"How was Mars?" is a question I never really thought I'd be asked, but I've been asked it quite a bit lately. Swing by Ignite at the @carsoncenterunl on Friday, November 14th, to hear what being an analog astronaut on a simulated mission to the red planet is like! events.unl.edu/2025/11/14/1...

CURRENT MOOD:

My father (pictured far right) would've been 82 yesterday. His mother had been an actress from a line of famous Vaudeville performers, and I of course entered the world of the Theatre at the age of 7 without knowing any of this.

Halloween night, Love Library became haunted — by imagination. Students from the Carson Center for EMA Story Lab 1 class transformed the stacks into a living, breathing mystery: nine story pods, one sealed artifact, and a ritual to contain what whispers between the shelves. #ARG #ImmersiveTheatre

UNL Ghosthunting Collective – FIELD ALERT Reports of spectral activity in Love Library have increased 300%. We’re assembling a rapid response team to investigate nine anomalous zones. Begin your investigation at the first floor Ask Us desk. go.unl.edu/unl-ghosthun...

This is one of my favorite and meaningful memories of this mission. Analog astronaut Karim Garad of the Egyptian Space Agency helps me suit up for my first ever EVA. This is what it's about. Exploring together. Achieving together for a future world without borders.

Ain't gonna lie, after two weeks in isolation with just my crewmates, I'm a little fascinated by all the humans in this airport.

What's the saying? Dress for the job you want? T-minus 1 day! #worldsbiggestanalog #analogastronaut #armash #mars

New home, new bling.

2 weeks until launch sequence initiation. newsroom.unl.edu/announce/art...

My CCD (Creative Compulsive Disorder) STRIKES my office door.

We have achieved William Gibson levels of strangeness. news.sky.com/story/ai-gen...

Let's do this.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! <panics>

Carnivàle

Everyone has a 1-2 season TV show they sorely miss and not enough people knew about that you are always praising the heavens about. What's yours?

Next time someone asks what I teach, I'm just going to show this image from the Immersive Experience Network.

Have a little magic and beauty today.

How I spent my vacation.... er... I mean CONFERENCE, yes, conference. #worldsinplay2025 #gamedesign #experiencedesign [photo by the amazing Katrina Lat!]

Weirdest episode of 'Murder, She Wrote' ever. www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...

Update! Dreams do come true! I've just received my first analog astronaut assignment. I'll be deploying as Communications Officer to the Mars Analog Research Station in Armash, Armenia from October 10–26, 2025, as part of a 6-member crew conducting critical research for future Mars exploration.

How it started in the 80s: “Hayes string primed—ATDT buys me a dial tone and a blank passport. I leave icebreakers in .forward; by the time they bounce, I’m gone” How it's actually going now: "Hey, have you guys checked out nano banana? Too bad you can't get it on Hugging Face"

I am stoked to share that @oceandiscleague.bsky.social & I are featured in the Sept issue of National Geographic Magazine! The article highlights our work on deep sea exploration and development of DORIS, with @bluerobotics.bsky.social, @noaa.gov, PacIOOS, @whoi.edu, & @novysan.bsky.social.

Hey! This is the sensor system I've been working on with my Captain, @katycroffbell.bsky.social, and the @oceandiscleague.bsky.social! #DORIS #DeepOceanExploration www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

I thought I went to college so I didn't have to move hay and lumber around in a barn. :P #WYoming

Did I plan on spending most of the afternoon building a horse coral with old horse shoes and 200lb sections of drilling pipe? No, I did not. But that is, in fact, what I spent most of the afternoon doing. #Wyoming

🎶 "Whoopie ti-yi-yo Get along little dogies It's your misfortune and none of my own Whoopie ti-yi-yo Get along little dogies You know that Wyoming will be your new home" 🎵

So deeply honored and humbled to have been a part of this team. www.forbes.com/sites/sabbir...

So odd to see cattle being run on the ranch formerly owned by my father-in-law in Wyoming. So used to only seeing horses out in those pastures.

What do you do when you attend a conference called @worldsinplay and it's held in a 19th century manor house on a remote country estate? You prototype an Augmented Reality adaptation of Clue!

Let the revels begin. #TrialOfTheMasks #worldsinplay2025 #gamedesign

Alaska. 2019. National Geographic Drop Camera program. The sea was silent as we drifted past giants of ice, exploring the depths below. This seems like yesterday but also forever ago. I miss the Sea.

"The actor assumes a heroic stance – legs spread wide, hips thrust forwards. The actor then roars heroically before delivering his line."

Urbana, I am in you!!

That awkward moment when you're packing for a memorial service and you find yourself trying to discern which is the most "somber" of your Hawaiian shirts.

Yesterday's specialty cocktail for the annual Swan Lake pool party? A clarified Saturn's Rings! Plus pirate ice.

I wonder if she ever actually got those boots of Spanish leather.

Does it seem like the great clubs and bars seem to be disappearing? They are! And it wasn't just covid: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

This Chuck Mangione - Ozzy Osbourne mashup happening in my head right now is really weird.

It's not too early to point out that Halloween is on a FRIDAY** this year. (**Friday being the SECOND best day of the week for Halloween to be on.)

Well, it finally happened. Walked into a bar and ran into a bunch of my students. Awkward.

"...yet another in a long series of diversions in an attempt to avoid responsibility."

🎶 Generals gathered in their masses Just like witches at black masses Evil minds that plot destruction Sorcerer of death's construction In the fields, the bodies burning As the war machine keeps turning Death and hatred to mankind Poisoning their brainwashed minds 🎵 RIP, Ozzy.

Current Status in the State of Nebraska:

"Kee," but only because of a Pogues song.

I'm giggling probably more than I should be.

This tiny packet of organic code, given the right conditions and 4.5 billion years, will eventually become spacefaring. Think about that.

I am currently unable to fall asleep because I am thinking about the elements of a data visualization I created this afternoon about insomnia. Thanks, brain.