WWW Wednesdays – May 23, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
I’m still reading Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. I’ve been busy working on several projects at night and I’ve had little time to read. The book’s font size is also a little small for me, which doesn’t help with the reading speed.

 

- What I recently finished reading

Nothing new since last week. :-(

 

 - What I think I’ll read next

Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan and  Bret Witter. With almost 600 five-star ratings on Amazon, I have a feeling this book is quite special. It tells the true story of a decorated U.S. soldier who came back from Iraq physically and emotionally injured, and how a golden retriever helped with his recovery. Tissues, please…

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
- Wild & Woolly by Mary Jessie Parker. Wild, a bighorn sheep, and Wooly, a ranch sheep, decide to try each other’s lives for a day but find out they prefer their own after all. At the end of the story, I love asking my kids which sheep’s life they’d prefer to have and why. It gives me great insight on their thinking patterns and personal tastes.
-  Little Monkey Lost by Keith DuQuette. Little Monkey is bored and decides to find adventure in the jungle. There he meets nine different kinds of monkeys who teach him fun new things. The end of the book features many facts about the New World Monkeys pictured and my kids like sharing the names and facts of each monkey type.
- The Birdwatchers by Simon James. “When I go birdwatching, things happen,” Grandad says. After hearing so many stories about birdwatching from her grandfather, Jess decides to join him one day. By the end of the day, she’s had the opportunity to seen plenty of birds, including a pair of dancing penguins! A very sweet story teaching respect about nature.

- What they recently finished reading
- Dinorella : A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards. What a wacky and funny story: imagine Cinderella but featuring dinosaurs. And I hope you don’t have a problem enunciating the letter D because this book is full of Ds! As in, “Dinorella is dying to go to the dance, but her dreadful stepsisters, Doris and Dora, declare she’s too dowdy and dull.” Fairy-Dactyl to the rescue!
- I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson. This is the poignant story of the son of a sharecropper who dreams of leaving Mississippi on a train with the legendary engineer Casey Jones and his black fireman Sim Webb. My kids are a little too young to grasp all the concepts in this book (slavery, cotton picker, the great migration, etc) but it was a great introduction. I also had no idea who Casey Jones was until then, but the last page of the book gives a lot of information about him and the themes in general, so this was a good lesson for all of us.

- What I think they’ll read next
I got so many books from the library this past week, you wouldn’t believe. I’m sure there’s some good stuff in there! What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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How to have a memorable start of the week

After a two-week hiatus for Spring break, my boys went back to school this morning. My five-year old starts at 8:15am so his brother and I drove to school to drop him off first. The two of us then go back to my car and read books while waiting for preschool to start 30 minutes later.

I had parked a little far away from the school so I gave my son the option to drive into the school parking lot when the time came. Except, I didn’t plan on my car not to start. Nooooooooooo! I had power and I could hear some electronic noises as I turned the key in the ignition, but it was still a no-go.

So we walked to class while the wheels in my head started spinning. I had planned to stop by my P.O. box to collect an overdue client’s check, bring all of my payments to the bank, stop by the library to drop off books and get new ones, inquire about summer camps, even do some work… Of course it would all have to wait until I found out what was wrong with my car. 

As we were walking, I heard my little guy express some concern. If my car was going to need repair, how would I pick up his brother from school and get everybody home? I loved to see how concerned he was about his brother’s well-being. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he gets picked up two hours before his brother, so I may have a problem…

Back in my car, I called Ford Roadside Assistance. They promised me a tow truck in 45 minutes. It arrives in just 20. The tow truck driver inquired about my car trouble. I demonstrated the no-start feature and he guessed the battery was probably dead. But I still have power, I said! Can you guess I don’t know much about cars? For my defense, the last time I had a dead battery, the car was completely dead – no vital signs whatsoever. The driver brought jumper cables over, connected them to my battery and asked me to start the car. Vrooooom! Halleluyah!

Damn car battery, dead after only 20,000 miles. I’ll blame three people for this. My two kids for leaving the overhead lights on overnight too many times. How many times have I asked you to turn off those lights? You’re going to drain my battery. Well, you’ve done it now! Of course, I should also blame myself for leaving the car doors and trunk open all the time when the car is parked in the garage. And for leaving the radio and fan on every day when I stay in the car with my youngest before preschool.

I thanked Akram, my Middle-Eastern tow truck driver, for saving the day. This guy had the most mesmerizing golden eyes I’ve ever seen. So cool looking I really wanted to take a picture of them. Come on, what’s my chance of meeting someone with such rare eye color ever again? But I didn’t want to look more looney than I already appeared, so I got back in my car and drove off. Instead I took a picture of this very cute rabbit, who was having a feeding frenzy while I was waiting for the tow truck.

White tail jack rabbit in San Diego

I drove to Pepboys and got a new car battery in just 45 minutes, leaving me enough time to run a few of my errands before picking up my four-year old from preschool at noon. Not bad after such a bumpy start.

Happy Monday, everyone!

WWW Wednesdays – April 4, 2012

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
Tonight I will start My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman. I’ve read several books on freelancing as a professional writer already, but few of them were written by women, so this one could be interesting.

 

- What I recently finished reading
The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) by Michael Scott. This series just keeps getting better and this book was no exception. I can’t believe they haven’t made movies out of this series.

 

- What I think I’ll read next
Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West. I read Gone with a Handsomer Man a few months ago and loved it. It was definitely one of the funniest murder stories I’ve ever read, so I’m hoping this book won’t disappoint either.

 

My kids’ bookshelf

- What they’re currently reading
Lots of books with an Easter theme!
- Max’s Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells. We love Max & Ruby and this has to be one of our favorite stories. Max and Ruby go on an egg hunt, the prize for the most eggs gathered being a chocolate chicken. Max can’t find any eggs but he really wants the chocolate…
- The Easter Bunny That Overslept by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich. Poor Easter bunny sleepts past Easter so he tries to distribute his eggs on Mother’s Day, the Fourth of July and Halloween. Nobody is interested until dear old Santa Claus manages to get him back on track.
- Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke. When she notices several unattended, colorful eggs, Minerva Louise decides to gather them and keep them warm. Can you imagine the surprise on the faces of the East egg hunters when they can’t find any eggs?

- What they recently finished reading
- Too busy Marco by Roz Chast. Marco the parrot is way too busy having adventures to go to bed. My five-year old and Marco share the same aspirations: they both want to be deep sea diver artist-inventors when they grow up…
- Where Is The Cake? and Where Is The Cake Now? by T.T. Khing - two wordless books with many stories within the story. And only sharp eyes will figure out what really happened to the cakes in both books.

- What I think they’ll read next
I have no idea but the surprise effect is part of the fun.

What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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Funny video: how do you round up your cows?

I usually don’t repost on this motherhood blog what I share on my Every Day I See a Cow blog, but I think I should make one exception with these two videos. I see people have been sharing it on Facebook and other social media sites and I don’t want you to miss out. Also, we could all use a good laugh once in a while, so I thought you’d enjoy watching them.

First, meet the cows vs. the remote control car:

I believe this video was shot in Australia. I just want to guess they are teenage boys wanting to test the cattle’s reaction to having a remote control car on their turf. Well, were they in for a surprise and you’ll be too! Enjoy the show and let me know what you think. Feel free to share!

And what do you think cows enjoy after exercising? How about a little jazz music? Yes, cows seem to enjoy listening to good music and it makes for quite an interesting video. Enjoy!

Interrupting learning with typos at the San Diego Air & Space Museum

As a communications professional and a linguist, I have a sharp, intolerant eye for spelling errors, poor grammar and awkward syntax. When I notice them, I can’t help but be annoyed. I believe most typos are avoidable and a not-so-subtle sign of illiteracy. As people get to write more and more in abbreviated form (LOL, u r l8, TMI) they seem to lose their grip on the English language. And not just its intricacies, but also its basic spelling and grammar rules.

I can’t stand the confusion between the “possessive s” and “plural s”. How can someone think “I love my kid’s” makes any sense? Yet, I see this misuse over and over. And don’t let me start with the hard-to-believe confusion between you’re and your, it’s and its…

I tend to opt for leniency towards small business owners and youngsters in training. But I draw the line at public signs (not “pubic”, another common yet atrocious typo) aimed at large audiences. So when I noticed these typos in a museum last week, I was not only surprised. I was shocked.

Typos at the San Diego Air & Space Museum

In case you’re having a hard time spotting them on my not-so-sharp photo, I’m talking about “Sahara Dessert” and “Escape Vellocity“. Here my child, have a mouthful of sand for dessert!

These typos appear on an activity screen at the brand new SPACE exhibit inside the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I thought I’d do the public institution a favor and share my findings through an email message, since they obviously didn’t notice the typos themselves. Their response was prompt, but quite disappointing. Here’s what the museum curator had to say:

“You are correct noting the misspellings that you did. Unfortunately we cannot fix them because they are permanently imprinted on the touch sensitive screen as supplied to us by the manufacturer.”

Say what??? Have you ever heard of a computer program that can’t be updated? Neither have I. So I sent the curator a kind but firm reply, asserting that these typos can be fixed, possibly with a little effort. As a public institution and a place of learning attracting thousands of visitors every month including many, many children, the museum should display higher standards of literacy and aim for accuracy and perfection. In my opinion, these typos affect the entire credibility of this specific activity. What makes me think the rest of the data on the screen is true and not completely made up?

It’s been four days and I’ve received no additional response. Apparently silence is golden and ignorance is bliss at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. So I’ve decided to shame the museum expose the museum’s poor practices share my “embarrassing typo moment” with you. There’s no doubt the same museum in Los Angeles, New York or Washington D.C. would get these errors fixed immediately (would they ever have occurred in the first place over there?). Too bad we can’t expect our lazy San Diego museum to get it fixed and get it right. Yes, this is a clear example of laziness, nothing else. There’s a reason we call it “taking the easy way out.”

Have you ever told a business or institution about blatant typos? What kind of reaction did you get?

Disclaimer: This post may contain typos, grammar and syntax errors. The author tried her best, but s***t mistakes happen. This post is electronic and can be fixed, so please forward all typo comments for prompt correction.

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