Blog/January 2010/Jan 8th

Jan 8th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

My (Gregorian calendar) birthday was yesterday, Jan 7th. My Hebrew calendar birthday is a week from this coming Sunday (ב שבט) -- that should be enough for you to figure out my age. I was taken out for dinner by my lovely wife and resident daughter, and anxiously look forward to finding out just what "present 'A'" and "present 'B'" will be...

Esther woke up last Sunday with a very painful shoulder, and so she's now on some light narcotics for the pain. In order she not feel too bad, I'm also suffering from a painful shoulder -- and when we face each other, we're afflicted on corresponding sides! Isn't that romantic?

Sarah had some difficulty getting into the website for the National Service. It seems that they messed up her information somehow, but after she called them she was able to get it fixed. Daniela is on "winter break", and has been taking in cultural events and getting caught up on sleep.

This week's Israeli moment: I got a tax refund (from the Israeli version of the IRS -- from here on "IIRS"). So I was excited, and gave the refund voucher to my company's secretary to process so I could get the money. She looked at it, and told me it wouldn't work. Why? Because the IIRS had put my previous employer's information on the voucher ... which means my current employer could not process it. "OK", I said, "I'll just go in tomorrow and get them to correct the voucher". After all, last year I also had to get a voucher corrected. When I went to the IIRS the next morning, the guy who had issued my voucher had difficulty understanding that my employer was not the same as what he issued. I explained that I hadn't worked at the previous place for nine months, since they went bankrupt -- and how can it be that the IIRS didn't know that? He said, "What, do you think everything is computerized here?". Yeah, I did think that -- but I guess I was wrong. In summary: I have to wait for year-end tax statements from both my employers this past year, and then file a form to the IIRS with an explanation of why it is I couldn't use the voucher they gave me. <grrr>

Book recommendation: "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow. If you want to understand where the current trend towards restriction of civil liberties and elimination of expectation of privacy could take you, this is an excellent (and chilling) book.

Technical recommendation: the Fossil SCM (software configuration management) system. It's free. It's made by the guy who makes SQLite. And it is very easy to install and configure. Even if you don't write software, it is a very easy way to keep track of documents of all kinds. See an example here, on my Reva page.

Humorous news of the week:

• Israeli MK wants to repeal bike-helmet law. Among other reasons: helmets ruin hairdos. No, I'm not making that up.
• Idiot Arabs are claiming the Dead Sea scrolls. They do realize they're written in Hebrew, don't they?
• Iranian sports official gets in very hot water for sending New Years greetings to worldwide teams -- including the Israeli one. Listen to the recording of his interview with Israel Army Radio (oh no! the Zionist Army Radio!!).
• Rahm "I hate my people" Emanuel is 'fed up' with Israel and Palestinians! How will I ever be able to sleep again?
• The fun-loving Neturei Karta are all chummy with the Gazans. OK, maybe this is more "sad" than "funny".
• And good things come to those who wait

Trimmed the roses in the front, and brought a half dozen or so into the house. Absolutely wonderful perfume! Having a family over tonight. On the menu: the usual shabbat fare. Including a birthday cake for me, I think. Tomorrow: turkey-sweet-potato curry.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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