Tuesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Tuesday

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3
Feb 26

A well of a tale

Out and about yesterday. Errands had to be ran. I ran errands. Errands were run. Nothing to it, really. Out and about to do the things that need doing. Already I have overstated it. Oh, all right.

No. They’re errands and unremarkable in every way. No one cares.

Except to say this. I stopped at a gas station. As I was going inside, a man was coming out. He had a bag of ice under his arm. He seemed a man fixed on his business and going about his way. Passing one another in the doorway it wasn’t the time to strike up a conversation. But I wanted to have a quick chat. I wanted to ask about that ice. I bet he felt silly, since everything, everywhere, looks like this.

That’s our driveway, and this was eight days after the snow and the sleet turned into ice. It isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And today I spent a bit of time widening it out a bit more. Just a car could narrowly pass, but you shouldn’t need to demonstrate your best driving skills leaving or returning home.

Plus we had a great big truck come by yesterday. We had a great big truck visit because of the joys of home ownership.

Let me back up. In November of 2023 I called the well company to do a regular tank maintenance. That was a first for me. I’ve never lived on a well before. The appointment was made. During the time between scheduling that visit and the guy showing up, the well start failing. Imagine a pipe spewing water like a low-stakes submarine movie scene. The guy came with his two workers and squatted down and looked at it and started moaning and sighing and muttering and I honestly thought he was having a medical episode in our basement.

Turns out he was fine, but the tank was at death’s door. We could leave it as is — and I’m still not sure why that was even presented as an option — or we could replace it that day. We chose the later, because I like things to work, and not sopping up my floors.

The new tank, he said, was a fiberglass tank. And it’ll never rust out, which was a big sales point at the time. Perhaps you can see why.

(What is that green stuff underneath the well tank?)

They put in that fiberglass tank and everything was just peachy keen. About three weeks ago, though, I started hearing a surging sound in the walls. Taking a shower, flushing the toilet, running the washer, you’d hear this sound. It was soothing, or it would have been in any context that didn’t suggest your house was about to implode.

So I called the well company again and explained all this. Talked to the owner, an older fellow who could do 10 or 12 minutes of comedy on most anything, I decided. He said he’d come on out, but could we wait until after the storm because he was backed up. He assured me that I wasn’t hurting anything by waiting, because the things that were bad weren’t getting worse.

The fiberglass tank. He had me tap on it and that’s how he knew.

His son came by yesterday, same guy that put this thing in just 27 months ago. Sure enough, the tank was done. Just as his father told me on the phone, these tanks were terrible and they were never buying and selling those again. His dad said they’d bought six, had to send four of them back. We had one of the other two. The owner said he’d been taken it in the teeth on these things. And ours was under warranty. I apologized that he was going to eat another bite of lemon, but I was glad that we weren’t buying a new one. We’d be in for labor, and that seemed fair.

So the son was here with an assistant. They took the old tank out, and put in this new one. We’ll see how susceptible it is to rusting.

Also, the new tank has a five-year warranty. And we did not pay for it, because it was a replacement for the fiberglass failure. Initially he tried to charge me for that, but we worked it out, saving about a grand in a quick and easy conversation.

I hope they don’t have to replace tanks often, because I don’t want to watch that guy lug the thing up and out of the basement, but they seem like fine fellows. Which is good, I suppose, now that we will have them back for yearly inspections.

This, just writing about yesterday, is already threatening to get long, so let’s have a few days of writing in arrears. Today is Tuesday, but I’ve written about Monday; tomorrow is Wednesday, I can write about Tuesday. Tuesday, if you can believe it, was almost as riveting as this tale. Come back and see.

Tuesday — Comments Off
27
Jan 26

Not Hoth, but not unlike Hoth

Campus was open today, after closing Sunday and Monday for the storm. We did not go in, however, as the roads remain dreadful. We have a wide latitude for this decision, fortunately. It’s a large campus. There are several locations, and also hospital facilities and so on. People come in from three states, and the university is aware that the weather here may not be the weather there. Also, road conditions. And, this time, also, ice.

Everything is hilariously frozen solid. It’ll remain so for more than a week. Even I will go stir-crazy at the amount of indoors activities. (Update: That happened about Saturday.)

And who knows about those country road conditions between here and there, anyway. (Update: On Thursday, still not great!)

The policy is that students won’t have it marked against them. I, a professor who uses attendance policies, appreciate and honor the discretion this allows students. Also, being from the South, I’m going to want to make safe choices, too. Fortunately, I have that ability. What an employer, huh?

So we decided last night that, since the roads we could walk to looked terrible, we weren’t going to try drive 20-25 minutes on poorly-if-at-all-cleared roads. I put some material online that I’d planned to discuss today, sent a message to my students, and that was that. I hope they all read it. I hope they’re all warm and safe. Or sledding down a hill somewhere.

This allowed me to catch up a bit, which is great, because now I can get ahead of things for Thursday.

Just pretend there are several paragraphs here that have to do with reading and typing.

Also, pretend there’s a video here. I meant for a video to be right here, but it won’t upload just now. Perhaps tomorrow.

Tomorrow, which will be similarly frozen! (Single digit nights, barely double digit days!) And even more productive!

photo / Rowan / Tuesday — Comments Off
20
Jan 26

Syllabus and Expectations Day

Poseidon is sitting beside my chair giving me the absolute business. I told him I was working on a photo of him. He is not interested in my excuses. This needs to be online right now.

I usually write this part a bit tongue-in-cheek, of course, but this is not a joke. He will not shut up. I guess he knows it is Tuesday. And he’s somehow looking at the site and found that he’s not on the front page. Obviously he knows he’s a part of the most popular content on the site. He is, as we say, just trying to help.

Here he was earlier. Helping.

And here’s Phoebe, who would like you to know that they have a new shipment of food, and no one is feeding them from it yet. Not pictured, just off the left margin, is a bag of their food. And, around the corner, an entire stash of their treats. But this food, that box, in that sunlight, that’s where and why a statement must be made.

They don’t protest much, but they always make their point.

The kitties, as you can see, are doing just fine.

Today was our first day of classes for the spring term. Spring term, it is ridiculously cold outside. I get to park right behind the building I teach in, but I feel bad about that on days like today. Some people are walking great distances.

I walked into the office, did a few jots of last minute tittles, and then headed downstairs to my classroom for the term. Ran into a colleague, met a student in the hall, and then had the first meeting of the Rituals and Traditions class. I’m now calling the first day Syllabus and Expectations Day. Syllabus Day doesn’t cover it anymore. So we talked about the class. They all introduced themselves. (Everyone loves doing this.) I asked them to tell us all something they are good at. We discussed what the course will be about, which was new information for everyone, considering this is a brand new class. I told them that. I told them that, as far as I’ve been able to tell, this is a unique class you won’t find anywhere else. No pressure on me. We discussed what is to come and we discussed a bit of the syllabus. Now, I’ll wait to see how many of them come back on Thursday.

I went back tot he office and did a few more things, mostly a lot of walking up and down the hall to the community printer. It took three tries to get my printer act together.

It’s a long hall.

Eventually, it was time to go back downstairs, to have Syllabus and Expectation Day for the Criticism in Sport Media class. I have a few people in both classes, and so I had to apologize that today was a similar day in both classes. I also have, in both of these classes, a few people who have been in classes with me before. I take this as a good sign, overall. Criticism will be similar to the fall version. I am going to integrate social media a bit, we’ll talk about e-sports and gaming for a few days. I’m changing the criteria for story selection a bit. These are all changes designed to make the course better. I think it takes three tries with a class to get it right. This is the second time I’ve been able to offer this course. Maybe I’ll be able to do it again in the future to test that hypothesis.

My online class is also underway. I sent the students there the initial message last night. Two class notes a week, (usually) a lot of email correspondence from students, a bunch of grading and a time-intensive attention to detail on assignment feedback. This is a class about the philosophy and structure behind social media. It takes a lot of time, but there’s one week soon when I get to write about a particular German philosopher (not that one) and there’s always a new way to consider what he was working on (nope, not that).

And those will be my classes. Tuesday and Thursday. And working a bunch on that and everything else almost all of the time. I drove us home — my lovely bride had her first two classes of the term today, as well — thinking of the number of days I have in the term to help students accomplish what I ask of them. When I got home I started in on Thursday’s work.

It’s a day of expectations for me, too.

cycling / Tuesday — Comments Off
13
Jan 26

Nine! And three-quarters

I had a meeting today. It involved four of six people and took a week to get to. It resolved that we are resolved. At the end, a full 50 minutes of background and resolution, I thanked everyone for the time and interest and their care.

I did not thank them for the impetus to move a piece of furniture in my home office, which I did before the meeting.

My home office has two windows. In between those windows, and against the wall, is where I have placed my desk. Out of one window I can see the driveway. Out of the other, another neighbor’s yard, or a sunset, if I have the blinds open on that side. To the immediate right of my desk sits an old newspaper honor box. On top of that is my podcasting and voiceover setup, which I really should use more. Inside the newspaper box is where all of my dozens of pocket squares live. That was not the intention, and I do need a better place for them. Maybe one day. But the newspaper box, itself, has for more than two years now just jutted out at an odd angle. from the desk. This morning, I pushed it back nine inches toward the corner. Nine and three-quarters, actually.

It changed the whole room.

Just wait until, later this week, I move my monitor more toward the center of my desk.

Sometime in early May, when I put all of these textbooks and notes and notebooks away.

Also, today, I purchased a new pair of shoes. I’ve been eyeing these since late last spring. These are my first new pair of shoes since November of 2022, which explains why I feel extravagant at ordering such a thing.

And now my back hurts. Early in the day, it was my lower back. This evening, the pain had moved around a bit. And now, at the end of the day, it is back to my lower back. It’ll be gone tomorrow. It’s probably from stress. Or that meeting. Or feeling guilty about shoes. Or pushing a lightweight metal box nine inches. Nine and three-quarters, actually.

I made a new banner for indoor rides, since we are now using Rouvy. After years and years of wintering in Watopia on the Zwift platform, we are making the jump, and I am starting the process of riding myself back into shape. It’s a slow and utterly futile process, at this point. But it’s fun to ride.

If you had asked me before this evening’s ride I would have said I was only passingly familiar with the idea of Zone 6. Even the Cleveland Clinic only writes about Z1 through Z5 here. And I’d say that it had never occurred to me to use Zone 6 as a recovery from Zone 7. But there I was, on this evening’s short workout, in Zone 7 24 percent of the time.

(All of that Z1 is coasting.)

Training Peaks, which is clearly better at medical stuff than The Cleveland Clinic, breaks it down thusly: Z1 is active recovery, Z2 is endurance, Z3 is tempo, Z4 is lactate Threshold, Z5 is VO2 Max, Z6 is anaerobic Capacity, and Z7 is neuromuscular Power. This has to do with the wattage output. Zone 6, says Training Peaks is when you are working at greater than 121 percent of your power output. There is no nuber by Zone 7. All of which is to say, Rouvy hasn’t figured out my output yet. Which is obvious. I’m brand new on the platform. And not in the best fitness.

But look at those views! This is a video in Bolivia’s Pampas. A featureless stretch of road, comparatively speaking, but better than the video game feel from Zwift. And while there’s the occasional vehicle, or animal or person on the side of the road, I can turn the other rider avatars off.

I also did a little lap around a neighborhood in Sri Lanka, just to feel a few extra minutes. I feel so worldly.

The best part of this platform, I think, is that you can upload your own routes. You don’t get the video experience, as above, until someone goes out with a GoPro or some such, but you can get the distance and the terrain. If, that is, you can get the import feature to work. I’m still struggling with that part. But the routes just fill the imagination. I mentioned, yesterday, that I’ve been daydreaming about a 50 mile route up toward Mount St Helens for 15 years. I want to layout routes in my childhood neighborhood, just to feel what the hills are like there. I want to go over big bridges, for the same reason. I want to put in the course for the Race Across America and do that, even if it is from my basement. There are so many possibilities. I hope to get to them all, one day.

But first I need to straighten up some of the paper in my office. And move my monitor. Maybe about seven inches to the left.

journalism / links / sports / Tuesday — Comments Off
6
Jan 26

Would you like to plug away at work for me?

Last night we went to a township meeting. A family friend was being installed to office as a supervisor. In my mind’s eye, I was picturing a giant metropolis. Big marble stairs, doric columns, a lot of media in period inauthentic wardrobe. Big, ridiculous flash bulb cameras. It was, in fact, a small place. The township is the sort that has a part time police chief. Where the supervisor meetings are held has a grand table, long enough to seat five people tasked with the important duties of the community.

Sometimes the room hosts potlucks.

There were 40 people in the audience, and that just about filled the room. Six or seven people were holding up their phones to record the historic moments of their friends and loved ones being sworn in.

There stood a judge at the front of the room. She is married, I learned later, to one of the administrators. In her full regalia, she swore in five new people, three township supervisors, an auditor and a tax collector. She enunciated carefully. “UniTED,” and “FIdelity.”

Even the tax collector got a round of applause, which probably doesn’t happen again during his tenure.

With the positions filled, the supervisors held their regular meeting, a tight series of procedural votes to start the new year. Partnerships with other cities, the formal hiring of a few new police officers, a resolution or two. It took 21 minutes.

If you need a shot of democracy, go take part in your local government. That’s where the real and immediate work that impacts you and your community is conducted. They need you, your voice, your thoughts, your energy. (Plus it is sometimes unintentionally entertaining.)

The thing about this form of government is that it only works if the people take part.

Just to round out today’s post, before I get back to work. This isn’t a story — it is a list of photos and brief bios — but that is a dynamite headline. Finally got the framing right. Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter

Meanwhile, over in the UK … Government demands Musk’s X deals with ‘appalling’ Grok AI deepfakes:

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has called on Elon Musk’s X to urgently deal with its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok being used to create non-consensual sexualised images of women and girls.

The BBC has seen multiple examples on X of people asking the bot to digitally undress people to make them appear in bikinis without their consent, as well as putting them in sexual situations.

Kendall said the situation was “absolutely appalling”, adding “we cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these degrading images.”

In sports media news, NBC is set for Olympic spots.NBCU breaks Winter Olympic ad sales record with sellout:

Today, amid CES, NBCUniversal announced it had sold out of its Winter Olympics ad inventory, with a month still to go before the games. In the process, the company set a new Winter Olympics ad sales record, with the highest linear and digital revenue it’s ever recorded. Plus, the company scored a record number of advertisers. With the news, NBCU has sold out inventory for the Winter Olympics, the NBA All-Star Game, and the Super Bowl, which make up what the company calls its “Legendary February” programming.

[…]

Among other highlights, the Winter Olympics is adding more than 100 new advertisers for the upcoming Games. Of its total advertisers, 85% of brand partners are investing in Milan Cortina digitally, and advertiser adoption of Peacock’s ad innovations has grown 31% from Paris 2024 to Milan Cortina 2026, according to the company.

Plus, the company said nearly 60 advertisers are using unique marketing elements, up more than 174% from Beijing 2022.

That’s a lot of new advertisers. I wonder what we’re going to see. I wonder what they’ll say about us.