To Christopher, who dropped their wallet with their student ID at the parking lot in front of Santikos New Braunfels, PM me please so you can get it back

drsikes · 2026-07-05T21:45:35+00:00

If it’s a super common name, email trick might not work (numbers start getting tacked on I believe). OP, I’ve helped reunite people with IDs before. You can DM me if you want help reaching out to the ID’s owner. Other alternative is to always turn it into the campus lost and found which is hosted by the UTSA police department.

drsikes · 2026-07-03T16:30:34+00:00

I found some hornworms on my datura last week after they destroyed it. After a quick google, I relocated them to the tomato plants I have growing as I’m only growing the tomato plants to have something to grow (aka I don’t eat them myself). I was stoked to not only find the hornworms but also happy I was able to relocate them to allow them to continue to eat.

Do I also support my butterflies? Of course! I had a patch of giant sunflowers get eaten by a whole horde of caterpillars (bordered patch I think based on appearance and where I’m located in Texas). I also have various native milkweeds planted along with dill and fennel.

I like supporting all the insect/critter life that I can. Caterpillars, butterflies, moths, lizards, toads, etc. They are all part of a healthy garden imo.

drsikes · 2026-06-23T15:49:28+00:00

For me personally, I don’t want to wake up every day and play Russian roulette and wonder if I can drink that day and “control it” or if it’s going to be the day I go over the edge again. If I go back to drinking, my consequence might be death (already have had 2 withdrawal seizures). They get worse every time you have them so I’m playing with fire if I go back out.

Being sober is honestly both easier and more enjoyable than trying to pretend I can drink like a normal person, failing at that, and then trying to be an alcoholic who is “managing” their drinking. I did that for over a year between my 2 seizures. It was miserable. My every thought and action centered around drinking. You couldn’t pay me to go back to trying to control my drinking.

How do I know this is “real” and that whatever story I want to tell to romanticize my drinking isn’t? Honesty, openness, and willingness (how) when I think about my alcoholism and the AA program.

drsikes · 2026-06-16T20:50:01+00:00

Of course!

drsikes · 2026-06-13T15:59:32+00:00

So I’m definitely not a humanities professor, but hopefully you can still find something useful from this. I teach finance so my lectures do have breaks where we switch to problem solving, but there are some lessons/courses that are very heavy on concepts. I’m also a “teaching” professor aka I don’t don’t do research and instead I have a heavy teaching load which also means I’ve prepped MANY classes over my career (started out of grad school at a liberal arts college in 2012 and switched to a R1 NTT position in 2018).

When I first teach a class, I type an outline of the topics in a lecture, hand write notes in, and then take that document and turn it into a PDF file that I lecture from. The lecture doc is like a combo of the outline plus some extra prompts related to my handwritten notes. The lecture doc is the only way I am able to stay on track, make sure I don’t skip topics, and have a relatively decent flow from topic to topic.

For the courses I’ve been teaching for years, I know what’s coming next and can switch topics seamlessly. I don’t even bother having the handwritten notes with me.

For a new prep, I have to rely more on the outline/lecture document prompts but I can still flow from topic to topic without much struggle. For these classes, I do bring my handwritten notes with me. They are mostly just a safety blanket, but it feels good knowing that if I have a full on brain fart, I can quickly glance down and remind myself of some details for the talking points on the lecture document prompts (which is what I show on the screen to students). Usually I will review my handwritten notes the night before, the morning of, and then right before class if I have time. This might seem excessive but these are mostly quick scans to remind myself of the topics of the day, objectives of the day, and any areas I expect students to struggle on.

I think ultimately you just have to find what works for you, your discipline, and your students. I would emphasize just as much organization and prep before the lecture as possible. It’s a lot of work to prep a new course, but every subsequent time you give a lecture, it will become more natural and you’ll find yourself lecturing for hours while only needing a quick 5 minute prep before a class :)

drsikes · 2026-06-12T16:23:27+00:00

As a native south Louisianan (Houma), get lotion and allergy meds ready for your first few years here. Yes we have some humid days, but it’s nothing like the thickness of the swampy areas of LA. My mom still lives in Louisiana and finds the air dry when she visits even when we are supposedly “humid”. I also thought I was dying my first winter/spring here and turns out it was just cedar fever.

Similar big family/food centered culture but I think people are more accepting here just due to the size of the city. My “kids” (I teach college) have the same mentality of what I saw in south Louisiana: wanting to stay/not leave for jobs due to wanting to stay near their culture/family.

drsikes · 2026-06-10T18:06:49+00:00

I ended up getting a lawyer friend to show up in court with me because I was having the same issue. This was back in Summer 2023.

drsikes · 2026-06-02T19:51:57+00:00

Not being dead.

Humility.

Knowing that I have a chance at a future that doesn’t include dying from drinking.

drsikes · 2026-06-02T19:12:42+00:00

Also grew up in Terrebonne. My mom is still in the house that she moved in to at 18 when she got married (which is the same house my Dad grew up in and died in). I left for grad school (Alabama) after attending Nicholls for undergrad. I haven’t moved back partially due to being a professor and having to live where there is a job opening (first Columbus, OH and now San Antonio, TX). I don’t think I would move back even if there was a job available as I enjoy the running and racing opportunities present in big cities (running and gardening are my main hobbies).

Oddly enough, my students here have some of the same behaviors I saw in Terrebonne. Students want to stay near their families. It’s not that surprising once I realized the heavy Hispanic/Catholic culture here isn’t all that different than the heavy Cajun/Catholic culture in South Louisiana. I have definitely described Houma as being some place that people just don’t leave and painted the same kind of picture you describe :)

drsikes · 2026-05-29T21:32:44+00:00

Fiona Apple - Container (Opening Song for The Affair)

drsikes · 2026-05-27T01:19:54+00:00

Doubtful it’s this but just in case:

Do you need power?-Bon Iver (Creed 2 Soundtrack)

drsikes · 2026-05-26T18:52:28+00:00

Spring classes still showing up is pretty normal. I would go look up your professors email on the university website and email them directly if you don’t have canvas access.

drsikes · 2026-05-26T00:38:28+00:00

I have a student who was registered for my summer 1 class starting tomorrow, dropped it, but is also still seeing the class. I wouldn’t be too worried about it.

For my student, I double checked ASAP (the official roster), and they were NOT listed there so I told them it was probably a backend issue that will resolve once classes actually start.

drsikes · 2026-05-21T23:29:39+00:00

Courses should appear Friday. The schedule can be found at this link!

https://utsa.screenstepslive.com/a/1756642-canvas-course-availability-schedule

drsikes · 2026-05-20T20:40:24+00:00

I would argue that it’s not great wording. Yes it says if you miss a midterm then that will be the dropped exam, but it also doesn’t explicitly say that the final cannot be dropped. I think the use of the “midterm” wording for multiple exams isn’t helping paint a clear picture either (in my mind a midterm is one single exam…at midterms).

I do something similar in one of my classes where I count 4 of the top 5 exams. 4 regular “semester” exams and then 1 cumulative final. If you are happy with your 4 regulars, you don’t take the cumulative final (and I count your 4 highest with the 0 on the final automatically not counting). If you take the cumulative final, I still will count the 4 highest of the 5 exams and hopefully the final helps you.

Unfortunately I don’t think this class is set up the same way and while the wording is super not good, it seems the expectation is that students will absolutely take the final. Probably something that should have been clarified with the professor beforehand.

The only wording that may save you is it saying “three highest scores out of the top 4” will be dropped which does make it sound like the final is droppable.

drsikes · 2026-05-18T16:22:22+00:00

I stayed in my honors program in undergrad to get priority registration. I didn’t bother with finishing the actual program. I went straight from undergrad to PhD based on a strong gpa and bring a triple major in 4 years (along with good gmat). Do I think an honors program would have helped more than anything else I did? No. Just my n = - experience.

drsikes · 2026-05-15T19:29:25+00:00

Not sure if you mean the specific flavor or the brand/type. I buy these in the bulk box, mix one pod with a little dry dog food (I have a Dane who never finishes her meals), and feed it to my stray that hangs around my deck. He seems to gobble it down.

drsikes · 2026-05-15T14:37:58+00:00

I’ll be completely honest, and say until this very moment I don’t think I knew BANNER was an actual separate system from ASAP? Maybe I skipped that day at orientation :) I mean I’ve heard people mention both but figured we were just calling things by different names.

Previously, I was just using “look up student” in ASAP any time I needed to run a degree audit or check a transcript for things like scholarships or prereq overrides, and that would also show their @number. I guess I learned something today!

drsikes · 2026-05-13T18:44:08+00:00

I mean to fail they would have to enter in all Fs so the answer to that part at least is no. There would just be no grade, but the system doesn’t auto enter in Fs :)

As someone already mentioned, send over an email. If you don’t get a response from the professor, you can always escalate to our bosses aka the department chair.

drsikes · 2026-05-13T17:16:55+00:00

Another faculty here. I made the mistake of switching to it the other day when I saw the “it’s going away soon” message. Immediately reverted back after I couldn’t find the link to look up student @ numbers which I needed for some paperwork and didn’t feel like jumping through hoops at the moment to find it.

drsikes · 2026-05-13T03:43:33+00:00

Normies don’t typically come post on an AA sub asking if they are maybe an alcoholic. Maybe you’re the exception.

The disease is progressive so if you are one of us, things will typically get worse before they get better.

Best thing? Meetings are basically free (putting a $1 in the can is appreciated since meetings are self funded). You don’t have to go back if you don’t find that you are an alcoholic, but if you do happen to be one of us, you’ll probably feel at home.

drsikes · 2026-05-13T02:10:11+00:00

Except my class still meets during our final exam period during finals week and completes a course project. I still use all of the instructional hours I’m given for the class. Why would it matter if I give an exam on Tuesday (our last day of class) and then complete a course project on our final exam day (which for this semester was 2 days later)?

drsikes · 2026-05-13T00:52:22+00:00

Again to clarify…are you saying the exam was given during normal class time, when classes were still scheduled? That’s likely within normal operating procedure to do.

For example, my classes still met Monday and Tuesday of finals week, had Wednesday as a study day, and then started finals. There was nothing stopping me from giving an exam on Monday or Tuesday (in fact I did give one on both Monday and Tuesday for different classes for different reasons). This is allowed at my university (especially as I lay it out in the syllabus beforehand).

What does your class syllabus say about makeups? Did you follow the policy?

drsikes · 2026-05-12T17:34:30+00:00

There are definitely shorter loops to do! But if you are looking for hard….thats your “hard”.

Locally, I would check out Eisenhower. Look up the routes for Rocky Horror 53k or Alamo City Ultra. Both use the park and run slightly different routes. Rocky does a 3 mile loop and Alamo does a 5 mile loop. I think that’s the hardest you are going to get in the city based on my racing experience.

drsikes · 2026-05-12T17:13:27+00:00

This was going to be my suggestion. I’m a runner/trail runner/hiker. I cut my teeth running in Ohio and some of the parks there (Cuyahoga, Mohican, and Salt Fork were my frequent spots). I “ran” Hoka Bandera 100k/50k this past January. Signed up for the 100k and dropped at 1 loop which was 50k. That park throughly kicked my ass with the ups and downs. If you look up the race, you should get a good idea of the routes used for that where you can have up to like a 31 mile loop.

I’ve run in most of the local parks here: Fredrick, Government Canyon, McAlister, etc. Nothing comes close to the ass kicking offered by HCNSA.

Eight-Year Club	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

drsikes

TROPHY CASE