PTA: Parent, Teacher, Asshole

Birthdays, bronchitis, and prepositions in need of a lift

I now have two 4-year-olds. TWO! My Sierra-Girl turned 4 on Saturday, and Zebra-Girl hasn't made it to 5. Of course, as clumsy as she is, it's no surprise her younger sister is catching up.

Right now I'm sitting at home feeling bad for two reasons. Reason #1: I have bronchitis. YAY! No energy, can't catch my breath, I got feverish Thursday and a little bit feverish Friday after visiting the doc...Luckily it hasn't been that bad since then.

Reason 2: I've been off from work now 2 days. I hate not being at work. I feel guilty because I know how much one person being out can affect things at the Alternate Reality School of Excellence (ARSE). I've already heard how things went to Hades in a wastebasket Friday. Expulsions galore. Now, I know it's egotistical and arrogant of me to think that had I been there, things would have gone differently...except a coworker told me a lot of it sprang from my room. Well, wonderful.

I also found out Friday, after the doc told me that I have bronchitis, that I have high blood pressure. Yay! I teach at ARSE, I live on an animal farm, and I have 5 children...How could I possibly have high blood pressure? He said, "It won't cause any problems until one day you have a stroke. So take a look at that when you get passed the bronchitis." Thanks, doc. That helped my blood pressure a lot. It's called a bedside manner. It doesn't mean you have to blow me, but at least whisper sweet nothings in my ear so I don't feel like my brain is going to get a crowbar and make itself an exit in the next week or so. This is why I don't go to doctors. That and ridiculous doctor bills.

I guess that's all for now.

Wait, wait...in honor of my good friend, Mrs. Chili, there's one more thing. I have the hardest time finding desk calenders that are any good. Word-of-the-Day calenders generally have too many words that I already know. Sex position calenders have IMPOSSIBLE positions...*cough*...so I hear. Cartoon/comic calenders, of course, have cartoons and comics I've already seen. I don't have enough time to complete some kind of puzzle every day, so that'd be a waste. This year I thought I'd try an Errors in the English calender clarifying common misspellings and little known mistakes. Well, it's been disappointing too.

Many of the mistakes I have never heard. If I've heard the mistake, then I already knew it was a mistake. But it took the cake when it made its own mistake. It was warning about doubling prepositions like, "Rico hated Henry, with whom he always fought with." Two "withs"...not necessary. The calender then says to remove either "with". Uh...no. See, that's a stranded preposition. If you wrote, "Rico hated Henry, whom he always fought with" then your preposition doesn't have an object. A preposition needs an object. I know this is a point of debate and some people say that these days it's an archaic rule. But I struggle everyday to watch my prepositions and the calender could have acknowledged the debate.

Finally, I made a video reviewing my bronchitis for my Chi of Cheese blog. Enjoy.

posted by Bodog @ 1:25 PM