sad and true

I got a little forwarded email today, from a friend of a friend, which was basically asking if anyone knew of a girl who would be appropriate for the following guy: (identifying details have hopefully been removed)

age; height
specified disability (physical); mention that it happened after-birth, so it's not genetic
# siblings and that none have above-mentioned disability
school; subject (impressive, to me at least)
Smart, goal oriented
minor side-effect of disability
Wants a girl who can look past his disability

Now, usually i just ignore emails of this sort, but it was so frustrating that the shadchan involved seemed to be so focused on his disability (and it's not too major), that she neglects to mention anything significant about him: his personality; his friends; whether he learns; how often; does he go to minyan; what his hashkafa is, etc, etc, etc.

Anything that would reflect well on him is left out of this description, and all I'm left with is the impression of a guy who has a disability is looking for any girl that will take him.

So, I emailed back the friend of a friend who was sending this out on behalf of the shadchan, and asked about what she could tell me about his personality, etc, etc, (what I've mentioned above). I wasn't really hoping for a real response, and knowing who this email came from, I probably don't know any girls fitting that hashkafa, but I did want to make the point that they had left out anything of real importance.

This is the reply I received back:
'The person did not want to give me any more details than I provided so I
don't know but the way it was presented to me was that they want to make
sure first that the girl would not have an issue with the 'disability'
and then the woman would be willing to provide more details. '

I'm so frustrated with this, and it's no wonder why this boy, and many other people, for that matter, is still single (and he is actually younger than me), if the shadchan neglects to take him as an individual who has a mind, and a personality, and is in school for a promising career, but only emphasizes his disability rather than anything positive. I can only imagine her describing me... 'She's 27, but is looking for someone who doesn't mind that she's an old maid.'

A balanced diet

Yesterday it involved shopping, gossip, a museum visit, chocolate, and ice cream. What more can one ask for?

With my little sister as the leader, we learned all about the different sections of the Met. Notably, that the Impressionist section is unbelievably crowded, that the most comfortable benches are in the Modern Art section, and that you can eat chocolate rugelach in any section if no one sees. See what an education I get wherever I go? On our way into the Egyptian section, we passed by a man and his little boy, who were talking about what they had just seen:

Father: So, what did you like best about Egypt?
Son: What's Egypt?

Talk about feeling useful.

day off

Had a lovely day yesterday. Went to Mohegan Sun with a few friends, lost money on the blackjack tables, won a bit at slots, overall I came up just a bit short--nothing I wouldn't have spent on a movie though. Speaking of which, I went to see LoTR III with my little sister on Wednesday night. It was my second time within a week, but my sis wanted to see it, and since I don't see her all that often, I'm inclined to indulge her (JJ and MS came along). She'll be with me for shabbos, and I hope she's not utterly bored. I didn't invite any friends for her though, since 1) I don't know anyone her age, and 2) Rabbi Josh is also in town, and I was already making a meal (lunch) for him. I'm sure she'll be able to hold her own, though.

After Mohegan Sun, we came back home to light menorah, and then went out to dinner. Came back and started cooking at an absurdly late hour. Was up til 2AM, and then woke up before my alarm. Hate when that happens. Continued cooking this morning, and then got to work only slightly late.

Pondering: Conversation last week with the 'elderly gentleman' I ate with on Friday night. He was giving me dating advice, and said never to go out on a second date with someone who doesn't hold the door open for me. While a part of me is protesting that it's absurd to base the rest of my life on such a triviality, another part is thinking... If he can't be bothered to be considerate enough to hold the door open when he's supposed to be impressing me, maybe it does make sense.

the mishpocho

As they say in select circles. In any case, I was with them last night... my aunt and uncle invited my brother & sister-in-law, my nephews, my little sister (who's here visiting, she'll be with me for shabbat), and myself for a chanukah dinner last night. It was lots of fun, very loud, very funny, as our family gatherings tend to be. Afterwards, I went over at my brother's, played with my yummy nephews (benny was telling me how he no longer has a 'benny button' since he lost it in the lake, and a fish ate it--i think he's been tickled one time too many), played a couple of games of rummikub with my siblings, and then woke up at an ungodly hour this morning. Let's just say I was at my office at 8AM. yikes. On the plus side, I saw the sun rise.

Dumb criminal of the year:

Link I found from The View from Here...

Haaretz reports that one of the men who won the lottery in Israel is claiming he's being threatened by some of his partners. An excerpt...

'"I don't need the money," Yatskayer said, adding: "I am a drug dealer and money launderer; I have enough money, and my life and the lives of my family are more important."'

Because clearly his chosen professions are ones that value his family's safety over money. Right?

And as the other blog pointed out... Does he realize that he's admitting to being a drug dealer at a PRESS CONFERENCE!? This guy needs a better lawyer.

Flying away

Made my ticket to Israel yesterday. Yes, I did end up buying a few thousand airmiles, and I'll be squished onto an ElAl flight, but at least it's a direct flight, so I suppose that counts for something. I'd much rather fly British or Swiss (they're usually cheaper, and less squashed), but at least now I'll be able to pretend to be patriotic. Although, I'm not paying for the ticket... oh well. Anyone know whether ElAl has individual screens for their seats?

This also means that I'll be missing a fundraiser that I'm helping out with (although my role is fairly minimal). All I can say is that I'd better hear that y'all went to Casino night on Feb. 21. More details to come later. And then there's the hockey game I was going to go to with an old friend from college. I'll be missing that as well. No hockey games for me this season.

All this because I'm going to my best friend's wedding (and no, that's not the movie). So M, you'd better make sure your wedding is fun! I'm very excited and looking forward...

Discovery of the weekend

I am not Britney. ER is not Britney. JR is not Britney.

BG is Britney.

Plus, he's the only natural blond. And might I add, that you have never lived until you see him sing a Britney song at a sketchy Karaoke bar on a Saturday night. And that's not even dealing with his 'Baby Got Back' routine!

Happy Birthday RD!

Don't you just love surprises?

I sent a resume of someone I know over to a different department in our company, and she ended up getting hired. Now, I found out that I get a $500 referral fee!

How fun! I get to buy myself a present now (in addition to the mini-shopping spree I went on last night--that doesn't count).

Conversations at work

GM: Argh! I’m going to get a gun and kill myself.

RL: You’ll need to fill out a hardware request form first.

Happy Belated Birthday

To my little brother who was 17 yesterday. He's the best guy I know... He even knows how to match his ties to his suits!

Disappointment

It's snowing! The real white, fluffy, stick-to-the-ground stuff. But there'll be no skiing for me. my foot is still hurting too much.

sputtering

I took a cab home from work yesterday, since I had tons of very heavy packages (just trying to help the economy).

The driver had the radio to some "Free Radio" station, and they were interviewing someone regarding the Geneva agreements. Now I haven't read that much about them, and have some suspicions that I wouldn't agree with their results, but...

This man was talking about how unacceptable it was since Israel was 'only' willing to give back parts of Jerusalem, and that Palestinians would give back their fundamental Right of Return. Then he started going on about Israel's 'ill-gotten gains.' And through all this, the interviewer just kept asking him encouraging questions; none of them having to do with how Israel got the territories (their ill-gotten gains) in the first place, why it was that Israel they haven't given back any more of the West Bank, or why they had supposedly violated their end of the agreement, while nothing was said about Palestinian violence and violations.

The clincher? After the interview was over, the announcer thanked Mustafa, founder of IntifadaOnline. So much for any semblance of objectivity.

frustration

I called American to book an awards flight to Israel, only to discover that they now require 75,000 miles to go to Israel. I only have 67,000. It used to be 60,000.

So the question is: do I buy airmiles for $225 plus another $46 for taxes? Or do I just buy a ticket on British for $680?

The GMAT Saga Ends

With a definite bang.

After delaying my GMATs twice, and missing it once (oops! that was the source of this post), I was all set to take them last Wednesday, Erev Thanksgiving at 12:30PM. Had arranged to take the afternoon off work, was scoring fantastically in the practice tests, and felt great about everything.

Until Wednesday morning. I was running for the subway and twisted my foot. Badly. So badly that, once I got to work, the former MDs who work in my office told me that I had to get it x-rayed. At which point I left a message with my doctor, and then called Prometric, the people that administer the GMAT. I was sure that once I explained that I had to go for xrays, and gave them documentation, they'd be willing to reschedule the test for me.

Well, that crash you just heard? That was me coming back to reality.

Prometric, being a monopoly, doesn't have to do anything they don't feel like. Apparently, in their contract, the only way you can miss an previously scheduled test is if you have been hospitalized both the night before and the night afterwards. And although I pointed out to them that I hadn't been planning to break my foot that morning, they didn't quite care. So I was left to make the decision as to whether I would take care of my foot and pay $225 to reschedule my test, or to take the test, be completely ticked off, and possibly do poorly because i was so upset.

Finally, my doctor called back and said to come in and he'd send me downstairs to the radiology lab in his offices. I cabbed it down there, got there at 12:00PM, and as he was writing out the referral, I mentioned that I was supposed to be taking my GMATs this afternoon. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, 'Well, why didn't you tell me that in the first place? Go do what you have to do, and after you're done, since the radiology lab will be closed, go to the emergency room, and they'll do your xrays there.'

I love my doctor.

So I hobbled out of the doctor's office, caught a cab cross-town to the testing center, got there with 4 minutes to spare (did I mention you're supposed to be there 1/2 hour in advance of the test?). They signed me in, and then proceeded to make me wait until 1:15 since they were backed up.

End result? I did surprisingly well on my GMATs--even in the math section! Congratulations to me :)

End result on my foot? After spending 3 hours in the emergency room on Wednesday night (the resident forgot to order my x-rays, and only remembered after 1.5 hours), I just have a nasty sprain. So I'm equipped with an ace-bandage and a very colorful foot.