Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning?

We just returned from taking the children out trick or treating. As I have just finished inspecting my son the pirate's booty I wanted to riff off of the comments David made about Halloween at Treppenwitz . In it David writes about a loss of innocence that accompanied the holiday as more and more parents inspected the loot from the night's haul as well as that more children were chaperoned by their parents. It made me think about things and what has happened and I have a couple of thoughts to share about whether we have lost our innocence. I think that nostalgia always makes us wax sentimental about the past. Sometimes this leads to our viewing things through rose-colored glasses and sometimes it is accurate. In effect I think what happens here is that I am going to straddle the fence somewhat. I think that the monsters of the night have always been here. If you read through old newspaper clippings you find horror stories of children who were raped and murdered, same a

This is fascinating, just so interesting. I had no idea. "But cone snails are potentially dangerous, especially the fish-eating types. There is no antidote if a person gets stung. Usually, the victim is paralyzed and can't breathe, and is immediately placed on respiratory support in the emergency room. Recovery can take several hours to a few weeks. In unfortunate cases, a person can die within an hour of being stung. Some 30 people have been reported killed by cone snails during sea expeditions dating back to the 1930s. "

Some people shouldn't be allowed out of their homes. What was she thinking.

This one time at band camp.

I am not sure how many people have read his Fatwa in which he outlines his reasons for declaring war. There are many "interesting" points and it is worth reading just to gain a better understanding. I thought that this was particularly interesting: "We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours! But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Som

Many people are starting to buy into Osama Bin Laden's propaganda about his motives and reasons for declaring war on the West. Even some of those who are more informed are beginning to think that maybe it is as simple as pulling troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. But you need to stop and consider a few things. It is relatively recent that Bin Laden began to include the Palestinians in his rhetoric. For years they were treated by him the way most of the Arab world always has, they were ignored and then fed lip service. And now he includes them because it is one device that he can use as a wedge to cause trouble. Did you notice that he has not stated any sort of acknowledgement of Israel's right to exist. Did you notice that Arafat does not claim any relationship or desire to be aligned with him. Amidst all this talk there are some other considerations. Do you remember what kind of rule the Taliban instituted in Afghanistan. It was not an open progressive

"Bin Laden suggested Bush was slow to react to the Sept. 11 attacks, giving the hijackers more time than they expected. At the time of the attacks, the president was listening to schoolchildren in Florida reading a book. "It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone," he said, referring to the number of people who worked at the World Trade Center. "It appeared to him (Bush) that a little girl's talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God," he said. " None of this surprises me. Osama is not stupid and is very specific in the messages he sends. They all have a design and purpose. This is further proof that he is not isolated or removed from the media as he parrots comments made about Bush

I think that this is a very powerful piece. Here are some very powerful excerpts. "Even those of us who (however unhappily) favor the disengagement can, and must, understand this sense of betrayal. Because these Israeli citizens were encouraged by Labor no less than by Likkud to build homes in Gush Katif, and they did so with exemplary dedication. Because, our protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, we are withdrawing under fire. Because Ariel Sharon effectively promised these people that this would not happen, and they supported him with that assurance in mind. Because homes will be destroyed, communities dismantled, playgrounds abandoned, synagogues emptied, batei midrash razed. Because those who left Yamit (in the Sinai, when it was returned to Egypt, and was then destroyed by Israeli bulldozers) could at least console themselves with the knowledge that it was land for peace, while this week, we could not point to anything that we were getting in return for our evacu

I went to 5 of his concerts. I'll definitely go see this movie.

Hello Men, If you were a fly on the wall listening a to a conversation among single women you would witness many things, including the love/hate thing that women have with us. And please note that some really do love to hate us. I need an icon to play a little ba dump da sound with these bad jokes. ;) . As a man who has been married and off the market for a while I have been a witness to a number of these conversations. I didn't always want to be a part of it, frankly I grew tired of listening to some of the whining and kvetching about men being idiots. Ladies, you are not that smart yourselves and if you learned to speak directly you would and could save yourself some trouble. But back to the point at hand, if you want to get things going start a conversation about soulmates and whether you think they exist. From a practical, logical standpoint it seems to me that there should be a minimum of 1000 people you could fall in love with. Of that 1000 there should be at leas

Stories like this just hit me in the gut. Why, why would you ever do this.

Have you ever noticed how some people like to tell you that they are intimidating or that you better not piss them off because all hell will break loose. I suspect that I am probably guilty of saying these things once or twice myself, but that is beside the point. Or maybe above it or below. Anytime I hear something like that my natural inclination is to try and find out if it is true. When it comes to intimidation I am truly not easily intimidated. From a size perspective I have a very large frame and spent many years working out. I am a little softer around the middle now, but not enough to prevent most people from noticing my shoulders and back first. Speaking of which, as I age the hair on my head has been moving from the skull to my back, chest and shoulders. Not only that, but it is recruiting friends and family. I wear a size 12 EEE shoe, so if this hair things keeps up I may have to watch out at the zoo because they'll think that a gorilla or bigfoot has escaped. And

Many people hate telemarketers, but I do not. I appreciate the work that they do. I am also in sales and work both inside and outside the office, it can be a hard gig pounding the telephones. It is tiresome and tedious, especially when so many people have such love for sales calls. So it is with a certain empathy that I take these telephone calls at home, but it is also with a certain joy. I say joy because depending on the caller's attitude I may be up front and tell them that I am not interested, or I may engage them in long conversations. But the conversations are not sales oriented, they are candid camera type operations in which I see what kind of reactions I receive to crazy comments and questions and I never know what I am going to say until it comes out of my mouth. This evening I received a call from Ameriquest. They wanted to know if I was interested in refinancing my home. A: Hi, can I please speak with Jack? J: Who are you? A: Can you just put him on t

I have long thought that Arafat was a one trick pony who didn't have the ability to truly become the leader he would need to be to bring real peace. Too many years as a terrorist and little to none as a real diplomat. But the reality is that you cannot always dictate who you want to negotiate with. Sometimes you are stuck with a pseudo-partner because that is all you have, So you play the hand that you are dealt and deal with it. Israel has been preparing a number of plans of action for how to deal with the Post-Arafat world for some time now. But it remains to be seen just what is going to happen and what kind of vacuum will be created in the void that he most assuredly will leave. Who is going to step up, who will be pushed to the forefront and what impact will that have on peace. Interesting questions for interesting times.

It is no secret that I find women to be very interesting. They are so different and there are so many things that I find to be attractive and sexy about them. And they crack me up. It is so funny to listen to women discussing men and what they want. Some of it is just so ridiculous and some of it is so dead on. The specific topic of this post comes from my elevator ride from the garage into the office building today. There was one other person in the elevator, a very tall woman. I am 5'10, so anytime I stand next to a woman and notice that she is taller than I am it is probably safe to say that she is tall. But since I do have moments in which I am oblivious, there are times when I fail to notice that someone is standing on a step/projection/stool/chair, which clearly impacts their height in relation to me. As usual, I digress. Most of the time women seek men who are taller/bigger than they are. So in my single days the taller women were less interested in myself and more

I have spent much of my life bucking the tide. If people went left, I often went right. For a while it was just a rebellious way to show my independence. At some point during my teenage years my father sat me down to discuss what it meant to have my own opinion and whether it was necessary to act out to prove it. I don't remember exactly what was said, but I remember the real message. It was encouragement to continue to try and think for myself and a reminder that if I was really secure in my beliefs I wouldn't find the need to broadcast them. It made a lot of sense to me then and it makes sense to me now. Which leads me to my point. I find it disturbing to see so many people turn off their minds and jump on the bandwagon so that they can say that they were part of "it" whatever "it" may be. In the current climate I find it distasteful to watch so many Americans jump up and down in agreement whenever "Europe" complains about the war. They

I remember the hostage crisis quite well. I found this article to be quite interesting. Here are a couple of excerpts: On a Sunday morning 25 years ago, U.S. diplomats in Tehran looked out the window to see hundreds of young Iranians, fired by a love of Islam and a hatred of America, spilling over the walls and through the gate of the embassy compound. The Americans did not know it, but they were staring at the future — a militant Muslim fundamentalism that would one day replace communism as the greatest threat to their nation. That was Nov. 4, 1979, the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis, and a date on a timeline that would stretch to Sept. 11, 2001, and beyond. Fifty-two Americans were held captive for 444 days. Although none was seriously hurt, many were beaten, blindfolded, isolated and lined up for mock firing squads. Never had so many representatives of so powerful a nation been abused so flagrantly. To better understand the impact of the crisis on the hostage

This weekend we are throwing a little shindig for my daughter, it is a baby naming party. We have worked hard to try and minimize the number of people and we are still looking at somewhere around 100 or so. That includes family and friends, but not all of either. Wow, 100 people and we could have extended it higher had we sent out a few more invitations, not to mention that there were people who RSVP'd to say that they are not able to come. My son's Bris was similar and a little more nervewracking. It was hard because he was our first child and we were just learning what it meant to be parents, let alone that this took place a mere 8 days after his birth. But it went well and we had a great time. So now almost four years later we are doing it again and we have run into a problem we had the last time in that we haven't heard from a bunch of people and need to call them to find out if they are coming. The bigger problem is that I think that at least one couple were i

"The float just sank. As of today, any check you write may be posted -- and the money deducted from your account -- within a few hours. Savvy consumers no longer can count on a delay of a day or two or three -- the float -- as a paper check moves through the banking system. The speedup is a result of the new Check 21 law, which goes into effect today. It allows banks to make an electronic image of a check and send the electrons, not the paper, through the system. ." Interesting stuff.

This a list of things that have frightened me in my life. Some are still relevant and some are not. But I thought that it might be interesting to just throw them all out there to see what they look like during daylight hours. P.S. I have explanations for all of these, but I may not include them on the list. Why? I just don't feel like it. :) The Dark The Amityville Horror scared me. Oscar the Grouch Bigfoot- The one from the Bionic Man television Show. He gave Steve Austin plenty of trouble. The Creature in the Legend of Boggy Creek A couple of dogs that chased me on my paper route. The homeless guy from the park. V.L.- He and I got into a fight in high school. I pretty much kicked his ass up and down the corridor, but I do remember shaking with adrenalin afterwards. For about two weeks I was concerned that I was going to have to face him and his older brother again. Having my heart broken again Breaking someone's heart Not being able to provide for my family Letting my childre

Ok, Blogger just ate my last post. Between that and the problems today I am irked. Blogger, I am calling you out. You and me baby, bring your best and hope that I leave your sorry behind with the ability to continue functioning. Grrrrr............... This evening we engaged in the simple task of trying to bathe two young children. Not real difficult, but time consuming. My son convinced me to get into the tub with him. I didn't really want to do it, but in the interest of harmony and a speedier bath I climbed in. Things went along swimmingly until he started to complain about having to wash his hair. He then made it very clear that he was not pleased with this by urinating in the tub. Good thing that I love him because the shower that followed was very brief and quite efficient. Nothing like being peed on by a child to make your evening.

Yes, an afternoon confession for all of you. I enjoy looking at my tracking software to see who has come to visit the shack. I find it very interesting, it is kind of a like a puzzle in which I have enough pieces to creat the skeleton of the puzzle, but I am not able to fill it in. I look at the IP addresses and I can gather small details, little nuggets of information that I try to use to decipher the mystery that is you, the reader. Sometimes I am provided with the name of the business/school/organization of your IP address. It is a nice addition. I look at it and try and imagine what you do for a living. Are you a spy, a teacher, a doctor, lawyer or something else. Who knows. Maybe you are someone I know from the outside world who doesn't know that I have a blog. There are endless possibilities.

I used to have an email address tied into the site but I pulled it because of the vast amount of "email" I received. Besides if I used all of the pills that these people want me to take they really would call me "Tripod" and I'd scare the neighbor's horse. And that would be a shame. But beyond all that I also received multiple requests to Blogroll people. It is not so much that I mind being asked, but that I am unwilling to do it for everyone and not interested in explaining why every time I decide not to do it. The issue is very simple to me. I Blogroll sites that I find to be of interest, but the problem is that I have found so many that are of interest it is a little overwhelming. I am not real keen on the idea of listing 69 links on the side of the blog. I feel an obligation to visit sites I have blogrolled and I don't have time to visit 69 sites. There are blogs that I visit on a regular basis that I haven't blogrolled and I don't n

There, that title ought to grab a few readers. ;) I have no idea whether Blogger is going to quit on me again, so I am going to try and push this through ASAP. I can understand why people might tape themselves having sex. I see how you can enjoy it, but I also see great potential for mischief here. Once you are on tape you are at risk for being shown anywhere and everywhere. So if you film yourself you need to be prepared for the possiblity that others will see it. And if you are 31 and filiming yourself with a 17 year-old girl you need to be ready to have the book thrown at you. Now I am not going to get into a discussion about the age of consent, but let's think about this for a second. If you are shtupping a girl in high school and you are that much older you are creating a real problem for yourself, so you shouldn't be surprised when trouble finds you.

Well it appears that either the Red Sox are going to finally break the curse or in less than a week the entire city of Boston is going to go into mourning over one of the all-time greatest choke jobs. Boston, I have news for you. This year every team I rooted for in the playoffs has lost. I am beginning to think that it could be in your best interests to pay me not to root for your team. I don't need much, I am sure that if you each give me 50 cents I'll be satisfied, but just in case you might want to make a suitable deposit in my account. If I don't see the money soon I promise to go into full fan mode and as previously mentioned, this season all of my teams lost.

It appears that blogger has been having techinical difficulties: "Wednesday, October 27, 2004 Starting around midnight last night, we have had significant networkproblems that would have prevented some Blogger users from accessingthe site. We continue to work on the problem and will update thisblog with additional information. Posted by Jason at 9:49 AM " http://status.blogger.com/

There are places I’ll remember All my life though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places have their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I’ve loved them all But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I’ll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I’ll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more In my life I love you more

Call an over inflated ego, just confidence or what you will, but there are very few things that I really would like to change about myself. But there are some things and some skills that I'd like to have. Here is a list in no particular order: 1) I'd like to be able to speak like Patrick Stewart. I'd like to have the kind of voice that just holds your attention even if I am reading a box of soap.. 2) Along those lines I wouldn't mind being able to sing. If I had to pick a voice I might have to go with Sinatra. Since I am currently listening to him there is some influence there. In theory it could be something else, an original sound. Again, something that has range so that I could really belt it out or sing softly. 3) I'd like to play an instrument and to play it expertly. 4) I'd like to be an expert on medicine/history/astronomy/nanotechnology. 5) I'd like to be able to dunk a basketball. For a brief time I was able to grab the rim, but I chi

I have tried writing three different posts and have had no success. I am not sure why, so I am going to use my son's excuse. Sometimes when I try to speak with him in Hebrew he tells me that his Hebrew fell out and he can only speak English. Ok, can't argue with that logic. It must have fallen out. We spend time searching for it, and sometimes we find it. So tonight I guess my writing fell out, the skill that allows me to communicate effectively must have slipped out of my skull, or should I say that it leaked out. Yes, leaked out sounds far more appropriate. It is raining here, so maybe when I danced through the street, up my driveway and into the house it fell out. And now I find that I cannot seem to write a coherent post, at least not a serious topic. It is shameful and disappointing. Even a little frustrating. There is no reason why it should be difficult, at least not this difficult. Writing is a simple thing, really it is. What you need to communicate your t

" WASHINGTON Allies as well as enemies have spied on the United States at home and abroad throughout America's history. As the world's only military and economic superpower, the United States continues to be the primary target of friendly and unfriendly intelligence agencies" This is an interesting article. It is worth reading.

CNN) -- The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 380 tons of powerful explosives from a storage depot in Iraq has taken a new twist, after a television news crew embedded with the U.S. military during the invasion of Iraq reported that the material could not be found when American troops arrived. NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad. While the troops found large stockpiles of conventional explosives, they did not find HMX or RDX, the types of powerful explosives that reportedly went missing, according to NBC. The International Atomic Energy Agency revealed Monday that it had been told two weeks ago by the Iraqi government that 380 tons of HMX and RDX disappeared from Al Qaqaa after Saddam Hussein's government fell. In a letter to the IAEA dated October 10, Iraq's director of planning, Mohammed Abbas, said the material

I am still a little frazzled and fermished from this recent bout with illness. Aside from my dysfunctional digestive system I have few ailments and rarely get sick. Although I should add that since my son started school he has managed to pass along a number of colds to me. I love sharing his life, but I am not interested in sharing illnesses, there are happier things to share. In light of the election and various posts I have encountered I'd like to encourage you all to consider making a difference in the world in some way. And I'd to suggest that we remember that it is not always necessary to do something that helps large groups of people. Sometimes the more important and more helpful things are those that are focused on a couple or even one person. Because if you believe in the concept of viral marketing it only takes impacting a couple of lifes to really help many. And let's not complicate things by trying to raise vast sums of money or generate awareness about

Yes, it is true I am running for office. When I turned 35 I decided that this would be the perfect year for me to wrong. I am of legal age and status and a citizen of the fine nation we call the U.S. of A. And based upon the candidates we have to choose from I have the opportunity to use some very cool campaign slogans such as: Vote for Jack- He can't fuck it up any worse than it is. You don't know Jack, but why not give him a shot. Vote for Jack and let the other two guys bag groceries at the "Bush N' Kerry. Now I just came up with those three lines in the past thirty seconds which is demonstrative of my ability to craft policy with the same time and effort as the other two guys. Not to mention that we'll save money as I won't need to higher any speechwriters. I'll do my own press conferences and as I am losing my hair I'll eventually be able to save more taxpayer money because I'll be able to let the White House barber go. Consid

Call me crazy, call me nuts, but don't call me Shirley. And definitely don't call me late for dinner. Brian's weekly roundup has got me playing around with the idea of constructing "Mighty Post" a roundup of all that has taken place since May. If I do something like that I probably should wait until December, but that is what people would expect me to do. And lord knows I love doing the unexpected, the unconventional and the unsomething or other. (This last line was brought to you by 7-UP, the UN-Cola haahaha). So here is a quick warm up. Cue the sentimental music and roll tape: May: My first Post about the Lakers. I get choked up when I see this and think of how much my blog has grown. From there we went right into what I called Islam and the Modern World and a post about Death . These were followed by thoughts on work, life and articles that I found interesting. June began with an article on Inner Genius that no longer exists online so you

I love learning stuff like this. It is so cool.

"Homer got 24 percent of the vote in the poll of more than 2,000 readers. Second place went to the more obvious choice of Josiah Bartlet, the president played by Martin Sheen in "The West Wing." Pompous but eloquent radio psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane was third followed by Sergeant Bilko from "The Phil Silvers Show." Gil Grissom from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was fifth with 10 percent of the vote. Other favorites were Jack Bauer from "24," "The Cosby Show's" Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Phoebe Buffay from "Friends" and "The Sporanos'" Tony Soprano. " I clearly need to work on my UK readership as I didn't even place in 1 percent of the votes. How disturbing.

"This has not brought great comfort to Manchester United's supporters. On Sunday, before Manchester United defeated Arsenal, 2-0, halting its rival's 49-game unbeaten streak in the English Premier League, Malcolm Glazer was hung in effigy outside Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Fans chanted and carried banners that said "Not for Sale." "Our fans are extremely fearful," Mark Longden, a spokesman for the Manchester United Independent Supporters Association, said in a telephone interview. "I've never known a militancy like this." Although supporters deny it, anti-Americanism also figures in the resistance to Glazer, said Franklin Foer, author of "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization." He noted that Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil billionaire, was embraced last year upon his purchase of Chelsea, another top English team. "The Glazer story is more about the anti-American moment in Europe

"Russell R. Rogers picked the wrong restaurant to rob Sunday afternoon, Vancouver police said.Professional "extreme fighter" Benji Radach of Longview and his training partner tackled Rogers, 64, after he tried to hold up Elmer's Restaurant with a gun, police officers and restaurant workers said." Oops.

I just returned from my son's school. It is located across the street from my office so I routinely head over there at noon to pick him up. I leave for my office before he wakes up in the morning so it is a nice chance to see him mid-day and say hi. So we were heading out to the car post melt-down (different story for a different post) when she called my name. Jack, Jack, Jack. I turned my head and looked out across the parking lot and there she was, smiling at me. "Can you help me," she said with a smile, "I need to be jumped." I smiled back at her as she realized how that sounded "my battery is dead and I don't have any cables." I restrained my natural urge for the smartass response and said that I could. And that is the story of how she got jumped at lunch. Tomorrow I'll have to let her know that she is now famous in cyberspace. On a side note, if you have a car it is really simple to keep a set of cables, a flashlight, first aid

As I have been surfing through blogger land I have noticed more and more posts from people who are in touch with G-d. And it occurs to me that lately I have read articles that talk about G-d speaking to Pat Robertson, George Bush, Osama and even Charles Manson. Wow, G-d sure is busy. I wonder what I need to do to gain my own platform to discuss what G-d thinks the world needs and why he/she/it needs me to do it. Maybe you can send me money so that I can live in a deluxe apartment in the sky where I can broadcast to the world the real message. Have I told you that G-d wants to give me 17 wives. I asked G-d for 21 and all I got was 17. What the hell is going on. Did I ever mention how much fun it is to play with people who think that it is ok to try and press their religious beliefs upon me. Yesterday at the mall some guy confronted me about my soul. Yes, he said that he wanted to confront me about my immortal soul. I suggested that he go play Tiddly Winks but he didn't catc

I love reading. I just love to read anything and everything. In the P.C. era (that is pre-children) I would routinely read around 6 or 7 books a month, and that was a drop from the P.M. era )pre-marriage) in which I read more than that. My choices in reading were not unlike many others. I loved a good fantasy, solid fiction, mysteries. I enjoyed biographies and histories of things/people/places that were interesting to me. And I found that not only did books provide a great education, but they gave me connections to people I might not ever meet and the ability to carry on conversations about virtually anything. One of my favorite series was written by Stephen Donaldson. Here is a link to Amazon's review of the first of the 6 books in the series Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1) . I just loved it and found these books to be very compelling. And like some of my other favorite series I was disappointed when I finished it. The end

Oh well. This should be the least of her problems. Not to mention that her sister is known for being a huge dope. I'd focus on the more important issues.

Yesterday we took the children to the mall to have professional photos done. My daughter is now 3 months old and we felt that it was time to get something better than the shots we have, not to mention we really wanted to have pictures of her and her brother done professionally. BTW, I am really tired and cranky this AM so my posts may reflect this. Nah, not may, they will. Anyway the pictures came out just beautifully. We were really happy with them and only have to wait until November 16th for the incredibly efficient people to produce copies for us. It was ever so easy to show us the digitial proofs, but really hard to give us copies on the spot. Oh brother. It was a bit of an effort to keep my son entertained while his sister made like Cindy Crawford and by the time we got the two of them together he had just enough patience left to cooperate. But what I really remember at the moment was the lunch we had aftewards. It was at Wood Ranch and I had a great Tri Tip. It was aw

Thoughts at the end of an evening. Memories fade over time, they just do. Love, pain, success, joy, whatever, the memories of these events fade. That doesn't mean that you cannot bring up the same feelings again, but the deeper feelings, the kind that you can just taste, the feelings that envelop your whole body, well they fade a little. And I think that is both normal and necessary. You can't function if your day is spent in overwhelming joy or despair, a middle point has to be reached. And now we find ourselves approaching a middle point in time. It is a little more than 3 years since 911 and it seems to me that much of America has decided that it was a terrible event, but that it is long ago. Now the purpose of this is not to try and scare you. I think that the people who hate America have been around for an awfully long time and I don't think that it makes a difference to them philosophically whether a democrat or a republican is in office. Party affiliation is

I am short on time, but I want to broach a topic that irritates me to no end. I have real trouble understanding why some people make apologies for terrorists. In recent memory I have heard people say that if only the US hadn't invaded Iraq, Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, Bigley and so many others would be alive. The suggestion here is that because the US invaded there is a legitimate excuse for this inhumane and barbaric act. I am sure that these people will make a similar excuse for Zarkawi's recent murder of 50 Iraqis. He certainly is working on placing himself in the Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Amin, category. He may not ever get to lead a country and be able to murder on the same massive scale, but he has murdered an incredible number of people. It is shocking. Anyway, I find this moral ambiguity to very troubling. There are many ways that a person can protest actions. There are many ways that you can "fight the power" but these people who wish to create apologies fo

This morning I received an email that had a list of 50 or so line items that said: "You know you are from LA when" blah, blah, blah. Sometimes they can be fun, but like all lists they do require a mix of truth and hyperbole. Here is a sample of some of the lines that I found most interesting/correct or funny. You Know You're From LA When... You begin to "lie" to your friends about where you are (i.e. "Yeah I'm like 20 minutes away") - when you know that it'll take you at least an hour to get there). You eat a different ethnic food for every meal. You look around at the nice cars around you during traffic, thinking it'll be your favorite Laker or WB star. You know it's best not to be on the 405 at 4:05 pm. Getting anywhere from point A to point B, no matter what the distance, takes about "twenty minutes". In the "winter", you can go to the beach and ski at Big Bear on the same day. Yo

I am just disappointed. All of the things that I have read regarding both candidates reminds me that I still do not like either. There is something wrong with feeling like you have to vote for the lesser of two evils. It is like being set up on a date by a friend. She/he tells you nothing but good things about the person you are going out with. They show you a picture and between the description and the picture you are truly excited to meet them. And then they show up and you find out that the picture is before they ate their way through Vegas/underwent a bad hair transplant/got hit by a bus, you get the picture. Of if you are like me you look at the hot girl in the picture and think that G-d is really smiling down upon you as you are about to go out with a supermodel who has brains and really likes you. And then you find out that the supermodel is not your date, it is the woman standing behind her. Disappointment. Enough of the silly descriptions. The point is that we des

This is not funny. When a columnist says something as asinine as: John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you? This merits a formal reprimand.

I haven't seen this in years Rikki-Tikki-Tavi but I remember loving it as a child. I may have to buy this to share with my children. Of course it should be noted that when I tried to watch the Wizard of Oz with my son he got bored and asked me to turn it off.

If I surfed, this would be worth the rush. Ok, maybe not, but what a thought. Wow.

Not unlike the other lemmings I have a TV/VCR/DVD/SAT/DVR with surround sound. And I have many remotes, so many remotes that I have often wondered what would happen if I took them into the street and just started punching buttons. Could I wreak havoc? Would the lady watching Dr. Phil be left wondering if the drug addict dad ever recovered because I managed to change her television channel. Would the teenager next door get busted because I turned on his porno while his mom was home. Should I wait and try it on a Sunday morning and see how many men I could roust from their easy chairs and football games. I wonder. In the search for ways to ease my life and drive my MIL crazy I purchased a universal remote today. It is supposed to handle all of the technology in the house, ok it can't blog for me, won't pinch hit for the timer on my sprinklers and doesn't turn on the washer, but it might one day. And it could be just a matter of my reading the whole manual so that I

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: On three things the world is sustained: on truth, on judgment, and on peace, as it is it says (Zechariah 8:16): "Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace." Rabbi Judah the Prince said: Which is the proper course that a man should choose for himself? That which is an honor to him and elicits honor from his fellow men. Be as scrupulous about a light precept as of a weighty one, for you do not know the reward allotted for each precept. Balance the loss incurred by the fulfillment of a precept against the gain and the accruing from a transgression against the loss it involves. Reflect on three things and you will never come to sin: Know what is above you --a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all your deeds recorded in a book Be careful in your relations with the government; for they draw no man close to themselves except for their own interests. They appear as friends when it is to thei

Does anyone else hear "ONCE IN A LIFETIME " by the Talking Heads "And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful house! And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful wife!"

I was raised in Los Angeles in a house where English was the primary language. However, both of my parents are former Peace Corps volunteers who were stationed in Ecuador. They both speak Spanish fluently and when my sisters and I were little they would try and have "private" conversations in Spanish. The end result was that I picked up a lot of Spanish and even took it briefly in school. While I would not say that I am fluent, I still understand a fair amount. One of my sisters really focused upon it and is very proficient in it. In addition to Spanish and English I also received much exposure to Hebrew and Yiddish. I took classes in those as well. There was a time in which I was enrolled concurrently in classes in English, Hebrew and Yiddish. I was supposed to continue my Spanish coursework, but four languages was just too much so I dropped it. As time passed I focused upon my Hebrew. At one point in time I began to have dreams in Hebrew and I really felt very comf

The lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I have a bit of a cold, and I hate it. I hate sniffling, I hate sneezing and I hate having to work through this. If I had my druthers I'd be in and out of bed and the steamroom. Come to think of it, the gym is open so I can get to the steamroom, maybe I'll go. Have you ever noticed that many people use the expression "If I had my druthers." I just used it twice in less than 30 seconds and it occurs to me that I am not sure if I ever have owned any "druthers." I might now or might have in the past, but I am not sure because I do not know what "druthers" look like. If you have lost your "druthers" what can you do to replace them. Do they sell them in stores? Are they expensive? Do they wear out? How often must you replace them? Could you use someone else's "druthers" and if so, does it require surgery? Do you have to worry about your body rejecting someone else's "dru

This was mentioned in at least two other places that I am aware of TTLB and Wizbang, but I had to comment. "Sun 24 Oct at 23:30 on BBC Three BBC Three marks the 20th anniversary of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas - the song that rocked the world." Band Aid founders planning new charity effort for Africa Twenty years. High school, I was in high school. Now some of you will look at this and think of me as being a young pup, and you are right. I am. But it is a little surreal to look at a 20 year time frame and realize that it is no longer the bulk of my life. It was a short time later during the Summer of 1985 that I watched Live Aid at a pub called Champs in Jerusale. I Googled Champs and found an address of 19 Jaffa Street. Wow, it is still there. I have just a few stories to tell about my time there, Lalos and Pini's Pub. Not to mention Ritchie's Pizza, Pizza Rimini and a bunch of other places. Of course how many 16 year-olds get the oppor

I could select a 100 different quotes to use to convey thoughts and feelings about life now, maybe more. And I would really enjoy the task of collecting them and determining what makes the most sense to me. Since time is a premium and I am doing some learning on my own I thought that I would share some that I find to be meaningful. Assuming that family responsibilities do not interrupt me, I'll even try and comment on each. " Let your house be a gathering place for the wise; Be covered by the dust of their feet, And drink in their words with thirst." —Yosse ben Yo’ezer Education is critical. You should always work on learning more about yourself, the world and what happens around you. And part of learning is surrounding yourself with people. And while it is useful to be surrounded by experts, you can learn from almost anyone. And it should be noted that experts is a term that can be applied in many ways and should not be viewed as being descriptive solel

It is almost November and yesterday was the first day that I realized that Summer has ended. Ok, I realized it when school started again and traffic in the morning suddenly grew heavier. But then I forgot. I have been enjoying short sleeves and shorts on the weekend. It has been just beautiful, with amazing blue skies and a very comfortable temperature and then the rain hit yesterday. And just like that, Summer officially ended. And as has happened for many years now Don Henley started playing "Boys of Summer" inside my head. I am sure that as I drove through rainy streets you would have seen a wistful look on my face, an expression of someone lost in thought. It happens on a regular basis. Stress hits and I escape into the memories and fantasy of the past and future. It is not to say that I do not like reality, I hit it head on. Some would tell you that I could use a lesson in knocking on the door gently as opposed to knocking it down. What can I tell you, I am a Ta

I am beginning to come down with something. I have been sniffling since this morning and feeling a little rundown. I am not at that point yet where you feel like you have been runover by a truck, but I can hear the horn and see the lights in the distance. It is aggravating. If I am going to be sick, well I might as well be sick and leave work. But I don't feel bad enough to just get up and walk out, and I don't really feel well enough to work. It is a problem. And as mentioned above, I have lost my muse. In the prior post I had an idea that sounded great in my head. I had thought that it was going to be a terrific post, and it turned into the "hot idea meets mediocrity" thing in a hurry. Oh well. At times I have considered deleting every post that I dislike or think is weak. It would make a stronger portfolio but the rules of the blog maintain that the good live with the bad. Unless the bad is so bad that horrible is not a good description of how bad it is.

Here is my afternoon confession, I enjoy foolish arguments. Don't know why, but I just enjoy the nonsensical and meaningless banter of bashing other teams, cities and the associated crap that goes with it. During the 80's I loved listening to people chant "Beat LA" whenever the Lakers would play Boston. Of course that was when Boston still had a team and not a group of children pretending to be NBA players. I loved hearing it again as Shaq and company waltzed through the other teams like they didn't exist. We own Sacramento, San Antonio and pretty much the rest of the league. It is fun to remind the fine folks of Denver and Buffalo that they are masters at losing the big game. For that matter the Vikings brought a lot of the same to Minnesota. I am not mentioning a city, because no one in their right mind would admit to being from there. Ok, maybe they would, but only because they could make fun of Fargo. People in Buffalo still haven't thought of do

There are relatively few people who are aware of my blog, or should I say relatively few friends/family members. In part that is because I haven't felt the need to tell many people about this. I really do it for me and have little interest in listening to others tell me what I should do with it or in some cases try and "correct" my stories. We all experience life through our own eyes, and that means that sometimes my story will be different from yours, even if we were both there. I have enjoyed developing a list of blogs that I like to visit as well as knowing that there are now people who enjoy visiting me. And as mentioned many times, I really enjoy the interaction with you. Here is the rub. I post very quickly, in bursts of 3 and 4 or more at a time. I suspect that it is so rapid that some of the posts fall by the wayside because they are not seen. And if they are not seen, there is no opportunity for comment. But if I am only doing for myself. If I am practic