Kosher Subway Coming!

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

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!

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!!

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...

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

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!

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

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"

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

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

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.

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

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....

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...

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!