Hmm. Accomplishments for Saturday, the first day of October? Well, I got out of bed and watched the Virginia Tech football game. Eventually, the drugs made me dizzy/sleepy so there were two different naps.

Then I fiddled about with the Gettysburg lesson plan. I think I’ve nearly convinced myself that the original idea I had was a bad one. The thing is I have a lot of raw material, so I really need to do something with this text. It would be a shame to scrap it when I’ve gathered lots of good stuff. Mostly they are great Web sites that include drafts and other historical information. There’s also an iMovie site that has a student-produced movie of Civil War photos with the class reading the Gettysburg Address as the narration. Perhaps the oddest resource is from ourdocuments.gov. For some unknown reason, they have included a Flash version of the a draft of the Address. The resource allows you to move the piece of paper around so that you can see different parts of it on screen. It’s beyond me why they’ve done this. It’s more frustrating than it is useful. If you really want to see the original drafts and use them in class, I strongly urge you to use the Library of Congress pages, which show the entire page of the draft on screen. Much easier to use.

Beyond that, my only other accomplishment was adding a little calendar to my blog template. There’s some woman trying to sell something to add calendars. I wasn’t impressed with her work. First her page loads strangely with Google Ads flashing about. Second that blog page of hers is more then a year old. That’s dead for us Blogshares players, so I’m skeptical of the tool. Instead, I found a free javascript that does the job. I tweaked it slightly because I wanted the calendar on ever page, but I’m no longer sure that that was a good idea. Maybe it should only show up on archives. I’m figuring that I’ll look at it this way for a while, and then change it if I decide it functions too strangely. The problem on the homepage is that it builds a calendar for the entries on the page, starting from the bottom up. So today, for instance, I’m posting an October entry, but the little calendar in the right navigation bar will be for September—and not all of September, just from the entries on this page. The script works perfectly for archive pages, which is what it was designed to do. I just wanted one on the homepage, but I’m realizing the folly of that desire.

A sick day is such a lovely thing. I think all the bed rest is helping. As long as I take the medicine, things hurt much less. The problem is that about 2 or 3 hours after taking the medicine, I feel dizzy and can’t keep my eyes open. So there have been several naps.

Between naps, I’ve been working on a lesson plan about the Gettysburg Address. I can’t seem to find my focus. I keep running into a wall where I’m not sure why I (or anyone) should be asking kids to work through this text. I know… it’s a great historical document; it’s one of those texts people expect you to know if you’re an American. But I can’t seem to figure out how to make it more than an exercise. I have great Web pages to use, and I know teachers teach it. It’s a good topic, but it feels fake to me. I need to find an approach that feels right.

I have other lesson plans that I could work on. I need to edit one that uses Elie Wiesel’s Night, another the works with The Grapes of Wrath, and an elementary one that I can’t remember the topic of. I also have rough starts on some lessons that I’m writing—one on reading and writing in the digital world, a newspaper lesson, and a word definition lesson. I hate to give up on the Gettysburg Address though, so I’m sticking with it. I can fit it into the November calendar if I can get it written (Lincoln delivered the address on November 19). Must get back to digging around for an approach that feels comfortable.

The proofreading corrections came in for my framing text, so my first task for the day was fixing the piece and turning it over so that the final Kits can be created and put in the warehouse. Something caused a minor delay so it won’t make it to the online store by the end of the month, but it should be there next week.

We touched base on several lesson plans and on some PDFs I need to make for the NCTE store. Lisa, Sharon, and I went on a field trip to Michael’s to look for a plastic box for another product we’re working on. It was also an excuse to go through the Wendy’s drive-thru for lunch. I managed to eat chicken strips with honey mustard with relatively little acid problems :)

I spent quality time decorating my cute little Circa notebook with stickers. When I had my update with Sharon, she wanted to know where I got my notebook cuz she liked it too. Maybe I’ll start a new fad at NCTE. What I like the most about this silly notebook is that it’s easy to be a perfectionist. I never have to start over. My biggest decision is whether to write on the back of the sheet if it’s a different topic.

My back is still ouchy, and my brain is still mushy. I’m taking a sick day tomorrow so I can rest for three full days before I have to go back to work. I hope it helps. I have ReadWriteThink calendar and lesson plans to do while I’m sitting here at home, so it’s not like I plan to sleep the WHOLE day. Then again, maybe I will. It’s not my fault that the drugs make me sleepy. If I have to sleep all day, I’ll just have to gather my courage and surrender to the bed.

So at some point overnight, I realized that going to work today was senseless. The pills had my brain mushy, and I was still in lots of pain. I remember calling Sharon around 9 AM or so, and telling her that I was taking a sick day. God only knows what else I told her. We had talked just a day or two ago about the gobs of sick time I’ve accumulated, so it didn’t bother me to take some. Hell, I’m supposed to be able to take it, and it hurts to walk across the room. The idea of getting up and somehow showering, dressing, and getting into and out of the car is impossible.

I think I got back out of bed around 10 or 10:30, and I redosed on the medicines. I fiddled on the computer, but soon my brain was mush and I was yawning and unable to keep my eyes open. I went back to bed. The drugs are dehydrating me too, so I remember getting up for water at some point. Around 2 PM, I got the call from the doctor’s office. The X-rays show disc narrowing at L4 and L5. No word on what the means I’m supposed to do.

About 30 minutes after that, I got the call from the physical therapy office to set up that appointment. They can’t get me in until October 20, which is just as well because I’d rather be covered in bees than go do this. They also had me confirm all my personal info in the system. Turned out that neither of the people they had as emergency contacts were useful, seeing as they were both dead. :( I rolled over and went back to sleep again.

I think I checked e-mail again around 4. Went back to bed by 5 or so, and didn’t get up until 10:00 PM. It was a day of much sleeping and unhappy discomfort. I’ve fiddled around online a bit, and mostly feel very sleepy. The only thing I’ve actually accomplished was making a new cover for my cute little notebook out of some purple cardstock that I had. I am -so- loving this notebook. One of the most interesting things this evening was my realization that I could be a perfectionist with this thing and not be stuck in the ‘what if’ stage. With something like a new notebook, I spend too much time trying to plan out how to use it, asking myself questions about what to put in which sections, how to organize things so that I can find them, and so on. I was sitting here looking at the notebook tonight and suddenly realized that the beauty of this thing is that I can try out different ways of organizing because I’m not ever going to be stuck. I can easily rearrange them. I could kiss John’s feet. I’m so glad that his explanation of this thing finally clicked, because I can see it changing my perfectionist ways in positive ways. Of course, making that cover took all of about 5 minutes top (had to get it trimmed to the right size, which took some trial and error). Not really much of an accomplishment to brag about.

I tried to do some work on a lesson plan, focusing on reading and writing definitions. I haven’t gotten very far. Damned mushy brain. And you know the mushy brain thing wouldn’t be so bad if the drugs were actually knocking out all of the pain. But they aren’t. It hurts just to move. I have taken extra medicine that I’m not supposed to (because of the acid reflux). I know it’s stupid, but it hurts and I want it to stop. I guess I may as well go back to bed. At least when I’m sleeping I only have to deal with pain when I try to change positions. It’s not like the horror of walking around. I need a helper monkey—and a handicapped parking tag for my car.

My beautiful, cute, new Circa journal arrived today, while I was at the doctor’s office over my horrible back problems (more on that later). The good news is that my notebook is perfect and lovely. I even realized that I could tear some pages out of the flower journal, trim the pages, punch them, and add them to the new notebook.
I remembered that I had a rolodex punch from my days at Daedalus. I dug it out, and it works perfectly for adding pages. Okay, so I have to punch it 7 times, but I already own it. I wanted to keep the spending very low until I was certain that this is what I want to do. I may eventually get a punch from Levenger’s, but this seems quite perfect for now. Now I just need to transfer information over from the old notebook so that I don’t have to carry them both around.

On to the doctor. I did something to my back. AGAIN. I don’t remember doing anything. In fact, I’ve been overly careful, and while my sister was here, I didn’t lift anything. She carried all the stuff that needed carrying. Whatever it is, it came on very fast this time. I feel like someone is poking a fork into my lower back and twirling it so the muscles knot around it and tighten (like you’d twirl spaghetti on that fork).

I couldn’t even get to the office till 1, and within 30 minutes, I knew I was in deep trouble. I called the doctor, and through some miracle, they had an opening at 1:40. So I went off to the doctor, who gave me prescriptions for Flexeril and Darvocet. She also said I had to go get x-rays and do physical therapy. :( The x-ray tech was very nice, and while it was very, very uncomfortable, it wasn’t as bad as the last time. No word on the x-rays till the doctor sees them though.

After all that, I went back to the office. Partly because I knew that if I went home, I would just go back to bed, but also because I knew that my notebook was out for delivery, and I wanted it. I didn’t last till 6:30 though. I left around 5. It just hurts too much, and I couldn’t think. Took a nap when I got home, then I got up to play with my cute notebook.

I sure hope that the drugs start working soon. It’s hard to walk around in the house. How on earth can I walk around the office? It’s really painful and hard :(

Got all the reviews for the Teaching Media-Savvy Students kit on Friday, so I finished the revisions today. It’s off for the finally proofreading by the editors tomorrow. Should be in the online store by the end of the month. And no, I don’t get royalties, but I’m eager to see it finished and for sale.

Also wrote my Ideas section for Inbox, but I’m not telling you what it’s about so that you have to come back tomorrow to find out.

I’m still suffering from the acid reflux. I’m trying to eat really, really bland things until it straightens out again. I’m remembering that I ate some honey mustard last week. Maybe that was part of the problem. Whatever it was, it’s accompanied now by a side order of major back pain. I didn’t do anything improper, so I’m dumbfounded by the back issue. All I can think is that it’s the changes in my bed. My sister and I raised it so the top is elevated 8 inches, as all the acid reflux information advises. Maybe it’s causing me to sleep differently and I’ve caused the muscles to tighten up or something? I’m sitting with an ice pack tonight and that seems to help some.

Thanks to John’s comments yesterday, I realized that I needed those Circa notebooks too.

I have spent days looking for a notebook that I liked. I’m surprised that I didn’t get thrown out of Pages for all the testing I was doing—trying to decide if it would lie on the desk properly, would stand up to wear and tear, had pages that turned easily, etc. I finally decided that I was just going to have to settle for something that I was only lukewarm about and make do. It’s a cute flowered spiral journal, but not really perfect. Not what I wanted.

I never understood those Circa notebooks, so they didn’t seem like an option. A former employee at NCTE swore by them and had all the employees she managed using them; but they just seemed pricey with no real benefit. I thought they were silly. After all I can tear paper out of my notebook now, why do I need a fancy system. John’s explanation suddenly made it make sense. Especially given the standard stuff that I have to just copy over and the running lists that I need to keep. As I understand the Circa system, these notebooks will simplify things for me.

I got the shipping confirmation this evening so it’s on its way—one junior notebook and a pack of dividers. I decided to buy the cheapest basics to start with just to make sure I like it.

Even though I like the idea of being able to arrange the pages and whatnot, there’s this manuscript lover’s voice in my head that is hesitant. Naturally, nothing I put in a notebook will matter in the long run. No one is going to study my papers. Still, I have this feeling that it’s just wrong to rearrange pages in a journal. It kills me to remove a page from a notebook&#151especially the bound kind where you have to cut out a page for some reason. It’s like some crime against humanity to take a page out of its original place. Very paper-based and linear of me really. I’m trying to convince myself to get over it. After all, my notebook left the FEDEX ramp in Fort Lauderdale at 21:52:00.

First, I must admit that I did indeed steal green tomatoes from my neighbor’s yard on Wednesday and send them home to my mother. They were on my side of the fence, and she needed them I assure you. Perhaps I’ll go to hell, but at least it will be for a good reason.

I seem to be punished for it. I have had an evil return of the acid reflux problems—burping and acid and boiling. I can’t figure out what I’ve changed greatly about my eating. I promise that I didn’t eat any of those tomatoes. Both of them went to Virginia. All I can think of is that I was perhaps eating regular meals while my sister was in town, and my schedule is all wacky again now that she’s gone. I also remember trying a tropical punch Fuze Tuesday night. It contained some pineapple juice and turned out to be a bad idea; but could it have caused all this? It doesn’t feel good, and I am really quite unpleasant to be around. Good thing I don’t have friends around to listen to this horror.

Yesterday, I went to Pages for All Ages, the local indy bookstore, to take advantage of my birthday discount. I got two YA books that dabble in multimodal kinds of writing in some way:

• i can’t tell you by Hillary Frank is a multigenre novel that consists of a range of notes that the protagonist, Jake, writes—including e-mail messages, notes on dry-erase boards, napkins, tablecloths, and even upside-down calculator messages.
• Confessions of a Boyfriend Stealer [A Blog] by Robynn Clairday combines blog entries and message boards with connecting narrative to tell how the blog author, Genesis Bell, loses her two best friends.

I also bought Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I’ve always thought that the book looked freaky and wasn’t interested in reading it as a result. Lisa got a copy along with a huge pile of books for a graphic novel project we’re working on. Sharon said that she and her son liked the book, and there was a Terry Pratchett quotation on the back. So I decided that maybe I should try not to look at the pictures and read it anyway. Maybe if I put it in that cloth paperback book cover I have… We’ll see.

All this is sort of silly. I have 21 books on the table that I need to write reviews of for my other site, and I have 13 books lying there that I haven’t read yet. 15 books if you count the books in the Bromeliad Triology separately. Just noticed that the next book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy is due out in January. I’m not sure about buying it though. Book one seemed somewhat pushed and obvious. Fortunately, I have months to decide.

Cleaning the old notebook

I’m in the process of starting a new notebook for work, which means that I have to go through and copy over the info that I need to keep. These are assorted things that I found in the process and wanted to save for whatever reason. If you’re not entertained by the list, try the Bush Speechmaker instead.

• “Teaching you how to rest and teach you how to achieve a sense of proportion.”
• “It’s easier to leave than be left behind.”
• multimodal literacies. what tools count for whom, for what purposes. how children & adults interpret, navigate, and produce meaning about themselves and others w/ digital multimodal text.
• Sausage Bacon Bites
  Line dish with foil. Cut bacon in thirds. Wrap around little smokies. Smother in brown sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

So that’s how today started. Every machine I touched crashed. I never really did get anything concrete done. Had a few meetings. Crashed machines. Talked to IT folks about crashed machines. Finally gave up and came home early. I’m sure it’s all related to the fact that Snuffles has gone home to Virginia :(