Difference between revisions of "Blog/March 2009/Mar 6th"

Latest revision as of 12:19, 13 March 2009

March 6th (See this week's devar torah)
Send Ron feedback on this blog

Hi again!

This was a crazy week. I was wandering all around the greater Jerusalem area (by foot and by bus); taking care of unemployment benefits, interviewing for jobs, looking for work and helping other people. I had one very good interview which is turning into a second interview next week - so B"H, maybe I'll be employed again soon. In other good news, the Kinneret rose 44cm -- almost half a meter -- just this week! Go, Kinneret!!

How do you get two camels into a Subaru? No, it's not a joke... just part of the funny middle-East. I battled the creeping vines and came out mostly unscathed, but the #$@$ roses are killing me! They fight back.

The global economy is in the toilet, but never fear! The Six-Trillion Dollar Man will save everyone! But (alas!) he is choosing a sidekick for head of the National Intelligence Council (which controls which intelligence information the President of the USA actually sees) -- who is a rabid anti-Semite. Not good. Not good at all.

One of the things about living in the Land that takes some getting used to is just how strong connections are between vendors and their clients. We've been buying our meat from a particular butcher in the Mahane Yehuda shuq. This week we went shopping there, and I decided to go to the guy next door to him, because his prices are better and I'm unemployed. So I got my chickens, and as I'm walking back -- I encounter my regular butcher -- who takes me aside, and asks me, "Why didn't you buy from me? What's the matter? Do you know you were my first customer? How could you do this to me!?! Don't ever, ever, buy from anyone else! If you think my prices are too high, just tell me and I'll give you a discount!". Getting told-off by my butcher was surreal, but then so is life in the Land. It turns out the other guy wasn't any cheaper anyway.

I was asked to translate some instructions from Hebrew to English, for the "Purim baskets" being sent out this coming week from our synagogue. If you ever feel tempted to rely on automatic translations, you might want to reconsider. My friend, the publisher of the most convenient and accurate printed edition of the Mishne Torah available, has convinced me to continue the translation work I started years ago. So B"H, I'll be resuming that work in the next week. Stay tuned for more, later.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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-{{bheader|February 20th|Devar/5769/Terumah}}
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 Hi again!
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 Help [[tsedaka|feed the hungry]] in Israel!
-Last shabbat we had guests from one of the seminaries. They were very nice young ladies; six in all, two of whom stayed with us.  Shabbat day they were supposed to 'trade off', and two others were supposed to come to our place.  However, the weather was ''nasty'' and they got lost on their way to our place ... so they turned around and went back to where they had been staying overnight.  This shabbat we're supposed to have another strong storm (it's already started, and knocked out our power for two and a half hours).
+This was a crazy week.  I was wandering all around the greater Jerusalem area (by foot and by bus); taking care of [[unemployment]] benefits, interviewing for jobs, looking for work and helping other people.  I had one very good interview which is turning into a second interview next week - so B"H, maybe I'll be employed again soon.  In other good news, the Kinneret rose 44cm -- almost half a meter -- just this week!  Go, Kinneret!!
-{{hebs|משנכנס אדר, מחפשים עבודה...}} In ongoing job-market upheaval: I am now ''officially'' [[Unemployment|unemployed]]. So if you know of a [http://www.dilbert.com/2009-02-04/ position] for a grumpy forty-something software wizard, please don't hesitate to send them [http://ronware.org/resume.pdf my resume].  I'm actually thinking of setting up shop helping people wean themselves off [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/Microsoft-Bungles-Severance-Asks-Laid-Off-Workers-for-Money-Back/ evil Microsoft] products and save money at the same time.  Speaking of evil MS products, a geek in Poland has managed to get Windows 3.1 [http://i.gizmodo.com/5159221/windows-31-runs-on-a-nokia-n95-creating-dangerous-ripple-in-space+time running on a Nokia N95 phone] -- the only question that comes to mind is "why?"...
+[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3679168,00.html How do you get two camels into a Subaru]?  No, it's not a joke... just part of the funny middle-East. I battled the creeping vines and came out mostly unscathed, but the #$@$ roses are killing me!  They fight back.
-This week's anti-semitism roundup: Some Dutch fools [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410694951&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull threw shoes at an Israeli] who was giving a talk.  The [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410694957&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Dutch media] are slammed as anti-Israel.  The ''moderate regime of '' the [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8601 United Arab Emirates] denied a visa for {{wiki|Shahar Pe'er}}.  Canada's [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410698976&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull aboriginal leader] has something against us.  And of course, the religion of peace [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8600 doesn't like us at all].  More surprising is the ongoing [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1233304849317&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull American vendetta against Pollard] -- 24 years in prison and counting!  ''On the same day that Jonathan Pollard was arrested , a Chinese gentleman was arrested for spying for Red China. That gentleman was released a long time ago. He committed the same kind of crime for an enemy state. Do Chinese have better status than Jews, or are all men created equal? Indeed the Americans want to use Pollard as a bargaining chip for 1967 border final status settlement or something like that. What other reason could it be? Pollard is a second Gil'ad Schalit.''
+The global economy is in the toilet, but never fear!  [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGQ2MjI3NWIwYTQ4NWIzODk0YWE4ZDcxODg3ZDdkMmQ= The Six-Trillion Dollar Man] will save everyone!  But (alas!) he is choosing a [http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2006/ioi/061103-freeman-auspc.html sidekick] for [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjdhZDgwMTFhMjUzNWZkYTUyMmEwNTkwMWQ5YWZmZDc= head of the National Intelligence Council] (which controls which intelligence information the President of the USA actually sees) -- who is a rabid anti-Semite.  Not good.  Not good at all.
-The news here is as usual, "ups and downs". On the plus side of the ledger is some [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304849323&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull excellent demographic news].  On the other hand, the former candidate for mayor of Jerusalem [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130162 is asking to be repatriated to Russia].  Wait, that's also good news.  The Kinneret rose about ten centimeters this week (that's good) but it needs to go up another 500 cm (that's bad!).  And of course, there are the usual selection of [http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/02/24/2009-02-24_israels_arab_citizens_deserve_better_tha.html useful idiots] with more mouth than brains.  And of course, the [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410719855&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull self-hating Jews].
+One of the things about living in the Land that takes some getting used to is just how strong connections are between vendors and their clients.  We've been buying our meat from a particular butcher in the Mahane Yehuda shuq.  This week we went shopping there, and I decided to go to the guy next door to him, because his prices are better and I'm unemployed.  So I got my chickens, and as I'm walking back -- I encounter my regular butcher -- who takes me aside, and asks me, "Why didn't you buy from me?  What's the matter?  Do you ''know'' you were my first customer?  How could you do this to me!?!  Don't ever, ever, buy from anyone else! If you think my prices are too high, just tell me and I'll give you a discount!".  Getting told-off by my butcher was surreal, but then so is life in the Land.  It turns out the other guy wasn't any cheaper anyway.
-What else?  I've been fighting a cold off and on.  Esther and I got Israeli passports this week for 80 NIS cheaper than usual because we paid online (that's a good deal!).  I climbed on the roof and detached the (ugly) climbing vines from our house -- now I have to chop up the debris and put it out for the trash men.  I had to give my car back (because it was paid for by my company), so my new car is [http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/ Egged].
+I was asked to translate some instructions from Hebrew to English, for the "Purim baskets" being sent out this coming week from our synagogue.  If you ever feel tempted to [[translation|rely on automatic translations]], you might want to reconsider.  My friend, the publisher of the [https://www.mishnetorah.com/en/acquisition.html most convenient and accurate] printed edition of the Mishne Torah available, has convinced me to continue the translation work I started years ago.  So B"H, I'll be resuming that work in the next week.  Stay tuned for more, later.
-In odd news: The same [http://www.techworld.com/mobility/news/index.cfm?newsid=2342 Visto Corporation which sued Sproqit] when I worked there, and then [http://www.technewsworld.com/story/48594.html sued Good] after they brought the Sproqit developers on (including myself), has now managed to [http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128559&intsrc=news_ts_head purchase Good] from Motorola.  Which just goes to show that Microsoft-like tactics work even if you aren't Microsoft.
 Until next week,<br>
 Shabbat shalom!
-{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/February 2009/Feb 20th|Feb 20th||}}
+{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/February 2009/Feb 27th|Feb 27th|Blog/March 2009/Mar 13th|Mar 13th}}

Difference between revisions of "Blog/March 2009/Mar 6th"

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Latest revision as of 12:19, 13 March 2009