this deal with my kids getting up at 5AM is working for me. I can only think of one thing (well, two) I'd rather be doing besides being with my kids at that hour, and that would be sleep.
I need to reset somebody's clock.
I got stuff done. I took a bike ride in the AM, though I can't quite tell how far I went. I'm guessing somewhere between 7-10 miles. It was pretty peaceful - the streets were kind of empty, so it was nice. We decided to skip the Israeli Day parade; dragging the kids in the heat on the train probably would have been bad, and I think they're both sick anyway.
Got home from the ride, and began the day's project. Mrs. had gotten tension rods for the kids' sort of closet, and they kept falling down. I got the bright idea that I could get something at the Home Despot that would work better. Believe it or not, I actually succeeded. I'm vaguely handy, but it tends to be in the area of assembling prefab things. This time I went whole hog.
Big orange sells these closet rod brackets, so I got those, and Mrs. said she preferred wood rods to metal. I found the dowels, and for once they made it easy. They left a cart in the aisle with a tape measure and a few saws, and I was able to hack off the length I needed instead of trying to get a 10 foot long pole in my Civic. Plus I only had to pay for what I needed.
I had shopped on Weds, so yesterday I went about the process, and I did pretty well on the whole. Measured twice, cut once, etc. Of course, the studs on one side didn't line up properly, but I was able to work it out. Though they were off by three inches for the second rod, so I had to use anchors, which I wanted to avoid. Oh well. I did get to use my jigsaw (I thought the circular would be a bit much for an inch & a quarter pole) and orbital sander, which was fun. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, including that I took care of the project in three or four days instead of six months.
I will say that finding three empty beer bottles (we don't drink, wouldn't up in the attic if we did, and we've been in the house three years) up next to the central air unit was NOT pleasing. It may explain the quality of some of the work, though.
Mrs. apparently woke up around 4AM, understandably hungry. Went down to get a snack, and was on her way back to bed when the gentle thunder of a stampeding herd of children followed her down. She kindly stayed up with them, and let me sleep in until 5AM when some argument or the other took place. Naturally I stayed in bed, but tossing in your bed until 7 is not restful.
I got up eventually, sent Mrs. back to bed, and entertained the kids a bit (it should be noted that the idea cheese crackers for breakfast was NOT MINE.) Around 8:30 I open the door to check the weather, and youngest wanders out. I figure she's on the porch, I turn around to get her raincoat and she's five steps down on the sidewalk crying her eyes out. She fell, somehow hit her eye and nose area without landing on hands or knees - go figure. Patch her up, drag 'em off to services, which were not my best ever. Aside from it being beastly hot & packed for the big collation that followed (someone's birthday) the kids were driving me insane. They ripped through the raisins I brought for snack & were hungry, since they only had cheese crackers at 4AM. Youngest fell again when I turned my back to get a tissue, so we weren't doing well.
Home for lunch, which was much more pleasant. The turkey was great, the company was lovely, and the kids were running around out of sight and earshot. One of the couples stayed till almost six, and it was nice because we haven't really had a chance to chat with them since they moved in about a year ago.
Lots went on Chez Skinny this weekend, and I may even be able to remember most of it.
Guests were planned for Saturday lunch, which meant Cholent. I don't think I've ever explained it before, so here's as good a place as any. It's basically beef stew with beans, potatoes, and barley. Unless it's got chicken in it. Or rice. Or Chickpeas. Or no animal flesh at all. See, nearly anything goes with cholent (or chulent, or chunt, or Hameen, depending on A) your background, & B) how much food you have in your mouth when pronouncing it). The basics involve cooking food & water low & slow over a period of 20-25 hours. Presumably it was designed to make a little meat go a long way by adding other, cheaper foods.
The sad part is American Jews (or at least northeastern US Jews) make it very expensive by adding lots of meat, which is of course the most costly ingredient. Anyway, Cholent can be delicious and can be awful; it's almost always terrible after the first day, so leftovers routinely hit the circular file by the next friday at the latest, except for a few hardy and insane souls who freeze it to eat again later. Ew. I did once have vegetarian cholent (sacriligeous to begin with) that contained Pringles and Diet Coke. I try not to think about it much - it's too painful (though it was indirectly the cause of my meeting Mrs. Skinny; she met the friend who introduced us at a meal where the same dish was served.)
Anyway, so Mrs. puts up the cholent Friday AM, leaving me the other main dish. I spotted a recipe in my Weber book (BUY THIS. The book is fabulous) that I wanted to try - Turkey breast with a jalapeno-peach jam. I did the paste on the breast overnight, and put that sucker on the grill on Friday while I made the jam. The smoking part didn't work quite right, but the Turkey was terrific, and I finally got the jam to the consistency my chutneys have never quite hit. I think I used the right pan this time.
Anyway, we realized around 3PM we had planned for Saturday, but hadn't decided on anything for Friday night. Oops. Take out some frozen chicken cutlets, let them vaguely defrost, drop 'em in some bottled BBQ sauce, grill, add some plain white rice, & bingo, you got dinner. In the meantime, I realize through all of this that I haven't heard from youngest in a while. Mrs. had gone to the gym & off to get oldest from a playdate, and I of course left youngest in front of the TV. I head upstairs to check around 5PM and she's OUT COLD on our bed. Well, bedtime's gonna be screwed up now.
SIGH.
Well, bathe oldest, get everyone awake down for dinner, where I am first testing the turkey, which was delicious. Oldest says "I don't want that." It's OK, we have regular chicken. "I don't want that either. I want to go to bed." No song, story, etc? "No." ummm, ok? It's 6:15, so I take her up, and 15 mins later she's out cold. We normally eat before services, since I can't wait until 8:30 for dinner, then we do the kiddush and motzi after I get back. I'm getting ready to go, and youngest starts crying. Mrs. asks me to stay home, so I agree - I usually go to an early service, so instead I'll stay home and use the extra hour before actual candlelighting, likely entertaining youngest.
But....
Mrs. lies down with youngest & nurses her, and they BOTH fall asleep. So now I'm essentially home alone. All quiet, I finish up my shabbos preparations unnoodged by wife or child, and even had a moment to check some email. I peeked in periodically, and Mrs. sleepily noted that she wanted to stay in bed, so I moved youngest up to her room, brought Mrs. her lens case, and had a very quiet kiddush & motzi by myself. I'd never go back to single life, but there's something to be said for a quiet night once in a while.
Next morning, on the other hand...
So, my neighbor sends me the following as a gag, copying Mrs.:
It's the only type of cooking a real man will do. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:
1) The woman buys the food.
2) The woman makes the salad, vegetables, and dessert.
3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill -- beer in hand.
4) The man places the meat on the grill.
5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.
7) The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman.
8) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
10) Everyone praises the man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.
11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed "her night off."
And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women
1. The woman suggests to the man that they invite his family for a BBQ.
2. The woman takes a nap.
3. The man decides what they need and takes the children to Costco, Brach's, and Stop & Shop.
4. The man comes home, puts away the groceries and marinates the meat.
5. The man prepares side dishes & salad while watching the children in the backyard.
6. The woman finally gets up and throws some paper plates on the table.
7. The man runs back and forth to the grill while everyone else eats the delicious meal.
8. The man and woman clear the table together, and no one washes the dishes.
Just call me the luckiest woman in the world..... ;-)
has gotten busier. I was out at one of our Hospitals packing stuff up (found by-laws from the 1920s - Jackpot!), and the seven huge transfile boxes will clearly not be enough. Thank heavens there's tons of stuff to save, but I did not quite realize the magnitude of the job.
It means I'm probably going to be back there tomorrow all day, which cuts down on the computer time dramatically. Don't ask me where I'm going to put all of this stuff. I'm out of room, but the boss said "go get it, I'll figure out where to put it." You the boss, boss.
The other nice part of this is the hospital will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in less than ten years, so we will have material to use for the celebration when it shows up.
Who, like the rest of you, has no idea what he/she is in for, asked that I comment more on the issue of whether or not religion should be "easy" or accomodate itself to our needs & sensibilities. Given that the question was asked in the comments to my last post about Viagra making people blind, you can see why it might merit a new heading.
I believe the commenter was referring to this post, which started off as a Christmas discussion and morphed into a larger thought process on our expectations of faith. I had to reread the post myself - frankly, I forget most of what I write once it's committed to the shaky electrons that are blogger.
I can't say I've put a lot more thought into the question of how we view our various faiths. As I get older & even more set in my ways, the thoughts expressed in that post still capture what I think. From a believer's perspective, God has given us life and a set of instructions for living it - Torah, Bible, Koran, whatever. Life is a gift (though I suspect the Calvinists among us might disagree), and a gift beyond any ability humans have to repay. Thus it behooves us to follow the rules God has laid out for us to the best of our ability.
I grant you that even believers can differ about which rules to follow and what those rules mean. I still think there is a basic concept that we are required to subordinate our own desires to those rulebooks. At the very least we are expected by our faith to turn our desires towards what we are told to do.
This is a difficult thing to accept in modern America. The secularism that has invaded our nation (promoted largely by the French intellectuals, which is no surprise at all) has labeled anyone who believes to that degree a "fundamentalist." Now, I don't like fundamentalists, if that means the sort of people who at best condemn nonbelievers to hell verbally, and at worst blow babies to smithereens in the name of God. If, however, being a fundamentalist means believing that I must obey rules I don't always understand or can't intellectually explain, then hell yes, I'm a fundamentalist.
The poorly hidden subtext of the secularist, deconstructionist types is that nothing is true. Everything is relative to one's own perception, every approach is reasonable, no one interpretation is any better than any other. All well and good until one needs to make a judgement or take a stand. At those points, the secularists come back with nothing more useful than "can't we all get along?"
Truth is essential to Judaism; God Himself is truth; one song we sing says "Moses is True and his Torah is True." I believe truth is essential to Christianity as well. What it comes down to is my faith says there is a certain, known reality. It's not subject to the whims of babbling academics or the changing fads of people who think bagels & lox is a delicious snack this week. The Torah states that as a Jew I have an obligation to follow the path set for me by God. It says that path is the way for me to be successful and happy as a human - no self-defined self-actualization here, but reaching my potential through obedience to the will of God.
It's not an easy path to follow. I fall off more often than I care to remember, and God in His graciousness allows me the chance to correct my errors. Some people think my lifestyle is a burden - all these rules to follow, all these restrictions, no free will, etc. The truth is all of us are burdened by something. For some its the pursuit of wealth, power, fame, whatever. For some it's sex, for others its drugs or alcohol, food, you name it. What a person of faith does is enslave himself to God, and the argument is that slavery to God is the greatest freedom there is.
It's not freedom from thought, or freedom from responsibility as some have portrayed it. It's a matter of accepting your position in the grand scheme of the universe as subordinate to a higher power. Who will grant each of us our proper measure of success and failure, wealth and poverty, sickness and health by His own understanding of our needs. We in turn serve Him best by obeying his statutes as we are taught them, and living the life He wishes for us.
It's easy for the secularists to sit on the side and laugh at the crazy Jews or wacky evangelicals, because it makes them feel superior. But at the end of the day, who has something left to hold on to? The wacky ones, with a faith and a community that helps them weather the toughest storms, or the "smart" people who believe in nothing at all? When nothing means anything, all you're left with is words with no meaning. I don't care how smart the Noam Chomsky's of the world are, they've admitted outright that what they themselves are saying is meaningless. Why would I believe a person who tells me his word is of no value, when God tells me every letter of His word is pure truth?
I don't suggest my path is for everyone. I have no answer for the holocaust survivors who lost their faith in God - I can't say whether I would maintain my faith in the teeth of such suffering. But reward is best when it's earned. Those who want life to be easy have no understanding of how important it is that we work for our faith. We must maintain it, nurture it, question it, and affirm it constantly by regular practice. I'm not telling other people to live my way, but I do wish those who think I'm an idiot would try and do it my way and see if they have what it takes to be a God-Fearing Jew.
So the old stories are true? Too much and you'll go blind?
Next thing you know, your face actually will freeze like that.
for a variety of reasons (WARNING - PDF file linked; Possum and other creatures with PDF issues should probably not click on this link here.)
The short version is a group of Congresspeople wrote the US Trade Representative ("I'll give you two Mookie Wilsons and a Roger Clemens for a Nolan Ryan." What? Isn't that what the Trade Rep does?) suggested that it might be a bad idea for the US to support the Saudi attempts to join the World Trade Organization. I think they've made some very good points in their letter, and I think it's worth reading.
My own observation is far less useful. Oh, I think only terrible things should happen to the Saudis. I'd be delighted if the whole ruling class found itself hacked to bits. No, what concerns me is the signatures on the document.
Where did our elected officials learn to write? Most of them are fairly legible, but on the whole I think some handwriting analysis might be in order. I think I expected to see little hearts on top of some of the "i"s, and a few of them seem to have learned to write in crayon. The most egregious offender is NY's own Anthony Weiner (who, aside from his penmanship, is nothing but an empty suit who won't stop whining.) The guy puts what looks like an uncompleted infinity symbol on the line where his name is. Something like this ∞ only the left loop doesn't close, and the right one kind of trails off sadly before making the climb back to the top.
Look, I know you're busy & all, but please. Heck, I could forge the guy's John Hancock if I wanted to bother, and I have terrible handwriting.
went about as poorly as could be expected. Mrs. was under the weather (she's gotten the cold the rest of us had), so she asked if I could stay a bit later and help get the kids to school. So I get 'em breakfasted, into shoes & jacket to wait for oldest's carpool. The Fateful words?
"Sweetie, let me brush your hair."
BIG mistake. Shpritz the hair, start to brush, child says "I want pigtails." I tell her it's too late, the carpool's almost here, we'll do it tomorrow. Proceed to meltdown. I'm trying to keep her from bugging Mrs., she's crying hysterically, the other varmint is getting in the way, and the carpool shows up. Mrs. makes the pigtails anyway, I finally get her down, into the car, and BUCKLED in, and she goes ballistic.
I WANT TO GIVE MOMMY A HUG!!!
I finally take her out of the car, apologize to the other mother, tell her to be on her way & I'll drive myself. Back in to mommy, screaming, crying, timeout, shoes off, shoes back on, bribery (snack in the car) finally get both children in. Youngest, who was going to be dropped off early, is now on time, so everybody is in the car. Snack is raisins (Daddy can be sneaky at times), so all is finally well. Oldest in to school, youngest off to school at her place across town (long story).
Get youngest in to her classroom, and she turns into a barnacle. "Stay with me" No, sweets, daddy has to get to work. Leave her looking sad and abandoned, head home, trade cars, buy breakfast instead of eating at work (it's now close to 9:30), and get to work exhausted and way late.
Can I go back to bed?
talking about the last weekend, but I will note that I made some very nice Indian chicken kabobs to go with the Chana Masala we had for dinner on Sunday. We invited some friends over & had a grand old time. Just thinking about it (the food, not the friends) is making me hungry.
Both the Chana recipe and the marinade for the kabobs came from Julie Sahni's "Introduction to Indian Cooking", which I reccommend highly. I will note that rice milk serves as a replacement for yogurt for those kosher consumers who want to marinate meat things but still use her recipe.
I have need to look for information on immigration. Lo & behold, here comes something for the Semi-occasional Archives of Interest post.
Which leads to today's offering, the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center. I am unaware of any specific reason why they would be the host of such a center, but there it is. I imagine there's a bit on the Nordic types who ended up in that part of the world, but probably also some stuff on those of my Eastern European forebears.
Anyway, enjoy it.
For the Thursday Three. They were my idea, so if this last triplet of the season leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you know who to blame.
1) What is, or was, your favorite style of dress, or a particular item of clothing you remember fondly from childhood?
Given all choices, I'd most like to spend my days in a t-shirt & a pair of jeans. I have to wear ties every day, and I detest wearing ties. One of the few saving graces of my last job was we were all business casual, all the time.
2) What style of dress do you remember being humiliated by as a kid, but your mother made you wear anyway?
For some reason I remember corduroys without much enthusiasm.
3) What dress style/clothing choice do you remember as being unbelievably cool at the time that now makes you cringe? Would you actually burn pictures of yourself in the outfit if you ran across them now?
The satin jacket I mentioned over at Terry's springs to mind, as well as my choice of yarmulka at various stages of childhood. They tended toward the huge, and I wore them WAAAAAAAAYYYYY at the back of my head, so I look a bit dorky. I wouldn't burn the pix, though - I like to see myself when I had hair.
died today. Looks like he had more to him than just the Riddler. I have to say I saw him on stage doing some Gilbert and Sullivan (I think it was Pirates, but I can't remember) and he was awful. He didn't seem to know his lines, and didn't have the panache of one of the regulars from this G & S outfit.
All the same, I'm sorry he's gone.
I went to check out who's been landing on me and what they were looking for. Seems I'm the third hit (for reasons known only to google) on Britney Spears and how to be so skinny.
The answer clearly is to marry a skeevy looking guy and then do some hideous reality show. Britney, dear heart, there's a double-wide with your name on it.
Yet another in our occasional series on interesting archival collections on the web.
Today it's the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. In addition to the public exhibitions, there are research collections there as well.
Why? Why not?
have company, as the in-laws are in town on their way home from a longish trip to Spain. It's nice to see them, though I sometimes feel more like a hotel stop than a destination.
I did break out the grill last night and my folks came over for dinner too. Nice, but I was feeling a little put upon as I spent all the pre-time and part of dinner cooking. I kind of volunteered, so it's partly my own fault, but it might have been nice to have some company. For various reasons we cancelled our restaurant plans and simplified life for some people by eating at home, but I didn't get to firsts until most everyone else was ready for seconds.
Poor me.
The fajitas were very good, though, so it made up for a lot.
I will also note (again) that I once again mentally cursed out the contractor who built our house. I could really use a gas line from the house instead of having to refill the propane tank. I spent much of the pre-heat time hoping I'd have enough to get through dinner, which fortunately I did. It does mean I have to refill the tank again, though. Stupid contractor.
to sit & chat. I don't know that I've been busy, exactly, but just not together enough to write.
Anyway, I was out of the office on Friday on a visit to the Big City. I'm in Manhattan less & less these days, and the truth is I don't miss it a whole lot. There's a rhythm to the City that's faster than the 'burbs, and I guess I'm slowing down with age.
Nonetheless, I trekked in to a meeting of other medical archivists - yes, there are subgroups to my obscure field. A lot of HIPAA talk, which is the bane of most of our existence. The biggest problem is the dopes who wrote the stupid thing can't tell you when & where it applies. Aside from its complexity for people going through the health care system, there's no provision for historical research.
So the end result is each of our archives is doing different things. One doesn't worry about it if the subjects are dead, one doesn't want people looking at anything, and most of the lawyers are unsure. The result for most of us is to fake it - save as we always have, do the reference, and let the gummint figure out what we're supposed to allow.
One other thing of note, which is the strange confluence of my "real" life with my online life. One of my colleagues reported being in Birmingham for some association meeting, and said something I took to be uncomplimentary. Now, I realize I differ politically with many of my colleagues, and that they tend to be a New York-centered bunch. All the same, I had a half a mind to defend you redneck unwashed flyover types, figuring if you can quote Monty Python you're probably OK.
In order to preserve collegiality (and my secret identity) I didn't say anything, but I find it interesting that I often feel more comfortable with my online crew than with people I have more in common with geographically and professionally.
Mind you, the conversation soon turned to Bush-bashing, so I really had to bite my tongue. They're perfectly nice people, but clearly we don't see eye-to-eye.
The boy participates, but does not originate. Thanks to Jordana for hostessing the weekly shindig.
(1) Who was the most memorable (good or bad) graduation speaker at a ceremony you've attended -- not necessarily your own?
I vaguely remember the then-Chancellor of the City University of New York speaking at my college graduation. I heard nothing of the speech, but it was marked by the ritualized turning of the back on her Chancellorship. I stood up & turned my back too, but only because I was tired of sitting. I would guess my favorite grad speech was from high school, where a buddy of mine gave a short speech. He had come over to the US from what was then the current Soviet Union at the age of ten. I was proud of him for making it as far as he did, and I still am. He's one of the few people from high school I still talk to. Plus he's my accountant.
(2) Approximately how many graduation ceremonies have you been in as a graduate and how many others have you gone to?
3 as a grad (elementary, high school, and college), and two as a guest. One was for my girlfriend's high school graduation, the other for my brother's PhD. I might have gone to his college one too, but I can't recall.
(3) After finishing high school and/or college what did you do for the summer?
I think I took summer college classes the first summer out of high school. I bummed around for the entire year after college before I entered grad school, so I suspect the summer was spent as a lazy, shiftless layabout.
Bonus Question:
What was your favorite graduation gift?
Probably the Stutz-Bearcat I got for graduating from kindergarten. I have no idea - I have no memory of any specific gift.
The Corner, they were also "kind" enough to link to this. Granted I am wasting time from the paying gig by linking to this, but I couldn't possibly be wasting as much time as the guy behind this site.
I like Legos fine. I am a big supporter of the Bible. I can't really say, however, that the two were destined to go together.
I suppose it's a harmless enough hobby, but this guy's gotta be a bit weird.
sure has a wicked slapshot, eh?
Reminds me of a one-liner a friend of mine used to use way back when:
Jesus Saves...
GRETZKY SCORES ON THE REBOUND!!!
Seriously, I know everyone's supposed to have a close relationship with their own personal savior, but are kitschy mass produced tchotchkes really the way believing Christians want to go?
And given what I know about hockey, do I really want to ask what penalties Jesus might get that would get him sent to the Sin Bin? Those flowing robes are certainly not regulation equipment.
Thanks, of sorts, to the Corner for the link.
drives me insane. Why in the hell does everything have to revolve around race? Why do we need to make sure that White people are demonized? Why do companies hire experts and then not listen to them?
Most importantly, why do these morons have to get history wrong when the truth is an inch in front of their faces?
Here's how I see the production meeting going:
Suit #1: The history guy says it's about independence from Mexico. Is Texas near Mexico?
Suit #2: I don't care what the "historian" says - we have to get hot issues on TV - we're educational, remember? Slavery's a big deal, right? Put slavery in there!
Lowly intern gofer type: Umm, wasn't that the civil war? You know, with slaves & stuff?
Suits: Shut UP! you're fired!
UPDATE: I have been informed that slavery was a part of the concerns at the Alamo. I accept that correction meekly, but I stand by my opinion that the TV folks think they can provide all the context necessary in 50 seconds. I'd liken it to a flash card - all anyone walks away with is "Texas Independence=All about slavery." I'm with the historian they hired & ignored - it's a simplistic approach, and reduces everything to soundbites. Bah.
Moronitude is not restricted to projects only. One can indeed be a moron without defined purpose.
In my case, being a moron entails strapping them on despite having sacroiliar issues. So, in answer to Jim's question, I did indeed go play hockey last night. I recognize that perhaps this was not the wisest thing I could do, and yet I did it anyway.
I had visited my lovely neighbor the Physical Therapist, who was kind enough to stretch & bend my various parts in ways I didn't think they were designed to do. We discovered (not a surprise to me, actually) that I have hamstrings with the stretchiness of petrified wood. Other than being in pain, I am as flexible as a broom handle. I was feeling better, tried on the skates, and it seemed I was OK enough to play. So I did forgetting the whole getting over the boards thing, which was not fun. Mrs. had to put my shoes on again this AM.
More conclusive proof that I, too, am a Moron™
and the rest of the story too.
"Journalists discover mysterious element 'Ethics'. Plan 14 week investigation to discover roots of this fad."
If you dig deep into the story, you discover that
Journalists had an average score of 48.7 on a 100-point scale, meaning just about half the time, members of the profession make decisions based on the best quality ethical reasoning.
I bent down to pick something up last night and ended up in agony. It may have happened during the furniture moving section of the evening. We've moved the kids up to the attic and converted their room into Mrs.' sewing area.
The move has taken about 6 weeks, as we've been testing it to see if they would sleep up there. Yesterday, Mrs. decided we were ready, so the dresser went upstairs and the sewing cabinet went downstairs. I felt a little pull in my back during the move, but it didn't seem too bad.
About two hours later I bent down to pick up something and I could barely straighten up. I spent the rest of the evening moving gingerly, then went to our neighbor the Physical Therapist for a consultation. She told me it was probably my sacroiliac joint, which is the connection between tushie bone and hip.
In any event, I had more than a little trouble getting my pants on this morning, and Mrs. had to put my shoes & socks on for me. We'll see whether or not I'm stupid enough to try & play hockey tonight. If I can't bend over to put my skates on, we'll never find out whether or not I can skate with this.
School's in:
1. What three teachers did you have in grade school or high school who had the greatest impact on you, either for good or bad?
Mr. S, 5th grade teacher, who helped me appreciate learning. I went to a school where religious subjects were given higher priority, and secular subjects were treated as a waste of time. Mr. S. helped us get around that attitude.
Mr. D., who taught Chemistry there for the one year I had him. Aside from being a friend of my grandfather's (who also taught chemistry), he's the reason I decided to go to an engineering school on the mistaken idea I could be an engineer. It's not his fault I couldn't handle calculus, but he did inspire me.
Mr. G., who taught algebra. The reason I remember any of it is because of him. He also showed me how a teacher handles difficult kids. We were acting up one day, and he simply said "you're responsible for this material, but I'm not teaching it. You want to misbehave, go ahead, but you're on your own as far as square roots are concerned." And he sat there and read for the entire class period, as we sat there quiet. Great work.
I had LEGIONS of teachers who were awful, too many to list.
2. Which teacher do you wish you could go back and apologize to for your terrible misbehavior?
There's only one in particular, and only for being an eager beaver; I sometimes wouldn't let him finish a sentence, but I learned from him. Other than that, some of the people I misbehaved for deserved every bit of it. I was mostly well behaved, so there's not a lot to apologize for.
3. What do you think is the best thing to happen to grade school since when you were there?
I don't have much association with grade school at the moment; I suspect the best thing to happen since I left is me leaving.
which occurred to me in the comments to the previous post will now officially be blogged.
I have finally gotten an answer to a question that's been bugging me for 10 years or more. Part of the seder is not just running through the official book (the Haggada, for the curious). Some people's seder works that way - read what you have to, no discussion, eat, go to bed. We've never done it that way in my family, and I think I'd feel a bit gypped if we didn't extrapolate a bit.
Anyway, there's a song called "Dayenu", meaning literally "it would have been enough for us." At least that's how it was always translated to me. It's a litany of things that happened to the Jews, followed by the refrain "Dayenu" - as follows: "If He had taken us out of Egypt, but not taken us through the Red Sea, it would have been enough." "If He had taken us through the Red Sea, but not shown us miracles, Dayenu" etc, etc.
The line that always bothered me was "If he had taken us to Mount Sinai, but not given us the Torah, it would have been enough." The Rabbinic sources make clear that Mount Sinai was not the largest or most impressive; quite the contrary, it was a smallish mountain, oxymoronic as that may be. So there's no real reason God would have taken the Jews there specifically. Presumably he wasn't interested in showing the Jews the scenery. So why are they there? One reason only - to receive the Torah, God's book of laws.
So why on earth would it have been enough for us to show up at Sinai? There's no point in being at that one spot if not to receive the word of God - why would we say Dayenu? I'm pleased to say I finally got what I consider a good answer to this one - like I say, it's been bugging me for a long time. David Klinghoffer (who I mentioned here in my personal review of his new book, which I recommend you read) sent out an article he wrote that finally resolve this one for me. I'll let David's words explain, rather than saying it less elegantly:
What? Didn’t I just say that freeing us from Egypt would have been pointless had God not then given us the Commandments?
The solution lies in seeing that Hebrew is not only compact but precise. Dayenu–“It would have been enough for us,” for us specifically, the “us” who were victims of Egyptian enslavement, escaped being chattel, who would have been happy simply to be out from under the burden of pharaoh’s subjugation.
But would it have been enough for God, or for humanity, if the Lord had merely brought us up from Egypt and left us, free, at the foot of Mt. Sinai without giving us the Torah? Human history was meant to be the history of our priesthood in service of mankind. The foundation, the constitution, of our priesthood is Torah. For mankind, a Jewish people freed from slavery but unacquainted with Torah would not have been enough.
there were days off. I took the kids to the zoo on Tuesday while the Mrs. & hostess took a girl's day. We drove down to Richmond, VA to meet an online friend of the Mrs., where the ipod got a workout.
I LOVE this thing. Mrs. took a bag full of CDs down in the car, and I took twice as much music on something the size of a wallet. She bought it from a place that included speakers, a rubber case, and this FM transmitter. That thing is fabulous - you can use it to play the Ipod through the car speakers. Man, this thing is cool.
Thursday I got a morning to myself - Mrs. let me out very graciously, and I went down to the new Air & Space facility at Dulles Airport. Very cool - they have an SR-71 on display, a space shuttle, the Enola Gay, and a bunch of other things. Other than the CF card on my camera crapping out three times (so I lost all my photos, grrr) I had a grand old time.
I spent Friday changing light switches and electrical outlets for our hostess (I also put up a light fixture, replacing the one that was hanging down around my navel), and cooking. Then came the last days of the holiday, more food, visits with some other friends in the neighborhood, etc.
I should briefly mention our host's dog. I don't like animals as a rule (few Orthodox people in my hometown had pets), but this one is fabulous. He's a 3 year old Golden Retriever, and just as sweet as can be. He was great with the kids, and friendly to me, and we had a great time.
The last bit was getting home. We put the kids to bed at the normal time, and after the holiday ended at around 8:45, we packed like crazy in order to hit the road around 10PM. I didn't want to have to take another day off work, and if we had left DC at 4AM, we would have hit smack into NY rush hour traffic. Pizza was served (cooked all the way through, which is rare for post-Passover), we got the kids into the car, & hit the road at about 10:30.
Everybody else slept, I drove straight through, & got home at 3AM. As it is I would have been underslept yesterday, but then the kids woke up at 3:15 and refused to play alone or go back to sleep. So I slept from about 5AM to 8:30, dragged into work, and slept through most of the day. You can understand I was a little out of it yesterday. On the other hand, since we never passovered the kitchen, we didn't have to unpassover it either.
So, that's Passover, and now I gotta get to work.
we got to do it all over again. More rest during the day, promise to oldest she could stay up if she napped, which she did.
Sort of.
See, she fell asleep around six, which would have been fine. We didn't get started until after nine, so if she had taken a two hour nap, all would have been well. But she stayed asleep, and Mrs. told me to leave her, so I did. Youngest stayed up a little, said as much of the Ma Nishtana as she could (which was quite a bit considering she's only two), and she went to bed soon after. I would have loved to follow suit, but stayed up till the bitter end.
Let me stop for a moment and talk about Matzah, since it plays such a critical role in Passover and the Seder. Matzah has two ingredients - flour & water. Our forefathers didn't have time for the bread to rise, thus we follow their example. (There are philosophical issues too - removing all the puffery and leavening from ourselves as well as our houses, etc.) By rule, you must eat a certain amount of Matzah for the seder; any "bread" you have during the week must be Matzah, but you don't have to have any if you don't want it, except at the seder. Called "poor man's bread", which my mom always says is ridiculous, given how expensive it is, it's about as delicious as drywall. Sometimes worse.
Many non-Jews I know love it, but that's because they can stop & have a Twinkie if they want to. For me, given its negative effects on my digestive system, I eat as little as possible. It tastes fine, but later... Let's just say dried fruit & prune juice are valuable commodities to have around. Regular bread is much more desirable when all you have is matzah.
Anyway, we finish again around 2AM, and I fall into bed, exhausted. Only to be awoken at 4:15 by oldest, who announces that she's done with her nap, and wants to know when the seder starts. Oy. Exhausted daddy, disappointed child. I promise her a seder of her own later, give her breakfast, and try & get her to play while I doze fitfully on the couch. I made Mrs. get up around 7AM so I could get some actual sleep. I missed services that morning, as I awoke for good around 9:30.
Oldest & I did a private seder for dinner that night, hitting the highlights and playing with a second Plagues toy, this time a set of finger puppets provided by my mom. And thus ended the first days.
we spent Shabbos as normal. Services, food, a little rest in advance of the Seder on Saturday evening. I even got oldest to rest, warning her that no sleep in the afternoon=no staying up late for the seder. So she napped, I rested a little, Mrs. slept, etc.
Youngest went to bed at the regular time, but oldest stayed up. The seder is one of the highlights of the Jewish calendar, and the purpose is to review the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. As the bible reports often, God refers to Himself as the One who took us from Egypt, so clearly this is the seminal event in the creation of the Jewish Nation. So you tell the story, you eat the matzah and bitter herbs, and you get to dinner at a truly unreasonable hour.
Oldest was terrific. She did the Four Questions (Ma Nishtana) as the youngest awake in the room, though technically the dog is younger in human years. She sat quietly as we read the story in the Haggadah, and we stopped to explain things periodically so she wasn't bored. Her school had laid a lot of the groundwork, so she was familiar with a bunch of the highlights. Plus our hostess had bought a package of toys to represent the 10 plagues, so we got to play with those at the appropriate time. Jumping frog, sticky hand with boils, sick cow with bulging goopy eyes, etc.
She gets through dinner, which ended around 12:15 AM. Past my bedtime, let alone hers. I told her to go search for the Afikomen, which is traditionally hidden for the kids to find & then beg for loot once they find it. (Originally the Afikomen was the Passover sacrifice, which served as dessert when we had a Temple. Now it's yet another piece of Matzah. Joy.) Her gift, a Belle (of Beauty & the Beast fame) doll, had been purchased long before, was in the car with them when they went down to DC, but the proprieties must be observed. So she finds it, we show her the doll, and she goes off to bed.
And comes out ten minutes later, crying sadly that she hadn't had dessert. I promised her dessert the next day, told her none of us had any (true), and she went to sleep. We finished up around 1:30 or 1:45, and went to bed exhausted.
I have yet to decide how much of this to report, but I'll probably break this up into a few different posts.
Anyway, the reason I went on hiatus is that we were actually out of town. It may be paranoid, since I have not completely identified myself or where I live or who I work for, but I still have certain issues with saying too much. My lack of posting was due to being away from the normal computers I work on. Or blog from. Or whatever.
In any event, the SkinnyFamily spent Passover in what is technically Down South. I would say it's the Shallow South rather than the Deep South, being a suburb of the Nation's capital. Regardless, I believe it's officially below the Mason-Dixon line, so it counts as the South. Mrs. Skinny's best friend, her husband, and their new dog all live there, and they were insane enough to invite us to spend the whole week with them. Two extra adults is bad enough, but adding a 4 year old & a two year old is unbelievably brave, if a little insane.
As most of you probably do not know, the Passover holiday is one of the longer holidays on the Jewish calendar. Outside of Israel, the holiday is two days of full holiday (no cars, lights, phones, etc.) followed by four intermediate days (everything but the food is normal), followed by two more full holiday days. In Israel for various reasons, each full period is only one day. This year the first days were Sunday & Monday, which means you begin the holiday with a Saturday & all the normal restrictions.
What this all means is that regardless of anything else, you will be spending three days minimum locked in the house with whoever you are spending the holiday with. Imagine having your family for Christmas for three straight days. Subtract TV, computers, cars, and other distractions. You have to REALLY like the people you're with to make sure you don't kill each other by the end of it. Even family you love is irritating by the third day. So clearly we love these friends, as nobody was refusing to talk to each other by Monday afternoon.
The trip started off extra nice for me. Mrs. took the kids, the car, and all the luggage down on Thursday, leaving me at home. Alone. I love my family more than life itself, but there's something nice about coming home, picking something for dinner, not having to share, and not having to argue with kids about what we're eating. I got to play hockey, came home & stayed up really late fighting with my wife's computer to add music to the shiny Ipod my wife bought for me. More on that later.
Friday, I went to work where I vaguely got some things done for a few hours, then headed to Manhattan, where I bought kosher certified Krispy Kremes and took an Amtrak down to DC. Two small bags, no small children, and plenty of reading. I like travelling by train - I don't really need to concentrate on where we're going, I can read, I can eat, I can sleep, whatever. Got there, offered donuts to the family (outside - no leaven in the house to keep it passover-kosher), and got ready for the pre-Passover Shabbos.
and for reasons that will become apparent when I can take some time to write about them, I am even less coherent today than usual.
to you. In honor of the Passover holiday, I'm going to take a break from contributing to this here blog. I know I'm only officially supposed to stop eating leavened products, but I figured the blog is too full of cookie crumbs and hidden cheerios (the bane of every pesach cleaner) to clean it out properly for the holiday.
So, like the non-Passover food in my house, I've "sold" for a nominal fee my leavened blog, via the Rabbi, to a non-Jew for the holiday. I haven't told him yet, but I think I sold it to Terry O. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I told the Rabbi.
Well, whatever. Mr. Possum, if you need the keys (which strictly speaking you're allowed to, since you own the leavened goods around here), check with the Rabbi on Long Island. No, don't worry, how many Rabbis on Long Island can there be?
Anyway, have a good week, all, and I shall be back. Maybe even during the intermediate days, if I can find a computer without the wife hanging around nearby. A happy Passover to one and all, and don't eat too much matzah.
1. Do you like to read one book at a time until you’re finished, or multiple things at once?
One at a time - I need to focus. I have several books I kind of stopped in the middle of, so technically I'm reading more than one. In the same sense that I (9 years later) am still "pursuing" my PhD.
2. Do you do your browsing at the library, or do you prefer going to retailers such as Barnes and Noble and glomming up free samples of the publishing arts, pretending you’re actually going to buy something?
Liberry for me. We had B & N gift cards to use up a few weeks back, and it was the first time I had been in a bookstore in several years. Amazon is where we shop, and I echo Terry's commenter who takes names off Amazon & then goes & gets them from the Library.
3. Which do you prefer--hard cover, paperback, or online?
I don't think I have a preference between the first two, but I can't read a lot of real stuff online. It's hard on the eyes. Unlike this nice young lady, who's very easy on the eyes.
And a special bonus question (or else Jim has lost the ability to count):
4. What do you read most often?
Well, I started up my daily page of Talmud Study (Daf Yomi, in the lingo) again recently, so I'm reading a lot more of that. Bear in mind getting through the whole cycle takes 7 and a half years, so there's a lot of reading. Thank heavens for the English translation, 'cause my Aramaic needs work. I read non-fiction almost exclusively, and it's almost always history.
I MUST link to this article about Ward Churchill, the Educational Specialist over in Colorado with the brilliant ideas about how It's All America's Fault.™
Normally I wouldn't waste time on this loon, but Sheila the Extremely Funny linked to this and I took a shot at reading it. I can't honestly say I've read a funnier story in ages. The whole thing is so beyond ridiculous you have to laugh. It's hard to imagine such people have jobs, much less are lionized for being bizarre.
And yet, there is the specter of the Cow Puppet Interview. I will not ruin it for you, but suffice it to say it makes the whole thing worth reading.
Laziness and pre-Pesach (Passover) Preparations are keeping me from using up valuable internet real estate.
However, so that I don't lose my streak of 2 semi-regular updates of this feature, I'll link to the East Carolina University Archives. Why, might you ask?
Because Perfesser Jim over that way was kind enough to save me the trouble of looking for something of my own, naturally. In case you thought he was only interested in providing fodder for Thursday Three, here is proof otherwise.
The idea of them finding life in NY at all is likely to cause gales of laughter elsewhere in the country.
I just think it's an opportunity for future headline writing fun:
"Scientists isolate elusive "fuhgeddaboudit" gene; can now explain roots of New Yorkese."
"Study hopes to find gene for 'Hey, I'm walkin' here' and 'Buddy, you gonna move that piece a crap or what?' by the end of the year."
I started doing last week's, then gave up in the middle. Dunno why, but I did.
1. What names would you suggest for the offspring of --Denise Richards and Chuckie (the Wildman) Sheen; Britney Spears and that guy; and Prince Charles and Camilla, Dutchess of Cornwall, nee Mrs. Andrew Parker-Bowles?
A similar conversation is going on here about the Spears whelp. My suggestion in the comments (among others) there was "Smoke Federline." Federline being "that guy" it seems. For Sheen, I assume the proper name would be either "Prenup" or "Big Fat Settlement" Sheen. A new Wales child would likely be named "Surprise," or alternatively Hieronymus.
Pedantically, I would point out (per Wikipedia) that The Duchess was not actually born Mrs. Parker-Bowles, but rather Camilla Shand. Also, if you look at the picture of the happy couple, I would still like to know how they got the porcupine on her head to sit still that long.
2. The inspiration for the next set of names comes to us by way of resident peregrine-watcher Janis Gore from deep in the wilds of the Sportsman’s Paradise--to whit: what should be the names of the 3 (or 4) baby falcons born to San Francisco’s own George and Gracie? (You can click on the main website at UCSC and read all about them, or click here and see the most recent live image.)
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, naturally.
3. Now, for the last one, I realize some of you have already made suggestions, but you’re just going to have to do it again. What is your suggestion for Dave Helton’s new baby horsey?
This one makes me nervous; I'm not good with animal names (see #2). Were I feeling cruel, and given the inspiration of #1, I might suggest "Camilla." But I'm not cruel, am I? If the filly had been a colt, I might have come up with real horsey names, like "Bob" and "Roger." But I have no inspiration, so I'm bowing out.
It's been missing for a while, but so have I.
Anyway, I found this site which is not strictly speaking an archives, but is a large collection of old penny postcards from around the country. Looks like there's a pile of stuff here, and I can't be bothered to go searching on everybody else's states.
So go look at the USGenWeb Penny Postcards site. Remember when you could get something for a penny?
Me neither.
will be of great interest to that large constituency of small game hunters. Who want to eat cats.
I wonder if the guy proposing the thing has a partnership in a Chinese food restaurant?
One more thing about David Klinghoffer's book (See here if you can't figure out to scroll down two previous posts). I finished it last night, and I've decided already I need to read it again. I want to make sure I grasp all his arguments, and I think it's an important book.
Anyway, one of the things he closes the book with is something that's bothered me for a long time. There are certain people who are determined to convince Jews that they really, really need to believe in Jesus and accept him as their savior. (It's the main reason David wrote the book, which would explain why he talks about it.) That's fine as far as it goes, I wish they would stop, but I kind of understand why they're worried about my soul.
The part that bothers me is the CONSTANT reference to selected verses in the Torah as prooftexts for Jesus' messiahship and the correctness of Christianity. Every one of these people I've ever heard from always cites these things out of context. Isaiah 53, if I'm not mistaken, is one of the usual texts cited. Klinghoffer goes through the verses bit by bit, so I won't. But how can you expect a God-fearing Jew to buy into your interpretation of that chapter when you don't explain how Isaiah 52, 27, 19, etc. fit into a Christological world?
I just don't think you can cherry-pick what you want us Jews to believe, and ignore all the other parts of our Torah (written and oral). The whole point of the Mishnah and Talmud (the Oral Torah) is to explain, illustrate, and clarify all the apparent conflicts in the written Torah. What the cherry-pickers fail to do to my satisfaction is resolve the parts of the Torah that explicitly contradict a Christian approach. Since the whole basis of our faith is that the Torah is a never-ending, binding contract between the Jews and God, you've really got to prove your case that there's a new covenant abrogating the old one.
Bear in mind I'm only concerned here with the Jewish perspective. If you aren't a Jew, (and David argues this point as well) there's a lot to be said for Christianity as a faith, if it brings people closer to the One God. I just wish the proselytizers would give up and leave us alone.
And yes, I think this book affected me a lot. He put in writing things I've thought about in the past quite a bit.
I call myself aesthetically challenged is that I am almost completely un-crafty. By that I mean I draw like a four-year-old (actually worse - oldest child is showing far more promise than her old man), I couldn't play an instrument to save my life, and several woodworking tools are in the basement waiting for me to work up the nerve to ruin some former tree.
The latest example would be my attempt over the last several minutes to prepare box labels for some materials I organized. I have a lovely Word document, with nice dotted lines around each box label, and all I need to do is cut along the line. Can I manage that properly? No. I get edges that are only slightly more curved than this.
It's a good thing they make desk jobs - I'm quite sure I'd be living in a cardboard box if I actually needed to go out and make anything for a living.
I'm mostly finished with David Klinghoffer's book "Why the Jews Rejected Jesus." I know David slightly, and we had a chance to talk to his wife a bit this past weekend, which was really nice.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about the book, largely because so many of my 5 regular readers are not only Christians, but deeply committed to their faith. I suspect this would be a tough book for most Christians to read. David says a lot of things that I think will come across badly to people convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. But it's an important book, and I think people openminded enough to read it thoughtfully will learn something. They'll definitely learn a lot about Judaism, and I suspect they'll learn a bit about their own faith.
His basic thesis is this, near as I understand it. The Jews rejected Jesus, and that rejection was critical to the development of the Western world. Without that rejection, Christianity would have remained a minority version of Judaism, and not created Western Europe as we know it. The reasons for the rejection are many, and I'll leave you to read the book to get the full effect. The most critical rejection, David says, is not the rejection of Jesus during his own lifetime, but the rejection of Paul and his development of Christian ideas and beliefs.
The critical issue for me is that much has been said about Jews throughout history by Christians (leaving aside for the moment things Jews have said about Christians.) Most of it seems to come from two things: 1) Christianity's basic ignorance of Judaism and its traditions; & 2) Christianity's refusal (not always, but often) to acknowledge Judaism's right to exist and its importance to its practitioners.
The first issue, as David indicates, was not true at the beginning. All the practitioners of Jesus' religion were themselves Jews, and would have had more than passing familiarity with the basics of Judaism. As Paul opened the faith up to non-Jews, that familiarity ended. Judaism quickly faded from Christianity's worldview, which I think led in large part to the second issue. David goes into it all, so I won't, but there's been tremendous pressure on Jews to give up their faith. How would a Christian react to being told to drop their faith and the faith of their fathers?
Anyway, there's a lot in the book, and I recommend it highly for anyone interested in the history of faith, and the history of the interaction between the two most prominent monotheistic religions.
what college students should be doing with their time. No point listening to proto-communist professors drone on about the realization of being. Certainly not learning anything. Building a machine that takes 125 steps to change the batteries in a flashlight.
That's education.
Given that Pat is usually full of something and vinegar, this is somewhat appropriate. Despite my own stance as a right-wing religious fanatic (anybody who believes in religion is a fanatic according to some folks), I don't like Buchanan. I think he's more than half an anti-semite, and his particular brand of conservatism grates on me. This, however, is clearly the work of a mental midget.
How much more proof do people need that the left is the domain of the infantile? Why are they the ones referred to as intellectuals when they encourage this sort of peurile behavior? Style points go to William Kristol, who in his pie in the face moment wiped himself off and continued to make his point.
Let's hear it for free speech, shall we?
Terry was kind enough to ask by email, and perhaps the other three of you are desperately interested in the state of what few original teeth I have left. I think I'm down to 25 or something at this point. Four wisdom teeth gone (which explains a lot), four pulled for orthodontic work that has since gone haywire, and now my second root canal leading to a cap.
Anyway, the second visit was almost as much fun as the first, including such entertaining exercises as "Open Wider, Please" and "just put this foul play-doh in your mouth for the next 6 hours while I go shopping." The result, for the moment, is a temporary cap that I can't help reaching for with my tongue every 30 seconds, and a lot of eating on the opposite side of my mouth.
So, thanks for wondering, and in two weeks I get the real (fake) tooth installed. Yippee. Its close approximation to tax day is not, to my mind, merely a coincidence.
My fanny. More like thursday 17.5967393945736394.
I'll take a shot, but under protest at the false advertising.
CATEGORY 1--Food:
1. Dunkin’ or Krispy Kreme
Either. More variety at DD, more hot donuts at KK. Either way, it's a shlep to the kosher ones.
2. Cheese curls or cheese puffs
Yuck. Styrofoam peanuts painted safety cone orange. No thanks.
3. Chocolate or vanilla
Vanilla.
CATEGORY 2--TV People:
1. Ginger or Mary Ann
Can I answer both?
2. Crockett or Tubbs
Neither.
3. Barney or Warren
Purple Dinosaur or Acting Dinosaur? Miller or Buffett? I'm too confused to answer.
CATEGORY 3--Potpourri:
1. 9mm or .45
I was never good at math.
2. Pro football or college football
Pro, until hockey season starts again.
3. Boxers or briefs/thong or granny panties
Does this really need an answer?
4. Electric or blade
Electric. See Leviticus 19:27 for more details.
5. Paper or plastic
Canvas when I remember to bring 'em, plastic otherwise.
6. Dark socks and sandals at the beach or barefooted
sandals, no socks.
7. Wal-mart or K-mart
Eh. Target most often.
8. Dog or cat
N/A
9. LP or CD
CD mostly, occasional LP. I own a turntable, & my dad's will play 78s.
and the serendipity that sometimes brings things to light. It's at the NYTimes, so you'll have to register to see the article (or go to www.bugmenot.com & get a valid password).
Of course, it's interesting to hear that the experts are saying this is a brand new discovery, and the guy who bought the lucky book just went to the public library and found the news articles from the 20s detailing the basketball tour Jim Thorpe was on. One more sign that information is right in front of people who can be bothered to look.
are why I hate the media. Look, I know the AP needs people to look in order to make money. But somebody up the chain there wants Mary Cheney identified as gay every time she appears in print. It is quite obvious to me that they don't want people on the right to forget that Ms. Cheney is ::GASP:: a homosexual.
The problem is, most conservatives know that. Some might wish she were not, but most of us are willing to accept that this is who she is, whatever we might choose for her. Not only did it make no difference in her father's re-election, but most decent people were upset that his family was dragged into the political debate.
I don't care if the story mentions that she's gay, but the headline makes it clear that this is the only reason they are reporting the story. If one of his other children was writing, there wouldn't have even been an article. What would have been wrong with the headline "Cheney Daughter to write Book?"
I think this guy's barking up the wrong tree. Not because there's any real issue for me about evolution. I don't really have a dog in that race (to keep the metaphpor going until it collapses under its own weight), but I tend toward the creationist view. Without getting into it, I'll accept that God could have used evolution as a means of creating living beings, but I insist that it was God behind it, whatever Dr. Smartypants thinks.
Anyway, the guy's complaining that banning evolution films somehow fails the Museum world's educational mission. I may be missing something, but aren't most of these Imax theaters just there to make money? Why are they going to run a film that the locals won't come see? Sometimes I think Academia has forgotten that there's a free market out there. If they're so obsessed with survival of the fittest, why won't they let economic Darwinism rule?
Maybe I'm the idiot, I dunno.
of the weekend, since, I cannot possibly measure up to The Possum Car Trip from Purgatory.
Thursday, as I might have mentioned, was the Fast of Esther, and I have never fasted well. This one went OK, but it kinda screwed up my digestive system. Friday itself was Purim, the commemoration of the story related in the Book of Esther. Follows the usual pattern of "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat." One of the key commandments for the day is to hear the Book read, and to accomodate mine & the Mrs.' needs on that score, I went to a 5:30 AM service. Quick & to the point, but I was on little enough sleep as it was.
Mrs. went, sans kiddies, at 7:30. The rest of the morning was a blur of taking the kids to a later reading (they're not obligated, but we figured they should get the flavor) and delivering food gifts to various folks. The commandment itself is to deliver two types of food to one person. Over the years this has gotten blown so far out of proportion that there are entire companies set up to handle it. I've given up on getting baskets to everyone I know, and I'm certainly not filling them up with tons of processed crap.
Fortunately, both of our local synagogues have developed methods of covering everybody. You pay as you go, and every participant gets ONE basket. It's usually overfilled, but you get one instead of thirty or sixty or whatever. We made about 15 others to deliver to non-participating types, and included: 1 orange; 2 twizzlers; one bag homemade choc. chip cookies; one bag homemade fudge. As my man Tony Kornheiser would say, "That's it, that's the list"
We head off to my brothers for the festive meal, which was fun. Friday Purim can be a bit of a problem, as Shabbos still has to happen, but we got it all worked out. We did come home to two issues. First, the kids fell asleep in the car. Naps are a thing of the past for both kids, but they really could use the extra sleep. So we left them in the car with the Mrs, and I went out to get the last things we needed from the store. The second issue was the avalanche of boxes sitting on the porch, filled with goodies. I, naturally, have no self-control, so there was much sugar consumed.
The rest of the weekend was normalish. Lunch with friends on Saturday went from noon to almost 5 PM (not solidly eating, but a lot of schmoozing), which led to our dinner plans with other friends. Watched the Incredibles with the Mrs. on Saturday night, followed by a Sunday replete with birthday parties and laundry and cleaning. Spiderman 2 on the DVD Sunday nite, collapse into bed.
Since tomorrow AM is the second of my three root-canal visits, I do not expect to be too cheerful tomorrow. Can you blog if you're face is numb? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Given that the five regular readers of this site are spread across the country, I wanted to test something. How many of you have ever heard of Asterix?
My neighbor (a South African by birth, which makes him more African-American than most other people) told me I'm only the third person he's ever met in America who knows that delightful Gaulish warrior. I wanted to see if that's true. If it is, Americans are woefully ignorant and possibly beyond salvation.
So, if you'll indulge me, kindly let me know in the comments if you are highly cultured or hopelessly enmired in ignorance.
These bloggers are crazy.
chatter on & on about having lunch with attractive people, some of us are in the midst of a fast day. I'm at the tired, headachy, and grumpy stage. Which is not all that different from my normal behavior, but today I have a reason for it.
Anyway, Sugarmama's extra special Salsa Page reminds me that I've been meaning to get back to Trader Joe's to pick up another jar or two of their Chipotle Salsa. Not being the connoisseur that Sugar is, I can't tell you how it ranks as compared to other brands. I like it, anyway.
Mind you, at the moment I think I'd eat styrofoam packing peanuts, so you probably shouldn't trust my taste buds right now.
1) What is the one thing that you love MOST about Spring?
NO....MORE....SNOW. Putting the snowblower & salt away for another year cheers me up no end. Also being able to open the windows & get some air in the house.
2) ASIDE FROM POLLEN AND TORNADOES, what is the one thing that you love LEAST about Spring?
The fact that in NY it only lasts about a week before we hit the 85-90 degree temperatures.
3) Name your single most favorite song, movie, play, book, painting, sculpture, etc., etc., with “spring” as part of the title.
"Springtime for Hitler" popped into my head, but I don't know if that qualifies as "favorite." "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park?" No spring in the title, but in the opening verse. I can't think of anything else.
Not a lot of time to play today, but I missed last week so I don't want to forget this week too.
In honor of absolutely nothing, here is the Alaska State Archives. Lots of interesting images and stuff to look at about the Last Frontier, as they apparently call themselves.
According to the state, they have an official insect along with about a dozen other "official" things, all passed by act of the legislature. As usual, I feel like the legislature might find more useful things to spend their time on. I guess it keeps them out of trouble.
is sort of quiet. Little of consequence happened over the weekend (though I did grill some chicken, which was fabulous), short of a trip to Costco. I did get pulled off a long line there into a new lane, and the same happened on a regular shopping trip, so on that score things went extremely well.
Last night was the first of three visits to Miller the Driller the Cavity Filler (her name isn't actually Miller, but one of the sportscasters I like refers to a team Dentist that way, and it just rolls off the tongue so nicely.) I apparently need a root canal, so last night was the excavation. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, which is to say it still stunk. Two more visits to put in the almost-but-not-quite-a-real tooth, and then I can unclench my fingers.
Purim is coming up, and my big plans for getting our Mishloach Manot fixings together in advance are a dismal failure. These things can get elaborate, but we tend to keep stuff simple. By law you only need to give one person two different types of food. Some people I know (and might be descended from) give about 6,000 people 457 items each. We've kept it down to a short list of about 10-15 people, and no more than 4 items per basket.
My plan had been to spend part of the weekend making chocolate chip cookies and mint fudge, but best laid plans have a habit of misfiring. I'll make the attempt tonight and see what happens.
is the message I got, via email, from my younger child. I'm glad she's picked up the old man's typing skills.
Nothing to do with Patrick's day, but musical. Bear in mind that my dad is a professional musician, and this one strikes a chord. Get it? Huh? Huh?
1. What instrument do you play?
I have been known to play cheap kid-toy kazoos. I can sing a bit, but just a bit.
2. Which one do you wish you could play if time and talent were not involved?
Guitar. This man is EXACTLY who I would want to sound like. Never gonna happen, but a guy can dream.
3. Have you ever taken lessons for an instrument or voice and how did it go?
Yep. Aforementioned Parental unit attempted to teach me clarinet at about eight years old. [Me, not him. Duh.] I wouldn't practice, so so much for that. My grampa, who was a piano teacher by trade, did attempt piano lessons, which similarly went nowhere. I can, however, still play "Drifting" on the pianner at my dad's house (Grampa's 1893 steinway baby grand, which pops took after my grandma moved out of her house).
I also attempted to teach myself the tin whistle with the help of a tape/book package, and got vaguely far. Practice does not sit well with me, I guess
posted this article about the children left behind when our soldiers are killed in action. The story is, of course, sad and tragic. These poor kids are left without a parent, and there's really nothing that can replace the parent they lost.
It did get me thinking a bit. I don't think much of Newsweek, and my automatic assumption is going to be that they're making political points about the war in Iraq. It's probably not fair of me to assume this, and the story is no less real. Suffice it to say that the Media brought this suspicion on itself.
I do not think for a moment that the death of our soldiers is a good thing. I do not think the suffering of these families is a good thing. But I do need to raise the point - is this a necessary thing? I believe the war itself is necessary, and unfortunately that brings death with it. I thought of the thousands of kids left orphaned after September 11th, and concern that our enemies had for their loss - which is to say, none at all.
Look, I'm a civilian with no one in harm's way. It's easy for me to sit back and say "this is something the country needs, and it's unfortunate that this is the result." It's a lot harder to say that when the person killed is your loved one. Yet what are the alternatives? Allowing the terrorists to run rampant here? Leaving Saddam in power when even the NY Times has figured out he had WMD capability? (See here as well for some opinion on the subject.)
I wish there was something we could do to bring back the parents of these kids, and all the other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and friends. If there is any comfort to be taken from these deaths of these wonderful people it's that they died to protect all of us. Think about that for a minute. Not only did they die to protect their own families (which I think most of us would probably do), but they died to protect millions of complete strangers. What kind of incredible people volunteer for such a job, knowing the risks involved? Only the best this nation has to offer.
to the fabulous weekend. Sunday brought a hairclipping for the Mrs., leaving me at home with the childroon. Endless debate over the spots on oldest's face led to an appointment with the sawbones, junior edition. Naturally, the doctor was two blocks from where Mrs. was on her appointment, and grand confusion ensued over whether or not to meet there, leave youngest someplace local, or take her to the doc's, etc. We resolved all issues by walking down the block to a neighbor who's a doctor (well, a resident, but it was close enough). He said oldest was not contagious, so I saved both a trip and a $20 co-pay.
Off then to the parental units in Brooklyn, where we handed off the kids to the tender mercies of their grandparents. My dad took them to their cousin's house nearby for dinner & playtime. Me & Mrs. got all dolled up (well, one of us did, anyway) for the annual dinner for oldest's new school. These things tend to be fancy & expensive, but this place is earning a real warm spot in my heart for how they do things. We got the invite a week or so in advance, saying "Come as our guests." Not common when these fundraisers are going on. They'll hit us up next year I'm sure, but it's not something a lot of places would have done, and I appreciate the gesture.
Anyway, we got ourselves together and headed over to the hall where the shindig was being held. To begin with, the Rabbi in charge (who was the guest of honor to boot), who has met us twice, recognized us and welcomed us warmly. Then, of course, there's food EVERYWHERE. I suspect a few of my readers would have fainted from the sheer gustatory variety on display. Huge sushi table out in the hallway; around the room in the main cocktail area: Chinese table; pasta station; dead animal on a stick table; something else I forget; deli table; carving station. You gained weight just by walking in the room.
The odd thing is, we were among the first people there & we barely ate until halfway through the cocktail hour. Bear in mind neither child goes to the school, and yet we knew tons of people there. Half the guys I play hockey with were there, as well as plenty of others from our town. Without getting into the gory details, there are a lot of reasons we're not sending oldest to the school in our town. Suffice it to say the management of the place leaves a lot to be desired. Apparently, based on the representation at this dinner, a lot of people feel the same way as us. A LOT of people.
Anyway, plenty of shmoozing, some eating, on to the awards & stuff. The kids choir sings (not exactly the Chorus at the Metropolitan Opera, but very cute & certainly heartfelt. I don't really like large women in Norse Armor anyway) Awards handed out, some genuine sentiment in the room, and then, it's off for dinner.
What? You thought a Jewish organization would only have one set of food? Dinner, dancing, a raffle (we actually won! Not usual for her, according to the Mrs., but we walked off with a pair of expensive sunglasses each. I never buy expensive shades, as I have a habit of sitting on them, but it's nice to win), and finally home.
Since then it's just everybody sick in the house, and me pretending that I haven't got the same head cold as the rest of them.
(Oh, and may I say Mrs. Skinny looked SMOKING on Sunday PM. Not that she doesn't always, but I was walking around with a hot chick at this thing. Not this kind of hot chick, thank you.)
and somewhat productive to boot. While the weather was schizophrenic to say the least (snow in the AM, bright sunshine & warm temps in the PM) we did manage to do stuff. Nothing of consequence, but still stuff. Got home Friday with nothing to eat, and managed in the three hours prior to Shabbos to make meatloaf, mashed pertaters, and gingersnaps. The latter was not exactly required, but they were delicious. Even managed to get showered up, which took care of the itty-bitty hairy remnants of my periodic shearing. (yes, that means I got a haircut on the way home)
Oldest has taken to staying home with mamma on Friday nights, which is a little peculiar since she enjoys going to services so much. Her enjoyment is inversely proportional to the amount of time she actually spends in the sanctuary during prayers. Most of her time is out in the hall with her friends, which is fine for now. I'll bring the hammer down when she gets a bit older. It's not conducive to good concentration to have a whiny four year old sitting B-O-R-E-D next to Daddy.
This week she wanted to stay home, so youngest and I hightailed it (late, as usual) through the remaining slush off to services. Snack-free, miraculously. She survived. We get home, and oldest is not well. She turns down Mrs.' home-made Challah, even [GASP!] A WHOLE ROLL! Very out of character. She eats one bite each of meatloaf, mashed spuds, and a handful of dried cranberries. And then asks to go to bed. She's a little hot, she gets some tylenol, & off to bed followed quickly by youngest.
Next AM she's up perky & on-time, but has pimple-looking spots on her face. And us with lunch plans on the far side of town. Off to neighbors - #1 is a medical resident, but not home. #2 is a nurse, but asleep says her husband, so I take youngest off to services (late again). Oldest shows up an hour later, says "We're here!" and runs off to play. Nurse says it's not chicken pox, not likely contagious.
So we head off to the other end of town, have a lovely lunch, and Mrs. vamooses to a class for women, leaving me with the kiddies. NOT HAPPY. "WANT MOMMY" from youngest, oldest is too out of it to care. Home, dinner & bed by 6:15 PM, an hour before normal. Youngest goes down a bit later after Mrs. returns, and we spend a pleasant post-shabbos watching Spider-Man, which I recommend highly, and snacking on (of all things!) bell peppers and green beans.
is why I love my job sometimes. Reality is always more interesting than fiction, though you could a LOT worse than this young lady.
Extra bonus points to her for keeping good company.
Avast, you old sea-dogs, crank up yer shantys and dance a hornpipe to the Thursday Three. Or not.
1.) Have you traveled anywhere by boat (across a pond or around the ocean)?
Various ferries, including the Staten Island Ferry, Circle Line to the Statue of Liberty, and most recently the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport CT ferry. Oh, and some of the West Coast relations required ferry travel.
2.) Have you ever owned a boat?
Nope. Well, I had a Playmobil Pirate Ship as a kid. And this looks like fun. But that's not really what you meant, is it?
3.) If you were to take a boat trip and had unlimited funds and no motion sickness, where would you go, who would you take and what kind of boat would you go on?
I'd go anywhere I wanted. Take my family. And I'd go on an aircraft carrier. This one, I think.
Bonus question: What food stuffs would you want if you were marooned.
Not sure, but I want variety. Lots of meat, and a grill to cook it on. Which means I need marinades. And fries. And burger buns. And...
Chocolate Edition. MMMMM, Chocolate.
I was looking for something neat, and the Hershey's Archives has a great site. They even have a short description of what is an archivist, if you're curious. The collections are as much about the town & the people as the company, and I think it's worth a look.
Incidentally, if you check the Oral History or Chronology links, they're using the same online database I am.
I got Red River from Netflix a while back, and finally got to watch it last night. I had remembered the film very fondly as being one of the better Duke westerns I had seen.
I don't know if time has changed my approach, but I admit to a certain level of disappointment. It's a good film, but it doesn't have the impact I remember it having. There's a great deal of sort of "Western Panorama" kind of thing, which I suspect works nicely in a movie theater but not so well on TV. After a while, though, it gets kind of dull.
There are some tense, dramatic moments in the movie that work very well. The scene where the mutiny finally happens and Duke is surrounded by all these people an inch away from killing him is terrific. Then the whole thing ends in a completely unrealistic, funny approach that I think was completely out of context. Duke did funny films, where the humor is perfectly fine, but it sounds a wrong note here. The final fight scene is highly charged and climactic, and then it ends flat.
I guess '40s westerns all needed happy endings, but I think this one would have been a better film without it.
Cultural Destabilization Plot? Kidnapping Russell Crowe? Somehow the free world would collapse without greasy haired, unshaven manly good looks?
I guess Osama has different priorities than I do.
appears to lie with the Chicken Vac. I don't know how, exactly, some guy woke up one morning and thought "Gee. Hoover a chicken. That should do the trick!"
And yet, somebody did. I admit I don't worry much about farming, or the treatment of animals. PETA and I do not care for each other. And yet, I wonder about the psychological effect on a chicken of being swept into a vacuum crater thing.
Well, watch the video and decide for yourself.
(Link courtesy Jonah Goldberg.)
Since I'm sure you've been desperately curious, I can now safely report that I have found the site of that "I've Got Gas" commercial I mentioned sometime back when.
The company in question, Infinite Energy, is I'm sure quite pleased with itself. And yet I stand by my original conviction that it is a questionable slogan at best.
Perhaps folks in Gainesville have a different approach than I do.
are the most amazing people on earth sometimes. Not only does the guy come up with a clever idea for making new limbs for people, but he uses a piece of equipment owned by the guy who cost people their limbs.
Let's hear it for American ingenuity and decency. Not much chance of this making the "real" newspapers, but I thought the rest of you should know about it.
Brings me back to college days, when I was first introduced to Abelard and Heloise. I don't have an opinion on the veracity of the story, but it's good to see it in the news.
If you don't know the story, the article will fill you in well enough. It's symbolic of the explosion of literacy, education and culture of the 12th century in Europe. Obviously the love story aspect of it (and the forbidden nature of that love) is what gives it resonance throughout history, but to me it signifies the great advances made during that period. After several centuries of relatively constant warfare, Europe is finally free to concentrate on other things. Abelard is a prominent scholar, well known in Paris for his ability. His prominence is what gets him involved with Heloise, and the inevitable results follow. What is fascinating for history are the conversations between the two after Abelard's, umm, unplanned surgery. They discuss philosophy, religion, etc., and their work remains one of the better pieces of literature to come out of this amazing period.
I believe Oxford, the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) and some of the Italian schools opened in the 12th century. Gothic architecture got its start then (that's for you, Mr. Possum.) The first several crusades (for good or ill) ocurred then, and the development of England as a major European power (especially under Henry II) began in the 12th c.
There are certain historical periods that are known for great advances. The 12th c. is one of those, as is the 18th c. There just seem to be these moments when everything comes together and you see these tremendous periods of creativity. It doesn't mean, of course, that all troubles melt away, but clearly society makes great leaps forward sometimes. I don't know if I can point to a reason for it, but they are always fascinating areas of study.
Why Terry went for the (dis)gusto here is beyond me, but here it is nonetheless.
#1--What three commonly served food items cause you to become nauseated when you smell them? (The “commonly served” will be judged loosely to allow for regional specialties that cause you unease that might not be available in other parts of the world.)
I can't think of three, but the one I can think of is bad enough for three. I don't even know what it actually is, but there was a "food truck" [colloquially, "Roach Coach"] on the corner of 96th St. & Broadway when I used to live near there that was clearly frying petroleum byproducts. Or raw sewage. It was a hispanic food truck, so I guess it was some South or Central American specialty that smells beyond hideous. I hated waiting for the light to change there just because the smell almost killed me.
#2--What three non-cable, non-satellite television shows can you just not stand to watch? (If they make you nauseated, even better.)
Survivor; 60 Minutes; Anything on WB or UPN
#3--What three things are you immune to that seem to make other people ill?
Can't think of anything, unless allergies & asthma are acceptable illnesses. I love the smell of freshly mowed lawn and pipe tobacco. And some people I know are disgusted by the smell of sauteed onions, which I think is heavenly.
it was as to be expected. We got to our friend's house, went out with them for dinner at DC's lone expensive kosher restaurant. The steak I had was good, as was the rest of the dinner. The waitress was more than a little odd, but not in a terribly annoying way.
We met our friend's new dog, as well, which wasn't bad. I'm not a pet person, as no one I knew ever had one when I was growing up. I think that's a peculiarity of the New York orthodox community, not Jews in general, but... Anyway, I liked this dog - he's a golden retriever, and a very placid dog on the whole, so I didn't feel overwhelmed by him. I'm glad, as we're going to see them with the kids soonish and I think he's a good dog for small kids.
Then on the road again today, including a completely fruitless stop at Ikea in Joisey, and then home. Nearly 700 miles behind the wheel over three days, and I'm glad to be home. Youngest child's greeting on our return was fantastic, and it's always nice to be loved.
Perhaps you had not noticed I was gone. Which is how it should be.
Had a lovely few days away from home and kiddies and all. I got asked an obscenely long time ago to deliver a talk at a conference in Ocean City, MD. They asked maybe 2 months after I last delivered this talk, which was in October of 2003. (This parallels the experience I had with an article I recently had published in an unbelievably obscure journal - I sent the thing off last April and heard nothing about it until the review copies showed up in my mail about a month ago.)
Anyway, I seem to be labeled as "archives web guy", so I'm in some minor demand as the guy who can talk about archives web sites. This group was for museums, so I took the same talk from 2003 & substituted "museum" for every occurrence of the work "archives." The talk itself went fine. I co-presented with a guy from elsewhere on Long Island, and our session went pretty well. The hotel was a nice place on the whole, if only for the fridge, freezer, and microwave present in the room. When you have to travel with your own food everywhere, it's a nice help not to have to beg for a fridge. I'm sure Ocean City is pleasant enough in Summer, but it's pretty cold & dreary in February. And a little too much like Miami Beach to suit my tastes, I think. They claimed our room was $360 a night in season, which seemed a bit much even given the niceness of the room. Needless to say, our rate was considerably lower.
As yesterday was the Mrs. & mine's anniversary (6 years - even prisoners get time off for good behavior, but no such luck for my dear wife), we took the opportunity to leave the kiddies in my parent's trusty hands for a few days. After my session was done, we hit the road for Washington, DC and a chance to see some friends. The driving was a little hairy given the storm that blew through, but we made it OK. I have to admit that I'm always surprised driving through new parts of the US. This is a northeasterner's (and mostly a New Yorker's) bias, but I always equate states with the parts I've been through.
The only parts of Maryland I had seen were the highway and the DC suburbs; ergo, the whole state is suburban. I was greatly surprised to find out that everything between the resort area of the coast and the DC area is farmland. Once again, a road trip can teach you a lot about America. Which is a good thing.
