Conversation with a Robot

 

Today I worked on campus, and at lunchtime Hardingfele and I went on a walk and then went to see the two new robots in the newest building on campus. They can converse with you, in a manner of speaking. We asked them all sorts of dumb questions (me: "what's your sign?" robot: "I don't have a zodiac sign, but I'd like to think I'd be a fun one like Gemini." Gemini? Shudder! AI really is evil!), and at one point it sounded like it said something in German, so I asked if it spoke French. It said no, and when I said, "But you speak German?" it asked if I remembered what it said in German. I said "Nein," but it asked what I was counting, so Hardingfele said, "Specific gravity." It asked if this were for physics or engineering, so she said, "For pee," and I translated, "For urine composition," but the robot politely ignored that. Then I asked if the robot could sing. It said no, unfortunately, but what would I have wanted it to sing? For some odd reason the first thing that popped into my head was "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, but before I could say anything, Hardingfele hollered, "Smoke on the Water!" and I said, "No f--king way! That's what I was going to say!" The robot completely ignored my swear and cheerily said that great minds think alike, so I added, "And dirty minds think aloud." Hardingfele said, "We have to get back to work now!" and the robot said, "Have a good day!" I hope nobody is making a transcription of our conversation with the robot...

Then I got a bill for a routine appointment I'd had online, and insurance covered nothing. I called to find out if that was because it was an online appointment, but they told me I don't have insurance. I said then who am I paying all these premiums to? Hopefully we can get this all figured out - I sent them a copy of my insurance card.

We had a Union meeting at six, and I usually get home about fifteen minutes before that, so I figured I'd have some time to change into play clothes and get settled before the meeting. Of course today the shuttle was really late picking me up, so I was already late for the meeting by the time I got home. I hadn't eaten yet, so I muted myself and turned off my camera to have a bite to eat, and just after I finished eating, there was a knock at the door. I almost ignored it, but I did get up and open it, and it was our downstairs neighbor with a Red Tasseled Hat for me and one for Travalon!

Here I am wearing Travalon's hat. He said I look like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

Here he is for reference.

Travalon will not be wearing his at the protest, but I'll wear mine. Maybe I'll take that grad student's idea and switch between this hat, my plaid tam with the Red Tasseled Hat pin, and the Contrarian hat. Keep the baddies on their toes!

Jilly Moose sent me a photo of the moose she needle felted.

This is a craft form I know nothing about. I know a lot of people who crochet, including my current boss and the woman who works with Hardingfele and goes to our church. Good thing I don't know how to knit or crochet, or I'd probably have even more hats than I do now.

Famous Hat

Wearing Many Hats to Confuse the Minions

 

This morning when I got to my office, I found Niko safely snuggled against his nameless girlfriend after two nights of bliss together, under the shade of a sunflower.

It was a bad day weatherwise, at least in the morning. I wore my warmest hat and warmest coat, and I walked outside in the driving snow at ten. Seabird and I walked under the overhang on the third floor at lunch, and she told me the postcard from Puerto Rico had just arrived. That was the one I sent to the FART 5 gang; the one I sent to our gang on the 8th floor came in just a few days. As we waited for the elevator, our boss appeared, and she said she thought someone had sent the postcard to her old department and that's why it took so long to get there. No word on how long the postcard took to get to Ma and Pa Hat...

In the afternoon a grad student I often chat with stopped by, and we talked politics as usual. I said how I have the Contrarian hat I wore today that I had gotten for the upcoming protest, but I also have the plaid tam with the red tasseled hat pin, and when I posted a photo of that on social media, my neighbor said her friend is making me an actual red tasseled hat. I said now I have three hats to wear to the protest, and the grad student said I could just keep switching them so Dear Leader's minions can't figure out who I am. That is not a bad idea... They are all soft, so I could easily put them in my pockets.

Travalon got home from work earlier than usual, so he went out to the dock and took more photos. The light was getting dim by then, so a lot of them didn't really turn out, but here are a few that did, of northern shovelers and cranes.

I can tell the others are of the two mallard couples (including Tux Duck), common mergansers, and ring-necked ducks, and there may have been a hooded merganser. Travalon also made two videos, of a muskrat swimming and what I'd call "duck porn," two mallards doing a mating dance, engaging in the act, and then the male has the zoomies afterwards while the female beats her wings. Those both need to be edited, but I may post them at some point, so watch for that.

Famous Hat

So Many Ducks Right Now

 

Today I worked from home, and there isn't much to say about that, but I do have a new comment about my plaid tam, from Cecil Markovitch: "It looks like the top of a jellyfish." Of course, he was saying that about the photo under blacklight, not from seeing me actually wearing it.

Travalon got more photos of birds from our dock today, Tux Duck and his mate, and a pair of hooded mergansers.

I love this photo so much:

Here are the hooded mergansers. The male has the black and white head.

Three male blue-winged teals.

Another pair of mallards. Tux Duck is a hybrid, probably of a mallard and a domestic duck.

I love this photo too:

And the cranes are back and dancing like crazy.

I saw an eagle fly into a nearby tree while Travalon was taking photos, but then we couldn't find it for him to get a photo. I ran into a neighbor who said on University Bay someone had reported seeing twelve types of ducks. Wow! Let's see how many we have seen off our dock:

1. Mallards

2. Common Mergansers

3. Hooded Mergansers

4. Blue-Winged Teals

5. Wood Ducks

6. Canvasbacks (been awhile)

7. Buffleheads

8. Northern Shovelers

9. Ring-Necked Ducks (Travalon took photos of these today, but they weren't clear)

So if they have seen red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, red-headed ducks, and scaups, all of which we have seen in the area but not from our dock (that I can recall), that would get you to a baker's dozen. And of course there was that pintail duck we saw at Cherokee Marsh, and we have seen other ducks at Horicon Marsh and Whalen Grade, like widgeons and gadwalls. Travalon has photographed all of these kinds of ducks. I'm pretty sure we even got photos of green-winged teals at Nine Springs. There sure are a lot of ducks migrating through right now! I love it.

Famous Hat

The Return of Tux Duck

 

Early this morning I had to get up to powder my nose, and when I got back into bed, Travalon's stuffed rhino Rodrigo had moved over to my side of the bed, so I snuggled him. Then I dreamed that I took him to work and lost him. Here is a photo of Rodrigo for reference.

I went back to sleep and woke up seven minutes after my alarm should have gone off. I could see that it was set, but later I realized that it was set an hour later because Friday I worked from home. At least I won't have to reset it for tomorrow... 

Somehow I got to work on time, and at a quarter to noon two coworkers and I went down to get the pizza that was delivered for the grad student lunch. They were welcoming the candidates who are considering coming here for grad school. Then Hardingfele and I walked outside, since it was so beautiful out, and when we got back, we had leftover pizza. Then I had a very long meeting in the afternoon for the Academic Staff Assembly, not nearly as interesting as the University Staff Congress meetings. Maybe I just need to get to know people, because at first the Congress meetings were just a way to get out of work, but by the end I was really into it and knew a lot of people and sat on a lot of committees. It's a bummer to have to start all over again. Then when I got home, I realized Niko was still at work, snuggling against his girlfriend. She doesn't have a name that I can remember.

I was sure there is a picture of the two of them together, but I can't find it now. I've actually had her longer; she came into our house in February of 2022, while Niko arrived in June 2023. I brought her to work right away, and so Niko comes with me to work to see her. Now they get to spend the night together - ooh! Scandalous! It will actually be two nights, since I work from home tomorrow.

This morning I got another DuoLingo sticker:

Roddy is unimpressed.

Travalon took some photos off our dock this morning. Tux Duck is back!

And so are the blue-winged teals.

You can see their blue wings as they fly away.

Here is a male cardinal hanging out by the tennis court.

Then Travalon went to Cherokee Marsh again. He saw common mergansers.

Two couples! A double date?

Here are some mergansers taking flight.

The swans who were hiding yesterday were back today.

The flicker is still around.

This isn't the clearest shot, but I think the duck in front of all these common mergansers is a pintail.

Travalon found a spot with lots of scaups and ringed-neck ducks. They look almost identical, except that the ringed-neck ducks have designs on their bills.

This isn't the clearest photo, but their mating dances are so ridiculous that they're delightful.

Everything is migrating through right now. Soon we'll have to go to Patrick Marsh and Shoveler's Sink to see if we can find red-breasted mergansers, since there don't seem to be any (yet) at Cherokee Marsh. Once the ice has melted off the lake, the loons will migrate through. I don't know how long we have the swans with us, but we'll enjoy them while we've got them!

Famous Hat