storytelling

It's hard to concentrate on writing while the Mathematician is pacing, so I've tried to fix the formatting problems here. I had to start from scratch with a fluid template (if you don't know what that is, never mind, really, the details are boring). What that means is, everybody should be able to see everything, both columns, and to resize your browser screen without losing anything. The screen cap to the left is what you should be seeing.

There is a style contest going on over at Movable Type, and the base template I am using was an entry there called Fleur.

Sorry to ask again for help, but could you let me know how this is showing up for you, and what browser you're using?

And as a small offering, as I have nothing of real interest to share today beyond more mangled mathematician stories, here:

Jim Trelease is a reading education specialist and a very smart guy. The quote in the upper right hand column is from him, with a link to his website. On his website there is also an interesting article which considers a great question: how would Shakespeare, Hemingway, and others well established in the literary canon be graded on the new SAT essays?

Not that the answer is a surprise. But it's still very sobering, the mess we've got when it comes to evaluating how ready kids are for college.

Posted by at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

Mangle is maybe too strong a word, but I wanted alliteration and it's been a rough couple days.

After five days of steadily increasing pain in his shoulder, the Mathematician finally agreed to see the doctor today, so off we went. About half my day was spent in the waiting room, and the rest was divided up between waiting in line at the pharmacy, and transporting the Girlchild to appointments she couldn't handle on her own.

Tomorrow I expect we'll be spending a good part of the day at the hospital because the Mangled Mathematician needs an MRI. They did an EKG in the doctor's office and it's not his heart (high on my list of worst case scenarios). It may be a slipped disc. Which would probably mean surgery. Good news: they gave him Real Drugs to help with the pain. As he hasn't slept in three days, the minute the pain went away he conked out.

How did he slip a disk, you're wondering. I truly don't know. But I can tell you that he's been spending a lot of time sailing and trying to repair the Etchell he co-owns with a friend. This here is an Etchell, a small racing boat. Also, there have been some hikes. And trail clearing. And I believe he played tennis just recently.

The lesson I take from all this: a sedentary life style has a lot to recommend it.

So now I'm going to try to write, but I fear that I may fall asleep fairly soon. Also, I'm feeling disoriented because the puppy boys aren't here. I sent them off to have an overnight at Sherri's, so I don't have to worry about them on top of everything else. But I miss 'em. The little monsters.

Wish us luck.

PS There is a very loud silence out there about Tied to the Tracks. One review on Amazon, and y'all are keeping mostly mum. Right now I'm a little too worn out to obsess about it, but I'll pick up where I left off once we know what's going on with the MM.

Posted by at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)