I guess I always saw "lectures" listed next to movies, dance, theater, and so on, but somehow I never connected them to entertainment.
I must be an adult.
Seeing how Rachel prepares for her "performances", having prepared my own, having gone to a lecture about Darwin's influence on American culture last night, and recalling all the TED presentations I've now seen, I am now connected to the fact that lectures are entertainment. One man/woman plays.
Even more: lectures are verbal blogging. A post in a series of posts and responses in the continuous global forum.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Oxford Pictures
First pictures of Oxford. I haven't gotten out much, yet.
Just outside of Oxford is a small lake. We stopped at the lake to tovel some dishes and silverware.
Rachel
Rachel tovelling
Off the side of the street on which Rachel is living, Silvoor Lane, Oxford
View down Silvoor Lane, towards Chestnut Street
Reverse view down Silvoor Lane
At the beginning of Silvoor Lane, there are steps down to the Silvoor Biological Sanctuary; I haven't explored it, yet
Fall colors on the Miami University campus
A Halloween banner on Dodds Hall
Leaves on grass
Xylophone players; in the background, hundreds of students practiced some kind of half-time show for a sporting event
A percussionist
The Ohio license plate reads "Birthplace of Aviation"
A Game of Thrones players at the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club
Pathfinder players at the MUSGC
Magic players at the MUSGC
Just outside of Oxford is a small lake. We stopped at the lake to tovel some dishes and silverware.
Rachel
Rachel tovelling
Off the side of the street on which Rachel is living, Silvoor Lane, Oxford
View down Silvoor Lane, towards Chestnut Street
Reverse view down Silvoor Lane
At the beginning of Silvoor Lane, there are steps down to the Silvoor Biological Sanctuary; I haven't explored it, yet
Fall colors on the Miami University campus
A Halloween banner on Dodds Hall
Leaves on grass
Xylophone players; in the background, hundreds of students practiced some kind of half-time show for a sporting event
A percussionist
The Ohio license plate reads "Birthplace of Aviation"
A Game of Thrones players at the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club
Pathfinder players at the MUSGC
Magic players at the MUSGC
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Miami Magic and the Missing Mana
Student life is vibrant at Miami University. Buildings and houses are still adorned with Halloween decorations. Banners call passersby to dances and performances. Students outside are engaged in discussion, music, and performance.
I met up with the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club, which meets Sunday and Tuesday evenings. The group started with wargaming and RPGs back in the mid-seventies, and was revived again by, among others, Dave Chalker in the late nineties/early aughts. Unfortunately, I didn't keep notes and so don't recall anyone's name (they were all nice people, however).
Five or six people played Pathfinder. The GM used his computer and an overhead projector to display the battlefield, and he positioned the virtual PCs in their locations, including such enhancements as line-of-sight, and so on. They all seemed to be having fun.
Three people played board games, from a stack which included the long and complex - Game of Thrones, Twilight Imperium III - and the very chaotic - Fluxx, Munchkin, Junta, etc, with nothing in between. There were no middle of the road strategy games like Settlers or Puerto Rico. I opted out of playing any of these. Later in the evening I convinced them to try It's Alive, I have no idea how it went over, except that they didn't play it a second time.
Around twelve people, including myself, played Magic: the Gathering. Eight of us played a tournament. We "booster" drafted from a collection of excellent cards from the past five years or so. Many rares and powerful cards in the lot, as well as some key commons such as Incinerate and Terror.
The remaining players played a Magic variant where you can play with any cards you want, but with only one of each card in the deck and a minimum deck size of 100 cards. Kind of bizarre.
All the players are regular players, with up to date knowledge of all the cards and how to integrate current strategy and tactics. My last analysis of Magic was around 4th edition, though I've played with the commons and uncommons of many of the sets since. None from the last year or so, however. I expected a) to take a much longer time drafting and playing than any of the other players, and b) to lose badly. But it looked like a challenge.
It's tough drafting when you have no idea of the relative worth of the cards you're seeing. And when of the fifteen cards from which you have to pick, four or five of them are simply awesome. I drafted nearly entirely black/red, with nothing but direct damage, creature kill, mana diversity and boosters, and fliers. I played a little light on land, only 15, plus some mana boosters, but it was also only a two color deck, and it was hard already leaving out cards that killed multiple creatures. Back in my hometown, the deck was unbelievably strong. How would it hold up here?
Against my first opponent, the answer was "fantastic". In our two games, I took maybe four points of damage in game two. His problem was, his deck was a control deck that used my creatures against me, but I had very little in the way of creatures. So he sat empty while I killed what he played and burned him down. I was surprised at my easy victory, and got a little cocky. Needless to say I lost the next two matches.
Both of them were very close. I went 2 games to 1 against both opponents, and in one of each of the games that I lost against each opponent I had him down to 1 point.
In my second match, my opponent played white, blue, and green. I lost the first game because he got out a nifty combination of cards: one imprinted a creature from his hand, so that, every round, he could pay its mana cost and bring out a copy of that creature; and the creature he imprinted was a Clone.
This also depended on me playing creatures he could use, but not entirely; he could target his own creatures as well. I got stuck. I also misplayed, having a hard time wrapping my head around the combination, and ended up giving him my cards to copy at the wrong times. He managed to clone one of his own creatures that let him draw two cards whenever such a creature came into play. He was drawing so many cards, he had to toss.
I won the next game, but lost the third from not having enough mana in my deck. I considered adding more mana to my deck, but I was reluctant to toss anything.
In the third match, I won the first game; he played a black and white deck, with multicolor splash. He knocked me down to 10, but I killed everything he had and then burned him. In the second game, I was a little light in mana, and he got out better cards, too many for me to control. In the third, I simply didn't draw lands until it was far too late. So I should have thrown in another land or two, after all. Die and learn.
Still, four games won and four lost, is not bad.
I met up with the Miami University Strategy Gaming Club, which meets Sunday and Tuesday evenings. The group started with wargaming and RPGs back in the mid-seventies, and was revived again by, among others, Dave Chalker in the late nineties/early aughts. Unfortunately, I didn't keep notes and so don't recall anyone's name (they were all nice people, however).
Five or six people played Pathfinder. The GM used his computer and an overhead projector to display the battlefield, and he positioned the virtual PCs in their locations, including such enhancements as line-of-sight, and so on. They all seemed to be having fun.
Three people played board games, from a stack which included the long and complex - Game of Thrones, Twilight Imperium III - and the very chaotic - Fluxx, Munchkin, Junta, etc, with nothing in between. There were no middle of the road strategy games like Settlers or Puerto Rico. I opted out of playing any of these. Later in the evening I convinced them to try It's Alive, I have no idea how it went over, except that they didn't play it a second time.
Around twelve people, including myself, played Magic: the Gathering. Eight of us played a tournament. We "booster" drafted from a collection of excellent cards from the past five years or so. Many rares and powerful cards in the lot, as well as some key commons such as Incinerate and Terror.
The remaining players played a Magic variant where you can play with any cards you want, but with only one of each card in the deck and a minimum deck size of 100 cards. Kind of bizarre.
All the players are regular players, with up to date knowledge of all the cards and how to integrate current strategy and tactics. My last analysis of Magic was around 4th edition, though I've played with the commons and uncommons of many of the sets since. None from the last year or so, however. I expected a) to take a much longer time drafting and playing than any of the other players, and b) to lose badly. But it looked like a challenge.
It's tough drafting when you have no idea of the relative worth of the cards you're seeing. And when of the fifteen cards from which you have to pick, four or five of them are simply awesome. I drafted nearly entirely black/red, with nothing but direct damage, creature kill, mana diversity and boosters, and fliers. I played a little light on land, only 15, plus some mana boosters, but it was also only a two color deck, and it was hard already leaving out cards that killed multiple creatures. Back in my hometown, the deck was unbelievably strong. How would it hold up here?
Against my first opponent, the answer was "fantastic". In our two games, I took maybe four points of damage in game two. His problem was, his deck was a control deck that used my creatures against me, but I had very little in the way of creatures. So he sat empty while I killed what he played and burned him down. I was surprised at my easy victory, and got a little cocky. Needless to say I lost the next two matches.
Both of them were very close. I went 2 games to 1 against both opponents, and in one of each of the games that I lost against each opponent I had him down to 1 point.
In my second match, my opponent played white, blue, and green. I lost the first game because he got out a nifty combination of cards: one imprinted a creature from his hand, so that, every round, he could pay its mana cost and bring out a copy of that creature; and the creature he imprinted was a Clone.
This also depended on me playing creatures he could use, but not entirely; he could target his own creatures as well. I got stuck. I also misplayed, having a hard time wrapping my head around the combination, and ended up giving him my cards to copy at the wrong times. He managed to clone one of his own creatures that let him draw two cards whenever such a creature came into play. He was drawing so many cards, he had to toss.
I won the next game, but lost the third from not having enough mana in my deck. I considered adding more mana to my deck, but I was reluctant to toss anything.
In the third match, I won the first game; he played a black and white deck, with multicolor splash. He knocked me down to 10, but I killed everything he had and then burned him. In the second game, I was a little light in mana, and he got out better cards, too many for me to control. In the third, I simply didn't draw lands until it was far too late. So I should have thrown in another land or two, after all. Die and learn.
Still, four games won and four lost, is not bad.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Where the golden grain dwarf the lovely flowers
Cincinnati international airport is not, in fact, in Cincinnati. It's not even in Ohio. It's located in Boone County, Kentucky It's not owned or operated by Boone County, Kentucky. Kenton County, Kentucky, which owns and operates the airport, makes a boatload of money off of this strange arrangement.
It's a pretty country, and it reminds me in many ways of the outskirts of Ithaca, NY. Still, there is something depressing about rural America, and its homogenized stream of endless car dealerships, fast food restaurants, strip malls with cheap plastic and metal objects, supermarkets with 60 different types of processed everything, small farmyards, and churches.
This is just the outside. Inside, most everyone is polite and kind. Even the no-nonsense monotonous troopers at the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) were polite. Thick-headed, but polite.
Rachel tried to get her photo taken for an American driver's license, but their policy is that everyone has to have uncovered hair for the photo. As a religious Jewish woman, naturally she objected to this. To which we were told that there is an exception for Muslim women, but not for Jewish women.
Way to turn respecting a religious difference into a case of religious discrimination, guys.
Any idiot could see that the same principle should apply here and get on with the photo, but the clerk had only heard of Jewish people putting head coverings on in synagogue, and so wasn't convinced that this was an actual religious problem. She still wasn't convinced after being shown both an Israeli driver's license and a Canadian passport, all with pictures of Rachel with her hair covered.
Four phone calls later to various supervisors, and she was given the go-ahead to let Rachel take the picture with her hat on.
Rachel's car insurance was willing to cover my driving the car under my Israeli driver's license (which I can do so legally for 1 year), but only if I got an Ohio driver's license as soon as possible. No problem. I scheduled the first available driving test at the BMV, which will be on December 2. I'm leaving Ohio November 18.
I'm hoping to hit the Miami University strategy game club this evening.
It's a pretty country, and it reminds me in many ways of the outskirts of Ithaca, NY. Still, there is something depressing about rural America, and its homogenized stream of endless car dealerships, fast food restaurants, strip malls with cheap plastic and metal objects, supermarkets with 60 different types of processed everything, small farmyards, and churches.
This is just the outside. Inside, most everyone is polite and kind. Even the no-nonsense monotonous troopers at the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) were polite. Thick-headed, but polite.
Rachel tried to get her photo taken for an American driver's license, but their policy is that everyone has to have uncovered hair for the photo. As a religious Jewish woman, naturally she objected to this. To which we were told that there is an exception for Muslim women, but not for Jewish women.
Way to turn respecting a religious difference into a case of religious discrimination, guys.
Any idiot could see that the same principle should apply here and get on with the photo, but the clerk had only heard of Jewish people putting head coverings on in synagogue, and so wasn't convinced that this was an actual religious problem. She still wasn't convinced after being shown both an Israeli driver's license and a Canadian passport, all with pictures of Rachel with her hair covered.
Four phone calls later to various supervisors, and she was given the go-ahead to let Rachel take the picture with her hat on.
Rachel's car insurance was willing to cover my driving the car under my Israeli driver's license (which I can do so legally for 1 year), but only if I got an Ohio driver's license as soon as possible. No problem. I scheduled the first available driving test at the BMV, which will be on December 2. I'm leaving Ohio November 18.
I'm hoping to hit the Miami University strategy game club this evening.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Ups and Downs
At Ben Gurion:
"Do you know why you were pulled over for additional checking?"
"The four bottles of wine in my suitcase?"
"Perhaps. How long have you owned this suitcase?"
"I don't know."
"A week? A year?"
"At least a year?"
"Have you loaned it out to anyone recently?"
"My wife. My stepson."
"Anyone outside the family?"
"No."
"Where did you get the wine?"
"My wine rack?"
"Did someone give you the wine to take with you on the plane?"
"I bought them at Supersol."
"Did anyone hand you something to put into your suitcase?"
"No."
"Any strangers ask you to take something, or deliver something for them?"
"No."
"Did you leave the suitcases alone and then see someone dark and mysterious lingering around them?"
"No?"
"Anyone run up to your suitcases, shove something in, cackle maniacally, and run away?"
"Uh ..."
"Anyone throw something into your suitcase while you were packing it and then dive for cover under the nearest garbage can, screaming "Allah Akhbar!"?
"..."
"Anyone with a pencil thin mustache slip something in while he thought you weren't looking, look evilly out the window, and, speaking in a low, resonant voice, say, "Revenge shall be mine! Nyeah nyeah!"?
"..."
"Did my cousin Itai give you something for me? He owes me two hundred shekels, the big oaf."
----
Security quick, but I was briefly pulled over due to my bringing four wine bottles.
At the airport used the free wifi to chat with Rachel and blog. Went through PP control and then filled my water bottle.
No lines. Boarded 55 minutes early (actually, I waited until 40 minutes early, and still no lines).
Everyone's personal screen worked except mine. Mine just kept crashing and rebooting. I can tell you that the computer for my screen was running a Red Hat Linux system build 540060-212, v1.02 compiled November 19, 2004. Platform SDU I386. A five year old OS; no wonder. During compilation, loader.c kept throwing multiple errors.
Guess they wanted to save money on the screen systems. They must have wanted to save money on heating, too, because it was freezing, and meals because dinner was a sandwich and breakfast was kind of sparse, too. Everything else went smooth enough.
At Newark:
I arrived at 6 am, with a flight leaving at 7:55. Despite all the roughness that now crept into my journey, I managed to get through everything, eventually.
Luggage carts are $5. It took a while for my luggage to come out, and then I dragged it around the corner to check it back in again. They told me to go up to the fourth floor and check it in directly through Delta, which took some time. Fine.
Delta decided that I needed a new printed ticket, and not the electronic one I already had. So they printed a new one, which took some time, and I went through to security (remembering to empty my water bottle first!). Either due to Israel, or receiving a last minute ticket, I was "randomly" screened to receive the extra security check.
Aside from taking off everything, they swab various parts of your luggage to test for traces of explosives, then wand you up and down, physically poking every part. Then they do it by hand, which includes turning the waist of you pants out.
This my second random screening; the first was in Dallas four years ago. Now, as then, the screener asked me if this is what it was like in Israel, as they heard Israel had tough security screenings. I said no; they ask more personal questions and then screen those who they feel are suspicious. They don't just pop up numbers and take random people. The guy said "oh". As I left, an elderly guy with a cane of some 80 or 90 years was being pulled over for the "random" security test.
That took some time. I still managed to make it to my gate 10 minutes before boarding. Checked wifi, but it cost $8 to connect. As I was boarding, they didn't like the cardboard boarding ticket I had, and gave me a new paper receipt. That took some time. Eventually we took off in the tiny plane.
In Cincinnati:
Need to wait two hours for Rachel to pick me up. Battery power running low and I forgot the American electrical adapter for my laptop. Wifi is free.
"Do you know why you were pulled over for additional checking?"
"The four bottles of wine in my suitcase?"
"Perhaps. How long have you owned this suitcase?"
"I don't know."
"A week? A year?"
"At least a year?"
"Have you loaned it out to anyone recently?"
"My wife. My stepson."
"Anyone outside the family?"
"No."
"Where did you get the wine?"
"My wine rack?"
"Did someone give you the wine to take with you on the plane?"
"I bought them at Supersol."
"Did anyone hand you something to put into your suitcase?"
"No."
"Any strangers ask you to take something, or deliver something for them?"
"No."
"Did you leave the suitcases alone and then see someone dark and mysterious lingering around them?"
"No?"
"Anyone run up to your suitcases, shove something in, cackle maniacally, and run away?"
"Uh ..."
"Anyone throw something into your suitcase while you were packing it and then dive for cover under the nearest garbage can, screaming "Allah Akhbar!"?
"..."
"Anyone with a pencil thin mustache slip something in while he thought you weren't looking, look evilly out the window, and, speaking in a low, resonant voice, say, "Revenge shall be mine! Nyeah nyeah!"?
"..."
"Did my cousin Itai give you something for me? He owes me two hundred shekels, the big oaf."
----
Security quick, but I was briefly pulled over due to my bringing four wine bottles.
At the airport used the free wifi to chat with Rachel and blog. Went through PP control and then filled my water bottle.
No lines. Boarded 55 minutes early (actually, I waited until 40 minutes early, and still no lines).
Everyone's personal screen worked except mine. Mine just kept crashing and rebooting. I can tell you that the computer for my screen was running a Red Hat Linux system build 540060-212, v1.02 compiled November 19, 2004. Platform SDU I386. A five year old OS; no wonder. During compilation, loader.c kept throwing multiple errors.
Guess they wanted to save money on the screen systems. They must have wanted to save money on heating, too, because it was freezing, and meals because dinner was a sandwich and breakfast was kind of sparse, too. Everything else went smooth enough.
At Newark:
I arrived at 6 am, with a flight leaving at 7:55. Despite all the roughness that now crept into my journey, I managed to get through everything, eventually.
Luggage carts are $5. It took a while for my luggage to come out, and then I dragged it around the corner to check it back in again. They told me to go up to the fourth floor and check it in directly through Delta, which took some time. Fine.
Delta decided that I needed a new printed ticket, and not the electronic one I already had. So they printed a new one, which took some time, and I went through to security (remembering to empty my water bottle first!). Either due to Israel, or receiving a last minute ticket, I was "randomly" screened to receive the extra security check.
Aside from taking off everything, they swab various parts of your luggage to test for traces of explosives, then wand you up and down, physically poking every part. Then they do it by hand, which includes turning the waist of you pants out.
This my second random screening; the first was in Dallas four years ago. Now, as then, the screener asked me if this is what it was like in Israel, as they heard Israel had tough security screenings. I said no; they ask more personal questions and then screen those who they feel are suspicious. They don't just pop up numbers and take random people. The guy said "oh". As I left, an elderly guy with a cane of some 80 or 90 years was being pulled over for the "random" security test.
That took some time. I still managed to make it to my gate 10 minutes before boarding. Checked wifi, but it cost $8 to connect. As I was boarding, they didn't like the cardboard boarding ticket I had, and gave me a new paper receipt. That took some time. Eventually we took off in the tiny plane.
In Cincinnati:
Need to wait two hours for Rachel to pick me up. Battery power running low and I forgot the American electrical adapter for my laptop. Wifi is free.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
The Countdown Roundup
I've been counting down the days to see Rachel on Facebook. For those that don't have me in their Facebook feed, here is how the last 84 days went:
- 84 days to go
- 83 days to go
- 82 days to go
- 81 days
- 80 days
- 79 days
- 77 days
- 76 days
- 73 days ... if you're keeping track, this only proves that I don't know how to count. (P.S. I will see Rachel on Nov 2) [I skipped two days inadvertently]
- 72 days
- 71 days
- 70 days, or exactly 10 weeks
- 69 days
- 68 days, which is also the name of a pretty good band
- 67 days, which is also the number of days that some random couple Kyle and Stacey will be goofing off in Orlando, FL, courtesy of the Orlando Visitor's Bureau, starting today.
- 66 days, which is also the number of days that some freak took to swim the Amazon river.
- 65 days, also the name of another pretty rocking band "65 Days of Static"
- 64 days, also the amount of time it took two guys on bikes and a documentary crew to cross the US. The documentary film For Thousands of Miles is in post-production and will probably be released under CC. The "making of" is vlog'd and called 64 days.
- 63 days, which is apparently enough time to run 63 marathons to raise awareness for ataxia-telangiectasia.
- 62 days, or the average gestation period for a cat (according to some sources, for some cats)
- 61 days, also the number of days it took to shoot the movie E.T.
- 60 days, or the longest period of time that would not necessarily include a complete month.
- 59 days, or the entire lifespan of the shortest-lived vertebrate, the Eviota sigillata aka seven-figure pygmy goby.
- 58 days, or how long it took 11 year old Zachary Bonner walk from Atlanta, GA to Washington, DC to raise awareness and money for homeless children. Zach is in sixth grade. He's been doing social work since hurricane Katrina, organizing over 2,000 schoolbags for children, running 24 homeless awareness events, and now plans to walk coast to coast. Little Red Wagon Foundation is his NPO.
- 57 days, apparently enough time to circumnavigate the world solo, in a sailboat
- 56 days, or 8 weeks, enough time to make this. After 8 weeks, an embryo becomes a fetus.
- 55 days, also the name of a movie (55 days at Peking) about the Boxer Rebellion, where 130,000 Chinese attacked foreign embassies to oust them from China.
- 54 days, which is the average length of time that a Brit spends snogging in his or her lifetime.
- 53 days, also the name of a rock band - not bad, a little like a number of other nineties bands, but not quite as good as any of them, I'm afraid
- 52 days, or how long Gedaliah ruled before he was assassinated.
- 51 days, or the number of days that the sun doesn't rise in Northern Finland.
- 50 days, a Shavuot. Or a Pentecost or a Whit Monday. Or a Sigd (50 days after Yom Kippur, celebrated by Ethiopian Jews). Or a Feast of the First Fruits of Wine (mentioned as 50 days after the Feast of Weeks in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but not observed by anyone today).
- 49 days, 7 weeks, apparently enough time to learn to speak Portuguese
- 48 days, which is how long Siddhārtha Gautama sat in meditation under a Bohdi tree before reaching enlightenment (on the 49th day), whereupon he became The Buddha (some say 49 days).
- 47 days, which is how long the Matisse painting "Le Bateau" was hung upside down at the MOMA, until a passing stockbroker pointed it out; 115,000 other visitors and the museum staff hadn't noticed.
- 46 days, Phish. 'nuff said.
- 45 days, a documentary film about Demon Hunter, a Christian rock group.
- 44 days, a film about skiing.
- 43 more days of annoying Nadine Wildmann with this countdown.
- 42 days since she left, 42 days until we're together
- 41 days, apparently enough time to run 5000 km (3100 miles)
- 40 days ... hmmm, if only there were something biblical that happened in 40 days ... nope, can't think of anything. 40 Days is an album by the kick-ass Canadian singer-songwriter trio, The Wailin' Jennys.
- 39 days, enough time to reach Mars using a 200 MegaWatt VASIMR ion rocket engine
- 38 days, too long to be lost at sea
- 37 days, also a blog about living by a woman whose step-father lived for 37 days after being diagnosed with lung cancer
- 36 days, enough time to fight the Battle of Iwo Jima
- 35 days, 5 weeks. Five Weeks in a Balloon was the name of Jules Verne's first novel, and the beginning of his Extraordinary Voyage series.
- 34 days, or slightly less than 3,000,000 seconds (2,937,600)
- 33 days; if you tell one person today, and then you each tell one more person tomorrow, and so on and so on, then in 33 days the whole world will know
- 32 days, sing it Carmen Fraser
- 31 days, or how long it took Ford to pardon Nixon
- 30 days. Enter to win fa-bu-lous fashion prizes in 30 days of fashion.
- 29 days, JW Jones: We'll be kissing in 29 days, you know it's true.
- 28 days, a Hollywood movie about alcohol addiction that I have a mild desire to watch someday
- 27 days, an EP from a decent band called Erase the Grey, which the record label didn't market enough
- 26 days, also endured by Brad Ward, who, in 2008, survived an incredible 26 days without his IPhone (you can donate to other IPhone-less sufferers via his site)
- 25 days, also a song from a strange but wonderful twee pop group Hello Saferide
- 24 days, enough time to lose $19 billion (from the time Skilling resigned to the total collapse of Enron)
- 23 days, also a song by country music group SheDAISY, a trio of sisters from Utah
- 22 days, also a song from the 22-20s, often described as a cross between Jimi Hendrix and The White Stripes
- 21 days, or 3 weeks. Three Weeks is a magazine about the Edinburgh Festival and associated festivals. I want to go, someday.
- 20 days, also an organization that helps UK citizens make the most of their annual "only" 20 days vacation (in Israel, the minimum is 10 days)
- 19 days, still too long. Also too long to spend with a peanut butter jar stuck over your head.
- 18 days, also an upcoming cinematic and video game franchise about the Mahabharata from Grant Morrison (Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit text, part of the Hindu lore, that emphasizes the number 18; Morrison is a prolific comic artist and writer)
- 17 days, also enough time for Scientology to kill a woman by denying her psychiatric care.
- 16 days, also a song by Whiskeytown (fronted by Ryan Adams)
- 15 days, also a song by Kyle Alden. Kyle sounds a lot like so many other wonderful folk music singer-songwriters traveling around the country, under the pop music industry's radar.
- 14 days, a fortnight. An essential element of the FFF system of measurement.
- 13 days, long enough to throw the world to the brink of nuclear war (the length of the Cuban Missile Crisis).
- 12 days ... this is a hard one. I'll give you three of them ... one, two, three
- 11 days, if only they would pass as quickly as did Sept 3 to 13, 1752
- 10 days, also a series of fun games from Out of the Box Publishing (makers of Apples to Apples)
- 9 days! [Absolutely ... Story of a Girl]
- 8 days! From a cartoon the Beatles didn't like, featuring a song the Beatles didn't like.
- 7 days! [One Week, BNL]
- 6 days! [Jerusalem of Gold, The Six Day War]
- 5 days! [Patrick Nuo - Five Days]
- 4 days! [Humble Pie - Four Day Creep]
- 3 days; holy crap only 3 days. This is from the most famous 3 days of peace and music.
- 2 days! A movie I hope to see with Rachel [2 Days in Paris]
- 1 day ... enough time for over 23,000 children to die from preventable problems: water-borne disease, hunger, malaria, diarrhea, premature birth, respiratory infection. Over 8,000 children, over 24,000 people total, die every day due to malnourishment.
Final Prep
Last night I tried to check-in online only to discover that El Al didn't recognize my ticket number. It took until 10 am today before I cleared that up: between the time that I bought the ticket and today, the flight number had changed and the time had moved from 10 am Monday to 12:05 am Monday, and they were supposed to issue me a new ticket. Somewhere between El Al and my travel agent, the new ticket didn't get to me.
Luckily, I still had my flight reservation, and all I needed was the new number. No window seats available, though :-(.
Today I signed a 12 day rental lease with people who will be coming and leaving the apartment while I'm away (hopefully, the Pardes student also staying in my flat while I'm away will be able to help deal with them). Deposited their check, wrote a check for American dollars. Called Maccabi to get health insurance, since it didn't seem likely that Rachel would be able to get me covered under her insurance. Gave up on using my cell phone.
Packed, including all the games I may need to trade in the BGG.con math trade. If I don't trade them, maybe I can sell them; only it will probably cost me more in luggage allowance than I will make in the sale. Also submitted my requests for the math trade.
I was supposed to be lending my car to someone whose wife is in the hospital and really needed it to visit her, but I haven't heard from him, yet.
It's now 2 pm and, aside from a shower and preparing emergency food, I think I'm actually ready. The airport service told me to be ready by 7:45 pm. Maybe I'll even get some work done today.
Yehuda
Luckily, I still had my flight reservation, and all I needed was the new number. No window seats available, though :-(.
Today I signed a 12 day rental lease with people who will be coming and leaving the apartment while I'm away (hopefully, the Pardes student also staying in my flat while I'm away will be able to help deal with them). Deposited their check, wrote a check for American dollars. Called Maccabi to get health insurance, since it didn't seem likely that Rachel would be able to get me covered under her insurance. Gave up on using my cell phone.
Packed, including all the games I may need to trade in the BGG.con math trade. If I don't trade them, maybe I can sell them; only it will probably cost me more in luggage allowance than I will make in the sale. Also submitted my requests for the math trade.
I was supposed to be lending my car to someone whose wife is in the hospital and really needed it to visit her, but I haven't heard from him, yet.
It's now 2 pm and, aside from a shower and preparing emergency food, I think I'm actually ready. The airport service told me to be ready by 7:45 pm. Maybe I'll even get some work done today.
Yehuda
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