i couldn't make this work- may have to do with
$recent = new WP_Query("cat=27&showposts=1"); while($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post()
i wonder if i replace that with
<?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
hmmm...
i emailed the author and asked where he placed the code within the loop. he said it should work just about anywhere.
http://wordpresshacker.com/changing-excerpt-size-dynamically/
