Admin Conference 2025

 

This morning I was poky getting going, so Travalon had to drive me to work. My coworker was locked out of her office, so I was able to let her in before running to Union South for the Admin Conference. I found Seabird, and we had breakfast, but we weren't taking any classes in common. She said, "I like all the practical classes, and I have no interest in the ones you're taking, where they just talk." It's true, she was taking classes on Excel, travel booking, benefits, and retirement planning, but I had already taken most of those, and with the FART looming on the horizon (I will be subsumed on the 21st), I was taking classes about adjusting to change, organizing chaos, and emotional intelligence. We met up again for lunch, and she doesn't like falafel because it's too dry. I said you have to put the sauce on it, but the stuff labeled as "tahini sauce" tasted more like Thai peanut sauce. I also saw an Irish class buddy, a Staff Congress buddy, and a Union buddy who left after the keynote speaker ("How Do We Achieve Happiness?") because she said none of the classes were useful. I may have attended too many of these classes over the years, because I found that I'm implementing a lot of their suggestions already, and in one class I got to give a shout-out to shared governance as a way to solve issues. I did go back to work for a short bit after the conference finished, but my boss said I could go home early since I'd come in early.

This is the drawing I was trying to get AI to do when it abruptly said I had used up all my requests for the day. It was Travalon's idea to have AI draw us eating lobster on a pier in Bimini.

I specified that the ocean should be turquoise, and indeed this is fairly accurate, except that Travalon and I are even better-looking now, and apparently Latino, and also we were eating deep-fried lobster, which I forgot to tell Chat GPT. Also, I love how it tells you we are in Bimini by writing BIMINI in the air above us. Lazy much, AI?

Jilly Moose sent me an AI blog monster she created on Canva.

And an AI moose.

Also, DuoLingo thinks I'm AI.

Travalon has been going down to the dock every morning and taking photos. These are mostly northern shovelers and blue-winged teals.

And, of course, a mallard.

Here are a pair of buffleheads, and the male looks like he's rubbing his face.

I think this is a female northern shoveler, judging by the bill.

Some shots of the majestic sandhill crane.

And our old pal Tux Duck.

These loaded in the wrong order. Where did the female red-breasted merganser go?

There she is! (Before she dove.)

One thing about me, if I'm interested in something, I can go from knowing nothing to being almost an expert in no time. Before the pandemic I knew there were mallards and other ducks, but now I can identify almost every duck species we see. I was the same way with salsa music - once I started listening, I knew almost every famous singer within six months. Conversely, if I'm not interested in something, I can't seem to learn it no matter what, like organic chemistry. What's the difference between an ester and an ether and a ketone? I couldn't tell you, even after a whole semester of it.

Famous Hat