Episode #123: Dad Is Just Chillin' While Waiting For A Train

To the right, a lovely lilac bush greeted me on my Friday morning walk. On 5/12, we officially scared the world by whipping out my shorts to show off my very pasty white legs. Be very, very, afraid. Also, I discovered that I do have brand preference when it comes to jeans. Normally, I'm not into that because (usually) anything brand name adds 65% to the price. But, while I was trying on to determine whether or not I needed to do a temporary size increase due to a waist increase, I discovered that I still fit into my current size of Wranglers, but not the same size in Levis. So....yeah.

So, we have the usual parts to the post: a random writing update and some e-mail humor.

So, while I was winding down in my note taking that is the hot mess known as Dandelion Tears, I belatedly remembered one more chapter. A bit of searching found me ten more pages, which in turn filled me with disgust. Why, you may ask?

Well, normally what I would do with any writing project I'm working on that is trying my patience, I try to complete a chapter before putting it aside. That way, when I decide to come back to it weeks, months, or in this case, years later, I have something of a starting point to launch myself with. Sadly, this was not the case with this hot mess, as I decided 11 1/2 years ago to stop in the middle of a chapter. Bad move, because, you know......

Anyways, we decided to search two old M$ computers of mine to see if I had backed it up on the computer's hard drive (yes, I did find the floppy disk and checked that on the external drive that I had bought 15 years ago. I'm strange, so....yeah.). Long story short, M$'s Win7 OS almost put me to sleep while I was waiting for it to go through all the programs that are needed in order to access the log-in screen.

M$ took about thirty to forty-five seconds to come to life once I plugged it in, then another twenty-five seconds to arrive at the main screen after I'd logged in. For comparison, it takes my Chromebook, from booting up to the main screen, less than twenty seconds total after turning it on.

After all was said and done, nothing of note was found, save for the password for my XP computer. That computer I was not able to access due to the following reasons: about three years dead; the adapter plug I believe was water damaged last July; I need a keyboard to make it work because some of the alpha keys came off AND somehow, I unknowingly pressed the right combination of alpha keys and turned computer keyboard into one big hot mess of a secondary keyboard, rendering it unusable....unless I have an external keyboard to override the computer keyboard. So....no.

So back to the hot mess and the continuation of writing notes. By the time I got to the bitter end, I was left seriously confused on just exactly what main plot was (kidnapping? retaliation? revenge?), which in turn put me into the same state for the sub-plots, thus putting me into a state of "WTF did I just write?"

I still have a half page of notes to write, mostly laying/properly plotting the various locations that this hot mess takes place in (Earth, both present day and alternate reality, a pod{?}, an infirmary{?}, a kingly/queenly court{?}). Then, I can start handwriting this bad boy, and maybe, just maybe, everything will start to crystallize for me. Maybe. If anything, the one thing I can say with confidence is that this book is a fantasy.

And time now for some ye olden (19 1/2 years) G-rated e-mail humor. Topic of choice is mathematics.

The Evolution of Instruction

Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $60. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M". The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M". Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question:: how did the forest birds and squirrels "feel" as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2002: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60? note: Arthur Anderson was a major player in the Enron scandal.

Teaching Math in 2010: El hachero vende un camion carga por $100. La cuesta de production es.....

And on that educational note (remember kids, in 2022 math is discrimination), we wish you a very smooth criminal kind of week.

{c} 2022 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved