Difference between revisions of "Blog/July 2009/Jul 10th"

Latest revision as of 16:16, 17 July 2009

July 10th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

Remember me mentioning the leak in Daniela's ceiling? Well, the leak does seem to be fixed, B"H... but when the leak occurred, it caused the electricity to her room (and the upstairs bathroom) to be unusable. Now a month later, the electricity in her room is still unusable, and I am searching for help. The problem apparently is that water got in the electrical conduit in her room, and is causing a grounding short, which causes the GFCI to trip (which takes out the power to the house). Very irritating.

So I called our electrician, who informed us that there wasn't much to do but wait for the water to evaporate. He helpfully added that might take a very long time, since it's not directly exposed to the air. Essentially, he was unable to help us.

Then, as I was fuming about this, the insurance company called to find out if the leak was fixed and whether or not we were happy with the service. So I explained to them about the electrical short, and to my pleasant surprise they are sending out an electrician of their own this coming week! And to think that I hadn't originally even considered calling the insurance company!

Esther went to greet the first NBN aliyah flight of the year. Why weren't you on it? Well, anyway -- there were a ton of people, seven new families moving to Maale Adummim! One thing people should keep in mind when making aliyah, is that it is a major life altering change. And like any life altering change, there are "ups and downs" associated with it. The important thing is to have a realistic attitude and to be emotionally prepared to deal with lots of things which are not necessarily what you had been used to. But if you are able to adjust (and most people can), then there is no better place to live for a Jew than the Land God promised us! Come home now!

In that vein, we will be having some guests tomorrow who are planning on making aliyah within the next couple years. I hope we don't scare them away -- though Esther's cooking will probably make them forget whatever we talk about. We'll also have one of Daniela's friends over -- who goes to Stern with her, but lives in the Jerusalem area. I hope they like the zchug, Hilbe and techina I made for shabbat... Esther is still chugging away in the kitchen, I can feel the roasting of the eggplants from the other side of the house.

Sarah's wisdom teeth are impacting her molars, so she's having them pulled next week. Though she was agitating to have "something done", she's not too happy at the prospect of real dental work. B"H, she won't have too much discomfort and we'll be shut of the wisdom teeth.

Last but not least, a "happy birthday" to my Mom this week! She's older than President of the USA and younger than the President of Israel -- but I'm not permitted to say by how much...

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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 {{blog}}
-{{bheader|July 3rd|Devar/5769/Balak}}
+{{bheader|July 10th|Devar/5769/Pinchas}}
 Hi again!
-This week I took two days off from work.  The first day we [http://ronware.org/Pictures/Beach%20and%20Tanks%20Tammuz%205769/index.html went on a trip] up north to {{wiki|Zichron Ya'akov}} and the neighboring beach "Hof haBonim" (where we went on a two hour trek). The beach is a "nature reserve", which means it was not over-crowded (there were in fact very few people there); and it means they have hand-outs which one may use for a sort of "guided tour".  So we guided ourselves around, and learned at least one interesting thing: almost all the sand on the beaches south of Haifa is actually from Egypt.  Apparently, the Nile sheds a huge amount of silt -- and a substantial quantity of it ends up getting deposited on Israel's shores.  North of Haifa, the sand is mostly from Israeli silt.  So the southern beaches are mainly quartz sand, while the northern beaches are mostly limestone sand.  Interesting, no?
+Remember me mentioning the leak in Daniela's ceiling?  Well, the leak does seem to be fixed, B"H... but when the leak occurred, it caused the electricity to her room (and the upstairs bathroom) to be unusable.  Now a month later, the electricity in her room is still unusable, and I am searching for help.  The problem apparently is that water got in the electrical conduit in her room, and is causing a grounding short, which causes the {{wiki|GFCI}} to trip (which takes out the power to the house).  Very irritating.
-The next day we stayed close to Jerusalem and went to {{wiki|Latrun}}, which was very interesting -- particularly since my basic-training had been in the Armored Corps, so I could actually explain things to my girls.  After a couple hours there, we went to "the Gush" and ate at a very nice restaurant called [http://www.gavna.co.il/ Gavna].  If you get to the {{wiki|Bat Ayin}} area, we can recommend it (though they like you to make reservations first).
+So I called our electrician, who informed us that there wasn't much to do but wait for the water to evaporate.  He helpfully added that might take a very long time, since it's not directly exposed to the air.  Essentially, he was unable to help us.
-Work was quite stressful this week, since I had to leave things on Sunday in such a state that people could carry on without me on Monday -- and that proved to be quite difficult.  However, I did manage and only have one phone call from work on Monday, B"H!  Then on my return, of course, there were a ton of things to do -- but they did get done, so all in all it was a good week.
+Then, as I was fuming about this, the insurance company called to find out if the leak was fixed and whether or not we were happy with the service.  So I explained to them about the electrical short, and to my pleasant surprise they are sending out an electrician of their own this coming week!   And to think that I hadn't originally even considered calling the insurance company!
-My "diabetes workshop" this week focused on stress -- how it adversely affects blood-sugar levels, and how to try to reduce it.  Sadly, a double-shot of single-malt was not on the list of approved stress-reduction methods.  Instead, we learned about a cognitive psychological technique called "אמת" (emet, which means "truth" in  Hebrew but in this case is just an acronym).  "Aleph" -- "אירוע" ('iru`a, or "event") -- that's the event which is causing you stress.  For example, "a person being really stupid".  "Mem" -- "מחשבה" (maHshavah, or "thought") -- that's how you think about the event.  For example, "I want to hit him in the head with a mallet".  "Tav" -- "תגובה" (teguvah, or "reaction") -- that's how you react based on your thoughts.  For example, "leaving the room to look for a mallet".  By means of changing the "mem", or "thought" -- say, to "maybe he's off his medicine" -- one effects a change in the "tav", or "reaction" -- say, to "maybe I can poison him instead of hitting him with a mallet".
+Esther went to greet the [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132293 first NBN aliyah flight of the year].  Why weren't you on it?  Well, anyway -- there were a ton of people, seven new families moving to Maale Adummim!  One thing people should keep in mind when making ''aliyah'', is that it is a major life altering change.  And like any life altering change, there are "ups and downs" associated with it.  The important thing is to have a realistic attitude and to be emotionally prepared to deal with lots of things which are not necessarily what you had been used to.  But if you are able to adjust (and most people can), then there is no better place to live for a Jew than the Land God promised us!  Come home now!
-The teacher made us do a "guided imagination" exercise.  She had us close our eyes, and imagine ourselves in the most peaceful place we could imagine.  I thought of being in bed, which is generally a quite peaceful experience.  She told us to visualize the surroundings, to imagine the sensations; and then she said we should hear the animal sounds.  At that point I had to exert myself not to laugh out loud; I'm afraid I was a poor student of the technique...
+In that vein, we will be having some guests tomorrow who are planning on making ''aliyah'' within the next couple years.  I hope we don't scare them away -- though Esther's cooking will probably make them forget whatever we talk about.  We'll also have one of Daniela's friends over -- who goes to Stern with her, but lives in the Jerusalem area.  I hope they like the [[Recipes/Green Zchug|zchug]], [[Recipes/Green Hilbe|Hilbe]] and [[Recipes/Techina|techina]] I made for shabbat...  Esther is still chugging away in the kitchen, I can feel the roasting of the eggplants from the other side of the house.
-Oh, and this week Sarah took the ''bagrut'' she was surprised by last week.  After dreading it and resigning herself to failure, she actually came out with a 95 -- which we were all quite surprised (and happy) to hear.  Now she's officially a "שמיניסתית" -- a 12th grader.  Boy do I feel old.
+Sarah's wisdom teeth are impacting her molars, so she's having them pulled next week.  Though she was agitating to have "something done", she's not too happy at the prospect of real dental work.  B"H, she won't have too much discomfort and we'll be shut of the wisdom teeth.
-And on that note, today is Esther and my 23rd anniversary, thank you very much for your kind words.  No, really, you didn't have to.  So in celebration, we're going to have a festive meal tonight, with wine and soup, and several courses.  Uh... well, the meal's actually in honor of ''shabbat''... we're not doing anything particular for our anniversary just yet -- but we'll think of something.
+Last but not least, a "happy birthday" to my Mom this week!  She's older than {{wiki2|Barak Obama|President of the USA}} and younger than the {{wiki2|Shimon Peres|President of Israel}} -- but I'm not permitted to say by how much...
-Dear friends and family in the former Land of the Free: ''now'' is the time to get out of there.  Once the USA completes its metamorphosis into the People's Republic of Amerika -- and that day is not far off -- you will have a much harder time getting out of there.  The president's anti-Semitic [http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/presidential-poker-1977.html middle-east advisor], is helping to turn the USA into a vassal-state of the oil-sheiks.  Even more than it already was.  That doesn't bode well for Jewish life in America.  Of course, neither does Saint Obama's curious [http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/obamas-3am-phone-call.html preoccupation with punishing Israel].  You Jews who voted for that man really got the wool pulled over your eyes.  Now is the time to leave, before you get sheared!
 Until next week,<br>
 Shabbat shalom!
-{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/June 2009/Jun 26th|Jun 26th||}}
+{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/July 2009/Jul 3rd|Jul 3rd|Blog/July 2009/Jul 17th|Jul 17th}}

Difference between revisions of "Blog/July 2009/Jul 10th"

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Latest revision as of 16:16, 17 July 2009