Monday, October 31, 2005

I know it's been far too long without a post, and I've probably lost my 5 loyal readers. If this is the price I must pay for day after day of lying on the beach and being continuously awed by the beauty of the Mediterranean, that's fine by me. I mean seriously, check this out:



This particular stretch of beach is about 2 miles long, and I can easily entertain myself by walking up and down the beach, collecting shells and pebbles and taking pictures. It's a very touristy area, but I out-tourist them all by far.



Happy Halloween to all of you ghosts, goblins, and fairy princesses! We celebrated Halloween on Friday night with a party at B7's and lots of food, but only one costumed guest: Trick or Treat!



The rest of the evening involved zombies, gummi worms, and champagne, and resulted in a joining of forces so powerful, the world may never be the same again.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Day of the Dead (Sea)

So apparently "Dead" is Hebrew for "Salt." We went to the Dead Sea today, and I may never get all of this salt off of me. But it was really super fantastic, and not just because it's the lowest place on earth (-401 meters!). We spent a fun-filled evening in En Bokek, a resort town on the Dead Sea. Funny thing about resorts in Israel; they seem to have been mostly decorated in the 1980's, and the ambiance was never thought of again. Don't get me wrong, I love eighties decor for its kitsch value alone--and I'm not just talking about giant Swatch watch wall clocks. But hotel was not unlike the classrooms in my old synagogue where we used to have Hebrew School classes.



Except in my classroom, she would have been picking oranges instead of apples. As a young child, the posters on the walls of my Hebrew School classrooms lead me to believe that all Israelis lived on Kibbutzes, and that the entire country was one big orange grove. And also that Israelis dance around in circles to traditional Israeli folk music, and they all wear white.

But I digress. The Dead Sea is super cool. You can't really swim in it, you can only sort of float and bob around (and I happen to believe that floating and bobbing around are totally underrated, so I was thrilled.). Check it out: no one in this photo is actually swimming:



I know it's hard to tell from the photo, but it's a very strange thing to see. My good friend DRB loves to float around on her back in the water--I thought of her the whole time, and how much fun she would have being in such float-friendly water.

I think there may still be some salt in my brain, and it's sort of effecting my blogging abilities, so I'll end this post here.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Trick's a treat

I did finally get to spend some time on Friday night with my second favorite person in Israel: Trick. Trick is VVM's dog, and he is a sweetheart. He's some sort of Canaan Dog mix, and he's quite handsome.



Everything is better when there's a warm fuzzy someone lying on your feet. Sorry, Ozzy and Nanna, but you know what Crosby, Stills & Nash said:



"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Woof.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Pictures from Herz'liyah



L's fancy new apartment building.



The view from L's fancy new balcony. This little square has everything a young, upwardly mobile professional could want: a Pizza Domino and a Hot Dog stand.



The Mediterranean Sea is directly behind L's fancy new apartment building. It seems like it's still warm enough for swimming. I intend to test this theory tomorrow.



Israel has a coffee culture, but it seems to be more of an afternoon-cafe-latte-sipping-let's-relax-with-a-cup-of=coffee coffee culture, as opposed to my preferred coffee culture: it take one cup to open my eyes in the morning, one cup to get to work without driving my car off of the road, and one cup to understand what my coworkers are saying to me. And perhaps another cup in the afternoon so that I don't drive my car off of the road on the way home from work. In accordance with this Israeli plot to deny me my god-given right to predetermined caffeine levels, the cafes don't have to-go cups. You mean I have to sit here and leisurely drink my coffee?? What is this, vacation??? And you can bet I won't find any drive-through coffee, either. Harumph.

Regardless, I'm having a terrific time. Tel Aviv and the surrounding area is gorgeous. It also fun to go to places I remember visiting the last 2 times I was here. Israel is the only foreign place I've been to more than once, so I get a great feeling when I start to recognize a street or restaurant or shopping mall. Even if I can't totally read the sign, I know what it's trying to tell me.

I've got a real hankering to see Trick, L's brother's dog. Hopefully he'll be at dinner tonight, and I can get me some dog belly. Beten shel kelev.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Would you like some honey with that milk?

Greetings from Israel! I arrived safely, and quite happily I might add, given the combined 15 hours of flight time. I'm not entirely un-jetlagged, even though I managed to stay awake until a decent hour last night and slept through the night like a baby. SO I'll keep this sort, announce my safe and happy arrival, and promise to post pictures later. Promise!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Leaving on a jet plane

My trip to Israel is right around the corner, folks! I'm at that point where I'm having a difficult time focusing on anything else--other than Degrassi. Last night we held the first bi-weekly Degrassi-n-Indian food extravaganza. At one point, there were four girls in my kitchen singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at the top of our lungs. And that was before the korma was delivered. Most of the time, AKG and I argued over who was prettier--Ashley or Paige (you know Paige is way prettier than that so-and-so Ash.). Ah, good times.

I found this on MEH's blog. Laughter was forthright.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

And boy are my arms tired!

Talk about an absence of blog! In my defense, I was at a conference in Las Vegas where they have lots of ways to take my money, but few ways to connect to the internet. The whole trip was great--as always, it's fantastic to meet face-to-face with people I usually only speak with via email and phone. Plus, the pilot on the flight out took a few minutes before take off for photo ops! What a great guy.



After booth setup, Rhonda and I took a nice side trip to the Hoover Dam. Of course, dam jokes ensued. ("Where's the dam parking?" "Where's the dam gift shop?" "I'm dam hungry." "What a great dam day!" and so forth.)



I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but somehow, I thought it would be bigger.

I'm back in the office for a few days, then I'm off to the Holy Land for a few weeks. Of course there will be blogging, albeit potentially infrequent. And I'm sure it will be 80% about how much I miss the dogs. The dam dogs.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Thursday, October 06, 2005

When the dog's away...

...the cat will sleep in the dog bed.





It's just common knowledge.

The dogs are away because last night I went to see Amy Sedaris speak at a benefit for 826 Valencia. What a funny lady! Hilarious! The always lovely and talented, Emmy-award winning Manny Santos joined my for an evening of culture and cheeseburgers. Check out my creepy happy meal toy:



Strangely, I left craving cheese balls.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Yes, but can they harmonize?

Dolphins aren't just for dinner anymore. Apparently, they are also receptacles for scientific discovery. Researches have gotten off of their lazy behinds, stopped trying to cure cancer and AIDS or end hunger and poverty, and have put their talents to work for good instead of evil. They have taught dolphins to sing the theme to "Batman.".

Finally, we can think of dolphins as intelligent creatures, capable of learning and thinking. For far too long, dolphins have been the victims of maritime prejudice: always being picked last for kickball, being passed over for promotions while that snarky orca from accounting was invited to the boss's place for cocktails and euchre... Thank you, scientific community, for taking the time and resources to show us the error of our ways, for proving once and for all that dolphins love Adam West just as much as any other sea creature.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Hardly Strictly Monday

Shana tova, all you Rosh Hashanah lovers out there! May your year be filled with health and happiness, and your evening be filled with honey cake!

I know at least one of you (Manny--and we'll have to change this alias because Manny's new haircut is awful) is expecting to see a picture of Dolly Parton here today from the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival that was held in Golden Gate Park over the weekend. Well I didn't make it on Sunday so I missed Dolly, as well as Laura Cantrell. Boo! But I did go on Saturday so I got to see The Knitters and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. And it was amazing--just the fog and the trees and the music...amazing. Check it out:



My friends were out in force! They came from Burlingame, Brooklyn, Boulder, Redwood City...old friends, new friends, related friends. The good kind.

And did anyone notice the Sharks scores on my side bar?? That's 7-0-0-0 for the preseason, folks! Now let's all pray that this streak continues on Wednesday when the actual season starts.