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Author: adaptiman

  • To Insure Promptness…

    To Insure Promptness…

    On Tuesday nights, I teach until about 7:30pm and so I go out to eat after class. One of my favorite restaurants is a little “hole-in-the-wall” Chinese place in College Station off of Rock Prairie, T Jin Diner. Watching them work is amazing. To begin with, the food is fantastic. I’ve never had a bad dish there. They have a significant take-out business weeknights in addition to onsite customers and they process orders with exceptional speed and care. It’s like a ballet as they move bagged orders from the kitchen to the front door, seat incoming customers and serve dishes as they come off the line. Last night, I ordered a cup of hot-and-sour soup and Mongolian beef. The soup arrived in less than a minute. I hadn’t taken 5 spoonfuls of the soup before the main dish arrived, piping hot.

    The point is that this is a small independent business that pays attention to details, is fast and courteous, and produces exceptional quality. So when the bill comes, which is a credit-card receipt, I don’t think twice about giving them a healthy tip. I’m glad to give it to them and appreciative of their care.

    Contrast this with recent story in the New York Times on DoorDash tipping practices. “If you don’t add a tip for your delivery person, you might have to wait longer for your food.” Interesting, in light of the fact that the word “tip” comes from an 18th century British custom To Insure Promptness. DoorDash is not-so-subtly saying, “If you don’t tip us, we’ll provide poorer service.” Tipping seems to be an issue for this company especially since DoorDash settled a lawsuit in 2020 over “deceptive tipping” inferring that drivers were getting tips when in fact they were pocketing the money.

    Tipping is really getting out of hand with companies thinking they are entitled to tips. I for one believe that is tip should be given after exceptional service is rendered – exceptional service – not expected, average or mediocre service. Here are my personal rules of tipping:

    • Anytime I serve myself, I don’t tip. This includes fast-food or any walk-up or cafeteria-style restaurant
    • If asked for tip prior to service, I don’t tip. I despise the little turnaround kiosks that force you to select an amount while those behind you look on
    • If proactively asked for a tip after service, I don’t tip. I don’t think its right to ask for a tip because that infers an expectation.
    • If passively asked for a tip after service (e.g., on a credit card receipt);
      • If the service was poor, I don’t tip.
      • If the service was average, I may leave a small tip <15%.
      • If the service was better than average, I’ll tip 15-20%
      • If the service was exceptional, I’ll tip over 20%
    • If the requirements of exceptional service are met and I’m not asked to tip, I’ll try to find a way to tip anyway. At a minimum, I will remark to the staff how I felt about their service and thank them.
  • Van Halen Breaks AI

    Van Halen Breaks AI

    I’m a huge Spotify fan. As a GenX’er, I love ’80s arena rock – Queen, Van Halen, AC/DC, Journey, Yes – you get the picture. Spotify feeds my hard rock nostalgia hunger. Spotify released a new feature earlier this year called DJ that is essentially an AI bot that examines your musical tastes and curates sets based upon them, including new selections it thinks you may like. According to Spotify, “The DJ knows you and your music taste so well that it will scan the latest releases we know you’ll like, or take you back to that nostalgic playlist you had on repeat last year.”

    After using DJ for some time, I can attest that it’s pretty good at creating sets of my favorites but pretty bad at selecting new music. For example, I can’t stand Rap, but it keeps setting me up with Rap/Hip-Hop sets which I quickly fast-forward through. DJ doesn’t seem to think fast-forwarding is disapprobation, so after a few songs, I finally get fed up and hit the “DJ” button to explicitly show my displeasure. It makes me wonder if they are selling plays of those artists which would explain why they keep pushing genres that the AI should know I don’t like.

    Several weeks ago, DJ selected a Van Halen song from their album 1984. The song was the instrumental first track on the album. Now, I had that record on vinyl when I was a kid. I know every lyric, every note, every riff. So when I heard the instrumental track 1984, I was expecting to also hear the second track on the album, Jump. I’ve always considered 1984 as an instrumental prelude to Jump. This is a “by design” artifact of “album rock” that creates associations and meaning out of the order tracks are set on the album. If you doubt me, take a look at Pink Floyd The Wall. Other examples of instrumental preludes include Yes’ Cinema (followed by Leave It) on their 90125 album and Queen’s We Will Rock You (We Are the Champions) from their album News of the World. Regarding this last example, I always get irritated when radio stations play We Will Rock You by itself. In the 80s and 90s, they would ALWAYS play them together. Somewhere along the road, radio media forgot this tacit knowledge and wisdom.

    And here’s the point. When I heard 1984, I let it run expecting Jump to play next, but it never came. Because I let it run, in subsequent weeks, DJ kept serving that song solo, aggravating me all the more. Why didn’t DJ know that those two songs were supposed to be together? Because AI doesn’t understand tacit knowledge. Van Halen had “broken” AI.

    AI will never be able to recreate the beautiful complexity of learning through living in the world with all of the experiences – personal, communal, cultural, and national – that come with it. This is why I don’t think AI is as far along as some would have us believe. Some folks agree with me. While AI may be helpful in many contexts, I don’t think it will ever replace the complexity of human reason completely.

  • Career Readiness Skills Higher Ed is NOT Teaching

    Career Readiness Skills Higher Ed is NOT Teaching

    The list of marketable skills (aka: market ready skills or career readiness skills) has been around for at least a decade. The list is not surprising:

    1. critical thinking/problem solving
    2. oral/written communication
    3. teamwork/collaboration
    4. information technology application
    5. leadership, professionalism/work ethic
    6. career management.

    It’s also no surprise that higher ed is doing a pretty poor job of teaching these skills to our graduates. NACE has been in the forefront of this research. For example, in 2018, only 43% of seniors felt prepared for their future careers. 46% of employers reported that they had to provide remedial training to recent graduates, which accounted for 20% of their entire training budget.

    And it’s not a mystery that employers are looking for these skills. In a recent survey, 72% of C-level executives cited critical thinking/problem solving as most important in their workplace. 63% cited collaboration/teamwork. Technical skills followed these in the number three spot. Interestingly, these same executives indicated that career readiness skills were more important to entry-level employees because job-specific technical skills can be more easily trained.

    It’s clear that employers want these skills and graduates lack them. WHY?

    I believe the reason is because we’re simply not teaching them intentionally. We talk about how our current traditional curricula “inherently” teach these skills, but we’re not addressing them openly and explicitly. We’re not building them into our curricula. Being more intentional then becomes a goal of our future curricula.

    Here are six things we can do as instructors to enhance our students’ career readiness skills:

    1. Talk about career readiness skills – Simply listing and discussing career readiness skills in our courses, their importance, and how much employers value them is the first and most basic step.
    2. Create more project-based learning experiences – We use PBL for our capstone which creates a wonderful opportunity for students to operationalize most of the career readiness skills. But why do we wait for capstone?
    3. Add a “careers/resumes/interviewing” module to your class – ‘Nuff said.
    4. Create opportunities for peer evaluations – Opportunities for peer evaluations are invaluable. It’s one thing for me to tell a student they have poor team skills. It’s quite another for one of their peers to do it.
    5. Invite industry recruiters to your class – Guest lecturers help students learn what to expect in the interview process. If the recruiter can (be prompted to) talk about career readiness skills, all the better.
    6. Encourage internships – nothing prepares students to work like working.

    In summary, preparing students to be career-ready will go a long way in helping them acquire gainful employment before or soon after they graduate.

  • It’s for fun…

    It’s for fun…

    On June 30, 2023, I retired from the Texas A&M University System after 29 years of service. Recent events on the main TAMU campus have led to me return almost immediately as a “working retiree.” What would bring me back, you ask?

    Over the last three years, the Technology Management program has completely reshaped and updated their degree to reflect a foundation in IT Service Management (ITSM). The new degree is a Bachelor of Arts in IT Service Management and receives its first cohort of students in in the fall, 2024. This degree reflects what I and many of our faculty believe is a new focus for IT professionals – one based on a foundation of IT Service Management with a strong portfolio of technical skills and plenty of room for our students to build out concentrations of study for the myriad IT-related jobs in and around the perimeter of the industry.

    But the changes in the degree are just the tip of the iceberg. We are working with educational psychologists (I’m one) to focus the program heavily on career development during the student’s academic tenure. This is a holistic approach based upon career assessment starting on day one and extending to graduation and beyond. With ITSM as the foundation, our program can be shaped and molded to accommodate virtually any IT career our students can think of.

    For example, this semester, I have a student that wants to be an IT-focused auditor. She has identified a minor in finance that, when coupled with her IT technical skills and ITSM foundation, will position her for a strong IT career most likely in the banking sector when she graduates.

    Why did I come back? It’s for fun.

  • Pics from Day 18-27

    Sorry to post late. This was my first opportunity to upload them.

    https://gopro.com/v/P332nyOGo8ZQy

  • Day 27 – The Day After

    This will be my last entry for this hike. I got a good night’s sleep in the motel. I woke up this morning at 5:30 – no alarm necessary. I got up, consolidated my gear and packed up for the journey home. I then put on my boots and started walking for a local bagel shop about 3/4 mile away. This was first time I had done some walking WITHOUT my pack – how liberating. I feel like I could fly without the weight. I think my body is probably substantially lighter as well. I feel great. My feet are beginning to heal.

    After having a lazy breakfast at the bagel store, I walked to Walmart – about another 1.5 miles – no problem. I picked up a pair of shoes, a shirt, a razor, some deodorant, and a lemon. I then went to the the Total Wine and Spirits across the road and picked up a small bottle of gin and some tonic. I hiked back to the hotel, gave myself a haircut and beard-cut (don’t tell Allyson), arranged for transportation to the bus terminal in the morning, and then mixed myself a few gin and tonics. I then retired to the motel lobby to write these journal entries with my third gin and tonic of the day – it’s great to be retired.

    After I finish here, my plan is to walk about to a Japanese restaurant close to the Walmart to have an early dinner and then back to the motel for one last sleep before coming home. In the morning, I’ll take the Martz Bus into Manhattan, an Uber to LaGuardia, and the flight home.

    I don’t have anything earth-shattering to say other than the experience met all of my expectations. My mind, body and spirit feel reset and refreshed. I have some bruises and bug-bites but am whole. I feel with a few more days of rest, I could go another month. But I miss my family. Today is my anniversary and so I called Allyson for a long talk. Hopefully, this weekend we’ll get to do something to celebrate.

    Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. If you have followed my blog, bless you for your perseverance. Thank you. I’ll see you soon.

  • Day 26 – The Last Day

    Woke up at the artesian water camp, ate breakfast, filtered some more of that beautiful water, packed up, and headed out. It was bittersweet packing up for the last time. I expected some rain today. The trail out was just as rocky as the previous days, but at this point, I didn’t care. Coming up were Wolf Rocks. There was a bypass trail marked on the map. The description said that “If you’re not sure of your abilities, you should take the bypass trail around Wolf Rocks because there are several steep four-point climbs.” At this point, I’m not skipping anything – I’ve come this far, I’ll figure it out. Just in case, I took my bear rope and attached it to the outside of my pack – something Allyson will tell you I never do. I don’t like anything hanging on the outside of my pack, but I thought I may need to get the rope quickly if I needed to lower my pack down a steep climb, or something like that.

    The first mile of the trail was rocky leading up to Wolf Rocks which was a knife edge of rock very similar to what I encountered coming out of Duncannon, only not as bad. As usual, the reality of the situation was not a scary as the imagined. I was able to manage very well through several steep boulder descents and get down safely from Wolf Rocks.

    Once down, the path notably softened to clear 100% path, level, peaceful, and green. It’s as if the mountain had finally given up trying to kill me. This pleasant trail lasted for about a mile, then some rocks returned, but nothing like the last week’s trail. I was able to complete the first 5 miles quickly. I bumped into Accountant whom I had met about a week earlier. There were several good vistas for the last half of the day. At least two miles were along an old logging road – level and smooth – thank you Jesus.

    Once I began the descent into the Delaware Water Gap, the trail was very pleasant, steep in several places, but overall very pleasant hiking. There was a beautiful creek at about 500 ft. elevation with a waterfall tracing down into the Delaware river below. I encountered some young (20-something) Indian kids hiking up the trail in jeans and tennis shoes, each holding a bottle of PowerAid. “How old are you?” they asked. “57” I said. “Wow, we got to hand it to you for doing this at your age.” I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I had met half-a-dozen through-hikers twenty years older than me.

    I finally made it down to the Delaware Water Gap, which is the name of a place and a town. I was shouted down by Dreamsicle and Lucky, who had somehow gotten behind me. We met up, and decided to go to a restaurant on Main Street in town. We were joined by Masters. We had a delightful lunch, and I learned that my first impression of Lucky was wrong. She had a Master’s degree in Parasitology and had worked in several specialty bars for some time. She was deeply knowledgeable about spirits and had a specialty in Absinthe. I took note of some spirits that she recommended. After lunch, I said my goodbyes and got an Uber to my motel which was located in Stroudsburg.

    And so ends my hike. I’m ready to be home. I have tomorrow to here in Stroudsburg to rest, recover, repack, and get ready to travel. Friday, I’m taking the Martz Bus to Manhattan (Port Authority Bus Terminal) and then an Uber to LaGuardia for the flight home.

    Today’s Mileage: 9.3

    Total Trail Miles: 271.4

  • Day 25

    I’ll be honest. I’m noting this journal entry 2 days after the fact and I don’t remember the details of this day. I’ve learned over many years that if you don’t make an entry immediately at the end of the day, the details and lessons are lost. Perhaps this was meant to serve as a reminder to me to act quickly in the moment.

    I do remember that the Leroy Smith Shelter turned out to be perfect. I arrived about 5pm. No one was there and I began to setup to stay in the shelter. About 5:30, a mother and daughter rolled in. They had come from Delaware Water Gap and were bragging that they had done 20 miles that day. They were also complaining about the rocky trail. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the entire journey south was worse than what they had probably come over. I asked them if they were planning on staying at the shelter and warned them that I snore. The mother responded that she snored as well and that they were so tired that it wouldn’t matter. One useful piece of information she gave me was that there was no water at the next shelter. This changed my plan for the next day, and I’m glad that she mentioned that otherwise I wouldn’t have had water the next day.

    I consolidated my gear into a corner of the shelter to make room for them then got into my bag to give them some peace to get settled. I dozed and woke up about 45 minutes later. The mother and daughter were gone – I guess they thought spending the night in the shelter with a grizzled old man was too much of a risk.

    I saw one more through-hiker come through about 7:30, but he decided to setup in tent nearby, so I had the shelter all to myself. I remember that this night was the best sleep I had over the entire trip. I had pleasant dreams and woke to the sound of the morning birds at 5:30. I got up and visited the privy for the first time. I was well maintained, no smell, and a pleasant experience in the cool morning air. I don’t mean to be graphic, but a well-maintained privy is a delight.

    I got up and headed for the seasonal spring about 2 miles south of the next shelter. Reports were that water here was good. The day relatively uneventful. The trail was 90% rocky, 10% soft. But at this point, my feet were beyond sore – I moved slowly and made steady progress. By the time I got to the spring, it was about 4:30. There was one other through-hiker in a tent nearby. I setup my hammock and went to check out the water.

    This water supply was the best of the entire trip – a two-foot deep pool about 6 meters in diameter with truly artesian water bubbling up from the bottom, then running down the mountain in a stream for as far as I could see. This was a real artesian source, cool, clear, absolutely sweet. I took some to filter and headed back to my camp about 50 meters uphill. By the time I got back, Fizz, the erstwhile through hiker that I first encountered at the Rausch Gap shelter was pulling in. I remarked that I thought he would be far ahead of me by now. He noted that he was having “foot and ass” problems and took a zero day in Palmerton.

    So it seems that the tortoise always catches the hare. Perhaps I’m not as slow as I thought.

    Today’s Mileage: 11.0

    Total Trail Miles: 262.1