Dougies is coming to Baltimore!

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

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...

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!!

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...

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

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!

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?