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Between work and work, we spent our days this week mostly just working (or, in Sarah’s case, going to school).  That’s not such a bad thing, but it does mean we’re all pretty tired.

Esther’s work as a tax-accountant is very detail-oriented, and she enjoys digging into numbers.  So fortunately for her, that’s what her job is all about.  Except when it has to do with dealing with her boss’s clients, many of whom seem to think it’s the accountant’s job to wade through piles of unorganized paperwork.  I feel her pain…

My work-effort this week was split between finishing a client’s project (“you’re ''amazing''!”) and fishing for new prospects.  I’m sending feelers out to around 20 companies a day, split between Israel, the US, Canada and Germany.  I’m hopeful we’ll get some “bites” pretty soon; if not, I can always sell falafel.  

Some stuff:
* Sanders is [http://www.timesofisrael.com/seven-times-worse-than-hamas-bernie-sanders-by-the-numbers/ seven times worse than Hamas].
* And he is [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/04/05/9-things-bernie-sanders-shouldve-known-about-but-didnt-in-that-daily-news-interview/?postshare=5161459873875940&tid=ss_fb woefully unprepared] to be President (or Senator, for that matter).  What the hell’s going on in the US?
* Is Microsoft ''really'' [http://www.infoworld.com/article/3050845/microsoft-windows/microsoft-embraces-linux-way-too-late.html embracing Linux]?
* Having problems putting on ''tefillin'' in the morning?  You ''could'' buy [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210422#.VwTmltx95hE the Tefillin Jacket].  Or you ''could'' just not wear a jacket, Bobo!
* My next job: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/04/american-man-with-great-acrobatic-skill-becomes-japans-first-pai/ foreign ninja].  I could’a been a contender.

Our Indian counterparts are doing ''something'', but they haven’t told us exactly what that something might be.  From our system logs, we see activity in terms of their employees downloading our product (which I assume means they’re training on it).  And I have seen a few other Indians (unrelated to our counterparts) downloading as well, apparently in response to our counterparts’ activities.  So we’re hoping things are ramping up over there.  Soon.

While performing my “cold-call” work, going through business listings, I found that there are interesting differences between countries.  For example, Germany apparently has very lax restrictions on pornography.  So in my search for partner/client companies, I was a bit surprised by what showed up when I clicked on a seemingly innocuous business title.  Just so you know.

And it was also interesting to me that the Canadian and German company web-sites seem mostly to be of the “old style”, like I had written back in the 1990’s.  Whereas the US and Israeli sites seem mostly to be the “modern” style.  I don’t know what to attribute that to, but I did find it interesting.

Esther was ''very'' happy to be able meet with our Rebbetzin (from the Olde Country) in Jerusalem for a pleasant lunch outing.  I wasn’t invited, which undoubtedly improved the pleasantness of the lunch…

I ''love'' olives, but the olive trees don’t love me (or Sarah).  The trees are blooming and spreading their contagion (pollen) everywhere, and neither I nor Sarah can breathe.  Lucky for us, we have two olive trees blooming right outside our front door.  Ugggh!  Antihistamines are not working all that well for either of us.

This ''shabbat'' also marks the beginning of the month of ''nisan'', the season of our redemption.  It’s just two more weeks until ''pesaḥ''!  So far, we’ve managed to equip ourselves with meat, but we still need to top off our wine supply and get a lot of vegetables.  The “week of”, we’ll make a trip to the ''shuq'' and restock our veggie supply.  In the meantime, we’re in eat-all-the-''ḥameṣ'' mode.

Just us and RivQua this ''shabbat'', as far as we know.  We’ll serve up:<br>
veggie soup,
oven-fried chicken,
oven-fried potatoes,
stuffed veggies,
''taboule'' salad,
beet salad,
cabbage salad,
veggie stew,
rice,
and something sweet.


Until next time,<br>
''shabbat shalom'' and ''ḥodesh tov''!

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