PS Shingles

Let's see... shingles shingles SHINGLES! Shingles Shingles shingles shingles. shingles. I think that covers it. On Saturday Steve and I saw Silver Linings Playbook (liked it) and went out to dinner (finally tried pork belly - I... I don't get it. it's like overcooked incredibly fatty pork. big deal) Other than that, you know, shingles.

Acshuwee, all hail anti-virals! From your comments (and I am deeply sorry for your past suffering) it is obvious that I got off easy. Some itching, some tenderness, a brief period of hideousness but now I am almost past it. So what was that? Ten days from beginning to end? Not bad.

[I am interrupting with a new math question for you. Patrick has just stomped into my space with steam coming out of his ears over another one of these blasted online quizzes:

Find the value of a such that the points (4,a) and (8, 3a) lie on a line with slope m=1/3

Please help before Patrick beats his computer to death with his algebra book]

Speaking of Patrick, he has been skiing once a week since Christmas and it's doing all sorts of good things for his self-confidence and social skills (and yeah his skiing but self-confidence! social skills!) On Saturday Patrick - the same Patrick who was unable to tell me the name of a single child in his first grade class - breezily informed me that he had spent the entire day riding the lifts with a girl named Grace who is ten years old, in the fourth grade and lives across the river. He is also on a first-name basis with most of the ski instructors so he greets and is greeted by an assortment of adults as we traverse the ski school. I asked him the other week what he found to discuss with the sixty year old instructor with whom he was paired all day and he said, "Small talk."

Whew. It's like and then, one day, in his own time, Patrick made small talk.

On the other side of the spectrum... I'm sure Caroline called to tell you this already or maybe you heard it from the Target cashier(s) in whom she confided or perhaps you got her tweet but SHE LOST A TOOTH.

Huh. Wrong picture. You can't tell in this one, can you?

There. Gap visible although, just between you and me

[I'm tempted to write "you and I" because for some reason I make that mistake often when I  talk to my mother and every single time she corrects me. So I start over again, "Well, just between you and me... " and then I stop. "What?" she asks and I have to admit that I have forgotten what I was going to say. Grammarians no doubt have a special place in heaven but what price gossip?]

Fortunately I have a visual prompt this time so, just between you and me, I think people look ridiculous when they start to lose teeth and even goofier when they grow newer big ones. To be fair in this case, though, I think Caroline looks less silly than scary. There is a touch of the kudlak about Caroline.

Edward, bless him, grew new teeth before his bottom two fell out so although he resembled a shark for a week or two he now looks like a toothpaste model - all toothy. See? You cannot even tell that he lost the middle two baby teeth a month or so ago.

Eh. A few more of Edward because I just think he is so pretty.

Caroline talks about leaving Minnesota a lot.

"When I am a teenager I am going*... " she begins and then usually finishes by naming the country to which she will move... Australia, Brazil, France.

"You can come with me Eddybear," she adds.

But Edward says, "Ohhhh no. Uh uh. No way. I am going to stay here and die."

I am pretty sure he means he is going to stay here until he dies and I am equally sure that by "here" he doesn't just mean Minnesota he means here, in our house, on the couch.

Frankly, I'm ok with that.

*The other day she said, "When I am a teenager I am going" and finished with "to move in with my boyfriend" and from some far reaching corner of the house came the anguished "nooooooooooooooo" of her father. 

She said "What was THAT?" and I told her it was a yeti in the woods.

"Oh," she said. 

PS 2/3. Patrick got 2/3 but his online quiz rejected it. Twice. So he tried 0.6 and then 0.666 and then 0.66666666666666 which is when he came and shouted at me. Like I have anything to do with it.

Comments

[Jesabes]

I'm dreading the teeth losing years because I find that stuff so gross. Also, I had 9 baby teeth pulled as a kid because they just wouldn't go. I'm really, really hoping that's not a genetic thing because I don't want to have to go through THAT with each kid.

[Rosalie]

Or you can just train yourself to say "entre nous" and sidestep that whole issue.

[Kate]

a = 2/3

love the toothless and toothsome grins!

[Sara]

I can do that math! Slope is equal to rise/run, so a slope of 1/3 has a rise (increase in x) that is equal to 1/3 the change in y (the run).
The x values have a change of 4 (8-4=4) so the change in the y values must be equal to 3*4=12.
3a-a = 12, therefore 2a=12, therefore a=6

I'm...pretty sure that's right.

[Davida]

I think a=2/3. m is rise over run, so (3a - a)/(8-4) = 1/3. Rearranging gives 2a=4/3, and a = 2/3.

[Maud]

What are your babies doing losing teeth? They only just turned five. My 6.75 year old has just recently proudly lost his first.

But yes, Eddybear is gorgeous. Must be genetic or something.

Glad your shingles are receding.

[Lurker Amy (math addict)]

slope = (y1-y0)/(x1-x0)
1/3 = (3a-a)/(8-4)
1/3 = 2a/4 = 1/2 a
2/3 = a

Is it revealing too much that the only time I comment is when help with a math problem is requested?

[Sara]

ah dammit...I just took the gre too (and scored in the 90% for math)...shows how quick it leaves when you don't actually care to use it

[Jessica]

I have to agree with the 2/3 answer and suggest that something be said about the quirkiness of the online quizzes that don't like to accept correct answers...

Also, my daughter (4) has been telling us recently that when she "grows up and gets big like Daddy" that our house will be HER house and that we will be the ones leaving. When I finally asked her why it would be that way she told me "because all my things are already here". Apparently a dislike for packing ones crap is an inheritable trait. Who knew? I too would almost rather have all my fingernails pulled out than sort and pack a houseful of stuff. I see us hitting an impasse in about 16 years.

Also also, I too find the gap-toothed look and the much-too-large teeth to be awkward. And Edward is pretty :)

[Allison]

.667? Computers suck. Glad your shingles was mild, mine was mild and short-lived despite the fact that I caught it too late for the anti-virals. Still on pox-watch for the toddler.

[Beth]

I think Patrick needs to learn to be smug when the test is wrong.

(least work solution for me ==>
Find the value of a such that the points (4,a) and (8, 3a) lie on a line with slope m=1/3

y = mx + b

a = 1/3 * 4 + b = 4/3 +b

3a = 1/3 * 8 + b = 8/3 +b

Now I subtract the top equation from the bottom equation

2a =4/3

a = 2/3

[Erin]

Sara is right. I drew it out, because I thought it should be 12, and I didn't want to make an ass of myself on the Internet if it wasn't. And it wasn't! I don't have any idea how to solve it (I read her steps, and I still don't quite know), but as for so many math problems, a picture can be quite useful...

[Jenny F. Scientist, PhD]

Er, sorry, actually I think a is 2. You have to calculate 'b' first and then a. Of course, it's late, perhaps I'm a moron.

[tadpoledrain]

a = 2/3
for all the reasons that people have explained before me.

Has Patrick tried .67 or 0.67? (As someone who currently has to write online math quizzes, I can tell you that it is a royal pain in the butt trying to anticipate the various forms that correct answers can take.)

What happened the last time he got the correct answer but the online quiz wouldn't accept it?

[Taryn]

hmmm...I'm able to get both a=6 and a=2/3. I understand the 2/3 math (though I had to look it up), but just by reasoning it out I got got 6:

if the slope is 1/3, just think that for every one unit up, you must go three units to the right. So, to get from 4 to 8 you must go up 4 units, and therefore must go 12 units to the right. So 3a-a=12. So, a=6.

So...basically I'm no help, lol. Sorry!

[Erin]

Well dammit. My husband just came in to remind me that it's x,y, not y,x. So yes, it's 2/3. (Probably that's not why he thought he came in here though.) Ass made. Maybe the quiz writer is also an ass with a backwards understanding of coordinates?

[Kelli]

Recently (within 5 years) acquired BS in Math, here. Kind of appalled that it appears about half of the general population thinks that they can do this but can't. It's 2/3. If Patrick's going to try writing it as a decimal, he needs to be sure to round the final digit up. .666 would never be the right answer, but .667 would be.

[Clarabella]

My son lost two teeth this weekend. His first two. Sniff.
I think he's adorable, but I almost puked when he asked me to wiggle it for him. I have to draw a line somewhere.

[Naomi]

My nine-year-old is planning to live in Paris when she grows up. She has a roommate selected already (her bff, who is amenable to this plan) and they're thinking they will work as flight attendants while living in Paris.

I kind of hope she actually does this but only temporarily (Paris is a long way from Minnesota). Maybe she could do a semester abroad in Paris or something.

[Sheridan]

See, I totally thought "you and I" was correct. As kids we were always told "you and me" was wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Sorry you've been having a rotten time.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

So glad the Evil Shingles are pulling up stakes and leaving. Long may they recede! (Like, forever!) BTW, did you ever find something to help with the itching?

As for that last Cahoyine comment -- re the moving in with boyfriend -- ya know, my mother had a constant drumbeat the entire time I grew up of "When you get your master's degree...." It was never if, or should you choose to get a master's degree ... but WHEN. Because in her mind I was going to do it and that was that. But you know what? The drumbeat worked. I did indeed go straight into a MA program after getting my BFA and got my degree in less than two years.

So I've been trying something similar on our twin boys. I confess I do not understand, appreciate or validate the current trend of people who live together and *have children* while breezily blowing off the pesky marriage thing. I suppose if you have millions of dollars it's easier to live together than getting a prenup, but for everyone else, having kids out of wedlock is statistically a bad idea. Kids who grow up in a household where no one is married are statistically far likelier to live in poverty. So I'm working the drumbeat on our five-year-old boys. I tell them (not all the time, just when it seems reasonable), "Someday when you grow up and find a nice young lady and GET MARRIED and have children...." So we'll see if my nefarious plan works. Check back in about thirty years.

[tgsdmom]

2/3 is correct. Online quizzes can have bugs. Patrick should not fret.

When I was young. Very. I asked my parents where they will live when I grow up. It was obvious I will stay in (my) house.

Caroline is in a league of her own.

[tgsdmom]

@Hetty Fauxvert, there is correlation and causality and we all sometimes accept one as the other. When marriage was the norm (well, it still is, but when it was more so), people who had kids out of wedlock usually had other issues...
Personally, I do not care whether a child of mine marries or not. Unless there are tax benefits to be considered.
Still, my 7 year old announced that when he grows up he will marry, but he was concerned because he was not sure where he should buy the ring :)

[Lizzie]

I was pretty much horrified when my daughter announced at five that she wanted to be really rich when she grew up. Less so when she added that it was because she wanted to eat raspberries year around. (Hmmm...perhaps we're too much with the local and seasonal thing.) So I hope that adulthood brings her love and enough riches for the occasion out of season raspberries.

[Sara]

Yes, 2/3. But it rounds to 0.7 or 0.67 or 0.667 or 0.6667, etc. Stupid rounding. Why don't they just make the quizzes multiple choice? So much extra work for no learning benefit...

Glad the shingles weren't too bad.

[Susanne]

I was just going send my solution to Patrick's math problem when I read the almost identical solution by Lurker Amy...so never mind.
I agree with her answer: a = 2/3
(I love math, too!)

[Cara]

I am convinced that, life being fickle, Eddybear will end up in Paris and Caroline will be running the world from a house across town.

[Tommie]

I love your mother for making that correction. I'm sorry to admit this but I often mutter at the tv when people use 'between you and I" or any other version of a preposition and the subjective personal first person pronoun. It makes me crazy.

The pronoun is the object of the preposition, which is why 'me' is the correct pronoun to use when saying something like 'between you and me..."

Yes...I'm done.

[Amanda P.]

I have found the best way to determine if it should be I or me is to drop the "you" from the sentence. "you and X are going to the park" is X=I, because "I am going to the park". "Julia is coming to the park with you and X" should be X=me because "Julia is coming to the park with me". (Ok, she's not coming to the park with me because I am in North Carolina, but it would be fun if she did!)

*Stepping off the grammar soapbox*

[Anne]

Wow. I can't believe they lost their first teeth at age 5. My little guy is 6 years old and some change and just lost his first one. Your children are teeth prodigies! :)
Don't even get me started on the Math (shudder).
Glad you're over the Shingles, sounds like you did get lucky. Why the hell do they call it "shingles" anyway? And why did I capitalize it the first time and use I use an article in front of it? Huh.

[Arnebya]

@Sheridan -- it's in the context you use it. For instance, it's correct to say "You and I are going to the store." The trick to remembering which to use is to make the statement into a question and answer with the latter pronoun (is it a pronoun? I'm sleepy): Who's going to the store? I am.

My 12 yr old has never strayed from the fact that she MIGHT have a boyfriend, but only college and fashion design are definites in her future (as she lives in both NY and Paris.) The 9 yr old says she will marry, have a bunch of babies, and be a teacher. The boy is only 3 and yes yet to profess the desire to leave. I am absolutely fine with that. Don't sneak no nasty hussies through my basement door, though!

[Zach]

Hetty, why can't they meet a nice boy and get married? Or meet a nice person and not get married? Oy!

[Kathy]

My Drumbeat: College, Marriage, then you can have my grandbabies.

My youngest is a Social Worker and says she wishes all parents did that - She'd be out of work.

[Tracy]

Speaking of the twitter, are you on it? Would it be stalkerish of me to say that I'd love to follow you?

[throwingutah]

They all look like gophers when their top two teeth come in.

[Jan]

The sheer details of my kids' plans boggles my mind. He (7) is never getting married, nor going to college. He will, instead, have a "car shop", which will make him rich (shades of Underpants Gnomes in this plan, if you ask me, which, of course, NOBODY EVER DOES). These riches will allow him to have a huge house. In which he will allow me and his father to live. (We get our own floor, I'm told.) She (8 1/2) will work part-time in the car shop, and part-time as a professional ballerina. Until she retires (most ballerinas retire by the time they're 30, mom), at which time she will get married and have many children (the exact number varies, but 10 and 6 and the most common estimates). She and her children (she makes no mention of a husband, and I fear she thinks her brother is an appropriate stand-in) will also live in her brother's house. He (and I, natch) will help care for the children, so she can continue her career as a choreographer (which is an appropriate career for a retired ballerina).

I think missing teething is possibly the cutest stage of all, but only in retrospect.

[Courtney]

My favorite story is when my younger sister lost her two front teeth, the new ones grew in with quite a big gap between them. So she asked my dad "when is my middle tooth growing in?"

Ahh, orthodontia.

[Sarah k]

God bless you and that grammarian mother of yours for getting it right. I am fast becoming the crazy person who shrieks at the television, "Me! Me! It's the object of the preposition!"

My 6.5 year old just started losing teeth and now he's at it like it's going out of style. I agree it's odd-looking. And just as speech therapy has been making some inroads, it's made his speech all wonky. Small sigh.

Also, you have no idea how comforted I am by your mention of Patrick's sociability in contrast to first grade. My son is clueless about the names of the other kids in his K class. Yes, he gets therapies and social work, yadda yadda. But sometimes I wonder whether it will ever change-- whether he will ever develop full awareness of those around him. Thanks for the word of hope!

[winecat]

Gasp, that last picture of Edward is like looking at a mini Patrick.

[Sheridan]

Ah, thank you ladies! Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks!

[reenie]

A yeti in the woods! HA!

And way to go Patrick! I still have a rough time with small talk and reaching out...so he's miles ahead of me.

(yeti! Ha HA!)

[Byroigiouby]

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