devarim

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I had a cavity filled this afternoon in a lower molar (#19, for those of you who know the system). Because of the tooth's location, my dentist had to inject the anesthetic fairly low and far back, resulting in the numbing of not only my tongue and lower lip (and the tooth, of course), but also part of my throat on one side. ow that I'm home, I'm trying to decide which...

Today put on my best pinch-hitter hat and I helped out in our shul office for a couple of hours, mainly answering phones. And damned if I didn't almost-say "Hello! Young Israel of Cornell - how may I help you?" when I picked up the phone. Every. Single. Time. But only almost. I'm sure it would have been very confusing for the guy calling about minyanim in the greater Boston area to...

Hey, at least I can admit that I'm writing crap, right? This morning, shotly after I woke up, I read that Saddam Hussein had been sentenced to death by hanging. Perfect! I thought. Now I can do a whole weighty blog post about the death penalty in general, and this sentence in particular. Alas, no. Instead I shall complain about the lousy options for endtables and coffee tables (which are apparently properly...

I can't start every post this month with "Oh crap what did I get myself into?" - can I? But, really, I feel like I have nothing to say. Except...I am very, very, very grateful for our dishwasher. I made a North Indian vegetarian (mostly vegan, actually) mini-feast for dinner his past Shabbat, and nearly every dairy pot and pan in the kitchen has something adhering to the interior. (It perhaps would...

What did I discover tonight, after four years of marriage and another four years of dating prior to that? That my husband doesn't like stew. The foodstuff, I mean: the liquidy dish with meat and potatoes and vegetables. Not to be confused with any persons by the name of "Stewart," who, in my experience, at least, tend to be nice guys with whom Julian gets along just fine. No, I mean the...

There's been a Columbine-style threat at my sister's high school for tomorrow, November 1. There is, supposedly, a list of names (i.e., targets) floating around, and a rumor of gang involvement from elsewhere on the Island. My sister, her friends, a whole bunch of other students, and an even larger bunch of parents are (understandably) freaked out, but the school and the district - while taking appropriate steps to protect themselves and...

This time I have an excuse for the absence, I think. Nearly a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, my father has rejoined my mother - physically, in Eretz Yisrael, and, spiritually, in wherever or whatever it is that comes after our time in this world has ended. My sister and I got up from shiva this morning. Donations in memory of Elan Bar-Giora (Elan ben Avraham v'Flora; born: Matityahu Massouriani)...

Happy Anniversary, my love....

We have a nephew! (Julian's sister, not mine. It would be kind of disturbing otherwise.)...

We've lost our permanent guest parking spot. There is now a brand-spanking-new Volvo S40 (tricked out, I might add) parked there. Registered to me. :)...

This morning, I left my cell phone at home. When I try to log into Gmail (or Google Calendar or any of the other associated Google Account services), I get a 404 Not Found messag elike this: Not Found The requested URL /sorry/?continue=http://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin%3Fservice%3Dmail%26passive%3Dtrue%26rm%3Dfalse%26continue%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmail.google.com%252Fmail%252F%253Fui%253Dhtml%2526zy%253Dl%26ltmpl%3Dyj_wsad%26ltmplcache%3D2 was not found on this server. When I log into Squirrel Mail to use my @gorfajn.com addresses, the program tells me it can't find my prefs file and so...

...or, I suppose, a tram stranded above the East River. I know everyone's heard the story by now (and if you haven't, well...now you can read it for yourself), but I have yet to come across a treatment of one little twist. In the rescue picture from yesterday's New York Times, Julian and I noticed what looked like two (maybe three) men in Hasidic garb (sect indeterminate) in the rescue basket used...

On Wednesday (tomorrow) morning, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 am, the time and date will be: 01:02:03 04/05/06 (Thank you, ProjGen!)...

Me: [freaking out about something minor] Julian: There's so much negative energy in you. Now if only we could harness it for the good... Me: "There is still good in him, Obi-Wan" - kinda like that? Julian: No, I mean I need a way to convert it to electricity. Me: And solve the energy crisis? Julian: No, just to lower our electric bill. Me: That's selfish. Julian: I'm a child of the...

The irony of having cancelled last night's Tu B'Shevat wine and cheese due to winter weather has not escaped me. If you venture outside today (as I must - no repeat of last year, sadly), be sure to hug a tree!...

Guess what? I'm planning another wine tasting for our shul. This post constitutes my shameless plug for the event. Details below...and if you are local and want to come, please RSVP to the posted email address and not to any of my personal ones. Spring is coming! Sample fruits of the earth and fruits of the vine as you celebrate Tu B'Shevat at a Wine and Cheese Tasting Sunday, February 12, 2006...

It's Shevat! Almost time to hug a tree......

I just IM'd the following to Alisha: i'm tired and cranky and stressed and depressed and my life sucks and i almost gave into the urge to BUY CHALLAH Off to proof the yeast......

Received from a co-worker of mine: my lovely wife, [---], is in need of patients for her new england regional board dentistry exam. she is offering dental work for the low, low cost of zero dollars ($0). all that is required is that you receive a free screening from her at a mutually convenient time and that her needs for her exam match your needs for new teeth and such. please pass...

During 2005, Devarim had... 243 posts published 878 (non-spam) comments posted 172,299 hits 142,383 page views 54,436 site visits 1,366 average unique visitors per month Thanks, guys!...

It's Tevet! And you thought I forgot, aaron, didn't you?...

Nothing of substance - I just thought I'd share with you all a little example of my oblliviousness. Julian and I recently bought elfa closet materials from The Container Store, and have been installing the stuff in the closets in our new home, one by one. Our first experiment was the closet in the TV room - great. Last night we did the coat closet, and I graduated to DrillMaster. Look at...

(A few hours late, but there's a whole week to go, so...) Happy Chanukah! We had a wonderful first night of Chanukah last night, involving much ruining of (other people's) children's dinners with chocolate. I hope everyone else is having a lovely holiday as well....

...and to all, a good night!...

Remember my shock at the thought of Johnny Damon going shaven and shorn? It looks like my fears were well founded. Damn, but he's fugly without all that hair....

So, it looks like Johnny Damon is going to the Yankees. Does this mean he'll have to shave? And cut his hair??...

See update in extended post Yesterday at about noon, Rabbi G sent a message to our synagogue's email list announcing that the eruv would be down for this week. The reason, it seems, is that there are insufficient funds for the Greater Boston Eruv Corporation to check (and, if necessary, repair) the ropes, wires, and other accoutrements that make up our community eruv. From time to time, when money is low, the...

It's Kislev! That means it's almost Chanukah...a time for fried food and gratuitous fire....

It's (almost) Cheshvan! Thank you to Miriam for reminding me (and to aaron for reminding her)....

The good news: it seems I have resolved my crisis of faith. Well, mostly. And probably not in the direction that Stella would have preferred. But there was a revelation, an awakening, an awareness, or at list a glimmer of enlightenment - something that made me realize that it is possible that I maybe do believe in God after all. Of course, that's just putting a positive spin on a terrible experience....

The B.U. extension of the greater Boston eruv is now up. Be sure to read all the notes - it sounds tricky!...

What day of the week is it? Am I supposed to go to work tomorrow? Fast? Do laundry? Not do laundry? Cook for forty people? Build a seven-story condo complex? Any insight would be highly valued!...

Word on the street is that local ice cream chain J. P. Licks is considering disassociating from the Va'ad (i.e. they would no longer be certified kosher). I don't know the reasoning, but we speculate they they want to expand their offerings of non-ice-cream foodstuffs (pastries, breakfast foods, hot drinks, etc.) and limiting themselves to kosher products and ingredients has been a financial and gustatoy hurdle for them. If you have any...

It's amazing how many people come out of the woodwork to call you when you put out a request on the shul's website saying that you don't have a sukkah and would like to be invited out for meals. I felt terrible turning people down once we got "filled up" for in-sukkah yom tov and Shabbat meals, particularly since everyone who called was someone we'd love to spend more time with. I'm...

There was plenty of good food at our Rosh Hashana table this year - but of course nothing goes off without a hitch. Or several....

Once again, am I torn between being grateful that we are permitted to cook on festival days (as opposed to Shabbat, when cooking is forbidden and reheating is tricky) and being somewhat annoyed at myself for using this halachic tidbit to leave so much work over to do on yom tov instead of having it all done before so I could focus a little more on the religious and social aspects of...

There will be much cooking tomorrow in anticipation of Rosh Hashana. And what anticipation it is! Since I'm so short on vacation time, we can't travel to NY and spend the holiday with our families. Instead, we will host a bunch of friends for two of the four holiday meals (dinners/lunches for both first and second days) and look forward to being hosting in other people's homes for the other two meals....

I thought it was bad for my sister when she ended up with my seventh-grade English teacher last year. This year, though, her English teacher is...one of my seventh-grade classmates. Next year she'll be in high school, where my sister-in-law teaches chemistry and one of my close friends (and a bridesmaid in my wedding) teaches English. She's never going to get away with anything. Poor kid. Poor teachers....

Anyone want to feed a lovely blogger and her lovely husband (in the throes of moving) and possibly his lovely parents this coming Shabbat (September 9 and 10)? To clarify, for the smart alecks in the crowd - I'm looking at you, persephone and uberimma - we are in search of local meals hosts. Please. Update: No lovely parents-in-law this weekend. They are still lovely, but they will have to be lovely...

With the help of some terrific friends (thanks, everyone!), we've moved about half of our belongings (including lots of the annoying and heavy stuff, like books) into our new apartment. It's nice to have the move underway, but my back has seen better days....

It is (just barely, okay, maybe I missed it by a few minutes) Rosh Chodesh Elul. A month of reflection, the month of my mother's yahrzeit, and also the month in which we got married....

In possibly the dumbest move of my life, I decided to go leave my car with only half a tank of gas last night, rather than filling up the tank again (I had just done that on Monday). Half a tank is not quite enough gas to get me to and from work today and tomorrow, and due to the holiday weekend coming up, demand was going to be high today even...

I'm too emotionally drained from all I've read and seen to really comment on the Katrina aftermath. Last night on the news here they had a guy standing next to a child (his son I presume) telling the reporter how he was holding his wife's hand through the waves and couldn't hold on any more, and she told him to let go and take care of the kids. And the reporter kept...

...stuck in the middle(sex) with you. (translation: I'm going back to Cambridge for my fall rotation. Yay!)...

Let it be known... Proclaim it far and wide... Declare in every corner of the land... I hate packing. We're moving five blocks away! Why can't this stuff just magically transport itself?...

A little over a month ago, Julian and I closed on a new apartment. The place needed lots of renovations: there was major water damage on the parquet living room floor; similar (minor) damage on the master bedroom floor; hideous carpet over even more hideous fake-wood ceramic tile in the other bedrooms; the same hideous carpet over slightly more palattable but totally impractical marble tile in the hallway; scary-looking floor-to-ceiling mirrors in...

This evening I had my upper left wisdom tooth removed (you know, the other one). The bottom two should be able to stay in. Now that I have two teeth out of my head (and in a small cardboard box on my desk)...maybe I could make a pair of earrings? The big scary roof-of-my-mouth injection didn't hurt as much this time, but the actual tooth-removal was considerably more noticeable while in process,...

It has come to the COR's attention that an unauthorized COR 386 has been put on the following products: * Trader Joe's Chick Peas * Trader Joe's Black Beans * Trader Joe's Red Kidney Beans These products are not kosher supervised. This alert came out on August 8, 2005, and was brought to our attention today. On August 1, 2005, I made a pot of chili using a can of Trader Joe's...

Thanks to the RenReb, all I've been able to think about on Tisha B'Av so far is the imminent disengagement/withdrawl/evacuation/displacement/eviction from Gaza (and four settlements in the northern West Bank). Well, that, and the Holocaust. I've been forcing myself to read through Gilbert's Holocaust whenever my mind wanders. It's not the main point of the day, but I figure it's better than nothing. Back on today's troubles, rather than those of sixty...

Whoops - couldn't post this actually on Rosh Chodesh but - it's Av now....

This time I really am the worst granddaughter ever. I forgot my Grandma's yahrzeit (anniversary of her death, according to the Jewish calendar) yesterday. (Obviously not that grandmother.) Even worse is that I thought about it at mincha (afternoon services) last Shabbat, when we usually say a remembrance prayer for those whose yahrzeits fall in the coming week. I thought of it, then tried to line up the calendar in my head...

So, a day and a half after the tooth-yanking, and I'm in pain. But not pain of the oral variety. Oh no...it's the damn mosquito bites on my feet that will drive me out of my bloody mind before noon....

Thank you for bearing with us during today's technical difficulties. As we get back online, it is my pleasure to tell you that my upper right wisoom tooth (tooth #1) has been moved from my jaw to my pocket. The extraction was a tad more challenging than my dentist expected, but still nothing he couldn't handle. Upon removing the tooth, he said: "Aha! That is a lady's tooth." Why? Because the roots...

This morning we settled on paint colors for our new home. Allow me to present them in a story about our new friend Benjamin Moore: They met in a field of "flowering herbs," her hair golden in the "filtered sunlight." It was not long before he was overcome by "dark gypsy love." She brought him into her boudoir, so different from his "shabby chic" hovel. The sky turned a "starry night blue"...

So if orange is the color of the anti-disengagement camp, and blue is the color of the anti-anti-disengagement camp (because I don't think "pro-disengagement" is the right term)...then what does that mean for Mets fans? I understand the meaning behind the orange-and-blue ribbon that DovBear (our BlogHost) has on his sidebar, but I'm not sure I can get behind it. Just saying "I want all of Israel to be united" won't make...

Well, the bill to extend the tax-free shopping weekend (to rather inconveniently include Tisha B'Av) has been passed. The vote was 145-7, too. I just hope those 145 legislators feel the same way the next time around, given that this won't be doing us much good next month. Boston Globe article link...

Massachusetts has planned a tax-free shopping holiday for Saturday, August 13. In the past, I've been moderately put-out that such days are always on Saturdays, when we (and other shomer Shabbat Jews) cannot shop and therefore cannot participate. So, when I first heard that the Legislature is considering extending the tax breaks for the entire weekend for the explicit purpose of including observant Jews, I was delighted. Until I checked my calendar...

My savta (grandmother) passed away some time in the past several hours. My little sister (who has been in Israel, along with my father, for about a week) called to tell me. The phone rang first around 2:00. Julian picked up; apparently there was no one on the line and so he hung up again, but I knew. When the phone didn't ring again within a couple of minutes, I allowed myself...

This was such a good day. This moring, Julian and I closed on a beautiful three-bedroom condo (don't worry, still in Brookline). We're going to start renovations very soon, and hopefully we'll be in there by the end of the summer. I couldn't wait to get back froom work this evening, pick up some shawarma from Rami's, and eat dinner on our new balcony. Then I got to work and read about...

It's Tammuz. Not our best month, as naomi chana points out. Still, peninah, every rosh chodesh is a mini-holiday....

Does anyone out there know how to fix a pudding that did not sufficiently puddingify (er...set) in the refrigerator overnight? It's already been spooned into serving glasses and it's supposed to be for dinner (er...dessert) tonight. Stupid me for trying too many new recipes in one day, including a recipe involving carmelizing sugar, which I almost always mess up....

My wake-up this morning? Hearing on the radio about "explosions" in London. You know, kind of like when I woke up to the radio news on September 11, 2001, and a panicked woman stading on a rooftop in downtown Manhattan was describing how a plane (only one, then) had just flown into one of the Twin Towers. Before any commentators that morning breathed the word "terrorism," my father was on the phone...

I am overjoyed to announce the engagement of David Levine and Tamar Katz! (not their real names) ...though if you get the joke, you should be able to figure out who really got engaged....

Today, Julian and I (and several other people - not all linked-to here) participated in a great Boston July Fourth tradition. No, we didn't go down to the Charles to hear the Pops play a patriotic medly followed by the coordinated booming and roaring and banging and popping of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture paired with cannon blasts and fireworks. (Duh, check the timestamp.) Rather, this morning we decided to head on down to...

(with apologies to aNYj, who probably thinks this entire story is blasphemous) In my current workplace, we have a shared one-cup-brew Flavia coffee maker. Mid-morning today, I ventured down to the breakroom for a cup, two quarters in hand to feed the machine. Popped in quarter...the machine spit it right back. Popped it in again...rejected again. Flipped the quarter, re-inserted...nope. Tried the other quarter (even though I need fifty cents for a...

About an hour ago, I was drawn out of my chair and onto our balcony by the sound of children? women? chanting and singing in Hebrew. I couldn't quite make out the words, but it sounded vaguely more or less like a kumsitz* so I smiled and bounced happily in the night air for a few moments, called Julian outside, and then bounced some more. I imagined a group of teens getting...

I can't believe it, but at 12:30 A.M. I am making a cheesecake. As in, I am just taking the mixer out at this moment. I am certifiable, I'm sure, but I blame it on the people who commented here....

Am I yotzei Shavu'ot* without cheesecake? I'm making so many other desserts for our party Monday that I'm not sure I'll have time to make it as well, and of everything on the list it is the least party-friendly food. Opinions? I'm serious here. * I have no clue whether that sentence construct is even a little bit passable. I never quite "got" the grammatical aspects of yotzei/motzi bit of halachic discourse....

Whoops. It's now the second day of Sivan. Yay cheesecake!...

Well, according to the quick in-office test, I don't have strep. I do have some nasty allergy complications, and my head still feels like it's stuffed full of cotton, so I've taken the whole day off of work. All that means, of course, is that I'm spending my day doing laundry and washing dishes in between bouts of feeling sorry for myself. At least it's a nice, sunny day, so I can...

...in other words, "Oh no, not again." I think I have strep throat. Culture tomorrow morning. Have I mentioned that I hate using up my sick time, even when I'm actually sick, and even though I derive no benefit from not using it?...

To clarify... I'm not asking for a gift of any sort. I'm just lamenting the current state of my Scotch collection. My friends have good taste and keep cleaning me out of the good stuff. Just in case you have $50-$70 burning a hole in your pocket, and have an incontrovertable desire to buy me something, I am either out of or almost out of the following Scotches: Lagavulin Talisker Dalwhinnie Glendronach...

Update - 24 May: Things appear to be in working order. For now. The Gmail monster is eating my love letters. Until further notice, if you are sending an email to my Gmail address, please also send a copy to my old BU address, but put in @gorfajn.com instead of the @bu.edu part. If oyu don't have the BU address, send it to my blog/spam address and hopefully I'll see it. If...

I spoke too soon. Four cavities. Four! I guess the single, solitary cavity that was discovered when I was nienteen was starting to get lonely in there....

I just came home from a lovely dinner with naomi chana and elf, after which I had a terrific time getting only a little bit lost in Cambridge while dropping people off. I strongly encourage everyone else to go meet up with imaginary friends; it's fun!...

I haven't been to a dentist for a cleaning and checkup in...a really long time. Let's just say that, until a few minutes ago, I didn't have a local (to Boston) dentist. I called up Julian's dentist's office, hoping that he could take a new patient and figuring I'd have to wait two or three months for an appointment. Good news: he's seeing new patients. Better news: they have a cancellation. For...

Inspired by an Indian-themed potluck for Shabbat dinner and a last-minute Quince de Mayo celebration last night (like Cinco de Mayo, but ten days later), Avi (a/k/a avtherav) helped us come up with some lovely food-centered names for our future children. World, prepare to meet: Biryani, Ghee, Cilantro, and Raita Giora Gorfajn. In case you can't tell, the oldest and youngest are girls, and the middle two are boys. It's actually kind...

I opted into this meme from Stella's blog (on the earlier April 28 entry). She asked me five questions that I have to answer on my blog; the first five people who request it (either in the comments to this post, or via email) will receive five questions each from me, which they must then respond to on their own blogs. And so on. (It only took me two weeks of on-and-off...

It's Iyar. The month of Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzma'ut (Independence Day), Lag BaOmer (er....bonfire and haircut day?), and Yom Yerushalayim (should be self-explanatory). Also, my sister's birthday (17 Iyar). Yippee!...

Today is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). I have neither the time nor the mental energy to blog at length about it, but since I nearly forgot myself, I thought I'd toss up the reminder for my readers. If you do nothing else, grab a paperclip and put it on for the rest of the day. I just did....

Julian shaved off his beard today. He insists that he wasn't inspired by Ari B.'s dad. To be fair, we were discussing this idea for the past couple of weeks. The presence of facial hair is about two years old (post-wedding) and it's likely to reappear at some point in the future, but for now, I like my babyface just the way he is. Hey, at least he didn't nuke his hand...

For those celebrating Pesach, I wish you all a chag same'ach (happy holiday). I presume you can take care of the kasher part yourselves. Also, Shabbat shalom!...

My husband is wonderful. He already did well more than his share of Pesach preparations (and "his share" was origianlly considered half, not 5%), and is doing yet more while I sit here at work, idly thumbing through case files and conducting some leisurely legal research. That's on top of his also going to work today (and let's not forget that it's his income that really supports us) and probably running himself...

*pant* *pant* I'm a little late. Sorry. It's Nisan. Where did that come from?...

No more confusion. God has it all straightened out now. The Yankees won the season opener against the Red Sox, and all is right with the world....

Many thanks to everyone who directed prayers and good wishes in the direction of my friend. Thank God, all problematic growths were removed without incident, and the biopsies thereof came back clear. [Yes, I removed the identity of the person in question. I decided that even though everything is okay, it was still too much of an invasion of hir privacy.]...

Remember that inspirational conversation I had toward the end of Shabbat? I was supposed to make a follow-up phone call to someone about it last night at about 8:00. We went out to dinner at 7:15, which should have been fine. We saw a couple of friends walk in a few minutes later, and invited them to join us at our table. Still fine, and now a little more fun. We ended...

I don't really want to go into details at the moment, but yesterday I was thoroughly invigorated by a discussion regarding women's roles in our community. This took place during/after a women's and girls' Shushan Purim learning "event" in a community member's home. There are promises of good things to come, I think, but in the meantime I think I've been signed up to lein one chapter of Shir Hashirim (a/k/a the...

Gold star to the first person to name the song I'm channeling without resorting to a search engine... ...and persephone gets the Update: The Renegade Rebbetzin just posted about a new blog called Shomer Negiah. -=- This post on Bloghead reminded me that I've been meaning for quite some time to talk about the whole shomer negiah issue.* For the uninitiated/unaware, the brief explanation is that the rules of negiah prohibit physical...

Um, God? You're supposed to do the Purim shpiel tomorrow!...

Today would have been my mother's [number omitted]th birthday. Much love, and I miss you. In other news, I went to this today. More on that tomorrow, I think. I'm too tired to write comprehensively or coherently at the moment, but I have a lot to say....

the Eyes of Marge (yes, I know I missed pi-day...sorry)...

Anyone reading now...please say tehillim or daven for the health of _____. For reasons of privacy, I can't really tell you for whom you are davening, but I'm sure if you tell God that Shanna asked you to do it, S/He will direct the kavana (intention) appropriately....

Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b'simcha!...

Thanks in part to a conversation with roommate-of-Ari B. (who shall remain unnamed until and unless he gives me permission to use his name), I've decided that I need to work at least daily one Amidah into my (quite sparse) tefillah plan. At the moment, on Sunday through Friday mornings I daven: asher yotzar (because I almost always forget throughout the day); birchot hatorah (and accompanying passages); elohai neshama; the fifteen blessings...

If you're as anal as I am when it comes to menu-planning, it is generally a bad idea to invite people for Shabbat lunch over email, because they never write back, and you can't really call them until forty-eight hours have elapsed from the initial email. At this point, we're looking at a meal of as few as three people or as many as eleven... (I hope Alisha likes leftovers.)...

Update on March 8: I liked this comment to a MOChassid post so much that I wanted to make sure y'all would see it, too. Update on March 2: This says more or less what I was trying to say, only better (though I would not endorse the boycott, if such an endoresement were still relevant). Thanks to DovBear by way of MOChassid, even though the latter thinks these reasons are silly....

It seems that with the merger of Federated (owner of Macy's) and May (owner of Filene's), most May stores are set to be re-branded as Macy's. For most of the country this isn't a big deal, because supposedly there is little overlap in regional competition between Federated and May. But here in the Northeast, both companies' stores are all over the place...and nowhere is that clearer than at Boston's Downtown Crossing, where...

I've been quiet recently, and when I've blogged I haven't said much of merit. I apologize to you, my readers. A lot of my spare time in these past few weeks has been taken up by the project, which is set to launch next week. If you're a relatively new reader, feel free to dig through the archives (and comment on old posts, because comments are always open). I promise I'll be...

You may have noticed that this site was down for much of the day yesterday, and that my referrers list is pretty much empty at the moment. This is all because the Great and Wonderful Sysadmin (read: Julian) moved us over to a new server. Or redid the server. Or something involving a server. Don't ask me, I'm just the lawyer....

Update: I have strep throat. Yay penicillin! Just to keep everyone posted... Monday evening: headache and nausea, mild sore throat Late Monday night: fever developed (didn't take temperature) Tuesday morning: felt mostly better after 4:00 AM Tylenol dosage; went to work one hour late Tuesday: progressively more miserable during the day, including muscle cramps and returning low-grade fever; popped Tylenol like candy Tuesday evening: stupidly went out with some colleagues and judges;...

The good news is...it wasn't the caffeine. The bad news is...I know it wasn't the caffeine because I developed a fever in the middle of the night. Of course, I felt well enough in the morning to go to work, but now that I'm here I'm starting to wish I'd stayed in bed....

About five minutes after I got home this evening, I developed a raging headache. Then my stomach developed new and creative forms of protest. (No, not of the vomiting variety.) Since I refuse to be sick, I can only blame the large (for me) dose of caffeine that I consumed after work. The responsibility for that lies with Shmuel. Oh, come on, don't cry. The conversation was worth it!...

Ah, Superbowl Sunday. Best commercial of the night by far: FedEx-Kinko's ten-point checklist. It is the one by which all others are to be judged (literally). In fact, we all sat around ticking off things like "attractive female" and "cute animal" during the other commercials. Whoever dreamed up that FE-K spot, and particularly whoever placed it near the start of the game: you are a genius. This morning I learned that negative...

Julian and I went suit shopping today...for him. After much digging-through at Filene's Basement and a quick turn through DSW, we came home with two fairly nice suits, a dress shirt, four ties, and a pair of burgundy dress shoes. (And a pair of Tevas for me.) The best buy of the day was a brown suit with olive undertones, which we both really liked. Once we got it home, though, we...

Hashekadiah porachat Veshemesh paz zorachat Tzipporim m'rosh kol gag Mevasrot et bo hachag Tu B'Shevat higiyah Chag ha'ilanot... Tu B'Shevat higiyah Chag ha'ilanot!...

I still think snow is pretty and magical, but this is a bit excessive. The view from our balcony:...

Don't get your hopes up; it's not a long, thoughtful essay detailing my thoughts on the subject (which are probably more complicated than most of you think). This is just a brief public service announcement: If you are local (to me, obviously) and interested in an all-women, Carlebach-style, non-minyan, Friday night (kabbalat Shabbat and ma'ariv) davening that may or may not occur on a monthly basis, please email me and let me...

It's Shevat!...

Since it looks like that fabled weekend update is not happening any time soon, I want to at least put this out there. When we last went to New York (December 25-26), I dug up my old Nintendo...the original mid-1980s NES. I have only four games (five, if you count Duck Hunt), but the machine in all its retro glory will soon find a new home under our living room television. In...

If you want to see pictures of last weekend's wine and cheese tasting, they're available here....

The event was a success. There were fifty-two people there, fifty-three counting Rabbi G (who stopped by to shmooze but didn't really partake and of course wasn't charged), comprising a nice mix of singles, young couples, and grown-ups. I'm not quite sure whether that's more or fewer than firty-five people, but it's a lot, and that's cool. Of course, we ran out of some things (OK, we ran out of everything except...

Well, technically, the pain is in the small of my back, but that's too low down to be a pain in the neck and "pain in the small of the back" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Last night I carried a very overloaded backpack around the block to our shul, full of stuff needed for this weekend's wine tasting that had not been brought over Wednesday night (either because...

We're up to twenty-seven RSVPs for the wine and cheese tasting tomorrow night, or twenty-nine people counting Julian and me. Jabbett, our fearless programming director, and his wife skabbett procured only thirty wine glasses on their impromptu purchasing adventure a few weeks ago. At the time, I thought thirty glasses were far too many, that the skjabbetts (I just invented that) had wasted money and that I'd have to hide half the...

I'm having major anxiety about the wine and cheese event that I'm coordinating for our shul. I haven't finished writing up the pamphlets with all the information on each wine and cheese. I haven't made up the little cards people fill out to say they're interested in future events. (Those two things both neeed to be sent out for copying, so I have to finish them tonight.) We don't have serving platters...

We didn't quite make the December 31 tax deadline, but today we finally got around to finishing up the charitable contributions for last year's income (calculated from one Rosh Hashana to the next). Our list, in case you are looking for ideas (alphabetical order, amounts omitted): American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee South Asia Tsunami Relief Fund Congregation Ramath Orah Cornell Jewish Life Fund Drisha Institute for Jewish Education Kehillat Orach Eliezer The...

...and I just noticed that Shmuel wished me a happy birthday on his blog. I should keep up with everyone else at least as often as I keep up with myself. (To be fair, numerous other people wished me well in the general vicinity of my birthday, either by phone, via email, through the mail, or in person. This may be my first-ever blog shoutout, though, not counting reposted comments on the...

Friday night we had a combination birthday party/oneg Shabbat/random drinking of champagne at some time approximating midnight. It was fun, although I (predictably) dozed off on the futon around 1:15, when we were down to only two guests (out of a starting number around twenty). Amazingly enough, I was wide awake at 7:25 AM on Saturday and made it to shul by 8:05 for the rabbi's Hilchot Shabbat class. This week we...

Shmuel, Miriam, Josh, Michelle, and anyone else whose comments have recently been tagged as spam (and therefore not posted until I manually approved them): I'm sorry. The spam filter isn't perfect. It seems to train well, though, so as long as y'all keep on commenting, it will keep on learning....

No, I don't celebrate Christmas (and I'll save my "Happy Holidays" rant for next year), but this Straight Dope answer manages to warm my heart every December....

My Birthday Phase has begun. This year's Birthday Phase started about half an hour ago and runs through 11:59:59 PM on December 31, 2004. Woo!...

In an effort to reconnect with my Mizrachi (Persian) roots (you never could tell by looking at me, could you?), I decided that I wanted to make a slow-cooked chicken for Shabbat lunch this week, stuffed with dried fruit, surrounded by chickpeas, sweet potatoes and garlic, and resting on a bed of basmati rice. The chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and garlic cloves are probably less than authentic, but I wanted to get a...

If I bite my nails, am I breaking my fast?...

My head is going to explode. Please, people, for the love of all that is good and right in the world, stop abusing this poor word. "Literally" means just that: by the word, by its strict definition, without any implied metaphor. When you say, "My heart was literally broken," (as I read in a New York Times article today) or, "I literally died laughing," you sound like an uneducated moron. Unless, of...

Shabbat really was delightful (and, for the record, we went through two whole bottles of wine plus three-quarters of the dessert wine on Friday night), but my throat started bothering me on Saturday, and by yesterday afternoon, I was full-blown sick. I'm blaming it on Alisha. Even though I'm feeling a little bit better today (after spending most of yesterday afternoon and evening watching TV and eating chicken soup in bed), I'm...

(trans. "she gets up while it is still night" Proverbs 31:15) Somehow, I get the feeling that when Kiing Solomon wrote those words, he didn't mean "...so that she could catch the T to get to work on time." Granted, today is Friday and so my early-morning activities included putting up the soup and cholent for Shabbat, but I still find it distasteful to take my shower before sunrise every single weekday....

One of my closest friends from college and her husband are going to be in town this weekend...they are considering moving to our area and want to check out the local Jewish community. We're having them over for dessert on Friday night (maybe) and Shabbat afternoon for lunch. Yay!!! In honor of the occasion, we are making a meat-based cholent in our first slow-cooker. The new one (which should remain pareve) will...

We decided last week (after, quite literally, years of discussion) to make our repaired six-quart slow-cooker meat. It has been very convenient to use for soups (and for hot water when we had no urn), but pareve cholent offers limited satisfaction to non-vegetarians on cold winter Shabbat afternoons. Yesterday I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy a second slow-cooker, because (1) I can't imagine living without a pareve one for...

It seems we have a dishwasher. Several years ago, Julian heard from a friend who had asked our shul's rabbi about kashering a dishwasher that it was not permitted to do so, even with new racks. We had also heard, from alternate sources, that it was permissible to use a formerly treif dishwasher, but that the kashering process involved getting new racks...a nearly impossible feat for the old-model, under-the-sink machine that came...

Yay! I finally decided to investigate the "module" concept on Movable Type. I know the pages look the same to y'all, but I promise you: the templates are different. My (blogging) life will be much easier now....

I just reread my three most recent entries. I sound so damn frum!...

On several occasions, I have wished that I chose to make this blog anonymous, so that I could rail against people who piss me off or rant about lousy situations I've gotten myself into with friends and relatives. Then I stop to thank God for allowing me to develop my views on anonymity (I don't like it), because it prevents me from committing a hell of a lot of lashon hara (gossip/evil...

We're coming up on the end of the U.S. tax year: a good time to make sure you've given an appropriate amount of tzedaka (charity) this year. Actually, from the Jewish perspective, I think a good time would be right after Rosh Hashana, so that you can make sure you've given an adequate amount (by your own standards, whatever the may be) and make up for any shortfall before Yom Kippur. We're...

There are a bunch of firetrucks and police cars parked on the street behind the field behind our building (did you follow that?)...they've been there for at least 45 minutes, maybe longer, and I'm not entirely sure why. We smelled something burning on our way back into the building around 12:30 (after pizza and candlepin bowling--fun!) but nothing too strong, and I saw neither flames nor smoke once we got upstairs. I...

I've been hit by a lot of spam over the past few months. I installed a Bayesian filter a little while ago, and have spent the past couple of months training it. It's pretty accurate now, so I finally added the screen-out tags to my templates. This is mostly good news, since I can let the spammy comments sit for a while and no one (including webcrawlers) will see them. The bad...

In honor of Grandpa's yahrzeit, I think everyone should read this again....

I've cleaned up the sidebar a little bit and finally added a link to Boston Common, the local metablog, in honor of my blog information finally being updated in the BC database. Thank you, Adam!...

It seems I have a problem with dates. At first I thought it was just birthdays. I would remember a friend's birthday for about a month leading up to it...since most of my friends are not card people, and since I (as a general rule) don't do birthday gifts, this means that for thirty days or so, at least five times a day, I'll think to myself, "I have to remember to...

Thirty days until the end of my first quarter-century. I can't tell whether that makes me feel old or young....

Rather, a Julie. I mean, obviously we knew someone was The Voice of Amtrak (our constant companion during the years when I lived in New York and Julian was up here near Boston), but I guess I never thought that her name actually was "Julie" (as she claimed). It seemed somehow made-up, a generic but not boring name chosen to please the masses. Personally, I always found her annoying. I prefer the...

I am truly insane. I woke up at 5:20 this morning so I could go shopping at Filene's before work....

I keep saying to myself that I'm going to start posting to the blog again when I can get my act together enough to catch y'all up on my life. Come on, we know that's never going to happen. I hereby declare the last week and a half (give or take) never to have happened. Except for the good stuff, of course....

This blog has moved to http://www.devarim.com/. Please edit your bookmarks appropriately. If you are linking to this blog from another site, please use the following link: http://home.devarim.com:443/....

Also, I am officially no longer watching The West Wing. It just sucks too much now. I may catch glimpses here and there, and I will almost certainly keep up with the TWoP recaps, but that's only because they are hilarious no matter what....

Mashiach showed up last night and put out a request for contractor bids on the Third Temple. (Congrats, guys. I hope Kenmore Square is still standing. Your fans haven't quite figured out the difference between "celebration" and "mayhem.")...

The New York City subway system turns 100 today. At 2:35 P.M. precisely, as a matter of fact. I would send a cake, but that's a whole hell of a lot of candles to light up in the tunnels....

Year The Curse took effect: 1918* Years since The Curse took effect: 86 Last year the Red Sox were in the World Series: 1986 Years since the Red Sox were in the World Series: 18 Coincidence? *OK, arguably The Curse didn't take effect until 1920, but 1918 is the last time the Red Sox won a World Series. I'm going with that, and just claiming that the Power of the Curse was...

Remember me to Tee Fee Crane Tell all the pikers on the Hill That I'll be back again Tell them just how I busted Lappin' up the high hi-ball We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall! (...or, y'know, tonight)...

There must be an explanation for this. Possibilities: God is no longer a Yankees fan; God is still a Yankees fan, but is showing us some tough love; or, more specifically... God is still a Yankees fan, but realized that Yankees fans have finally become more obnoxious than Red Sox fans (have we? I don't recall tipping over any cars after a football game while shouting "Red Sucks!") and therefore is trying...

Could someone verify that in addition to all the other records broken, the Sox and the Yankees have now broken the record for most records broken in an ALCS? Also, R&E, I'm expecting a basket of fruit. Enjoy tonight's game....

God is a Yankees fan. You see, I had this little dilemma about tonight. Of course I wanted to watch the game...but our synagogue is starting its "semester" of classes, and I wanted to try out the beginner's Talmud class, which meets Tuesday evenings (starting today). Well, the wife of the guy who is teaching the class just had a baby, so we're not starting tonight. Thanks, God. Of course, now I...

And it damn well took them long enough too. Now, let's get this straight. Yanks, you win tomorrow night...in nine innings. No more playing nice, got it?...

This ridiculously long game is my fault. God is punishing me for my heresy of last night. Did you really think that God wasn't a Yankees fan?...

Baseball has nine innings. Nine!...

It's 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth, two outs. Please, someone win before the end of the ninth. Please. I can't do this again. (Yes, I realize it's only 8:45. Still.)...

Still on last night...as we parked the car before dinner (yes, we went out to dinner), we saw a squirrel trapped in a shoe store. The poor little guy (girl?) was dashing frantically among the boots, scratching at the glass in the front window and sniffing at the crack near the door. I wrote a note to the store employees and slipped it through said door crack, alerting them to the squirrel's...

Late yesterday afternoon, Julian and I were arguing about whether and where to go for dinner before driving back home from New York. We finally decided to pull over to discuss this (OK, OK...he insisted that I pull over). Turns out the people I stopped behind had a dead battery in their car and needed a jump. Luckily for them, we have jumper cables in our car. Ten minutes later, their engine...

The craziest thing happened last night: I started rooting for the Red Sox. Not just rooting for them, but actually praying. (Actual text of prayer: God, please make the Sox win just this game. And maybe tomorrow's. Not Game Six, though, because the West Wing season premiere is on Wednesday. Also, because I still love the Yankees. Thanks.) Don't get me wrong; I'm still a hard-nosed New Yorker are heart. Still...that was...

An article in today's New York Times (free registration required) describes a subcutaneous information chip that would hold an identification number, allowing emergency medical personnel to look up a patient's vital health information (blood type, allergies, etc.). I think I'm in the camp of people who find that a little too Big-Brother-ish for my tastes, but that's not my question. My question is: Is it halachicly acceptable to have such a chip...

Really, people. Quit your bitching. He started it. Besides, I have little tolerance for sports fans who complain about respect and then go on to shout "Yankees suck!" at a football game....

Well, the seventh and eighth innings were fun to watch. We all knew how it was going to end, and by the ninth I just wanted the Yankees to get it over with quickly. And they did. Thanks, guys, for not keeping me up too late last night....

Now it gets interesting. Or, as Julian put it: Why do they always have to have men on first and third with two outs?...

So, about half an inning ago, I told Julian that I was just going to shut the game off and go to bed. I mean, 8-0 Yanks, what's to talk about? Aside from the appearance that the Sox completely forgot how to play baseball. Anyway, seventh inning? This is starting to scare me. Five runs? Ouch. I have faith in The Curse....

I realize that by saying this, I will almost certainly attract a multitude of bad thoughts (to put it kindly) from my local readers. Still... GO YANKEES!...

I'd buy me a closet. I just came across this article. It appeared in the Boston Globe's Sunday magazine about a month ago. Apparently an outdated two-bedroom ranch in our town recently sold for a million dollars. That isn't really a shock to me anymore; we've been poking around in open houses (apartments only), mainly out of curiosity. I know that half a million around here buys you next to nothing. Still,...

The chaggim are over. Even though I love holidays, three sets of three-day yom tovim in the space of four weeks is enough to drive anyone nuts. A few interesting things happened in this latest set. Our friend Josh decided at the last minute (that is, Tuesday evening) to come and spend the holiday and weekend with us. Yay! Well, had to call our various meal hosts and get him squeezed in,...

I just cancelled my membership to most of the online boards I've been participating in recently. I feel cleansed. I didn't like the way my life went when I was checking them obsessively, and I didn't like the person I was when I was posting. If you're from one of those places and you miss me for whatever reason, email or IM is fine. I do want to stay in touch with...

I may be crazy...but I love the weather. Tomorrow? Not going to be above 15 degrees Celsius (55-ish Fahrenheit)--and I couldn't be happier. I realize that most of my friends don't share this sentiment. My husband most certainly doesn't. (This year's Battle of the Open/Shut Windows has been raging for at least a week already.) Still, I am so happy to be wearing a sweater under my suit tomorrow, and maybe even...

When Harry Met Sally... is on Bravo. Twice in a row. Julian is great....

I woke up this morning to what the meteorologists among us would describe as "fog." My first thought upon opening my eyes, though, was: "Looks like God is making the rounds for Erev Yom Kippur."...

Yes, I owe you a longer entry. Sorry. Busy. Here's the quick-and-dirty, with promises of things to come:The MBTA sucks; the Green line especially, and government Center station most especially. I owe this person an explanation behind my not covering my hair. It's coming, I promise. For the record, I now cover my hair on the way to work as well. We have an urn. It's the pump-pot kind, with a plain...

Z, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry. I tried to post a comment in your blog and couldn't. I lost my mother right around this time of year ten years ago; it's never easy, but this season is particularly difficult. My heart goes out to you. HaMakom yenacheim et'chem b'toch sh'ar avei'lei Tzion v'Yerushalayim...

Forget this blow-drying business. Today I embrace my natural curliness....

Let's get this straight. Please. Words have gender. People have sex. Yes, there's a double entendre in there. Sue me if you don't like it. The point remains. When you get an ultrasound to find out if your fetus is a boy or a girl, you are finding out the baby's sex. When you, a man, talk about your relationships with women, you are discussing the opposite sex. When you decide whether...

Someone sent me a gmail invitation a couple of days ago. I've had the Create An Account window open since then, unable to complete the form, because I can't seem to pick a name. My usual handle is two short (four characters). My six-character-minimum variation on that handle won't work, because it includes a dash. My first name is already taken. I don't want to associate my last name (or any portion...

The exchange this morning before Julian left for work: Him: What's your plan for today? Me: No plan. Just a day.Ahhhhhhhhhh........

Julian, my husband and resident electric device expert (it helps that he has two degrees in electrical engineering*) tried to fix our broken hot water urn and slow cooker today. He was successful as to the slow cooker; we are doing some test runs with the crock full of water, and so far things appear to be heating up properly without overheating. The damage seems to have been due to water corrosion,...

This is my last at-home, relaxing Friday for a long, long time. We'll be visiting family next Shabbat, and after that, I start work. I'm trying to strike a balance between savoring the freedom and getting everything done (laundry, cleaning, food) in a reasonable manner before our dinner guests get here. In other news, we just returned from a five-day vacation in Montreal. Next week I'll post details about that, including restaurant...

Happy anniversary to us!...

Two days ago, a friend returned my wedding veil to me. I'd lent it to her for her wedding over a year ago, but there was really no rush in getting it back. It's not like I planned to use it again any time soon, and I had no other friends needing to borrow it. I just spent the past 10 minutes prancing around the apartment with the veil on my head....

I'm stupid. I did a stupid thing. I can't go into details here, but suffice it to say I'm the stupidest idiot to ever walk the face of the earth. Or, at the very least, the stupidest idiot to ever post to this blog. I need to stop trying to be nice....

Turns out Ben and Jerry's is not accepting the coupon--and for good reason. It seems it was supposed to be distributed only to people who participated in a speacil political action program, but since someone(s) let it loose on the general public, the chain isn't honoring it at all. I'm sure the person who sent it to me had no idea. So, I'm mildly grumpy about not getting the free ice cream...

I'm experiencing many of the classic physical and mental effects of stress: insomnia, nightmares, an inability to focus, panic, momentary bodily tremors, and a strange desire to be kidnapped by aliens, anal probe and all. What I have not experienced is "unexpected weight loss." Why can't something good come of all of this? All I'm asking for is five little pounds! I mean, fifteen or twenty would be ideal, but not in...

I donated blood today. Mostly. On a whim, I walked a couple of blocks out of my way after Bar/Bri this afternoon (I went to a make-up session at New England School of Law) and the center had room for drop-ins. Yay. It's been a very long time since I've been able to donate, since more than half the times that I try, my iron is too low. Bah. I've been dutifully...

From Bang It Out's Weekly Bang: Zainy Jewish Fact: July 4th, 1776 was a fast day (Sheva Assar B'Tammuz).... can you imagine the break-fast?...

Our kitchen is cursed. As you may recall, our oven broke. Twice, in fact. Roughly half a year ago, the coffee urn we use to keep water hot for Shabbat also broke. We discovered that one late on a Friday afternoon when, five minutes after plugging it in, it still hadn't made the usual ticking, popping, and simmering noises. We haven't gotten a replacement yet. This time, it was the slow-cooker. Yesterday...

...so it turns out that the hat boxes are a little too short for some of my hats. I still have plenty of not-as-tall hats to fill them with, but if anyone knows where we can get some slightly taller hat boxes, please clue me in....

Julian has taken to buying me hat boxes. Not just any old hat boxes, either. He makes an effort to get lots of different designs and is careful to avoid anything with roses. He's particularly excited about the one he bought with the velvet trim around the cover. I've had to talk him down from getting me anything fully upholstered. I wonder if I can channel this excitement into enthusiasm for further...

In the past two weeks we have purchased ten bottles of Chateau de Paraza on sale at The Butcherie. I figure that if we ever get sick of drinking it, I can use the rest of our stock for cooking only. Also, we (OK, Julian) fixed the oven. Turns out it was just some broken wire, not the entire bottom heating element. One trip to Home Depot and a few minutes of...

I came across this article last night in Haaretz about an Israeli rape crisis hotline and its response to the ongoing (but largely silent) problem of sexual assaults on boys and young men in the Orthodox world. It's worth a read, if you have the time. To the victims, counselors, and other activists I grant a hearty yasher koach--don't let anyone stop you from bringing this issue to the forefront of our...

The Butcherie here in Brookline is selling Chateau de Paraza Minervois, 1997, at two bottles for $10. I'm not sure why; it looks like they have an unexpected overstock. This wine isn't spectacular, but it's better than decent, and when's the last time you saw a better than decent bottle of kosher red wine for five dollars?...

For those of you who don't know this already, now is the time to learn: I am an injury magnet. In the course of the past week, I have managed to: burn the back of my left hand with steam; slice open my left thumb on the blade of our food processor; twisted my ankle out of whack by slipping on a plastic bag (no medical attention required); cut the base of...

Could someone please explain to me why the Kosher Culinary Academy, apparently the only kosher cooking school in the world, admits only men? Well, that's not entirely true. There is a twelve-week "short course" option for women (which they may or may not run again) that is geared toward "students who are competent in a domestic kitchen." Hmmmm....no sexism there, huh? Of course, I know plenty of 18- or 20-year-old women who...

I'm terribly sorry for my extended break from blogging. Batya came to visit for Shavuot (began last Tuesday night) and stayed through yesterday afternoon; before that I was cleaning and cooking and pretending to organize stuff. Ah, who am I kidding? I'm a chronic procrastinator. I'm sure there were plenty of wasted minutes and hours since my last entry during which I could have found time to post a few sentences. Anyway,...

My grandfather's unveiling was this morning. The weather in Netanya was hot, mostly sunny, slightly breezy. Just a few degrees above what I consider comfortable, enough to leave a film of sweat on my back and make me thirsty. Not too humid, though. We started saying Tehillim (Psalms) and about two verses into the first one, I felt a drop of water hit my shoulder. I looked around: no one was washing...

I'm quite certain there were no mosquito bites anywhere on my body when I went to sleep a few hours ago. I woke up around 2 AM with some sort of buzz-detection system going on in my head. If I recall correctly, certain items in my dream needed to be "together," and when they were separated there was this droning sound. Or maybe it was the reverse. Whatever it was, it seemed...

In Israel. All in one piece. Admit it, you worried about me just a little. There will be lots to post when I get back home, I'm sure, but expect the blog to be kind of quiet for the next 10 days or so....

In case you're playing along at home, my bar application is finally ready to be mailed. Unfortunately, Julian is going to have to mail it for me, because... I'm leaving for Israel tomorrow--er, today. Train to NYC at 11 AM, flight from JFK at 11:30 PM. I'll try to update this blog when I get there (Monday afternoon Eastern Daylight Time, Monday evening local time) but no promises. Back to New York...

We're going to ignore how much hell they put my father through at work. Today I read this. It's just such a brilliant idea to deny OTC status for Plan B. Of course making emergency contraception readily available to scared and embarrassed teenagers is just going to make them have more sex, right? We'd best pull the condoms from the shelves and make abortions even harder to get while we're at it....

To the nice woman on the Green Line B this afternoon who handed me a wad of tissues on her way out to the Park Street station, sympathizing with my allergies: thank you. I needed those....

Rabbi Josh Cypess's treatment of the murders in Gaza last weekend is quite insightful as well. It's the May 3 entry, in case you're reading this some time in the distant future....

That was fun. Then I came home and got updated on the news. Too angry to write anything on either topic right now, but for a treatment of today's Israel events, I suggest today's entry in The Land of Oz....

Food made. Clothes packed. Sleep had (though of course not enough, but that was due to insomnia, not unpreparedness). I just have to put stuff in the cooler, change into something halfway-decent to wear to this brit I'm going to on my way out of town, and perhaps burn a few mp3 CDs. There's a lot of driving ahead....

A gallon of chili and four small lasanges now dwell in my freezer. Fourteen loaves of challah are cooling on the table, next to a sticky pan of baklava. There are two pans of cheesecake brownies and a large yerushalmi kugel in the fridge. Two quiches just came out of the oven. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick of cooking....

This Friday I will be leaving for a weekend in the Poconos with 21 other women, many of whom I know only online. It will be only the second weekend since our wedding that Julian and I have spent apart...the first one was also a gathering of online friends, although those of you who know about that one should understand why I want to sort of block it from my mind. Anyway,...

The whole thing started with our frustration with the education system...along with some base desire to shut out the rest of the world....I think we've decided on the Galil. Nice weather most of the year, a little snow in the winter, good vineyards, and lots of trees.

Eat when hungry. Sleep when tired. Laugh all the times in between. I miss you, Neil....