Penny Stock

Title of HP Book 7 Has been Revealed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all you H@rry Potter fans, JK Rowling has given us all a great holiday present, she revealed the title of the 7th and Final book on her website- there are really a lot of steps to take to actually find out the title, so I am just going to tell it to you now...

H@rry Potter AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds ominous, it sounds good.

Greg and I have already put up a special HP podcast with our thoughts on the title so take a listen and leave comments.

SOB

Today I was driving down Stevenson Road in good ol' Baltimore county. There were two motorcycles in front of me. It looked as if the drivers were middle aged and they looked like typical bikers. I noticed a big SOB written on the back of their leather jackets. When I got close enough to the bikers, my curiousity got the best on me and I had to look at their jackets closely. That is when I saw this logo:

Semites on Bikes. Can it get better than that? They even have a Yahoo group!

911 Research

December 19, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - The closer New Yorkers were to the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the more vivid their memories are of the disaster.

For people close to the scene, memory of the event involves an emotion-recording portion of the brain, while those who were farther away involved other parts of the brain in the recollection, researchers report in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

All 24 study participants were in Manhattan on 9/11. Three years later, the recollections of those in lower Manhattan, closer to the towers, were more vivid, detailed, and confident than those who were farther away, said Elizabeth Phelps, a professor at New York University.

"The downtown subjects also reported seeing, hearing, and smelling what had happened. Subjects who were, on average, around midtown Manhattan reported experiencing the events second hand, such as on television or the Internet," explained Phelps.

I am so glad that the National Academy of Sciences has employed Captain Obvious to do its research.

Why I love My Husband

I realize that everyone loves their husbands for different reasons. Take some of my friends for example:

Shira probably loves David because he does their family's laundry.

Lanie probably loves Joel because he can change lightbulbs in the ceiling with a slight turn of the wrist (the man is a giant).

Esti probably loves Ari because he gave her the opportunity to become cousins with me.

Rina probably loves Aharon because he can design and hang beautiful window treatments (amongst other things)

Peggy probably loves Alan because he has introduced her to the wonderful world of Scotch (on second thought, maybe not).

Rochel probably loves Yanky because he affords her the opportunity to travel to L.A. once or twice a year.

In any event, I love my husband. Why? You ask.

Well, because when I was driving home from work on route 29 today, I had one of my typical H@rry Potter epiphanies. It was about the horcruxes. I was having trouble remembering something so I called Greg. When I asked him whether it was Tom Riddle or the basilisk who killed Moaning Myrtle he didn't laugh at me or ask my why I was thinking of such ridiculous things. He simply answered, "the basilisk". (This of course shot my horcrux theory down the drain but that is besides the point). That is why I love my husband. He gets me. Nuff said.

5 Stages of Grief and my iPod

True to the Kubler-Ross model, I have gone through the 5 stages of grief over the loss of Kermit. Here is how the stages are broken down.

Denial: At first I didn't want to admit that Kermit was on his way out. I toggled the hold button on and off and pressed the reset function (for those of you who don't know that is when you hold down the start and select buttons down until the little Apple icon appears in your screen) OVER and OVER and OVER again. I convinced myself that Kermit just needed to be charged and then everything would be ok. Boy was I in denial.

Anger: Once I realized that Kermit was indeed dying I got angry. What right does Apple have selling me a piece of equipment for more than two hundred dollars and then letting it die two months after the warranty expired (which incedentally was only a year after purchase)?!? According to the Wall Street Journal Article (Hat tip: Aishel) entitled "When iPods Die" I am definitely not alone in this occurance.

Bargaining: This mostly occured in the Apple store when I started making deals with the G-d of Apple Computers. I thought to myself, "if Kermit is ok, I will seriously consider getting a Mac." (totally selfless of me, I know).

Depression: this mostly occured when I got home from the Apple store and pretty much all of Friday night. I thought of all the good times I had with Kermit (eulogy to follow eventually) and how I might not have those experiences again. I thought of how if I ever got a new iPod I would feel guilty- almost like I was cheating on my beloved Kermit. I wondered whether I would use the green case that made me name my iPod, Kermit, on a new one. How wrong would that be? I was somewhat inconsolable.

and finally,

Acceptance: I have come to terms with the death of Kermit. I am still sad and I still feel somewhat lost without him (and will continue to feel that way when I try to clean up from shabbos tonight) but I know I must move on. Thanks to my grief counselor, Alanlaz I have started looking into some options both for Kermits interment (supposedly you can fetch a cool 30-50 on eBay for dead iPods) as well as for the possible adoption of a new iPod (you can get a refurbished 20 gig photo iPod which is what Kermit was for ~ 120 WITH a warranty).

I will never forget Kermit and all he did for me, but I know I can't wallow in his death forever. Thank you to all of my friends and loved ones for your support during this difficult time.

Not ready to let go.

I am depressed. A beloved family member is in the middle of dying and I am really not sure how to deal with it. On one hand I want to say that death is part of life, but on the other hand, I can't say good bye.

Yes, I am talking about my little green friend, Kermit the Pod.

I have resuscitated Kermit more times in the past few weeks than I can count but I think he is giving up. I don't think he has the will to live anymore. I think I am ready to sign a DNR.

I am going to attempt one last measure. I will take Kermit to the Doctors at the Apple Store in Towson but I am honestly not sure if they will be able to help him. I don't know how I am going to get over this. I really don't.

UPDATE: He's gone. Dead. Thanks for the article, Aishel and for the suggestion, Alan. I will look at them both but right now I am too depressed to do either. The injustice. Oh, the injustice!

I am going to go finish doing my shabbos preparations with Greg's iPod (it doesn't have a name- he won't get emotionally attached to his), but let's be honest. I really don't want to have to fast forward through the entire works of Led Zeppelin (not that there is anything wrong with it) just to get to a song I want to hear.

I can't even think of a witty title for this I am so bothered.

So I was Seven Mile this evening and in the lane next to me was a youngish married girl (probably around 23 or so). I noticed that she was paying for her groceries with WIC. Normally it is just a pain to be near someone (behind actually) paying with WIC because it takes extra time to ring them up.

Tonight it wasn't annoying. It was infuriating. I know who this girl is. I know she happens to come from a very well to do family. I watched her taking one item after the other of "WIC approved" food out of her cart and put it onto the belt. I watched her do this as she wore a beautiful shaitel (which I had noticed before she got on line) and took out her WIC certificates from her Coach purse. I watched her pay for other food that one would consider "luxury" foods out of pocket.

It is appauling. It is insulting. It is insulting not only to the people in the community who rightfully need the help of WIC, but it is (I think) even more insulting to people like me who work hard for my money and still struggle to pay bills. This chikadee might not have reportable income but I guarantee she is bringing in more every month than most of us.

You might think I am being unfair to this girl and maybe there is stuff in her situation that I don't know about, but unfortunately this isn't the first time I have seen something like this in Baltimore. Ok, I feel a lot better now. Maybe I will think of a title.

The Day that Will Live In Infamy Forever

No, not Pearl Harbor day silly!

It is the day my cousin Ari was born! Happy Birthday, SZ! Hope it is a great year!

I just found out that you have the same birthday as Noam Chomsky. He killed my college years only slightly more than you did.

Here's to family. We might be crazy, but we are all that we've got!

Kind of makes me wish there was a shortage this year

We took all three kids for flu shots this afternoon. I have never been happier that Greg works for himself and is able to do these things with me in my life.

The two older kids figured out where we were going even before we left. When they were told that all three kids were going to the doctor they each asked (separately) "oh, do we have checkups?" when I told them that they didn't, they jumped to, "flu shots?" when I answered in the affirmative they both started crying (mind you they weren't even together at the time) and emphatically screamed that they were NOT going.

Luckily Ezra was still in the car from carpool and Gila weighs next to nothing. Greg literally carried her kicking and screaming to the car and held her down while he buckled her. With a few well placed threats about unbuckling the seat belt we were on our way.

The two older kids literally bawled all the way to Owings Mills to Dr. P's office. Eden caught on that something was amiss and alternated between crying and assuring us "I ok".

We decided on the divide and conquer method of taking the kids into the office once we got there. I took Eden and warned the office staff that there would be 2 hysterical children following close behind. When the older two came in wailing the office staff looked like they wanted to bolt. I don't blame them. It was 4:15 and they had probably been in the office all day with screaming kids- they didn't need two extremely histrionic G children who adamantly DID NOT WANT TO GET FLU SHOTS on top of it all.

With the help of the office staff it was decided that each kid would go back separately to get the shots so that they didn't panic when they saw their sibling getting stuck. Eden went first. She cried before and during, but she was fine within a minute. She picked her 2 Dora stickers and was then ready to look at the fish tank in the waiting room.

Gila went next. Greg carried her back crying, but he was able to physically get her back there pretty easily. Once she came out (I was in the waiting room for that one) she was able to calm down within five minutes or so. She too picked her two Dora stickers and went to color at the coloring table.

Acharon, Acharon Chaviv. Who says the oldest is the most mature? Ezra wanted us to remember what it was like when he was a baby (approximately months 0-3) and he CRIED NONSTOP. Well, true to his former self, he would not stop crying, or kicking, or screaming. He ended up under the waiting room chair at one point. Greg was ale to extracate him but then he figured out that he could wrap his legs around the chair. Well he managed to drag one of the waiting room chairs (which was a double chair incidentally) half way across the waiting room. Once Greg got his legs off of that chair, he attempted to wrap his legs around everything on the way into the examining room (unfortunately this included his baby sisters head- he truthfully didn't realize that but needless to say, it was not a pretty sight).

Once he was back there, I am told things weren't much easier. Everyone in the waiting rooms could hear the wails and it was somewhat embarrassing. A woman walked in and when her child looked scared she said, "don't worry, it is just a baby crying." I informed her that it was actually a 7 year old. My seven year old. Lucky me. At least maybe he will end up with an academy award for this, he is so dramatic.

When he came out he had cried and screamed so much that he could barely breathe. He was so upset that he chose not to get any stickers. It took around 10 minutes to calm down but once he did, he got a good laugh about the woman who thought he was a baby crying.

I am flippin exhausted now. Thank G-d flu shots only happen once a year. I think I am going to sign my children up for acting lessons. The least they could do is use their flair for over dramatics to help out the family financially.

Explanations

It seems that some people didn't quite "get" my last post.

First of all, with the iPod thing. I don't know. I was on this medication for a hives breakout that was seriously making me delirious.

As far as the picture and the Jack Handy quote. For those who either grew up without a TV, were too young to watch Saturday Night Live in the 90's, weren't allowed to watch Saturday night live in the 90's (I believe from around 91-98), or were lucky enough to actually go out on Saturday nights, I will explain. Jack Handy's deep thoughts used to make an appearance on every episode of SNL.

They were read by Jack (who was never seen on screen) and there was usually some picture of nature on the screen which had NOTHING to do with the deep thoughts (hence my whale picture). Jack Handy's humor was (and will always be) right up my alley: dry, dark, and sardonic.

Luckily someone (Avrumi- that's you) was up to par with the Jack Handy stuff and could keep up with me in the comments section of the last post. As for the rest of you, well you can all be ashamed of yourselves. I might just have to put a carved out jack-o-lantern on your front porch with a knife through it and a note that says "you" attached to it. (That is a Jack Handy reference, by the way. I am not serious. Not Completely.)

Thoughts when unplugging the iPod

This is going to be deep in a completely shallow me kind of deep way.

I find it ironic that the icon on the iPod says "do not disconnect" yet when you do that and put it on your ears, in essence all you are doing is disconnecting from the world.

Wow. I have a headache now. I think I will leave the deep thoughts to Jack Handy. I will leave you with this one.

Sometimes I wish my name was Todd. Then I can say, "Hi I am Todd. Todd Blankenship." Oh, also I wish my name was Blankenship.

Feel free to comment with your favorite Jack Handy'isms if you comment with one, I'll comment back with one. (I can go all day with them)