Romani/Romany/Roma (the latter is actually a subset I think). There are many different spellings and plurals.

250-Foot Long Hybrid Airship Will Spy Over Afghanistan Battlefields in 2011

Gmail's all borked and it's too quiet in here. Hold me.

I have no interesting news. I'm back on the PTA board as the only male board member again. I suppose this means I'll have to get a PTA membership now.

If you're really bored, stare at this for a while: [link]

This looks like buffista and specifically Amy fodder: [link]

Ok, so I have an open mind about grammar and letting language evolve. But when it comes to professional settings and educational settings, I am, like most people I know, a pretty closed book. Proper English. Done. Interrobang.

My sister has had a problem with textspeak in her middle school math classes. The quizzes her students get have essay and short questions on them. Sis has tried to nip it in the bud, but couldn't figure out how to do it right off the bat. Until this year. On the first quiz of the year, one of her students answered "IDK" to one of the questions. Sis failed her. The girl got every other answer right, but because of her "IDK", the girl was failed. My sister wrote "NOT ACCEPTABLE" in big, bold red letters, circled it a thousand times, and wrote a big "+0". And then, made an example of the quiz in class (but not the girl, specifically).

No more textspeak. Which I think is awesome. If you don't know something, be clever. Write something interesting.

Edited to fix spelling and grammar mistakes.

Holds Amy with one arm while working with the other. There may be groping. No textspeak.

No textspeak.

Srsly.

So Emmett turned 13 yesterday.

Wednesday is a transition day for our schedule, so JZ, Matilda and I drove over in the evening and had dinner with Emmett and EM.

We ate at the brewpub Pyramid Ale House, and he was in a very cheery mood and Matilda wanted to sit next to birthday boy and alternated hugs between him and EM. He pigged out on appetizers and was too full to eat his tri-tip sandwich, which wasn't an issue since we just took it home with us.

After dinner we went back to EM's house to put candles in a fancy fruit tart (which Emmett wanted instead of cake) and open presents. He'd already gotten a new baseball glove from me, and he got two big new Lego sets (Star Wars, limited editions), JZ gave him a card which showed she had pre--ordered both HIMYM S4 and Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Dog Days for him (both out within the next few weeks). But his favorite present was a beautiful, small pocket knife from his mom with a mother of pearl inlaid handle.

When he was little she'd passed on her father's pen knife to him and he'd lost it. So this was a lovely present.

I have to say, Emmett's having a much better year than last fall. His teachers and course schedule are much better, his grades are up (A, A+, A-, B among the ones published so far), he tested into the highest math class, and the Krav Maga class has been a big hit with him. It gives him a physical focus in the baseball off-season that he enjoys.

::knocks wood::

So far so good. So much of parenting is trial and error. Two years ago we pushed Emmett into wrestling, which he enjoyed but got burned out on. We had to learn to get him to buy into activities; we couldn't just sign him up for stuff like we did when he was little. But last year he got depressed in the fall when he had nothing to do. So Krav two times a week is exactly right for him. A really good work out, something he enjoys and useful life skills.

Score one for not making the same mistakes repeatedly.