Kid A & Winter

I don't understand why I have this association, but Kid A, by Radiohead will always have an association with winter for me. It could be that the first time I heard the album was in the winter. Maybe it was the number of times I played it while driving to and from Fargo, thanks to Kaitlin for that high number of drives, many of which were in the winter. It might have something to do with the album cover, or just the quiet, calm sounds of the first tracks. I really have no idea the real reason, and maybe it is a combination of all of them.

I'm sitting here in Jerusalem with a nice warm cup of coffee reading an assignment or two for class tomorrow and one of those songs popped up on my iTunes. It felt very out of place to me. I looked out the window to a bright sunny day, and realized that I still have all the windows open wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The current temperature is 68 and it's supposed to get a lot warmer today. I'm left wondering, where is winter? What happened to Jerusalem being freezing? All I heard about the winters here, before I came, was that it gets much colder than you will anticipate. Be prepared. The houses don't keep heat during the winter because they are designed to stay cooler in the summer. What is going on?

From what I've heard floating around, this winter is abnormal. It's actually getting dangerous for the agriculture of Israel because there hasn't been any rain yet. I was really excited the first time I was poured on, because it hasn't really since I arrived. I'm sad to say that it hasn't really rained here since then either. The drought is so bad that for last Thursday, the Chief Rabbi of Israel made it a fast day, for those who listen to him, and told people to say additional prayers for rain. I take that with a grain of salt, or two, since I don't really follow much of what he says, but it demonstrates the nature of this problem.

There was a story in the Jerusalem post this week that blamed the recent butter shortage (yeah, there is a butter shortage right now) on the heat. Apparently, according to the story, in heat like this the dairy cows do not produce as much milk, or the right byproducts to create butter. I guess that explains why the butter was so expensive for me to buy to bake blondies last week.

Now before my friends and family back in Minnesota start complaining about the fact that I'm sitting here in a comfortable climate and they're stuck in a freezer with a potential snowstorm for Thanksgiving, (although I'm not sure how the weathermen could predict that over a week away) I miss the snow. I miss the cold. I miss the seasons changing. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that I'm still wearing sandals and I'm going to go play football outside this afternoon. I just feel strange not bundling up to leave the house.

Until the "bone-chilling" rains set in, I guess I will just have to listen to a different album while I do my homework.

Midterms-Schmidterms

It is well past the middle of the term, but Thursday just about marked the end of the mid-terms period. I have to say that I really liked having these as take-homes.

Some of the assignments we worked on to prove our knowledge include; Creating three new Mishnayot (verses of Mishnah) in the same style of Pirkei Avot (Wisdom of the Fathers), answering questions and working through translations in Liturgy, another short quiz in both Hebrew and Biblical History, the Duma project for the history of Zionism, another take-home test for Grammar and finally, Thursday large take home exam for 2nd Temple History and Literature.

The difficulty is that most of these didn't take up much/any class time. As a result, the professors keep plugging away at all of the normal classwork. In the end that was a little stressful, but I managed. Until Wednesday when we received our email about our finals schedule. Two-a-days for the week. B-R-U-T-A-L.

I've got a feelin' that this is not going to be the same experience as in my undergrad career when I enjoyed finals. I like them because there was not class, and you have four or maybe five tests and the occasional paper at the same time. 9 finals in 5 days. That'll be fun!

I'm not complaining, just not sure about what to expect. I know, I know. This is grad school. Midterms weren't so bad, so maybe finals will be okay too.

In Joshua's Shoes: Then The Army Stopped Us

A few weeks ago I joined a group of volunteers from Rabbis for Human Rights to help farmers in the Occupied Territories harvest olives. My experience was posted on TCJewfolk.com or follow the direct link at Then The Army Stopped Us.

I have many other posts at their website. You can find everything in my archive page.

Shameless Plug for Apple pt.1

This is part 1 because I'm sure I will be a shameless shill for more Apple products in the future. But I love their products and I decided I wanted to write about it.

Now that we have the ground rules covered let me tell you about the best iPhone/iTouch app I've purchased. I don't remember exactly what it cost to buy. I can guarantee it cost less than $5.00. The amount of money I have spent on flash cards and note cards in the last 4 years I have been studying Hebrew, I have spent a good deal more than $5.

This application lets you make sets of flash cards with up to three sides. There is a way to use pictures and even sounds for study aides, but I have not tried that yet. There are settings to run the cards ordered or random, and there is even a function that allows you to tell it if you got the word/question correct or not. If you were wrong, it is possible to have it repeat until you get them all. Then, you can pick the other side to start from.

Honestly, this is one of the best purchases I've made on my iPod since I bought it almost two years ago. I need to give a huge shout out to Sharon for telling me about this program. It's a great study tool. And unfortunately (לרוע המזל as I have learned while practicing words for my next exam), since I have my iPod with me at almost all times I can run words whenever I'm waiting for someone or something. Talk about productivity?!?!?

Not only can you create your flash cards on your iPod or iPhone itself, but you can also create them on your computer and upload them to the server. Then you can put them on your phone or iPod. You can also share the deck name or deck code with other people who have the app and they can use the cards you've made!

The app is called Flashcards Deluxe. To me it was worth the less than $5 I spent on it. If you're going to download it make sure you have the right app by looking at the icon you can find at this website, http://www.orangeorapple.com/Flashcards/Default.aspx

Occupy My Mind

A large chunk of my family started doing one of those, "15 random songs from your iTunes library" notes on Facebook. Since I'm looking for a way to occupy my mind for a little bit, I decided to do one on here.

The first 15 songs, on random, that came up on my iTunes are;

Artist, Song Title, Album Title

blink-182, Apple Shampoo, Dude Ranch

The Beatles, For No One, Revolver

The Offspring, Gotta Get Away, Smash

Led Zeppelin, The Lemon Song, Led Zeppelin II

Spacehog, I Want To Live, The Hogyssey

Godsmack, Voodoo, Godsmack

The Arctic Monkeys, Brainstorm, Favorite Worst Nightmare

weezer, Dope Nose, maladroit

Synergia, Lekchbek Otakch, Tzoakim Al Ahavah

Dispatch, Prince of Spades, Who Are We Living For?

The Beach Boys, I Get Around, All Summer Long

Sublime, Caress Me Down, Sublime

Third Eye Blind, How's It Going To Be, A Collection

Fuel, Empty Spaces, Something Like Human

Flogging Molly, The Ol' Beggars Bush, Swagger

I'm not sure what the point of this is, but I found some songs I hadn't listened to in a long time...

Tsunami

I was in the mood for sushi tonight. Actually, I've been in the mood for sushi for a week or two. So tonight when some of my friends asked if I wanted to join them for all you can eat sushi for 90 sheck, I was all-in on that.

I have to say that the sushi at Tsunami was pretty, pretty good. In no way, shape or form am I a sushi snob or aficionado. But I love to eat it. Since it was all you can eat I ordered four of five rolls. I don't remember what they all were. I remember there was a Rainbow Salmon Roll that was decent. I like avocado, but wasn't a big fan of the strips of avocado that were on top of the rice, next to the salmon. It was interesting, but not my favorite.

Spicy Tuna and Spicy Salmon are always good standby choices. I was really happy with those two. The Spicy Tuna Roll was interesting because the rice was crispy, not fried like the last roll I will get to, but crispy. It was a good idea, and I really liked it.

The last roll I had was a Hot Salmon Roll. It was hot because the fish was cooked very quickly in a tempura. Although the Salmon was a little more cooked than I would have liked, but I'm not going to complain about that. It was a good change of pace as a third roll into dinner.

The deal is only available on Tuesday nights and right now I feel like I'm growing gills. I'm THAT full of fish. I have no idea what their prices run every night, but if you're looking for a spot to get some Kosher Sushi, stop by Tsunami. I don't actually know what street it is on. I think it's on Shlomitziyon HaMalkah or maybe it's Ben Sira. If you're standing at the Mamilla Mall on David HaMelech, you can almost see the restaurant from there. It's right next to the "W. Bush Plaza".

Sorry I can't give better directions right now.

Just Too Far Away

Although Jerusalem is great, and school is fantastic (even though I'm working on the last of the midterms due later this week). There are some things that are just impossible to deal with being so far away. I know that things happen and there is nothing that I can do about it. Even if I was back in Minneapolis, there is little I would be able to do help. Yet I keep thinking about the fact that if I were home, at least I would be home. If I were in the States, at least I would be closer to home and that would be comforting.

Then there is the side of me that looks for the message in every situation. Maybe I am supposed to learn something from the difficulties that are going on back home. I've always had this mentality that I can help resolve almost any situation. Don't take it literally, but if you've seen Pulp Fiction, I've always wanted to be that guy you can call when you need help with something and I would have the answer. Or for those Lord of the Rings nerds, I have this picture in my head that I will be like Gandalf and know exactly the right thing to do in every situation. I'm learning that I can't fix everything. In fact, there are situations in life you have absolutely no control over.

Let me say that again, there are things that you have absolutely NO control over.

I did receive a little inspiration from back home, a little Bob Marley sung in by my adorable little cousins. Yep, it's helping me too.

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun.
Three little birds,
Pitch by my doorstep,
Singin' sweet songs,
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou"

Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"