View source for June 2012/Jun 29th

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{{bheadernew|June 29th|http://ronware.org/devar/huqat5772.pdf}}

Hi, again!

I'm writing to you from the Exile this week.  After a whirlwind of activity getting prepared to leave for the US, I sent Sarah off on Sunday and followed her on Tuesday.  A long flight, and an extremely long day!  But, B"H!, we all made it safely to our destination, Baltimore.  I am writing this in the morning, before people have started calling and moving around and making plans; I don't think I'll have time later on to write it.

Esther's been going crazy, trying to keep her daughter sane.  The daughter getting married, that is.  There seems to be an unending stream of demands and desires and things that have to be done.  I know there's no parallel, but when Esther and I got married (all three times, in fact!) it was much easier.  And a lot less expensive.  But we only had our own needs and expectations to uphold, whereas Daniela has an entire other family to satisfy as well.  So, we are looking forward to the final result of all these preparations, and only wish our daughter and new son-in-law the very best of all there is.

Sarah didn't come directly to Baltimore, but went to visit her friend in Philadelphia first.  Her grandpa picked her up at JFK since he came in then as well, but they subsequently got lost and ended up taking four hours to make an hour and a half trip.  Fortunately, Sarah ended up at her friend's place safe and sound, and grandpa made it to his interim destination as well.  All's well that ends well!

Amongst other things, I managed to produce another version of [[zemanim]], this one includes a built-in Hebrew calendar, as well as a "prayer direction compass".  I'm not sure how I found the time to finish it off, honestly.  At work one of the guys wanted to give me a "tablet" computer so I could keep in touch... I gave him a basilisk glare and informed him I would be incommunicado.

Next week, before the wedding, most of our family will be gathered here.  It's been a long time since we've seen each other, we're looking forward to getting together and taking compromising photos.  I'm sure there will be entertaining stories to relate afterwards.  Probably I won't be able to tell them to you, but you can imagine.

This ''shabbat'' we are having all our meals out.  Jeremy's grandmother is having the entire clan (including us) over for dinner.  The next day is Jeremy's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufruf ''aufruf''], so there will be a ''kiddush'' at their ''shul'', and (apparently) lunch at his parents' house.  It will be a lot of walking in the 38C weather (50% humidity, chance of thunderstorms).  We're used to the 38C part (well, 34C anyway) but the 50% humidity will be a challenge.  No matter, we're desert dwellers at this point, and Israelis; we'll tough it out.

Yesterday we took a trip to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cryptologic_Museum National Cryptologic Museum] near Fort Mead, MD.  It was really interesting to Jeremy and me, and I think everyone found it at least somewhat interesting.  It helps to be technically inclined if you do go there -- cryptology is not everyone's cup of tea.  Still, it was interesting and it was free and it was not far away -- what's not to like?

This coming week is the Big Event, and it promises to be an even more hectic week than this was.  So I hope you'll stay tuned, I plan on having at leas a picture or two to post and perhaps some entertaining stories to tell.


Until next week,<br>
''shabbat shalom''

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