Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad

Phone wars

2009-07-14T07:46:00.004-04:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about a new smart phone. I wrote this mainly to help get some of my thinking down on virtual paper as that sometimes helps me to consider issues. In my family, I know a lot of eyes will glaze over when reading this. That's okay, I won't be offended. ;-) And if anyone has experience, thoughts, etc., please chime in!

I've been using Palm handhelds for several years now. I can't remember exactly when I started, but since I started on the Palm m515, it couldn't have been earlier than 2002 (although I really thought it was a few years before then... maybe I'm forgetting one before that). I was even proficient in Graffiti, the Palm "writing" system since there was no keyboard. I organized my calendar, my contact list, notes, etc. It worked well for me, because before that I would scribble everything down in a weekly calendar that I carried around. The problem with the paper/ink calendar was 1) I couldn't read my writing at times, and if it was an event several months in the future, I'd forget what it was by the time I reached the date, and 2) I tended to misplace these after a while, or the notes I scribbled down on a post-it would fall out.

Somewhere towards the end of 2003, beginning of 2004 (again, I don't remember exactly when), I decided to get a Palm Treo 600. It seemed so logical. Matching up a PDA with a phone. Why in the heck not? Then in January of 2008 (this one I remember!!), my 600 finally kicked the bucket, and I got a Palm Centro. This has been working well to date.

However, there have been major shake up in the Smart Phone community. Of course there's the iPhone, which has been doing remarkably well. To answer it, Palm did a complete overhaul of their phone and operating system, and came up with the Pre, running the new WebOS. I've been following news on the Pre for about 4-6 months before its release. And I was pretty sure this would be the phone I'd buy as soon as my contract is up (Jan 2010).

However, then Apple came out with their newest iPhone, the 3GS. I figured I'd at least look at it. I can see why many people are using it. Besides being a decent smart-phone, there are a LOT of 3rd party software available. And this is one of the biggest things that I have used with all of my Palms to date. I summarize some of my more often used programs later in this post. Anyway, the Pre doesn't have very much in the way of programs written for it yet. The SDK (Software Development Kit) hasn't even been publicly released (supposed to be released towards the end of August). That's what allows vendors to more easily write programs for the device. So the Pre is already behind on that end.

While looking around, I also looked at Android phones. Android is another operating system for smart phones, which spread in popularity when Google gave it full backing and support. It hasn't been around as long as the iPhone, but because the OS is open source, it's been easier for people to create software for it. A new phone with Andriod on it is supposed to be coming out the end of 2009. (HTC Hero). I also looked at Blackberry, but it just doesn't seem to jive with me.

Below is a list of the most common programs I run on my Centro currently, and my thoughts about if they are available on other smart phones. (roughly in the order of use on the Centro)

ChatterEmail (SnapperEmail) - ChatterEmail is a great email client that works superbly with my email system. It was developed by Marc Blank, who was one of the creators of Zork, one of the first text adventure computer games that captured a lot of gaming interest (including my brother and I) in the early 80's. (It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.) It uses the IMAP4 interface, which means if I read some message on the Centro, but not others, or mark them in some way, that change can also be seen if I log on to my email through the web interface, or using Thunderbird at home. It helps to keep all my email coordinated. Chatter also pushes email to up to 7 of my folders. That means if a folder receives a new email message, I get instant notification, I don't have to wait for a periodic polling of my email like most other email clients. The push interface is somewhat draining on the battery though, so when I will be away from a charger for a while, I switch to SnapperEmail. It's another good email program on the Centro, but doesn't do push email. The iPhone and the Pre can connect via IMAP, but neither have the multi-folder push that I use so much on my Centro. Marc Blank stated he's developing ChatterEmail for the Android now, so that's a big plus in the Android direction. This program alone is probably about 50% of my Centro use.

DateBk6 - Most smart phones have a calendar. DateBook6 is a calendar on steroids! It adds a lot of functionality, many/most of which I probably never touch, but those I do are indispensable. The biggest is putting icons with events. Sounds like a minor thing? It's fantastic when I'm viewing in "Monthly" mode (which is most of the time). I have icons for work meetings, icons for things with each kid, icons for doctor or dentist appointments, icons for various Jewish holidays, etc. At a quick glance I can gather up a lot of information. Then I can delve deeper in weekly or daily views. The developer of DateBk6 is completely rewriting the system from scratch to be more portable (Java based, I believe). It sounds like Andriod will be early on the development list. The Pre may be possible depending on the SDK, which he hasn't seen yet. He's waiting on the iPhone because Apple doesn't allow 3rd party apps to touch internal things, such as the calendar. Their lost. I rely on this application a LOT.

SplashID - This is an application which securely encrypts and stores information such as passwords, credit card numbers, etc. There is no way I can remember all the passwords I need for various work and personal related things. There are several of these type of programs available, so I'm sure I'd find a comparable program on the Pre, Andriod, or iPhone (in fact I think SplashData already has SplashID on the iPhone and Android, and is working on a Pre version). The draw for me for this particular one is that you can also assign icons. If you remember from DateBk6, I like being able to assign an icon. :-)

Luach - Luach (the Hebrew word for calendar) is a wonderful program. Not only does it give you a Hebrew calendar, complete with all the Jewish holiday listings for the next who knows how many years (I went more than far enough in the future to look), but you can also put in birthdays, anniversaries, Yaritzites, etc., and it calculates those dates in future years. Then you can import everything (or pick and chose what to import) into your main calendar. This is something I check often, usually when trying to pick a date for something in the next 6 months, year, etc., and wanting to make sure it doesn't conflict with a holiday. There is a Luach program for the iPhone, but you can't import the dates (remember what I said before about Apple not letting you play with the internal calendar). One person I know puts all his Hebrew date information into his Google Calendar, and the iPhone apparently can read input in from a Google calendar, but that's a kludge workaround.

Sudoku - My favorite time killer game on the Centro. I'm sure there are implementations (multiple) for the various phones (The Pre might take a little while to get out though)

GooSync - Syncs up my calendar with Google Calendar. My wife can see and edit events on my calendar (family events only, not "business" events), then they would sync back to my Centro. I believe it works on the iPhone, not sure about Android.

Shadow - If DateBk6 is a calendar on steroids, ShadowPlan is a ToDo list on steroids. It's designed as an outliner, but I mainly use it for multiple To Do's, including nested To Do lists. (I have to check off X, Y, and Z before A can be checked off). I haven't even started looking to see if there are comparable applications in the other smart phones.

CacheMate - A database that keeps tracks of Geocaches. (a hunt and find type game, using GPS receivers, probably a subject for another post someday). This is implemented in Android, and Geocaching.com, the "main point" for Geocaching, has their own iPhone implementation.

EshSiddur - If I'm out somewhere and need a siddur and don't have one, EshSiddur is a full siddur (with vowels!!) on my Centro. There is a siddur program for the iPhone, I don't know of any for the Android.

So currently iPhone has a majority of the apps, but Android is catching up with potentially more useful apps. The Pre is just barely out of the gate. While there are a lot of good things about each phone itself, it needs software to really make it shine.

Of course another issue to take into consideration is what provider has the phone. The Pre is currently only on Sprint. The iPhone is only on AT&T. With Sprint, I'd have SMS included, AT&T, I'd have to pay extra (and I use SMS frequently). The Android phones are mostly on T-Mobile which doesn't have the amount of coverage as does Sprint or AT&T. Of course the boards are all speculating on when/if phones will be offered by other providers. The Pre is supposed to go to Verizon and maybe AT&T next year. The Hero (Android) may be offered on AT&T and Sprint, etc.

My current contract runs until Jan 2010. So there is still time... And of course by then there may be something else completely new out there to confuse me even more! :-)

Eating in Israel

2009-07-02T10:48:00.001-04:00

A little while back, Treppenwitz wrote this post: http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/06/i-cant-believe-i-ate-almost-the-whole-thing.html describing a restaurant in Israel that loads you up on meat. It sounds similar to a Brazilian restaurant near my office where servers walk around with various meats to serve people. Because it's near my office, we frequently have "fare well" parties there. I can no longer attend the parties, because the aroma of the meats is so good, and it's most definitely not kosher.

So I commented to my sister-in-law and her husband, living in Israel, that when I next visited, I hoped I'd be able to eat at this restaurant. My sister-in-law then commented about a similar restaurant (South American) with a similar experience. Bro-in-law then chimed in about taking us to Burgers Bar. And of course I previously mentioned to my wife that I want to go to KFC, Pizza Hut (apparently at a mall in Jerusalem), and Burger King (Ben Yehuda Street).

The time spent in our next visit will be roughly divided up as:

50% - Visit family and friends
49% - Visit restaurants
1% - See the rest of Israel.

I might need to book an extra seat next to me for the flight home... ;-)

We do hope to make it over the pond in the next year or two, depending on when my job here transfers to a new location.

Baby JDMDad - Part 3 - in 3D!!!

2009-06-15T20:17:00.000-04:00

JDMDad, Laya, and big sisters Tikvah and Ahava are proud to announce:

Baby JDMDad (Part 3) is here!

Baby was born on Monday, June 15, 2009, (23 Sivan 5769) at 11:59 am.

Weight: 7 lbs. 2 oz.

Length: 19.5 inches

Cuteness ratio (Scale 1-10): 25 (Caution, data may have some internal bias)

Finger Count: 10/10

Toe count: 10/10

Hair:
_XX__ Has lots of hair
___ Has some hair
___ Has little hair
___ Bald

Crying Loudness (dB): Darn... broke the meter!!!

Mother & Baby are:

_X___ Doing fine
____ Both crying, loudly
____ Baby is trying to get back inside Mother
_X___ Both requesting some ice cream
____ Still enjoying the epidural
____ Trying to sneak out of the hospital
____ In total shock

Father is:

_X___ Extremely happy
_X___ Extremely stunned
____ Regaining consciousness
____ Trying to get feeling back in his hand after mother squeezed too hard during contractions
____ Thumbing through a dictionary, trying to understand all those exotic names that Mother called him this time
____ Wandering the halls, muttering to himself, "Three of them? Mom and I are outnumbered!! What did we do?! What were we thinking?!"
____ Fast asleep. ZZZZzzzzzzz

Tikvah:

_X___ is very happy
____ is worried
____ is busy being spoiled by her great aunt.
_X___ is in school, missing all the fun
_X___ Doesn't even know the gender... yet.

Ahava:

____ is very happy
____ is very scared
____ has no idea what's going on with all the commotion
_X___ is busy being spoiled by her great aunt.
_X___ is trying to figure out where Mommy's big belly went
____ is wondering if next week Daddy's belly will shrink, and another baby will arrive
_X___ Doesn't even know the gender... yet.

The doctor said:

____ "I've been studying the Cosby Method. Ready? 'Push him out, Shove him out, WWWWWAAAAYYYY OUT!!!! '" [If you don't know vintage Bill Cosby, don't bother trying to understand this one. ;-) ]
____ "I remember you from last time. I'll be right back!" We are still looking for him.
_X___ "The baby looks fine!"
____ "Next time, I need EARPLUGS!!!!"
____ "Your husband is in the recovery room. The bump on his head from hitting the floor will go away in a few days."

And finally, the baby is a:

Cute,

Captivating,

Brand new,

Certified,

(Am I stalling?)

Wonderful,

Did I say Cute?

Happy,

Loud,

Okay, okay, I give up...

____ Boy (JDMDad is no longer the only man of the house. And loves it!)
__X__ Girl (JDMDad is now outnumbered 4 - 1. And loves it!)

Name to be announced:

__X__ Next Torah reading JDMDad gets to
____ Bris

JDMDad, Laya, Tikvah, Ahava, and the new one. (need to come up with a name, and a blog name, such pressure! :-) )

P.S. June 15th is the 18th annual "Ride to Work" Day (http://www.ridetowork.org/) However, Laya preferred I take her to the hospital in the van rather than on the motorcycle. I should have gotten the sidecar when I had the chance!

Traveling to Savannah

2009-05-11T22:36:00.004-04:00

I'll be on the road to Savannah, GA for the 2009 Ride to Remember. I don't leave until Wednesday morning, May 13th. But wanted to put up a map that should (if all works right) track me as I travel down and back. The map should keep updating until I return on Sunday (or Monday, depending on weather/traffic)

Stories and fun stuff when I return!

You'll probably have to refresh to see the latest map. Again, nothing will appear until Wednesday morning (EDT). Those who I know off the blog, I'll be sending you to a more detailed place to see more maps and information, I'll probably send that out late Tuesday afternoon. If you don't get the email, and want that info, shoot me an email.

This map is basically a Google Map, you can zoom in, pan around, etc.

Embedding failed because inline frames are not supported by your browser.

Not forgotten...

2009-04-20T21:08:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't forgotten this blog. I've just been crazy with various things going on.

At work, I'm taking training for the "Black Belt" level of Lean Six Sigma (no, not a strange form of Karate). Certification requires 3 weeks of classes (beyond the 1 for the green belt level), and doing two projects. The last of the classes ends this Friday. I'm about in the middle of my first project. If I can get input/data from the right people, I'll probably finish it within a month. But some are really dragging their feet. Plus I need to do my regular work as well. (and of course all the leave time used for Peasach)

On the home front I'm preparing for my trip down to Savannah for the 2009 Ride to Remember. This includes plotting out a route (I have a nice one planned, mostly following Rt. 17 down from Fredricksburg all the way to Savannah. Passes kosher restaurants in Virginia Beach, VA; Wilmington, NC; and Myrtle Beach, SC (where they are also having "Bike Week"). I've also been getting the bike ready. Got new grips put on, and a throttle lock as well. I also have a new fuseblock coming to hook up my auxiliary lights, GPS, and other electrical doo-dads. I also plan to borrow a "SPOT" unit so those who might be interested can follow my progress down and around the south.

More to come!

Ever have one of those days... er... weeks???

2009-02-15T08:49:00.002-05:00

Been a busy few months lately, sorry I haven't been able to write much. But after a crazy week, I just needed to share & unload!

Monday I had a tickle in my throat, which for me, is usually a bad sign. By night time, it was an effort to swallow. Oh great. As soon as the doctor's office opened on Tuesday, I called to make an appointment for a throat culture... I'm pretty sure it's strep. Have a 2:30 appointment.

An hour or two later on Tuesday, Laya calls, the furnace is getting very noisy. And if Laya can hear it, it must be really bad. *sigh* I called the plumbing/heating/AC company we have a service contract with, have them come over, and since I'm feeling even worse, I head home myself.

The heating guys come in, open up a panel, turn the furnace back on, and you can see everything bouncing like crazy in there. Not good. The furnace is the original, about 37 years old, no replacement parts available, etc. Time for a new furnace. They do some measuring, calling, etc. Came back with a price of $2,520. Not chump change, but less than I had feared. They said they'd be in first thing Wednesday morning.

Now off to the doctor. The nurse and doctor are both blown away by my enormous tonsils. They are normally big (that's why I don't eat popcorn... gets stuck in the tonsils), so when I'm sick, they really swell up. In fact, all I could get down for breakfast and lunch was applesauce and soup. Anyway, the culture quickly confirmed it was strep, I'm put on antibiotics, and told not to get the rest of the family sick. *sigh*

Back home, I set up portable heaters around the house as it's supposed to get cold that night. I include a heater downstairs by the sofa/bed. I'll sleep down there to keep from getting Laya sick.

Wednesday finally comes, and the new furnace is being installed. Just then, the washer/dryer pees on the floor, either a leak, or the suds overflowed. But it's been a chain of events, (washer doesn't wash well, have to "spin" 2-3 times, have to run the dryer at least twice to dry a load, etc.) Grrrr... fix it again, or get a new one? Discuss, agonize, and finally come to the conclusion that needs to go as well.

So I start looking up stacked W/D's on the net (we have a very small space). Basically there are only two available that fit the space, that I can fine. Sears/Kenmore, which is what we have, or a unit at Lowes. Also have to give major props out to my dad here... I called him to see if he had any thoughts on washer/dryers. He went out and checked several stores out. (There is a shopping center near him that has a lot of the major stores) I head out to Lowes to get more information. The key point when talking with the sales guy there is that it would take 8-10 days between ordering and getting the new unit. Guess I'm getting a new Kenmore then!

Thursday morning I ordered a new washer dryer, and requested an early Friday delivery. The delivery folks call, and they'll be delivering right when Laya will be taking the kids to school. Okay, a little more sick time then. The come right on time Friday morning, haul out the old one, and then.... the hose is stuck on the valve (the one that connects the water to the washer.). "If I turn any harder, I'll break it. You need a plumber." At this point I contemplate dropping to the ground and laughing out of sheer frustration. Nah. "Okay, I'll call them right away." They left the W/D, and gave me a number to call them back after the valves are replaced.

I called the plumbing company. The woman asks if they have ever been to my place before. "Yes, you just installed a new furnace 2 days ago... it's been a bad week!" :-) The plumber came at about 12 pm, so Laya was there, and saw the new valves installed. I called the W/D installers, and they said they'd be by about 3-4 pm. Okay, Shabbos doesn't start until 5:18, we are good.

I get home, and call at 4 pm to see what's up. "We're coming, it'll be a little bit." 4:30 I call again. "They are on their way, they'll call you soon." 5 pm, they call me. "We'll be there in 45 minutes." Oh boy. I said "The Jewish Sabbath begins at 5:15, you can come in, but I will NOT be able to sign anything." The guy said "Will you be home??" I said that I would, but repeated that I could not sign anything. "Okay, no problem."

5:18, we light the candles, and by 5:30, are eating Chicken Fajitas. They arrive right at 5:45. They quickly get everything hooked up, then come up and say "Just sign right here." I said "I explained on the phone, it's now the Jewish Sabbath, I can not sign anything." "Oh, no problem, your wife can sign then!" Oy... I explain that neither of us can sign. He starts getting a little agitated. "Someone needs to sign that we delivered and installed this unit!" I explained again, and reminded him that I told him on the phone we wouldn't be able to sign. Finally he calls his boss. "Yeah, this guy is telling me because of his religion, he can't sign this paper... what do I do?" The boss was on speaker phone, so I heard the answer... "Okay, just head on home then." They quickly left.

Oy, what a week. But since I'm in a class all this week, it's a good thing it all happened last week... although not happening at all would have been even better! ;-)

Time to play the tooth fairy

2008-12-22T05:32:00.003-05:00

Tikvah lost her first tooth about 2 months ago. However, she decided she wanted to keep this tooth rather than to leave it to the tooth fairy. I never got her full reasoning, but no sense in forcing her to do something she doesn't want to.

Then out of the blue, two days ago, she told me she changed her mind, and wanted to give it to the tooth fairy. I told her I'd have to email the fairy and let her know that Tikvah wanted to trade in her tooth. Meanwhile, I snuck out to the store, and got some glitter. I learned a trick from my "blog-father", David Bogner over at Treppenwitz (see Long in the Tooth), about leaving a glitter trail. I was able to find some at the dollar store. That night I left her $2 under her pillow, and a glitter trail. The next morning I had to remind her to check under her pillow. She was amazed. Then I showed her the gliltter "fairy dust" trail. She and Ahava were talking about it for a while, analyzing her exact path, and how she knew to go to Tikvah's bed and not Ahava's. Tikvah carried the $2 around for most of the morning. I did tell her that it probably was $2 for the first tooth, then $1 a tooth afterwards.

Then, while at a Chabad Hanukkah party last night, what happens? She loses another tooth! I told her the tooth fairy would think she's pulling her teeth out on purpose to get more money! :-) Tikvah said it was a good thing we didn't vacuum up the fairy dust yet, since there would probably be more. Smart kid. I almost forgot to leave her the dollar, but last night I watched "The Santa Clause 2" with Tim Allen. Towards the end, the guy who helped save the day was the tooth fairy. (yes, it was a male tooth fairy in the movie). That reminded me what I needed to do!

So 2 teeth down, 18 to go, plus Ahava still has her 20...

This did cause an interesting discussion between Laya and myself. Her parents never did the tooth fairy thing, and at first she told Tikvah I was just making it up. But when I explained letting the kids experience a little bit of magic and wonder in their lives, she changed her mind and went along with it.

Read the fine print...

2008-12-09T21:30:00.002-05:00

My local radio station is having a contest where you have to find a graphic on their website each day, based on some clues. If you click on it, and log in, you are entered. They are giving away about $1,000 a day. I was reading some of their rules, and saw this (emphasis mine):

Prizes will be awarded in the form of checks written to the winners and will be sent to winners within 2 weeks of completion of contest. Prize cannot be transferred, assigned, redeemed for cash or substituted...

Errr... if the check is not redeemable for cash, then what else is it good for??

I thought of maybe emailing the radio station to point this out to them, but then maybe they'd toss out my entries? ;-)

Site/Motorcycle Logo?

2008-12-01T17:00:00.004-05:00

I was telling my brother-in-law that I was thinking of getting some paint work done on my bike. Maybe some pin striping, maybe even a picture put on it. But I could not think of any picture to put on it. He suggested I do something with my "JDMDad - Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad" name, since it combines what I'm about. I thought about it for about 4 seconds, and came up with this little doodle (using MS Paint).

The thing on the left is a hearing aid, Laya wasn't sure... Also, in case it isn't obvious, I don't have much (if any) artistic talent. :-)

I think I'll think about this some more...

Posting on BeyondBT

2008-11-14T11:38:00.002-05:00

In case you don't follow it, I did a writeup that was posted onto BeyondBT recently. You can view it here.

Other than that, I've been swamped with a meeting for my Jewish motorcycle club, adding lights to my bike, etc. I have some stuff I want to post soon, but want to make sure I spend the time to write it carefully, not a rush job like this one is. :-)

Oh, if there are any Jewish Motorcyclists out there who are interested, our annual Ride to Remember will be based in Savannah, GA, and will go to Charleston, SC. Details can be found here. (go to the registration brochure)

Wow, ArtScroll really makes a difference!

2008-10-29T21:23:00.002-04:00

This year for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, I tried some new Machzors I got from ArtScroll during their last Hanukkah sale. These were the interlinear type, where the English words are printed below the Hebrew words, so you can follow the English with the Hebrew. (Sample page) May be a tad confusing at first, but I've been using some of their other interlinear products (especially their Mincha/Maariv set) so I was used to it.

Wow, what a difference. Usually during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services, I can either follow some of the Hebrew, when they do some things I'm familiar with, or read in the English. But if I do one, I miss out on the other. With this, I got to experience several things both ways at once. For example, the Ashamnu (We have been guilty...) I could say it in Hebrew with the rest of the congregation, or I could read it to myself and understand it in English, but before, I couldn't do it at the same time, now I could. Same with the "Who will live, and Who will die" and "We are your people, you are our G-d", etc.

These were all things I knew how to say, and enjoyed saying them, or enjoyed reading and understanding them in English, but the juxtaposition makes both possible at the same time. Ideally at some point, if I can learn Hebrew, then it wouldn't be an issue, but that's working out to be a lot more difficult than I had thought.

Of course Chabad has their own Machzor which doesn't follow ArtScroll, but between the two of them, with a lot of flipping around, I was able to get through the service and feel more fulfilled for having done it.

Why is it on Yom Kippur...

2008-10-12T14:55:00.003-04:00

Why on Yom Kippur does conversation always seem to turn to food?

I was mentioning to one member of our shul, who rides, how my Jewish motorcycle group would be having a meeting next month at a kosher restaurant. Then we started talking about the kosher restaurant business (business is hard, when the economy turns bad, people stop eating out), then about specific restaurants here and in Baltimore, then about Dougies, Subway, etc. It was about 4:30 pm (Mussaf was over around 3:15 pm, Mincha was at 4:45, so it wasn't worthwhile to go home), so talking about food definitely wasn't helping my fast. I made it, but didn't need the reminder midday! :-)

Feelings....

2008-10-02T12:03:00.002-04:00

Laya's parents and her brother came down to stay with us for Rosh Hashana. Her brother had to be back at work Thursday morning, and her parents are leaving on a trip to Israel next week and needed to pack; so as soon as the Yom Tov was over, they had to leave.

We had already put Tikvah and Ahava to bed (they were yawning all through the evening), but once the door was open and Laya's brother started taking out the suitcases, Tikvah came down the stairs, soon followed by Ahava. Tikvah said "Daddy, I'm very sad that they are leaving." I reassured her that it was normal to be sad when people leave. Then she said "I almost feel like I'm going to cry!" (as she said that, her eyes got watery, and her lips started quivering. I gave her a hug, and reassured her, and pointed out that sometimes when our guests leave, mommy (Laya) does cry, so it's OK if you need to cry to let it out. Finally she said "Daddy, it hurts right here, it's hard to swallow" pointing to the lower part of her throat. Ahava, ever the echo of Tikvah, said it hurt her there too. This time Laya swooped in and said that it hurt her there too when people left and she was sad.

I then reminded Tikvah that it's nice when people visit, but at some point every does need to go home to get back to their lives. Otherwise, if we focus so much on how much it hurts when we leave, then no one will want to visit other people, because no one will want to leave. I also assured her that we would see them again.

After that, the kids felt a little better, and went off to bed without too much more of a protest. I went back downstairs. It always amazes me how well Tikvah is able to articulate her feelings. Even if she doesn't know the "adult" words, she can still describe how she's feeling, and even the physical aspects. I never thought about the tightness in the throat, but that happens to me as well. And as I told her, it's always sad when our guests leave, but better to experience that sadness than not have them at all.

Why do I do what I do

2008-09-23T19:43:00.004-04:00

For those who may not be aware, every year I help to plan and put on the Baltimore/Washington Ride for Kids. This ride, along with 36 other "Ride for Kids" held throughout the year in 37 locations around the US, sponsors the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. We are their main source of income for research, family support, information services, etc. Before the rides started 25 years ago, a child diagnosed with a brain tumor had about a 4% chance of survival. Today the survival rate is about 60%. An enormous increase, but NOWHERE NEAR the survival rate it should be! (I'm basing the numbers from memory of the training session I had a week ago, can't guaranty I'm remembering right)

I started attending the rides in 2001. I had seen several magazine columnists write about the events, so figured I'd give it a try. I had no idea of the emotional impact this event would have on me. Every ride has a number of sidecars and big bikes up front. These bikes hold the true "Stars" of the ride, children currently undergoing treatment for, or have survived brain tumors.

I attended the ride again in 2002, with my new bride. Laya also saw and felt the emotional impact. At that ride I spoke with some people I knew who volunteered for the ride. One of them suggested I attend a Task Force meeting and see if I'd be interested in joining the Task Force that plans the ride, or at least be a volunteer at a future ride. I attended the meeting, and really enjoyed meeting and interacting with the folks on the Task Force. I joined, and the next year, 2003 I assisted the parking lead. In 2004 and 2005 I led the parking team myself. Then in 2006, the ride was on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana. Also about this time I was becoming more observant, and part of the parking lead's job is to train parkers on Saturday, which I no longer wanted to do (required a long drive from home). So I trained a new person to become the parking lead, and that year I only helped to plan the ride, I didn't actually ride. After that year, the Task Force would check the calendar with me to make sure the ride wasn't on a Yom Tov.

Last year I helped to register clubs (the clubs that brought in the top amount of money got to ride directly behind the kids in the following year's ride), and I was supposed to do that again this year. However, I found out there was a conflict, and the parking lead was not able to attend. So I became the parking lead again (someone else agreed to do the training on Saturday for me). This year's event bust out the previous record, and we raised over $276,000 for the kids. Not only that, but my club raised the most money this year (with the help of some friends who credited their amounts to the club, and who just became honorary members!), so next year we get to ride up just behind the kids. I hope to ride, it'll be the first time since 2002 that I actually ride in the event.

But anyway, back to the heart of the matter... Why do I do this.

Take a look at this picture. These kids are all survivors. There were a total of 11 on stage, these are just some.

Paige, the beautiful little girl being interviewed, is 4 years old. That puts her smack in between Tikvah and Ahava. I thank G-d that my kids are healthy kids, (ptu, ptu, ptu) and feel like it is paying back (keeping up the good to help other kids who are not so fortunate). Plus, this type of activity gives a positive public view of motorcyclists. There are still many people out there who go by the old stereotypes of motorcyclists all being gang members, brawling, dealing drugs, etc.

And finally, I have to admit, it's also fun. At the end point this year, I was responsible for making sure 345 motorcycles were able to park without creaming each other. I'm happy to report I was successful! (see below.)

and no, I don't have big, beefy shoulders. There's a guy with a black leather jacket behind me.

Transitioning to Shabbos

2008-09-16T14:43:00.002-04:00

Jacob Da Jew recently wrote a post about how his brother-in-law recently joined the workforce, and now truly appreciates the "rest" you take on Shabbos.

For me, it was the opposite. I wasn't Shabbos observant until about 2-3 years ago (I never did mark down the exact day I started). Before that, I couldn't figure out how people could observe Shabbos. After working all week, I eagerly awaited the weekend to do all the other things that needed doing. Shopping, going out, having fun, taking rides, etc.

When I married my observant wife, she said she accepted me as I was, and would not change me to try to make me Shomer Shabbos, kosher, etc. And for the first year or so, that's what it was. In fact I used to teach motorcycle classes once a month over the whole weekend. But something happened. I began to miss the Friday night Shabbos dinner. Eventually I made arrangements so I could be home on Friday night, but still teach Saturday and Sunday. But then something else happened. Now I was missing going to Shul! Huh? Where did this come from? I used to only go to Friday night services a few times a year. Now I'm disappointed that I'm not at services on Shabbos? Hmmmmm. Okay, so now I don't teach on the weekends anymore. But still, gotta have my e-mail! I check it several times an hour when awake! Well, hmmm, I guess I really don't get all that much email on Saturday. Maybe I don't need to check that often. You know what, I don't need to check at all. Let's just turn the computer off before we light the candles. Give the hard drive a rest from its constant spinning.

Boy, this is really going to be boring. For over 24 hours, no TV, no computer, no driving around and shopping. What the heck will we do anyway? Well, Shabbos dinner on Friday night is nice. Good family time. Saturday morning I get the kids up and let my wife sleep in a little bit. Then when she's up (maybe with a little nudging from me) I go to shul (the wife and kids will join me later) and I really enjoy davening there. In the afternoon, I play with the kids, or they go to a neighbor's house and run around wild there, and I get to take something I haven't taken since Kindergarten... a nice nap. Some dinner, then if Shabbos ends early enough, Havdalah for the whole family, otherwise we put the kids to bed, and a little private time to talk with my wife before Shabbos ends.

You know what? I like this! I don't miss the Saturday hullabaloo I used to participate in. It's nice to get a rest in, take a break from the average week. I've turned 180 degrees, now instead of being annoyed with Shabbos "interfering" with my schedule, I actually look forward to it and the break it gives me every week.

They don't teach boys this kind of stuff!!

2008-09-09T21:37:00.002-04:00

So Tikvah is now into wanting braids in her hair. Here's my first ever attempt. It actually held for most of the day, just some hair on both sides of her face came out. (of the braid, not out from all her hair! I didn't pull that tight!)

One of the older girls in the shul did a great job braiding her hair last week. Took about a half hour to do though. She actually made three separate braids, then braided those together. I don't think I have the patience for something like that.

Ahava seems to have inherited my curly hair. (drives me nuts! I think it was Rita Rudner who joked about wanting to iron her curly hair) I don't know if braids will ever be in the cards for her.

So anyone know of some good websites or other places where I can learn to do a better, neater job of a braid?

Traveler or Tourist?

2008-09-04T20:47:00.002-04:00

Every morning when I boot up my computer at work, we get a splash screen with various daily information. Part of it is a "Quote for the Day." I first read the quote for today quickly, but something struck me, and I went back and read it more slowly.

"The traveler sees what he sees.
The tourist sees what he has come to see."
G.K. Chesterton

I'd like to be a traveler, but many times I just wind up being a tourist. When I was in Israel for my first (and so far only) visit while my sister-in-law was getting married, I wanted to travel, but my parents-in-law mostly took us to various places. Some were interesting, but some were just them going down memory lane. My biggest disappointment was at the Kotel. While I was there, I saw the stairs that go up into the old city of Jerusalem. My in-laws had other things they wanted to do, and wouldn't take me up there. Every time I tried to find a chance to go back, they'd have another place they wanted to take us to, or something else we needed to do (I admit, the wedding was important. ;-) ) Towards the end of the visit I finally got a chance to break away from them, and went back to the Kotel. I went up the stairs and saw the many shops and restaurants. It was amazing to behold. I walked around and even up onto some of the walls that surround the city. What a beautiful view! I spent a few hours wandering around, looking at everything. At one point I made a wrong turn and noticed the stores became all Arabic. Something my mother-in-law feared would happen, and would be the end of me. I just turned around and headed back where I came from. No one made any problems. Out of my entire two weeks in Israel, those 4 hours or so are what I remember best.

When I return to Israel again (we are planning a return trip to see my sister- and brother-in-law, plus my niece!) I do want to tour various places, but I hope I'll get some time alone to get into a traveler mode as well. It's a totally different view.

No, really, we aren't laughing at you!!

2008-08-26T22:12:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine from college recently wrote to me. He bought a scooter to use for small trips (e.g. to the supermarket) to save on gas. I received this email from him a few days ago:

You know I got a scooter from China last year, I fart around town on its 150 CC glory. I just use it to go to Grade A Supermarket to get some food for dinner or whatever, because it makes no sense to fire up the pickup truck for a quick errand. Sometimes I pass by people on real motorcycles, they give me some kind of gang sign. They lower their right hand and stick out two fingers like a peace sign.

Does this mean "Right on, brother!" or more like "Get a real bike, you jerk!"? The bike looks dorky, I look dorky, I even wear a helmet because even though Connecticut law says you don't have to, you can't appeal Newton's Three Laws. I'm not sure if I should just give this sign back to say "Power to the people!" Or "Twice as much back to you, you loser!"

Inquiring minds want to know!

I answered back:

Motorcyclists tend to wave to each other. Some give a full wave, others just hold down their hand. Some won't wave to scooter riders. I, and many others do. You're on two wheels. You're in the wind. You're a brother.

Sometimes I think of getting a cheapie scooter. My motorcycle gets 30 mpg. I know I can do a lot better, especially for a 10 mile commute that's pretty much no highway.

KTRSD! (Keep the rubber side down!)

He proudly told me about what a piece of junk his scooter is... direct quote: "It's a piece of junk but a really fun piece of junk." (no-name type of brand, comes with assembly required, pieces come pre-broken to save you the hassle, trip odometer doesn't work, etc.)

With gas prices the way they are, I've seen more scooters out on the road, and to a lesser extent, mopeds. In fact my aunt recently emailed the family and asked our opinion of her going out and getting a scooter (I'm all for it! She used to ride a motorcycle). I've also seen some of the impact of these new riders. They fit a sort of gray area. Most of the smaller scooters really aren't motorcycles, so as my friend pointed out, a lot of times helmets aren't required. (even in states that require motorcyclists to wear helmets) However, in at least Virginia and Maryland (I'm sure there are other states as well) they recently revised the laws. Now if your scooter/moped goes over 35 miles an hour, it is considered a motorcycle, and requires things like helmet usage, insurance, registration/license plate, etc. There is also more training being offered for scooter riders. In the past their only option was to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) course, which means learning to ride with a clutch. Scooters tend to be automatic drive vehicles (I'm not aware of any that are shiftable, but then again, my experiences with scooters is negligiable. But now the MSF offers a program called "ScooterSchool." I've heard of other training options for scooters as well. Some MSF classes will let you use a scooter in a regular class with motorcycles.

As I said to my friend, I have been thinking about getting a scooter for commutes to work. I can see several advantages to using them. Besides the gas advantages, scooters tend to use the side of the road more, nice during traffic backups. Of course, there are several disadvantages as well. They are mostly smaller than motorcycles, thus even harder to see. They aren't as quick as motorcycles, so might be harder to get out of the way if something should happen. And the lower powered ones definitely can't be used on the highways (nor would I want to!)

This is something I'll be thinking about for a while. But regardless, I still continue to wave to those riding scooters, mopeds, and of course motorcycles.

KTRSD!

A picture of the scooter my friend has. But as he puts it: "The bike in the picture looks much nicer than the reality of the one I own too. All the plastic parts fit together in the picture, and without all the gaps in mine. My turn signal stopped working right yesterday, it was always flashing left (turning it to right made both lights flash, like an hazard signal). I took out the switch, looked at it, found nothing wrong with it, put it back, and it worked fine. Go figure!"

AED - I didn't realize they were so simple

2008-08-18T19:21:00.004-04:00

Recently my office installed a bunch of AEDs. (Automated External Defibrillator)

I've seen these around more and more at restaurants, airports, just about everywhere. But I always thought they were complicated things that required a lot of training. Our safety division started offering classes in CPR and AED use. I hoped I would never need the knowledge, but I figured I'd brush up on my CPR skills, as it has been a few years since I was last certified.

The course started with about 2 hours of CPR lessons. We had to relearn the sequence... now it's 30 compresses and 2 breaths. If we don't have a face mask, and don't know the person well, they say we don't even need to do the breaths, just keep pressing on the chest.

After that was completed, we started the AED training. To start us off, he had two people "walk in" and find a body on the ground. One started CPR, the other got the AED. That person, like me, never really saw or used an AED before. And he did the same thing I would have. He pulled out the manual. The instructor stopped everything and suggested they try again, this time, when they get the AED, the instructor said to just press the "Start" button. Turns out the AED talks to you and walks you through the entire process. When to hook up the pads (and the pads have diagrams to show exactly where they go), when to stop all contact with the person, when to press the button to shock (assuming all are clear), when to resume CPR, etc.

The AED doesn't do everything, you still need to pump the heart and breathe into the person, but now I know you don't need a lot of training or medical knowledge to use an AED. And I also know now that it doesn't replace CPR, but rather, supplements it. And according to our instructor, it increases the odds of survival from about 7% to around 95%!! Wow, I like those odds much better!!

Peer Pressure

2008-08-04T18:11:00.003-04:00

I've heard of how easily kids succumb to peer pressure, but now I'm seeing it in Tikvah already (she turns 5 soon). She used to wear pants all the time. Then she started talking about how a few of the girls in her pre-school would always have a skirt or dress on, they never wore pants. (mostly the daughters of some of the Chabad rabbis). Now I've noticed in the last month or two that she hasn't worn pants at all, except for the few occasions she was told she needed them for a particular thing we were going to where skirts weren't a good idea (a playground if I remember right). Well, I guess there are worse things to have peer pressure about, but still, I'll keep an eye on her to make sure future changes are things that she really wants to do, and not just because "the other kids are doing it."

Oy...

Blogger outs himself

2008-07-29T17:43:00.002-04:00

The first blog I ever read with any regularity, and that really showed me what a blog was all about, was "Waiter Rant." I've always tried to be a good tipper when eating out, but after reading the Waiter's writings, I made extra sure to do so. The Waiter fulfilled a dream that few bloggers dare hope for, his writing was so popular that he received a book offer. Today his book came out, and he exposed his true identity. I hope his books runs well (looks like it's off to a good start), and that he doesn't come across any disgruntled customers who figured out he was writing about them. :-)

Good luck Waiter!

Be careful how you ask G-d for things...

2008-07-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

I was teaching a very basic motorcycle course last week. The weather forecast for that evening called for an 80% chance of thunderstorms. Before the class, I asked "Please, don't let it rain during class!" But I came prepared (ever the Boy Scout), I had my rain gear and my rain hat. I even bought a pack of extra strength dish washing gloves. You may laugh, but they keep my hands dry when teaching, which keeps me more comfortable.

Anyway, the class went off very well. We had 5 ladies in the class. We instructors know that the women tend to make better students. They usually listen better than the men do, and don't challenge us or try to show off quite as much as the guys do. (speaking on the average here) We finished up just ahead of schedule. By 8 pm, the bikes were loaded back in the trailer, the students received their stickers and were on their way back to their cars. I noticed the clouds were getting thicker, but nothing too threatening yet. I said I'd drop off the paperwork and give the keys (to the trailer) back to the police.

After dropping off the paperwork, I went into the building where the campus police are housed. The officer on duty was out on patrol, and said he'd be back in 10 minutes. When he came in, I noticed his shoulders were wet. Uh oh... When I walked out, it wasn't raining it was POURING. Drat, I had put all my rain gear back in the van, which was parked in the parking garage across the street. I made a mad dash to get there. My phone received an alert from the county, a funnel cloud was spotted about 20 miles west of where I was. Just what I need. I began the trip home. The rain just got heavier and heavier. One street was partially flooded (the water was up about 8-12 inches in the right lane). I emailed my wife to ask her to unlock the door so I could dash in the house. But would you know it... about 2 blocks from home, the rain let up! In fact, when I got in, my wife said it looked like it would rain soon, but nothing came yet. And there I was, dripping wet.

Next time I'll broaden my request... "Please don't let it rain until I get home from class!" :-)

Bystander behavior

2008-07-17T17:18:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the quiet time... we recently had a family vacation for 2 weeks, then a medical issue that took up another week. Then after that my job issued some new computer policies which include not posting things on a website from the office, not even during breaks, when I tend to write to recharge my batteries.

The other day I came the following article in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071503150_pf.html (I believe the Post removed requirements of having to register to read an article. Sorry if they haven't.)

The basic summary of it is that a lot of times, when people witness an event (a few are given in the article: a woman collapses in a hospital waiting room, and a man is hit by a car when crossing a street, both of these events were caught on video, as well as the bystanders doing nothing) they tend to do nothing, except maybe call 911. Other than that, they don't want to get involved or help. As I was reading the article, I thought "I wouldn't have done that, I would have at least gone over to check on the person." But then the article stated: "Although we might think otherwise, most of us would not have behaved much differently from the people we see in these recent videos." It goes on to quote various sociologists and psychologists, and discusses "Bystander Behavior."

That forced me to think back to events I witnessed and my behavior then. Once I was returning to college after a bad week of chicken pox. I was just cleared to return by my doctor, and still had marks all over me. I was in Grand Central Station, transferring trains pretty late at night. There was a beggar there, in a wheel chair. A group of tough looking guys in their late teens or early twenties came over and started abusing the man, pushing him around unwillingly, prying him off when he would grab on to a signpost or something. I looked around, but didn't see any police in the area. I wasn't familiar with the train station, and didn't have a clue of what to do. Finally the people left the man alone and went to find something else to do. Another time I was on the DC Metro Rail line. A woman standing near me suddenly collapsed on the floor. My brain didn't even seem to register what happened, I was just looking around trying to figure out what was going on. In the meanwhile another woman bent down to hold the first one's head, and someone else called the train operator. When we arrived at the next station, a few people got off with the woman, and I saw them as we pulled out, standing with her, making sure she was okay. Why didn't I think of any of that.

Then again, there were some times when I tried to do something. I was in a shopping mall, and it looked like two kids were fighting. They were throwing kicks and punches back and forth. I saw a security guard and told him. He checked it out. When he came back, he said the kids were just goofing around. I felt my face flush, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But then there was another time, I was riding my motorcycle and saw a rider pulled over on the left shoulder with his bike. I was a few lanes over, and couldn't make it to him safely. I thought about it, and decided to backtrack. I rode back to a previous exit, turned around, and this time I made sure I was in the left lane, and was able to pull up to him in the shoulder. His bike had broken down, and he didn't have a cell phone. I asked if he'd like a ride to the next exit, I could drop him off at a gas station with a phone. He said he had a friend with a pickup truck two exits down, could I drop him off there? It wasn't far from where I was going anyway, so I took him on the back of my bike and he guided me to his friend's place.

So I don't know, I guess given a little time to think, I can break the bystander behavior. Then again, the article states that if people are alone, they are more likely to come to someone else's aid. It also states "Real heroes are the ones who break out of the group norm."

Still, I hope I remember some of this if I'm ever in a situation like this again, and maybe get off my tush and actually do something.

Where'd they hide it??

2008-06-27T14:24:00.002-04:00

The other day I plugged something into my van's powerport. The power instantly went out of the port, and the radio died as well. Must have blown a fuse. I looked all throughout the dashboard, underneath, the sides, etc. No luck. I checked the manual, but it wasn't very clear either. Oh, come on, I have a drive to make the next day!

Finally, out of sheer frustration, I pulled into a Dodge dealership. At the service area, I explained my problem to the office manager. She sent out the head of the shop to help me out. He spent about 5 minutes looking over all the same places I did. Then he popped the hood. Right next to the battery was this black box. Popped the lid off of that, and there were the fuses. We looked at the map, and found the right fuse, and it was blown. I got two new fuses (the spare was missing) and installed one of them. Everything worked fine. (I tossed out the splitter that caused the fuse to pop. Never did that before, but don't want to take any chances.) The service manager wished me well (and no charge, except the fuse) and I was rolling again.

I guess I'm still used to older technology. I never would have thought to look under the hood for a car's fuse box!

One down... many to go

2008-06-11T13:53:00.003-04:00

I just got back from Tikvah's pre-school graduation. Next year starts Kindergarten. They did a great job, the kids had little caps on and everything. They had a luncheon afterwards, and I sat down with the father of one of Tikvah's best friends. He said "This is the first of many graduations." My baby isn't even 5 years old yet, (she's very happy to remind me that it's coming up this summer though!) and I'm already thinking about grade school graduation, high school graduation, college graduation, etc. *sigh* Seems like a long way away, but then again, it seems like I was holding a crying, newborn Tikvah only yesterday.

What's in a name?

2008-05-30T14:22:00.001-04:00

The bike I recently purchased is a 2007 Kawasaki Nomad. The Nomad is part of the Kawasaki Vulcan line. (essentially all their cruisers are Vulcans with varying engine sizes, configurations, bags, etc.)

Yesterday I needed to get a parking pass so that I could park the bike at work. I had to bring in my vehicle registration and insurance card. On the paperwork, I had written "Kawasaki Nomad." I saw the security guard looking at the various pieces of paper, slightly confused. I figured out what it was. On the state vehicle registration, the bike is called a VN1600D. (Kawasaki's internal body type name for the bike.) On the insurance paperwork, the bike is listed as a Vulcan 1600. Heck, on my warranty card it's listed as a VN1600D7FA.

I wonder if my brother had to go through this. He owns a 2007 Kawasaki Meanstreak. It's a Vulcan 1600 with a more customized look to it.

Anyway, I'll just stick with calling the bike a Nomad. On Sunday I'm teaching in the morning, then going to an Israeli festival in the afternoon. Hopefully after getting the little ones off to bed, I'll have a chance to post a picture or two. I did take a short ride yesterday and have to say, it's so nice to be able to back the bike up out of my parking space without having to get off of it. While I loved my old Concours I usually couldn't back her up, even on level ground, without getting off; I was on my tiptoes as it was.

Updates soon!

2008-05-27T11:52:00.003-04:00

This past weekend has been extremely busy. I was in Omaha for the recent Ride to Remember with the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance. The experience was incredible; the way Omaha, Lincoln, and Nebraska in general welcomed us was astonishing, totally beating out DC, TN, and NY. I'm working on a write up, but it'll take a while. (I'll probably have to do it in a few chunks).

Then the day after I returned home, I got my new (to me) motorcycle. Whoo hoo. I just got it registered. I have to get it inspected (it's only 8 months old, shouldn't be a problem) and I'm ready to roll!

Back to my old haunts.

2008-05-16T14:17:00.002-04:00

The other day I had to go up to Baltimore for a meeting. Great! While I'm up there, I figured I might as well try the new kosher Subway that recently opened up. I was talking about it with one of my (kosher keeping) neighbors who also ate at Subway before becoming more observant. We discussed whether or not we should have the (fake) cheese on meat based subs, and wondered how close the subs would taste like what we remember. Since I knew I would be going up, I offered to bring back some subs for them.

I also told Laya that I'd be bringing back subs from Subway. Now, unlike fast food places such as Burger King or McDonald's, Subway has a lot of flexibility. First you pick if you want 6 inches or 12. Then you decide what type of sub you want. (e.g. Meatball, Sweet Onion Chicken teryaki, etc.). You also pick what kind of bread you want (Italian, wheat, garlic, etc.), you then pick what veggies you want on top of the sub, and you also pick what (if any) sauces or dressing you want. Apparently the people in Baltimore who have never been in Subway before were having problems, because the Subway store sent out an email explaining step by step how to order. I went over the menu with Laya and we finally figured out what I would get for her and for the kids.

So by the time I went into Subway, I had 6 sandwiches to order. 2 for my neighbors, 3 to bring home, and one to eat there. I thought I ordered clearly, I went through one sandwich at a time, listing what I wanted, and what goes on what. But then the sandwich makers started switching the rolls around and it became hard to keep track of which was which. One thing I noticed is that one person was solely in charge of the Seafood Sensation (which had fish, which needs to remain separate from meat). Smart, I never would have thought of that. But of course he was in the back room when I ordered. *rolling eyes*.

It took a lot of explaining the order over again (3 or 4 times) but eventually we got all the subs made and figured out which was which. I caused a backup in line... oops. I also ordered chocolate chip cookies. Can't leave without that! ;-)

The sub I ate at the restaurant was a meatball sub. The taste was pretty similar to what I remember before. The only problem was they didn't make their meatballs firm enough, so they got mushed up when I was holding the sandwich tightly (not that it was a death grip!). After discussing it with my neighbor, I decided not to get it with the (fake) cheese. Then on the way home I ate some of my cookies. They were over done, but still pretty good.

When I arrived back home, I stopped at the neighbor's house first. We figured out which subs were theirs, and I took the rest home and stuck them in the refrigerator. We had them for dinner the next night. I had the Seafood Sensation. (formerly known as "Seafood and Crab", they have made some changes!) It was pretty good, close to what I remember it being like before. I forgot to order cheese for this one, and I did need to add a little more mayo, but overall, I enjoyed it. Laya had the Subway Club (Roast Beef, turkey and smoked turkey). She liked her sub. We split a cold cut combo (bologna, salami, smoked turkey) for the girls. Ahava really enjoyed the bread! She left meat on her plate, and asked for more bread. Oy. Tikvah liked her sandwich and had some more, plus the meat that Ahava left behind. Laya liked her club. Laya had "The works" for toppings, which means everything. One thing they had on there was sweet peppers. Laya never had them before, and she wound up liking them. Tikvah asked to try them, and she liked them as well. The hardest thing I had to figure out when getting the subs was what veggies to get on the kids' subs. Tikvah doesn't like black olives. Ahava doesn't like lettuce. Tikvah doesn't like sliced tomatoes, neither like onions, etc. I finally settled on cucumbers and pickles only. The girls seemed fine with it. *grin*

So an overall verdict, thumbs up. (My neighbors liked it too, they give it a B+) The decor in the store was just like in the regular Subway restaurants (the updated ones, with bricks), and the food was very similar. Unfortunately I missed Jared by a week. I wonder if they had Subway kippahs when he came?

When I decided to keep strictly kosher, Subway was one of the restaurants I was going to miss. They have a nice variety, and it's not a hamburger based place. Granted, it's over an hour away, but it's nice to know it's an occasional option now.

More ways to torment mom...

2008-05-12T08:04:00.003-04:00

I mentioned before that I tormented my mother in various ways when growing up. Here's another.

During Sunday School one day (I don't remember the exact year, I was probably somewhere between 10-12 years old) I was kind of bored. The teacher was talking about the destruction of the first Temple, and the construction of the second Temple. At one point she mentioned that the temple was mostly made of wood. I piped up "But what if the Big Bad Wolf comes and blows it down??" That earned me the first and only time I've ever been kicked out of a class.

While sitting down outside the door to the classroom, several other teachers walked by and they were all shocked to see me sitting there. The worse part was the drive home. You see, I left out one small detail. The teacher happened to be my mother. It was a very quiet drive.

When we got home, I was told to go into the dinning room, sit down, and wait for my father to come home. I don't remember how long I sat there, and I don't remember what my dad said to me, but I never mouthed off to mom in the classroom again (nor any other teacher as well).

Sorry Ma!

From an orange to a full kosher meal

2008-05-08T08:11:00.005-04:00

I donate blood and platelets at a local blood donor center. The type of donation I do takes longer than your average blood donation. Once I'm hooked on the machine, it usually takes about 90 minutes until completion. But with the extra time, they not only take regular "whole blood" but also take platelets and plasma if they need it. They can also do a double red donation through this process. Every time they hook me up to the machine, they ask if they can take X, Y and/or Z. I always tell them, I'm here, just take what you need.

So for the past few years, I've been getting an invitation to their annual donor dinner. I usually had conflicts. This year it was an open night, and I really wanted to see what goes on at these events. The dinner choices were Chicken, Steak, or Veggie. I called to make a reservation (it's an answering machine that takes it) and said that I keep kosher, so I wouldn't be eating, I just wanted to hear the presentations.

So late yesterday afternoon, I ate some left over spaghetti, then headed on over. It was being held at the local Marriott. When I checked in, they didn't have my reservation for some reason (seemed to happen to a lot of people, maybe using an answering machine to take reservations isn't a hot idea). Anyway, they wrote out a name tag and asked me what I wanted to eat. I explained that I keep strictly kosher, and wouldn't be eating there. The woman started fussing and kept trying to convince me to take the veggie meal, or else wanted to call down to the kitchen and have them make me something else. Another volunteer there was Jewish, and she understood the situation and explained to the first why that wouldn't work. I told them that really, I was fine, I just wanted to hear the presentations and see what the event was like.

After that, I was wandering around a bit, checking out the hotel. I decided to buy a Snickers bar to eat during the dinner. At the desk, they also had a bowl of oranges. I asked if I could have one, they said "Sure." I then said that would be my dinner for tonight. The hotel worker looked me over (I wear a kippah). He then said "You know, they keep kosher food on hand in the kitchen." I looked at him and asked for more information. He said they have wrapped kosher food set aside for when they had people staying who required kosher food, and they could provide it at the dinner. Well, SURE, I'll agree to that!

I was a little late in the seating, but found an open table near the front of the room. Turned out I sat next to another Jewish woman, and also at the table were two people from the JCC! (they sponsored blood drives there). The Jewish woman who helped me before came up to me and said that they did have the kosher food, and I would be getting it soon.

First they came out with a roll and plasticware. The plasticware was wrapped up REALLY tight. I needed a knife just to open it up! Everything was wrapped and sealed with the name of a kosher restaurant that I know (and trust) plus the local Vaad oversight.

Then came out the main course, chicken, potatoes, and green beans. Okay, granted this was a reheated meal, and a tad dry, but still, considering that I thought I was only going to have an orange and a Snickers bar for dinner, it was pretty darn good!

I had the orange for dessert, and saved the Snickers bar for another day.

After the dinner, they had several people come up and speak. The most heart wrenching one was the mother of two children, 3 and 5 years old. (Instantly hit me, as Tikva will be 5 this summer, and Ahava just turned 3). Her 3 year old son came down with a very bad fever (106 degrees), then had pneumonia, and then they found he had a rare disease (I can't remember the name), but basically resulted in him having almost 0 platelets. He was in and out of surgery and the OR, tubes everywhere, and at one point actually died and had to be resuscitated. Without the donated blood products, he absolutely would not have survived. He needed to be pushed around in a wheel chair for months, and needed to have his head supported, but eventually he relearned to walk, talk, eat, etc. And his mother said he's almost back to normal, running around, playing, etc. They then showed a picture show, before, during, and after his ordeal. I admit, I had to wipe my tears to see the pictures clearly. From now on, whenever I hear negative comments about the time I spend donating blood/platelets, etc. ("Maybe bad people will get it," "They make money off your blood," "There are other people who can donate, why do you have to?" etc.) I'll see the face of that 3 year old boy and know that without donors, he would not be alive today.

Oh, and I got a nice mug for my 20th ABC (Automated Blood Collection) Donation. They had people there who had their 100th, 200th, and even 300th donation (you can donate this way every two weeks). I have a lot of catching up to do!

A Holocaust museum in Richmond, VA. Who'd of thunk it?

2008-05-05T09:11:00.003-04:00

Recently my Jewish motorcycle club had a booth at a big regional motorcycle show. We are trying to recruit more members. One of the most common responses was "There is a group of Jewish Riders? I thought I was the only one!!"

Anyway, one of the people who came up was a volunteer at the Virginia Holocaust Museum. What? Virginia has a Holocaust museum? Who knew? I've only been living here for 14 years. (Okay, to be fair, the museum first opened up 11 years go, so I get 3 years off my flak)

Anyway, the person who stopped by welcomed us to come ride down to Richmond and visit the museum. The group board thought this was a great idea, and the ride was scheduled for May 4th. Due to various conflicts, it wound up just being the president of the group and I. However, just outside of Richmond we met the person who first invited us down there, and another Jewish motorcyclist. They gave us an escort through the highways and streets of Richmond directly to the museum. (okay, disclaimer here... I'm still bikeless, so I went in the car... oh the shame! ;-) )

I've been to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC 3 times, and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem once. I didn't think there'd be much new. Heart wrenching, of course, but still, things that we've seen before. Well... yes and no. Some of the things were the same, but they were presented in different ways which made an impact. One of the first things that struck me as different was a room that was designed to make it look like you were on a boat, the SS St. Louis. Then later, there was a room with a crawl space. I thought it was just for show, but the person showing us around crawled in. Okay... As soon as you stood up, there were the sounds of a nasty dog barking like mad. My heart started racing. The room was designed to look like you were at the fence surrounding the concentration camps. Then we crawled again, this time the "tunnel" was completely dark, no light at all. It was very effective. It lead to a mock underground location where 13 Jews survived hidden for 9 months. We continued to crawl to exit. Very thought provoking.

Later, to exit another corridor, you enter the gas chamber. You know it's not a real gas chamber, but you see the nozzles, you see where they drop the gas, you see how the door is barricaded. Not a pleasant place to be in at all. But again, a reminder of what so many people suffered.

At the end of the museum was a new exhibit (opened on May 1st). It is a recreation of the courtroom at the Nuremberg Trials, along with a film of the trial taking place. I kept hearing over and over "Not Guilty! Following orders!" etc. Sickening.

After the museum, our escorts took us to the Richmond JCC, which had the only kosher restaurant in Richmond. We enjoyed wraps and smoothies, and wound up talking for over an hour, covering everything from motorcycles to politics, to the Holocaust, etc. I certainly hope to return again some day. Hopefully on a bike the next time!

Ah, so my memory IS playing tricks with me!

2008-04-24T15:35:00.001-04:00

I just recently read this article here. In case you don't want to read it, it's about why people make the same mistake 2, 3, 4, multiple times. Basically if something is at the tip of your tongue, and your brain is struggling to remember what it is, then your brain learns the "wrong pathways" to the answer, rather than learning it the right way so you'll remember things the next time. (even the next day).

This is something I struggle with occasionally, like trying to remember a person's name, I wind up having to go through a bunch of names... "Harry? no, Tom? no, Bill? no.... Ummm... Oh yeah, hi Chuck!" Something along those lines. And it happens the same way the next time I see him. Or try to remember a book, or the definition of a Hebrew word, etc.

They offer a possible solution, once you know the right answer, say it (either out loud or mentally) over and over to beat the new pathways in your brain. I'll report back and let you know if it works... If I can remember the password to post to the blog that is...

So long...

2008-04-08T05:40:00.003-04:00

I accomplished part A of my plans to get a new bike, selling my old one. I put an ad in the Concours Owners Group forum, and got a few hits. The first person tried to negotiate the price of the bike down from my asking price (and I had already knocked about 1/3 of the price off the Blue Book value because I knew of, and was honest about the damage). I told him thanks, but I'll see if others are interested. The next day I received a very excited email from a person in Tennessee. We conversed by email a few times, then he left TN Saturday night, drove up all the way here and got here Sunday morning. He checked the bike out, rode it for about a minute, came back and told me I had a deal. I signed the title over to him, he paid me in cash, and we loaded the bike up in his truck. Oy, I've only loaded my bike onto my (pretty low) trailer (see here for an example). Getting it all the way up the ramp onto the truck was hard work! But we got it done. Whew! I took one last picture just before he left.

I tried to keep away any anthropomorphic feelings. The bike worked well for 10 years, but after the drop I had last year, I realized I wanted to get a bike that was lower to the ground. Now I get to do some serious shopping! :-)

However, I will probably not be riding to the Ride to Remember this year. When I do get a new (or new to me) bike, I want to take the time to get the know and get comfortable with the bike. Starting off with a 2,500 round trip journey seems like a rush. I will be there though, just via airplane.

Awww man! I missed it!!

2008-03-25T21:22:00.002-04:00

I just sent the last post when I a whim, I went to check the history of this blog. Drat, I missed my first Bloggiversary. My first post, "Hello World" was posted March 21, 2007.

At the end of the post, I stated:

How often will I post? Will this be one of those many deserted blogs? I don't know. I'm figuring this out as I go along. (Literally! I have a copy of Brad Hill's "Blogging for Dummies" next to me, and several "Blogger.com" help pages open as I type this).

According to the dashboard, I made 58 posts (not including this one and the one I just made, since they technically are in the new year). So a little over a post a week. And there were a few dry spells where I didn't post for a while. So all in all, not too bad. It's not like I have a huge readership. (A few family members, and Mordechai!) but anyone is always welcome to read and pick my thoughts. And Laya likes the posts because they preserve some of the stories of our kids. I need to back some of them up, or print them out so the kids can read them later. (hopefully I won't be scarring them or anything ;-) ) Oh, and I haven't used a book since that first week, I may not do any of the fancy stuff, but I have the basics working.

Anyway, thanks for reading... hopefully I'll have more soon. (here's a teaser, I dropped my motorcycle off this morning for a motorcycle auction to be held this weekend. I'm hoping I won't have to go back to pick it up!)

Use of internet at work...

2008-03-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

We received a note at work a few days ago that all "non-official" internet use was to be banned. They were going to be tracking everyone's usage of the internet, and any use that wasn't for official business would be reported to the director. This certainly put a scare into everyone. Now, I admit, I do use the internet a bit at work, mostly for non-business e-mail. Some people get personal email delivered to their work address, but I think that's crossing too many lines and can cause confusion. I also do read a few blogs, and post to this one, during breaks. My brain can't take straight work work work the whole time, I need to explore a little bit every now and then to keep fresh. I actually find Wikipedia refreshing, I learn so many new things on there, some useful, and some just for pop trivia knowledge. (Some people smoke during their breaks, I try to learn something new during breaks)

Then we got an email today saying the first one was taken out of context, and it was just being considered right now, and probably wouldn't be that harsh, etc. But still, it has me thinking, where is the line? How much is too much? If I wasn't checking email or looking for something new to read, I'd probably leaf through a book or a magazine, something not work related to jog my mind a bit. Granted, I do see other users who seem to hog up things on the internet, such as videos, instant messaging, etc, which I believe is going too far, but then again, my boss who never uses the internet at work, except for what he absolutely needs to could say that I use too much just to read emails. (probably wouldn't say it, since I still do get all my work done, but could)

No magic answers, just some things to ponder.

Whew, that's over

2008-03-19T07:48:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I had been taking a Hebrew class, and was struggling to keep up. It killed a lot of my time for other activities. It's over for now, I might take it again next fall after reviewing everything starting back at chapter one. It helped a little, I'm recognizing more and more words in the siddur. But at the same time, when my brother-in-law from Israel was visiting, I asked him in Hebrew "Where are you going?" and when he answered, it went straight over my head. Oy!

The other thing that has been going on lately is my quest for a new (or new to me) motorcycle. My beloved Concours still runs, but is now at a stage where she needs a more mechanical hand to keep her in tip top shape. Mine is not that hand. I also want something that's lower to the ground, I'm tired of tip toeing. Right now I'm focusing in on the Kawasaki Nomad 1600 (2005+). It's several inches lower, has fuel injection (most of my problems with the current bike are from the carbs), a shaft drive, and lockable luggage, things that are important to me.

Anyway, I have a few new posts in mind, just need to sit down and work on them (one of them may require a video... Hmmm....)

My first experience with La Briute self heating meals

2008-02-29T09:32:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago while my folks were in town, we were at the local kosher supermarket, and I saw a display of La Briute self-heating meals. I've heard of them, but haven't seen any before. I got a box of their Cheese Ravioli. The meal is packed so that you don't need to keep it refridgerated at all. And it is supposed to be self heating. The expiration date is 12/2010, so it keeps for a while!

I left it at work for a day when I forgot to make or bring my lunch. That happened earlier this week.

It took a few minutes to figure out how it all worked, but next time it'll be really quick. I was also surprised at how much was in the box, I thought would be just the ravioli. There was also a package of oatmeal cookies and a packet of soup broth. If I had a cup, I could have made myself some soup. (that part is not self heating... I would need to boil some water) They also included a fork, knife and spoon, plus some salt and pepper. The napkin was kind of wimpy (fortunately I keep some napkins in my office) but they make up for it with a "moist towelette."

Anyway, I place the sealed package of ravioli in a bag that has a heating element made of magnesium and iron. Then I pour in some salt water (they provide the pack of salt water) and close up the bag and set it down. Yikes, you can see the water start to boil up quickly and steam comes out of the bag. I let it go for about 10 minutes, I probably should have given it another minute or two, it was hot, but could have used a tad more.

Anyway, I (carefully) took the package of ravioli out of the bag (hot!), and opened it up. There were five large cheese raviolis. Okay for lunch, but if I were really hungry I'd want more. (although the soup could have taken the edge off my hunger if I had it...)

The ravioli was good. I wouldn't say the best I've had, but it was good.

Their meals are Chlov Yisrael, Glatt Kosher, or parve. They actually have a pretty good selection on their website, and it's cheaper on the website than it was at the supermarket. I'll have to check their shipping rate.

Anyway, I wouldn't use it for day to day use, but I could see leaving a few packages at work for times I forget to bring something, or if the group is going out somewhere and I don't want to lug along a peanut butter and jeally sandwich. It will also be useful for trips out of town, such as when I go to the Ride to Remember in Omaha, or my upcoming college reunion.

And yes, Blogger-in-law, I know I wouldn't need something like this in Israel, as there is plenty of Kosher food thoughout. ;-)

Vocabulary Review, and football too.

2008-02-04T21:42:00.000-05:00

Ah, Superbowl Sunday. I was looking forward to the game (okay, I like the commercials, usually). During the day though, we realized that Tikvah was sick. It started with her complaining her throat hurts. Okay, that happens every now and then. But then when we were out for lunch, she didn't eat any chicken nuggets, but the biggest sign of a problem was she only ate ONE FRENCH FRY!!!! When we got home, I took her temperature. Yep, almost 103. Okay, take it easy, keep warm, no running around (she wasn't in a running around mood anyway).

About an hour before kickoff, I was finishing up some things when Tikvah said "Daddy... I feel like I have to cough." So I wisely said "Oh, it's okay to cough." BBBLLLEEEAAAAHHHHHHHH, there goes everything that was in her tummy for the past few hours. After getting some paper towels and a garbage bag, I kept reassuring her that it was okay. Then I mentioned... "By the way, that's not coughing. That's 'Throwing up.'" She asked me to repeat it a few times (that's how she makes sure she learns new words). I thought of tossing in "vomit, barf, puke, ralph, heave-ho, blowing chunks," etc., but decided that her vocabulary didn't need to grow that fast.

A light dinner later (three bites of a buttered slice of bread) and she was zonked out and ready for bed. Fortunately I Tivo'd the game, and didn't miss the commercials (or the game). Pretty lame this year. A only a few good ones, especially the one with Richard Simmons. I have to admit, my thought was the same as the driver's. :-) The dalmatian/Clydesdale one was cute too. I was very disappointed (although not surprised) in how few of the commercials were closed captioned though. :-(

And to top it off, the Giants won, meaning I have to buy the ice cream when my folks come down to visit in 2 weeks. (not that I'm a Patriots fan, but I always take the AFC, and dad always takes the NFC)

No Wire Hangers!!

2008-01-29T14:44:00.000-05:00

The title of this post is a double reference. Over the weekend I mentioned to my parents that my high school 20th reunion was going to be held later on this year, but because it's on a Friday night, I wouldn't be attending. I never really kept in touch with anyone in my high school, most of my friends were from when I worked at Wendy's, or were people I met at college. They asked about one friend, but I reminded them that he moved when I was around the 9th grade or so. He loved the movie "Mommy Dearest" and would frequently turn to me and start quoting "NO WIRE HANGERS!!!!!" But I lost touch with him several years ago, and didn't know how to contact him any more. My dad, Mr. Retired, said he was pretty good at finding people, and would take the challenge. He contacted me a day later and said he tried all 50 states, but couldn't find him. He asked if I knew his parents name, and I did. A few hours later dad called me and told me he contacted my friend's mother, and I'd be hearing from him soon. My friend called about an hour later and we had a nice conversation. We traded addresses and phone numbers. No e-mail address though, he doesn't have a computer and doesn't e-mail. Yikes, how do I keep in touch?? Might have to actually write letters on paper or something. *grin*

The other hanger reference is something that occurred when I got home. Laya informed me that Tikvah locked the bathroom door, and closed it. This was after Tikvah and Ahava conveniently placed all of our shoes in the bathroom. (Why? Who knows what goes through the minds of 2 and 4 year olds???) The doorknob had a small hole in it, so I thought it was the type you have to poke, so I found one of our few wire hangers and tried to unlock it. No luck. Grrrr... The screws that hold the knob together were on the outside of the bathroom, fortunately, so I unscrewed them, and was able to unlock the door. I also learned that to unlock it, I'd need to insert a very small screw driver, and turn it. Ah, I'll remember that. (although I may replace the knob with the kind you can unlock with a regular screwdriver, or a butter knife for that matter) But Tikvah has been told that she is not to close the bathroom door for a while. I'm just glad Ahava wasn't in the bathroom at the time. Kids... ARUGH!!!!! :-)

Whew, that's over!

2008-01-24T10:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay. Besides visiting family over the last holiday break, I got involved in one other thing, and I didn't realize what a time commitment it would be. I started reading the first Harry Potter book. I knew it was popular, and since I hate waiting for the next book in a series, I waited until they were all available, and bought the full set of 7 books. I figured I'd read one or two, then later on pick up another one, etc. No dice. I read the first two books in 4 days. I didn't have the rest of the books with me while on vacation, so had to wait until I got home before I could start on the third. But then this pesky thing known as "Work" got in my way, and it took longer to read books. Oh, and I also needed to do the basics... you know, eat, play with the kids, sleep, etc. But I finally finished the last book. Whew! What a ride! And it ended differently from the way I heard through the grapevine. Maybe a false rumor was put out or something. Anyway, now that that monkey is off my back, hopefully I can get back to writing more!

The following Sally Forth comic pretty much summed things up for me.

Sharing Leisure...

2008-01-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

My parents have been going to the same resort hotel in Massachusetts for almost 30 years. When I was growing up with them, I would go annually too. We went with several other families. Just about all the fathers (and some of the mothers) were teachers, so it was during the holiday break. One thing I remember is at some point, I'd always grab a book and go sit in the lobby, near the big fireplace which always had a nice fire going, and just read for a while. Now that we live so far away, I rarely get to join my parents anymore. However, this year we loaded up the kids and made the trek to visit and relax.

Somewhere around the middle of the day, I told the girls I was going to sit by the fireplace and read. Ahava jumped up and grabbed a book to join me. Tikvah ran after us after we started off. After we all settled by the fire, the girls opened up their books and looked at the pictures, and I started to read. It was only about 5 minutes later when Tikvah piped up with "I'm ready to go back now." I told her that she'd have to give us another 5 minutes (I wanted to finish the chapter I was in) then we'd head back. I was a little disappointed as I wanted to read more. About halfway back to the room, we ran into my mother. She was heading toward our room, and offered to take Tikvah back. I asked Ahava if she wanted to go back with grandma, or back to the fireplace with me. She didn't answer, just gripped her book (Sesame Street Dictionary) and turned right around and headed back to the fireplace.

We sat down and enjoyed the fire for a good half hour before heading back. It felt so nice to share an activity like that with her. Laya sometimes thinks that I favor one child over the other. I really don't think I do. Tikvah is older, and is at the point where she should be expanding her horizons and trying new things. Some things, Ahava just isn't ready to try out yet. But this was something she could do, and when I stole a few glances at her, I could see she was really enjoying the book. While she can't read yet (that I know of anyway!) she was pointing at all the pictures and talking to herself about them. And I had a chance to catch up with a few more chapters of Harry Potter. If Ahava did catch the reading bug from me, she has a lot of books ahead of her to read.

The WII is not for MEE!!!

2007-12-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

Today we had our office holiday party. (Hmmm, my holiday ended the day before...)

To try to make it interesting and boost morale (etc. etc.) they set up a mini golf course around the cubicles. Then as a tie breaker, the boss brought in his WII, and hooked it up to the office 42" plasma TV. Well, all productivity went straight down the drain! (and there wasn't even a tie!) :-)

Now, back in the days when I was growing up, I used a ColecoVision, an Atari 2600, and even the original, PONG!! So I figured I'd give this "WII" thing a try and see what modern technology is up to.

YIKES!!! Major overhaul. The picture is certainly much better, but instead of just pressing buttons and moving the joystick around, you really get into it. You swing your arms for baseball, bowling, tennis, etc. Over the day I played several. I did pretty good in bowling (194, better than I do in real life), and in tennis my team won! Whoo Hoo! Then we tried boxing. Ouch!! And golf, forget it, I was always several shots above par.

But man, after playing a few games (and this is spread out over the full day, not all at once) I've worked out a good sweat! My bowling arm is SORE!! I think I'll just stick with card games on my computer! :-)

Update: (14 Dec...) My dad emailed me with: "If you ever do get one be careful. The first Wii had no wrist strap on the contollers, many tv screens felt the result!!"

I completely forgot to mention this part. One of my co-workers, let's call him "Tom" (that's what we call him in the office ;-) ) was a very enthusiatic player. Especially in tennis. We had to keep telling him to move back because he kept jumping in front of the screen to make a shot (despite the fact that you don't have to walk around to play the game), blocking our view. Then on a backhand shot we learned that he didn't put the strap on. The controller shot out of his hand and WHAM, right into the ceiling! Then it shot back down to the floor, barely missing another co-worker's head. A piece of the ceiling tile fell to the floor too. After that, whenever Tom would play, even a nice game of golf, we'd make sure he had his wrist strap on... tightly.

Sometimes I get whacked with a "Clue x 4"

2007-12-06T08:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had a decision I needed to make. After work, I could go home, finish up my Hebrew homework, and also prepare for our oral test; or I could meet up with Laya and the kids at the Chabad "Chanukkah Wonderland" where they were playing. I felt that I was really getting behind in my Hebrew, and needed to catch up, so decided to head home to do some studying. Just as I reached my car though, my left hearing aid stopped working! (Left ear is the one I get most of my understanding from, right ear is just for loud noises.) Completely, no sound!! I tried changing the hearing aid battery, just to see if it was the battery (although usually when it's the battery, it's a gradual decline, not a sudden stop). Nope, same thing with the new battery. Sigh.

Well, at least the hearing aid shop is only a few miles down the road. I'll have them take a look. In the car and off I go. However, exactly as I turned from the entrance ramp on to the main roadway that leads away from my home, and towards the hearing aid shop, I hear a "ZIP!" and the hearing aid starts working again. I checked the switches, the dial, etc., everything is working fine. Hmmmm... I also happen to be pointed straight to the Chanukkah Wonderland. Hmmmmm...

After making sure traffic was clear ahead of me, I took a look up to the sky and said "Okay, okay, I get the message!" Then proceeded to the Chanuakkah Wonderland to have some fun with the kids. And I didn't do too badly in the Hebrew class either.

Side note: I actaully have an appointment with the hearing aid shop today as I need new aids soon, so I'll have them check it out anyway.

Need to watch what/where I'm singing!

2007-11-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

This past Shabbos, I was walking to shul with Tikvah. About halfway there, she asked if we could take a rest. The yard we stopped at had two large rocks we could sit on for a few moments. Tikvah asked me which rock I wanted to sit on. Suddenly I sang "I wanna ROCK, BAM!!!" Tikvah looked up in alarm, and asked me what that meant. I told her it was an old song that daddy used to listen to (by Twisted Sister), and since she had asked about the rocks, it just popped into my head and out of my mouth before I even thought about it.

We continued on to shul. Just as we arrived in the parking lot of the shul, Tikvah asked me why some people drive on Shabbos, and some (like us) do not. I explained how some people observed the mitzvah of keeping Shabbos more than others, just like some people keep kosher at home, but not outside the home, and some don't keep kosher at all, but we were still all Jews. And I said that in my earlier days, I used to drive to shul, but now I walked. Then again, the singing bug bit me, and I sang "Walk like a man, talk like a man..." (by the Four Seasons) Tikvah gave me another one of her looks. Oy. But more alarming, a shul member passed me on the ramp up to the shul. I could have sworn no one was around me before. How much of my singing did he hear?? Oh man, I need to muzzle myself before heading to shul again!!

That night I was curious; I went on YouTube and searched "I wanna Rock." Cool, they had the whole video on there. Tikvah climbed up in my lap and wanted to watch. Ahava either didn't like the music, or the video, and retreated to the kitchen. After watching that video, I also wanted to see "We're not gonna take it." Tikvah said the woman dressed very strangely. I had to tell her that Dee Snyder was a man, not a woman. She took it pretty well. But then at the dinner table I noticed that she kept singing "I'm not gonna take it..." Uh oh......

Writing, but for another blog...

2007-11-25T19:25:00.000-05:00

I've been a bit quiet here, sorry. My more recent writings have been for BeyondBT. I made a post recently about Thanksgiving, posted here. I just finished another post and sent it in a few minutes ago. They'll let me know when it's up. I think it's a really good one, so I'll post a link here when they do so.

Hopefully now I can focus a little more attention back here! I'm sure I'll have some material to write about soon. Blogger-in-law is coming to visit from Israel, along with my wife's sister, and my first and only niece! Since they are coming, my parents-in-law are coming, as well as my other brother-in-law. That's (counting fingers) 10 people in our little townhouse!!! I better put in my reservation for a shower now!!

How to torment your mother...

2007-11-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in this previous post that maybe I would post other ways I've tormented my poor mother. This one is my favorite! (which of course means it's probably pretty low on mom's list of wonderful life events...)

This happened about a year or so before my Bar Mitzvah, so I was 11 or 12 at the time. We were going to services one Friday night, for someone's Bar Mitzvah. We got about a mile down the road when my mother realized she forgot the Bar Mitzvah gift. As the president of the Sisterhood, she would present the Kiddish cup to the Bar Mitzvah boy. So dad turned the car around and home we went. Dad clicked on the garage door opener, and mom ran in the garage to the house. All the sudden we heard "Ahhh!" and saw my mom dance around a little bit. Trying to see what was going on, we looked more closely, and saw a snake slither out of the garage and into the grass. Mom composed herself, went into the house, and got the cup.

So now it's a little bit later, we are back on the road, heading to the synagogue. I look at my brother and give him the "shhhh" sign. I then slowly take off my leather belt. Then slowly, slowly, inch by inch, I push the belt up and over mom's sholder. Finally she glances down and... "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Oh, that's what a blood curling scream is!!! Fortunately dad was able to keep from driving the car into a ditch during all this, and I of course got yelled at. (I think I saw a smile on dad's lips though... hmmmmm). I guess I'm just fortunate that the belt wasn't use to wack my hide after that!

Even now, almost 30 years later, when we go to the zoo with my mother (taking the kids) she'll pass on the reptile house and happily wait outside in the sun while the kids gawk at the snakes and everything else. Poor mom...

Who knows one?

2007-11-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

There was a recent post on BeyondBT from Azreila Jaffe. (Side note, Ms. Jaffe wrote the book, "Two Jews Can Still Be a Mixed Marriage," a book Laya and I used before we got married to discuss several issues that we could see were approaching us, and I think it really got us off on the right foot in our marriage) Anyway, in her post, she discussed how she felt when she struggles to keep up, whether with the observant community, or with her children know that mom can't help them with their Hebrew homework.

The timing of the article was astonishing. Just two days before, I experienced the same thing with Tikvah. I've recently started taking Hebrew, and am working on learning the numbers. So I was sitting at the kitchen table reciting them. aH-aht, shtah-yem, shah-losh, etc. Each time I started, Tikvah would joyfully start to recite after me, but then overtake me, and reach es-air (10) before me. That includes taking time out to correct my pronunciation if I get something wrong on the way. That's when it hit me. I can take all the classes I want, study as much Hebrew as I can. Heck, I could even move to Israel and immerse myself in Hebrew (no, blogger-in-law, don't start getting excited, I'm talking theory here). But no matter what I do, Tikvah, and soon Ahava are always going to be ahead of me. I might have a slight lead now, but I've seen how fast they learn, once they start really working on Hebrew, they are going to rocket past me in no time flat. While I'm swelling with pride in my kids, I'm also starting to feel a bit of a deflated ego... Guess they'll be tutoring me soon enough!

Where (not) to put your beads...

2007-10-26T13:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, we've got the computer back, and we're now working on making sure we have a back up of EVERYTHING, then we'll start putting it in full use. But for now I want to get this story out, since it happened two weeks ago already.

So it's Shabbos afternoon, and I got up from a nice 1 hour nap. I went down to see how Laya and the girls were doing. Tikvah (4) ran over to give me a hug, and commented, "Daddy, I have a bead stuck in my nose." I answered, "That's nice sweetie... ... ... Ummmmmm, did you just say you have a bead in your nose???" Yes, that's what she said.

"Okay, so how did that happen?" She just put it in, and now it won't come out. Huh... Okay, sit up here, and let me take a look. I don't see any bead. Are you sure it didn't fall out. No? Let's look again... I press against the side of her nostril, the back of her nose, have her breathe out of her nose hard, etc. I don't feel any beads in there. So we figured it probably fell out and she didn't notice.

Fast forward...

Havdalah is done... get the kids in their pajamas, brush their teeth, read them a story, sing a song and now into bed. I see Tikvah put her finger in her nose. Just before I can tell her to take her finger out of her nose, she says "Daddy!! I feel the bead!" Oh, I forgot all about the bead. I went and grabbed a flashlight and shined it right up her nose. And what do you know... there's some plastic in there. Oh boy. Where are the tweezers? I'm searching all over the house, then I finally find them. When I approach Tikvah, she gets wide eyed. "No, no, don't worry sweetie, this isn't gong to hurt, I'm just going to try to get the bead out." But every time I get the tweezers in her nostrils, she starts moving around and I'm afraid I'm just going to push it further in. I took a break to talk with Laya about a new strategy, and wondering how long do we try this before we give up and take her to the emergency room. (yeah, like we'd be a high priority to see a doctor???) In the meanwhile, I reminded Tikvah to breathe hard out of her nose. Suddenly she shouts out "It came out!!!" And so it did. Whew. Below is a picture of the bead and my pointer finger. I don't have a ruler handy, but I'd guess my fingernail is about a half inch long.

After this, of course the main question was "Why did you put a bead up your nose???" And in an answer that Bill Cosby made immortal, she replied "I don't know!" Every now and then, after the events, I've asked her if she has thoughts of putting anything in her nose. So far she insists that nothing else will go up there except for her finger. Oy, we still need to work on this.....

Still down...

2007-10-22T08:09:00.001-04:00

The home computer is still down. We are working off a laptop, but definitely not as much processing power there. Hopefully I'll hear back soon about the computer. Long story short, the main hard drive was doing a slow nose dive. Hopefully the repair tech I brought it to had enough time to back up all the data (pictures, stories, etc.) that was on the drive. I have some of it backed up, but not all. :-(

Remember to back up your files!!

2007-10-16T08:42:00.000-04:00

Just a public service reminder... remember to back up all those important files you have on your hard drive. Pictures, stories, webinfo, etc. Our computer konked out, it's now in the hands of someone more knowledgeable than I. I hope it is something simple, like the power supply, rather than something more damaging, like a hard drive crash. I had a post and picture that I was going to put up here about our adventures over the weekend, but things have been slightly postponed. I should still have the picture in my camera and will try to download it to my laptop so I can post from there. Let's just say it has to do with interesting places that kids decide to put different objects. :-)

Let's Dance!

2007-10-10T10:21:00.000-04:00

Simchat Torah at my shul (a Chabad center) is always a rocking good time! When we dance with the Torah, we dance! This year in the days leading up to Simchat Torah, Tikvah was learning about it at school, and also Laya and I mentioned it several times (especially in the context of "If you want to have fun dancing at night, you are going to have to take a nap, otherwise you'll sleep right through it).

And she and Ahava did dance, mostly from on my shoulders, but they also joined in with some of the other young girls dancing around as well. But the "Kodak" moment for me (ummm, actually, can you have a Kodak moment on a Yom Tov/Shabbos when you can't actually use a camera?) was a little later on. They laid a Torah down on a table in the women's section, and the women formed a circle around it and were dancing around. Laya was sitting down with Ahava (one of both of them were probably worn out). Tikvah butted into the circle, took two of the women's hands apart and joined right in. It was all grown women, and Tikvah, and while she wasn't quite getting all the steps right, she was really getting into it with them.

Unfortunately soon after that, Ahava saw what was going on and ran up to join in. (She's a "Me-too" child, wants to do everything her big sister does). The problem is that Ahava ran up just as the women were shifting from one foot to the other which sort of resulted in a butt shift, and one woman accidentally sent her butt right into Ahava's face just as she was running up, causing her to bounce off and crash into the floor. I started a mental countdown, "5-4-3-2-1" "WWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" One of the other ladies scooped her up and I waved her over to me. A little TLC from daddy (and mom came up soon afterwards as well) and she was raring to go again.

The other fun thing this year was the mix of singing and dancing. Usually at our Chabad center there are a good mix of Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Lubavitch Jews. This year there were also several Yemenite Jews as well. When some of the bids for certain verses got into nice high numbers, they let out a good "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi." Plus it was interesting to hear how they sang some of the verses. That's one fun thing about Chabad, you never know what type of person will come in next and what you'll learn from them. And in the end, it all blends in and we all have a meaningful and fun experience together.

Dougies is coming to Baltimore!

2007-09-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

And I thought Subway's was exciting news...

I received some great news just before Yom Kippur. By reading Presence (specifically this post) I learned that Dougies is coming to Baltimore, at least as a mobile restaurant. For those who aren't familiar with it, Dougies is a great kosher BBQ restaurant. My wife (at the time my girlfriend) took me to the Dougies in Manhattan for my birthday, since I had mentioned that I like BBQ beef ribs. The ribs there were incredible. After we got married, we ate at the Brooklyn Dougies a few times when visiting her family in Boro Park. And when we did the Ride to Remember, Salute to Israel Parade out of Teaneck, we hit the Teaneck Dougies with my parents. The BBQ beef sub was so stuffed with beef that even as delicious as it was, I couldn't finish it! Right around when we got married, Laya asked the (manager? owner?) of Dougies if he'd open up a shop in DC or Baltimore. He just said something like "we'll see, some day maybe."
I guess we'll have to make visits to Baltimore a full day event now, lunch at Subways, and dinner at Dougies (or at least take out and bring home with us)!

I e-mailed the contact person for Dougies, and he said that after they get their business going, they want to add a second truck to hit the Rockville / Silver Spring area, which is a good bit closer to me.

This news didn't make my fast any easier, but it's certainly worth it! :-)

A few lines to add to the Al Chet this year

2007-09-18T10:22:00.000-04:00

I wrote this last year when a Jewish e-mail list I'm on got a little heated up (and it was right near Yom Kippur too) These also work for web boards, and some blogs too.

-For the Sin we have committed before you for thread hijacking,
-And for the Sin we have committed before you for off subject posting.

-For the Sin we have committed before you by forwarding a story without checking http://www.snopes.com,
-And for the Sin we have committed before you by immediately forwarding an e-mail that says "FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!!!"

-For the Sin we have committed bfore you by not usng the spll checkur,
-And 4 the Sin we have committed b4 u by using werd acronyms.

-For the Sin we have committed before you by being too quick to flame others,
-And for the Sin we have committed before you by turning a blind eye to a flame war.

-For the Sin we have committed before you by not changing the subject line of an e-mail when writting about something completely different,
-And for the Sin we have committed before you by not putting in a subject line at all.

Nice that my co-workers think of me...

2007-09-05T09:14:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, a co-worker brought in a bunch of donuts for us. She was baffled when I told her I couldn't take any. I explained that I keep kosher. She still seemed a bit confused, but accepted it. Today she sent out this e-mail...

Ladies and Gentlemen:
I brought in some Hebrew National Beef hotdogs, rolls, mustard, homemade chili, slaw, relish and potatoe salad and fruit. Plus the cherry cheesecake. All you would have do to is zap the hot dog and the chili in the microwave, if anyone is interested in lunch. I will be at a VTC in ... today, so it will sort of be self-serve. The containers are all in plastic bags in the refrig. Would anyone be able to set it out? I can put it up when I come down for ANOTHER meeting at 2:30.

Now, I can't say for sure that she was thinking of me, but she did specifically mention the Hebrew National hot dogs. (then, of course the cheesecake). Just checked, not a kosher cheesecake. Drat. :-)

Playing "What if" can sometime really cause headaches!!

2007-08-28T22:03:00.000-04:00

I was recently talking to a friend about Goldwings. We are both thinking about getting one sometime in the near future. He said he never rode one and would like to do so, to make sure he liked the feel of the bike. I rode a friend's Wing, but only for about 10 miles or so, down to Walmart and back. But still enough to give me a big grin. :-) I suggested he look into EagleRider, which sometimes rents out Goldwings.

After that, I took a look myself. The local EagleRider does rent out Goldwings, at $150 a day. Yikes! I was looking around their site some more, and saw that they have some special prices on one way rentals, basically to move bikes into different locations in the country. Mostly from Orlando and Los Angeles to DC. Ho hum... Then I saw they also have some in Nashville, TN. Who knew they needed rentals down there? I looked down at the various time periods that they were offering, just out of curiosity. I saw they had one in late October. For some reason that rang a bell. Hmmm, a little more digging up and I found these posts from Kosherblog: Here and Here. A kosher BBQ contest being held in Memphis on Oct 21st. Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. Hmmmm, wonder what flights to Nashville cost? Call up Orbitz.com... Yikes, unless I want 3 layovers, it's like $200. What's this? My fingers already typed up the Greyhound bus schedule... I could get an overnight bus there for $45. Let's see, if I left after work on Thursday, I could pick up the Goldwing in Nashville on Friday morning, ride around, then either crash at a cousin in Nashville, or ride over to Memphis. Either way, do the BBQ in Memphis on Sunday, and ride back Monday (maybe Tuesday too). Wow, this is great!

Then reality started sinking back in. That'd mean leaving my wife and kids alone for 5 days or so; during school too. Hmmm, a little bit selfish I guess, especially since they probably wouldn't be going on the Ride to Remember in Omaha next May. Sometimes it's nice to dream, and with internet research now, I can fill in the details on the dream so easily. Flight availability, costs, schedules, same with trains and buses, hotel reservations. I had even thrown up a few routes from Memphis back home on Google Maps. It makes the dream even more tempting. But the priorities (family!) come first.

And Laya, since I know you are reading this... it's NOT meant to try to nudge me into sending me off. I was just thinking about how even 10 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to pull together all this information, schedules, prices, availability, maps, etc., in a matter of just a few minutes, and that's what I'm mainly talking about. But hopefully you'll excuse me if I try to make BBQ Brisket that Sunday! :-)

Bribery works...

2007-08-24T11:26:00.000-04:00

Now that Tikvah is 4, the doctor wanted to do a blood screening, and since our home was built before 1978, that includes a check for lead. She was annoyed enough at the shots she got, I knew the blood draw wasn't going to be any fun. First off, there was no way Laya would do this. She has trypanophobia, an extreme and irrational fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. So if she were with Tikvah, she'd freak out, which wouldn't help Tikvah any. So I took her. Before we left home, I snuck something into my shirt pocket. I gave Tikvah a brief explaination of what was going to happen, but didn't go into a lot of detail that would only scare her more. I filled out the paperwork and when the time came, we went into the lab. Tikvah started to get nervous and paced the room a little bit. But then she saw the Cinderella stickers. "Oh, Cinderella!" The phlebotomist gave her a couple of stickers to help calm her down. She sat on my lap, and started to whimper a little bit. I kept reassuring her, and directed her to look somewhere else, not at her arm.

Of course, the moment the needle went in, she cried and cried. They didn't take a lot of blood, but it took about 15-20 seconds to get what they needed. As soon as she finished, the phlebotomist put a band-aid on Tikvah and said she was all set. But Tikvah kept on crying. I then reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a strawberry lollipop. "Do you want a lollipop?" As soon as she saw it, she said "yes" and stopped crying immediately. Not even a whimper afterwards! The change was so sudden, the phlebotomist laughed. So I guess a little bribery is okay... :-)

Volume Control

2007-08-23T08:05:00.000-04:00

You know, sometimes it's nice to wear hearing aids. Yes, most of the time it's a pain; while they do enable me to hear, it's not perfect. Especially in loud situations like a restaurant, or a meeting where several people are talking. But last night it came in handy. I was on my way to a Ride for Kids meeting (I'm on the Task Force helping to plan the event), and stopped in at the Ben Yehuda kosher pizza shop to grab some dinner. The meetings are in Maryland, so while it's a pain to schlep out there, at least I get to have a choice of a few kosher places. Anyway, it was someone's birthday, so there were about 20 kids (maybe in the 7-10 year old range) running around, screaming, etc. I just turned off my hearing aids and enjoyed my book and calzone.

Come to think of it, this came in handy earlier as well. I'd turn my hearing aids down when in the car with my parents, reading my book as we went various places. It was so bad that just before I turned 16, I realized I didn't know how to get ANYWHERE, so need to put the book down and watch where we were going. One time I also turned my hearing aids down (or off) when my mother was scolding me for something I did (I have no idea what it was now...). Once she realized what happened, oy, I got a double lecture! (and she made sure my hands didn't get anywhere near the aids) :-) Hmmm, maybe I should write about the other ways I tormented my poor mother...

The Jury

2007-08-21T08:43:00.000-04:00

I know I just sent a post in a few hours ago, but I just got this and wanted to post it, and comment too. I was raised with dogs, my family had (that I can remember) 2 Collies (Heidi and King), and 2 Bichon Frises, (Muffin and Marshmallow). My parents have another dog now, a mix breed, looks like mostly terrier, name Farfel. I don't currently have a dog, maybe when the kids get a little older, but I'm still a dog lover. Mickey, the Bichon who lives in the same courtyard as I do, knows that he can run over to me any time for a big petting session. :-)

Anyway, it's because of this that I'm always upset when I hear about people who engage in dogfighting. And when it's someone like a famous football player, that kids look up to, and want to be like, it makes the crime even worse.

Whitwell, TN

2007-08-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

I know this is "old news" but DixieYid expressed interest, and wanted to see some pictures.

In 2006, the JMA's Ride to Remember went to Whitwell, TN. This is the home of the PaperClip project. You might have seen or heard about the movie. It's a small town in TN that has a 97% white population, and almost no ethnic diversity. The principal, Linda Hooper decided that the kids needed to be exposed to some type of cultural diversity training. They decided to learn about the Holocaust. However, the kids couldn't get their minds wrapped around the number "6 million." They knew what it was in theory, but couldn't "see" it. They decided to collect 6 million paperclips. A long story later, they received millions of paperclips, and also a rail car that was actually used in the Holocaust.

The members of the JMA contributed over $50,000 to the school, most of which went to pay for several Promethean boards (interactive boards that people can write on, but also connects to a computer, fancy stuff I never had when I was in school. ;-) ) Despite all that we gave to the school, I think they gave us so much more. Linda Hooper, the principal, said that when they build the new school in a few years, she wants us back. I know we'll be more than happy to go!

The starting point. We had about 150 bikes or so. (The number depends on who you ask :-) )

When we arrived, it was pretty dark and drizzly.

But the auditorium was full of excited middle school kids. They were cheering for about 15 minutes straight.

One of the things we gave them was a flag that we made up symbolizing our ride down. The Australian folks signed on to the ride a little late, so we didn't have their flag on here.

After the presentation (I didn't get any good shots), we were free to tour the school. The children made artwork as part of their studies. These were some that I thought were interesting to view.

This letter came from Germany. Someone had heard about the project, and gone through some old files he found in a warehouse. These files were used in some Nazi related affairs, so the paperclips that were holding some of the papers together were some that were used by Nazi's. He sent 6 paperclips. 3 stayed with the letter, and 3 are in the box car with the other clips.

This is the rail boxcar, it was actually used to transport people to the death camps. The school converted it to a museum, housing the paperclips. You see a film crew below. These are the folks who made the Paperclips movie. They are doing a "sequel." How the paperclips project has affected the school, the community, people who comes to visit (like a bunch of Jewish motorcyclists!) etc. The only problem was they kept telling us to ride our motorcycles quietly when we were leaving. Ummmm, granted, I don't go for the whole "LOUD PIPES" thing, but motorcycles do have a running engine which isn't hidden under a hood guys!

This is a display case from inside the boxcar. On either side are a display case carrying 5.5 million paperclips each, for a total of 11 million clips. The Nazis didn't limit their hatred to Jews. 5 million gypsies, homosexuals, handicapped people, political opponents, etc. were also murdered.

Outside of the box car is this memorial. It also holds 11 million paperclips (once the story went out, they received too many clips, so they were able to do this second memorial). This one is dedicated to the children who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Wild and Wonderful West (by G-d) Virginia

2007-08-13T12:18:00.000-04:00

Last week I stayed overnight at the Concours Owners Group (COG) rally in Davis, WV. To get there I had to cross the Eastern Continental Divide. Up, up, up, and then Down Down DOWN!!! Because 1) They were predicting thunderstorms, and 2) I planned to go back to work the next morning, I decided to take the van, rather than ride my bike there. Those mountain roads are sometimes nerve wracking on a bike. They didn't seem much better in the van!! Oy. In fact, by the time I got back into VA, I could feel and hear (if I turned off the radio) the brakes grinding. I just had them checked... Yep, once again, I have completely worn out the brake pads and was grinding the calipers directly onto the brake rotors. I need to carry hearing people in my van more often. (or teach Tikvah and Ahava when to alert us to various audio problems) The last time I did this was about 7 years ago in my old car. I went to a Midas near my old office in Arlington and they fixed it up for me. This time I went to the Midas near my new office (a town over from Arlington). Turns out the manager moved and was at this shop and remembered me!

But besides the brake issue, I had a great time seeing folks from COG at the rally. They had a BBQ banquet that night. It smelled delicious. No, really, I enjoyed my peanut butter and jelly sandwich very much! ;-) They also had doorprizes that night. Lots of good things, gift certificates, parts, clothing, and the grand prize, a Zumo 550 GPS. Me... nothing. Oh well, I still enjoyed it all anyway. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to go again and spend more than one night. But still, in all honesty, I feel more connected with people at the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance's Ride to Remembers.

I don't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but next year's ride will be to Ohmaha Nebraska. "What the heck is in Ohmaha?" is what most people ask me. The National Holocaust Endowment Fund. Education and rememberance for folks out in Nebraska.

From my Blogger-in-law...

2007-08-06T06:55:00.001-04:00

My wife's sister, with her whole family (her husband, and my soon to be 1 year old niece) made Aliyah this past December. We miss them terribly, but are happy that they made the plunge into something they wanted so much. Bro-in-law is a lawyer, and was nervous about finding a job once the move was complete so he could support the family. He found a job, and wrote about it at this blog site here: http://jobmob.co.il/blog/3-job-myths-for-immigrant-lawyers-in-israel/ Maybe he'll start a blog of his own some day. :-) In the meanwhile, I'm proud of all of them.

Yes, we are proud of you, but...

2007-08-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

Our youngest daughter, Ahava, is currently in the midst of being potty trained. She's now in the stage where she's using the potty, and wants credit for doing so. This usually involves "Look, I made in the potty" and mom or I (or even big sister) taking a look in, and giving her great praise and applause, and a star on the refrigerator calendar. Then cleaning it up. (To bro-in-law in Israel... you thought diapers were bad?? Good luck with this one... you have about a year or so, then YOU'LL be doing this! *evil grin*)

So anyway, last night when the kids were brushing their teeth, I laid down on my bed for a few minutes (didn't sleep well the night before). Ahava then said "Daddy, daddy, look!!" Before I knew it, she was walking in the bedroom, carrying her potty. I jumped out of bed and took it from her. "Oh, sweetie, very nice, but ummmm, next time, just leave it in the bathroom, don't bring it into the bedroom, okay??"

At least it was only a number 1... Kids...

Kosher Subway Coming!

2007-07-31T07:53:00.000-04:00

I got some great news from Presence, Baltimore will soon be having a kosher Subway restaurant. Before I began keeping kosher, I used to eat at Subway often. It helps that they were about 30 yards away from the front door of my office building. I enjoy many of their sandwiches. I wouldn't say that they are my FAVORITE restaurant, not even out of all the fast food places (that probably would be Wendy's), but I do miss meals from there since they tended to be healthier than most of the "McLunches" I would otherwise eat. And another plus, Subway started out in Connecticut, where I'm orginally from; in fact their headquarters is in Milford, CT, I used to spend a lot of time at the Post Mall in Milford.

I'm sure they'll be very crowded when they first open up, but I do plan to visit soon afterwards. I've eaten a kosher Whopper at a Burger King on Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem, and a kosher Big Mac at the McDonalds in Ben Gurion Airport outside of Tel Aviv. Now I'm looking forward to a meatball sub and maybe a BMT. I'm guessing they didn't carry forward the Seafood and Crab sandwich (unless they use that fake crab stuff).

Finally Read it

2007-07-30T13:00:00.000-04:00

I finally read a book that my brother-in-law recommended to me a while ago, The Da Vinci Code. Wow, what a thriller to read. If I didn't have the kids underfoot, I probably would have finished it in one day, instead it stretched over three days. Of course the major premise was leaked out a long time ago, so that wasn't a shock to me, but what I did enjoy was the way everything unfolded, and the depth of detail in the story telling, along with the constant cliff hangers as the story went along. The author sure knows how to keep everyone's interest. I was also surprised by the few Jewish themes that were thrown in as well, especially the Star of David / Magen David.

I did guess the identity of "The Teacher" pretty early in the story, but since I wasn't 100%, it was still interesting to follow the twists and clues given. By the time they were in England, I knew for sure, he gave it away when talking to the albino monk.

I'm still going through Wikipedia to search several of the concepts that were brought up in the book, the paintings, the places they visited, the secret organizations, etc. I realize the book is a fictional story, but it's amazing how much research must have been done to pull all of this together, especially all of the puzzles thrown in. I'm looking forward to renting the movie (it's at my local supermarket "Red Box" for $1 a night) and seeing Ron Howard's interpretation.

Now I just have to wait until Sept 18th, that's when they are releasing the full 7 volume set of Harry Potter. I didn't want to go book by book, waiting two years between each one... I don't have the patience for that! If the final result is leaked before I read that far, it still sounds like it's a great story anyway.

Ride to Work Day!

2007-07-17T06:03:00.000-04:00

Reminder for those of you who ride... Wednesday July 18th is Ride to Work Day. Of course, if tradition holds, that means it'll be raining over here... (and the weather forcast is already calling for an increase chance of rain on Wed... sigh)

Buy rain gear for your local motor patrol!!

2007-07-11T13:22:00.001-04:00

I'm sitting here in my office (yes, I know I should be working hard!) looking out in our parking lot. We have 4 level parking deck. Several of us who ride motorcycles park on the bottom (ground) level, near the entrance to the building where the building guards aren't very far off. I'm getting a good chuckle, because it's POURING out there. And in the parking lot, next to where we park our bikes, are two wet policemen, waiting out the rain. One of them even took out a rag and started wiping his bike down. Come on guys, you ride your bikes, you know you might get wet!

And for the record, no, I didn't ride in today. 1) There was a 60% chance of heavy showers, so I didn't even want to try; 2) I'm heading out for two meetings later today, and I don't take the bike on the beltway during rush hour. I just get cooked.

Ah, the rain finally let up, and it looks like they are heading out. Maybe I should have offered them my extra rain gear?

Playing with Scissors...

2007-07-02T08:38:00.000-04:00

While I was out teaching people how to ride motorcycles yesterday, Laya got the kids some stuff to play with, draw with, or otherwise create with. One of the items they had was a pair of safety scissors. You know how kids are, you turn around for one minute, then look back... Laya saw Ahava cutting up some paper that wasn't meant for cutting up. The scissors were removed.

That night after getting home from class (long hot day... ugh) Laya and I were cleaning up the living / play room. Hmmm, what's this on the floor? Hair? Oy! It's curly, so it has to be from Ahava; Tikvah has straight hair. As we continued cleaning, we found more hair. Not a whole lot, just some strands here and there. Now we're wondering, who did the cutting, Tikvah, or Ahava?
I told Laya it could have been a lot worse. When my aunt was 2 or 3, and was supposed to be taking a nap, she decided she didn't like the curtains in the house. Snip, snip, snip... At least the hair will grow back... eventually.

Post thought: After just getting off the phone with my mother (to verify my aunt's age at the time of the crime) I found out that when she was young, she gave a haircut to the girl down the street, and vice versa. So Laya, at least the kids aren't both bald!! Now if they learn to cut their hair like I do... :-)

Laya's first ride

2007-06-26T08:34:00.001-04:00

Soon after my wife and I began dating, I asked her if she'd be interested in going out for a ride on my motorcycle. She had never been on a bike before. She decided she'd give it a try. I told her I'd start out slowly and on local roads. If she didn't like it, we could quickly head back for the barn. I showed her how to put on a motorcycle helmet, and where the footpegs were. I also made sure she knew that the motorcycle turns by leaning. When I leaned to the left, she needed to lean with me. Some people get very nervous, and lean the other way. This can actually cause the motorcycle to go straight!!

She was doing just fine on the local roads, so I kicked it up a little bit, and headed west, towards the mountains. After about an hour, we stopped at a gas station to have a bite to eat and to stretch out. I took a look at my tailpipe... what was that on there? Melted rubber?? "Ummm, Laya, did your foot feel warm at all?" Yep, turns out she didn't realize her foot wasn't on the peg. Instead, it was on the tailpipe. So her brand new shoes then looked like this:

(She still uses these shoes today!)

After leaving the gas station, we continued on to the Shenandoah Mountains, going up Rt. 211 to Skyline Drive. This stretch of 211 is a biker's dream, heading up the mountain, very twisty, left, right, left, right... Wow!!! But as soon as we got onto Skyline Drive (located just before 211 started going downhill) I could feel Laya's head bobbling around a little bit. I pulled into the first rest area, which also was a picnic area. Oh wow, I guess the road got a little bit too twisty... Laya was dizzy. We stayed there for about 45 minutes or so, resting, letting Laya get her balance back, and eating some pre-packed sandwiches.

The speed limit on Skyline Drive is only 35 mph, so even though it was twisty, it wasn't enough to get Laya dizzy again. Plus I took my riding back down a notch. After exiting Skyline Drive, we continued heading back to my place. About half way before we got back, we pulled into another gas station, and got some ice cream and again sat down to relax and talk. (While I have done 1,000 mile days, this was Laya's first time on a bike, so I didn't want to push it by any means!)

While we were talking, I congratulated her on her first motorcycle ride, and had a gift for her to remember it by. I knew that she loves to collect key chains (I didn't know how much so until after we were married, and I helped to move buckets of them into our new home!) So I got her a keychain with Popeye and Olive Oyl riding on a motorcycle together. (all together now... aaawwwwwww...)

From there, we rode on to a gathering of motorcyclists in the DC area at a bar near my office (shooting pool, kicking tires, etc.) After all that was done, we arrived back at my place. It was a long ride, and she did a great job on it! Now, with the two kids underfoot, it's hard to get away for a ride together. Hopefully some day this summer will find a nice day where someone can take the kids for a few hours, and get out for another ride somewhere. Or actually, now that they are at camp some days, I might even take a morning off of work. The mountains keep calling...

Oh, and it only took about 2 hours to scrape off all of the dried up rubber from the tailpipe. :-) At least she never did that again!

2007-06-22T12:29:00.000-04:00

Last weekend my wife's brother (Y-man) was in town, so we all went to Maryland to grab lunch before he left for home. First one funny story, then the main crust of this post. My wife ordered Moo Shu Chicken. While we were eating, Tikvah asked if she could have some of mommy's "mushy chicken." Oy, kids!

Later, during the meal, the manager came by and asked if everything was okay. We told him everything was very good. Tikvah then asked "Why do they always ask us if it's okay?" Good question my dear. I gave her the simple answer, "If something is wrong, they want to be able to fix it, so that we enjoy eating here." But after that Y-man and I were talking about it more. I told him about a kosher restaurant that opened in the area almost 2 years ago. The food there was pretty good, but the service was spotty, at best. One time we went there and I never got a soda that I had ordered. When the waiter asked if everything was okay, I told him about the soda. He said that he thought they were out of it, so I asked for a refill of my water. I never received it. Another time we were there, I ordered a side of fries. Not only did they never bring the fries out, but no one came up to the table to ask if everything was okay. They only came to the table when it was time to clear the dishes and present the bill.

Because we liked the food there, and there are so few kosher restaurants in the area (one had opened up the year before, but went out of business after about 9 months), I decided to send a letter detailing these issues to the owner of the restaurant. I explained that the purpose of the letter was not to beat them over the head or anything, but because I truly wanted the restaurant to succeed. My family went in a few months later. There was a new waitress working there, and service was excellent. When I went to pay the bill, I mentioned to her how impressed I was with her services, and how things have really changed. She said that she used to be a customer there as well, and thought the service needed improving. I then mentioned that I sent a letter in to the owner. Her eyes grew wide and she said "That was you??" I guess they got the letter... Afterwards (as we were getting our jackets on) the manager stopped by and asked if everything was satisfactory. I told him that the service was great, and I appreciated the changes. We have been back several times, and have never had a problem since. Sometimes the little things, like asking "Is everything okay" (and acting on it if the answer is negative) do make a difference!

Skyline Drive: Experienced on a motorcycle

2007-06-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

Several years ago (winter of 1999-2000 to be exact) I took a course in travel writing. All of the articles that I wrote were motorcycle related (big shocker there, huh?). Below is one of my favorite articles, written about a ride I took on Skyline Drive the summer before. It's a trek to get out there, but once there, the scenery is so beautiful. In fact, the first time I took my wife (then girlfriend) for a ride on a motorcycle, I took her out there. I'll have to write about that another time, if she doesn't tell me not to. (a few interesting things happened on the ride)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the write-up.

"Sorry folks, it’s going to be another hazy, hot and humid day." I rolled my eyes, the weatherman may be sorry, but he didn’t know just how bad it would be. After a long, hot week at work, I was itching to get out and ride my motorcycle. It gets warm enough on the bike without the help of the heat wave toasting the East Coast. His sympathy wouldn’t help to cool me off. If only there were some place cool to ride. That’s when I decided on a day trip to Virginia’s Skyline Drive.

Skyline Drive, in the Shenandoah National Park is always a great road to ride. I often feel sorry for the people whose only encounter with the road is from the seats in their car. To truly feel the full effects of Skyline Drive, they need to experience it from a different perspective, two wheels instead of four.

The Front Royal entrance of Skyline Drive is just 50 miles west of the D.C. Beltway on I-66. This was the only stretch of the trip where I envied the people in their air-conditioned cars. However, I kept my patience, I knew the fun would soon begin. Once I reached Front Royal, I quickly found my way to the northern entrance of Skyline Drive. After paying my entrance fee, the festivities began.

Skyline Drive travels through the Shenandoah Mountains, part of the Appalachians. (In fact the famous Appalachian Trail follows Skyline Drive through the park) Therefore, as I started this leg of my trip, the road had to go up. Up is where it’s cooler, approximately four degrees cooler, Fahrenheit, for every 1,000 feet higher in elevation. More importantly, to go up, the road starts to take a series of switchbacks, right, then left, then right again.

This is what separates a motorcycle from a car. As a car turns back and forth, the driver simply turns the wheel in one direction, then the other. At most, the occupants feel some centrifugal force, pushing them in the opposite direction of the turn. But a motorcycle only has two wheels. To turn, I have to press on the handgrips, press left, press right. This action causes the motorcycle and me to lean, and thus turn. Lean to the right, lean to the left. I’m not just passively feeling the turns; I am a part of the turns.

I soon reached the Range View Overlook, 2,810 ft above sea level. Every one of these overlooks is breathtaking. It is said that years ago, before the modern day pollutants got into the atmosphere, on a very clear day one could see the Washington Monument from Skyline Drive. Unfortunately, all I could see in the distance was the haze that I had come to escape. But below me, above me, and around me, were the trees of the forest and the grass of the meadows. Neither was experiencing the heat wave, instead they displayed their brightest green. I knew I would have to come back again during the fall to see the trees when they change into their multi-colored autumn coats.

As I rode through the trees on the bike, I was not separated from them by a four-sided steel cage with windows. Instead I was a part of the environment, out there, feeling the wind, the change of temperature when I rode out of a shady area into the sun, able to smell the fresh mountain air. I raised the visor of my helmet to let more of the cooler air in, to cool my head. At times, when passing a section of road where both sides sloped downhill, it felt as if I was actually flying over the mountainside.

If you look at a map of Skyline Drive, you will see that as it weaves its way through the Shenandoahs, there is almost no stretch of the road that is straight. The constant curves are a siren call for us motorcyclists. As I rode the curves, all the tension of the long week of work started draining out. Now it was just my bike and me, working together as a team, leaning to the left, leaning to the right. Sometimes tilting so far, I felt I could reach down and touch the road, but I wisely decided not to test this.

As I came around a right hand sweeper, I looked ahead to a breathtaking view. Three deer grazing by the edge of the road. The animals here have learned that the traffic on Skyline Drive is mostly harmless, the deer were content to stay where they were, and only one interrupted her meal to look over and admire my motorcycle. Having seen the deer munching their meal, I decided to make a quick stop at the visitor center in Big Meadows and have a meal myself. Checking the time, I noticed it was starting to get late, so rather than head further south, I turned around, and started back north, to the Thornton Gap exit.

As I exited Skyline Drive, I picked up Rt. 211, a perfect road to end the day with. As 211 worked its way down from the mountaintops, it was extremely twisty, with several hairpin turns keeping me at full attention. I felt so good I had to let out a “YEE-HA!” while curving through back-to-back switchbacks. As I got closer to sea level, I could feel the surrounding air get slightly warmer, but since it was late in the day, it didn’t reach an uncomfortable level. As I pointed the motorcycle home, I realized how lucky I was to have a naturally air-conditioned, twisty, yet scenic road within reach to help me keep my cool on those hazy, hot, and humid days that mother nature kept throwing at me.

Pictures from the NYC's "Salute to Israel Parade"

2007-06-03T20:10:00.000-04:00

As part of the Ride to Remember, the Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance rode in NYC's "Salute to Israel Parade." Here are some of the pictures. (All photos taken by my wonderful wife)

Lining up in NJ, waiting to go.

Crossing the Hudson, over the GW Bridge. They closed the top deck to all but us. A totally awesome view!

Ack!! We had to wait on the FDR... turns out the 5 Boro Bicycle tour was holding things up!

The police escort turned us around, and took us down the Hudson Parkway. We waited for a while near a home for the elderly, then went to line up for the parade.

Heading up the FDR, I believe that's the Empire State building in the distance.

Our last waiting point before turning into the parade.

Then into the parade itself!

The Niddah Difference

2007-05-29T21:21:00.000-04:00

Since most of you probably aren't familiar with Deaf culture, let me begin by explaining that the Deaf community is a very touchy (physically) community. I've heard various reasons for this. Part of it seems to be the loss of one sense, sound; so we make it up by using more of another sense, in this case touch. There are lots of hugs, pats, nudges, etc. Another reason for this is that we, of course, can't hear. Say you need to get by John Doe, but he's in your way. A simple "excuse me" won't do much good, it's noisy and his hearing aids are overwhelmed (or he can't hear anything at all). How do you get by? Sometimes it only takes a light tap on the shoulder, sometimes it's a little bit more of a moving of the other person's body (giving a slight push to the side, or putting hands on the shoulder and moving them over a little). Now, all this isn't to say that the Deaf are a community of people constantly groping at each other, not by a long shot. But I've seen that people who aren't comfortable with touching are often unnerved when around a lot of Deaf people. For Deaf folks though, this is the norm.

Now let's add in the Jewish concept of Niddah. Ah, now things become more complex! I see this often with one rabbi I know. He's a Baal Tushvia, a hearing, religious son of deaf, non-religious parents. But he's very active in the deaf community. I sometimes see that he makes a slight move, as if he is about to hug someone, then suddenly remembers and stops himself.

That's the general picture. Now it's on to my own experiences. Before we were married, my wife (modern orthodox her whole life, also deaf) and I really didn't get into a deep discussion on Niddah issues; and after the wedding, sort of fumbled a bit to figure it all out. During the times of Niddah, we still touched to alert each other to things, plus a quick hug hello and good bye, and after a, shall we say, heated discussion, to signal that we are okay again.

But as I began to become more religious myself, we started re-evaluating things, and decided to try and completely keep from touching during this time period. There were some small challenges. For example, I could no longer just tap on her shoulder if I wanted her attention and she didn't have her hearing aids on. Instead, I would now stomp on the floor (for the vibrations), or reach around and wave to her if I was close enough. Those were easily overcome.

No, the place where I noticed it took the most analyzing and adjusting, for me, was the "after heated discussion hug." I came to realize that I was using this as a crutch to calm my wife (and myself) down. Maybe even unfairly. It seemed that if I hugged her tight enough, or long enough, the tears would soon dry up and she'd be feeling better. But now there were times I couldn't give the hug. Now what to do??

I soon learned that when the occasional flare ups would occur (nothing MAJOR, just the usual issues here and there that all married couples with active kids face) that I would need to talk and discuss the issue completely in full length and depth until it was truly resolved for both of us, and we were both feeling better. While this approach takes much longer than the "hug-the-problem-away," I think the solution we come up with is better and longer lasting, not another temporary patch. Now even when it's not a period of Niddah, we do spend more time talking about the issues in detail until they really are resolved, and only then do we close things up with a hug. (After all, they are still nice!)

Relying on Modern Technology

2007-05-17T11:53:00.000-04:00

I admit it, I love modern technology. For the past several years, I've been using a GPS, even though I usually know where I am going. I like the benefits though, such as knowing how far it is to a particular turn, where the next gas station is, etc. Plus the GPS I have also has XM Radio and an MP3 player in it, and it receives traffic information. If there is a traffic problem along the route, it can alter the route to avoid the problem. It also becomes very handy when going to places I don't know. For example, when visiting my wife's sister and her family in Ottawa, I let the GPS route us all the way up and back. I didn't even have a set of directions written down.

Then yesterday I loaded up some routes into the GPS, since we are all going to NY this weekend for a Jewish Deaf Shabbaton. This morning I hooked the GPS back into the car, and turned it on. Imagine my shock when I realized that the detailed map, all waypoints and routes were GONE!! Not good! I'm glad I caught it a day before the trip, so I can write up some directions, and see if I can possibly find a (paper based) map somewhere. I talked to the Garmin tech, and he thinks they can get everything up and running again this afternoon (I have to call when I have the GPS hooked up to my home computer and the internet). But even so, I realized that I've become complacent with technology. The first few years I always had a set of directions written down as a back up. About a year ago, I stopped. This time, while I knew the general route, I didn't have specific directions, especially to the actual hotel we'll be going to. A nice little jolt certainly took take care of that!

Wearing my kippah full time.

2007-05-16T13:10:00.000-04:00

This is a post that I wrote that was published on BeyondBT. I wanted to share it here as well.

I’ve been slowly ramping up my level of observance for the past several years. Really, in the past year it has been almost an exponential growth. Each time I added something new (starting to use Tefillin, starting to wear Tzitzits, etc.) I kept wondering what would be the next thing I would do. None of these were preplanned. I would get an inspiration, start reading up on it to understand it better, then pick a day to bite the bullet and start.

Now I have to admit, I just said that none of these were preplanned, but in the back of my mind, I always started to wonder when, if, I would start wearing a kippah all day every day. I figured that would be the ultimate “outting” of myself. Everything else that I had been doing was pretty much internal, where nobody else would know that I was doing anything different. (except the few times someone walked into my office when I was davening Minchah)

Turns out the inspiration hit me after the Holiday season (Rosh Hashana through Simchat Torah). I think the reason it happened then was I finally went completely kosher outside the home as of Rosh Hashana. (I have been kosher in the home since getting married over 5 years ago) My conscience couldn’t justify me wearing a kippah when still eating non-kosher food. Still, this was the nerve-wracking change for me. This would be the one that shouts out to the world (or at least the people in my office) that hey, I’m Jewish, and I’m not quite as quiet about it as I used to be.

I calculated it carefully. I would begin to wear my kippah in the week between Christmas and New Years. Two reasons for this: 1) I would be in Brooklyn the week before this, and could find a kippah that doesn’t quite stand out, i.e. matches my hair color a little bit. 2) This is usually the time that the least amount of people would be around the office, most were on vacation. I could break this in slowly.

So after returning from Brooklyn, I started wearing my kippah 17/7. (I only get about 7 hrs of sleep a day, and roll around to much to keep one on while sleeping)

For the first two weeks, I was uncomfortable. (Understatement!!) It felt like I was wearing a 50 pound flashing neon arrow pointing directly at my head. I would wear a cap when I went to the cafe downstairs for my daily bottle of orange juice. When I took the cap off and moved around the office, it felt like everyone was staring at me behind my back, I could hear them commenting to each other on it. (For those who don’t know me well enough, I’m deaf/hard-of-hearing, and usually can’t hear people talking unless I’m right in front of them, looking at them; this shows how much my mind was playing with me) When I glanced back, everyone was doing their usual work, talking to each other about business, etc. No one was looking at me, or discussing the kippah at all, it was all in my head. I only received two questions about my kippah; my boss asked how I kept it from falling off (bobby pins or clips, plus now I’m letting my hair grow a little bit longer than I did before, no more buzz cuts), and someone I worked with in a previous project asked if it was called a yarmulke or something else, and was I becoming more religious. Errrr… yes, I guess I am!

I’ve noticed several immediate benefits. Now when I do Minchah in my office, I don’t forget to put a kippah on, nor do I feel guilty taking it off as soon as I’m done. It just stays on the whole time. Also, the other day I found my division head’s ID badge on the floor. That’s a “donut offense” meaning he has to bring in donuts for everyone. So he brought in a box of donuts from Dunkin Donuts. After he showed me the box, he took a closer look at me, and I could see the light bulb come on… He confirmed it when he said “Oh wait, you can’t have these, can you?” Next time I’ll print out a list of where to find kosher donuts in the area!

Really, the only problem I’ve run into with wearing my kippah full time occurred at home. Twice now I reached up when in the shower and realized I still had the kippah on. As Homer Simpson would put it… D’OH!!

I'm still here, and sneek preview

2007-05-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I posted. I was away several days for the Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance's Ride to Remember, then when I got home, I was slammed with work (they actually wanted things done!), and busy at home as well. We moved Ahava into Tikva's room. My wife wanted to try having the girls share a room since when they were separated, there were various things that would set them off crying. Also, when they were with my parents during the Ride to Remember, they shared a room, and my parents thought they got along fine. Pretty soon I'll post some pictures and write ups from the ride itself, but I'll just quickly say here that it was great. We had over 100 Jews on Motorcycles crossing over the GW Bridge into Manhattan, they actually shut down the top deck, so we made the crossing by ourselves. It was a really cool feeling! Here's one photo of the crossing:

More of a write up and photos to come.

I scream, you scream....

2007-05-02T07:26:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned I was going to do before, I brought my motorcycle to the shop to have the new footpeg bracket attached. When I went to pick it up, I got a nice grin. It was a hot day (mid to upper 80s), and the area the motorcycle shop I go to is full of car and motorcycle repair shops. Right in the middle of all of them was the neighborhood ice cream man! (same one who comes to my townhouse community, a few miles away). There was a line of mechanics getting ice cream. And I always thought the ice cream man just covered places where kids hang out!

By the way, the shop did a great job mounting the footpeg bracket, and only charged me $40 for it, that's about a half hour's labor. The manager said he believes that whoever installed the bolts last (another motorcycle shop I no longer use) probably installed them with an air gun.

Making progress...

2007-04-30T08:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry for being so quiet lately. I've been preparing for JMA's upcoming Ride to Remember!

I finally got the trailer thing just about figured out. Here's a picture of the bike up and ready to be tied down. (I had practiced the tying down before)

Now I just have to get that footpeg replaced! The bolts are stubborn and do NOT want to come off!

Response from HODS

2007-04-25T13:53:00.000-04:00

In a recent posting, I mentioned a comment about motorcyclists and organ donating. I sent the following e-mail to the contact person at HODS.

Cool, love to meet you, love to have you ride your motorcycle with us (with a helmet) it would be kind of funny cuz motorcycle guys without helmets are donors

I know you meant the above comment as a joke, but I just wanted to let you know of something, in case you are contacted by any other motorcyclists. In the past few years there have been at least two states that had bills proposed that were basically to the effect of, if a rider without a helmet was killed in a motorcycle crash, he/she would be an organ donor regardless of whether or not he/she chose to be. In essence, it meant that riding without a helmet was automatic consent for donating organs. (New Mexico: http://www.ama-cycle.org/legisltn/releases/2003/g03002.asp California: http://www.ama-cycle.org/news/2004/organdonor.asp) A lot of people in the motorcycle community were obviously outraged at this. In my mind, this is similar to requiring anyone driving without a seatbelt, riding horseback without a helmet, riding a bicycle without a helmet, smoking, or engaged in any type of activity that has some element of danger to become mandatory donors. Fortunately the two bills above were killed. So as I said, I know you were joking with your comment, but given the past history associated with it, you might not want to make a similar comment to other riders. It's still a bit of a touchy issue in the community. Thanks, and hope to see you in the parade!I got a response almost immediately:

Wow,
I had no idea.
Thanks!

I think the hardest part about sending this type of a message is to do it carefully so it doesn't sound like you are madly raging against the system, but at the same time, making sure to get the point across. It looks like this was successful. At least he is now aware of the issue and probably won't make a similar comment to other motorcyclists.

Over she goes!

2007-04-24T21:43:00.000-04:00

The first big motorcycle ride of the year, and what do I do? Drop the motorcycle. First off, there were no injuries (well, not to a physical person, the bike did have some damage). I was riding on Snickersville Turnpike, which is a nice country road in the rural western part of Northern Viriginia. The only part of the road that is tricky is an uphill, 180 degree hairpin turn (also known as a switchback) at one end. If you plan out your line, and keep the bike moving, it's possible to do. But I never enjoy doing it. This time, I was behind another motorcycle. Just before we started up an incline, a pickup truck pulled out in front of us and took the lead. As we approached the hairpin turn, the truck slowed, then stopped, even though there was no one coming in the opposite direction. This completely threw off my line, and in trying to readjust my path, I wound up going too slow, and the bike didn't have enough momentum to continue. She started going over. I ride a Kawasaki Concours. (affectionately called a Connie by its owners) It's a great bike. One reason why a lot of riders like it is because it has a 7.5 gallon fuel tank, which is pretty large for a stock tank. However, unlike some bikes like the Honday Goldwing, or ST1300, the tank is right up there, between my knees, and that means the full weight of the gas (which I had topped off that morning) was leaning over to the right. That's over 40 pounds. Most Connie owners know that if the bike starts going over, it's very very hard to keep it up. And down she went. Another thing that many Concours owners know is that if the bike goes over, you might as well expect that the footpeg bracket will be broken, even before you take a look underneath. The other rider was off the road in the gravel, but was able to get his bike back on the road, then came over to help me right the bike. Yep, there's the footpeg laying down there on the asphalt. Groan The other rider helped me to clean up some of the other stuff that was on the road (pieces of the bracket, and some screws that popped off an air deflector I had on the bike). After it was cleaned up, I mounted up and rode the bike straight home. No sense taking a risk by riding more without a footpeg to secure my foot. Most of the way I kept my foot on the passenger peg, until my leg started cramping up. I'm just glad it was the right side footpeg that broke (if either of them were to break). The brakes are on the right side of the bike. If the left side peg had broken, it would be really tricky to shift the bike on the ride back. Anyway, a new bracket has already been ordered, as well as a replacement deflector. The bike should be fine for the Ride to Remember coming up soon. Once the adrenaline wore off, my arms and leg were sore from when I tried (unsucessfully) to hold the bike up, but that'll go away. The one "silver cloud" here? When I described what happened to my wife, she asked about how the experience would be different if I were on a Goldwing (the bike I'm looking into getting someday). I told her that the fuel was stored down low (beneath the seat actually), so there was a lower center of gravity. Also the seat height was lower, so my feet would be more firmly planted on the asphalt. Also, there are bars on the bike that help prevent pieces from breaking off in the event that the bike goes down. After reviewing this, she said maybe I should look into getting a Wing now, rather than waiting a few years as we originally thought.

Looking forward to BBQ

2007-04-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

Back in my non-kosher days, one thing I really enjoyed was BBQ food. Mostly wet, but sometimes dry as well. I attended several motorcycle rallies that were practically build around BBQs. (We'd go out and ride while the meat was cooking.) There are a few kosher BBQ restaurants, but they are mostly around the NYC area.

That's why I was glad to see there is a new BBQ Kosher restaurant, Smokey Joe's BBQ, opening up in Teaneck, NJ. While it's still not local to me, it's at least near the hotel we will be staying at during the upcoming Ride to Remember, the gathering of the various clubs in the Jewish Motorcycle Alliance.

My mouth is already watering...

So how do I interprete this comment... Organ donating and Motorcycling

2007-04-20T10:18:00.000-04:00

This May, various groups in the Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance (JMA) will be riding together in NYC's Israeli Day Parade. I'm excited to be participating, along with my wife. Then a few days ago, I got an e-mail from the Halachic Organ Donor Society (HODS). After reading about HODS in a Treppenwitz posting, I applied for a donor card (I still haven't received it, it takes a while), so they have my e-mail address. They e-mailed to inform people that the organization would be walking in the parade, trying to promote awareness, and were inviting us to join them. I thought this was great, and I responded to the point of contact (POC) that while I wouldn't be marching with them, I would see if I could stop by before the parade to schmooze a little. I also said I'd be riding my motorcycle with the rest of the JMA. In the reply back, the POC said:

Cool, love to meet you, love to have you ride your motorcycle with us (with a helmet) it would be kind of funny cuz motorcycle guys without helmets are donors

Ouch, I'm sure he meant it in jest, but this is a very sore topic for motorcyclists. I firmly believe in wearing helmets, and I also believe in donating organs (within Halachic parameters) to save another life. However, there have been serveral laws proposed in various states in the U.S. that basically say if you ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet, and you are fatally injured in a crash, then local hospitals do not need to check if you are a registered organ donor, nor do they need permission from your family, you AUTOMATICALLY become an organ donor. I.e. Not wearing a helmet is in itself consent for organ donation.

Needless to say, this has created a huge outcry in the motorcycle community. This would be akin to saying anyone who drives without a seatbelt on becomes an automatic donor, or anyone who smokes becomes an automatic donor (although I'm not sure how good their organs would be).

So while I know the comment wasn't meant with malice, it still rubs me the wrong way. What I'm trying to figure out is whether or not I should let the POC know about these issues in case he is contacted in the future by other motorcyclists, or just let it roll off, figuring it was just an innocent remark, and he didn't know the deeper issues.

P.S. Don't get me wrong, I still fully support HODS and their mission!!

The Wave: For Motorcyclists, and Jews too

2007-04-19T05:54:00.000-04:00

When motorcycles pass by each other, many times you'll notice that the riders wave to one another. No, we don't know each and every person out there on a bike, but it's part of the comradery we share.

Yesterday I had a wave of a different type. As I recently wrote about on BeyondBT (I'll post the story here soon as well), I've now been wearing my kippah round the clock for just about 4 months. Yesterday I met with several other deaf people who work at the same company I do, but at a location a few blocks away. We met at a local coffee place to discuss some problems we have recently been having with interpreters. In the coffee place, I just got a bottle of apple juice. But I noticed that at one of the tables sat a man wearing a kippah. This was my first out of shul meeting of anyone wearing one since I began. (this is not an area that has a large Jewish population) So in keeping with my motorcycle habit, I gave a small wave, and he smiled and waved back. After that I was occupied with the discussion on hand. I saw him again as we (all the deaf folks) were leaving, and again, we gave each other a wave.

I guess there is comradery in wearing a kippah too.

Viginia Tech Shootings

2007-04-16T22:19:00.000-04:00

My thoughts go out to all those affected directly or indirectly by the shootings at Virginia Tech Monday morning. (one co-worker in particular has a relative at the college that she was still trying to locate when I left the office) While I never was at the college, I passed by it riding on my way home from last year's Ride to Remember in Tennessee. I remember it specifically because it had been raining heavily most of the way from Chattanooga, but just before I passed Blacksburg, the clouds finally broke up and I started getting some sunshine. I remember looking down from the highway and seeing the sleepy little college town. I wonder if they'll ever get that innocence back.

UPDATE: 4/17/07:
My co-worker (and I forgot to mention, also a friend from my college days) reports that her relative is safe. However, I have since learned of Prof Liviu Librescu's death. A Holocaust survivor, he blocked the door, holding back the shooter while his students were able to escape out the window. May his memory and heroic acts inspire us all.

Recent articles on Jewish Motorcycle groups

2007-04-15T13:05:00.000-04:00

Here are two recent articles on Jewish motorcycle groups that were published.

The Washington Jewish Week writes about The Tribe MC (Washington DC metro area). Article here.

The Jewish Ledger writes about the Chai Riders MC (NY/NJ/CT). Article here.

I've noticed that a lot of times when I meet Jewish riders, they never knew that there were Jewish Motorcycle clubs (there are currently19 that I know of, in the US, Canada, Israel, and Australia. Some new ones are expected in Europe in the next few months!) Maybe instead of focusing on trying to get write ups in the Jewish media, clubs should start focusing on trying to get write ups in mainstream motorcycle media. As much as I hate to say it, they'll probably find more Jewish motorcyclists that way.

So why is it?

2007-04-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

Why is it that during Shabbat and Yom Tovs, when I can't write anything down, that I get a bunch of great ideas for things to blog about? Seriously, I remember that during the Seder, I thought of something I wanted to write about. What it was is now a total blank. Same thing happened during the Shabbat Chol Hamoed. As my wife well knows, if I'm in the middle of saying something, or even thinking something, and I'm interrupted, the train of thought goes way out, and sometimes can never be found again. In fact, in American Sign Language, there is a great sign expression for this type of thing, called "Train-Gone-Sorry." Usually it is signed if you come in the middle or end of a conversation, and people aren't going to repeat the whole thing for you. But in my case it means the thought has left the station, no calling it back now.

It's so bad that if I'm in bed, or out somewhere, and think of something that I want to save, I usually pull out my trusty Treo 600 and shoot myself an e-mail. It reminds me of how one of my school teachers said that Socrates (I think??) thought that writing should be abolished, because it weakened people's memories.

Anyway, I hope I'll be able to remember the things I wanted to write about. If not, I'm sure some new inspirations will come.

From the mouth of Babes... (plus a successful April Fool's Joke)

2007-04-01T19:23:00.000-04:00

I played an April Fools Joke on my brother-in-law today. I sent him the following e-mail. (My brother-in-law is supposed to drive down from Brooklyn with my parents-in-law tomorrow for Passover)

Bro, we just got back from shopping. The van broke down, we had to take a cab back, I took the car to get back to the van to get the food, but by the time I found the van (was towed to a garage, of course closed on Sunday), everything spoiled. I went back to the store to try to get more food, but everything left is being held for people who already made orders. So we don't have a lot of food here. I'm making reservations at Chabad for the seder there, it's the only thing left at this time. Should I make reservations for you and your parents as well? Since we screwed up by waiting until the last minute, I'll pay for the meals and all. Hopefully we'll have enough for lunches during the Yom Tov, then right afterwards, will go back to the supermarket and kosher shops to see what I can get for the rest of Chol Hamoed, and the Yom Tov afterwards.

I'm tearing out what's left of my hair... what a mess!!!!!!

Sorry about all this.

JDMDad

P.S. Happy April 1st... ;-)

The problem is, the P.S. was apparently on the next screen on his e-mail display, he never saw it. About an hour after I sent the message, I received a call from B-i-L. He had called some of the stores that were local to him to see who still had food left, and who would be open late enough so he could get them after he got off work. When I realized he didn't know it was a joke, I felt so bad, and so good at the same time! *evil grin*

After I finished explaining that it was a joke, and hearing his threats of strangling me when he gets down tomorrow, he asked if there was anything he could bring down since there was still a lot available in Brooklyn. I told him there wasn't anything I needed. Laya said the same thing. Tikvah was nearby and heard the whole conversation. She interrupted the conversation with a loud "You can bring down candy!!"

Oy!

Ah, the morning ride

2007-03-30T08:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I was able to ride my motorcycle into work. Besides the nasty weather we had here mid-January through most of February, I also had tire problems. An air leak in an old, worn out tire, then I got the wrong size replacement tires (they fit the bike, but make it too tall for me). Yesterday I finally picked up my bike from the shop in rideable condition.

My drive into work normally takes about 20 minutes. I took a more leisurely route in, stretching it out to about 40 minutes. It was cold (of course I missed all the nice, warm days!), but I had a great big grin inside my helmet anyway. With gas prices once again on the rise, and the winter weather just about gone for good, I'll be taking the bike in to work much more often now. The one thing I need to be careful of though, is that my trips home tend to get longer and longer. I like to find different back roads and see where they head off to. But I have to remember the kids are back home, waiting for my return.

What's that smell??

2007-03-28T07:40:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I mentioned it was 6 months since I started keeping kosher full time. The afternoon after I sent that post, I went down to the small cafe in our office to get a bottle of water. When I opened the door, I was nauseated... what was that awful smell?

Then I looked over at the big stove they use. It was loaded up with bacon, getting ready for the next day's breakfast I guess. That's when I realized how far along I really was. Back when I was in high school, I used to work at Wendy's. (The stories I can tell from my days there... but maybe another time). Anyway, when I worked the morning shift during weekends and summer, part of my task was to make the bacon for the day. This involved cooking a LOT of bacon. I used to love the smell, and would sneak in a few piping hot BLTs.

Then after my college years, I decided I did not want to eat pork any more. I didn't really think I was becoming religious at the time, pork just didn't seem to appeal to me. This was a few years before I met my wife and started keeping a kosher home. But still I loved the smell of bacon and sausage, and occasionally looked for beef substitutes.

It wasn't until I walked in the cafe and got a good strong whiff of bacon and instantly felt sick that I realized how much my tastes have changed. Hopefully that means I'll soon stop looking at snow crab legs with envy.

Utilizing child labor

2007-03-26T08:37:00.000-04:00

My parents-in-law will be spending all of Passover with us this year. At their last visit, dad-in-law said that the futon that he uses is no longer comfortable. It's pretty low to the floor, and the mattress is getting too soft and thin for sleeping comfort. So I finally got a new futon yesterday. It's a big wooden one that's sold at BJs.

I got everything inside our house, and since it was getting late, I told the girls that I would install it after they went to bed, and they'd see what it looks like when they come down for breakfast the next day. Tikvah would have none of it. "I want to see how it goes together!!" Ahava is at the echo stage, "Yeah, see how it go together daddy!" *sigh* All right.

So I start to put it together, and of course the girls want to help. "Here Daddy, I'll hold this!!" Ummm, no, you need to hold it lower, lower. You know what, it's easier if it's on the floor." "Thank you, but I don't really need this screw driver now." Etc. Then of course Ahava grabs a book (she loves to look at the pictures) and sits right in the middle of the futon frame where I'm trying to attach all the bolts. "Ummm, sweetie, can you sit down over there? Thank you so much."

But don't get the idea that they were of no help. Tikvah sometimes got me the right parts when I needed them, and together with mom, we all lifted the second part of the frame onto the first. (that's what the directions said to do anyway. And they were so eager to grab onto the mattress and help us to get it onto the frame.

At that point, it was almost an hour past their bed time. They went up with with very little protest.

Altogether I'd say having them help me out only set me back about 15-20 minutes. But they were well worth it.

No Riding on Passover??

2007-03-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

According to this article, we can't use ethanol based gasoline during Passover because of its corn based contents. This is the second time ethanol gas wrecked a good motorcycle ride. Apparently it does a very good job of cleaning out the gunk in your gas tank. Only problem was, the gunk then goes into your carbs. More detail here. I had to take my bike to the shop to get the tank drained and the carbs cleaned before the bike would run again.

And yes, I know the article was a joke. Nice thought though. :-)

Kosher 6 months and counting

2007-03-22T09:53:00.000-04:00

My rabbi likes to say "Hashem talks to people, you just have to know how to listen."

I think now I know what he means. Sometimes there are too many "coincidences" for things in life to be so random. For example, in 2006 after reading a story in the OU weekly newsletter about how tzitzits saved a man after the Holocaust (which came from, and led to my daily reading of Treppenwitz) I decided to start wearing tzitzits myself. But to cement this even more, after I got some tzitzits and started wearing them, the very next Shabbos was Parchah Shlach, which contains Numbers 15:38-39

38: Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner. 39: This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.

Yikes, talk about timing. This happened again several months later when I was deciding if it was time to go completely kosher (I was already kosher at home, but was still on the fence about being kosher outside the home). I had pretty much decided that I would go completely kosher. But driving by Chili's, I thought to myself "I'm really going to miss the fajitas." (ordered without cheese or sour cream, but still...) The next day I had a meeting that was near a kosher restaurant, so I decided to have dinner there. When I read the specials of the day, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The item at the very top of the menu board was Chicken Fajitas! Okay, message received loud and clear! I started keeping completely kosher a few weeks later at Rosh Hashanah. Checking my calendar, that was September 22nd. So today (secularly anyway) is my 6 month anniversary. And next week I have another anniversary coming up as well, but I'll write about that soon.

My wife asked me a few times if there are things that I missed from my days of not keeping kosher. I'll be honest. Yes, there are several food items that I do miss. But the longer that I've gone without them, the less of a hold, or desire they seem to have over me. I think the thing I miss the most though, is the ability to just run out and grab a meal anywhere. There are only a few kosher restaurants in my area, and they are all at least a half hour drive away (over the state line). Still, this has been better for my diet. Bringing in lunch from home daily has been much healthier than a burger and fries at McDs several times a week!

Hello World!

2007-03-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

I don't know if that's the standard opening line for a Blog, but as a former computer programmer, that's the standard opening line for me.

Anyway, I'm still trying to get this whole blogging thing figured out (e.g. how to get it all set up the way I want), so please excuse any construction mess you may see.

So, who am I and why the long name?

The name is Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad (JDMDad for short). I tried to think of the things that make up who I am and what I am. A lot of people define themselves by their jobs, or specific field. "Hi, I'm Joe, and I'm a mechanic." That's nice, but WHO are you, really? So I tried to think of who I really am, what makes up my core elements, at least as of March 21th, 2007.

The answers, in no specific order (well, the order that sounded best when I verbalized the 4 terms):

Jewish: Born and raised Jewish. Now becoming more and more observant of my religion. I don't know if I'd label myself as "Orthodox" or Baal Teshuva yet, but I'm heading in that direction. Keeping kosher, observing Shabbos, etc.

Deaf: Well, there are varying degrees of deafness. With hearing aids on, I can actually hear pretty well. Not that I would ever pass for a hearing person. But it definitely has made its mark on me. Especially when my company (and work will NOT be a focus of this blog) has problems with scheduling an interpreter.

Motorcycling: After I graduated from college, I finally went out and
learned how to ride, then got myself a bike. (note the order!) I'm
very active (sometimes too active) in several motorcycle groups, including a Deaf motorcycle group, and a Jewish motorcycle group. At first I was going to use the term "Biker" but that has too many negative connotations. Plus you'd probably imagine someone in leather, riding a chopper, no helmet, etc. Definitely an incorrect image.

Dad: The biggest and best change of my life came when my first daughter poked her head out and said "WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I now have two daughters, and now fully understand why you never get between a mama bear and her cubs.

Why a blog? I've been reading some other blogs, mostly Jewish related, and posting some comments. But I started to have a little bit of blog envy and wanted to give it a whirl myself.

Why an anonymous blog? Really, I'm more than willing to be open about who I am. But my wife is concerned about the crazies out there. So I agreed to try to do this anonymously. With two little girls, I understand her feelings on this, and since I don't want to endanger my kids or my marriage, this is it. Thus the kids will be getting alternate names for the blog (and my wife picked one for herself as well). I'm sure within a month I'll be totally confused and calling them by the wrong name to the dinner table, earning strange looks from the kids and my wife. I'm also pretty confident that if anyone who knows me in "real life" looks at this blog, they'll peg me in a minute. That's fine. Just don't pop out and give the info to everyone else, m'kay?

The names of my girls (in chronological order) start with a T, then an A. So after my second one was given her name, for a few days, I used to refer to them as "T & A." Then I thought about that hard for a minute, and no longer use that term.

My oldest daughter (Currently 3 something) is Tikvah.
My youngest (currently 2) is Ahava.
My lovely wife (age is irrelevant if I want to survive) is Laya.

And I'm your host, JDMDad, Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad.

The things that I have in mind to write (some have already been written, and are just floating around my computer with no place to go yet) cover my 4 identity points, some separately, and some in combination with others. And of course some things will just be totally off the top of my head. How often will I post? Will this be one of those many deserted blogs? I don't know. I'm figuring this out as I go along. (Literally! I have a copy of Brad Hill's "Blogging for Dummies" next to me, and several "Blogger.com" help pages open as I type this).