Hanging out on my deck after a long weekend of home improvements. Beautiful evening.

Deck at night with lights, chairs and a grill. Silhouetted trees against a night sky.

Saw this beautiful flower on campus yesterday.

Yellow flower with black center. Greenery and brick walkway in the background.

You are currently being recorded.

Our neighbors installed a new security system a couple of weeks ago. When you walk anywhere near it – and that radius includes our driveway – a recording plays: “You are currently being recorded.”

We have great neighbors, but when I first heard it, I was a little annoyed. My wife was irritated, too. Every time we walked to our cars… “You are currently being recorded.”

A few days after this started, I was walking out to the car with my kids and the alarm system informed us that we were being recorded… and my 15-year-old daughter waived in the general direction of the camera, yelled “Hello camera” and got in the car. She repeats this greeting every day when she leaves for school, choosing to be amused instead of irritated.1

There are two lessons in this story:

  1. Don’t install a talking alarm system. It’s annoying. (My neighbor isn’t happy either. He says it is way too sensitive and goes off at the slightest movement.)

  2. We can choose to be amused instead of irritated. Sometimes, it’s best to greet the metaphorical camera and go on with your day.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.

  1. We asked our neighbor if the camera records audio. It doesn’t. Jill knows this. She says hello anyway. ↩︎

I’m really intrigued by Adobe’s approach to generative AI. Building AI tools that assist the process of creative development, but don’t seek to replace it. The Generative Fill feature that they are building into Photoshop looks seriously useful.

Jamovi is so much easier to use than SPSS.

Just submitted my revised journal article. I was pretty discouraged when I got the long list of feedback, but honestly, with all the changes incorporated, the new revision is significantly better. We’ll see if the editor and reviewers feel the same way.

My 11-year-old’s orchestra teacher is retiring and he’s rallying his fellow students to make a giant card to thank her. He’s working so hard on it and the whole thing is so sweet.

Last night at the Chapin Lacrosse Banquet, Norah was awarded a scholarship named for former player Chaney Partrich. Chaney was such a positive influence for Norah when she stared playing lacrosse for Chapin in 7th grade. I know the award means the world to Norah and it means the world to Liz and me, too.

RE: Paywalls. I want writers and publications to make money, but I also want to share the great things that they write — often with people who would never pay to support online writing.

Team Wertz after church this morning.

One of the fun things about working at your alma mater — you can take a second walking across campus to hang out on the bench in front of where you used to live.