.

 

I secretly hoped to see some Avengers fighting each other at old MSY.
Anthony Mackie is from NOLA.

It wasn’t a good sign when we had to switch terminals from A2 to C3. We were going back on the same plane, and they finally changed out the tire around 8:30. People sitting around me were telling each other about their hotel stays and what they did in New Orleans or Seattle. Before we boarded they bonded enough that one person felt comfortable leaving their bags, offering to buy pretzels, drinks, or a Lucky Dog before liftoff. The other person politely declined, but expressed loyalty for watching the luggage.

The person sitting next to me left their expensive
dragonfruit drink, watered down by melted ice.

Thanks, ground crew. Extra props for how humid it was.

I was in Boarding Group F, but when I sat down, I hoped nobody would have to sit next to me. I got Seat 6A, the window seat in Premium Class. I kept saying “Close the door” as more people came in waves, like an emptying clown car.

A good amount of legroom with nobody sitting next to me.

When we took off, overhead slow claps and cheers came from behind. “This is it!” I remarked at the camaraderie that the shared experience of a canceled flight imparts to passengers.

I napped between takeoff and the beverage service ritual where I got a can of Coke Zero, no ice. I read Robins: Being Robin, and it solidified my thoughts that Tim Drake is the best Robin and Dick Grayson is the template but should just be Nightwing. I had a headache, probably from not sleeping enough, but it subsided around Mount Rainier.

On Old Olympus's Towering Tops,
A Finn And Germ Viewed Some Hops.

We had a smooth landing, but the taxi back to the terminal took a few laps with some long pauses.

Travelers packed the N and C concourses, expected at Sea-Tac on a weekend. Still, the walk out and over to the Link went uninterrupted. I took the Link with a roundtrip pass for $7. Passengers filled the car about halfway. We had to stop occasionally, and more people got on around Westlake and Capitol Hill.

 

Errands

I dropped off my luggage and headed to the comic book store to pick up some of the titles I missed from these past two Wednesdays, mostly Knight Terrors, and then went back to the Roosevelt Whole Foods for four packs of tofu and two bundles of green onions. They have the best price for tofu around here at $1.69. I left paying under $10, but my pantry was stocked well enough that I’d be good for the week. I haven’t done a breakdown by unit price, or factor in that brand of tofu needs to be drained and pressed, but it beats some of the Asian food markets by a lot. Regional price differences come into play; back home around New Orleans, the same brand at Whole Foods costs $2.49.

 

Remembering Bob Barker

News of Bob Barker passing hit when I landed. Based on the news that was playing in the terminal before takeoff, I half-expected some more flavor text and justice related to Trump’s arrest, but scrolling through the news update was sad. Bob Barker, former host of Price is Right, died at 99.

I would always watch Price is Right with my maternal grandma in the morning before lunch. As a teacher, whenever asking students for an estimate we’d use Price is Right rules of closest without going over.

My two favorite cameos of Bob were in Happy Gilmore when he fights Happy at the celebrity golf tournament and in Futurama at the Miss Universe pageant with Bender and Flexo.

 

Discussion

I postponed my arrival in Seattle by about 15 hours, but I don’t think the delay was consequential at all. This was the first time my flight was cancelled while waiting at the gate, but I was satisfied with how we all handled it. I caught up on sleep with an earlier bedtime.

 

Other Parts of This Trip [August 2023]

• Visit Days 1-3.
• Visit Days 4-6.
• Visit Days 7-9.
  
• View a Stylized Reimagining of this trip back home using DALL-E.

 

Stylized Reimaginings Back Home Using DALL-E

I won't pretend to have a fully developed position on the use of AI to generate digital art. I'm hesitant in using the verb "create" here. However, the thought of trying it out on a slow day back home opened up a whole new world, inspiring my comparison to isekai anime.

I used Open AI's DALL-E, named after Salvador Dali and Wall-E. For $15, you get 115 credits. Each credit corresponds to one prompt that generates four images. Each generation costs about 13 cents. Although each image comes down to 3.25 cents each, usually one or two fit the prompt well. Refinements take up a credit, but generate new variations.

It's Salvador Dali!

"a brain melting, synapses firing, taking in the mysteries of the universe,
cosmic, yet quantum, in the style of Salvador Dali"

 

My First Impressions using DALL-E

I don't actually recommend using DALL-E just to take a look. Since it costs money to get credits, the use-case would need to justify the premise. For me, this could be a tool for future blog content, and here are some tips to get some better results:

• You have to be oddly specific to get what you want. It's a monkey's paw or a genie's lamp. Or you need to be okay with the four generated images from your prompt.
• It is awful at generating realistic looking images from prompts. Sculptures and buildings didn't come out looking like a single object.
• It fudges hands, feet, and faces. In some ways, it's not too dissimilar compared to human artists. 
• Refine the prompt. This usually made better results than generating variations.
• If it does generate an image you like, go for a variation. I rarely liked the new images over the first one, but sometimes it nails a desired style.
• It is decent at interpreting styles. As I'll share below, I just added "isekai anime, digital art" to all of my prompts and it maintained the style pretty well.
• Simple and specific works well. Nouns, relationships, and positions show up pretty well, but sometimes the framing of the subject needs to be prompted. Fewer objects seems better.
  

Isekai Anime Reinterpretation

Isekai anime are ones where the protagonist goes to another world. After playing around with DALL-E, I settled on trying prompts from this very blog. On Day 8, I reinterpreted Days 1-3 and Days 4-6 on my trip back home. Like in comic books, different artists draw the same character differently, sometimes jarringly differently. I haven't figured out a literary description of myself just yet. Also, any hair color seems possible, true to the anime inspiration to my prompts. The "slice of life" mindset seems decent if you can ignore the changes in character design since their isn't any continuity between prompts.

Days 1-3

This was mostly travel from Seattle to New Orleans, and doing things around the house.

Vacuum sealing and packing.

Taking the light rail.

That whole bag mix-up episode at the airport.

Animoo Tatiana Erukimova.

Thai lunch buffet with mom.

Blending up almond milk.

Fixing the treadmill.

Jump to the real version of Days 1-3.

 

Days 4-6

These days were spent going to Baton Rouge and seeing movies.

Driving on the interstate in Louisiana.

At Taste and See, the Sushi Buffet.

Trip to the bookstore before the movie.

Watching a superhero movie.

"Something about the woke mob," said the LA governor front-runner,
posing with books he never read. smh

I didn't actually write about this, but I scored applications.

It went overboard with purple.

Jump to the real version of Days 4-6.
 

Discussion

My brother compared my blogging to Kevin McCalister from Home Alone narrating his day or the nostalgia of having a  LiveJournal. This is a shareable journal to freestyle and remix some scholarly and some silly thoughts.

At the time of writing, I have about 60 credits left. I won't generate too many images for future blogs, except in some recap posts or a composited story. A similar post for Days 7-10 will probably be folded into getting ready for the quarter to start at UW.

I feel like I will usually go with photos and videos I take from my phone or painting pictures with words, but an occasional short project can be fun. I will probably explore some of the learning and pedagogical implications of AI; I tend to favor its deliberate use as a tool, rather than something to suppress. 

Blogging about using AI digital art generation.

I want to ask students, "What do you think about AI generated images? Is it art? Will it put people out of a job? Will it create new jobs?"

Other Parts of This Trip [August 2023]

• Visit Days 1-3.
• Visit Days 4-6.
• Visit Days 7-9.
• Visit Days 10-11.
  

Animals in Seattle: Urban Ecologies

Seattle’s vibrant urban wildlife has many niches where they can thrive. In this list, I want to combine my personal observation of animals around Seattle with reflections of what I want to learn more about. In addition to the photos and gif’d videos of animals, I throw in some research, because more research is always needed.

I sometimes teach an enrichment animal behavior and neuroscience class where we watch animal videos, dissect brains, try to make sense of what we observe, and then ask more questions. We do some preliminary research, pose tentative models, and push our thinking. Even though I’m typically working with younger elementary students, they can grok concepts as well as some of the high school and undergraduate students I come across. I always frame the class as a “college course” since they take it in one of the campus classrooms. I combine Ambitious Science Teaching with STEM Teaching Tools.

I know this list does not include any cold-blooded animals, invertebrates, and anything that lives in waterways. I also didn’t list geese since they’ll have a special place in hell… I also don’t have any photos or recordings of the various singing white-crowned sparrows. They sing incessantly in the springtime, but now I miss them. The neural mechanisms of birdsong fascinate me. Here’s a research review: Birdbrains could teach basal ganglia research a new song (Doupe et al., 2005).

Dogs

I only know two dogs by name, and Cessna the family dog is pretty and pampered. The other one I know is our mascot, Dubs II. Dogs do that cute head-tilt, and here’s some research on that: An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs (Sommese et al., 2021).

Cessna!

Dubs II gets his diploma (June 2023).

Cats

The only two other animals I know by name are two cats with the same human parents.

Whenever I teach my animal neuroscience class, the topic of cats falling out of windows emerges from cats always landing on their feet. Here’s a technical paper: Design of a Practical Cat-Righting Reflex (crr) Model (Manerikar and Anandpara, 2015).

A handsome orange loaf.

Rabbits

Throughout the parks and gardens around Seattle, even the sculpture garden outside the Chihuly glasshouse, rabbits seem abundant. Here’s an article that shows the hippocampus associates a conditioned eye-blink response in rabbits: Hippocampectomy disrupts trace eye-blink conditioning in rabbits (Moyer et al., 2015).

 

I wish I could track their family trees.
There are a lot of these floppy-eared grass eaters.

At Chihuly Garden (2023).

Squirrels

There are a surprisingly high number of wholesome squirrel-based fictional characters: Squirrel Girl from Marvel, Marshal from Animal Crossing, and Sandy from Spongebob Squarepants. In real life, though, squirrels seem to have a reputation of being pests that swarm. Research suggests squirrels are taking over our urban centers: Urban grey squirrel ecology, associated impacts, and management challenges (Merrick et al., 2016).

 

A muscular squirrel flexing.

Not sure if avoidant or just into eating.

Racoons

I saw what these critters can do. Look at High Evolutionary. They’re not too concerned about being eaten, apparently: Racoonvigilance and activity patterns when sympatric with coyotes (Chitwood et al., 2020).

 

Usually found on paths near water.

Gulls

These glaucous-winged gulls often have beef with the other animals. Here’s a study that meters how much plastic was found in gulls, but with increasing impacts as more and more plastic gets into the environment: Plastic consumption and diet of glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) (Lindborg et al., 2012).

This fight escalated right outside my office.
Five gulls, one squirrel, and one crow
fight over a bag of chips.

Crows

I secretly want to start a trading system with crows to see if they can help me find loose change in exchange for some treats. These birds, an offshoot of dinosaurs, evolved social and perceptual intelligences: Abstract rule neurons in the endbrains support intelligent behaviour in corvid songbirds (Veit and Nieder, 2013).

 

I wonder if they have different talents and dreams.

Ducks

These represent one of the UW's athletic rivals, but I'm not sure if that's true anymore with the Big 10 changes. These ducks are far better visitors than the geese that land in our ponds. Here is a review of birds imprinting, a form of learning: Visual imprinting in birds: Behavior, models, and neural mechanisms (McCabe, 2019).

Drumheller Fountain on Rainier Vista.

A very polite duck. Other people passing by
also took pictures.

Coyotes

I’m one of the sole students who might stroll into my office before 5 a.m., but on W Day this year, I saw three coyotes in front. I think I could take one, but I waited for them to pass by. I’m more scared for the tiny critters they may eat. Here’s a link to the Seattle Coyote Study.

 

Of all days to choose to go in early
(W Day, 2022).

Discussion

The animals around Seattle get me to think about how much we know about, how much we don’t know about them, and our relationship to our shared environment. I also marvel at the methodological repertoire of the sciences to better understand this world and the beings that inhabit it.

Reflections on Teaching High School Student Athletes

One Monday morning class, I remember congratulating a student for the win on Friday night. They thanked me. When I said I watched, they didn’t believe me. A teacher driving across state to an away game was unheard of. Students didn’t even do that, so they thought I must’ve heard the results from one of the coaches. By the next game, and up until the September before graduate school, I brought the Captain America shield so students would know I was there, and to remind them about defense.

This was the first of three shields (2013).

I made it a point to go to games so each of my students would have someone they knew in the stands supporting them. They had lives outside of the classroom, and playing sports was one way to connect a school community.

The student athletes I worked with tended to be very well rounded academically. Instances of student athletes being “twice exceptional” or 2E, having academic gifts and talents alongside a disability, learning or otherwise, seemed to be mitigated on the field. They chose their activity and became well-practiced in it.

All my professional high school science teaching experience comes from Louisiana. Archery, diving, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, and water polo didn’t seem to exist there, but in Seattle, I can point to people I’ve met here who played in high school. We had enough sports, though. I won’t dive into the economics and education finance dimensions of this topic quite yet, but I wanted to casually reflect on some of the teams students were a part of.

Swimming

This sport has the highest density of high academic achievers. Most of the swimmers were affluent; training required off-campus facilities. The swimmers also tended to be musically-inclined.

Track and Field

Since there were so many events and so much down time, I remember finishing lesson plans and grading papers at these meets. The wide-representation of schools also allowed me to catch up with other teachers outside of professional development time. Students ran, jumped, and threw objects. I recall an uptick in engagement whenever I used track and field problems for my physics class. Triple memes: Ghost Love Score Epic Maneuver, Leeroy Jenkins, and Xena.

 

Cross Country

This was one of the sports I hadn’t watched, but since I was often on campus after school, I’d see some of my students run their nth lap. We didn’t have indoor tracks, and as you can imagine, Louisiana is really humid. Even at football games in the evening, cross country students were still running around.

Soccer

Both men and women’s soccer were well-represented in my classes. I also saw a mix of family incomes in who played. They were all heavily involved with leagues, and I know someone who played semi-pro.

Basketball

The school I taught at was a basketball school with students going on to the NBA and WNBA. We had a student lead her team to victory in the NCAA championship, and those who followed were highly motivated. When these alumni return, it draws a huge community crowd.

Baseball

Over the years, I hadn’t had very many high achieving baseball players. Maybe it was because their season was late, but anecdotally, the young men who played baseball were the most stereotypical hybrid of slacker and jock profiles. They also left for games during class a lot of the time. It might also be that one particular group of students were wrapped up in cheating for my dual enrollment chemistry class early in the year.

Softball

Softball players, on the other hand, were often themselves very organized. However, I noticed a lower level of staffing to record game statistics. I always heard of scouts at the baseball games, but not much for softball. Still, I think their team dynamics were more wholesome.

Volleyball

This was the one sport students seemed to know most about because it’s one of the few actually played in their P.E. classes. I really appreciated the annual visit from my high school physics teacher since she coached the opposing volleyball team. The group hug after every rally was also very consequential in lowering team animosity.

Tennis

This was more of an individual sport, and it showed. Tennis rage was very clear. I remember a fairly cliquey bunch who were all striving to outdo each other.

I remember asking my one friend who played for Tulane and University of Wisconsin – Madison if that was normal, and I remember well her hustle and grindset mentality.

Powerlifting

These meets didn’t seem to happen often, but I remember a few record-breaking students. They tended to fill the gentle giant stereotype, and they always wanted me to just watch them pick up something heavy.

Wrestling

This wasn’t as big in the schools I taught at, mostly because of the representation of other sports.

Bowling

I’m considering it here. Bowling was inarguably an accessible activity with a lot of the social benefits of other sports. It was also easy to make physics problems about.

Cheerleading

I have to be honest. This was the one activity I feared because the chances of a head injury seemed so high. Yes, they practice a lot, but the risk was very high. Usually, the injuries were to limbs, but I recall at least one student each year having to cheer from the sidelines. The cheerleading competitions were also during the school day, so makeup tests were difficult since I constantly rotated versions.

One of the strangest cheerleader flexes was doing a pushup or tumble for every point, and against some teams, the counts got pretty high.

One cheerleader was nicknamed “One Above All” because she maintained a grade above 100/A in my class. When someone asked, “How did you do that?” she said, “I listen and take notes.” In a few years, she’ll be “Doctor One Above All.”

Football

One benefit of a football team in the South is how large the roster can be. This inherently made it so a lot of my students played, and aside from starting and play time, they didn’t need dramatic cuts. It was very competitive, with so many Louisianian young men striving to play in the SEC. Some football training facilities are definitely pay-to-win. I know I wasn’t going to discuss school finance, but those astroturf renovations for stadiums always made me raise an eyebrow. I get that in Louisiana the fields tend to flood, and yes, I care about reducing injuries, but astroturf, considering all other educational outcomes didn’t seem like the best use of resources.

As an aside: Also, the stand tunes meta was very strange. There were songs from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, obviously picked out by the band director, but also the list of pop songs curated by the drum majors. At the time, it was a lot Fall Out Boy, Adele, and Imagine Dragons, but also some Disney, cartoon, and video game themes. 

 

Since the marching bands had a half-time show season, marching season, and concert season, I loved watching performances evolve as they incorporated new students after band camp, but also as student athletes balanced their play time on the field and in the stands.

Discussion

I found it interesting that so many students who asked me for letters of recommendation played some sport. Some even played a few. Often, the reasons were social, different sports had different seasons, and for college admissions. Except my particular school and basketball and swimming, most didn’t pursue their sport in college beyond intramural.

The benefits of school sports have always been apparent to me, and I always had great appreciation of the social opportunities it provided. These students were rarely bullies. In fact, I heard the most criticism for the students who “just went to games” who didn’t participate in extracurriculars.

Student athletes had a drive that could be developed. A lot of them were hardworking. Few were motivated by having their rights to play taken away. Arguably, I think a lot of student athletes, at least in their season, were even more motivated to excel academically. Athletic, kinesthetic intelligence was also demonstrated and developed through activity and deliberate practice.

With all that said, high school sports are gendered and racialized.

How will they get to and from practice? Who shows up for their games?

Parent behaviors were also interesting. For their own kids, they were often critical, but for others it was always “Good hustle. You’ll get ‘em next time.” The fact some had to volunteer because they held some position in the booster club was also a curious window into some school politics, even going into the school board space. As I mentioned in my reflection about football, money and staffing gets earmarked for the athletic director budget, but austerity is the norm for covering classroom materials.

The politics of who gets to play is also concerning. In Louisiana, like other southern states, there is more than a specter of banning transgender students from a wonderful educational and affirming experience. I pause to ask, “Who benefits from taking away an opportunity?” The idea that scholarships are up for grabs ignores the very real observation that very few students continue to play in college. The immediate benefits to students playing sports far outweigh any negatives, which all come from discrimination anyway.