Uh Oh

Let's just say the hold portion of the evening should have shown me. 25 minutes with American Airlines, just for them to tell me "oh, you're on the wrong phone # - here, let me transfer you" 20 minutes later, and "yes, sir, cancelled means cancelled. Would you like to leave through San Diego, switch planes, and get home Monday at 5:30 AM? No? Better book you on the 11:30 AM Monday flight from Seattle."

So we extend the hotel a day, head back up north to see the relatives again (why not?), with the obligatory shopping stop, and all is well. Until dinner time. "kids, are you hungry?" "No, I'm just having grapes"

Whatever.

And then, at 7 PM, comes... The Return of the Grapes. Upchucking everywhere. Oh boy. Clean up, pack children in car, bring a barf bucket, stop every 10 miles to let more come out. Back to hotel so... youngest can add her contribution, in the elevator. Upstairs, one in the bath, one in bed. Deliver powerade, receive powerade back. Finally let exhausted youngest fall asleep at 11:30, while Mrs. is down at hotel washing machine cleaning clothes & such. Fall asleep at about 1AM, with a 6:30 wake-up call. Mrs. sleeps not at all, handling oldest every 20 minutes.

Pack everyone for van ride to airport, get on a VERY crowded airplane (when I originally reset our plans, they had us in 4 middle seats, one behind the other. Not only 4 unhappy people that way, but 200, so they swiftly got us all in a row.) Oldest is half-comatose the whole trip, with the ice bucket we took (with permission) from the hotel on her lap. Land early, and... no gate available. 25 minutes. Oh wait, new gate. Hurray. Taxi over, "we'll just be a few minutes." 10 minutes later, move into position, seat belts off, collect ourselves, and - nothing.

"Sorry folks, having trouble with the gate". Oldest is lying like a wet dishrag in the aisle, moaning slightly & unable to move. Overtired youngest is screaming to be held. We're up near the front, so when we start moving 10 minutes later, we're off in a jiffy. I tell wife to move off with the kids, I'll wait for the gate checked stroller. And wait. And wait. EVERYONE is now off the plane, including the pilots. I finally ask the electrician working on the gate to see what's going on, while the pilots are kindly waiting for all of us standing there waiting for our stuff. The poor electrician goes out in the 10 degree weather & grabs them himself.

I meet up with Mrs & kids, figuring everyone else is gone. Turns out... no bags at all. No moving carousels, and our co-flyers are waiting around fuming. It's now an hour since we landed, and nothing's happening. Wait, wait, wait. One carousel starts moving, we all head over there, nothing. Then it stops. Finally an announcement "your bags will be off in five minutes" - no announcement where, so I stay where I am. Ten minutes later, I check with the bag lady, who [sarcasm] politely [/sarcasm] tells me "I made an announcement", I say "you didn't say where", and she graciously tells me "#2." It does eventually begin moving, and half an hour later, our bags come off.

Call the car pick up place, race in the snow across to the CORRECT pickup location, pay, watch poor guy (on our flight, it seemed) whose car key didn't work and was told to go get a new one, he says "I LIVE IN NEW JERSEY", oldest upchucks again in the lot, get home, have oatmeal, crash.

The rest of last week is everybody else getting sick, and I'd like a do-over on last week. So that's our trip.

So then what Happened?

I can't entirely remember Thursday. Friday we hit the Aquarium, and the Indian restaurant (again.) We spent shabbos with some lovely people in one of the Jewish areas in Seattle. How we got there is pretty roundabout, but this is how Jewish Geography sometimes works.

You may recall I mentioned the fabulous party we went to some time back? No? Here's the recap - scroll to Wednesday. Anyway, while waiting in line for our car, we got to chatting with a guy. Turns out we're both going back to Long Island. I tell him what town, he says "oh, do you know so-and-so? They just moved from Seattle" How funny - we're going to Seattle! Anyway, I track down the new people on a synagogue mailing list, call up & drop the guy's name, and ask if they might be able to hook us up with anyone when we're there for shabbos hospitality. She says "oh, some friends from Seattle will be visiting next week - why don't I introduce you?"

So Mrs. goes over next week, meets the visitors, and by the time she's through we are invited to the visitor's for shabbos. Easy, right? At any rate, we found them and spent a very nice shabbos with them. They have kids around our kids age, toys to play with, and it was all very nice. It even turns out they're highly conservative (politically) and the husband knows the guy who ran for governor over there in this last election. They had other plans for lunch on Saturday, so we were assigned to have lunch with the Rabbi who's an old NY expatriate. We had lunch there with some other locals who, it turns out, we had met many years ago. The wife was a former congregant at a beginner's service that I used to work at, and we had a really nice time talking all sorts of stuff.

So Shabbos was lovely, and then back home to pack.

For our trip.

Home.

Where there's 800 feet of snow falling as we speak...

The rest of the Week

is something of a blur. The family lives a few hours north of Seattle, so we wanted to plan it rather than just running up there. Our trip was Seattle based this time because of the travel issue. Past trips have involved leaping off the plane (well, shuffling slowly off after the 10,000 other people who were hiding in the overhead compartments to slow our exit from the Sardine Can), hopping into transportation for a 2 hour ride. Not a good thing after small kiddies have been locked in a plane for 6 hours.

This time, we figured we'd stay down south (no, not Down South™), enjoy the city, and most importantly, not have to kosher shop for a week in advance. There's an Albertson's (local chain) with a kosher deli counter, kosher bakery, kosher meat available), and it was ten minutes from our hotel. So we spent a few days bumming around town doing touristy stuff, and I took the wife to a kosher Indian restaurant sans kiddies (thanks, Grandma!) which was very good (there are kosher Indian places in NYC, but us suburbites don't get in to the big city as much as when, say, we lived there.) So good was the restaurant, that we went back the day after I took Mrs. for dinner to take some of the Northern relatives, who were down for other purposes.

Weds. was back (again) to the shopping for more food, including three times as much raw chicken cutlets as I needed for the four kosher ones for dinner. We were heading up to the relations, who don't keep kosher, but it's hard to buy a small package of food in a place without a regular butcher. The relations have a grill we bought a few years back which they've left kosher for us, so I can cook there every four years or so. Anyway, drive up, and have a lovely day visiting with the folks. Great Grampa, supposedly the frail one, is walking with a cane but is otherwise in fine fettle. He told stories, jokes, and even sang a little (he used to perform light opera, including the Gilbert & Sullivan I enjoy so much.)

Uncle is retired Navy, and one of the decentest people I've ever met. He's supposedly very tactiturn, and I've noticed he's not a yakker, but I've always enjoyed talking to him. He's also tremendously handy - he built his house, and I mean actually BUILT it. Had instruction from an electrician, and paid other people to sheetrock the walls for time reasons, but otherwise it was all him. And Aunt, whom I like very much as well. I'm actually quite jealous of his skill, and it's something I wish I had. One fallout from a yeshiva education, unfortunately.

We also went to see their son & daughter-in-law's house. Cousin has inherited his dad's ability, and is rebuilding top to bottom. He even borrowed some kind of etching machine & did this neat pattern on some glass. We like all the cousins, but they may be our favorites. Lots of fun to talk to, and his wife has a phenomenal sense of humor. He's a cop in their tiny little town up there, and he had some neat stories to tell.

Anyway, dinner back at Aunt & Uncle's was a party. I had tons of chicken (marinated in lemon, pepper, salt & olive oil) so there was plenty for kosher & non-kosher alike, and we had a blast. The kids were exhausted, but they fell asleep on the way back to Seattle so it worked out.

Righto

Let's try this again, shall we?

The idea for a trip out West began some months back at the urging (all right, insistent noodging) of my dear mother in law. She pointed out (correctly) that the Upper West Coast relatives, including the Great-Grandparents, had never met our youngest child. They were not doing terribly well, getting older and all, and MIL felt it would be a good idea for us all to get out there. Now, I really like these relatives quite a bit, but I had three basic problems:

1) We never seem to just go on vacation - we're always travelling to see somebody
2) Flights and hotels are dad-blamed expensive
3) SIX...HOURS...ON...A...PLANE...WITH...SMALL...CHILDREN.

Discussion ensued, financial assistance worked out, and hence Dark and Early on a January Sunday morning, small children were wakened from their beds at about 4:30 AM and plopped into a minivan for a ride to the airport. Thence by Wingéd Conveyance to the Great State of Washington, being completely and almost exactly unlike Washington DC. The flight was not as awful as it might have been, which is to say it was kind of awful. We had taken the last row of the plane, a window & aisle each, in the hope that the flight would be empty & we could have the whole shebang to ourselves. Which turned out to be the case, as a 7AM Sunday flight was, for some inexplicable reason, not so popular.

The constant in & out of car seat by youngest child was not appreciated, but she did eventually fall asleep. The kosher meals consisted of some mad genius' approach to scrambled eggs. I think. It was yellow, anyway. It appeared the "Chef" took some eggs, roasted them over a bic lighter, ran them over with a forklift, and then put them through a shredder. The consistency resembled couscous, and the flavor... I think the straw wrappers were better, personally.

Anyway, we did survive, and hit hitch #1. Aforementioned in-law had planned to meet us at the airport, as she was driving up from Californiay. Where they live. We finally managed to contact her while waiting for our bags, when she told us she was about 80 miles from the airport. Oy. (Incidentally, I thought it was kind of cool that the Aeroflot baggage claim was right next to ours. We're in from NY, Pavel over there is in from Valdivostok. Welcome to America, Old Boy!)

Anyway, cab to the hotel, meet MIL a bit later, no rooms ready, entertain overtired children (who are jumping up & down on the hotel's lobby furniture), and we head off instead to the Children's Museum, which is a neat place. Back to hotel, no rooms, start making threatening noises, and "oh, wait, maybe it's ready after all." Run out to supermarket, buy what passes for kosher food in a non-Jewish neighborhood, collapse.

Thus ends Day 1. (Relax - the rest will be compressed)

So....

I was all set to update everyone on my fascinating trip out West, and then oldest gave illness to youngest, who gave it to Mrs., who gave it to me. I will dispense with graphic description, and simply point out that my absence this week from both blogging and work was due to G-I Tract concerns.

Can I get a do-over on this week?

Since you're wondering...

We have returned from a trip to the Left Coast. The short version - nice trip, delayed home from stupid snow, now everyone is sick.

The longer version will post after I finish catching up. Not on work, silly - blogreading.

Look for exciting episodes such as Dinner with the Pacific Northwest Relations, Rise & Shine at Dawn (EST, not where we are), Lunch With the Rabbi, Various Kiddy Museums, Grocery Shopping Daily, Snowed in when there's no Snow, and, of course, Barfing in an Ice Bucket.

I suspect there will just be one or two long posts, but this should give a flavor.

Thursday Three

Gee, what IDIOT came up with these stupid...

Never mind.

Anyway, I asked 'em, I gotta answer them.

1) Name three movies you could not live without on a desert island

Believe it or not, this is one of the tougher ones for me. Many choices, and I can't always remember what I like best. I leave open the option to change my mind later.
A) Life of Brian - "Lord, I am afflicted by a bald patch" - 'nuff said.
B) Goodfellas
C) Princess Bride - "Nothing's better than a nice Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich"
Given that I have that one memorized, it might not be completely necessary, in which case I might substitute The Quiet Man. Or The Man who Would Be King. Or... [ed. update - I thought of one more: Mr. Roberts. "The symbol of our cargo record has been thrown overboard!"]

2) What movie have you fallen asleep in the middle of/asked for your money back/thrown up while watching?

Star Wars Episode I - "The Beginning of the Plotless Prequels, where we spent $10 Billion on FX but couldn't spare a C-note for an actual scriptwriter" is coming to mind.

The real winner is Before Sunrise, as colossal a waste of film stock as has ever been seen. If I wanted to watch two people on a date, I would be on my own date. If I hadn't been on an actual date with a cute girl (pre-Mrs. Skinny), AND if it hadn't been at the $2 theater, I think I would have asked for a refund.

3) Who would play you and your significant other in the movie of your life?

The inspiration for this question is from numerous real conversations I had back in college with my friends, most of whom were in student government. Their particular party was the PHD party, for reasons pointless to explain, and we spent a lot of time casting "PHD: The Movie"

Now, I'd like to say that I was consistently compared to some of the greatest leading men in film history: Harrison Ford, Kenneth Branagh, Cary Grant, Marlon Brando, George Peppard. For good or ill, however, the consensus was always (as I remember) that the right guy to play me is...

Rick Moranis. (Here's an appropriate alternate shot)

The wife is a little harder to pick. Obviously, she really looks like this. However, since I can't overwhelm the masses with her timeless beauty, I will go with one of my favorites - Helena Bonham Carter. Preferably, for my tastes, in Prim Edwardian Look, rather than chain-smoking Parisian lady-of-the-night mode. Certainly not looking like this. Ick.

Archives of Interest

The fabulous International Business Machines has a publicly available corporate archives site. (The archivist there is a guy I've met a few times.)

When you think about how much of our lives are computer driven (and that you are reading this, I assume, on some sort of computer), you begin to appreciate the impact companies like IBM have had on the world. To think also of IBM's predecessor companies beginning their work in the 1880's, you begin to realize the crazy paths that history sometimes takes. It's hard to conceive in 1885 that punch card machines would lead to instant communication anywhere in the world (as well as massive timewasters like blogs), and yet here we are.

IBM is also an example of Corporate Archives at work. What you're seeing here is only the tip of the iceberg. The archives there is providing research, insight, and information to people around the world, both internally and externally. It's a unique function in a corporation, and one that many organizations don't appreciate.

Ummm, OK?

This is the first time I've heard of anybody wanting to go to Ethiopia since Mussolini invaded in 1935.

I will trust that the late Mr. Marley has communicated his wishes. I don't really want to know for sure, though.

Rather, Old Boy

Well, Gunga Dan escaped the firing squad. I'm not surprised, even if I am disappointed. Dan's the last guy left on earth who thinks Memogate got the story right, even if us simple types can't see it. What I can't see is how See.B.S. can possibly consider itself an honest dispenser of paper Dixie cups, much less the news.

I heard Bernard Goldberg on Sean Hannity's radio show this PM, and he suggested that this was all unnecessary - the MSM only needed to adjust itself to modern realities of the news business and they would not be irrelevant. What he meant (as I understood it) is that people have plenty of choice, and if the MSM is going to treat the public like morons, we're going to go elsewhere. I don't think this has happened yet, but it's seeming more inevitable as time goes by. Blogs, talk radio, whatever - there are plenty of places where people can go for news, analysis, opinion, whatever.

There's no need to take Rather et al as THE truth. Moreover, when a guy like this is shown to be a partisan, stubborn, know-nothing hack, the rest of us feel pretty justified in ignoring the MSM. All Rather had to do was say "look, we thought it was kosher & it wasn't, sorry" and he might have saved a shred of credibility. At this point, you get more reliable information from the Weekly World News and the National Enquirer than from network news.

Let's not even mention the report the suits came up with. No political bias? I presume there was no intent to influence the election, hmmm? I read a great quote from Abigail Adams tonight in Our Oldest Enemy ( which I highly recommend, BTW) when referring to the undeclared war between the US and France in the 1790s "Why, when we have the thing, should we boggle at the name?"

Now, aside from anticipating a highly popular word game of the 20th century, Mrs. Adams had her head screwed on correctly. Just because nobody found a memo from Rather to CBS execs saying "hey guys, I'm gonna screw Bush tonight so Kerry gets elected" doesn't mean the thing wasn't intended that way. The rest of us can see that. Defend this to the death, Danno. You're just hastening the death of network news, and I'm ready for that.

Clean-up weekend

We did have plans for the weekend, which included going out to Joisey to see some friends. Thanks to various illnesses (their child and ours) we decided to reschedule. While this meant oldest child had a chance to go to yet another birthday party, it did leave me at somewhat loose ends. Out of sheer frustration at being thwarted at my somewhat well-laid plans, I decided to attack the monster that is my office.

Now, I don't really need an office, exactly. We have a room in the basement that used to be the Mrs.' office. But, see, it's real hard to get any work (or goofing) done when small children won't leave you be. Hence the move to the family room, so children can glaze over on Dora the Explora (don't spit on the floor-a, use the cuspidor-a, that's a what it's for-a) or some other vaguely wholesome fare. And if they need Mommy, they can see her instead of checking on her every 30 seconds.

All this means is that I got an office. Which I proceeded to pile higher and higher with the great mass of critically important pieces of dead tree we get daily. Most are trifles, like bills, but occasionally we get those critical, vital, essential offers for new aluminum siding. Anyway, I went at it in a frenzy on Sunday, and succeeded in actually filing a large mass of former living oak, or ash, or sequoia, or whatever. I wouldn't say it's clean, precisely, but I have verified there are both a floor AND a desk in the space.

Oh, and I watched the Jets game on Saturday night, which ended well, if not exactly prettily enough, for my tastes.

Too good not to share

And I thought the Japanese had trouble getting things translated safely into English.

(Hat Tip to Jack Fowler at the Corner)

Thursday Three, '05 Model

1) What are three things you wish you had been able to get done in 2004, but didn’t?

Get filthy stinking rich. Two outta three ain't bad.

2) What are three things you have always wished to do, but still haven’t done?

Learn to fly; buy a brand new car for cash money; learn to cook a steak properly on the grill.

AND FINALLY, from Larry Anderson up at Kudzu Acres, who sends along this contribution regarding things of true importance--
How about some questions to really bring out the football fans this week?

Where were you on 17-16?

Well, up north we only have 12 months in a year, so I have no idea what you Southy folks mean.

What were Shug's and Bear's real names?

Abbot Suger, as we've seen previously. And I always thought it was Fozzie. Waka waka waka.

Why would anyone go to Alabama when a good school costs about the same?

Stupid question. Because they shoulda made that left toin in Albequerque.

You know, some real intellectual ones this week to get the year off right.

Of course, Skinnydan may feel a little left out, so you could always ask how Rutgers did this year.

Rutgers? They have a football team? Didn't he play bass for Springsteen?

It's been a long week

Busy, mostly in a good way, but busy. The Cliff's Notes version:

Friday, 12/31: Happy Birthday, Big Girl! For the record, it's not her finest picture ever. And she was standing in the nose section of what I seem to remember as a DC-3. So you can imagine she might have been too busy to pose like a supermodel. I'm off work, Mrs. sends me & youngest off to local children's museum so Mrs. can surprise us with homemade chocolate/mint fudge. WOW. And delicious. (museum was fun - membership means we can go anytime for 45 mins & not feel like we wasted money.)

Saturday: Big girl has a lunch invitation that lasts till Shabbos is over. Mommy gets a nap, Daddy gets to read uninterrupted for three hours. Evening actually has me & Mrs. Skinny take a night out. Local performance by an improv troupe, arranged by the Sisterhood at one of our Synagogues. Accompanied by a kosher attempt at barbecue, which was edible. The show was lots of fun.

Sunday: Lord help us. Birthday party day. 30 children 5 & under in our house. My one key line to Mrs. after was "I told you so." She agreed we didn't need to invite so many kids. Lots of help from my parents (dad brought his keyboard, and entertained musically while the paid entertainment was doing her best to keep kids in line for face painting) and other parents who stayed with their kids & served pizza, juice & cake. It was pretty rough, I must say. They get a smaller party next year. My folks stuck around & we headed off (along with two nieces) to the local chinese place for their buffet, which is better tasting & a better deal than ordering direct.

Monday: Launch date. The catalogs I have been building for 4 years, and the software installation that took so long to realize finally went live. It went smoothly, and pretty quietly for all the agita that went into getting it done. Somewhat anticlimactic, in fact. Probably just as well. It hasn't led to a deluge of reference requests, but it did bring some nice notes from colleagues around the organization.

Tuesday: Hmmm. I'm not sure anything happened. We made more fudge, which was not as successful as the mint. Milk chocolate/butterscotch, white chocolate/butterscotch. The latter tasted good, but didn't set properly. Mistakes happen.

Wednesday: All day fixing up my own web stuff. But at night. Oh man. We got invited a week ago to a 40th birthday party for a friend. Like the together people we are, we never called the inviter back until the night before. We figured "no big deal, we can show up, have cake & chips" Mrs. was dressed pretty casually, but I guessed it wouldn't matter.

Oh boy.

We show up at the house back in our old stomping grounds in the Bronx, and there's valet parking. At a house. Uh-oh, says Mrs. We go inside (we're early), and there's servers carrying trays. There's a bar. I am in BIG trouble for telling Mrs. not to change. Plus we figured it was low-key, so we had eaten dinner. Well, I was forgiven for the faux pas (that's "goof" in Frenchytalk) when we tasted the meat on a stick being passed around. Oh, it was fabulous. And then the little franks in blankets. And the... and the...

Well, we had two dinners last night. Between the actual dinner served later, and the food passers, I ate like a pig. Believe it or not, I've never had lamb chops before. I was a picky eater as a kid (hence my svelte frame) , and I've never wanted to risk buying it in case I hated it. Well, they had 'em last night, and they were fabulous. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

They topped everything off with the most amazing bit of food related gadgetry I've ever seen. The tower o chocolate. It was one of these deals. I'd never seen one, and it's really cool. The chocolate runs down in a waterfall, and you take your strawberry/marshmallow/slab of beef and stick it under the chocolate, and whammo! You got a chocolate covered prime rib.

Anyway, it was a lovely party, and the birthday girl and her husband are among the nicest people we've ever met, and we had a great time.

Today: busy working on somebody else's website. They seem ready to get things in gear, so I've been webbing away (spiderman, spiderman).

So that's my life for the last week. Any questions?

Thursday Three

:Sigh: Here we go again.

1) What was the best gift you got (or gave) this year?

Best (and only) gift I got was a microwave for work, which since I work alone, I can keep kosher. No More PB sandwiches every day! And to think I thought of returning it.

2) What was the worst gift you got (or gave) this year?

Well, this isn't entirely a gift for me. Work gives kids under ten big boxes of presents every year. Very generous of them, and I appreciate the thought. Small problem is they keep giving noisy toys. And baseball hats and t-shirts that are 10 sizes too big for my kids. We kept it all away from the kids for now - with grandparents & their birthdays so soon after Chanukah, we can save these for April, or regift 'em.

3) What gift are you going to have to go back and get for yourself because someone forgot to read your list to Santa Hanukkah Harry?

I suppose Kelly Preston is out of the question? I could really use a new PDA since my old one crapped out, but I think I'll hold off for a while.

A Little Football

My buddy said the NY Giants have been playing like this all season.

I leave it up to others to make Alabama jokes.

Speaking of Which, Archives of Interest

This week, we'll go with the granddaddy of them all, your very own National Archives. Yep, this is your tax dollars at work, but here is one case where I think you're getting your money's worth. There are NARA facilities in 18 states, keeping records of vast historical significance from virtually every part of the nation, from every era in our history, on virtually every topic, from virtually every government department ever in existence.

I can't even begin to explain the breadth and depth of the records NARA maintains. Immigration records; military records; presidential records; films; documents; maps. Pretty much you name it, and it's somewhere in the system. And, you can go look at almost any material you want - FOR FREE.

I don't love everything about our government. Government is one of the major employers of archivists, and according to those who work there, it's not always a fun or loose place to work. But given the importance to our society of the historical record, you will not do better with your tax dollars.

Well, maybe you could, like a free picture of this lady and free ice cream for every citizen, but your tax money goes a long way at NARA.

Somehow

I don't think this is an archives I will include in my Archives of Interest posts.

Speaking of history

I have been reading a lot lately, which I'm glad about. One of the better ones I've read lately is this book - The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. Unbelievable story of a guy in post-communist Hungary who takes up bank robbing to supplement his non-existent hockey player salary.

But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I've been interested in WWII a lot lately, and I came across a few books in the library that piqued my interest. I ended up reading this book, Duty, and Tom Brokaw's Greatest Generation back to back. I haven't finished the latter, but I've read enough to have formulated an opinion.

I know Brokaw's book has been hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread. And I think the parts of the book where the subjects actually talk are wonderful. But, having read both, I would absolutely recommend Duty above Greatest Generation. I admit I've been conditioned over the last few years to think the MSM is evil, but I do think I gave Brokaw a shot. But his editorial additions to the book (his intro & in each chapter) make me think he was just ticking off his checklist of things to hit. Duty (written by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene) is a much better book, and provides much more insight into the mind of that generation than Brokaw's ever could.

Part of that is the difference between focusing on one or two people vs. three pages each on a few dozen. But I think the rest of it is Brokaw's vision of what that generation was about rather than what they actually were. He starts in his intro about how critical these people were in the women's movement, in civil rights, Vietnam, etc. I don't know how true any of that is. I for one think that's a stretch - much of that generation were probably disturbed by most of those changes, though not enough to protest the changes in an obvious way. What I think is really going on is Brokaw thinks these are the critical events of the twentieth century; this is arguably the greatest generation in American history; ergo, this generation's work was to enact the greatest events of that century.

Greene to my mind really captures what made the WWII generation unique. A combination of personal responsibility, resourcefulness (based a lot on the effects of the Depression), and most importantly a deep sense of the greatness of the United States of America. Half of Greene's book is about Brig. General Paul Tibbets, the man who flew the Enola Gay to Hiroshima. Tibbets view of his actions there are as honest, honorable, and straightforward as I believe most of the WWII generation to be. It was a job that needed to be done to save lives and the right thing for the US. Tibbets was the best man to do the job. The job got done.

I feel like Brokaw would have gone on (perhaps he does - I haven't finished the book yet) about the advent of the nuclear age, the destruction man wreaks on man, wringing his hands the whole time. If I had to capture the spirit of the WWII generation (based only on reading, since I've never really known anyone who fought then), I think Greene got it right. No grand sweep of history, just the story of a father and his son, and the story of men doing what they need to do to preserve the freedom and lives of their countrymen.

Yay!

Terry's back! Now I can go back to loafing.

Incidentally, since I'm housekeeping, you may notice that I've added Armor Geddon to my bloglist on the right. I ran into it somehow, and I thought it worth adding. Be forewarned - this is standard MilSpeak, which is to say the language is pretty coarse.

On the other hand, Red6's newly born log is a first person account of tank operations during the battle for Fallujah. I can't think of another time when the individual soldier has been able to share his thoughts with a wide audience this close to a battle. Normally letters and diaries of individuals don't make it to the world - they're aimed at the person themselves, or to the loved ones who receive the letter. We've reached an interesting point in history, where the spread of technology has led to an overwhelming amount of information right at the point of action.

It does raise the question of what we'll have for posterity. Letters on paper from the Civil War will be equally readable (if cared for properly) 200 years from now. Will the same be true for the emails and blogs coming from our soldiers today? Something to think about.

Gee, that wasn't really housekeeping, was it?

Two Years Ago today...

I got the best present in the world.

Happy birthday, kiddo.

[UPDATE: I just noted the cookie in the mouth. Adds character. And she has more teeth and hair now]

Oooog

Last week's head cold has morphed into this week's virus. I got into bed somewhere around 8:30 last night, slept badly, and spent much of today wrapped in several layers in bed, trying to get warm.

My menu since about 3PM yesterday as follows:

One (1) mug tea
One (1) 32-oz. bottle of Powerade
One (1) small bowl chicken soup, provided by kindly neighbor
Two (2) pieces toast
Two (2) doses of varying strengths of painkiller.

My presence in the outside world tomorrow (bearing in mind the white stuff falling now, and needing snowblowing) is tentative at best. While the rest of you are rejoining the world of the Blog, after what I hope was a better Dec. 25th than mine, I may yet be in bed.

Which, in fact, is where I am dragging myself off to right now.

Not quite sure what the problem is here

Look, I certainly wouldn't buy one of these for my kids for Chanukah (or any other known holiday, real or invented), but the toy's, umm, "output" is not much different from the real thing.

Though I wonder that the Greenhouse Gas (heh) crowd hasn't raised a (heh heh) stink about such toys, not to mention the real deal.

Oh, sometimes I crack myself up.

This seems like a New York Story

I'm not sure why this is such a big deal. Sure, Bar Mitzvahs in places where Arafat invested has a certain irony, but why is anyone surprised? The little troll had tons of money he stole from his people, courtesy of US, Israeli, and European foreign aid. Like any smart investor, he looked for profitable investments.

I suspect he invested in all sorts of things that led to Jews (and others who hated the little gnome) indirectly supporting the PLO and their terrorist activities. You can't stop buying Coke and Oreos just because some terrorist might make money off it.

I do find it interesting, given that:

1) at one point in my life, I bowled two or three times a week
2) I used to live two blocks from Bowlmor Lanes in the Village
3) I now work less than ten minutes from the New Hyde Park bowling alley

Anyway, I chalk this one up as weird news.

Per Miz Jordana's Request

I have no objections to this particular piece of beefcake. He seems like a manly man, so...

My head

appears to be stuffed with high-grade cotton balls. I seem to have picked up my children's illness in earnest, and I am now fully aware of my sinuses. They have been packed full of something painful, and neither the expired Benadryl I took last night nor the Sudafed are helping much. Ugggh. And yes, I have been using Zicam, which I suspect is merely limiting the amount of awful I'm feeling.

In any event, I've decided I have a small gripe. Like most people, I like free stuff. Unlike some people around here, I never seem to get any. Others are surrounded this season with baskets of junk food taller than me (granted I'm undertall), and what has shown up at my door? Bupkis. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

So here's the word going out to the people I work with - SHOW ME THE GOODIES. Howzabout winging a box of Godiva down this way, huh? I know none of you know I'm here most of the time, but let's make with the candy/cookies/brand new Honda Accord Hybrid, okay? (Look, I'm not a car guy - I like Hondas, and I want to save on gas. Save the Double overhead cam hemi 457 Magnum stuff for the gearheads.)

Not that I'm greedy or anything, exactly. It's just nice to be noticed, in a box of full-fat, expensive chocolatey sort of way.

Totally gratuitous

picture of Rita Hayworth.

Well, now

Larry A. points out (quite correctly) that I am not maintaining the usual PossumHumor in the Marsupial's absence.

I've decided that he's right, and it's because nothing extra funny has happened to me recently. Or I can't make ordinary things sound funny. Or something. Stuff has happened, but not in a humorous way. I'd like to make the errands I ran on Sunday seem funny, but the truth is I actually got everything accomplished in a speedy and efficient fashion. The children were home sick, which is not particularly laughable.

(Though in honesty, older child had a good line on Friday. The two kids were running around screaming as they often do, and I suggested a new game. "Let's say absolutely nothing for the next five minutes." To which oldest responded, naturally "Absolutely nothing for the next five minutes." My daughter, the prodigy. Who knew there was an inheritable gene for smart-aleck?)

So in comedy, as in life, timing is everything. Hopefully something of note will occur before Terry gets back. In the meantime, as this chap would say, "pewhaps something wisible?"

Our Current "Troubles"

I got to thinking about the war on terror the other day, and this is where my head went.

We're fighting for our lives here - most reasonable people understand that. We're in that position because our enemies feel that death and destruction is a good thing. And yet, where might we be if the Osamas out there believed in something different? What if Mohammed had promoted Islam as requiring Muslim control over the world's finances? Or if interpretations of the Koran led the Wahabbists to choose to dominate the world in baseball rather than homicide bombers? We in the west would probably have looked on it as reasonably healthy competition. Cutthroat, perhaps, but not in a literal sense.

That led to a train of thought on Japan. The West faced a militarized, martial culture prior to and during WWII. I don't claim to know much about Japan or its history, but clearly the military was ascendant for some time. It was a militarism we in the West could understand (as opposed to the Wahabbi nutjobs we face now) , but still an alien culture. So we fought them, and had to defeat a hardy, difficult enemy. Even with the Kamikazes, however, I don't think the Japanese were suicidal for its own sake. Yes they might sacrifice themselves for the fatherland, and maybe death before dishonor, but they weren't in a hurry to die (again, near as I understand it).
So we beat them. Took a lot of hard fighting, a lot of death, and two nukes, but we did defeat the Japanese. So what did they do? With our help, they reset their cultural norms. Still the same intensity, but they focused on success in non-military areas. Technology and capitalism are the two most obvious examples. And they certainly did overtake us significantly, though not permanently. The Japanese remain highly innovative technologically, and in the '80s at least it appeared they were kicking the daylights out of us in capitalism. We're still ahead in baseball, though there are some very strong Japanese players coming over to MLB.

What I think I'm getting at here is that we've seen this before. Sure, life would have been easier if Islam had wanted its adherents to learn to turn a double play. But that's not how it turned out. Nobody thought the Japanese or the Germans could be turned away from their violent, expansionist ways, and yet we did. I know this looks like a long haul with no end now, but we have done this before. Yes, it was against sovereign nations and not loose agglomerations (good word!) of wackos. But cultures can be turned, for their good and ours.

Few people would say the Japanese were better off as they were (certainly Manchuria could speak to the benefits, though being part of China now they probably just want to keep their heads down), and I think the same is true for the Islamic world. It will take some time, but I believe we will eventually compete against the Mullahs on the diamond or in the boardroom rather than with automatic weapons fire.

Hmmmm

Terry at Possumblog is on "Vacation" this week, and I wondered if I could (or should) fill in. So, lessee, hmmm. OK, here goes...

Blah blah blah blah up the hill blah blah blah crazy children blah blah blah over to Sam's blah blah blah Miss Reba (Rrrowwlll) blah blah blah fall asleep. Blah blah blah CHET!!! Put down that leaf blower! blah blah blah Jimmy (from Next Door) blah blah blah deep fried canola oil (yum).

See? It's not so hard. With our simple PossumBlog Starter Kit, for only $29.95 you too can share your possumy goodness with the world.

(We kid because we care. Really)

(Why, no Terry, I didn't post anything on your blog. Say, where's Chet? Terry, what are you doing with that large wooden BADGER? AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!)

Oh Mr. Possum

The Scots seem to have gotten a jump on PossumKitchens, Inc.

Unless, of course, your European subsidiary, PossumKitchens, Ltd. is the organization responsible for this rather peculiar idea. It certainly illustrates the idea that anything can be fried, and that already delicious foods can be better when hot oil and batter are applied.

I think the only further we can go with this is to deep-fry foods that are already deep-fried. Dip potato chips in batter and drop 'em in the fryer?

Thursday Three

Not perhaps the most appropriate to my faith (see below), but I will alter to suit my own holiday needs.

1. The ol’ Tannenbaum--fake or real? When does it go up? And when does it come down?

No Tannenbaum for us. I do use an olive oil Menorah as opposed to wax candles. The oil is considered the best way of commemorating the Menorah of the Temple, though the wax is legal as long as it lasts enough time.

On a related note, one of the funniest holiday cards I've ever seen had a guy on the front pulling a tree, with the words "Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum..." [open card] "put down that tree, you're Jewish."

2. Shopping--fake or real? Oh, wait, that’s the last question. Here we are--do you wait until the last minute or plan ahead? Do you give gift cards?

I wait until the wife has planned ahead. Older child is old enough to go through catalogs picking everything she sees. Wife cleverly found other, equally attractive gifts for this year's Chanukah, and Grandma & Grandpa provided multiple gifts.

3. And finally, where do you carry out your celebrating, of whatever sort it might be? At your house, at a relative’s house in the area, or out of town?

Chanukah being a bit more spread out, there's more options. The day to day candle lighting happens at home, of course. This year we had a Chanukah party at my brother's house, and he invited my cousins. Who brought all twenty or so of their kids with them. So it was a little noisy & crowded, but it was nice to see them all. Other people I know have set parties every year on the Sunday that falls out during Chanukah, but we're not that regular.

...here

I was thinking about this more last night and this morning, and thought a short disclaimer should precede what I have to say. Jim's question struck a nerve with me, moreso than even I expected. What follows are my opinions. I make no apologies for them, and I do not excuse them. My intention is not to offend, but if I do I think the offended reader will have to live with that offense. Few things get me riled up. Religion is probably #1 (followed by hockey), and I defend here not my opinions but my faith. If that bothers you and you think I'm narrow minded, best to stop reading now and come back later when I will likely link to something silly. (In fact, I'll do that right now to give folks something to do)

My Christmas is a different experience from what a lot of Jews in America have. We are Jews in a largely Christian country. Moreover, the vast majority of Jews in America are not observant to any noticeable degree. They're twice a year Jews, without the presence of regular faith in their lives. Since they live their lives all year as basically secular people, I think a lot of Jews feel the pull of Christmas. It is, in the modern American world, a joyous time of love, generosity, family, and goodwill towards men. Since we've largely commercialized and de-Christianized Christmas (at least here in the Northeast - perhaps it's different elsewhere) there's no real reason why a Jew with no noticeable faith of their own wouldn't celebrate Christmas to some degree.

Given also the high rate of intermarriage between Jews and other faiths (47% between 1995-2000, according to the National Jewish Population Survey), a lot of nominally Jewish people have reasons to celebrate the holiday. What it means to me, unfortunately, is the loss of a lot of Jewish souls to a detrimental form of secularism. There's an old Jewish complaint in this country about why all the children are marrying non-Jews. The punchline to many stories is "at least s/he's Jewish." What these complaining parents don't realize is that they have given their kids little reason to care about being Jewish.

You prepare for a bar/bat mitzvah, you pop into services once a year, and you act surprised that your kids don't identify as Jews? What did you expect when you yourself don't demonstrate any strong devotion to your faith? The Christmas celebrations in Jewish households (those that haven't intermarried) are not, IMO, just an attempt to fit in with the neighbors. It's reaching out for some kind of meaning. It disturbs me so much because there is a great deal to appreciate within Judaism. The rhythm of the Jewish day, week, and year allow me to live my life to a cadence. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but so many Jews have dismissed their faith without really knowing the first thing about it.

Look, observant Judaism is hard. I make no bones about the difficulty of being an observant Jew. But life is hard - why should religion be easy? We call ourselves the Chosen People. What casual observers assume is that means we think we're better than others. The interpretation I've always gone with is different - we're not chosen to be better than others. We've been chosen to take more responsibility. This chosenness is a double edged sword - we are supposed to be more loved by God, but that brings with it a greater share of the work of building and maintaining the world.

The reasons Jews don't proselytize is not because we don't want more Jews. We don't seek new recruits because being an observant Jew is very difficult. We'd rather not bring in new people who are not going to observe the commandments. Better for such a person to lead a good non-Jewish life, observing only the seven Noahide commandments (courtesy of Auburn, interestingly) rather than make them into a Jew who does not obey the 613 commandments.

The observance of Christmas by Jews is to me another sign of the lack of commitment many Jews feel to their own faith. For many (maybe even most) it is not their fault - they have been brought up with nothing. I have had conversations with many Jews who give me various explanations (excuses?) - "I had a lousy Hebrew school experience"; "I tried once but I couldn't handle it"; and my favorite "I'm a really spiritual person, but I'm not religious." This doesn't cut it for me. For 3500 years Jews have survived by doing our job - following the words of the Torah and serving "as a light unto the nations." Not by assimilating. Not by being more like the others. We've tried that in every country we've lived in, and we still end up singled out, and often destroyed for being Jews.

A Jew is a Jew. We have a responsibility to be good Jews. I don't know for a fact that my observance is the right way. I am sure that a Christmas tree is not the way to be a good Jew. The Chanukah story demonstrates that the observance of non-Jewish rituals is the way to disaster. Only by fighting for God (sometimes literally, other times figuratively) and standing up proud of our unique (NOT BETTER) "lifestyle" will we succeed as Jews.

[End Soapbox]

Christmas among the Heebs

Dr. Jim asked in an email (since there ain't enough room in the comments area) how I as a Jew have handled Christmas. It's an interesting question, and my answer surely differs from that of many other Jews.

Anyway, Christmas has basically meant not a whole lot. I realize that's different for a lot of people, but over the years it's gone from being an inconvenience to being a chance to have a day off from work. I don't mean the day has no meaning for others, but for me there's no particular significance.

Let me esplain... wait, there is no time, let me sum up.

First and foremost, I am an Orthodox Jew; "Modern Orthodox" by the current designation, meaning I read non-religious texts, watch TV, surf the internet, count non-Jews among my friends, and some other variations on "regular" orthodox. There are many divisions within Orthodoxy, and this is probably not the best place to go into it.

At any rate, being an Orthodox Jew, we're most interested in maintaining our own faith and its precepts rather than taking on parts of other faiths. Whatever may be said by the "Happy Holidays" crowd, Christmas is a Christian holiday - it celebrates the birth of Jesus. Since Jews do not believe that Jesus is the savior, celebrating Christmas would be (to my mind) tantamount to repudiating Judaism. Since I wouldn't do that, I feel no need to celebrate someone else's holidays. And believe me, we do have enough of our own to deal with.

As a young kid, I have no particular memory of the celebration of the day. A neighbor who used to work for Con Ed (the gas & electric utility in NYC), I remember him having a huge display of lights, and being able to spot my block from half a mile away. I don't remember being jealous of the non-Jewish friends I had and their new Christmas toys.

As I got older, I moved to a more Orthodox school, and we had school on Christmas. Half a day, since there was no school buses functioning, but we had school. It also meant (since I took public transportation) that buses were limited. Here's the inconvenience part - waiting outside for buses that are running once every half hour. In the cold & snow. Not fun. Later on, there's the inconvenience of all the stores being closed. I understood why they closed, but for someone not celebrating who needs a container of milk, it was a pain. That's changed a lot - many places now open for part of Christmas, which I actually think is a shame. Clearly the holiday has lost some of the sanctity it once had.

Since then, Christmas means a day off from work. I'd be happy to go in for someone else & cover them so they could take off, but I work by myself. Instead I get to stay home and spend some time with my kids, which is nice. I do recall getting mad at a Rabbi I knew (not to his face) for insisting that they hold morning services on Christmas at the regular 6:30 AM time instead of bumping it back to 8AM. I know some people feel there's an obligation to avoid celebrating a non-Jewish (religious) holiday, but nobody really thinks a bunch of Jews in prayer shawls are celebrating Christmas by sleeping in until 7:30.

We told my oldest girl last year (when visiting our neighbors and seeing their tree) that this is other people's holiday, and we don't celebrate it. Nothing more, nothing less - it is what it is, and she accepted that.

To be continued...

Archives Of Interest

This week's archives is the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. They seem to have a lot on Texas history (naturally enough), but they also have the John Nance Garner Museum and other materials of more national interest.

Apropos the posting of the other day on Southern Jews, I note they have a sizable collection of Jewish themed materials from Texas, appropriately called the Texas Jewish Collections.

Words are not Adequate

to describe this.

It's Good to be Reminded Now & Then...

...that different people have different experiences, even from within the same faith. I caught the film Shalom Y'all last night on our local PBS affiliate. It was an entertaining look at Jewish life in the South from roughly 1920 to the present day. In my insular, New York Jewish world, it's easy to forget that the broad array of kosher food, other Jews, and choices of denominations were pretty peculiar to our area.

The filmmaker went around to small towns, big cities, and everything in between, and documented a Jewish life very different from what I grew up with. Synagogues (one with a HUGE pipe organ) that now have fewer than a dozen members. A black police chief with Jewish ancestry who converted to Judaism later in life. Real, serious Deep South Anti-semitism, including homes & synagogues bombed during the civil rights era. And even parts that are more recognizable to me - the huge growth in the observant Jewish community in Atlanta, GA over the last few years.

Even as I've gotten to know some bloggy folks from thataway, I still have this idea in my head of a monolithic (or at least monoreligious) section of the US, and it's helpful to remove the blinders occasionally. Anyway, it was a neat movie and certainly of more value than the football type game on TV last night.

Check your local PBS listings.

Interesting article

I know the Washington Times has kind of a funny reputation, and they're supposed to be a front for this guy, but it's an interesting look at the disparity between Bush and Kerry supporters among men with kids (77% for W vs. 18% Kerry on the question of the "cultural direction of the country" for those with no time to read the article.)

I think there's something pretty straightforward behind this, personally. There's a responsibility that comes with fatherhood, and I sometimes think a type of manliness expected of a father. The conversation that a father will often have with a child when a bully beats up their kid will go something like this "Son (I imagine sometimes, "Daughter") - you go back there and stand up for yourself. You can't let people like that do this to you, or you'll be walked on for the rest of your life. Go out there and show them what you're made of."

The father understands something here (sometimes the mother too - I heard an actor or sports figure once who said his mom had this same conversation with him). You might get your fundament kicked by the bully. You'll get laughed at, and you'll hurt, but you will stick up for yourself. The next time something like that happens, you'll beat the crap out of the person trying to knock you down.

Look, I'm not advocating simple macho violence for its own sake. If you go to a bar and get in a shouting match and end up unconscious and bloody, I don't consider that manly. But I think it's important to stand up for yourself when it counts. One sea change among certain Jews following WWII and the Holocaust was a determination not to go like lambs to the slaughter the next time a Nazi showed up with a machine gun. The Israelis are the best example of this change in historic Jewish attitudes, and I subscribe to it - "Never Again" means (among other things) that some Jews will fight back when attacked, and they intend to win.

The point of this, and what I think the article illustrates, is that America's fathers overwhelmingly understand the fight we're in. They believe the bullies are trying to shove us around, at the cost of our lives. They believe this is a fight we need to win, and we need to not only stand up to the bullies, but beat them so hard they'll slink back in their holes like the cowards they are. America's fathers also believe that George Bush has shown he wants to beat the bullies, and they believe he will continue to do so.

John Kerry, on the other hand, represents (no slight intended to women here) the "run home to mommy" philosophy. Mommy in this case is the UN, or perhaps France. Run to mom crying, and wait for her to call the bully's parents and complain that your kid got beat up. You meet on neutral ground, bully's mom shoves him forward, and he mumbles an apology. Guess what happens the next time? Bully finds you after school, kicks the crap out of you again, and says "if you ever do that to me again, I'm gonna knock every last tooth out of your head." And when mommy is, as in the UN's case, a drunken, profligate, absentee whore (and yes, I mean every word of that), she's certainly no help.

America's dads voted for America to stand up and act like a man, in the best sense of that phrase. Take responsibility, stand up for yourself and others weaker than you, and make the bad guys pay.

I Know...

exactly what this woman's mother's brother is thinking right at this moment.

Wait for it....

"Well I'll be a Monkey's Uncle!"

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, try the salmon.

(Hat tip to Rich Lowry at the Corner)

And people say I have too much free time

Archives Of Interest

This doesn't strictly seem to be an archive in the formal sense (though I imagine they are) but it does appear to be a large collection of historic photos.

Anyway, here's GRIN - Great Images in Nasa. I had started out originally at the JSC Digital Image Collection, but there was a link there to the other one, so I chose that instead. Technically I've added both, so think of it as a buy one, get one free deal.

No refunds or exchanges.

Fast and Loose With the Truth

It's not that unusual for movies to get things historically, scientifically, or otherwise wrong. But this story just makes me wonder - does ANYONE do any research before they write stuff?

I understand that there's artistic license involved, and that these people are essentially fiction writers, not journalists. I also understand that a movie is only so long and you have to leave things out, or alter them to make the movie work. But to make the reach that Ray Charles was actually banned from an entire state (which I doubt a legislature could legally do even if they wanted to) is beyond license. It's complete fabrication.

I don't know if I would care that much except for the thousands (possibly millions) of people who will use this movie as the only history of the events they ever see. Lots of people won't bother to read a book on the subject, and they'll assume that if the movie said it, it's true. Since the Augusta Chronicle took the time to make three phone calls, couldn't the scriptwriters do the same?

(Hat tip, incidentally, to my online colleague Peter for the link)

Jury Duty Fun

So I got the thing in the mail for Jury Duty. They have it worked out so you call in during a specific week and they let you know if you have to come in. I had a high number, so I was figuring it all week, and hoping I would not get called.

Naturally, on the one day Shabbos starts earlier than any other time of the year, I get called in for Friday. Heart in hand, and a large book in my bag, I head over to the Court building. Metal detector, etc., and into a large room, where they hand us brochures that include a jury word find. Go figure.

They run this unbelievably hokey film containing various news "journalists" talking about how far we have progressed since the days of the Trial by Ordeal. [ed. - I did try to find a reliable site about TbO, but came up empty.] I have a vague Grad-school memory of it being largely an ecclesiastical exercise rather than criminal/civil, so Ed Bradley's contention that all in the Middle Ages was dunking seats and walking on hot coals seemed a bit overplayed. Especially the guy in the video slowly sinking under the water, which lacked only the cartoony "blub, blub" sounds.

Anyway, I tell the nice lady collecting our tickets that as a Sabbath Observer I need to hit the road no later than 3 PM (remembering again that Shabbos starts at 4:10.) "No problem" she says, and about 15 minutes later my name gets called over the loudspeakers. Troop off to Room #2, where four lawyers are gathered. Everybody's name goes in the bingo hopper, and out comes... Yours Truly, for slot #6 in the rogue's gallery.

The rest of the morning is a haze of repeating the same questions to everybody - where are you from, you married, kids, blood type, social security #, the whole deal. Punctuated every 15 minutes by the four bloodsuckers legal types stepping out to conference. Everybody with an excuse has to talk to them privately. Including the guy who can't speak English.

So what's a guy who doesn't want to be on JD do? Act all obnoxious, or say something nasty about a race or religion? Not likely in a room full of complete (and to that point, friendly) strangers. So I gave the best answers I could. And sat. And sat. And sat. By the 12:30 lunch break I've been in the chair for 2 1/2 hours, and I figure I'm screwed - I'm on this jury for a week or more right in the middle of big work project, etc.

Come back at 2 PM, fiddle around a bit more, and finally lawyers leave for conference # 298, 375. Back in ten minutes, call the six of us out. Mr. Jury Office Man says - "you four, go home" Relief and joy, wait twenty minutes to get the get out of jail free card (good for six years locally, 2 years federally), brief thank-you from the ticket lady to our veterans, and home like a madman.

I should say that I know the jury system is a wonderful thing, and is critical to democracy, and billions of people would love to have this opportunity for justice. It's selfish, but I'm still glad I don't have to actually serve on the jury. Welcome to my contradictions.

Strange things on the road

I believe I have now officially seen it all. I'm on the road last week to a meeting, and riding on one of our local parkways. I happen to glimpse the gentleman in the vehicle next to me. He is alone in the car, so I presume that he's the one propelling the car along at 60 MPH. And what is this gentleman doing with at least one of his hands?

Playing the trumpet.

I kid you not, the shining bit of brass had the requisite three valves, so trumpet it must have been. Though I suppose it could have been a cornet. Anyway, I figured there were two possibilities: A) He was on his way to a tryout with the local Philharmonic and Hot Dog Appreciation Society; or B) He heard something on the radio he liked, and decided to play along.

I grant you I have eaten and taken a drink while behind the wheel, but I think classical brass is a bit too far. Unless somehow there's a Sousa March requirement on one's car lease.

Archives of interest

To wrap up the trifecta of posts this PM, I'll close with this week's interesting archives.

Since I found them when looking for a finding aid example, I'll go with the Tarheels of UNC-Chapel Hill and their University Archives. Like a number of places I've seen (or worked at) they have divided their archival collections into a few areas. They have the University Archives, but also a Map Collection, Manuscripts Department, Rare Books, and a host of others. It tends to be a way to keep certain divisions between areas of interest - internal records, local history, areas of literature, whatever.

I also noticed this, which looks neat - Documenting the American South. Fun stuff to page through when you're bored.

In other news...

In vaguely chronological order:

1) Thanksgiving was very nice. Went to my mom's, where all was well in order (not traditionally done in years past). Mrs. Skinny suddenly lost her voice the day before, so she was a little hard to communicate with (keep the smart remarks to yourself.) I made mini corn muffins instead of corn bread - partly so there would be leftovers to freeze. We ate them before they got frozen.

2) Post-thanksgiving visitors. Mrs' best friend and Best Friend's Husband arrived from the deep South (Wash, DC area. Look, from my end of the universe, anything south of Bayonne, NJ is below the Mason-Dixon line.) We had a lovely visit with them, marred only by the miserable storm that hit Sunday. We also had lunch with our newest neighbors across the street, and she made a fabulous cholent. I will not attempt to explain cholent here - it requires its own post. The kids played together nicely, even so far as them shifting to our house towards the end of the afternoon. Can't remember why, but we needed to be home, so they came with us. Nice to have neighbors you like.

3) Part of the weekend's catching up included the viewing of a newly-purchased DVD copy of Harry Potter III, where Harry battles the vicious Clubber Lang and succeeds in saving his father from the Evil Emperor and finding the good in him while discovering he has a sister.

Don't laugh - I think that would have made a better film. This is Mrs' favorite of the five HP books, and frankly, they didn't do it justice. The whole purpose of the book in continuing to develop the presence of Voldemort in Harry's life was glossed over, and the whole thing felt like a bunch of vaguely interconnected skits. Look, I know there's a lot to cover, but I think they dropped the ball on this one.

4) Everybody seems to be sick at one point or another. The aforementioned laryngitis has finally cleared up, only to be followed last night when oldest had a major ear problem. It's not like her to be up all night, but boy was she ever last night. Every hour coming out & complaining her ear hurt, in a way that's not like her. Mrs. actually let her go downstairs at 2:30 AM & watch a video to distract her. Off to the sawbones today, and big surprise, she has an ear infection. Dunno how any of us managed on the three hours of sleep we got, but she dropped off tonight in less than five minutes. Uncharacteristic, but understandable.

So, that's the Cliff's Notes version of the last two weeks.

So where have I been?

Outta my brain on a train on a train, outta my brain on a train. (See here if you're culturally illiterate.)

I have, in fact, been up to my eyeballs (literally - staring at the screen of the demon machine all day) in my brand-spanking new database program. Those regular readers of this space - both of them - may vaguely recall my mentioning this way back when, and I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain what's going on. It's a long story.

See, I run an archives, and one of the key things is being able to find all the stuff you're responsible for. In many places that's done by a finding aid, as seen in this fine example. For me, databases are the way to go - make it available electronically to speed reference, with the flexibility of a database (as opposed to the static document the example provides). So when I got to my job four years ago, I asked to and eventually was allowed to purchase a database program I had used elsewhere.

Now, I've tried many of the DB programs meant for computer savvy but non-geek users. Access, FileMaker Pro, and a wretched piece of code known as Q & A. The Inmagic brand of software outstrips them all in features, simplicity, and functionality. I taught myself pretty thoroughly in two weeks. So I get the OK to buy it, knowing all along I might like to purchase the software add-on that allows the thing to be used on the web. This way, anything I did in the back-end could be sent out to users elsewhere in the organization.

Flash forward a year. The company now has an intranet site. I get the bright idea that this software would be perfect. Send out memo. Discuss in no great detail. Shelf idea for a while as various anniversaries will take my attention for two years. Flash forward two more years. Start the gears grinding to buy the thing. Price has gone up dramatically. Beg and plead, vendor knocks price down. Spend four months talking them into OK'ing the cost. Spend six more weeks trying to talk the purchasing folks into allowing me to spend money I have been told to go spend. Two more months to get the IT people all in one room to discuss.

Noticing a pattern here?

The rest of this is actually pretty smooth sailing. The individual IT folks have been great. From the time we first sat down until I was actually able to begin serious work on my part of this is only about a month. But for the last two weeks, when nothing of consequence has been written on this blog (well, one could reasonably argue that this is simply par for the course - it's only the absence of any actual words that differentiates it) I have been working like mad to get all the stuff in order to actually launch this thing to the rest of the organization.

Parts of this are working like gangbusters - forms are doing what they should, search screens, the whole business. One small but significant technical problem is interfering, but we are working it as best we can. The truth is I'm feeling a bit worn out by the whole thing. I need to do this, and the results should be fantastic, but I've got two different spreadsheets just to keep track of what I still need to do.

Mrs. Skinny has pointed out that I should probably take a break for a while, and I think she's right. It's just hard to do when you feel like you're an inch away from completing something that's taken so long. Today's trip 40 miles each way to visit one of our facilities to pack up their board minutes (dating from 1923! Jackpot!) was probably a useful interruption.

Now as long as I don't get actually called in for jury duty(I'm on phone standby)...

Thursday Three, a bit late

I was away from the computer all day yesterday, so I'm catching up.


1. Is your birthday in a good time of year or does it suck?

Depends. August is a nice enough time of year, but as a kid it meant I basically had no birthday parties. Nobody was around. On the other hand, I now have a job where I get my birthday as a personal day, so it's pretty cool.

2. How did you spend your 21st birthday? (Assuming you have done that and still remember.)

I have (at least physically) passed my XXI birthday, and I have no memory of what I might have done. I don't drink, so it's not because of alcohol. I was unintentionally, but decidely single and unattached, so it wasn't lost in a haze of romantic bliss. Chances are I watched a bit of TV.

3. Do you know anyone with your birthday?

There was a guy in school and summer camp with me who had the same birthday (I think I was older by a few hours). We'd get a birthday cake during lunch at camp, which is how I found out we shared the day. Others with my birthday are here. I knew about Dustin Hoffman and The Edge, but Esther Williams was a surprise. Events of the day are here.

Archives of Interest

This week's entry is technically a museum, but there's a lot of crossover between the archives & museum worlds, and they do have a research library.

Anyway, here's the website of the Cartoon Art Museum. I have been a fan of both still and animated cartoons for many years, and clearly so are others. I still maintain that the 1940s era Warner Brothers cartoons are among the highest form of art produced in America. I'm sure others are better artists (although the animators and background artists were terrific), but comparatively few of them actually make you laugh.

Learning to Drive

Well, learning to take some points off my license, anyway. 'Bout two months ago, I got my first ticket in 17 years of driving. As they say across the pond (or did in the 19th Century, as Rumpole points out often [caution: sound file]) "It's a fair cop, guv." I was over the speed limit, and earned the ticket.

Anyway, to knock the points off I went to the AAA defensive driving course Monday and last night. I don't know how this works elsewhere, but in NY there's no practicum - it's all classroom stuff. Ours was, to boot, basically watching videos for 6 hours. The guy teaching the thing is a retired cop, so he was full of war stories about people doing stupid (and occasionally fatal) stuff on the roads.

It wasn't quite as fascinating as I might have hoped, but I admit I'm more conscious of what I'm doing and others are doing on the road. And I've hopefully kept my insurance premiums where they were.

Weekend Update

Why no bloggy for a few days? Dunno - semi-busy at work, and not a lot went on, I guess. Lunch with our neighbors on Saturday, rush from there to a 40th birthday party for another neighbor, then home. Sunday was mostly quiet.

The only noticeable thing is that I got a cold and can actually pinpoint exactly when it started. 4:30 PM on Friday, I suddenly thought "I don't feel so good." There begins the sinus cold I've had since then, which I can't say has been fun. Poor me, Poor me.

ROXXXXXXANNNE...

...you don't have to put on the red light.

Ding, Dong...

the terrorist psycho's dead. It's a joyous day for me, and I only hope it was miserably, excrutiatingly painful. Or maybe not. There's a concept in Judaism that God doesn't let the evil suffer on earth so they will suffer more in the afterlife, where it is infinitely more permanent, and more painful.

He's directly responsible for the death of thousands of my co-religionists, widowed husbands, orphaned children, and parents who had to bury their children. He and his terrorist associates have maimed thousands, and shattered lives around the world. As the father of modern terrorism, he opened the door to the sorts of things we see now in Iraq, and the midwife to the Al-Qaeda movement. Don't read what he said in English if you want the truth of this man - find out what he said in Arabic, and you'll know what he really felt. He stole from his own people by the billions, and left them without the barest bones of a civilized government or hope for the future.

He was not a leader. He was not a statesman. He was not a proponent of peace. He was an evil, twisted, sick gnome and the world is a better place without him.

Archives of Interest

In honor of Mrs. Skinny's brief trip to Chicago (she goes to see her sister, a sometimes theatrical-type person, perform on stage), this week's interesting repository is the Chicago Historical Society. I actually made a stop there on a vacation to the Windy City a few years back (busman's holiday and all that, though I seem to remember I was gainlessly unemployed at the time). Their online projects page looks pretty neat, including their exhibit of glass plate negatives from the Chicago Daily News. I don't personally maintain any of that variety of negatives, but I have heard they can be difficult to preserve properly.

I have enough to worry about.

Reason #4,254,675 Why Computers ain't all they're Cracked up to Be

This is a NY Times link, which needs registration. You can avoid giving them a blood sample by going to www.bugmenot.com, which will give you a userid & password for these sites [ed. I won't use this for pay sites, but if they're offering the content for free, I see no reason to share my personal information with them]

Anyway, a couple of things to note. First, it's good to have this conversation in a very public arena like the Times. Second, I'm glad they talked to actual professionals. Third, this part is a bit overstated:

"Professional archivists and librarians have the resources to duplicate materials in other formats and the expertise to retrieve materials trapped in obsolete computers. But consumers are seldom so well equipped."

Dunno what resources they're talking about. There's a box of 8 inch floppies sitting in a storage room that I can't decipher, and I haven't any idea who could. My professional resources are a bit more limited than that. Thankfully the materials on these disks are not archival. I snagged one to use as a demonstration to people who think they have taken care of their records, but I don't need the boxload of 'em.

VERY IMPORTANT

Mr. Tony is back on the Radio!!!!!! The Tony Kornheiser show has returned on SportsTalk 980- WTEM in Washington DC. I was a longtime listener to Tony's show on ESPN Radio, and I had to go find something else to listen to when he left in March.

Well, the TK Man From DC-Town is back, and I am glad to have something useless to listen to. I don't care about the sports, it's all the stuff about his crazy dog and his family.

Clahhsssic.

The Weekend...

..started off peacefully enough. Mrs. made a lovely crockpot-based chicken thingy for Friday night dinner that was very nice, along with a very nice apple crisp (listen, Jews & food go together - that's just how it is)

Saturday was the usual morning services, where oldest was well behaved. At least I assume she was - she disappears as soon as we get there, and comes back only to get snacks and ask permission to eat the lollipop she wangles every week. We were then off to lunch at some friends way over on the other side of town - I think it's about a mile and a half, which is a lot when you have to walk and push a double stroller. I got my cardio in this week, anyway. As the clocks have changed, sundown hit around 5:30, so we just stayed till after Sabbath and got a ride home.

Sunday was supposed to be hectic - two birthday parties for oldest, plus a party for the rest of us, thrown by some friends for a new baby they had. A lot of running, but two out of three were right in town, so not a huge deal, right? Youngest had other plans. She says, around 8:30 AM, "I poopy Daddy", so I go and get started on the business. Except she starts to cough, then proceeds to upchuck all over the place. So I got problems on both ends, and Mrs. (who had been sleeping in) gets screamed for. The rest of the morning was a bit of a shambles.

We'd already arranged a carpool out to oldest's first shindig, so at least by 9:30 she was out of the picture. Youngest is sitting in a series of clothing changes as she drinks two sips of sick juice (Powerade), then shares it back with us. The poor thing was miserable, and our party was essentially out the window. So I go off to the thing for about 10 minutes, see some old friends, give our regrets to the host, and off to pick up oldest and friend from end of party #1. Drop off friend, call Mrs. to check in. "Oh, other friend needs a ride to party #2, or she can't go" Off to the other end of town, pick up friend #2, leave both at party #2.

Return home, discuss various food options for the week, and rest. Briefly. Head out to drop off donation for birthday present for other friend, see house of nice new people in the neighborhood we met recently at services, got phone number (no pens on Sabbath, so gotta wait for a weekday). Got jealous of people who, a month in, have lots of stuff nice and finished while we, two and a half years in, still have lots to fix/update/finish. Off to supermarket. Bought a little junk, not too bad.

Home, drop groceries, yell for Mrs. to put freezer stuff in actual freezer. Off to retrieve oldest and friend, eat birthday cake in substitute of lunch, drop off friend, return home, collapse in front of dismal NY Jets football-type performance. Youngest has awoken from nap, and is much more chipper. Dinner for children, bath, bed. Dinner for us, and Persuasion on DVD. [ed. - Movie is not bad, but you have to think it would have been easier had Ms. Austen not come up with all these complicated twists. Mrs. pointed out it would have been an awfully short film. Which might have been my point to begin with.] Collapse into bed, eventually - after making the bed at close to midnight, since the youngest's effusions had landed where they oughtn't.

Whew.

Just because

I actually wrote this yesterday, and then Blogger ate it. Clearly the squirrel on the wheel that powers Blogger's generator got tired, or went to hibernate. You get what you pay for, I suppose. Anyway, I shall attempt to recreate yesterday's brilliantly mediocre humor.

I got the following from Chuck Shepherd's news of the weird site.

More Scenes of the Surreal
(1) Joseph Manuel Augusto, 37, and Andres S.
Diaz, 52, chased each other around a Burger King in Stratford, Conn., in July
after Augusto had become enraged that Diaz had occupied the men's room too long;
Augusto was flailing at Diaz with a small pocket knife, and Diaz at Augusto with
a straw dispenser.

Now, I have been in desperate need of a restroom in the past. I don't agree with the idea, but I can even see how someone might get into a fight about it. But a straw dispenser? C'mon, pal, what kind of girly-man attacks with a straw? At least throw ketchup packets at the guy.

How much damage can be done? I can just hear it now "the guy tore off the end of the paper wrapper, and shot it at the other guy, and he could've gotten like a paper in the eye, or a paper cut!" You know there's a legislator out there with too much free time about to introduce the Cylindrical Paper Enclosed Bendy Suction Device Assault Weapons Ban into whatever august body he belongs to.

Some people.

Archives of Interest

I had planned to move this to Wednesday so as not to conflict with the Thursday Three. But I forgot. So here it is on Thursday, and that's life.

This week's winner? The International Jazz Collections at the Lionel Hampton Center of the University of Idaho. Why? First of all, why not? It's different, and people like music. Second, I have an online pal (I've actually met him in person) who is the archivist there. Third, my dad is a musician with a deep interest in Jazz (he still plays dixieland once or twice a week for free, with a bunch of other old guys.)

More interesting and unique primary source websites to come, dear listeners. And now, a word from our Sponsor, Blub Blub Soap.

Thursday Three

1. What was the first election you voted in and who did you vote for?

Bush/Dukakis in 1988, and I'm fairly certain I went Bush.

2. Who was the biggest loser you ever voted for?

Depends how you mean it. The one who lost by the biggest margin, probably Dole 1996. If you mean Capital L on the Forehead, I believe I voted Clinton in 1992. I say that not just because I'm a right-wing maniac. I say it because the man's legacy (such a focus for him) is going to be one of empty rhetoric and failed delivery. Peace in the Middle East? Healthcare for all? Destroying the terrorists trying to kill us? Ending Saddam Hussein's evil ways?

Oh fine, it is because I'm a maniac.

3. Have you ever run for office or worked in a campaign?

Sorta. I was part of a group in college that ran a referendum to get more money for the academic clubs on campus. I spent the entire day running like a looney talking things up, and the referendum passed. Plus all my buddies were in student government, so I had connections.

All is well

In my America, anyway. Americans did the right thing as far as I'm concerned. John Kerry had nothing to offer in any concrete way, and apparently values were a critical factor. For reasons beyond me, all the hullaballoo on the Left side of the fence is about how they could possibly have lost, and we're about to turn into a fascist state. Since no one has actually arrested Michael Moore, I think it might be a little over the top.

Some observations, in no real order:

1) If everyone who claimed they were going to leave the country actually leaves, this should be a nicer place to live. Though, as this article points out, getting into Canada isn't as easy as it sounded coming from Alec Baldwin. Sean Hannity offered to pay for a flight for Al Sharpton and Michael Moore to anywhere in the world they wanted to go. I'd be happy to contribute. I hear Tora Bora is nice this time of year.

2) Boy, watching the media implode has been fun. I think Dan Rather is still treating the race as "too close to call." I think the major news sites still haven't given New Mexico and Iowa to Bush. On a side note, I can't tell you how irritating it is to stay up until 2AM, then wake up at 6:30 and find out they STILL don't know what the deal is. Most notable partisan shot I saw? Peter Jennings talking to John McCain, after asking him about his "good friend" John Kerry: "Do you feel the President has used you?" Depends, Pete - do you think maybe you have no idea how people in this country actually feel?

3) Kerry conceding was the most adult thing done all campaign. He earned a modicum of respect by doing the mature thing. Edwards, on the other hand, is deservedly unemployed. He didn't bring along the South as he was supposed to do, and then in the concession outlines his campaign for 2008. Pardon my french, but he's a putz.

4) My wife and I have been talking about this nonstop since Tuesday AM. Neither of us has ever been this interested before. We're older, we have children, and obviously 9/11 completely changed our view of the world. I'm not sure this really explains why this is so much more interesting to us (note I didn't say important - voting has always been important, but not necessarily of interest) , but we've been dissecting it in a way we never would have before.

5) This is a red country. This map should make it quite clear. Take a look at California in particular. By comparison, here's 2000. Other than urban areas, most counties in this country are red. What the dolts overseas, the hard-core lefties, and the media in this country don't understand is that many, many people think this way. They think that way not because they're stupid goobers or bible thumpers, but because they're regular people who have a different value system than the left. We are not all primary school dropouts, farmers, Southern Evangelicals, or anything of the kind. We are, most importantly, not proto-communists in the making, waiting to toss of our chains. We're ordinary, everyday people who made an intelligent, informed choice. It just didn't agree with what the left wanted, and instead of realizing we disagree, they think we're too dumb to make the right choice.

I'm feeling optimistic about the next four years, and the future of this Nation.

I Eat Color!

Words you don't really want to hear from your nearly 2 year old child. I didn't actually hear them because A) I'm nearly stone deaf in my left ear; and B) said small human was down in the basement while I was upstairs straightening the kitchen area. Mrs. Skinny comes up the stairs yelling for help, holding a smiling but struggling toddler.

Seems the Mrs. went over to the laundry machine to rotate one mound between washer & dryer. When she comes back, munchkin has a large grin on her face, the title statement, and a ring of red around her mouth. Seems one of the crayons looked good enough to eat, so she did. Probably just a nibble, but enough. She seems fine two days later, so...

It set the tone for the day. Both children were certifiable all day. Clearly we brought two more lunatics into the world. Little one was alternately grumpy as heck and devlishly mischievous all day [Editorial aside: I get REALLY cheesed off when people pronounce that word as "mis-chee-vee-us" Don't know why it bugs me so much, or why people can't speak what they see. Goes along with people who say Nukular.] Oldest was better behaved, until...

The candy bowl came out. We don't celebrate Halloween, but I thought we should be neighborly enough to have something for people who came by. It was beautiful in NY on Sunday, so I dragged oldest outside during youngest's nap, forcing her to [shudder] PLAY OUTSIDE. Except she didn't want to play. She wanted to hover six whole inches from the candy bowl. (Reese's minature peanut butter cups and two-piece Kit Kats, for the record). "When are people coming by? When can I give someone candy? Can I have just ONE piece? PLEEEEEEEZE?" Repeat until nausea.

Suffice it to say one or two people came by, candy was dispensed. Oldest's best friend came by, they proceeded to fight for 90 minutes out of the two hours they were together. The last fight of the afternoon was over, I kid you not, a sequin one of them found on the floor. Of such crises wars are made.

Anyway, I had spent the earlier part of the day cleaning out the garage in order to fit my car inside. We heard when looking for a home here that nobody parks their car in the garage, and it turns out to be true. Halloween, with it's accompanying shaving cream/egg rituals meant Mrs' car had to go in the driveway, & itty-bitty Honda Civic had to go in the garage. (it worked - not a spot on either car.) So by the end of the Great Sequin Incident, I was close to foaming at the mouth. All got resolved eventually, and I collapsed on the couch in front of a completely meaningless Bears-49ers football scrum, and went to bed way too late.

GO

Vote. Now. Please?

I went at 7:15 AM, and sailed through. NY is a lost cause in many ways, but at least one popular vote for George W. Bush is coming from the state. I even turned the lever for some guy other than Chuck Schumer. A guy can tilt at windmills, can't he?

Predictions

Terry & Jim decided that predicting elections is not just for the hoi-polloi, and dopes like the rest of us should have an opportunity to look stupid. Heh heh - not that we have to look like fools in front of millions of people, as the dopes in the MSM have to. Are you listening, Dan R?

Anyway, the question was to predict outcomes of the national & state races. For my unfortunately Democratic state, the outcome is pretty straightforward. I expect that in the Senatorial race, Chuck Schumer will crush John D. McWhatisName; it's likely to be 85% for Schumer or better. I intend to be in the minority. I expect Carolyn McCarthy will also win big, 75% or better. I don't honestly know what else is up for grabs - some local judges, I think.

On the Presidential question, I expect NY to go big for Kedwards. 60% at least, and possibly closer to %70. Happily, my neighborhood is a bastion of some Bushies - there's a guy a block away with a yard sign bigger than my car. Granted I'm driving a Civic, but still.

Nationally, I say Bush takes it all in a noticable way. Not a landslide, but somewhere between 52% - 55%, and around 300 EV. The Osama video is just one more reminder what we're up against. As a bumper sticker I saw on the way home last week put it, who would OBL vote for? Based on the video, now we know. I know how I'm voting.

I must say I'm tired of the whole thing - it's dragging on me, and I even turn off the radio for people I agree with. I will not be entirely sorry when we can go back to talking about the latest "reality" show.

Awfully quiet around here, isn't it?

The silence (relative) in our house this Shabbos was deliberate. Oldest child got a chance to spend the Sabbath with Grandma & Grandpa just down the road a piece. Given the nature of that road & the so-called drivers who use it, that's neither as close nor as quick a trip as it might look on the map. In the dead of night, Christmas Eve, say it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. On our annual pilgrimage to see friends in Washington, DC last year it took us probably an hour to cover the same distance. That, incidentally, is why this year's pilgrimage involved leaving the house at 4:30 AM. It worked - we made it to New Jersey in about 45 minutes, which is as smooth a trip as can be.

Anyway, Grampa came by on Friday to get the girl - he pulled out as I was returning from work. I followed him for about 5 blocks honking & flashing the brights so I could say goodbye before the overnight. Happily, he noticed eventually (don't get me wrong - my Dad is a terrific person and a good driver, it's just he can get a little focused sometimes) and I got to say goodbye to the cutie. And then home, to figure out what was for dinner. As you may remember from last week's episode, no direct cooking on Sabbath, only reheating.

And boy, did we reheat. I cooked up some rice fresh, but the rest was leftovers. We had some frozen Chana Masala (Scroll down a bit, or Edit/Find on this page for the recipe). I grew up pretty traditionally, and meat on Friday night was pretty much expected, but I was willing to broaden my horizons for the sake of not cooking. Gave me time to make a batch of cookies. Chocolate chip, mostly without the chips. I'm part of what I've discovered is a growing cadre of people who like the Toll House cookies without the chips. I did concede to a couple of trays with chips.

And then a peaceful, on time Sabbath. I think younger child was confused she kept saying "[Older child] school?" We said "no, [older child] at Grampa's house", which was repeated to everyone's delight. I went to services solo on Saturday morning, and had the unique experience of uninterrupted prayer. I felt like I should have been doling out raisins or denying multiple lollypops to someone. The Mrs. felt a bit sad at Oldest's absence, but Friday was clearly a lot calmer. Saturday might have even included an unheard-of nap, but using her evil Femi-nine wiles, Mrs. pulled out the secret nap-denying tool. A 1500 piece puzzle.

Nap time was frittered away on this monster, based on this picture. Not finished, and in the middle of doing the edges we realized it was too big for the table we were using. It's now sitting on the Coffee Table, hanging over the edge.

Girl made it home in one piece, had a wonderful time seeing her cousins (who live near my parental units), and got put to bed. I changed the clocks, wasted more time on the puzzle, and the rest will follow in a post on our Sunday fun.