Blog/January 2016/Jan 8th

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

Happy birthday to me! As a special present, Esther (mostly) recovered from last week’s cold and is back to her feisty self. Sarah almost did a project for someone. We are turning the corner. And more!

Yes, Esther recovered from her once-a-decade cold just in time to prepare a happy-birthday meal for my 2 3 3 ^ * birthday (that’s an 8th expression, you’ll have to decode it on your own!). I’m a simple guy, I like the same meal every year: steak and chocolate cake. As you might expect, my lovely wife did not disappoint. However, I was a bit surprised by the gift she chose for me this year: a bottle of good gin and a drink-mixing kit. Is she trying to tell me something, and is the gift for me or for her?

Sarah was asked to do some filming for someone at her school (a paid job), and she was all set up to do it (though she would have been happier to stay home). Then at the last minute, the job was cancelled. So she ended up staying home after all. I guess that’s not much of a story, but it’s what I’ve got.

Esther also started a monthly knitting group here in Ma’ale Adummim. Seems her friend from overseas are all excited about it and want to join… not so convenient for them, though.

The last several weeks have been pretty exciting for our company. We’re closing in on 600 downloads of our 8th product (just about one year since the initial release), and the pace is picking up. We also reworked our pricing model in light of the response to our year-end sale.

I mentioned before that we had had an interesting phone conversation with a company two weeks ago. This week we received a 14-page proposal from them, detailing how they would like to partner with us. We’ll be discussing more particulars with them this coming week; they are interested in moving quickly, and we’re pretty excited about this opportunity. So stay tuned, we’ll be updating you on these developments as they occur!

A recent article brings disparate sources to show that Israel is ranked as the 25th best country to do business in. That’s surprising, considering the bureaucracy and all. But more surprising is that the US is only ranked 22nd. And much more interesting is that the US was ranked 2nd as recently as 2009 — just when The One took office. Correlation? I think so, and I think it bodes poorly for the US in the future. I hope I’m wrong…

Pain update: as my loyal readers know, I’ve undergone a long series of tests to ascertain why I have pain under my lower-left ribcage. The final determination was that it’s radiating pain as a result of GERD. So the Dr. put me on PPI medication to inhibit acid production. The meds worked, and took away the GERD pain. But unfortunately, they have side-effects for me which are unpleasant… so the Dr. is experimenting with various dosages and other members of the PPI drug family. Sadly, the dosage I’m on right now isn’t helping the GERD pain very much, but it’s still having the unwanted side-effects. I’ll have to tell him to find another solution.

This week Esther found packaged bok-choy in the market. She was excited, and brought some home. On the package, it says in Hebrew: “pok-choy”. I’m trying to figure out if that’s because Arabs can’t pronounce the “p”, so the packers figured that when the workers said “bok” it should have been “pok”, or what. Anyway, I hope it’s actually bok-choy and not some hitherto unknown vegetable! (N.B.: it turns out that in Britain it’s called “pok-choy”, but it’s what we USAn’s call “bok-choy”).

We took Daniela and Jeremy to the airport on Sunday, for their return to the US. We were sorry to see them go, but happy to have spent the time with them. May they come back soon!

Back to just the three of us this shabbat. On the menu:
baked chicken, split-pea soup, roasted cauliflower, steamed [bp]ok-choy, fried tofu slices, rice, salatim, and chocolate-raspberry birthday cake (yum!).

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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