update

heard the sirens from M's window this morning. don't know much more at this point. reported: 7 dead, 63 injured, so far.

on the horizon

are things getting better?

and i'm off...

to the Holy Land.

Still have a lack of sleeping arrangements. I'm sure it'll work itself out once I'm there...

highlights

Had a lovely semi-lazy weekend. Amazing how little touring I did when I had a guest over from out of town. I felt pretty bad that we didn't even make it to a Broadway show or something. ah well. I can somewhat blame it on her cold, but I was equally lazy. Also, guests from warm climates are not so amused by New York weather in the winter. It also didn't help that she saw that it was about 50 at home, while it was closer to 20 here.

We went to the seforim sale on Sunday afternoon... it was good. I spent way too much money. LH was looking for something one women's mitzvot/tzniut, but everything they had was either very strict (ie, what they gave out to us in Bais Yakov), or pretty flaky. She ended up buying Halichos Bas Yisroel, against my recommendation (that was the Bais Yakov book). Anyone have any titles to suggest for someone who is converting? Something that has common sense, explains reasons behind things, is not overly strict, and doesn't condescend. Yikes. Maybe I should just write something myself. Though I don't think I know anywhere near enough. Any volunteers?

Also saw 50 First Dates. Waste of money. It was actually a really sad story, well-acted, but interspersed with enough gross-out jokes, unnecessary comments, and other randomness to make it an unpleasant enough experience. Though if you do like crude jokes and crude humor, go ahead--you might enjoy it. But then the story might be too serious. Ah well.

What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

I like the food line.

commitment-phobes' new role model

is Ken. Apparently Barbie broke up with him cuz he wouldn't get married. Well, if you're getting the plastic for free...

procrastination pays

Well, not as much as it costs, but I still got a $5 coupon from my co-worker for the hair place across the street. Plus the glasses place downstairs from my office is having a sale now, so I can get $50 off that. I'm not quite caught up from the extra I spent on my passport, but at least I'm getting close.

This week, I'm reading Night by Elie Weisel on the subway--It's really beautiful and haunting and painful, and I can't believe I haven't read it before, but I would not recommend it for subway reading. It's a quick read, but definitely not something you can interrupt easily when you run into someone you know.

And I started reading A Great and Terrible Beauty last night. Eh. It's beautifully written, but really seems to be a typical girls-in-boarding-school-dabbling-in-the-occult book. Somewhat disappointing, but if I had been paying more attention while buying it, I probably could've figured it out. But it does have a great book jacket (I know, I know; no need to quote cliches to me here). Well, maybe it'll get more interesting in the second half. If it does, I'll even give it a link.

Excited about seeing LH tomorrow. Haven't seen her in almost 6 years. I hope we won't get sick of each other before her visit is over. It should be a great weekend!

Uppers

Amazing how hearing Margaritaville in the morning can put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

movin' on up

My department moved one floor up this weekend. Call it the new division between the techies and the marketing ppl. I'm not quite sure how I got aligned with the techies, but it's better than the alternative.

All packed up on Friday, and then came in on Monday to a new desk, with cubicle walls that are purportedly "gold" but mostly have been described by those moving in as [WARNING: if you're eating, stop now!] dried vomit colored. They switched us from the light grey we used to have, since they thought this was a "warmer" color. More like warmed-over. I no longer have a window, but do have nice new cubicle-mates, though considering that I like almost everyone I work with (one of the notable good things about my job), that's not too hard to accomplish.

The lights just went off at 6pm, exactly when our hours are "supposed" to be over. It's a nice reminder to GO HOME. Though apparently the lights are on a timer, and switch off 8 hours after the first person turns them on. The facilities people have already resolved it. Ah well, now I have no excuse not to work, so I'll just blog instead. It's past work hours anyway.

Puzzle of the day: Although the drawers under my desk have keys to lock them with, they're on wheels... so they can just be rolled away. I'm not sure why they gave me keys then. So if someone wants to cart away all the valuable information in my desk (90% of which consists of take-out menus), come on down.

poker face

Over this weekend, I learned how to play spades and poker. Unfortunately, I can't lie properly, so it remains to be seen how I'll continue at poker. Spades, however, I was partners with SDG, whose talent, I think, is responsible for giving me a false sense of expertise. Well, we can't all be future-nobel-winning geniuses. But it's nice to benefit from knowing them every once in a while.

Got it

Passport arrived in yesterday's mail. Surprisingly efficient of the government. Breathing easier now. The rest of the to-do list is much easier to deal with now.

Wasting time with this. My record so far is 544 and change. What's yours?

The world without David...

would clearly be a much more repressive place. This from The Scoop on MSN:

. . . Never mind Ronald Reagan. What about David Hasselhoff’s role in bringing down the Berlin Wall? Apparently, in 1989, the year the wall came down, Hasselhoff sang “Looking for Freedom” to German fans at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The “Baywatch” hunk recently visited a museum dedicated to the toppling of the Cold War relic, and, according to a German mag, he griped that his role in the fall of the wall was completely overlooked. “I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie,” he told TV Spielfilm. “After my appearance I hacked away at pieces of the wall that had the black, red and yellow colors of the German flag on it. I kept the big piece for myself and gave the smaller pieces to colleagues at ‘Baywatch.’ ”

countdown

13 days until I leave to Israel. Still haven't received my passport. But I can see that they've cashed my check...

Holding my breath.

icky

I made the mistake of looking over at what a coworker was eating for lunch today...

"Is that sushi?"
"No, it's eel," he says. And then, probably in response to the face I made, "It's really very good. A bit slimy though."

So glad I asked.

weekend update

At the risk of overkill... but you can skip over this rant in any case.

Left the super bowl party promptly after the half-time show. I'd had enough, and decided that I'd rather be reading Harry Potter for the 3rd time, than watching... well, way too much of Janet Jackson. Plus, even though it was turning out to be a good game, I could do without it.

I was reading a reader's forum on the Washington Post web site, and was struck by the amazing number of people that decided it was bad 'for their children.' Why isn't it bad for themselves? Is it so hard to admit that being force-fed nudity when you're not expecting it, is offensive even to adults? Why are children the little angels, but for adults, apparently it's fine to see all sorts of nudity in any context at all? And perhaps it's because I'm religious and all that, but I really don't think so. The people I spoke to at work about it (actually, they asked me what I thought about it), basically felt the same way.

Why the halftime show feels it has to be well, appealing to a 15 year old boy (I had a more scathing remark, but won't post it here). Talk about lowest common denominators. And yes, that is the demographic that MTV is shooting for, but considering a majority of viewers are not 15 years old... and considering that the entire show, not just the JT, JJ bit, was pretty offensive beforehand, it's really just emphasizing that women and girls are seen as nothing more than convenient objects to have sex with. Those people saying that this just shows that women are liberated enough to show their bodies how they want? Well, those would be the MTV execs talking.

decisions

Do I attempt to resurect the parsha shiur one more time, by preparing this week? Or do I just give up and let it officially fold?

The current opportunity costs are:
Reading
Laundry
alternative Wed. night shiur
computer games
non-stress

Opinions?