on Squirrel Vs Squirrel, snakes and just one more thing

Boy, what a week we had with my mom and moti visiting and last days of waiting for the ultimate answer and with 5 days of obnoxious non stop rain.

 

at work, we finished our 90 days workout program and started a new 60 days program called body beast. this program video guides are 3 very muscular guys, and no, i don't want to be a beast like them, just continue my fat reduction. unlike the previous aerobic type workout, this was weight based and while doing chin ups, i felt something pull under my shoulder blade, i had these before, so i kept going, the next days it began to hurt , and pain increased day by day, till i decided to hurt no more and seek help with Inna, my caretaker. muscle tare :(  , not a severe one but enough to annoy and keep me from working out all week. for the last few days i have been hooked to a device the size of a transistor radio , with 2 wires like earphone that attach to sticky things to my back on both side of that muscle with the sole purpose of electrocuting myself. its a nice buzz, i keep increasing it and after several shocking days I am better, maybe workout tomorrow?

 

well, I needed some pills, anti inflammatory for the muscle and to the store we went. my co-credit card holder lost her card and cancelled both of ours and while we waited for it to arrive we have a backup one and with it we went to the store, too bad this card expired 2 days before, so we decided to write a check , the check how lucky can be found in my car but you need an ID. for back up purposes I keep my passport in the car, for times like this, but my record keeping partner likes everything safe, so i took it out of the car and now when I need it , its not there, so we returned home empty handed and neck sored.

worry not, we returned that day with vengeance and got the pills, which lucky I don't need anymore.

 

this week was a non stop game of SheshBesh (backgammon) and despite severe unlucky dice, I remain undefeated in tournament this year, of course, i have only played this week and I lost games (just no series of games...) but who cares, but on my upcoming Israel trip, my opponent (mom) plans a vengeance game on her home turf...you go

 

Girl, I say, will inform on the results at the time. oh, the very last game ended with a rare Turkish mars, don't recall ever doing that.

 

we also seen for the 1st time , the squirrels getting in (not around) but in to a bird feeder, usually they eat from the out side, now it was in, eating, while another squirrel wanted to munch as well and they fought on the tree, then fought some more on the ground, so cute, and all caught on camera, see link below.

 

with the visitors we had some nice walks in the cold rainless day (finally it stopped), but the strange thing is that there are no puddles. one hour of rain in Israel is enough for a minor flood, here, not a drop on the road, most impressive.

 

one of the nights we went to the new Casino, where we all donated funds to the state of Ohio, which is now the most important state in the world, but we all know that after Wednesday , it will be Ohio where? what? we can enjoy the temporary attention.

 

today it was Halloween, it was actually few days ago, but it was postponed because of Sandy.and this is my first time actually participating in the activities. I purchased a bunch of candy, put them in a bag, wrapped my self in a cloak, with a ski/bank robber mask and scared the kids when they came in the door, then offered them candy. it was 2 hours of fun. some kids were scared, few RAN away!, some were totally indifferent. i asked them to open a small box (that held fake snakes) this caused kids to be weary and some refused to did it very slowly, one kids was indifferent- i can hear his mind saying, come on, stop this nonsense, just give me the candy!. one girl was really scared but we overheard comments, saying the experience was cool, and fun and not sure what they server at other houses, the kids liked what i got which is what they sell at Wall mart, again not sure what is the candy competition, we need to send a spy to the neighbours. Alla was laughing her A** of the whole time . some kids came with customs, some not, a 3-4 year old with a dragon custom was so cute. one group came with 10-12 and 3-4 year old at the same time, and i Did my scare thing, and the young girl got scared, but when i showed the fake snake, she said in her Minni mouse outfit that she is OK, not scared, she was 4 years old, i think, adorable.

we both had a blast and the candy bowl is not empty, these kids (well most of them) take only one unless they are told they can), pictures in link below.

 

My mom thought Alla how to cook tshulnt, it was so good. love it and now that the knowledge is here, id expect to have some more in the upcoming winter. in the meal we had with the family, they wanted to light shabat candles and for me to say the blessings, after a confusion on who aid what blessings in which order, I was proclaimed a gentile. well, we never do blessings at home, no wonder I am clueless.

 

and this brings me to the last and most important item of the day.

and the answer is- yes there is a chupchik...its a boy :)

 

 

You are invited to view gil.even's photo album: 2012-11-04 Squirrel vs squirrel and haloween

2012-11-04 Squirrel vs squirrel and haloween Nov 4, 2012 by gil.even View Album Play slideshow

on gone with the wind and other stolen items

try the following riddle

A car travelling at a speed just enough not to get caught is leaving Cleveland at around 4PM. At the same time, taxi is leaving Chicago heading east driven by a suspected Somali pirate is traveling as 3$ a minute (actually 2, the extra one is because the passenger is tired and not paying attention)

the question is, when will they meet and how much will it cost.

out of the many damages inflicted by Sandy, a minor incident accrued. with my mom visiting , arriving in Chicago the day of the storm and having the next flight to Cleveland cancelled. quick check found that all trains are booked for the next two days, and next bus in 4 pm the next day, no flights of course, so I drove to Chicago for the best air port pickup ever (George would be proud) , my mom took a cab and we met in south bend Indiana just after 8.30PM, we arrived at the same minute which was strange. so i took my mom's bags from the taxi and also a book "what to expect when you're expecting" which i was sure was for us. apparently not, what the driver didn't expect is to have his what to expect when you're expecting book to be stolen. If you hear about the Somalian government blaming Israel, know that its my fault.  the guy left a list with names, like a wedding list, we tried to track him down, but no luck , since no receipt was taken we don't know which company, note to passenger, take receipts.

 

well that is it, the storm didn't affect this area much other then non stop 5 days of rain.

p.s

enjoy a tiny album of Halloween photos

 

p.s2

a very interesting thing occurs if you google image for my mom 'libi moore' image attached

 

p.s3 - if you take a taxi from Chicago with a Somalian driver, let me know

 

cheers

You are invited to view gil.even's photo album: 2012-10-27 haloween 2012-10-27 haloween Oct 27, 2012 by gil.even View Album Play slideshow

Obama speech photos

You are invited to view gil.even's photo album: 2012-10-25 Obama 2012-10-25 Obama Oct 25, 2012 by gil.even View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=gil.even&target=ALBUM&id=5803769494046973889&authkey=Gv1sRgCNr3qKzMxLmgkwE&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

on why Obama is to blame and other candidates

Yesterday was an unusual amazing fall day, no clouds, no rain, no plans for the afternoon.

this week , my more face book active spouse stumbled on another Obama speech to be held in Cleveland and we signed up. I cannot vote as you may know but Alla can, though she is leaning for the other guy, but we both wanted to see and sense a speech atmosphere.

doors opening at 5:30 the invite said, you would assume that the event would begin around 6:30. No. but before that we needed to fuel ourselves, unfortunately the road we took does not go through normal areas, we had a choice of mystery pizza and a Chinese place.

we deiced to eat Chinese before the speech that will badmouth them. a mistake (not Chinese in general, but this place). Mongolians would not eat this Mongolian beef and Alla's chicken was worse, they even messed up the rice!, shame, the place looked normal. well slightly less hungry but not satisfied we parked at the museum and join the long line. this line was long but fast moving and on the way we see button pushers, you know the people that want to sell you Obama buttons, hats, shirts and such. one of the guys on the side asks me if I decided who to vote, i say I cant, but my spouse who i was on the phone at that moment, can, I took his card, and he said he was running for president! this was in the line to see Obama. I checked later, the guy is legit, he received 3902 votes nation wide in the previous elections, lucky I took a photo with him (his highlight of the day? ). i should have asked why he is running, since he obviously has no chance, but the line was moving fast, missed it. we were told to keep our phones open, Alla went to check her phone, but i told her it is always open, even when we go to the cinema!!

we had to wear our warmer clothes (not carry anything for security),  but then, no one checked the tickets (why did we sign up, now we get more junk mail). we got in and Obama wasn't there, and we learned that he would not come till 8 +, almost 2 hours wait. you couldn't enter food or drinks or umbrellas , weapons and other necessities, but they did give us water bottle, but they took the cap away. we didn't feel like waiting and we walked back towards down town. we started to feel hungry (from the less then half finished Chinese) and found a new place, and quickly devoured some chicken sandwich, which i would not have eaten had Obama came earlier!!! this is why he is to blame. we walked back to the venue, now there was no line, but we couldn't get close to the show.

and then it started, the plain landed, air force one, this was at the airport, the plan approached and the crowd got a buzz from excitement, the plane stopped right next to us, its very impressive to see it, probably the only famous plane, a real movie star. few moments later, Obama got off the plane while hundreds of cameras are clicking, ours included. the speech was nice, nothing real new which was expected, but we still focused on getting the optimal photo since we were not close enough (or tall enough). people started leaving during the speech to avoid traffic, this is strange to me, you wait 3 hours, then leave during, makes no sense, but this allowed us to come closer and closer and we managed to get real close after the speech and reached the front after he passed this specific point for hand shaking. i saw him from 10 meters away, but the only hand i shook was that other candidate. we lingered for a while , trading photos with some other people and hoping he would make a 2nd pass for hand shakes , he didn't and by the time we headed home, the majority of people already left so we had little traffic.

 

so, don't forget to vote, for whom, your call

 

cheers

on nail polish and cell loss

the following occurred recently but not to me

 

certain person goes to the BMV (Bureau of Motor vehicles) to register a car. this person does not find the ID and other needed paper work and drives back home , 20 minutes away to get them, once they get home they find out that they had the papers all along and rush back 20 minutes more to the BMV only to find that they left their bag at home! back home again. on the next day and another ride to the BMV and waiting 30 minutes in line- only to find out that the car was registered all along, there was no need to do anything.

 

this story just proves that I found my match, I had similar funny stories

but my more pregnant half has told me about this event in a precursor to the following fact. according to researchers (no doubt world renown) woman carrying girls lose more brain cells then woman carrying boys and the above story is undeniable proof that we have a girl.

folk stories (which I hold in the same regard as said previous scientist) believe that a woman who's belly doesn't grow much is a sign of boys. indeed a mystery wrapped in a uterus

 

in 13 days we will know (yes,I am counting down daily lately). btw so far week 16 all is well :)

 

I purchased a new shampoo called 'cells and shoulders' which stops this cell loss at the root.

 

 

2 weeks a go I was dragged against my will to a scavenger hunt, not sure why i didn't feel like going, this is definitely my kind of event- post test exhaustion perhaps, but my dragging partner didn't give up and we went. It was a group with the kids (nephews) and you had to do various tasks in 10 photos, meaning choose how many things you can cram in only 10 photos, so you have to work fast, smart, and creative. lucky the performers are kids- they can do any thing, you can put them with one leg on a chair, the other on a swing while sitting on bicycles, or holding a broccoli , feeding each other muffins, while holding an apple on their heads and other such strange combinations. i received the tasks list before we met with the kids and i didn't know at the time that only the kids perform, thus with one task to put nail polish , i didn't hesitate and slapped the pink on my toes. not a work of art, far from it, but a 1st for me. this thing is difficult to remove... lucky acetone is available. i will send you photos soon. one task required a street musician, and we have no time to drive down town, so I took a shofar and posed as a street musician- lucky we didn't have to play, i cant play that thing.

we met with the other groups at the end and after counting our points twice, we came in 2nd - if we only found a fireman ...we might have won.I was disappointed by this loss and my feeling always show, worse poker player ever) and I was wearing my Israeli rugby jacket and one of the judges approached me asking me what it said (this was hosted in a Jewish school), I explained and when i turned around - everyone in my group was not there (Alla and both her sisters). apparently they decided that i was so upset that i was appealing the ruling (so i can win the mega prise of my name appearing on some cup that will remain in the school), so they decided to abandon me, less they be seen with the likes of mayhem (me). all 3 sisters at the same time!!!- i think this cell loss is a general phenomenon regardless of pregnancy (though 2 of them are pregnant at the moment), perhaps its contagious.

 

cheers and count your brain cells...

p.s happy birthday Netta

 

the man without a name

teTa , teTam, imagine jaws music just before the shark bites, that is the sound of my heart beating extremely loud, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, open them slowly and see a please wait.... heart beats faster if that is even possible, close my eyes again, another deep breath, open them and ...please wait, no.... i will die soon, close again take 2 breath, open and, please answer this survery, what!!! come on give me my grade, yes i do like this testing center, yes the facilities are fine, no i didnt like the scheduling process, who cares... ok, i am slightly more composed now and even give some writen feedback, like- give the grade first, then do the survey. click End, at, heart rate is accelerating once again, close my eyes, deep breath, open my eyes, and Congretulations, oh the sensation of relief, you are now a certified project manager professional, PMP.

 

I have been on this PMP track for over a year, last year i took some courses to allow have the training prerequisites and recently i submitted my application which is a process by itself.

this is how it went down. you have to get information of your projects management past with exact content and divided by sub areas, who knows exactly how long things took 5 years ago, so I estimated and as such dreaded a possible audit (one in five or four is audited), so i filled the info which took me half a day to do and submitted, they say it takes up to five days to get a reply, i submitted on a Monday and checked my mail 3 to 17 times a day, finally the answer came in on a Saturday saying i was accepted and eligible to take the test, but audit, answer will come after you may. fudge fudge fudge. so i go through a similar process to the 1st paragraph to a lesser scale, pay the membership fee and the expensive test fee and this time the answer is quick, and I am happy to not be audited (that's all i need now while studding hard, to be interrupted and to go to some managers I didn't really like and have them confirm some info).

 

that was about 2 weeks ago and since then I was studying like a maniac, with not enough sleep and nerves approaching the breaking point with each passing day, on top of that, i am dieting and working out which actually helped control my anxiety i think. what didn't help was home work and another test in my regular MBA course, i could do without studying for those at the same time (grade is still not in).

 

the one relaxing activity was a scarecrow building at work, it was a day after a prep test for this PMP, i was studying lots and needed a mental break. since my head felt like rotten straw, a scarecrow was appropriate. the Idea was to use the 3 Philips internal attributes , eager to win (we had a medal on the scarecrow), team up to excel (we placed our diverse team map, with employees from 4 continents, and take owner ship (we had a sheet of tasks to do on a chart, as in taking owner ship of a project. we also had a cage with captured angry birds (to scare off would be birds), and since this is the gym group which i go to every day (at work) we gave the crow abs and muscled and made her a bad ass. well we didn't win, but it was fun. the Oktoberfest had some other activities like throw a pie in the face of your boss. i missed my 1st throw (i am bad at basketball) , so the next throw, I almost cheated, i took a step forward and before landing threw it and wham, bulls eye.

 

I started at Philips about 10 months ago, and for unknown reason, I didn't get a name plate, some have it, some have a printed page, but everyone in the near by work area have a name, but me (not sure about other parts). even my new neighbour of 2 months has a printed page. this week people came and swapped the pages with real name plaque, even to my new neighbour, but not for me, strange, but they asked for my name and the other day I also received a name to place of my cube.

 

Today, it is time to relax , go out and enjoy the magnificent fall colors

 

cheers

Gil Even, PMP

 

how to build a scare crow- or how to pie your boss in the face, or both...

https://picasaweb.google.com/gil.even/20120928ScareCrowCompetition?authkey=Gv1sRgCIK_5de5n_mYcA#

 

detailes in a week, happy sukot