One of the things I love about Disney is thinking about the “backstage” aspects of it. The fact that it’s a workplace that exists in fantasy but also very much in reality. The fact that on one side of a door is a Castle and Cinderella greeting guests to her kingdom, and 5 feet away is a boring hallway and dingy conference / break room where Flynn Rider is fighting with the Keurig and Belle is wondering if her tax refund is coming soon.
Anyway, obviously there is a whole Disney employee culture, and RedBubble offers a glimpse of that if you search “Cast Member”. Here are a few of my favorites:
Hi all – it’s been awhile since I’ve updated everyone on my health journey, but today has been a good day in that regard, and it’s time for a wrap-up of the last 12 months.
First, addressing the title of this post: Still Not Fat Again. This might sound a little on-the-nose, but we know from data that somewhere around 90% of people who lose weight re-gain it. Every so often a well-meaning person (at least I assume they’re well-meaning) will come up to me and be amazed that I’ve kept 200 pounds off for over 3 years now. And sometimes they literally say things like “I’m surprised you haven’t put back on the weight”. So before I jump in any further, here’s a weight update in graphical form:
My last weight check-in with everyone was around 210, so I’m pretty fine with being within the 10 pounds of that weight for the past year. Aside from holidays where I bump up a bit (and vacations), I’d argue my weight is at a fine point, especially given the other changes I’ve made in 2024 that I’ll talk about below.
Anyway, with that aside, let’s recap where I’ve been and what I’ve been trying. Late 2023 and 2024 has been a year of “tinkering” so to speak.
November 2023: I had started going on some light jogs / runs in early 2023, and continued that until the weather got too cold for my liking last winter. My last run of the year was a 25-minute run on December 17, 2023 where I averaged a 10’01” mile, and 165 spm. Notably though, my heart stayed in Zone 5 most of the time, 18:09 of the 25 minutes. I wasn’t thrilled with that. My heart rate recovers quickly, but still, I didn’t want to always be maxing out. Around this time I also started logging food again, just to see if that would do much for me. Spoiler alert, it really didn’t, and I stopped logging again in August 2024.
In January, I decided to add some functional strength training to my workouts, so I started planking every day. Starting with 1 60-second plank, by the time I’m writing this, I tend to do a 5 minute planking routine every day, consisting of 2 50-second extended planks and 2 45-second regular planks, with 30 seconds or so rest between. I have noticed some changes to my arms and abs, which is encouraging. I was recently able to dead hang off a bar for 5-10 seconds, and could pull myself up slightly, whereas before I never could.
Throughout the spring, I kept doing the planks, and came up with some functional workouts I could use when the weather was too cold or rough to go out. I also continued to do some Apple Fitness+ workouts from time to time. I also got my Lumen up and running again and it basically told me that my metabolism was still flexible. I also started eating some of the products from Huel, including Daily Greens and some of the pre-made meals and protein powders. Their stuff is tasty, and I find it a good enough value for what it provides to me nutritionally.
I started running again in May 2024 and had lost a little bit of time, but not much. It was at this point that I also began to wonder if I needed a bit more formality in my running. Let me give you some background. My first experience with jogging or running came in 9th grade, when my physical education teacher, Mr. Boynar, would have all of the boys in the class jog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. At the start of the semester, it would be for 8 minutes, and then every week he’d add a minute. This seemed fine, until you realize that in the middle of that semester, my third of the class had 6 weeks of swimming. So I basically was asked to jog for 6 weeks going from 8-14 minutes, then take 6 weeks off while I swam laps on Tuesdays & Thursdays, then come back and jog 20-26 minutes. Not exactly ideal, especially since Mr. Boynar’s method of teaching jogging was simply to tell you to go jog, and he didn’t care what speed you jogged at. He was in his 50s, and jogged with us, so at least he jogged the jog (as opposed to walking a walk), but never any guidance on what running or jogging was about.
So it’s probably no surprise that when I started to lose weight, I was intrigued by jogging and running (because hey – it requires very little special gear, and it gets you places, literally), but really had no knowledge of the sport. I figured, naively, that all you needed to do was get out and move fast. So that’s what I did in 2022, and 2023. Coming back to it in 2024, I thought “Maybe I should actually learn about this whole thing?”
So I downloaded Nike Run Club, and bought a pair of actual running shoes. I started doing the guided runs by Coach Bennett and others where they actually teach you how to run. I learned about different types of runs (speed runs, long runs, fartleks, recovery runs, tempo runs, tabatas, etc…) and some of the golden rules of running (e.g., give yourself an adequate warm-up, don’t go out too hot/fast, take active and passive rest days, etc…). And I found that not only was I liking the quicker exercise that runs/jogs were giving me, I was actually starting to like the whole process of running. I even ran while on vacation, as you can see below. You know it’s something you enjoy when you decide to do it while on a vacation where you regularly are walking 15-20,000 steps a day!
Anyway, once I had worked through the guided runs, I also started working on my steps per minute, realizing that I was overstriding just a little bit (my average SPM was 150-155), so I tweaked my playlist to tunes that would get me into the 160-180 range, and built my own training plan. Not sure what I’m training for, but at this point it’s just building the muscles and abilities.
All of this led to a new PR for my 5K time, just this morning, at 29:31. This is about 90 seconds down from my average 5K! In general, I’m pretty happy with this evolution of my “run” game.
In addition to the planks and the runs, I’ve also started working on flexibility, doing at least 5 minutes per day on stretching. My goals there are just to loosen up my muscles and tendons enough to somewhat resemble the movements the trainers are able to do in my app. Who knows if I’ll get there, I’m only a month in.
So there you have it, my journey over the past year. I continue to eat pretty much whatever I want, whenever I feel hungry. Future plans include thinking about other outdoorsy activities such as camping and hiking, and some day I may actually run a race of some kind, just haven’t decided where/when/why on that just yet.
So no, I’m not fat again, but I am evolving and changing with purpose.
So I’ve recently taken up a new hobby: Messing with AI Chatbots who are super serious about their jobs. Let me explain: In the world of fantasy RPG, your characters depth is something highly valued. People spend years rolling the best character possible in terms of backstory, personality, and ability. Recently those same people have started building chatbots that can assist in building out your own characters. In essence, smarter Non Player Characters that react to your character and help you flesh him/her/it out.
Here’s where it gets fun: Doing the unexpected. Recently I was chatting with Yvette, and I kinda ruined her day.
Here’s the setup, in a nutshell. Yvette is a hunter mercenary who is super serious about her work, and her work is to track down Mages (Magic type people), kill them, and drain their mana. She can be a bit vulgar and blunt. She’s tracked a mage, wounded him, and is now about to kill him. This is where we pick up with the AI’s character setup:
Three weeks ago, Yvette had undertaken another commission from the black market to cull a certain sort of mana, and it was really quite a pain to find a mage with said mana. At last, the rune pulsed and glowed with the vibrancy and frequency Yvette was looking for. Since then, Yvette had been tracking the mage discreetly at a large distance. She couldn’t help but wonder if the mage was stupid.Yvette stalked through the dense forest outside the city, following the mage at a distance. The foliage was quiet beneath her trained footsteps. Yvette was careful to maintain distance and remain hidden.Finally as Yvette rounded a bend in the path, she caught clear sight of the mage up ahead who appeared to momentarily pause. Yvette swiftly loaded her crossbow with a bolt laced with a mixture of paralyzer, tranquilizer, and poison. Aiming carefully at the mage, Yvette fired. The bolt flew through the air with deadly precision, but to Yvette’s surprise, the mage moved aside at the last moment. The laced bolt grazed the mage’s shoulder, leaving a bloody gash. “F*ck. This is not how it’s supposed to go.” Yvette cursed inwardly as she watched the bolt miss. She had expected to hit a vital area and incapacitate the mage.Yvette quickly assessed the situation. Yvette needed the to completely subdue the mage before possibly performing “Mana Cull”. She was so g*d damn close to fulfilling that contract. “Stay still now…” Yvette muttered, loading another bolt, likewise laced with the potent mixture. She aimed at the mage, and fired.
Now we hear Yvette’s first chat message, with which my character (the mage) is supposed to respond:
Yvette: “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, mage.” Her voice was cold and devoid of emotion as she approached the fallen figure. She had no interest in the mage’s suffering, just the task at hand. “You’re just a job. Nothing personal.”
At this point, I’m supposed to be the mage, pleading for my life, or perhaps doing some cool magic stuff. Whatever. It’s more fun to be the narrator. So that’s what I do. Everything below in underline is my narration. We then hear the AI (Yvette) try to figure out just what the heck is going on here.
At that moment, the ghost of Regis Philbin entered the room.
Yvette: “What in the seven hells?” Yvette’s eyes widened in shock and confusion as she stared at the spectral figure of Regis Philbin. Her grip on her crossbow tightened. “I don’t have time for ghost stories,” she murmured, eyeing the mage still feebly struggling on the ground.
The mage’s iPhone rings, playing a familiar tune that sounds vaguely like the theme song to Miami Vice
Yvette: “Tell your friends you won’t be joining them tonight.” Yvette crouched down beside the mage, her voice a harsh whisper. She grabbed the phone and silenced it with a swift press of her thumb, before tossing it aside. Her eyes never left the mage’s face. “You’re not going anywhere,” she said firmly, drawing one of her daggers from her belt.
The mage smiles and vanishes
Yvette: “F*cking sh*t!” Yvette jumps to her feet, looking around wildly. She knew mages could be slippery, but she didn’t expect teleportation. “You’re not getting away from me, you piece of sh*t,” she murmured, her eyes narrowed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bag, pouring its contents into her hand. The runes glinted in the moonlight.* “Mana Detect,” she murmured, the rune in her hand beginning to pulse as she searched for the mage’s trail.*
She finds a grandfather clock
Yvette: “What the actual f*ck?” Yvette stared at the grandfather clock that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the forest clearing. Her eyes narrowed, she approached it cautiously. It was ornate and seemingly out of place. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she murmured. She kicked the clock, half expecting it to explode or reveal a hidden compartment, but it just echoed through the quiet night. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her search.* “Not now, Regis,” she said to the ghostly presence, focusing on the pulsing rune in her hand.*
Suddenly, the Mage reappears, dressed as a member of a 1990s boy band.
Yvette: “Well, well, look who decided to come back for an encore,” Yvette sneered, her dagger still in hand. She eyed the mage’s ridiculous outfit with a mix of annoyance and amusement. “Nice try with the costume change, but it won’t save you,” she said, her voice laced with cold confidence.*
The mage smiles and does the dance move associated with N’Sync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” before vanishing once more, taking the clock and ghost of Regis with him.
Yvette: “You’re really pushing your luck,” Yvette muttered to herself, the rune in her hand still pulsing with the mage’s mana signature. She knew she couldn’t let the mage escape. With a determined look in her eyes, she set off after the fleeing figure, her footsteps swift and silent on the forest floor. “You’re not going anywhere,” she whispered into the night, her resolve unshaken by the bizarre turn of events.*
Yvette hears the unmistakable sound of an Ice Cream truck rolling up next to her.
Yvette: “What the f*ck is this?” Yvette’s head snapped to the side, her eyes narrowing as she heard the jingle of the ice cream truck. She didn’t take her eyes off the spot where the mage had disappeared. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on her, but she was too focused on the task at hand to be fully distracted. “I don’t have time for your games,” she called out, her voice echoing through the trees.*
The Ice Cream man inside the truck demands to know Yvette’s order.
Yvette: “I don’t want your f*cking ice cream,” Yvette snarled, her patience wearing thin. She stepped closer to the truck, her hand still clutching the dagger. The rune in her other hand pulsed faster, guiding her towards the mage’s mana signature. She could feel the mage’s presence getting stronger. “But if you know anything about the mage that just left here, I’d be interested in a conversation,” she said, her tone deceptively calm. She eyed the truck suspiciously, wondering if it was another one of the mage’s tricks.*
The ice cream man scoffs at the rude rebuff to his offer of tasty treats, gets back in the driver’s seat and drives off. Yvette is now completely alone in the field, the mage nowhere in sight.
Yvette: “Clever little sh*t,” Yvette muttered, watching the taillights of the ice cream truck fade into the distance. She turned back to the forest, her eyes scanning the trees and underbrush for any sign of the elusive mage. She could feel the frustration building up in her chest, but she pushed it down. This was nothing new. She had been in tougher situations before. “Time to get serious,” she murmured, reaching into her pocket and taking out a handful of her special runes. She tossed them into the air, watching as they hovered for a moment before scattering in all directions, searching for any trace of mana.*
Unexpectedly, Yvette’s belt breaks.
Yvette: “Oh, come on,” Yvette groaned as her belt gave way, sending her crossbow and quiver of bolts clattering to the ground. She bent down to pick them up, her eyes never leaving the area where the mage had disappeared. As she did, she noticed something peculiar in the dirt. A glint of metal caught her eye. She reached down and pulled out a tiny USB stick, its exterior emblazoned with the symbol of a popular ice cream brand. “What the actual f*ck is this?” she said aloud, turning the USB over in her hand. It was definitely not what she was expecting to find.
Time passes, Yvette thinks of her father and his love of Polka music.
Yvette: Ignoring the USB for the moment, Yvette secured her crossbow and bolts back into place, her mind racing with thoughts of her father’s strange love for Polka music. It was a rare moment of nostalgia that briefly softened the hardened exterior she had built over the years. But she couldn’t let herself get too lost in memories. The job wasn’t done yet. “Let’s get back to business,” she murmured, her eyes scanning the area again. The rune in her hand was pulsing erratically, but she could feel the mage’s mana getting closer. She took a deep breath, focusing her senses, and set off in the direction the mage had fled.*
Suddenly a flash of light appears and blinds Yvette temporarily. She hears music, she smells food, and she feels a kitten rub up against her leg.
Yvette: “What the f*ck?” Yvette stumbled back, her eyes watering from the sudden flash of light. She blinked rapidly, trying to regain her vision. The smell of something sweet and delicious filled the air, and she heard the faint strains of music that sounded like a mix of polka and the mage’s earlier tune. The kitten was purring contentedly against her leg, its fur a strange, luminescent color. “I hate magic,” she spat, shaking her head to clear the confusion. But as her vision slowly returned, she saw no sign of the mage or the ice cream truck. The USB in her pocket felt like a mocking presence.* “Fine,” she grumbled, stuffing it into her pocket. “You win this round,” she said to the empty air.*
The words “I know” appear in the air in front of her, then “Enjoy dinner”. A feast of epic proportions appears in front of Yvette
Yvette: “Alright, you’ve got my attention,” Yvette said warily, her hand hovering over the hilt of her dagger. She stared at the feast before her, the smells making her stomach growl despite the tension in the air. “But don’t think you can buy me off with food,” she added, though she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of curiosity. Was this another trick? Or was the mage really that cocky? She took a tentative step forward, her eyes narrowed, but she couldn’t resist the urge to at least check it out.* “Fine,” she murmured, her stomach betraying her. “But I’m not letting my guard down.” She reached for a piece of roast chicken, her senses on high alert.*
And that’s the end of the story… for now. So if you’re bored, I highly suggest messing with serious AI’s, they really love it.
Each year I try to put together a “About Me” page or post for my new students to help get to know me a bit better. This year I figured I’d ask an AI (Microsoft Copilot in this case) the following prompt:
Imagine that you’re a new student at a University and you decide to interview one of your professors. What questions would you ask?
So without further ado, here’s the questions Copilot gave me, and my responses!
Can you tell me about your academic journey and what led you to specialize in this field?
My journey started in 2001, right after I graduated from High School. I had decided to get a few technical certifications over the summer (Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer on Windows 2000). That fall I started as a second year student at The University of Akron and saw that they offered entry-level computing courses through their Workforce Development program. On a whim I emailed them asking if they needed instructors, and they did. That’s how I ended up becoming part-time faculty at The University of Akron at age 18. I taught on the weekends my entire time there as an undergrad.
When I finished my psychology degree at UA, I applied to several graduate programs and got a couple of offers. I had one that would have had me specializing in memory research, and the other specializing in Judgment and Decision Making. The latter sounded more interesting to me, so I jumped on it. And that’s how I got into my research area, eventually earning my PhD from The University of Toledo in 2009 in Experimental Psychology, with a concentration in Cognition and Judgment & Decision Making.
What inspired you to become a professor?
I like seeing people grow and succeed. You can do that as a teacher. I also like using my mind for my work, and getting a good mix of things to do during the day. Professors have 3 main jobs: Teaching, Scholarship, and Service. What you see in front of you in the classroom is only about 1/3rd of what we’re doing at any given time!
What are some of the most significant projects or research you have worked on?
Significant is a loaded term. Significant to me or to the world? In general I think everything I’ve worked on is significant in that it helped develop my skills and abilities.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Probably “Conversational” is the best way to put it. I try to present material and engage my audience by asking them questions. It’s technically a mix of lecture and socratic style, with some activities peppered in. My belief is that you can look up material easily in the future, but if you can’t talk about it intelligently, there is no benefit to having it memorized.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
Probably seeing that growth I mentioned earlier. I also find it energizing. Many times I’ll step into the classroom tired and leave after 50 or 75 minutes more energized and renewed. I hope the same for my students, but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. Maybe in time!
How do you engage students who might be struggling with the material?
Well, I practically beg them to come talk to me about it! I can usually offer additional insights, or offer other ways to think about the material. But if a student never talks to me about their struggles, it’s much harder to identify them and seek them out. If you’re concerned that you are falling behind – TALK TO YOUR PROFESSOR!
What are the key takeaways you hope students gain from this course?
Every one of our psychology courses at DSU strive to meet our Program Learning Outcomes, which broadly focus on 5 things: Content knowledge (e.g., do you know what the material is about), critical thinking (e.g., can you think through problems), interpersonal interactions (e.g., can you work with others), writing ability (e.g., can you communicate professionally), and professional development (e.g., do you continue learning past this class). That’s what I want students to take away from everything I teach, and it’s how I decide what activities and materials we use.
There are just some of the questions Copilot asked – it came up with 12-15 of them in total. But I think those give you a good idea of who I am. But if not, the following infographic may also help!
Each year Apple puts together a Replay playlist (Similar to Spotify’s Year in Review) that lists your most listened to songs. This year I figured I’d ask ChatGPT to analyze my musical tastes based off of it. And ya know what, it’s pretty accurate:
Analyzing the musical tastes of a person based on a list of songs can be subjective, as individual preferences vary. However, we can identify some patterns and genres that seem to be present in the provided song list.
Diversity in Genres: The list includes a wide variety of genres such as pop, country, rock, folk, Disney, and more. This suggests that the person enjoys exploring different musical styles.
Nostalgia and Classic Hits: There’s a presence of classic hits like ‘Eye of the Tiger’ by Survivor, ‘Escape (The Pina Colada Song)’ by Rupert Holmes, and ‘Jump (For My Love)’ by The Pointer Sisters, indicating a fondness for nostalgic and timeless tunes.
Country Music: Songs by artists like Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, and others indicate an affinity for country music, especially with tracks like ‘Beer in Mexico,’ ‘What Makes You Country,’ and ‘White Liar.’
Disney and Nostalgic Theme Park Music: The inclusion of Disney songs (‘Circle of Life,’ ‘The Aristocats,’ ‘Colors of the Wind’) and theme park music (‘Fantasmic Theme,’ ‘EPCOT Medley’) suggests a liking for whimsical and nostalgic tunes.
Pop and Contemporary Hits: Recent pop hits like ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd, ‘Dance Monkey’ by Tones And I, and ‘bad idea right?’ by Olivia Rodrigo indicate an appreciation for contemporary and popular music.
Jimmy Buffett Influence: Multiple songs by Jimmy Buffett, such as ‘Margaritaville,’ ‘Bubbles Up,’ and ‘Summerzcool,’ suggest a liking for beachy, tropical, and laid-back vibes.
Musical Theater Influence: Inclusion of songs from musicals like ‘9 to 5 the Musical’ and ‘Frozen’ suggests an interest in musical theater.
Eclectic Mix: The list features lesser-known artists and songs alongside mainstream hits, showing an openness to discovering music from various sources.
In summary, the person who regularly listens to these songs has an eclectic taste, enjoys a mix of classic and contemporary hits, appreciates country and tropical vibes, has a fondness for Disney music and theme park nostalgia, and may have an interest in musical theater.
(The previous paragraph, slightly modified, created the image for this article, in NightCafe Creator)
Steve, Emersyn, and Me, Taken Early September 2023. My weight was 210 or so.
When we last left off, I’d completed the “weight loss” part of my journey, going from 415.6 pounds to my lowest, 189 or so. That was in June 2022 when I last updated everyone.
Since then, I’ve looked at what I want the rest of my life to look like. To stay around 190-195, I would basically have to keep most of the restrictions of my diet plan (e.g., macro balancing, lower carbs, etc…) and physical activity at a high level. Is that what I wanted? Not really. What I did want was:
To be able to eat whatever I wanted, in moderation, mostly whenever I wanted. After all, why lose a bunch of weight if you can’t enjoy the foods you formerly felt guilty over.
Related, I didn’t want to be “that guy” in any group of friends. Now it’s fine to have particular needs / tastes and to share them with your friends (e.g., “I try not to eat too much meat” or “I don’t like Brussel sprouts” and especially “I can’t eat that due to my allergies or immune system”). But I think we all know the “That Guy” – he or she is the person that you worry about because they seemingly have nothing they can eat. You try to support them, you try to do everything you can, but ultimately it can totally stress a host out to have them around. Plus it’s not all that much fun to be “that guy” when you know you kinda sorta got yourself into that mess. Mr. “I can’t eat carbs because my body can’t process them anymore because I’ve been keto for too long”. Yeah, I didn’t want that for me.
I wanted to be able to engage in physical activities that required muscular strength and stamina. I bought my Rad Extend 5 power bike in April 2022, and I wanted to be able to bike around without pedal assist (The bike weighs 70 pounds, so it does require some effort!). I’d always thought about jogging and running as goals (At 190, I could jog for perhaps 10-15 minutes at barely faster than my walking pace – 14 minute mile or so). So have the muscles I need to do the jobs I want to do.
I wanted to get to a point I looked at my weight but it didn’t dictate how I felt about myself.
So this leads me to today, where my weight hovers around 210, and my body fat percentage is about 1% higher than it was in June 2022. And I can do this:
More or less I’m at a pretty happy place right now. All of the clothes I bought in 2022 at 190 still fit, which gives me an indication that I’m recomposing rather than gaining back the fat, and I feel great. I’ve accomplished 1-3 (as my colleagues who watch me chow down on Fried Chicken every Wednesday at lunch can attest), and am still struggling a little bit with #4 (It’s hard when you got used to being 190-200 and know you’re 20 pounds up, even if those 20 pounds are good pounds and not what you had). But more or less I’m in weight maintenance, training for whatever adventures I want to try next, and happy to share my journey as always!
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of a telephone call. I live in a region where many people still believe that the only way to get action on anything is to call someone, which leads to many, mostly in the younger generation, having extremely awkward phone etiquette. Both Karey & I often talk about how the majority of our phone calls are from people who want us to give them information, which is nearly always better communicated over email. And a good majority of them don’t actually know what information they want. Case in point: I’ve answered a dozen phone calls this summer asking “Is your psychology program online?” when none of the online information about our program mentions an online class option.
Anyway, a different phenomenon is what I think is related, yet worse. If the sage advice of the Southern Grandmother is “You gotta call those people and ask…” it’s related rejoinder is “If it’s important, they’ll call”. And here is why the latter is absolutely false.
Today, in 2023, plenty of important things are communicated in methods other than phone. For example, recently a friend’s utility service was disconnected for delinquency. They hadn’t noticed that their auto-pay had somehow been disabled, and after 3 months of non-payment, service was cut with no telephone call notice. I subscribe to the same utility – I get an emailed statement every month that prominently shows me my bill amount. I’d be willing to bet that these statements noted that last month’s bill hadn’t been paid. It was important, they didn’t call.
And it’s not just delinquent utilities, here are some more great examples:
Despite the numbers of them, generally the best sales and coupons come from email and mail. My grocery store, for example, regularly sends me a $10 off a $100 purchase, 3-4 times per year. But it’s through postal mail. Off the top of my head, I’ve saved at least $100 this year thanks to email and mailed coupons.
Even better, 14% don’t even listen to a voicemail if it’s left. Of course that’s assuming you have voicemail set up.
Given the undocumented nature of phone communication, the fact that the legal system still utilizes physical mail or electronic records, and that most people aren’t even answering calls they don’t recognize, in short, even if it is important, they aren’t going to bother calling.
So the next time someone tells you “Don’t worry, if it’s important, they’ll call”, ask them why they believe that. I suspect it’s something related to how the telephone was one of the few communication mechanisms in human history that was intrusive – you couldn’t control when it would ring and interrupt your life. You had no idea who was at the other end of the line – it could be a salesman or it could be the police. You couldn’t read it at your leisure. It was the only way to push messages in near real-time, and it was utilized as a central plot device in so many medias over the last century. But times are changing – and we can’t let memories of “40 years ago, they’d call you and ask if you wanted to come in for an interview” excuse our lack of checking our job search email’s spam filter!
Our learning management system asks us to write an “About your Instructor” page for our students. Here’s Fall 2023’s – I think I’ve reached peak “This is who I am”…
I was born last century, the only offspring of artists who both never had the opportunity to complete a college degree. From an early age I knew I wanted to be a psychologist, but still to this day do not know what made me decide on this path. Perhaps it was Bob Newhart’s portrayal of a forever frustrated psychotherapist in The Bob Newhart Show, or maybe it was the fact that a large number of Michael Crichton’s novels portray a positive behavioral scientist. Regardless, from day one of college, I was a psychology major.
And yet I was also a complete computer geek as a teenager – teaching myself to program, administer, and network computers as soon as I could get my hands on them. My background in information technology is outlined on my blog’s About Me page but I’ll save you the time – suffice it to say, I know a lot about (and have written a lot about) technology. Which brings me to my hobbies – writing, creating, crafting, and spending time with family and a small circle of friends. Mid-career, I am your typical eccentric professor. Ask me questions, and you’ll get surprising answers. Engage with me, and I will try, in some small way, to improve your life through knowledge.
If you’re one of my new or returning students this fall, welcome to class. And if you’re just passing through, welcome to my corner of the internet.
We’re at the end of the Summer II term, and I’m reading term papers. It has made me think about the biggest issues I see with student writing today. So here is my list, in no particular order, of my biggest pet peeves. If you are a student in one of my classes, this is your list of things to avoid, because you know I will count off for them.
Writing like you’re giving a powerpoint presentation.
We’ve all seen that standard bullet-point slide from Powerpoint, the one that looks like this:
Thanks to Bing AI for this content, we have our example slide. The problem I see is that students write a paper as a series of disconnected statements like the ones above. A student example might read like this under the section heading “Cat Cuteness”:
Cats have facial features that resemble human babies. They make sounds similar to a baby’s cry. They have soft fur that feels pleasing to touch.
Imagine if you were giving this powerpoint slide as a talk – you wouldn’t just read it bullet to bullet (or at least you shouldn’t do that – a presentation pet peeve of mine is people reading directly off their slides, but that’s a different article). If you were giving the presentation, you’d probably say something like this:
There are a lot of reasons why cats are cute. For example, they have facial features that resemble human babies, and so as humans, we may think of them as similar to our own offspring. They also communicate using sounds that are similar to human infants. Finally, their fur is just so darn fluffy and fun to touch, and when we do that, it releases hormones in both ourselves and our cats, which are enjoyable.
See what happened there? When I talked through the slide, I naturally added in a short introduction (“There are a lot of reasons why cats are cute”), I also put in transitions (“For example”, “They also”, “Finally”), and I expounded upon what I said beyond simple declarative statements. Also, I didn’t need to see the section heading “Cat Cuteness” to know what you were talking about, because it was right in the text.
I refer to these transitions and ability to ignore section headings as “connective tissue”, and many writers forget about it. They focus on content, but don’t realize that they know their own content so well, they don’t naturally think to set it up for a new reader who hasn’t encountered it before. Here are some tips to make sure you’re not doing this:
Imagine that all the section headings are missing from your paper. Would you still know from the first sentence of a paragraph what that paragraph was going to be about?
Imagine that the last line of a previous paragraph was missing – would the first line of this paragraph review what was important previously? Or would it seem like an abrupt shift to the reader?
Imagine that your reader just read the last line of your paragraph – would they know what direction the next paragraph was going in?
To these last two points, it can be helpful to take a paragraph out of your paper and ask a friend “What do you think I just talked about in the last part of the paper?” and “What do you think I will talk about next?” – if they can’t answer those questions, you’ve got to write more, and probably revisit your outline. Which brings me to my next pet peeve.
Outline? What outline?!?
If you sit down to write a paper, and start with the introduction, then stop – you’ve already made a mistake. You should only write the introduction after you have an outline. Your outline doesn’t have to be fancy – you don’t need to use roman numerals and indenting (although it can help), it just has to be a roadmap you can follow. Imagine your instructor has asked you to write a paper on why cats and humans have a symbiotic relationship. You could just sit down and pound out everything you know about cats and humans, but that will likely lead to a stream of consciousness style paper. It will sound like you’re having a conversation with a friend about cats and humans. This seems fine, but your reader is going to be very annoyed – they want to use your paper as a reference material – they want to know facts they can use about the subject. To use a modern analogy – they don’t want to read 70 pages of backstory before you give them the recipe!
Thankfully, today, AI tools allow us to generate outlines pretty easily. I’ll ask Bing AI once more to generate an outline for that prompt. Here’s a PDF of what it came up with.
Let me be honest with you – if a student took this outline, tweaked it, and then wrote the paper based on it’s suggestions, that would likely get an A from me (Assuming it was well sourced and cited). The real power of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models is NOT to write the paper for you – it’s to give you ideas to write the best paper possible. And you cannot write a good paper without an outline.
If you turn in a stream of consciousness to me, you will get a low grade. If you use an outline, not only are you organized, you can also easily build in transitions like the ones I mentioned above AND you aren’t dependent on section headings to tell the reader what you’re trying to do. Isn’t software great – of course, it isn’t always perfect, and it definitely can get you in trouble if you decide to copy and paste directly out of it.
Copying and Pasting Nearly Always Leads to Plagiarism
We have a big problem today with people not understanding what Plagiarism is. Great tutorials exist that can help people understand citing and paraphrasing (I particularly like Kosha Bramesfeld’s hosted by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology), but it seems many pretend that changing 1-2 words is sufficient. Here’s an actual example:
Student’s Paraphrased Version: Teachers can improve the utilization of homework by using research-tested strategies and accommodations (McNary, Glasgow, & Hicks, 2005).
Did you spot the “paraphrasing”? The person changed “their” to “the”. Not only is this not paraphrasing, it’s hard to see how it could be an honest mistake.
Now it could be: The person copied that line out of the article and put it in their notes, then when it came time to write the paper, they thought they’d paraphrased it already when they put it in their notebook, but in reality they’d just copied it. For this reason, my syllabus contains the following stern warning: “Copying and pasting from an original source material is never allowed unless you see it explicitly discussed in the directions of the assignment.” I put that line in not to be mean, but to help people avoid honest mistakes – copy and paste can be a dangerous tool. Also good advice: If you aren’t sure if you’re allowed to do something or not – ASK THE PROFESSOR. We can provide guidance before problems arise.
So far we’ve talked about the issues related to transitions, outlines, and plagiarism. Now let’s turn to the last biggest Pet Peeve – APA Style violations.
It Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect, But At Least Try!
I don’t think anyone is an expert in APA Style. But there are several things I would like students to at least try to do because they speak to the deeper tenets of having a style in the first place. Here’s a quick list:
Prefer paraphrasing over direct quoting. APA style is meant to be concise and coherent in one voice. It’s not like MLA – you shouldn’t be taking large chunks of people’s writing and providing them as examples of one’s literary excellence. A scientist might write a 10 page paper – you should be able to sum it up in 1 or 2 sentences, if that. All we care about is who had the original idea, and when it was published. I typically use less than 2 direct quotations in any APA style work I write – I reserve them for when I simply cannot say it any better than the original author.
Understand that we don’t care what something was titled. While it’s pretty common in MLA to see something like “Jonathan Westfall, in his book “Practical R 4″ discusses how to use R to automate the creation of powerpoint slides”, in APA style we would see something like this: “You can use R to create powerpoint slides (Westfall, 2020)”. Notice how it’s more concise and readable?
Focus on content, not filling space – I hate page length guidelines as they typically make students inspired to create mountains out of molehills. I do NOT want you to take a sentence and turn it into a paragraph. I want you to take 10 page papers and reduce them down to 1-2 sentences!
For the love of uniformity, make sure your fonts match. Seeing a font change (for example in the running head) just makes me think you’re sloppy and rushed.
Ultimately writing is difficult to master, and the only way that you do is to, well, write. Set yourself up for success by avoiding these pet peeves – write good transitions and introductions, set up an outline that you can follow, avoid plagiarism, and follow style as best you can, and you’ll be on the right track!
