😍 We caught ourselves complaining about how the trailhead was soooooo far away—a full 30 minutes. So spoiled.

Timely topic. I won't be missing this one.

🚨Warning for Utah County🚨 I think the terrorists have developed some kind of stupidity space laser and they’re targeting Orem because everyone in the Smiths Grocery parking lot just simultaneously forgot how to drive.

In related news, catching up on emails, grading, and misc. work in the office and catching up on family stuff at home today while fighting off jetlag is going to be...🙄

Ended my speaking tour on a high note Monday w/ great Dept. of American Studies BA, MA, & PhD students & faculty at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. But now worried that such a positive final experience will overshadow the preceding stress/exhaustion & tempt me into such madness again. 🤣

YES IT MATTERS! Because AI tools aren’t free (or increasingly will not be), have huge environmental impacts, carry security risks, etc. You know what carries no such problems? Simply memorizing your address and phone number. You know, like a gazillion past humans have and still do just fine…

Mining footnotes and then contacting their authors/scholars and archivists at source locations. 1,000,000% best advice I could ever give a new grad student.

4 research talks in Hungary (1 more to go) & 1 keynote in Slovakia done. W/ a cold brewing, I was looking forward to settling in early tonight. Obviously thrilled to find my hotel locked & dark. Better yet, when I called they said there was no reservation for me. I sorted it, but still. 😵‍💫

Ok Microsoft, I admit to being mad that you intrusively added copilot AI tools to Office apps instead of making them opt-in features. But guess what will NOT soften my anti-AI stance—making Office app browser logins redirect to a Copilot chat agent instead of the Office app I actually logged in to 😤

Getting a flat in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language was not a stress I needed today. However, I was grateful to have my hope in humanity restored after a Good Samaritan graciously saved the day. Similar to my Romanian experiences 25 years ago, Hungarians too are a generous people.

Even in the Netherlands my Dutch surname is rare, so it’s silly that I was secretly hoping the agents at passport control would say something like, “Hey! You’re Dutch! Welcome back!” Now, time to see if there’s a fresh stroopwafel place in the airport and break a calories-per-hour record.

Hoping to see others boycotting attendance in solidarity.

Preach. We love it. Better yet, the students love it.

In which AI use almost starts a war. Hmm. Where have I heard that before?

Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:

Right? I actually didn’t notice the rainbow with the naked eye. I took the picture and was surprised by it. Knowing it was there, I could then see it without the camera, but it was way fainter.

Ah. Yes, you’re on the NW facing side. I gave SW. I’ve always wished I was on the eastern-facing side for the view of the mountains, but if I’m being honest it’s probably for the best as is because I would just spend all gawking at new ridge lines and routes to explore.