Blog/April 2012/Apr 27th
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< Blog | April 2012
| Apr 27th (See this week's devar torah) | Comments or questions? Click here! |
Hi, again!
Happy birthday, Israel! This Thursday we celebrated the 64th year of the rebirth of (partial) Jewish control over our Land (called "yom ha`aṣma'ut" in Hebrew). As usual, Esther and I went to the central park of Maale Adummim and saw the fireworks (which were better than last year's, in my opinion; and better than most such shows I've seen for the 4th of July). I was struck this year by just how patriotic most Israelis seem to be. Far more so than I remember Americans being (at least on the Left Coast where I lived); every other house or car here has an Israeli flag flying. I wonder why that is?
The week started off in a stressful manner. We had a "team meeting" at work to discuss some problem with our system. Besides I and my main co-worker, my boss was there as well as a few other technical staff and the CEO. My boss started to describe how he wanted to fix the problem when he was interrupted by the CEO, who said, "I don't want to hear your explanations!". My boss then stood up and said, "if you don't want to hear me, I don't need to be in the meeting". The CEO replied, "you have a lot of nerve, get out!". So my boss did leave -- not just the meeting, but the building -- and he hasn't been seen since. Needless to say, the rest of us were dumbfounded by the exchange, and are left wondering what's going to happen next.
But things improved for me! After only two weeks of constant haranguing, I was able to coerce Bezeq International (my ISP) to give me the technical support they had promised two weeks prior. And in a true miracle, after only two months of haranguing, I managed to get Migdal, my insurance company, to give me (some of) my money. All in all, a great victory for the forces of the House of Aaron!
The icing on the cake was that I finally released my zemanim application on Google Play to coincide with Israeli Independence Day. So if you have an Android device, you can install my shiny new application -- which will tell you when it's time to pray or stop work, or whatever. Check it out!
Esther took some time to develop her photography skills. Here's her pictures of some of our garden: a stunning rose, the flowers on the side of our house and a bird of paradise in the front.
As for our yom ha`aṣma'ut celebration, we did the usual barbecue. The manly grill did an excellent job, and our guests (my cousins from Har Nof) had a pleasant meal outdoors under the shade of our olive trees. But they didn't eat enough, so now we've got leftovers for shabbat! As for the question I asked in the first paragraph -- I think the answer might be related to the fact that Israelis consistently rate themselves as being "happy" with their lives. Life is good here, in the Land, just as He promised us!
The menu for this shabbat combines some leftovers with fresh stuff: mushroom soup, grilled meats (chicken wings, pargiot, kebab), coleslaw, potato salad, homemade salsa, guacamole, fried eggplant, zucchini quiche, parve cholent, fruit, and banana-chocolate-chip cake
And thank you for asking, the cranberry sorbet I made last week was delicious. Perfect texture, tart and sweet!
Until next week,
shabbat shalom!
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