A new ceiling

As of this past Friday, we have a new ceiling in our dining room!! No more looking up at our neighbors through the floorboards. Not that they're not lovely people, of course.

Congratulations to me and my roommates! Now I can start having guests over again. I only have a backup list for shabbat meals of about 35.

i'm smiling

And all because as i was walking by, one of my coworkers turned and said "Nice hair day!" You can always count on gay men for the nicest compliments (and know that they're not trying to hit on you... as long as you're a girl, that is).

the switch

Switched managers at work a couple of weeks ago... i would call it a promotion, except i'm not quite sure whether it is or not. The managers are at the same level, but soon there's going to be someone below my new manager that I'll be reporting to (she's on maternity leave right now). So in fact, I've moved one level down in the reporting hierarchy. And I no longer have anyone reporting to me directly (though still several indirect reports).

But... I like my new manager(s) a lot more... I think they're both more straightforward. And my new position is fun (!!!). Somewhat more pressure, since it's higher profile, and more deadline oriented, but the deadlines are further apart. Also, instead of just doing/delegating tasks, I'm deciding what the tasks are, how they should be carried out... so it's more interesting, more of a macro-level view... at least of our tiny department. So far so good, but I'll give y'all an update once my first three simultaneous projects are finished.

one of those

Ever have one of those days, where you're not quite sure how you got to be so dumb? I'm having one of those today.

Well, I have had 27 years to practice.

The Ten Commandments

From MSNBC:

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Nov. 13 — Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose refusal to obey a federal order to move a Ten Commandments monument from a state building fueled a national debate over the place of God in public life, was stripped of his office Thursday.

...Moore, 56, remained defiant, telling about 50 supporters gathered outside, some of them crying, that he had only acknowledged God as was done in other official procedures and documents.

Roses are...

I saw blue roses at a flower stand today. I've never seen blue roses before. In my imagination, I thought they'd be beautiful, but they were pretty hideous. Dyed flowers are never quite the same.

It made me think about The Glass Menagerie, which was the first time I had ever thought of having blue roses at my wedding, only to find out they didn't really exist. Have to re-think that now, don't I?

Maybe I should date someone first...

This invites an additional question (stemming [ha!] from dinner conversation last night): If white roses are for pure love, yellow for friendship-love, red for passionate love, what do blue roses symbolize? Of course, only a girl would think up a question like this.

Eating today

Breakfast: 1:40pm: snack-sized Snickers, snack-sized Nestle Crunch, bite-sized peanut butter cup.

Lunch: 3:30pm: Strawberry Laffy Taffy. I forgot to check out the jokes on the wrapper. It's just been that kind of day.

oh my...

My very good friend from college just emailed me to let me know that she's thinking of converting to Judaism. She's been going to shul (her word) at a conservative place since August, and decided that if she's going to go through with it, she'll have an Orthodox conversion, so she's started to talk to a Chabad rabbi.

In some ways I'm pretty shocked (who would decide to take on all this ridiculousness consciously? I mean, I love being Jewish/religious and all, but if I had grown up differently, would I take it on by myself?), but in other ways, it makes sense. All her good friends were Jewish, she went out with a Jewish guy for a long time, her sensibilities have always been on the conservative side of things (we once went through basically every controversial topic and the only thing we disagreed about was capital punishment--I was going by what I'd been influenced with in HS and sem, she was going by her own perceptions).

Now I'll have no more non-Jewish friends left. I think I might need to make new friends. It gives perspective.

But are they kosher?

Guacamole-flavored potato chips. Brought to you by Frito Lay.


There are no words.

A bit of irony?

The second time that I've gone to the West Side for shabbat, and it was, once again, an all-girls-shabbat. It went really well, although with one very awkward moment. After venting a bit by myself, I spoke to the person last night and discussed how much it had upset me. We ended up discussing a tremendous amount of our relationship and how it evolved, and how we both approach certain situations, and why we both reacted the way we did. Surprisingly productive, considering that a conversation like that has so much potential for ending in utter disaster. Maybe I should try being that open with people I date -- although usually I just decide it's not worth investing that much effort.

Still looking for someone who would be worth the effort.

In other news--I gave a shiur (ok, maybe that's overstating the matter, but 5 people showed up) last week on parshat noach. I thought it was fascinating (I love complimenting myself). I don't know what other people thought. I went through comparisons of Adam and Noach, and how and why there's so much similarity in their stories (especially in the lashon that the parshiot use in terms of Creation vs. the Flood). Ended off with possible reasons why this reflects the differences between the first Creation and the "Re-Creation" of the world post-flood, and why these differences might account for the promises that G-d made after the flood about never destroying the world again, focusing on 2 ideas in particular--one from R. Grossman, and one from R. Etshalom. Check them out on the Gush site, they're pretty fascinating. In any case, there was lots of discussion afterwards, a lot of other background material (Hirsch, R. Frand(!!), and more), and I had a good, but stressful time preparing for it. It took ages of research, and I only started putting my ideas together about 2 hours before I was giving it. Won't have to give again for another 4-5 weeks, so now I have a bit of a break...

Are girls as clueless as guys?

My first reaction is 'Of course not!'

But then I see shidduch dates like I saw Sat. night, at Madame Tussaud's (I went with the 'Boston' group--it was lots of fun, but I wouldn't recommend it for a date, unless [or until] you're comfortable acting a little crazy with the other person).

In any case... apparently (although I wasn't paying attention, my friends were), this girl went over to the Brad Pitt figure and was basically all over him. arm around his waist, then fingers through his hair, etc... In front of her date... Was she thinking this was a good idea? What would she have said/done if he was all over J.Lo? The date didn't seem to be going splendidly beforehand, but this is a sure way to kill it. Unless, of course, that's what she was trying to do.

In any case... I don't mean to state the obvious, but really people--these are DOLLS.

Best line of the weekend:

"What?! I like Canadians! I love lumber!"
That was a completely serious quote from AM, protesting that she really does adore the Great White North.