You have homework? Like what?

Well, each week I fill out a diary card (actually I do that each day), tracking different feelings and behaviors. Then, at therapy, we decide what other homework will be most helpful for me to do during the next week.

So, this week I'm supposed to make a chain analysis of a situation that went poorly (a specific situation, but I'm not gonna go into that here). A chain analysis is almost like a flow chart that tracks thoughts, actions, feelings, etc. in order so we can study the event/situation and see what I could do differently and look for patterns that need changing so I can start working on those.

Gronklies. First-world gronk. The cleaning people, who come every three weeks because I can't afford to have them more often, are not supposed to come until after 9. They showed up at 8:15. I was dressed, but in the middle of making coffee. I was going to pick up a little bit more for them. Bleech.

Also, my tiara needs polishing and I can't decide between the diamond and the gold slippers.

Ginger, go with the diamond. It seems like you could use the flashy pick-me-up.

Hey, all... Any mathy Buffista who knows any trick for remembering the order of operation is cordially invited to share...for mom's new job. My mother uses the nail polish trick all the time for her nickel thing.

Hey, all... Any mathy Buffista who knows any trick for remembering the order of operation is cordially invited to share...

Like do multiplication and division before addition and subtraction? I guess you could remember it in terms of degrees: an M.D. is cooler than whatever the hell an A.S. might be. Order of operation was so long ago it seems like second nature. A lot of it is just necessity: You have to do exponents and things in parentheses first, or you can't proceed, you know?

I was taught "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally."

Which is a mnemonic for:

Parentheses
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Well, there was some mnemonic which she could only remember half of, which I pointed out means the mnemonic didn't really work.OK, I'll pass that on. I thought that was true, but it was 6:30 in the morning, math is not exactly automatic for me at the best of times.

erika, per a link from this page: [link]

A mnemonic is: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

P: Parentheses (innermost first)

E: Exponents (powers or roots)

M, D: Multiply or Divide (from LEFT to RIGHT)

A, S: Add or Subtract (from LEFT to RIGHT)

xposted, of course

Oh, right. Aunt Sally and all her inappropriate behavior.