Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Wicked Awesome Trip
I went to Boston for the New Year. This long-planned trip was something of a reprise of last year's, just in a different location. Oddly enough, while I was in Boston the temperature was similar to North Carolina, yet maybe the context (or the three days of snow) made it much more bearable.
The first thing I did when I got to Boston was to go to Taam China. I split a sizzling black pepper chicken and Sezchuan crispy beef, and while both were more expensive than I remembered they were still delicious. Also, Taam now charges for rice.
The next day was dedicated to party and Shabbat preparations. We made runs to two supermarkets, a redemption center, and the airport to pick up and drop off various necessities. For the party we had tacos/tortillas with all the trimmings and a pinata for post-food entertainment. There were also several hundred cookies. I got to see the crew from last year, as well as many of my college roommates who are still in Boston.
Through Talia's machinations, we were able to fit some 15 people into the apartment and provide everyone with a bed, couch, or mattress. No one had to sleep in the bathtub or the kitchen.
Friday we woke up late and almost immediately began cooking for Shabbat
Shabbat. Somehow I wound up being in charge of some of the cooking, I and the only major problem with this was that I had to adjust to working with fewer meat utensils than dairy, the opposite of my own kitchen. Many of the previous night's guests came back over for Shabbat dinner (indeed, some never left) so we had a lively Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner. Afterward we played games and generally fell asleep early so we could wake up for minyan the next day.
We went to the Washington Square Minyan, which was an interesting combination of people our age, people who were starting families, and older professor-types. I was pleased and surprised to run into not only a family friend who might be mistaken for Hagrid, but also my roommate's wife.
Motzei we went out for tapas and the three boys split six equally, for a reasonable price. I have never been a tapas place before, but I was fairly pleased with the reasonable number of vegetarian options. Sunday was dedicated mostly to football, as we watched the playoff picture crystallize and the Panthers and the Falcons end their season on high notes, albeit not in the playoffs. After football me saw the rest of the Fein family and they were kind enough to take us out to Reuben's.
Monday consisted of lots of errands and then at night we watched the BSU/TCU throwdown, which was fairly entertaining and historical.
I would like to thank my host family, and of course, sporcle, for taking care of me during this trip.
The first thing I did when I got to Boston was to go to Taam China. I split a sizzling black pepper chicken and Sezchuan crispy beef, and while both were more expensive than I remembered they were still delicious. Also, Taam now charges for rice.
The next day was dedicated to party and Shabbat preparations. We made runs to two supermarkets, a redemption center, and the airport to pick up and drop off various necessities. For the party we had tacos/tortillas with all the trimmings and a pinata for post-food entertainment. There were also several hundred cookies. I got to see the crew from last year, as well as many of my college roommates who are still in Boston.
Through Talia's machinations, we were able to fit some 15 people into the apartment and provide everyone with a bed, couch, or mattress. No one had to sleep in the bathtub or the kitchen.
Friday we woke up late and almost immediately began cooking for Shabbat
Shabbat. Somehow I wound up being in charge of some of the cooking, I and the only major problem with this was that I had to adjust to working with fewer meat utensils than dairy, the opposite of my own kitchen. Many of the previous night's guests came back over for Shabbat dinner (indeed, some never left) so we had a lively Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner. Afterward we played games and generally fell asleep early so we could wake up for minyan the next day.
We went to the Washington Square Minyan, which was an interesting combination of people our age, people who were starting families, and older professor-types. I was pleased and surprised to run into not only a family friend who might be mistaken for Hagrid, but also my roommate's wife.
Motzei we went out for tapas and the three boys split six equally, for a reasonable price. I have never been a tapas place before, but I was fairly pleased with the reasonable number of vegetarian options. Sunday was dedicated mostly to football, as we watched the playoff picture crystallize and the Panthers and the Falcons end their season on high notes, albeit not in the playoffs. After football me saw the rest of the Fein family and they were kind enough to take us out to Reuben's.
Monday consisted of lots of errands and then at night we watched the BSU/TCU throwdown, which was fairly entertaining and historical.
I would like to thank my host family, and of course, sporcle, for taking care of me during this trip.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Das Capital!
Turns out that "viral illness spreading through camp" was not the usual strain of camp crud, but rather, as Kev put it, the R1D1. It came to our little corner of Georgia and took root, not just at our camp, but at many others in the region and the nation. Local rags reported it, as did the New York Times. We took countermeasures. In addition to drugs, people began to elbow-tap instead of high-five, every single person was hit with a glob of hand sanitizer when he entered the Chadar Ochel and soon thereafter washed it off while singing for a minimum of 30 seconds. Taps were operated by elbow, as were doors. Gloved serving continued for the rest of the session at every meal, making them quite long (especially shabbat lunch), but giving camp excellent portion control.
My role at camp crystallized when I started providing more coverage than I considered strictly necessary for Shoafim. Turns out their Rosh went down with said viral illness and I had to step in for a week. While it was an educational experience, it was softened by the knowledge that it would only be one week long (instead of nine). I generally liked my staff, as they were friendly, informed, and many were my old campers. They kept me up to speed on things I needed to know to run the eidah effectively, and I passed down the edicts that I received from the Powers That Be during morning meetings with each group. While I was not in the job long enough to be stressed by it, I could see that it would take a toll on a person if left unchecked. What I found is that when you are a Rosh, everyone needs your time and you get to run a million little errands for everyone because they are all busy being with the campers, which you are not required be as often as they are. Also, there are a million things to keep track of in your head, even though the rosh eidah planner does help (though it looks and weighs in like my law books). I used my contractually-burned day off to be Rosh Yom Hairspray, which was fairly fun, and was not much of a loss at all, as no one was leaving the premises anyway. The next day off was a mandated trip to the MOG, so despite swearing it and multiple-car days off, I drove down with three mini-buses and two other sedans to go see Transformers Two and eat some gross food court nonsense. My third and real day off we went and bought a picnic lunch and then hiked the long version of Talullah Falls which was exhausting and hot and fun.
I was sad to leave camp early, but excited at the prospect of going up to DC.
To get to DC I had to leave camp on Thursday, drive five hours to get home, spend Shabbat at home, then drive up another five hours to DC. I am just glad I did not have to do it all in one day.
Condensed summaries of my thoughts about DC:
My gracious host family is in the Rabbi League, and they are lots of fun, in a rambunctious, no-holds-barred way. Shabbat Dinner is always a wild affair at their house.
I ride the Red Line of the Metro. Two weeks before I moved up to DC, there was something of a horrific accident on this line (albeit on the other side). As a result they are doing extensive testing on the line and it takes about twice as long as it ought to for me to get to work every day. Also, on weekends it will sometimes "single-track" which means further delays and lack of seats. However, on the whole the system is quite simple, useful and somewhat inexpensive.
Driving in DC is another story. Even in the suburbs the drivers are nuts and honk all the time while not paying attention to what they are doing. Driving in the District is enough to trigger insanity. I had the misfortune of driving to work one day so I got lost, overpaid for parking, and dinged my car all before I got into the office. On the other hand, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is very nice. I-95 is disgusting. 495 has many more curves than I expected.
I am meeting lots of fun people at work and through friends. I am also seeing a scary number (but not scary people) of people that I know from other places randomly around DC. High school throwbacks at a Nationals game and Brandeis kids on the subway.
I have some free time in DC, so I am using it to visit Baltimore, plan a certain party I have in September and run all the errands I cannot on workdays because I am outside the house from 8AM until 7PM or later.
Yesterday I met up with some friends of friends (and discovered it is a very small Jewish DC world) at the Kennedy Center for some Afro Bop Latin Jazz which was cool, though we did not pay a huge amount of attention to it.
Updates as events warrant.
My role at camp crystallized when I started providing more coverage than I considered strictly necessary for Shoafim. Turns out their Rosh went down with said viral illness and I had to step in for a week. While it was an educational experience, it was softened by the knowledge that it would only be one week long (instead of nine). I generally liked my staff, as they were friendly, informed, and many were my old campers. They kept me up to speed on things I needed to know to run the eidah effectively, and I passed down the edicts that I received from the Powers That Be during morning meetings with each group. While I was not in the job long enough to be stressed by it, I could see that it would take a toll on a person if left unchecked. What I found is that when you are a Rosh, everyone needs your time and you get to run a million little errands for everyone because they are all busy being with the campers, which you are not required be as often as they are. Also, there are a million things to keep track of in your head, even though the rosh eidah planner does help (though it looks and weighs in like my law books). I used my contractually-burned day off to be Rosh Yom Hairspray, which was fairly fun, and was not much of a loss at all, as no one was leaving the premises anyway. The next day off was a mandated trip to the MOG, so despite swearing it and multiple-car days off, I drove down with three mini-buses and two other sedans to go see Transformers Two and eat some gross food court nonsense. My third and real day off we went and bought a picnic lunch and then hiked the long version of Talullah Falls which was exhausting and hot and fun.
I was sad to leave camp early, but excited at the prospect of going up to DC.
To get to DC I had to leave camp on Thursday, drive five hours to get home, spend Shabbat at home, then drive up another five hours to DC. I am just glad I did not have to do it all in one day.
Condensed summaries of my thoughts about DC:
My gracious host family is in the Rabbi League, and they are lots of fun, in a rambunctious, no-holds-barred way. Shabbat Dinner is always a wild affair at their house.
I ride the Red Line of the Metro. Two weeks before I moved up to DC, there was something of a horrific accident on this line (albeit on the other side). As a result they are doing extensive testing on the line and it takes about twice as long as it ought to for me to get to work every day. Also, on weekends it will sometimes "single-track" which means further delays and lack of seats. However, on the whole the system is quite simple, useful and somewhat inexpensive.
Driving in DC is another story. Even in the suburbs the drivers are nuts and honk all the time while not paying attention to what they are doing. Driving in the District is enough to trigger insanity. I had the misfortune of driving to work one day so I got lost, overpaid for parking, and dinged my car all before I got into the office. On the other hand, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is very nice. I-95 is disgusting. 495 has many more curves than I expected.
I am meeting lots of fun people at work and through friends. I am also seeing a scary number (but not scary people) of people that I know from other places randomly around DC. High school throwbacks at a Nationals game and Brandeis kids on the subway.
I have some free time in DC, so I am using it to visit Baltimore, plan a certain party I have in September and run all the errands I cannot on workdays because I am outside the house from 8AM until 7PM or later.
Yesterday I met up with some friends of friends (and discovered it is a very small Jewish DC world) at the Kennedy Center for some Afro Bop Latin Jazz which was cool, though we did not pay a huge amount of attention to it.
Updates as events warrant.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Short Camp Update
I'm at camp, and it's still not completely clear what my role is here. My primary position is a yoetz (staff advisor) for miktzoim. This means I run hadracha (counselor development sessions) for them (starting tomorrow) and I am their go-to for issues. Reut and I split the anafim so that we only yoetz about 35 counselors each. I am also the yoetz for the five high school seniors who work in gan and the tzorchania though it's not clear how that makes a difference, as both the gan and tzorchania are anafim for which I am already responsible. I work in tefilah, mostly moving siddurim and torot to their mikomot, though this weekend I was pressed into service and served as the gabbai for Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat Mincha. I was also the gabbai for Cochavim's Shabbat morning, but I am their rakaz tefilah so I probably would have played that part anyway. I work for the tower staff in a mostly honorary advisory capacity, though I have yet to see much of them. I am aslo on yahadut staff, teaching one perek to cochavim each day. I upload pictures as frequently as possible to the camp website, though this is a mostly hands-off job since Fred the Head and I discovered the beauty of batch uploading. My most recent job was at lunch with the kitchen staff, when I helped serve the middle chadar in an effort to prevent the spread of whatever viral illness is slowly spreading through camp.
Despite my initial reservations, my accomodations of living in an empty bunk across from children are quite nice, I have plenty of space to stretch out, two sinks, two showers, and more doors, fans, and lights than I know what to do with. It is a mostly quiet environment, as I arrive home each night long after the children are asleep and we all wake up the same time in the morning. While there is a basketball hoop outside my room, no one seems to ever use it at inconvenient times. The trek up the back stairway from the Odyssey is also much easier then going up the hill to Marcus, or worse, the rosh rooms. On the other hand, someone (let's hope it was toran) stuck their head in my room (no door there) while I was trying to fall asleep.
We have had one major thunderstorm thus far, temporarily knocking out power and water to the camp, but other than that there have not been any great disturbances at camp this summer.
I am happy to report that I have played hockey two Shabbatot in a row, and that the game is alive and well, augmented with a great crop of JCs who love to play, and frankly are much better than myself.
Despite my initial reservations, my accomodations of living in an empty bunk across from children are quite nice, I have plenty of space to stretch out, two sinks, two showers, and more doors, fans, and lights than I know what to do with. It is a mostly quiet environment, as I arrive home each night long after the children are asleep and we all wake up the same time in the morning. While there is a basketball hoop outside my room, no one seems to ever use it at inconvenient times. The trek up the back stairway from the Odyssey is also much easier then going up the hill to Marcus, or worse, the rosh rooms. On the other hand, someone (let's hope it was toran) stuck their head in my room (no door there) while I was trying to fall asleep.
We have had one major thunderstorm thus far, temporarily knocking out power and water to the camp, but other than that there have not been any great disturbances at camp this summer.
I am happy to report that I have played hockey two Shabbatot in a row, and that the game is alive and well, augmented with a great crop of JCs who love to play, and frankly are much better than myself.
Monday, May 11, 2009
I knew law school would cut my update frequency. What I did not know was how much. On the other hand, Alli seems to have fallen off the blog wagon as well, so I don't feel nearly as bad. From August, 1L year was a monolith shrouded by the fog and enhanced by fear. From May, it rapidly shrinks in the rearview mirror, and in the distance (no joke) the next obstacle is the bar exam slightly more than two years from now.
The way scheduling worked out this year was quite foruitous, I missed very little class while going home for all of Pesach chag (and shabbat chol hamoed). Because of further scheduling quirks, I only had a handful of classes before the school went into lockdown for exams. While exams are well-spaced for 1Ls (a consequence of our fixed schedules), I am already fearing next year's exams. At the moment, both semesters include back-to-back-to-back days of exams. While it will be within my power to have at least one of the exams moved, it's still not something I look forward to. Thankfully, Pesach appears to once again be fairly innocuous, and the High Holidays are conveniently placed on Shabbat and Sunday, forcing me to miss three home football games, but no class. While I have not checked Purim for next year, this year it fell squarely into spring break, allowing me to go up to NYC for a very short but fun visit. After exams were over, we were given one day off before the joint journal competition was unlocked. The JJC is an optional competition which puts the entrant into consideration for one of the five journals offered by the law school. I found it far more difficult to be motivated for an optional competition than for required exams, despite the huge prestige associated with being on a journal. While I have no suggestions for the improvement of this system, I think it could benefit from a change either in timing or necessity.
I celebrated finishing the writing competition and my first year of law school by going to my first trivia in over a month, then taking advantage of Buns's late hours to finally eat dinner somewhere past midnight. The next day I grilled at Hillel to earn admittance to the moonbounce and the Seniors' Event. Mena and Ryan came to see Elie, so I hung out with them, played badminton (might have gotten the birdie, racket and a hula-hoop stuck in a tree at one point), and bounced around the moonbounce. Afterwards I scored some hot dogs to have with dinner. Shabbat Dinner was something of an exercise in cleaning and improvisation. As my last large meal I wanted to get rid of as much food as possible, or at least cook it all and give it away. In addition to pasta, rice, three boxes of hors d'oeuvres, and challah, I also mixed bbq sauce, honey, and brown sugar together and simmered the dogs in the mix. The result was poured onto the various starches for flavor and color, with pleasing results. For those of you who were worried, there was just enough ketchup to go around, thanks to a strategic purchase just before exams. The next meals were simply an effort to clean up the leftovers.
I went to game 6 of the Canes-Bruins series which was quite fun other than losing. Thankfully, the Canes won in 7, despite my expectations that they would get swept by the top-seeded Bruins. However, as I write this, these same Canes are on the brink of elimination in the Eastern Conference Finals. We have been subject to repeated beatdowns by the Penguins whose offense unfortunately far outstrips our own. Maybe this will be motivation for revenge next year.
For June I will be at camp, July and part of August I will be in DC for an internship.
For June I will be at camp, July and part of August I will be in DC for an internship.
Friday, December 19, 2008
A Note on Bailment
A bailor is someone who gives personal property (not land, which is real property) to another, the bailee, to have possession of, but not ownership. A common example of this is car repair and maintenance. I gave my car to the garage to have my brakes checked and my oil changed. I, the bailor, entrusted the garage, the bailee, to not only service my car, but also to return it in reasonably the same condition as when it came into his possession.
While this went well for the most part, when I picked up my car, I sat down and almost gagged from the overwhemling stench of cigarettes. There is no indication that someone had actually smoked in the car, but the smell was more than a lingering scent. Does the bailee have a duty not to stink up my car? What if it was not cigarette smoke, but rather terrible body odor? Surely it would be genetic discrimination (and unreasonable to boot) to withhold a mechanic's license for a biological disparity from the norm. Maybe I should have just asked for one of those little pine-tree fresheners.
Shabbat Shalom.
While this went well for the most part, when I picked up my car, I sat down and almost gagged from the overwhemling stench of cigarettes. There is no indication that someone had actually smoked in the car, but the smell was more than a lingering scent. Does the bailee have a duty not to stink up my car? What if it was not cigarette smoke, but rather terrible body odor? Surely it would be genetic discrimination (and unreasonable to boot) to withhold a mechanic's license for a biological disparity from the norm. Maybe I should have just asked for one of those little pine-tree fresheners.
Shabbat Shalom.
