Tep--my Grandma had 5 heart attacks, the last in her mid-70s. She lived to be 96.

Sox and my g'father had at least 8 heart attacks and lived to be 96. Stubborn doesn't begin to describe him.

Teppy, aka Daughter of Steel!

Sox, as for the birthday gift panic, you and sister Sue should confab about what you want to do for each other's families. My sisters and I do not buy things for the brothers-in-law because it is too difficult to come up with something year after year, and while they get me b'day presents I don't necessarily buy anything for them (because I'm buying for all their children). It frees me up to only buy something when I really think they'd like it, instead of under obligation. On the other hand, out of the goodness of their little black hearts, my sisters often find something for my DH to put under the xmas tree, otherwise he wouldn't have any presents. And he likes toys so he's easy to buy things for.

Otherwise, I am a big fan of the gifts for which you don't have to find space for -- a dinner out, a gift certificate to a B&B somewhere, etc.

I'm glad your dad is home, Steph.

I'm trying to figure out what I do for multiplication. 36 * 24. 20*36 is 72 with a 0 at the end, so 720. 25 * 36 is 720 plus half of 360, so that's 720 + 180, which is 900. Then subtract 36 to get 864. But that was all with numbers that I knew a bunch about.

31 * 58. 31 * 100 is 31000. Half of that is 31 * 50, so 31 * 50 is 15500. Then 31 * 8 is 248, so 31 * 58 is 15748.

Huh. So I think what method I use depends on what the numbers are.

Man, I suppose I need to start watching Numbers...what, was Richard Schiff busy?(Love him. Whitford, too) Because I love Brainy Jewish Guys. A lot.

I've tried watching Numb3rs. I got a little too eyerolly at the magical mystical mathematics, though. I really wanted to like that show.

Delurking in Bitches to say Yay! for Teppy's dad-o'-steel.

Oh, and to say y'all are strange with your rounding ways of subtracting--it would never have occurred to me to do it that way! I just figure "52-37: Take the one from the 5, 12-7=5, 4 (from taking the 1 from the 5)-3=1, so 15." For multiplying, I can only do 2-digits times 2-digits; any more, and I need a piece of paper. "36 x 24: 4 times 6 is 24, put down the 4 and carry the 2, 3 times 4 is 12 plus the 2 = 144; 2 times 36 is 72, add a 0 at the end since it's the 2nd digit over = 720 plus 144 = 864."

yay for Teppy's father ... and for her. Coddle yourself this weekend.

I have always added and subtracted using my fingers. I learned in 6th grade that this was a bad thing, so now I can do it without actually moving my fingers.

"52-37: Take the one from the 5, 12-7=5, 4 (from taking the 1 from the 5)-3=1, so 15." For multiplying, I can only do 2-digits times 2-digits; any more, and I need a piece of paper. "36 x 24: 4 times 6 is 24, put down the 4 and carry the 2, 3 times 4 is 12 plus the 2 = 144; 2 times 36 is 72, add a 0 at the end since it's the 2nd digit over = 720 plus 144 = 864."

It really would have never occured to me to do arithmetic in my head by using the pencil and paper algorithm. That's really interesting.

ignoring scary-ass math talk

The Key West Literary Seminar

So jealous! I love love love Key West, and that seminar sounds great.