Mnemonics, Anyone?

It took me three tries to get all those "m's" and "n's" in the right places. What a silly way of spelling a word.

I'm trying to teach Rebecca which is parallel and which is perpendicular. She gets them backwards. Any ideas? She also has trouble understanding that parallel lines will never meet. I solved that one I think with railroad tracks and asking her to imagine what would happen if the two rails didn't keep going straight. Now, if she can just remember they're parallel.

I remember confusing stalactites and stalagmites when I was a kid until someone told me "the mites go up and the tites (tights) come down".

I've fallen a little behind again. Part of it is a busy schedule and part of it is Blogger, as usual. Any of you who have switched over to Beta blogger and are used to seeing "granny" and my avatar come up in the comment boxes will see my actual name with no avatar until I've figured out how to switch it back. It's probably the real me - not someone using my name in vain.

Also, Blogger seems to have signed me up for Beta whether I want to be there yet or not so I'm having problems accessing my own blog. I'll probably switch over once I know what I'm doing but the memory of my "zapped" blog is still a little fresh.

Enough of that. I've solved the three trips a week to rehab for the most part. Starbucks is a couple of blocks up the street. On the days when I don't have errands in that part of town, I can bring a book, hang out for the price of a regular coffee with a clear conscience, and be comfortable. I like to people watch and Starbucks is a great place to do it. And, like the Barnes & Noble cafe, they have no problem with loitering.

Last Monday I managed to involve the whole cafe in trying to figure out who performed a song that was being played while I was sitting there. I'd heard it before as background music on West Wing and it was so familiar. I asked one of the servers; she wasn't sure, but a customer at the next table said "it's from Shrek". Shrek? He was sure but couldn't remember who sang it. Someone else overheard that conversation and we had 6 or 7 people chiming in. It was fun. Everyone recognized the title, "Hallelujah", but couldn't remember much else.

I tracked it down by first looking at the soundtrack cd at Barnes & Noble and then finding it on Rhapsody (computer subscription music program). It was sung by the composer (Leonard Cohen - wow! - no wonder I liked it), not Rufus Wainwright who did it in the film, but still okay. Elcie walked in while I was playing it and said Shrek!!. Of course that made me feel really bright.

Update, it wasn't Wainwright in the film although he has covered it and nicely too. It was a Welsh singer named John Cale. Lovely voice (do all the Welsh sing beautifully? It seems that way) but I can't find it anywhere but the sound track.

I must have heard it when I watched Shrek with the girls and just forgotten or daydreamed my way through it.

Today the cafe was full of strollers and cute babies (with their moms or dads or course). I found a corner and watched the action. Babies are even cuter when I know they're not going home with me.

All is well here although our county officials seem to be jinxed. A suspicious fire over a month ago wiped out much of the County courthouse along with several of the District Attorney's offices. Yesterday, the building directly across the street which housed more county offices was flooded. Someone had plugged up one of the urinals (yuck) and water (along with some other unspeakable liquids) dripped through the ceiling onto the desks and floor below. Once again the District Attorney's staff is homeless. A spokesperson said "we've had fire and flood; what's next - locusts?".

I've been falling asleep much earlier than during the summer which is a good thing but it means revising my blogging habits and possibly skipping a day once in a while. Please don't give up on me. I'm still around and I'll catch up on commenting over the next few days.

Meantime, thanks for all the comments and take care everyone.