its not june anymore

Digging through my draft box- I found an unsent blog from June (goes to show how often I recycle)

It would be a shame to throw it away unread…

 

 

 

Nothing like the present to discuss the past.

Sometime ago in June I had my East West games as part of my ongoing fundraising for crohns. My race was pushed to December, and I was hoping that this event would get me very close to the mark.

Planning took most of my spare time for a long while , lucky the open university was on strike at the same time.

I needed an “impartial” area to host the games, cleveland has a very nice park, on the ocean (this lake should be an ocean), part sand, part grass. The park had a pavilion to rent, and for a while I was thinking of renting it, but after a tour of the grounds, it was clear that it was not a good idea. Why? you ask, well, bugs. Not like my usual rental car, but annoying flying little things that stick to you. So I passed on the pavilion option and went with the usual picnic tables. The risk of rain was the only thing I was fearing.

 

Getting people there was risk number 2. I posted in several meet up groups. The adventure group, the 20s-30s, singles, new in town. I asked few bars to bring teams, nudged the people at work, and emailed everyone I knew in the area.

 

Since there were games involved, I had to bring some. I went rummaging and got a single golf club, bocce ball, trivia, croquette, few odd size balls for dodge ball. But more was needed.

I drove an hour to meet up amy’s house , I was there once when she hosted a party with the guitar hero and noticed the foosball table. She agreed to lend it to me. This table has several games in it, including ice hockey, ping pong, pool and shuffle board.

The mega prize came from Nancy, she is a former school teacher , who was just fired. But she still has friend in a local school. We drove there and I was granted the right to raid a school gym.

I hit the mother load. Every box and drawer contained treasure. Weird balls from all shapes and sizes, cones, rings, hoops, foam sticks, soccer balls. I took 2 huge bags full of stuff and with that the equipment part was almost done.

Therese is a Chinese, which was adopted by Latin Americans, hence the Latin name. she came to one of the orienteering meetups that I arranged  and loved it.  The week before I was orienteering with her for 4 hours and after wards we asked the orienteering club for markers, I went to Google earth and printed a map of the park. We went to the park for another tour and decided where to place the markers. I set the markers on the map and printed copies. I never organized a real orienteering event (the previous ones, I arranged a meet up to come to a real orienteering event), this was the first.

 

I offered josh to arrange the silly questions game and I think he had find browsing the net searching for unique questions. I also looked up questions for a trivia game and arranged missions for a scavenger hunt.

 

Next came the food. The problem was not knowing exactly how many people to feed. The meet up site lets people say maybe, and I had 25 of these maybes, so it’s hard to plan. I emailed my 25 maybes asking them to change to yes or no. several people changed their RSVP and now I had 30 maybes!

 

Food options started with a big barbeque, moved to pizzas, then to self made sandwiches, each idea had different costs and issues. After comparing prices and visiting various places, the decision was made. Wal-Mart with food trays of various types. I also had to arrange breakfast and after advice from Stacey, chose bagels, lots and lots of bagels, with cream cheese of different flavors.  This food would cause a local diplomatic incident later.

 

Now all was ready, it was time to party.

My sweet party connection won a party for a 100 at the howl at the moon tavern. This place has 2 pianos, and 2 players who play and sing whatever you ask them (for tips, or no tips) and arrange a general good time. Around 20+ people came from the meet up site, and Inna (alla’s sister) brought 6 couples who had events of their own to celebrate. I love to sing, and I did whenever I knew the words. At some points they called our names and got us to come on stage, and sang a song for us. Inna told them it was our engagement party. It wasn’t, but who cares. We actually danced on stage (there are photos, I think I already sent them).

At one point I asked them for a rod Stewart song, I was looking for a specific one, but did not remember which one. They played and sang and we danced. Then the players (who didn’t like the song) asked for tips to move to another song. A guy stood up and gave 2 bucks and they stopped while we were dancing! I was shocked (and I didn’t pay more for them to keep playing, since they would asked money from others to stop again… they did that a couple of times, and people play ball (pay up))

Other people who had events also went on stage and danced , and they had us to the hokey pokey. We had a blast.

We left a bit early to pick up my cousin (twice removed or something) mike who came in by chance for a wedding in the area.

 

In the morning we checked the weather sites which promised nice weather. Mike and I went to in the morning to pick up the Bagels and the sky apparently didn’t check the weather site. It was drizzling when we left and pouring by the time we reached the bagel place. We reached the park and started to unload the stuff.

Brandon came in early to help (when I initially posted the games, Brandon asked me to delay it for a week for his own personal reasons, I did which was a mistake in retrospect. This weekend is graduation week and many families go on vacation and the week before had a beautiful weather…. But never mind, too late now) by start time at 9 we had barely 6 people. Therese went to set up the orienteering points and we started with croquette. Never played croquette before, a simple game, but requires some skill. A new play was soon invented, called the ‘Irma rule’.  The Irma rule occurs when you slightly tweak the rules to fit your needs. In croquette for example, you need to hit the ball once, but if the ball is close to the hole and to the side. It is hard with one shot, so you do little movements instead of just one and make it (it’s not cheating, it is just taking advantage of the Irma rule). This rule was used often during the game especially by Irma. I finished third, mike forth and Brandon won.

These games were east side vs. west side vs. south side of cleveland (cleveland has no north, since the north is the lake) and the east was in the lead.

 

Orienteering was next and they went running in the park looking for the carefully placed markers (which some of them were not in the places the map said they would, well Therese is new at this).

Most people got most of the points but Brandon won again. Inna and her family came in by then with Alla, and with more people the games continued. Ring toss was next.

Everyone tried to hit rows of cones – 3 in the 1^st row, 2 in the 2^nd and one behind with increasing points for each. 3 rounds each and after round 1 Irma was leading but not by herself.

I gave inna’s kids advantage by having them throw from a closer distance.  Little misha somehow knew of the existence of the Irma rule and got in closer, right on the cones, even with standing so close, he struggled (he is 4 years old), but did manage to win. Since he lives on the east side, I let the cheating remain… I am from the east as well.

Obstacle course was next,  the obstacles were, jumping through a hoop, jumping over a rope, running on hoops, then doing the triple jump, finishing with a jump rope. By then we were around 12 and everyone went. People hit the ropes, hit the hoops, skipped instead of jumping in the triple jump and running instead of using the jump rope. I went through the course with caution, since my leg was not well, so I did not run fast, but I was glad to have done it. Inna went twice, not believing so many people passed her, and did better the 2^nd time. I think Igor (Inna’s husband won) but I am not sure, it may have been jay (a south sider).

 

Dodge ball was fun, we played with 3 balls of different sizes , with the kids playing, so it’s hard to throw strong. At one point I threw a fast one at Igor, who dropped down and let the ball get passed him, hitting little misha (his son) on the leg instead. Few tears later and misha was fine again. I love dodge ball.

 

The bagels were good and we stopped to rest while playing silly questions game.  Josh had a series of very good and funny questions that most of us did not answer. I can’t reveal the questions since I want to use them again.

We played volley ball for an hour and a half on the beach, and had some funny trash talking and teasing then came back for the Wal-Mart lunch delivered by Racer.

 We played flag football (I got the flags from the gym, I told you it was a gold mine) and I made my first touchdown pass since I was in the fourth grade. People tackled people (by removing a flag from them) and we all had fun. Later we had some long ball kicking, bocce ball, horse shoe toss and I am sure I missed a few games.

 

The only issue was the pouring rain in the morning which scared away half the people who signed up and all the maybes. After a cloudy morning, the sun came out and I actually got sun burned.

Both events raised 400$ for the cause (397$ to be exact) and lots of fun memories.

 

See you in the 2^nd annual games next year

 

race photos

Hey all

Some more race photos...

on good gifts and bad gifts

It’s the holiday season and people keep asking me what am I bringing for Hanukah. I tell them it’s an American Jewish tradition , not an Israeli one, but my lovely bride (19 month anniversary todayJ )

Has got me a the best gift you can get me.

Season 8^th of the Simpsons… hour of nonstop laughter , even though I have probably seen all the episodes more than once, twice and thrice…

I was asked again in the office what I got racer, but reply nothing yet.. the office tax assistant wanted to know, since I usually get romantic things (according to her) , well I do my best.

I couldn’t figure what to buy, so I decided to make something.

Since I am awful with little errands, hate doing the small stuff like pay bills, or do anything related to speaking with phone system (our options have changed, no matter what you press you will never speak to a person , that kind of system). My mom probably agrees with every word.  little errands are not my thing.

I gave racer a card with 8 slots, each represents a right to make me do something I normally wouldn’t do, or drag my feet doing it, and now I think, what have I done?

I can be forced to wash the car!!! Or worse, what can be worse than cleaning the car?, I don’t even want to know. The deal is that I have to do it with no protest, so I am protesting now in advanceJ.

 

Now it’s time to prepare for the real present, for my Alla’s birthday. I have a few ideas, have to decide which one to go with. Till then I am doing few winter events, the 1^st being a build a snow man competition. Never built one myself, so it will be fun, I hope and not too freezing.

 

Not much news lately, I will get my finger prints taken soon (no, I have not been arrested…yet) just for the green card and exams approaching, that will be fun

Till then will try to learn how to ski

 

Cheers and ho ho ho

 

 

 

what a bunch of dxxcks

If you recall, I was unable to get a bicycle from a certain store, after a few attempts

And now Maya my niece in laws twice removed..or something  goes happily to Dicks (the same sporting goods store) and tries to get new ski boots. And what happens? The ski dude is sick!!! What the fudge is going on, is the ski guy and the bike guy the same guy? Did he not get well in months? How can they get out of the recession if they prevent buyers from buying. I don’t get it. Well this event reminded me of my long lost bike and I went on line to the site of the above store. And let me tell you, the web site I arrived had many things but bikes was not one of them.

 

Few more Oklahoma issues I forgot to mention.

It started on the way there, with a 6:45 flight, it is wise to leave home at let’s say 5:30 the latest (only because cleveland airport is a great one (no lines)) so why did I leave at 5:50… usually I don’t have begs so no worries, only carry on, but this time I had 2 – since I was delivering a server. arriving at the airport at 6:08 left no time to park, get on the bus (you need one for the economy parking) so I went curb site, checked in and rushed to the economy parking and had a couple of minutes to catch my breath, you think I would learn something, well think again.

 

Friday after noon , about to leave the ok state. I check my flight and see 7:45 pm, and I have plenty of time, returning my car and arriving a little after 5:30, I check in and get a buzz from the machine that I have a late check in. dumbfounded I stare at the board…and realize I was looking at the connection flight, and my flight is in 15 minutes… I run to security and wait…small line but takes forever. I forget to take off my shoes and they don’t even notice it (but even terrorist have better things to do than come to Oklahoma). And run to the gate,  somehow made it on time and boarded the plane last but actually found a free window seat (curtsey of an elderly couple- guy takes the isle and wife takes the middle seat). Quick stop in st, Louis and wait for a delayed connection (nothing like a delay on the way home) and again I board late (check late board late) and once more a guy on the isle and his wife (another couple) in the middle giving me a window seat… the simple things in life… I don’t have another trip scheduled (good) but I will probably come late again… (p.s my suit case did not arrive!)

 

I was asking what is the Christmas spirit and was told its good will towards man and being irritated from the shopping lines. Not sure about the 1^st or the 2^nd reason, the store was kind of empty and the bicycle were cheap but I didn’t have room in the car so no bike yet.

 

We went to the Christmas story house. I am (or used to be) a great movie fanatic, but this movie I didn’t know.  Apparently it was a big 80s hit and was shot in cleveland. Americans being able to make anything in to a museum, did not fails here. 1 regular house is a souvenir shop, another house is the actual house from the movie with everything inside preserved as it, and another house is a museum on the movie.

Many people (not I) knew about this house and the lines were long (even though it was cold) people took photos and were generally very excited. In the museum they had one of the minor actresses from the movie sign autographs and asks people if they recognize her (I didn’t , didn’t see the movie remember!). now I have to find the movie to see what the fuss is all about.

 

Did you hear about the Morgans, if so, don’t bother seeing it, it’s cute but no more.

 

Ski season is upon on and hopefully this weekend I will crash again on the snow, my goal is to defeat the bunny hill (the beginners\kids level) snow reports will come soon

 

Cheers and happy Chanukah, Christmas, quanza or whatever you celebrate

 

 

 

 

 

 

how to watch your ass in oklahoma

My previous tours of the ok state were far from ok- bad hotels, everything closed etc, this was different

 

Trip started with a broken reading light on the plane, so I couldn’t read and had to fall asleep (yes, I know tough), sure I could have moved since the plane was half full, but I was asleep by the time I realized that.

Oklahoma greeted me with a clear blue skies, not a cloud in sight but so cold…18f (-5c) brrrr…. Lucky the wind is almost none existent here, forgot the GPS so had to use these square pieces of paper with markings on them to get where I need to go. A later burger breakfast/early lunch later and I was at where I was.

A bit unusual but I didn’t have a hotel reservation. There is a motel in this town but even the locals told me not to stay there (after my previous OK experience, I took their advise), roaches don’t even go there, so I am staying in a minor city 30 minutes away.

 

Forgot to bring basic stuff (tooth brush, razor etc)- so had to go shopping at Walgreens. My purchase was 14$, I come to the register and the clerk tells me she has coupons for some of the stuff ( I love when they do that), she searches for a while and comes with a few coupons and from 14 the price comes to 7$!! (I just receive an email from Walgreens- I am on their junk mail list- but great timing) + a discount for 4$ on next purchase- one more purchase and they will end up paying me!. So my feeling about Oklahoma greatly improved. Regular 17 hour Work day (field day) ended and I was tired and hungry, lucky my hotel key card had a commercial on it for a pizza, so I ordered one. The delivery boy (a 40 year old hippy with voice like Nick Nolte) comes and says he loaded the pizza extra for me (got a big tip for saying that), though I am unsure with what exactly did he load it. Next day ended with a simple meal in a sports bar, it is refreshing to see open places here, I must have been really in the middle of nowhere in previous visits. also managed to find an open post office to submit home work. Even the common lovely odor of skunks (oh so many skunks) didn’t ruin my mood. I guess it’s because of a local channel I found on the radio with great songs. When ever in the area of ok city, listen to 92.5 on your FM dial.

I got some usual questions if life in Israel is like they see on CNN, a guarantee that god will take care of things at the promise land and more entertaining conversations.

The place I was at treats inmates and security is tight. You cannot bring a phone to the work place and my job requires 25/8 phone and email connection so had to go back and forth, most annoying.

So with inmates in the area came the inspiration for the title of today (don’t think I must explain it). Day 2 ended with a reduction of my movies black list (the I can’t believe I have never seen this movie before list). And today – first blood a.k.a Rambo 1 . I started watching the 2^nd half of the movie then Rambo 2 and followed by the 1^st part of Rambo 1 (lucky they repeated their marathon). Rambo 2 is better then 1, but check one movie off the list.

Hospital cafeteria is not always a bad thing, this statement does not apply here, lucky found a decent Mexican place for dinner.

After dinner I was feeling kind of not Flemish (not Belgium related) and had to clear my throat. Watching a college basketball game did not improve my horrible aim and I missed by much and hit the top of the truck of a red neck. Hitting a pickup truck here in Oklahoma is not wise and I scrammed out of there quickly making sure  I was not seen.

 

So an exciting week… boring yes, but a lot better than previous visits, time to go to sleep, returning home tomorrow J

 

 

 

 

race report

This was written last week-sorry for the delay

 

Landed in Vegas late Friday and met the gang. We were 8 runners from cleveland, and the food at Diego’s was ok, not worth the price though, but hotel’s restaurants are expensive.

I didn’t stay to gamble (never do), just went early to my room and met my roommate Jermaine, a fellow runner from Michigan.

We woke an early and headed for a training run of just under 2 miles. We ran to Mandalay bay and back, which is the location of the race start the following day. I felt ok during this run, which helped my nerves. During the run, I received a donation and seen the notification as I finished and you should have seen the smile on my face, it was perfect timing.

 

After the run in the cold morning air, I went to the running expo, to pick my runners packet and my bag of goodies. It was mostly brochures, but also various energy drinks, energy gels, protein  bar etc. the running coaches told us not to try anything new on race day and before, but I didn’t have breakfast and the morning run got me going so I sampled everything. Most was bad tasting, the drinks were worse, except one bio yogurt which I sampled 3 times. I also enrolled to various things to win prizes. The only thing I will win most likely is more junk mail.

 

After noon was spent in work so not blog material and in the evening we met the whole group of runners, around 900 of them from all over the country to a pasta party. The party had simple food , and only 1 type of pasta, which was odd for a pasta party. This event was a motivation event.

They brought a former Olympian trainer, which was interesting and funny. Prizes were given for biggest fundraiser. The top one raise 39000. I did 3200, so this guy rocked. He did more than twice the 2^nd biggest. The evening host was the CNN morning weather man. Didn’t actually know him, but some might.

It was a fun evening full of screams, shouts and other motivational themes. After wards I went to see robin Williams, who was performing at the MGM, I was getting nervous by then and wasn’t free to enjoy the show to much, but robin Williams is my favorite actor and other that him saying f$$k all the time, the show was good. After wards I arranged all my stuff for tomorrow neatly on the floor and went to bed.

 

Woke up at 4, got dressed and went to the lobby where the mayhem was happening. Hundreds of runners were already there, all dressed in team challenge jerseys, each with their honoree on their shirts. We got some team challenge temporary tattoos and soon we went out still in the dark towards Mandalay Bay. It was cold and I was underdressed. The race was suppose to start at 6:15 , but they start us in waves, and I was in corral 26, and had to wait  40 minutes till my run began, tough 40 minutes with the cold and my nerves.

They had fireworks and skydivers on the starting line. The race begun m and we were waiting, then the sun rose and soon our race began as well.

This was the rock and roll race so along the path they had lots of unknown bands, and the singing helps distract. After about 2 miles I tossed my over shirt aside, whatever you throw in this races gets collected for good will. There were tons of hats, gloves and sweatshirts along the way. At this time I was already calculating how much more to go and soon squashed these though away, I tried hard not to think on the run. Mile 3 came close and I tried to take photos of every cool hotel we went by. It’s really nice running n the strip with bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, passer by shouting supportive cries and family members of runner supporting as well. with27 thousand runners, it was crowded, but not too much. 5k sign cam right after, and I missed mile4, and5 came to fast, I was feeling great and my running coach ran by me and said I was faster than I should be. I felt good and didn’t slow by will.

I passed the 10k mark in a good time for me, great actually ,then ran more with the other running coach (a married couple). I passed and was passed by many Elvises, some santa’s, wonder woman, and lots of newlyweds. They had a wedding on the strip for a dozen or so couple of runners, and after the event they ran, in uniform similar to bride and groom. The Elvis runners were the best since they had music with them. I actually took videos of myself during the run (soon on you tube). We passed the stratosphere(the big needle)  and kept going on the unfamiliar regular areas of Vegas. I began waiting for the point of turning back, my legs began slowly get heavier and heavier, but I was still smiling and in a very optimistic good mood, unlike the mood I was in all week about the race.

Thing began getting hard around mile 9, a cramp in the left calf muscle, which is the uninjured one. Kept running and it eased, but I was mildly limping and legs grew heavier still. I was again next to my coach (he ran with all the cleveland group and did 18 miles by then, without looking a bit tired. Btw, the coach has colitis) another cramp a bit later and my limping increased. I was already much slower by now, and kept jogging to the endless cheers of the crowds (cheering to everyone..), mile 10 passed and I was alone again, I thought I might speedup, since I realized if I didn’t I would miss my time goal of 3 hours, I sped up which was a mistake and soon the other leg was cramping as well, and the last 5 k were very difficult. Breathing wise I was golden, but legs were my Achilles heel (which was sore as well). 2 miles to go and the Mandalay way was visible again, it was also getting colder again and my hands were freezing and my pace was very slow by now, but the spirit was up, that was the important thing , I didn’t let myself get me down. Message in a bottle was played by one of the bands and I was singing along. I actually made one phone call during the race, to my sister Michal, just before the finish line, since she was my honoree, I can’t believe I had air to speak on the phone. Last k was painfull, but I managed to sprint in the last 10 meters and cross the finish with my hands raised and my camera on.

Debbie, my pace maker (a fellow walker who walks as fast as I run) was behind the whole race- (didn’t see her) and she finished 35 seconds after me, knowing she was behind was also a push. Speaking with other runners helped, knowing I made promises helped. Passing the 10 k in a race was a fulfillment of a promise to myself at age 13…..to finish 10 k in the Ra’anana race.  

Right after the finish line the adrenalin ended and pain began. They server bread and bananas and water and I had some of each and the pain level grew quickly, calf muscles, hamstring. My feet were killing me. But worst were the ribs. I don’t recall a rib pain during training, but they rib muscles were cramped bad. My jaw clenched and I was stretching for a long while trying to relax my muscles.

Lunch was server by PFchangs and warm Mongolian beef really hit the spot, too bad the lines were long, and I wished I hadn’t thrown my top shirt off, it was cold!. I was limping to the shuttle bus, barely making it on the bus steps and worse when we got off the bus, slowly I made it to the room, took a long hot shower and just sat in bed watched the lord of the rings.

I didn’t limp bad in the evening, and my legs were worse off after several of the longer training sessions, and other then the ribs I was better now than before.

 

We met in the evening and got some Chinese food, and I went back to the room already thinking about the next challenge (yes I am nuts).

 

Going to sleep, this was fantastic, I recommend you try it to know how good it feels to cross the finish line.
this is my result page

http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=71134144&rsID=88303

 

missed my goal by 2:55 minutes

 

 

 

 

RE: To complete a journey

This was my pre race letter- which is kind of a pre blog

Dear friends and colleagues

I am 2 days away from my awesome journey's completion.
In under 2 days I will be running a half marathon on the Las Vegas strip.

As some of you know the way to get there was not easy for me.
I began late February and was training for a June race and tore my calf on the soccer court from over training. After Weeks of therapy, pain and limping I began training back and got reinjured (volley ball) , and from there training more but trying hard not to overdo it and limiting my activities.
Till now I have ran 11 miles at one point (18K) , so the half marathon will be my longest personal run ever and it is a frightening challenge.

Along the way I had thought of quitting several times, I think I would like to quit even now… but I am committed. I am exposed to CROHNs greatly with my sister Michal suffering from it greatly and my wife has a lighter case of this awful disease as well, so I know that by doing this I am helping them both, and helping millions who are sick with either CROHNs or Colitis.
I was surprised to find out that 3 other company employees have close family members with these diseases, didn't know till then how wide spread it was.

So the running part is close to completion, all I have to do is not give up for 3 hours or so and I am done. My audio book is set, I have a new battery, shoes and clothes are ready, weather is ideal. All that needs fine tuning is my mind.

For the other part of the journey, I need help to complete it. The fund raising part. So far I have collected 75% of the sum. When I started, I received a big support from you and that gave me a big push, I need another push to get me over the top. I hope you will show the same kindness as you have a year ago and donate whatever you can, every sum helps. The donations are text deductible and CCFA is top rated in the direction of the funds, so they are not wasted on salaries , since they use volunteers like myself to raise the money.
Currently I lack 938.50$ to finish, and since this email goes to over 100 people, it seems possible- 10$ per person average and I am there.

I can't thank you enough for donations, and every donation along the way was a boost of energy for this project. And let me tell you what I have done to gather funds.
Other than emailing everyone I know including face book. I contacted some organizations including the teams I follow (I got a poster from man united but no cash), local Jewish organizations in cleveland, my bankers, the cop who gave me a ticket a few months before.
I walked door to door in our building dressed in green on saint Patrick day, I stood on the door way of Sam's club begging donations, I organized a scavenger hunt and sent people on wild missions, I arranged whole day of games which was a huge fun but early morning rain deterred people away, I arranged a big party the night before the games. I approached various business places for sponsor ship, I did hikes after work, 50/50 raffle and a trivia night, and a few more little things along the way. My approach in life and I tried to follow it here is , if things are to be better, many people should help a bit, instead of a few helping a lot. And true I am doing a lot right now, but I expected people to give a little every time in exchange for fun.
This was a busy year for me and my efforts have been fruitful but insufficient, will you help me?

With time ticking away and my nerves are stretched, the thing that will help me more is emails from the donation site (I get one on every donation); I don't want large sums (but would not object☺) but many small sums; 5$, 10$ ,20$ will be better.
http://www.active.com/donate/lv09neohio/vegas09GEven

Ok- I am about to board to Vegas, please lift my spirit and I promise not to give up.

Wish me luck

Gil Even
December 4th, 2009-12-04
Midway airport

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OMG- non stop all the way :) half marathon is done

Will tell you all about it later

Now I must rest

About 3 hours- no official time yet- but mission accomplished

 

cheers

 

should a pilot be allowed to drink beer? what is butts up and I do

The pilot drank beer on the plane! I am not kidding.

Usually I have lots of laughs on south west flights, since the crew is telling little jokes now and then, but today was different.

Sis it matter that the pilot was not flying the plane? I don’t think so.

In this case the pilot sat in the same row as I and enjoyed a beer on the flight. I still say that is not responsible. What happen if we fly to Minnesota and the pilots fall asleep (probably from staring at the same landscape over Nebraska), or both the pilot and co pilot eat the fish and become sick, or snakes get on the plane and bite the pilot.  (all these are real cases, except 2 which were movies), and they will be announcing, is there anyone who can fly the plane, and the pilot will stand up and fly the plane, in his condition! No way.

When we landed in Chicago, the landing  was hard, usually the land soft,  I looked at the pilot to see if he would comment something like ‘idiots, they should know how to land by now’, but he said nothing (probably too drunk from that single beer).

Anyway the clouds before the landing looked like rows on plowed land, white rows on a blue land, which was quite nice to see.

 

Before we boarded this flight, the person who called the boarding order kept confusing with a flight to saint Louis, which was funny and then said to the passengers to double check their tickets, and she wasn’t even drinking (that I know of)

 

This flight is long, 4hours+ so I have time to study some finance (very boring)

 

It has been 2 hours since I sent my funding request and I am very curious, but cant check, no internet here, a minute after the email was sent, there were no changes, I am still uncomfortable with the idea of asking for money, this part did not get easier over time, career in sales is still not for me.

 

Speaking of career, December 4^th is a meaningful day in my professional history. It is not only the birthday of Michal lubovitch- gatenio and little Michael kessalman.

Imagine retro music going back about 7-8 years.

 

At the time I was working at internet-bee and things were good, recently the application that we did to manage election votes and track labor party members had helped Abraham mitzna win the labor party chairman seat, and after the win, we began supplying various labor party members info, from the registered voting book for the labor internal election in preparation for the national election day.

I don’t recall all the names but some were very well known members.

Our original book with mitzna had data on the voters age, and after the win, we used the party’s records which relied on the date of birth.

I was asked to give a list of all young voters, 20-30 so they can send them specific messages addressed to them. Which I did.

Then I got a call early December 4^th, apparently people called to complain they were receiving mail with messages who do not make sense.  Imagine a 70 year old getting info on housing for the youth and reducing the prices on universities and other such things. Apparently I gave the info of people born with in the years 20-30. This was a minor mistake, with a bad bad result.

Because of me, 25 thousand letters were addressed to the wrong crowd, so then they had to resend the letters to the right crowed and send apologizing letters to the initial crowed. The cost of this operation just a couple of days before the election was great and the company paid. These 2 parliament members lost their seats.

My boss back then is an amazing gentle man and after this issue I was not even fired, but I couldn’t stand the fact that the mistake cost the company so much. The company was tiny, and I set its finance back a year, my boss was the company, so he actually paid from pocket. The fact that he has resources did not reduce my guilt. That was a very emotional day for me of course, with nothing to do but apologize. I said Ben was a gentleman and even this mistake, did not prevent him from recommending me to a QA position at MDG. I think that incident made me appreciate the value of a good QA, and my drive to always focus on double checking and attempting to catch errors before they come us, so professionally, that incident was good to me, but not for others involved.

 

So now, December 4^th, I am going to face a challenge which is beating myself and my own thoughts, hope I win.

 

Ok back to Belize,

Charmaine left without braiding anyone and we took a tour bus and looked at lovely Belize. On the way, the tour operators, a smiling group that kept asking us to shout louder when they asked us stuff like ‘good morning’…I can’t hear you…. And ‘are you ready to have fun’ and other such nonsense. They gave us tiny shots of local cashew wine. Since I don’t like cashes or wine, I was surprised that I  liked the drink. Our 1^st stop was ATV. We stopped in the jungle (it was a ranch of some kind, which had jungle instead of grassland, no wild animals…) and we boarded our ATV’s. these were the small ATVs, one vehicle per person and we went into the mud. The entire trail was muddy and we kind of drove through a river. The problem was that it was slow, since we were 12 riders, we kept stopping to wait, so we didn’t get to ride fast. It was still fun but not as it could have been. Our local escort had our cameras and they took our photos, then ran ahead to take another, so you can see how slow it was.

At a point they splashed muddy water at us. They hit me, and left alla alone. I was outraged! At the next mud splash I made sure to ask them to get Alla, and they did J. This was about 30 minutes ride, but fun muddy time. We took a brief shower at the end and went for destination # 2- cave tubing.

It started with a jungle hike, where we have to carry our tube for about 20-30 minutes through the lovely jungle. On the way the guide explained about various trees and what you can make from them (a potion to slow snake venom was one of them and explained on the local plants you want to avoid). One of the guides took Racer’s tube much to her delight, and carried for her.

 

We got to a river in front of a huge cave mouth. Got into the tubes, then they set us in lines. So one tube was connected to another, each person holding the feet of the beson behind him. Which didn’t leave room to maneuver, they were very concerned about safety (safety usually equals less fun), I was the last in our bunch. And soon we were on our way, the high water level carried us in good speed through the cave which had the things that come from the ground and the top (rock formations) I forgot their name- staglmites – something like it. The cave had bats (which I didn’t see) and various interesting rock formations. It was very nice in the dark cave, being led by our guide, but I missed some of the explanations since I was last in line and the guide behind me for another group was too loud,

In the middle of the cave, it branched to a side cave which collapsed , and that area was open from above and it was full of green, it was the kind of scene from an adventurous movie just before they find some ancient temple. An amazing sight. We passed by an underground waterfall.

‘Butts up’ was often heard, letting us know there were rocks of shallow ground and we had to lift our bodies or risk running in the the known rocks – the nut cracker, the jewel buster, you get the meaning. In the middle of the cave the person in front of Alla let her go and our group split, the guide which was with us had to run and chase the group in front and sounding very much in distress. It took over a minute for us to catch up, mean while the group in front ran in to issues and the person who let go, banged his head on a rock. Nothing serious , just a mild punishment.

When we exited the cave, the most amazing blue skies loomed over the luscious green of the jungle and I was sorry I left my camera on the bus, from fear of dropping in to the water.

We tubed connected for a while longer, the disembarked and return to the bus for a lunch and headed back to the ship (for more food?!) Without stopping at charmaine.

 

In Costa Maya, Mexico , we decided to simply go to the beach.

The sand was cold and the water was not warm, but not cold. We swam for a while, then went snorkeling. The dude in charge of giving us our life jackets took forever, but forever later we were over the reef staring at lovely fish and coral. Eilat is a better snorkel site, but this wasn’t bad. After an hour and more in the water, we went back to the beach and enjoyed a massage, well, alla enjoyed hers, I didn’t enjoy it very much. I guess not all massage therapist are good, or some message takers complain to much.

 

After wards we went to the bazaar and bought one to many souvenirs, nice stuff(an elephant, a pepper dish, a fish plate to serve fish, an octopus, and a sun refrigerator magnet, can you guess which ones I bought and which ones Alla?) and boarded the ship.

 

Our last shore day was a private island in Bahamas, were we didn’t do much (not much to do) but sit on the beach, play sharks, jump on huge sea mattresses and eat. I avoided sand volleyball which I simply love doing, since I didn’t bring my brace and I was afraid to reinjure myself so close to the race, so had to pass itL.

I got very mildly sun burned this week and got some color which is good, I usually burn bad.

 

We returned to Miami and we spent an afternoon with my uncle Menashe and my aunt shrilly on the Hollywood beach, boardwalk (Hollywood, fl) and dined at an Armenian restaurant with an Israeli waiter.

 

So that was the cruise, I need to send the link to my karaoke performance, not sure if you want to listen to it! But I will send it none the less.

 

We had a good time, especially from all the family being together and getting to know each other.

 

There is one event I promised to write about and haven’t so far- going back to November 9^th. Which was our 0 days anniversary.

 

We woke up early and Alla left to get her hair done, I was shining my shoes and then went with my dad to decorate the car. I think I wrote about this stuff, I can’t verify since there is no internet here, so I will just repeat. The decoration I put on the car flew in the strong wind, but the just married signs were inside the car and thus spared. I had another such sign on our apartment door. After wards I completed the facts game.

We had a page for each person in both our family’s and gathered interesting facts on them, so that the other side can get to know them better and also act as an ice breaker( Do you know how much a polar bear weigh? Just enough to break the ice). So I made last minute updates, printed it and made sure all was set.

Then I got dressed, without a tie, since I don’t know yet how to tie it, alla came home looking like the most beautiful bride, got in to a white dress (not a real dress, that will be in June, but a lovely one anyway), a made one last face book update and we headed for the church. It was no church of course, but the city hall of shaker heights. I took out the balloons from the car and we all hugged each other, got in the building and signed in. we went upstairs for the official hall and waited for the mayor. There was a water fountain there and I drank 3 cups prior to the ceremony (but I wasn’t nervous…sure….). I managed to add one more line to the mayor’s speech, which was taken from a song.

“it doesn’t matter what you do or where you go, as long as you do it together” – can someone tell me the singer?

And in no time the ceremony began and quickly it was over with me kissing my wife, then stepping aside to sign paper work. We have the ceremony on video and when things settle a bit, it will be uploaded to you tube.

I remember I was listening to the mayors words and agreeing with them, he made a nice speech. I didn’t see the camera which was pointed at me at all times, and after was I saw I was grinning (not greening) like a fool in love.

After the ceremony, we went to Rita’s house (Alla’s sister) with good yummy food from a very good Thai place and Gennady(Rita’s husband) surprised us with a great salmon, cooked on a special wooden oven plate which was delicious (the fish, not the plate). Gennady also edited the wedding movie and we much appreciate it.

 

After dinner and good ice cream cake, we started the game, which was a lot of fun, trying to guess who the person was based on the written facts.

On one sheet, I had 8 facts which fit 2 people in the room. And even the people in question did not recognize them self. Is it safe from a mental state to have your mother and wife with so many similarities….

 

Well we are 20minutesaway from Vegas, I hope to get donations notification by the time I land, and sorry from jamming your inbox with so much stuff.

 

36 hours to race time…. Got to go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what is typhoon tea

I am seating here on the porch outside my brother’s neighbor  house. I came a bit early and there is no one here for 20 minutes more on a chilly night. The neighbor after asking me what I was doing here (lurking outside) invited me to her porch, and now went in and got me some hot typhoon earl grey tea, which is ok, but the warmth is great. I am underdressed for this weather.

Tried to do some work but no internet so nothing to do but blog.

 

I think i covered everything on the cruise. Let see, food, check, activities, check, rubber lady check, bingo, who cares, dancing check….

 

Next we had the excursions

1^st shore day was Roatan Hunduras. We got a driver for a cheap price, who drove us around the island. At first we went for the zip line. I have considered zip line to be the farshiest of the extremes-since you don’t do much but sit down. The last zip line I was on was amazing from the viewpoints it offered but was not all that exciting. But I soon found the other side of zip lining. Tricks!. Before I would sit, but in this place, they let us and actually expected us to experiment. You start with no hands, then lean back wards with totally trusting the wire, then sort of jump, act like superman, or simply lean back straight, it is hard to explain but you can do all sorts of things and that was awesome! It was 12-15 zip lines one after the other and other than one incident that I crashed into the guide, all was well. (the guide is fine now, but look like in some pain at the time,,,,we left him a tip).

After the zip line, we went into the monkey cages. the have capuchin monkeys, the same that Ross had. Tiny cute things. So I go in to the cage and try to seduce a monkey with a banana. This doesn’t work!, I guess they are going ape sh#t from all these bananas. I keep trying by standing close to them, till one of them jumps on my shoulder and poses to the camera. Another on joins and the 1^st stand on my neck and starts looking in my hair. I don’t have tics, or do I? the monkey continued doing things that wrong, i can now say I was molested by a monkey (not sure if it was male or female), eventually there were 3 monkeys on me doing forbidden things. After that I went to the parrots cage. Huge Jacko  parrots were there, but they let a smaller green one sit on your shoulder, one of them did and then my co pirate tried to seduce the parrot to her shoulder, the parrot resisted and moved to my other shoulder, I was laughing , it was funny, eventually the parrot gave up and Alla got her photo opp.

 

From there we stop for a quick rest stop and drove to a mangrove tour. We went in to little boats , and noticed that Maya, was left sleeping in the van! Lucky we noticed it before we took off, or we would have one unhappy kid. These small boats took us on the tour and we got to see lots of houses situated on the ocean, some on stills, about to fall and other more  fancy houses on top of the hills. Our boat was not shaded, and it was hot. The trip went on through a canal made by the mangroves; the roots were visible very clearly and the tops created a canopy, so it was a natural tunnel, a  unique experience. On the way we noticed a box from Wal-Mart Honduras , on the side of the canopy. The was not good, since Wal-Mart here, ruins the 3^rd world country experience; I wanted to take a picture of the box, but when we returned to that spot, few minutes late, it was gone! Since we seen no one there, it was bizarre; are Honduras people alien? Or just magicians, or just quick at box transfer; this will forever remain a mystery.

 

From there we went to the beach. This was a private beach, and a long island just close to the beach closes on it and creates a natural lagoon, with warm shallow water, and lots of palm trees which result in the ultimate relaxation beach. We swam to the other side of the lagoon and back (not that long), then played sharks. Sharks is a new game for me, a sort of tag (tofeset), but trying to escape 4 kids chasing you is not an easy task. After about an hour and some on the beach we went back to the ship and managed to buy a durable bag at one of the many markets.

 

We said our good bye to Honduras and returned to the mobile food fast.

 

 

The next days was underwater Belize.

You may Belize it or not but this country is under sea level. It is protected by a great barrier reef, so a bad storm can wipe them out…

Belizeans are scared from height (since they are so low) and from the cold (since its always hot) and they use the term refreshing to state that it is cold.

 

We took a touristic tour of cave tubing. I did such a thing once before in new Zealand and was looking forward for my most anticipated of excursions. Before we boarded the bus, a local woman came to us and introduced herself as charmaine and offered to braid the kids hairs. She was promising good service and asked the kids to look for her when the tour was done, the kids (maya, Pauline, misha and Arielle) stood next to me and charmaine kept referring to me as daddy, daddy don’t worry, daddy this and that… no one has called me that before…

A few minutes later 2 other braiders came and offered the same things then maya told them that charmaine said the same things, and then they started a monologue (duologue since there were 2 of them) that charmaine was not in the union, and so unsafe and blab bla bla. With a large group of anti union Russians, the no union was not the best argument to convince us. Charmain came again and we told her what the other 2 said, and she admitted not being in the union and said she is still better and don’t worry daddy…

 

Ok time to board again….

To be continued