Friday: Job. neighborhood, and gym

I am done editing math tests, at least for a while: this is mostly because I'm needed back in my main job as a science editor, and also that we got through most of what was needed for those math books. (Basically, these are being done late because New York revised how it handles testing, and we only recently found out how they'd be doing it, though it was known for a while that some changes were in the offing.) I spent a chunk of yesterday and this morning writing new questions to replace those that either were no longer relevant (because of the changes made) or had never been relevant in the first place. The elementary school tests are full of things like "Jophan bought a magazine for $2.45 cents, and paid with a five dollar bill. How much change should he get." We try to vary the names, and not make them too long or difficult; like most of us, I wound up using some of my friends' names. There's a bakery question, and "the bakery" seemed a bit off (in a way that "the zoo" or "the library" doesn't). Since mrissa enjoys baking, I made it "Marisa's bakery." For another example, I used the name of adrian_turtle's local six-year-old. Some of this stuff—not the little things like picking names—gets tricky, because either it's not clear what the standard is asking, or because these are things that I can see how they teach, but not how to test on paper, certainly not with multiple-choice questions, and there are specific numbers of those and of short-answer and longer-answer open-ended questions. (Some of those differences don't mean much: you can have "what is 7 x 6?" (this is grade school) as either multiple-choice with 42 and three wrong answers, or a fill-in-the-answer question.)

I spent the afternoon looking at the prototypes for the upcoming year's science books. The book design is being changed somewhat, so they want a thorough look at everything, not just "copy from last year's seventh grade book." My boss and I like some of the changes and dislike others, but we don't have the final say, and she decided to push for some things and let others go). We're also taking the opportunity to try to get examples of everything we're likely to need into the prototypes, rather than have to guess at things later. Design has tended to take the easy way, with about eight pages of lesson material and little variety: and then we were trying to figure out what a particular sort of table should look like, or whether to center an equation, and having to decide on the fly. That in turn means that no matter what decision we made, the copyeditor was likely to change it, making consistency harder to attain. And then the proofreaders would query it, because they'd check the prototype and find nothing. So, after looking over what was supplied, I went through a couple of our larger books from previous years, making lists of things that should be in there and weren't.

I had another good workout (I don't know how long this trend will last, but I am hoping it will be a while). While doing my leg presses, I thought about my friends who are in Montreal for Worldcon, and that it would be fun, if I had the energy, time, and money, and then "Worldcon would be fun, but the gym is important." I'd like not to have to choose, but if I do, well, that's a choice made. Made some time ago: I've been working out for almost a decade, and haven't been to Worldcon since 2001.

After working out, I was going to get hot chocolate before getting on the subway, and while waiting in line to order, suddenly didn't want it, so I left. A block or so later, I realized that I was hungry, and the little deli I used to occasionally duck into between there and the subway closed a couple of months ago. (There's a candy store/newsstand, and a food court, also on the way, but nothing tempted, so I figured I'd wait until I got home.) I walked into the park, and saw people eating corn on the cob. A quick glance told me that no, the kebab/hot dog/soda stand hadn't added corn. Turn right, walk a little bit, and there's the source of the corn: a woman with one of those insulated food carriers we usually call "coolers." I was looking interested as someone else bought corn, and she looked at me and said "good stuff." I asked how much, she told me and asked if I wanted it, I said yes. She then asked whether I wanted cheese or just butter, and she switched to rapid Spanish to order for me. (I appreciated the help, though I do have enough Spanish to ask for "one, please, with just butter," though I'm not sure of the idiom for an ear of corn: "maiz" is a collective noun.)

It was, indeed, good corn, fresh and ripe and buttery and there when I was hungry and hadn't been expecting it. I walked along, eating it (and I think not dripping any butter on my clothes). I met cattitude partway through the park (I called when I exited the subway, and he wandered out to meet me, as he often does), and held the corn up by its skewer as he approached. He took a bite, I ate a bit more, he took a second bite and declined more, and I finished the ear, happily. We were talking about it just now, and he estimated it was picked 2-3 days ago; we can sometimes do better at the Greenmarket, but supermarket corn is usually a week old.

( gym numbers behind the cut )

Friday: Job. neighborhood, and gym

I am done editing math tests, at least for a while: this is mostly because I'm needed back in my main job as a science editor, and also that we got through most of what was needed for those math books. (Basically, these are being done late because New York revised how it handles testing, and we only recently found out how they'd be doing it, though it was known for a while that some changes were in the offing.) I spent a chunk of yesterday and this morning writing new questions to replace those that either were no longer relevant (because of the changes made) or had never been relevant in the first place. The elementary school tests are full of things like "Jophan bought a magazine for $2.45 cents, and paid with a five dollar bill. How much change should he get." We try to vary the names, and not make them too long or difficult; like most of us, I wound up using some of my friends' names. There's a bakery question, and "the bakery" seemed a bit off (in a way that "the zoo" or "the library" doesn't). Since mrissa enjoys baking, I made it "Marisa's bakery." For another example, I used the name of adrian_turtle's local six-year-old. Some of this stuff—not the little things like picking names—gets tricky, because either it's not clear what the standard is asking, or because these are things that I can see how they teach, but not how to test on paper, certainly not with multiple-choice questions, and there are specific numbers of those and of short-answer and longer-answer open-ended questions. (Some of those differences don't mean much: you can have "what is 7 x 6?" (this is grade school) as either multiple-choice with 42 and three wrong answers, or a fill-in-the-answer question.)

I spent the afternoon looking at the prototypes for the upcoming year's science books. The book design is being changed somewhat, so they want a thorough look at everything, not just "copy from last year's seventh grade book." My boss and I like some of the changes and dislike others, but we don't have the final say, and she decided to push for some things and let others go). We're also taking the opportunity to try to get examples of everything we're likely to need into the prototypes, rather than have to guess at things later. Design has tended to take the easy way, with about eight pages of lesson material and little variety: and then we were trying to figure out what a particular sort of table should look like, or whether to center an equation, and having to decide on the fly. That in turn means that no matter what decision we made, the copyeditor was likely to change it, making consistency harder to attain. And then the proofreaders would query it, because they'd check the prototype and find nothing. So, after looking over what was supplied, I went through a couple of our larger books from previous years, making lists of things that should be in there and weren't.

I had another good workout (I don't know how long this trend will last, but I am hoping it will be a while). While doing my leg presses, I thought about my friends who are in Montreal for Worldcon, and that it would be fun, if I had the energy, time, and money, and then "Worldcon would be fun, but the gym is important." I'd like not to have to choose, but if I do, well, that's a choice made. Made some time ago: I've been working out for almost a decade, and haven't been to Worldcon since 2001.

After working out, I was going to get hot chocolate before getting on the subway, and while waiting in line to order, suddenly didn't want it, so I left. A block or so later, I realized that I was hungry, and the little deli I used to occasionally duck into between there and the subway closed a couple of months ago. (There's a candy store/newsstand, and a food court, also on the way, but nothing tempted, so I figured I'd wait until I got home.) I walked into the park, and saw people eating corn on the cob. A quick glance told me that no, the kebab/hot dog/soda stand hadn't added corn. Turn right, walk a little bit, and there's the source of the corn: a woman with one of those insulated food carriers we usually call "coolers." I was looking interested as someone else bought corn, and she looked at me and said "good stuff." I asked how much, she told me and asked if I wanted it, I said yes. She then asked whether I wanted cheese or just butter, and she switched to rapid Spanish to order for me. (I appreciated the help, though I do have enough Spanish to ask for "one, please, with just butter," though I'm not sure of the idiom for an ear of corn: "maiz" is a collective noun.)

It was, indeed, good corn, fresh and ripe and buttery and there when I was hungry and hadn't been expecting it. I walked along, eating it (and I think not dripping any butter on my clothes). I met cattitude partway through the park (I called when I exited the subway, and he wandered out to meet me, as he often does), and held the corn up by its skewer as he approached. He took a bite, I ate a bit more, he took a second bite and declined more, and I finished the ear, happily. We were talking about it just now, and he estimated it was picked 2-3 days ago; we can sometimes do better at the Greenmarket, but supermarket corn is usually a week old.

( gym numbers behind the cut )