I regularly have more than 6,000 messages in my Gmail spam folder, and while it’s fun to see how high the number gets, it’s more fun to turn spam into haiku! Don’t you agree?
Apothecary
Stop being a loser now
Love herbal secrets
More next week!
I’ve always been an SUV/pickup kind of girl. Until now.
Note what I’ve been tooling around in all weekend. It’s red. It’s sporty. It corners like it’s on rails. Heck, it even has air conditioning!
After the rigmarole I’ve been through with my Blazer, I never thought I’d consider buying a Chevy again, but this baby has stolen my heart.
Unfortunately, I have to return to earth and return the Cobalt next week. 
Well, we had quite the Memorial Day weekend. Would you like to read all the gory details?
Friday
The Awesome Movie Fun Club had a field trip scheduled to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls Friday night, so I spent the entire day in town running errands in my fun little Chevy Cobalt and working on miscellaneous tasks at Panera. Chris picked up tickets for our crew on his lunch break, and the theater peeps told us to be in line for the 7:05 movie by 6ish. Since we were supposed to meet for dinner at 5:30, we canceled official dinner plans and told everyone to get dinner on their own. I liked the movie, but Chris didn’t. You may or may not get an official review later this week. After the flick, we went to Steak N Shake for dessert and went home.
Saturday
Our friends were beginning to spend their economic stimulus money, and Colby and Lyndsey decided to replace the flooring in their living space this weekend. Lyndsey and I got out of the boys’ way and let them get to work, so she and I spent the day watching movies and putzing around. Until Chris called. Turns out, sawdust had flown into Chris’s eye, and in an effort to get the sawdust out, he scratched his cornea. (Corneal abrasions, the doctor said, are like a rug burn on your eye.) He and Colby went to urgent care, had the eye flushed out, and got some antibiotics before returning to work on the floor and finishing most of it. Lyndsey and I made dinner at my house (their living room furniture was in their kitchen) and treated the boys to some double chocolate chip cookies. Yum! After they left, Chris finally let his true feelings about his eye show: he was in a lot of pain and he was grouchy. I let him have the bed to himself Saturday night, and I slept on the living room floor, which meant Mowgli thought it was necessary to check on me every hour to make sure I was still breathing.
Sunday
Chris was supposed to run sound at church on Sunday morning, but he was still pretty grouchy, so I ran sound for him, which meant I had to be at church by 8 AM. Ugh. I was a little rusty, but we made it through without incident. I brought home Little Caesar’s for dinner because when you feel poopy, comfort food is best. We napped all afternoon before heading to Justin and Ashlynne’s house for dinner and CSI. Ashlynne and I took an hour-long walk after dinner, and I read some of her pregnancy book, which gave me nightmares Monday night.
Monday
We slept in a bit on Monday and did a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the day. We managed to get around in the afternoon to see Chris’s parents and their vacation pictures. They just got back from a trip to Yellowstone. By the time we wrapped up, Chris’s eye felt loads better! Yea! So he decided to vacuum and mop the floors at home before sitting down to watch American Gladiators.
That was our weekend. Somehow I managed to not check my email, my blogs, or my RSS reader for four days, and I survived! And I discovered how incredibly boring I am without my technology. And despite the long weekend, I feel like I need a vacation even more. Anyone know anyone who wants to give away an all-expense paid trip to anywhere?
Last week, we established that lists are a great tool for bloggers because they can make your content more readable by grouping related ideas and simplifying complex processes. We also learned when to use a list and how to write a list, but we didn’t cover the specifics of using the different kinds of lists. In this post, we’ll get to the nitty gritty of ordered and unordered lists, and next week, we’ll wrap up with definition and nested lists.
Writing ordered and unordered lists on the Web is a little different than writing them, say, in Microsoft Word because you can manipulate them with code. As a blogger, it helps to know what’s happening behind the scenes in the code, so if something goes wrong in your WYSIWYG editor, you’ll know how to fix it. I understand that code can be a little intimidating, but the HTML and CSS you use for structuring and styling lists is pretty simple. That said, let’s dig in.
Using Ordered Lists
If you’ve ever watched the Late Show with David Letterman, then you’re familiar with his top-ten lists, and if you were putting one of his lists (or your own) online, you would use an ordered list. Ordered lists work best in these situations:
Behind the scenes, your HTML won’t look much like a numbered list, which is why it helps to know what all those brackets and letters mean. An ordered list in HTML begins and ends with the <ol></ol> tags—ol stands for ordered list. Clever, huh? Individual list items go between the <ol></ol> tags and begin and end with <li></li> tag (li stands for list item). Your HTML might look like the code below:
<ol>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
<li>Item 3</li>
</ol>
Just as long as your list items are nested in the <ol></ol> tags, they’ll be numbered or lettered; we’ll discuss defining those specs in a moment.
Using Unordered Lists
Think of unordered lists as the twin brother to ordered lists. Whereas ordered lists are perfect for emphasizing a number, an order, or a priority, unordered lists are perfect for emphasizing that which is unnumbered, unordered, or without priority. On the outside, they have their differences, but on the inside—in the code—they’re almost the same. An unordered list begins and ends with the <ul></ul> tags (ul stands for unordered list), but their list items—the <li></li> tags—are identical to an ordered list. The only difference is the opening and closing tags. An unordered list’s HTML code might look like this:
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
<li>Item 3</li>
</ul>
If you decide you need to switch your list type from one to the other in the middle of your writing, all you have to do is switch the opening and closing tags. How handy is that?
Styling Your Lists
Once you have your ordered and unordered lists written, you are free to style them. Now, I won’t go into the ins and outs of CSS or all of the style commands here, but I will discuss the CSS options for the unordered- and ordered-list types:
Like I said before, writing ordered and unordered lists online is a bit different than writing them in your average word processor, but as long as you have a basic grasp on HTML and CSS, you’ll have no problems. Next week, we’ll wrap up this series of posts with definition and nested lists.
Previous List Posts
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Image Source
I regularly have more than 6,000 messages in my Gmail spam folder, and while it’s fun to see how high the number gets, it’s more fun to turn spam into haiku! Don’t you agree?
Tiny dimension
Improbable things happen
Returned mail to you
More next week!
Today’s story starts with hummus. Last Friday, I went to a party where hummus was served, and it gave me a hankering for my own, so I purchased some yummy tomato basil hummus on Tuesday during my weekly run to the grocery store.
On Wednesday morning, I decided that the lunch I packed for the day was insufficient and that the hummus sitting in my refrigerator would make a much better lunch, so I drove home—a ten-minute drive—and retrieved my tortilla chips and hummus. And I drove back to work.
The highway between Nixa where I live and Ozark where I work is only two lanes wide, and when get into Ozark, the speed limit lowers from 55 mph to 45 mph. Just after the 45 mph sign, there’s an intersection with a flashing yellow light.
This was the scene of my accident. It’s perfectly normal to brake along this portion of the highway because you’re supposed to slow down, so when the Chevy Trailblazer in front of me braked, I thought that’s what he was doing, and only braked enough to slow down—not stop. But this guy, who was apparently not familiar with this flashing yellow light, came to a full and complete stop.
And as my Blazer ran into this guy, here’s what I was thinking: What idiot stops at a flashing yellow light? Crap. I’m rear-ending him, so this is going to be all my fault. Thank you, Jesus, I’m not hurt. Jesus, please help me think clearly. Turn off the radio. Find my flashers. Am I in park? No, I’m in neutral. Let’s park.
Figure 1. Too much more damage and the Blazer’s air bag would’ve deployed. Eek!
By this point, the guy has gotten out of his car to make sure I’m OK, which I am. I’m just shook up. We drive to the next side street to get one another’s information and to wait for a police officer to show up. The guy isn’t mad; he admits he was wrong to stop like he did. Turns out he had been out of town and was going home to surprise his family. And he’s the VP of a local company, so he’s driving a company car.
An Ozark police officer comes, and he’s really pleasant. He takes our statements, runs our information, and understands this was an accident, so he didn’t give me a citation. Praise the Lord! And he told me not to let the accident ruin my day, which was a nice thing to say, but let’s be honest, how could it not ruin my day?
Figure 2. Duct tape really does fix everything. It makes Sarah’s Blazer drivable for short distances. 
Since I’m less than a quarter-mile from my office, I drive back there to look at the damage and call my insurance company and get the ball rolling on resolving this whole incident. The bumper is rubbing my tire, but with a little duct tape, it could be moved out of the way.
No, I did not call Chris right away. First, I knew that if I called him right away, I would start crying, which would make the situation worse. Second, Chris would freak out regardless of crying, so I wanted to be calm when I called him. Third, I wanted to know what we needed to do next before I talked with him, so I waited about 45 minutes before making the phone call, and even then, he was on his lunch break with a friend, so he didn’t answer. His lunch ran late, and then he stopped to talk to his boss, and he saw my Tweet about the accident before he even checked his message.
Figure 3. Sarah’s Blazer sustains over $2000 in damage from a little fender bender.
I completely couldn’t focus for the rest of the afternoon, so I arranged for a repair estimate, which ended up being just over $2,000 in damage. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our cars and an emergency fund, so we’ll be OK. When I got home, I crashed (pun intended) on the couch and slept for 2 hours. And then I slept another 7 hours last night.
I’ve been on the phone with the insurance adjuster this morning, and we’re going to move forward with the repairs this week. We also have rental car coverage, so I’ll get a rental car while my Blazer is in the shop. I’m so ready for this to over!
Two things happened on Sunday: I wrote a marathon training update, and my friend Sam told me about a local triathlon. And then my mind started reeling: If I got back to the gym, maybe I could do this triathlon. I could swim laps in the mornings and take some cycling classes and be ready by August.
So what did I do? Well, Monday night I went to the gym for a cycling class and some strength training. Please understand, that this is the first time I’ve been to the Y in probably two months. I stopped going because I got tired of driving into Springfield, and I’m not much of a morning person, and it’s always busy after work, so I just phased it out of my routine.
And cycling class went well. I got in 13 miles, which is more than what I would ride in the sprint triathlon. And I felt good about that, but I was a bit concerned about the swimming portion. I haven’t swam laps since I was on swim team in eighth grade; I can swim, but I’m not a great swimmer. I vowed to give it a try anyway.
Tuesday morning, I broke out my bathing suit and ventured to the pool side of the Y. You have no idea how nervous I was. For one, I was afraid I’d get in the way of all the other swimmers, and two, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to swim in a straight line.
It wasn’t so bad. There were only two other swimmers, so I wasn’t in the way at all. And because the free stroke wears me out so much, I stuck to the breast stroke, which isn’t a speedy stroke, but it worked for me. I tried the free stroke for half a lap and ran into the wall. Yes, the side of the pool because I veered to the right too much. If I keep this up for the sprint triathlon, I’ll have to master the free stroke, which means I’ll have to get some goggles, so I can see where I’m going.
I ran 3 miles last night and did another cycling class this morning. Early morning classes are a little rough for me, but with some coffee when I get to work and a little nap after dinner, I think I’ll be able to make it. I haven’t committed to this sprint triathlon yet, but it’s a possibility. Yea!
Inspired by last week’s Katy vs. Wednesday . Monday was a battle of the wills.
OK. I know the day didn’t start off too great and that I can’t win them all, but I really turned the day around, and it carried over to Tuesday because Tuesday was pretty great. Gotta love that!
Are you a list writer? Can you go a day without writing a list? If you’re like me, lists keep you sane by making life easier. To-do lists, grocery lists, packing lists, idea lists—you get the idea. Lists are a great tool in our everyday lives, but they can also be a great tool in your writing and on your blog, for they can make your writing more readable by grouping related ideas and simplifying complex processes. In the coming weeks, we’ll look at the basics of writing a list and how to write, style, and code the four kinds of lists HTML allows for: ordered, unordered, definition, and nested.
To List or Not to List
Before you begin to draft your list, decide whether you really need a list and plan your list(s) by answering these questions:
Writing a Great List
I recently graduated, and at my commencement ceremony, the president of my university introduced the keynote speaker by telling the crowd all the speaker had done for the school. This accomplished two things: First, the crowd was informed why the keynote speaker was important, and second, the keynote speaker didn’t have to say all those nice things about herself. Now, think of your list as a keynote speaker. As the writer, it’s your job to introduce this list so your readers will know why the list is important. Use a complete sentence followed by a colon.
Once your list has been introduced, its free to speak for itself. (Mind you, a list is not a speech, so this is where my analogy breaks up.) The key to writing a great list is consistency. Every single piece of a list item must be consistent with every other list item:
That’s it. Other than the specific guidelines for specific kinds of lists, you now have a license to use lists in your writing. Next week, we’ll look at ordered and unordered lists.
Sources
I realize I haven’t written much about my marathon training lately, but there’s a reason for that: my marathon training has gone to the crapper. Seriously.
See, my thoughts were that I could double the length of my marathon training thus taking twice the time to build up my mileage. I thought my knees would be able to handle it, but I quickly learned that my left knee refuses to go farther than six miles—and that’s pushing it. Five miles is barely comfortable.
And I’m thankful for five miles! But something in the back of my mind tells me that I’m not a real runner unless I’m training for a big race. So I try to be upbeat, but I’m sad that the marathon this fall is iffy. In the meantime, I’m still running a few times a week, and I have three races on my schedule for this summer—2 5Ks and 1 10K. I’ve been able to do some speedier short runs, so maybe I can break my PR for the shorties next month.
I considered doing a sprint triathlon in July, but it’s in Texas, and I don’t think our budget can handle the registration, travel, and equipment costs right now. Besides that, I’m a horrible swimmer.
So that’s what’s going on with me, and that’s why I haven’t been writing about it. I’ll keep you posted on my upcoming races. Pray for a PR!
