A #sol18 Tuesday: last dental, an April blizzard & the tumbled tumbleweed

snow covered tumbleweed

…just past midnight, unimaginable to be starting a blog post so early. Writing later in the day is even more unimaginable. Today is major dental day ~ the last extraction (3 incisors) and bridge installation. But for the inevitable follow-up, it's the final step in a long procedure.

So here's the 3-part, minimal word plan:  fill the page with Friday 13th April blizzard pictures, the latest episode in tumbleweed saga. Close with slice footer. Voilà! My first and last early morning slice...

Tuesday already #sol18

…feels like only a few days I was doing this every day, maybe because it was. I had a few days of watching evening TV while not simultaneously working the laptop keyboard. It's been too windy here to walk much. Sunday, Easter dinner with family, pranked my grandsons with fake eggs. As mentioned in my last post, I put rocks in the plastic Easter egg shells so they wouldn't blow away. Oops, forgot to tell the boys. April Fools!

Monday I spent some of the day loafing, some setting up April writing, Camp NaNoWriMo. I'll let you know how that's going next Tuesday.

Today, was catching on curation backlog and general blog-keeping. I re-purposed (or would that up cycling?) one, deleted three blogs too long out of use and pains and hard to format the way I want for what I need -- still have too many blogs though.

Save the last slice for me #sol18

Today is the last day of March and this year's blogging challenge. Tomorrow is Easter and April Fools Day.  I decorated for both: put plastic Easter eggs (rocks inside to keep them from blowing away) under the tumbleweed and sat La Calavera Catrina in her Easter apron on the porch.

Now for today's slice, a reflection or what next? If both, I should have started sooner. Last slice indeed. I thought about both, made notes.

my penultimate slice for #sol18

…starting (as is oft my wontl) from the end and working backwards: once settled on the word "penultimate" in the footer, I looked for images, visual prompts. Penultimate, a  June 12, 2011, Language Log post by Mark Liberman came up, tagged Linguistics in the comics, it includes panels about students and a teacher using the word -- and 78 comments. I'll share a few panels with commentary. You're on your own for the rest.

❝Sometimes more is less. In Frazz for 6/6/2011, Caulfield is frustrated that Mrs. Olsen is among those who think that the first syllable of penultimate is some kind of emphatic particle

❝Mrs. Olsen is apparently not as dumb as she sometimes seems — though the direction of the difference is always in doubt:

Lagniappe: finding Language Log again. Have another Frazz and Mrs Olsen, Syntactic analysis and folding fitted sheets on me -- or just go straight to the archive for "Linguistics in the comics".

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penultimate slice of pizza

Two Writing Teachers host a weekly Tuesday and an annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC), of which this is the 11th iteration. During March, participants write and share daily blog posts on the TWT blog; then comment on three or more blog posts by other participants. Writing, sharing and commenting, are central both challenges. Read more from this penultimate day. 

entering final stretch #sol18

…yesterday was long, serious and probably not a particularly engaging read, but I needed to get started explaining an archiving structure I developed for my own use that I'd like to prototype for FOECast. Today, entering the final stretch, I'd like to catch my breath, take it easy, indulge in a spot of whimsy before resuming the challenge.

…except the challenge is not a race, it's a community. Everyone who finishes is a winner. Everyone who participates finish or not is a winner (if not this year then another). If it were just about writing a blog post every day for a month, 31 days straight, then commenting wouldn't count but it does...

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Two Writing Teachers host weekly Tuesday and an annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). This is the 11th one. During March, SOLSC participants write and share daily blog posts, and comment on three or more blog posts by other participants. Read today's (March 29, 2018) blog posts here. 

adventures in archiving 2: making the sausage #sol18

…Otto von Bismark once said that laws are like sausages: it's better not to see them being made.  Many internet users feel the same about tech, social media platforms and sharing tools. You can tell by the glazed look in their eyes when you try to explain steps in a process or answer a question they have asked. 

That bring me back to how I process  links I've been collecting, picking up from yesterday's post:

If I can't find that information again, along with related earlier pages that show patterns, whether of change or repetition, then what was the point of saving. My other goal with processing is to clear out links and send them to the cloud faster than I collect them. I'm not doing so well with that part....I was also going to describe processing but my concentration ran out before I could get to it.  

Here's the super short version (and a tentative first draft of prototyping): I collect and aggregate with OneTab, save collections as permalink, tag and save to Diigo, subscribe tag feeds to  InoReader to archive them with access to array of sharing/online publishing options.

oh the excitement of archiving #sol18

What have I done today? I slept more, which is usually a sign that something going around found my ever susceptible respiratory system-- and is best slept through. Besides that, I processed link collections

for #NeverAgain, adjunct faculty, Internet Collection, #Facebookistan (plenty of overlap there), #FOECast, and Class Action Litigation (for a California adjunct group) for digital archiving to the cloud -- hence the cloud image. Blog post title to the contrary, we all know archiving is not exciting -- nor are images for the activity.

sleeping, dreams of writing #sol18

I've had a sleeping problem for some time now. Breathing too. Sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension. How could this not affect writing? I almost didn't register for this SOLSC because of it.

"Sleeping Beauty" surrealist photo art by Adonis Werther

brightening a grey day #sol18

I've been catching up with writing friends -- no projects or research. This morning I was mentally processing yesterday's local meeting. I thought that or something from my morning reading would be the days topic. The day started foggy and stayed grey. I need color ~ flowers, candy. Spring flowers aren't here yet, but a friend in Texas sent me bluebonnet pictures of blooming cacti. Enjoy.

quests and questions #sol18 Day 24

Yet again no idea where I am going. So I'll ramble until something emerges, going Pantser one better. The strategy has a distinguished history older than free-writing.

Scenes from Perceval, from a Medieval illumination
(c. 1330) by Anonymous, Public Domain

I refer to a trope associated with the Arthurian cycle, one of many Cervantes parodies in Don Quixote  

zeugma is not always a rhetorical device #sol18

…today's is a different kind of block, not the absence of impressions but two conflicting sets of impressions churning around, seeking but not achieving resolution, balance. Here in rural Northeast Colorado, I picked up my senior commodities box, went to the dentist for a bridge fitting, out to lunch with my daughter, got a haircut and went to a local church's Men's Pancake Supper. Elsewhere across the country and in my advocacy networks, friends and colleagues were mobilizing for tomorrow's March For Our Lives, but not in this corner of the state.

The state of mind reminds me of the literary device called zeugma from the Greek for 'yoke' -- and unlikely, even jarring joining or yoking of words.

An early spring walk #sol18

I'm feeling better but still behind on email, trying to finish the same one for three days now, any dent I make in archiving re-fills at every turn like Cerridwen's Cauldron of plenty.

when in doubt make lists #sol18

…Not a clue what to write about today. Still under the weather and in wobbly so take it easy mode, I'm less under than yesterday's scary lay me out flat day. But now I need to walk out even if only a short, cautious one -- and not so long or tiring a walk that I am too tired to finish the post, crash and sleep through the deadline.

When in doubt, make a list

taking a sick day, with chickens #sol18

…but not calling in sick because I don't have to…yet another retirement perk…and a future post idea.

…if I needed an excuse though, I'd go with this one…

slices make sandwiches too #sol18

…for lack of a better title. One came to me earlier but left before I wrote it down. It might return or another come but maybe not. It's time to go with whatever ingredients I have at hand.

Sandwich in the footer excepted, I haven't done so well with a visual prompt either. So I'll run with sandwich -- make it a buffet. Ingredients are topics, ideas. Condiments, bread (staff of life or, in this case, format defining genre) and how we combine ingredients is up to both sandwich maker and blogger. Cultural influences and family memories influence choice of ingredients and bread or wrapper. The same could be said for the blogger's choice of topics, ideas, impressions, memories.

A stretch but, in view of the recent challenge, comments could be considered analogous to saying thank you and complimenting the chef

Food for thought indeed.

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Slices make a sandwich

Two Writing Teachers host a weekly Tuesday and an annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). This is the 11th one. During March, SOLSC participants write and share daily blog posts, and comment on three or more blog posts by other participants. Read today's (March 19, 2018) blog posts here. 

Today's slice image is multiple slices stacked (bread, cheese, meat, vegetables, bread) in a sandwich: harmony in diversity, parts are better together than separate, more ingredients = greater complexity, etc. ~ all food for thought.

On long days, commenting, blogging et altria #sol18

…and the rest of my day at home. Turns out yesterday, what with waking, wind, going out for a Manor activity and far too much time was too long a day. I find myself saying that more often lately. Today was definitely one of those. Increased humidity didn't help either. Long days mean taking the next day completely off -- and a long afternoon nap. I bought a pulse oximeter and monitor oxygen levels regularly, especially after walking, on long days and the day after. More than just physical efforts are affected.

On Low Oxygen Levels

As for commenting -- not limited to the mid-SOLSC commenting marathon -- that includes blog keeping, blogging, online discussion, commenting moderation and online feedback.

comments on blog commenting #sol18

…apropos this mid-March commenting challenge. But first, a caveat: because slicers are not my only audience, I need to state what is already obvious to you. The previous one, last weekend, was for the Classroom SOLSC, in which teachers blog with their classes. That challenge was for participants who are not students in classes to post comments on 75 student blogs Saturday through Sunday.

a quiet day at home #sol18

…the view from my back door at the Manor in the style of van Gogh, edited with LunaPic

A day off at home, this may sound strange to the rest of the slicers. Since I'm retired and managing life with pulmonary hypertension, most days are at home days aside from walking as much as I can when weather and breathing conditions permit.

due to an unforeseen schedule crunch #sol18

…the usual late post arrives early. No, I'm not morphing into a Planner (I don't have one) or an Early Morning Slicer. It's post now while the sun is still out or not at all. This morning I worked on research
projects and organizing collections before topics and browser tabs bundled on OneTab took over. I commented on posts -- here and elsewhere. Conversations beat lectures, maybe even stories, hands down and are the best part of blogging, social media and challenges.

Then came the weekly FTTE Forum -- live discussion and text chat. Today's topic was demographics and the future of higher education that economist and Forum guest Nathan Crawe has written about. The book is pricey but here’s a February 11 podcast interview with him.  That still leaves plenty of time in the day for a walk, a short nap and writing later.

I had also signed up for a 5:30 pm Learning Design meet-up -- more education geekery -- this one here in Colorado -- on tech innovations and designs. One of the hosts is in the #FOECast project too. Still plenty of time or so I figured. That was before my daughter called after a week holed up working at home, not calling and wanting to take me out to dinner later. She's coming around 7:30 pm. From her tone of voice, I can tell she's in a mood to talk. It won't be an early meeting.

I'd been reading six word memoir posts and thinking about trying them here. That's now more like a necessity. Tomorrow I expect to be back slicing late...

long day
tired eyes
close early

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Two Writing Teachers host a weekly Tuesday and an annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). This is the 11th one. During March, SOLSC participants write and share daily blog posts,  and comment on three or more blog posts by other participants. Read today's (March 14, 2018) blog posts here. 

Today I'm going with my 2017 "31 Day Writing Streak" badge to remind that what I did last year I can do again this year, even on days like today. 

Would have been about #FOECast #sol18

…that was then, this is now. I set the post up this morning for today to be sliced as a #FOECast day that would also encourage teachers to check out the project, participate, add input. Despite an initial focus on higher education, the initial week of brainstorming brought up the importance K-12 to "furturing education." I'm working something resembling a prototype based on the interrelated research and archiving projects

Here's the most recent FOECast update and more readings. I'll spare you my full collection for now but hope to get back to to the subject later this month when I've got a better handle on prototyping. Some of my InoReader html clips and bundles might qualify.

Then my sorry rural connection told me around 8 pm this evening that my Blogger dashboard was not available. Eventually, it was. Everything you've read about rural bandwidth issues is true, no exaggeration. So this is it. For now. Not the "future of education" yet, but we're all still working on.  Maybe my prototype should include a bandwidth emergency plan. Together. IMO that includes interested education bloggers and slicers.

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Two Writing Teachers host a weekly Tuesday and an annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge  (SOLSC). This is the 11th annual challenge. During March, SOLSC participants write and share daily blog posts,  and comment on three or more blog posts by other participants. Read today's (March 14, 2018) blog posts here. Most participating bloggers are K-12 teachers, often blogging with their classes.

Yesterday I blogged as a resident in a small town senior public housing community. The roles overlap -- intersect, if you will. This blog is not without it's advocacy role either, although less here than on other blogs, notably precarious life & times. All include education, information, and advocacy.