treppenwitz

These sneakers are made for walkin'...

The last treppenwitz walking competition lasted only 6 days, and somehow didn't seem long enough (to me, anyway).  I need a longer period (especially when dealing with averages) so that if I goof off for a day or two, I won't get discouraged at seeing my average number of steps plummet.

The next walking competition will begin Wednesday morning and will end the day before Tisha B'Av.  Hey, I figure most of us need a diversion during the three weeks anyway, so why not get in better shape? 

As I've said before, there is a very nice sense of community and mutual support in these competitions, complete with a message board and a graph showing everyone's daily averages. So even if you are walking alone... you're never really alone.  Personally, I like that I can enter my steps at the end of the day and catch up on how everyone else's walking went.  Just knowing that I wasn't the only one who really didn't feel like walking... but did it anyway, offers a small reward all its own.

For those of you who have somehow resisted joining Walker Tracker, this is another chance.  Click here to sign up.  It's quick, easy and free... I promise!

For those of you who are already walker tracker members, the link to the up-coming competition (called treppenwalk 3) is here.  Get registered (even if you are still shopping for your pedometer or looking to upgrade) because once the competition starts you will be locked out. 

At stake is a shiny new treppenwitz coffee mug, to be awarded by random drawing to one of the lucky people who meet the (very reachable) goal; averaging 10,000 steps per day over the competition period. 

To be clear, this isn't about who walks the furthest or the fastest. It isn't even about who has the highest average.   More than half the people who entered the last challenge reached the goal and became eligible for the prize drawing.  But as the saying goes; you have to be in it to win it.

I'm wondering if I can shame my siblings and parents into this one.  We'll see.

Teaching Vocabulary, Daddy Style

One of the challenges of moving a family from an English-speaking country to Israel has been ensuring that our kids grow up fully bilingual.  Obviously this involved getting them plenty of help with Hebrew after we first arrived... but it also means working hard to continue developing their English skills.

To that end, even though we encourage our kids to speak only Hebrew outside the house... we are careful to speak only English at home.  We also encourage the kids to read English books and newspapers in addition to the standard Hebrew fare.  But even with all this, it kind of took us by surprise to find our children, who speak perfect unaccented English*, suddenly casting about mid-conversation for a word, and occasionally giving up and tossing in a Hebrew substitute when the correct English word eludes them.

After I'd witnessed this a few times, I decided that I needed to find a way to ensure their vocabularies continue to expand (or at very least, don't shrink). 

So now whenever I hear them searching for a word or using a Hebrew substitute, I stop them and offer them the correct word... making sure they repeat it a couple of times and know how to use it correctly.  And when I hear them using a 2 cent word where a 50 cent word would be more age-appropriate, I stop them and offer them the better word choice.

But anyone who has children knows that you can't just tell them something and expect it to stick.  This is especially true with teenagers since they are at an age when pretty much everything goes in one ear and out the other... whatever the language! 

So in order to have the best chance of having them retain something as slippery as vocabulary, I've found it helps to frame things in such a way that they aren't likely to forget.

Here's an example from this past week:

Gilad wandered into the kitchen and said, "Abba, what does 'linger' mean?".

I have no idea whether he'd read the word or heard it on TV or in a movie... but 'linger' is certainly a word he should known at his age.   So I wanted to do something to make sure he'd retain the definition rather than just using it to make momentary sense of whatever he'd heard or read, before discarding it.

I could have told him about a lingering kiss or the way a person might linger after class if they wanted to speak to the teacher.  But I suspected these would be lost on him, so I made a split second decision and offered the following:

"OK, you know how if someone farts in an elevator or a small room, and then you come along a few minutes later, you find that the place still reeks?  Well that's because a fart sometimes lingers in the air even after the person who cut the cheese is long gone."

Gilad, being 13 years old, collapsed onto the kitchen floor in a fit of giggles and donkey laughs.

Zahava, who had been standing at the sink washing dishes, turned around and transfixed me with one of her patented 'you've got to be kidding me' glares... the kind she saves for when something I do or say makes her feel like she suddenly has an additional child to look after.

I just smiled sheepishly, gestured in Gilad's direction and said, "I know, I know, don't say it... but look at it this way; he's never, ever going to forget the definition of linger, right?"

Zahava just shook her head and turned back to the dishes.  She hates it when I'm right.

*  All you Brits can stop sniggering... it's just rude!

Excuse me while I pull on my jackboots and invade Poland

Some people mean well, but should really observe a 'cooling off period' - similar to the waiting period many locales require before a person can legally purchase a firearm - before hitting the send button on an email to a total stranger.

Exempli Gratia:

A while back I got an email with the following subject line:  "A surfer with a gripe". 

With that subject the sender was as much as admitting that he wasn't a regular (or even occasional) reader.  He was simply a surfer who had stumbled upon my site and felt compelled (not to mention entitled), to submit a complaint. 

That right there should have been enough to warrant a fast stab at the delete button... but as the name of this site implies, hindsight is my strong suit... not foresight (or whatever kind of sight might entail having the good sense to act wisely at the precise moment a sound decision is required). 

So, having opened the email, here is what I found [with my after-thoughts treppenwitz added in red italics]:

Hi David,

Surely you could have come up with another name for your website, than using a German author.[Um, it's a German word... not a German author, but thanks for getting right down to business without so much as a 'hi, how are you?']  You are Jewish, are you not. [I'll assume that was a question, even though that assumption isn't supported by the correct punctuation]  At least I know you live in Israel. [well played Clouseau!]  You could have called it Hindsight, or something.  [I like that.  I think I'll change the site name to 'something'.  Thanks!]  But to even get one person to look into German literature, well I think your sensitivities are lacking. [Are you suggesting that German literature is the reason so many Jews perished in the Holocaust, and not, say, the rise of Nazi-ism, Adolph Hitler, world apathy/appeasement... or even the Treaty of Versailles?!  Interesting theory.]  I get the feeling you took German in college, and are even proud of that association.  [BZZZT! Oooh, sorry... but thanks for playing.  Just for the record; the sum total of my knowledge of the German language would allow me to politely order between one and nine beers anywhere in Austria, Germany and a sizable chunk of Switzerland.]  Maybe I'm wrong, but for a Jew to flaunt a German banner is much like cutting our legs from under us. [Excellent simile!   Oh wait, you probably weren't trying for a simile there were you?  You almost certainly were going for a metaphor... as in 'Flaunting a German banner cuts the legs out from under your Jewishness'... which doesn't really work either, but hey, at least it isn't likely to make your high school English teacher cry.]

Wishing you the best. [Oh please, that goes without saying.]

BTW, That's a real nice pooch you got. [Uh-uh, No way...  you can't weasel your way into my good graces after a letter like that just by complimenting my dog.  Okay, maybe a little... but that's really not playing fair!]

Since I criticized you, here's your chance to get back at me;  If you visit: http://www.notbloodylikely.blogspot.com/ [If I visit.... what?  What happens if I visit your site?  Oh,I see, you forgot to finish the thought.  Just sort of left it dangling there.  So much for sparing your high school english teacher.  And BTW, that's not really his real URL, I changed it to 'notbloodylikely.blogspot.com... as in not bloody likely that I'm going to give your site free publicity after you were such a complete douche-bag to a perfect stranger]

Kol tuv!

[name withheld to protect the ignorant]

A rant delayed

You may recall two related items from my birthday list that went as follows:

5.  I love spotting religious Jews in Tel Aviv.
6.  I love spotting secular Jews in Jerusalem, too.  Maybe more so. 

When I wrote those two things I was focused on the tensions in Jerusalem between the Haredi population and the city government that was trying to keep a parking lot open to accommodate secular tourists who want to visit the capital on Shabbat.

Personally, I have a big problem with Jews enforcing religious observance upon other Jews.  That having been said, I have an equally big problem with Jews in the only Jewish country in the world being forced to violate Jewish law (i.e. work on the sabbath, eat non-kosher food, etc.).

Clearly it is impossible to create a societal norm where no Jew will have to work on the sabbath if businesses are routinely open on that day. 

Yes, one can argue that it is a matter of free choice and employees can opt to work on shabbat or not according to their personal beliefs.  But we all know that in a free market economy, employers can bring pressures to bear on employees to work when they might otherwise not want to... and employees faced with a choice of adhering to religious law or meeting their family's financial needs may opt for the immediate reward rather than the eternal one.

Where it is less cut and dried is in matters that deal with the 'character' of particular neighborhoods and the right of religious and secular people to feel 'at home' in the neighborhoods where they live. 

This cuts to the heart of what I meant in those two lines above.  I firmly believe that while a strictly religious or non-religious neighborhood might seem desirable from the standpoint of avoiding conflict between people with diverging priorities... it is a recipe for national dis-chord.

You see, it is human nature for a person to be at home with whatever lifestyle choices one makes for him/herself.  However, this means that those who make different lifestyle choices are naturally going to be viewed in a negative way.  But if those 'different people' are friends, or even acquaintances that you see every day, it is harder to think ill of them than if they are strangers living in another neighborhood or town.

This goes back to one of my favorite analogies about driving:

Pretty much everyone thinks they are a good driver (or at least above average).  So as a result we all consider those who zip past us on the highway 'maniacs', and those in front of us impeding our progress are 'idiots'.  The same goes for politics and religion.  We are so completely sure of the choices we make in these areas, that we quite naturally view the choices made by others as suspect (often in the extreme).

So while there have always been communities in Israel that were exclusively religious or exclusively secular, the majority of urban and suburban neighborhoods were mixed to some extent... even if they may lean predominantly one way or the other.

But in the wake of the sabbath protests in Jerusalem over the opening of a tourist parking lot, there was also a recent news article that probably went largely un-noticed by most.  It was about the predominantly secular community of Ramat Aviv getting up in arms over the recent influx of religious Jews, and the perception that this would somehow force religious observance upon them and their children.

The contentions in this case are summed up in these quotes from the article:

Over the past few years, Chabad [Lubavitch] members have begun renovating public buildings and institutions in Ramat Aviv. A movie theater was converted into a kollel. Billionaire Lev Leviev, who is observant and owns the Ramat Aviv Mall, ensured it would be closed on Shabbat. And a center belonging to the Histadrut Labor Federation now functions as a Chabad kindergarten..

These changes have raised concern with the city's secular residents, with a single issue at the center of the debate: the character of the neighborhood.

The ultra-Orthodox "come with [a] purpose, they are well organized, and they have a target - the secular Israeli public," MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) tells The Jerusalem Post.

"I'm not against someone who is religious, as long as they don't force their practices on me," says Dani Borten, a superintendent at the Alliance High School in Ramat Aviv, speaking on his own behalf, not the school's. "Now, in the neighborhood, I can see tensions starting. If we don't do something, there will be problems."

 

Tel Aviv-Jaffa council member Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) says there is no demand in the neighborhood for the facilities that the haredi community has opened. "What they are doing is definitely part of a bigger purpose," she says.

In another time and place these accusations would have been accompanied by loaded phrases like 'block busting'  and 'those people'.  But from what I can gather, the primary concern among many secular residents of Ramat Aviv is that they and their children will be subject to pressures to become more religious (as if such a thing were possible). 

 

One example cited in the article is the practice of Lubavitch of setting up tables near the schools and shopping centers and encouraging passers by to put on Tefillin.

 

What they fail to recognize is that nobody is forcing people to put on tefillin, any more than secular kids handing out flyers for a club or non-kosher restaurant are forcing religious people to attend.  It may make some uncomfortable to be confronted with religious Jews encouraging religious observance... but how is that different from the influence that immodestly clad secular people have on religious communities?  Is a glimpse of a bare belly or a bit of cleavage going to force religious kids away from observance?  It shouldn't.

 

To be sure, the siren call of 'the other' cuts both ways in an open society.  People are constantly 'switching sides'... choosing to become more or less observant based on the things they experience in their daily lives.  Not only does the grass often seem greener in someone else's yard... but young adults are especially prone to changing paths in order to exert their independenc and/or piss off their parents. 

 

So yes, I could see why parents of both camps would be worried about the influence that might come from close proximity to 'the others'.

 

But one can't simultaneously complain about religious Jews sequestering themselves in ghettos where the secular folks are not welcome, and also complain when the Religious people come out of their ghettos and try to move into secular areas... bringing with them the basic educational and religious facilities they need in order to feel at home.

 

I have a lot more to say on the subject, but I'm curious to see how some of you feel about this topic.

 

[As always, I would caution everyone to be sensitive to the diversity of people who read this blog and who might want to participate in the discussion.]

 

Dirty trick or 'all's fair in love and walking competitions'?

So yesterday was the first day of the six day walking competition.  Right before the deadline for registration I noticed that Zahava had joined the competition... which is a good thing, and a potentially bad thing. 

Good because Zahava can be a strong motivating factor.  If she and I are both in this thing she will shame me into walking even if I'm not in the mood. 

But bad because Zahava is just the tiniest bit competitive.  She is also just a little bit of a gold star seeker.  Mind you, I mean both in the best possible way.  Really.

[~makes preparations to sleep on couch~]

Here, let me give you an example

[~ makes preparations to sleep on back porch~]:

Knitting.  Zahava recently rediscovered knitting; a craft that she learned as a little girl at her grandmother's knee.  It being an artsy sort of thing, it is no surprise that Zahava is quite good at it.  How good?  Like 'her stuff looks store bought' good.  Maybe better than store bought.

Now some of us would be content to be really really good at something and do it once in a while for fun and relaxation.  That's called a hobby.  Not Zahava.  She began knitting gifts for the nieces and nephews and people she hasn't met yet.  She began knitting scarves and sweaters and car covers.  I think she may be working on a cozy for the house... y'know, to lower our heating bills this winter.

Anyway, you get the idea. 

With walking it is a similar thing.  When we both got our pedometers, she began casually asking me how many steps I'd done so far on most days.  And if my count was higher, she'd go out and walk some more just to beat me. 

So you can understand why when I saw that she'd signed up for the competition I was pleased that she'd push me to walk more than I otherwise might.  But I was also worried about her competitiveness.

Sure enough, about halfway through the day yesterday I got an email from Zahava 'casually' mentioning her step-count so far.  It was roughly four times what I'd walked so far to that point.

But it had the desired affect.  I went out and did a couple of quick laps of our office complex, and another couple at lunch time.  I even went and visited people on work related issues who I would otherwise have called on the phone.

When I got home I casually asked Zahava how she'd done, and she flashed her pedometer at me and said 13,407 steps today... how'd you do?

New here's where I may have been just the slightest bit evasive.  I said, "Not so good", and left it at that. 

I then went downstairs, answered some emails and went to bed.  When Zahava and I got up this morning I flashed her a big grin and told her that I'd actually walked over 14,000 steps yesterday.  She din't believe me and went and checked my pedometer.

When she saw the number she was genuinely angry with me.  "That's not fair.  I asked you how you'd done and you said 'not so good'.  That's dishonest!"

I asked her what she would have done if I had told her the whole truth, and she admitted that she would probably have gone out walking again.  So my caution was somewhat justified, no?

I have a feeling my lovely, but competitive wife is going to be walking to Jerusalem today just to show me who's boss.

On the horns of another dilemma

This past Thursday I wanted to pick up a particular brand of beer for the weekend.  I drove all over Beer Sheva looking, first at the ShuperSol Supermarket where I normally shop... and then at the larger Mega.  But to no avail.  Nobody had it.

On a whim I went to the local upscale liquor store, and even they didn't have it... but the owner told me that he was 100% certain that the supermarket down the block carried what I was looking for.

However, the 'supermarket down the block' he was referring to was a national chain called Tiv Ta'am.  Unlike ShuperSol and Mega which carry exclusively kosher products and are strictly sabbath observant, Tiv Ta'am has gone out of its way to position itself as the store where you can get anything you want (including pork products) any day of the week (including Sabbath and holidays).

Here's the crazy part:

In the US I would have no problem going into a grocery store that carried a majority of non-kosher products in order to buy the products I knew to be kosher.  There was never a sense of 'Morat Ayin' (over-simplified definition: potentially misleading someone into thinking the place was 100% kosher by my shopping there). 

But here in Israel, I honestly had a feeling there might be something wrong with going into Tiv Ta'am... in spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of products in the place are kosher.

I tried to call some of my 'go-to' friends for cultural/halachic questions... but everyone seemed to be busy.  In the end I went into Tiv Ta'am to look for my beer... and they did indeed have it.  However I was surprised by some of the things I noticed once inside the store.

First was the shock of seeing an actual bar & gill inside the supermarket.  Seriously, an actual bar where you can sit down, have a cold draught beer and even order a burger or steak while your better half does the shopping.

Next, although the meat and cheese counters were completely traif, the rest of the store was almost identical in layout and stock as the kosher Israeli supermarkets.  As I said before, the vast majority of packaged products were 100% kosher.  And it was every bit as clean and attractive (maybe more so) than any of the places I normally shop.  Just not a single kippah in the place (except mine, of course).  It was like shopping in Alabama or Montana.

Look, I took economics in college and I understand that where there is a demand, a supply will almost always follow.  Although roughly half of Israelis consider themselves 'traditional', that leaves a lot of people who are going to want at least occasionally access to a supermarket on Shabbat, and a somewhat smaller percentage who are actively looking for non-kosher products that are not available at other stores.

Now, as a kosher consumer, I have a vested interest in supporting businesses that go to the considerable extra time and expense of providing me with a product/service that is 100% acceptable to me.  But the question remains, am I doing something wrong by going to the non-kosher competition when I can't find something in my regular supermarket?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Any and all feedback is appreciated (so long as it does't attack or judge those who opt for one kind of shopping experience over another).

Gentlemen (and ladies), start your pedometers!

You've bought yourself a pedometer, right?  Oh c'mon people... the next walking competition starts Sunday morning... what were you thinking???

There's still time... but not much.  Go out to your local sporting goods store and buy a pedometer.  Splurge and buy one of the better ones.  The features and reliability will make you happy you did.

Now go sign up for walker tracker.  It's free and will allow you to track, graph and share your walking routine with pretty much anyone you want.  It will also give you a fantastic rear view mirror through which to view your progress.

Once you've done that, be sure to log (add) a day or two of steps, even if you have to make up a number and back date your step count a day or two.  This is because the competition is only open o people with an average of 100 steps or more.  Bedridden folks log 100 steps a day just going to and from the bathroom, people! 

Now where was I?  Ah yes, the competition.  Once you have your pedometer and have signed up for walkertracker, you'll need to register for my 'Six days and then you rest' competition.  Again, free of charge, but if you aren't signed up by midnight on Saturday... you'll be left behind.  Again.

So what are you waiting for?  Go!

Not feeling very witty just now...

I had a witty little post all lined up for you today... but I've put it back in the closet for a sunnier day.  I'm not feeling very witty just now, because a friend just got some unwelcome news.

Rivka is a friend of long standing.  We met and became friends when we were both in university (me at YU and she at Barnard).  Our circle of friends overlapped on several levels, and gradually we ended up thrown together often enough that we noticed that we had similar interests and liked each other immensely.

As often happens, we didn't stay in touch after graduating, but since we knew quite a few people in common, we tended to hear updates about each other.  So when Zahava and I moved our family to Israel I wasn't particularly surprised to find Rivka also living here with her husband and family.  And again our circles of friends overlapped.

Eventually our daughters ended up attending the same high school and became fast friends... even spending occasional shabbat together at our home or theirs.

You might already know the Rivka I'm telling you about... she also keeps a blog.  It's called 'Coffee and Chemo', a cute name for a blog that was inspired by Rivka's habit of inviting friends to sip a cup of coffee and keep her company during her regular chemotherapy sessions at the hospital.

Yes, Rivka has cancer.  Here own short-hand description of her condition and history:

"Diagnosed with DCIS (stage ZERO breast cancer) at age 39. Three surgeries and 2 years later... I became a statistical anomaly: breast cancer mysteriously metastasized to my bones, liver and lungs.  Diagnosis: Cancer is a "chronic illness." You can live with it   (Translation: I hope to be on chemotherapy for a LONG time!)."

And live with it she has.  Despite the rather 'in your face' blog title, Rivka's life isn't a pity party by any stretch of the imagination.  She has lived with her cancer the way someone might live with adult acne or arthritis; treating it as a chronic condition and enjoying life to fullest extent possible.

I can't remember Rivka mentioning her cancer on any of the occasions we've seen each other or attended functions at our daughters high school.  I guess she saves that for her blog.  But even the blog is usually up-beat and full of hope and life.  Oh sure, occasionally she gets overwhelmed by something and uses the blog to vent about a particularly painful treatment or her fears about the future.  But by and large, I would have to say that Rivka is one of the most positive people I know.

Which is why the latest news over at her blog took my breath away when I went over there this morning.  Even if you aren't a regular reader, you should go over anyway and lend some support. 

In the mean time, please pray (or have a good, happy, healing thought) for my friend RivkA bat Teirtzel.

Trouble falling asleep last night

I was actually completely exhausted when I went to bed last night... so I have no idea why I had trouble falling asleep.

I ended up watching 'The Big Lebowski' on the laptop in bed, and spent most of the night dreaming about drinking 'Caucasians' and bowling.

[zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Fantastic Quote

I'm sure most of you have seen this already, but it's too good not to share:

"On a more serious front, I sincerely hope that when the president goes in for his annual check-up, the doctors at Bethesda will do a brain scan. Surely something must be terribly wrong with a man who seems to be far more concerned with a Jew building a house in Israel than with Muslims building a nuclear bomb in Iran."

                                                     ~Columnist Burt Prelutzky~

Getting down off the soapbox and mingling with the crowd

If you passed someone on the street holding forth from atop a soap box on your way to the office, and stood listening to him/her for a few moments, you could be forgiven for not stopping to listen on subsequent days if what you'd heard was not compelling. 

But if you make a point of building time into your daily commute to stand and listen to to this soap box orator day after day - or even go a few blocks out of your way to do so - that would indicate that there is something there that makes you want to come back for more.

But how big a fan would you have to be to invite someone that you only know from hearing a semi-regular, 10 minute harangue, to speak to your colleagues, friends and family?

I have to admit that it is endlessly flattering to have people from all over the world come to my small corner of the Web in order to 'hear' the random things that fall out of my head on any given morning.  Seriously, it never grows old.  And even more flattering is that many of the people who don't agree with me seem to come back again and again in order to voice their disagreement. 

But what blows me away is that occasionally I'll get an invitation to give a live presentation here in Israel or abroad, based solely on my 'status' as a blogger... and I can't help thinking; what the heck are these people smoking?  For all they know I might be an ax murderer or a raving lunatic ... or worse; a religious settler!

Well, it's happened again, and I couldn't possibly be more flattered... or shocked. 

I've been invited to speak in the UK at this year's Limmud Conference which is scheduled to take place (IY"H) during the last week of December at Warwick University (located on the border of Coventry and Warwickshire). 

I have to admit that having spent no more than a day or two in the UK, I was unfamiliar with Limmud.  However, after receiving the invitation I went to their site to see what it was all about, and found that the list of speakers from previous Limmud Conferences was simply astounding.  Seriously, world renowned Rabbis, political figures, scientists, artists, writers, musicians... it was a veritable 'Who's Who' of Western Society. 

So as I sat there looking at this invitation, I had to figure out if perhaps...

a) ... someone was playing a practical joke on me;

b) ... whoever arranged for my invitation to speak wasn't carefully supervised and had made a rash decision for which they will likely to be sacked.

c) ... the vetting process for potential speakers had taken a sudden turn for the worse.

Just to be on the safe side I dashed off an email to the woman who had sent the invitation just to make sure it wasn't a joke.  I should point out that this is far harder than it sounds, because you have to walk a very fine line between sounding genuinely interested (grateful, even), and not wanting to walk face-first into a pie.

In the end it turns out that the invitation to the conference was not only quite genuine, but they want me to give four sessions! Woot!

So now that I've accepted the invitation all I have to do is:

1. Convince Zahava to join me for a week (during the winter) in the UK.

2.  Let my office know I'll be taking some time off.

3.  Come up with some compelling topics (I'll be asking for your help on this one, don't worry!).

The best part (for me, anyway) is that I get to step down off this virtual soap box for a moment and actually meet some real live people.  It'll be nice to finally meet some of the UK treppenwitz readers.  I hope I can live up to my billing.

Updates to follow...

Winners of the treppenwitz 10k challenge

Some of you may recall that a little over a month ago I issued an open invitation for people to join a walking challenge to see who could accumulate the highest daily average of steps over a 34 day period.  The idea was to get people to do at least 10,000 steps per day... but the sky was the limit.

I was pleasantly surprised by how many people signed up for the challenge since it required making a small purchase (going to a sporting goods store and picking up a pedometer) and actually getting out and walking every day. 

The competition ended on Friday, and the final results were tabulated over the weekend by the elves in the servers at WalkerTracker.com.  I'm pleased to announce that a very nice woman who calls herself 'lighthouslady' ran away with the top spot with a blistering daily average of 31,000 steps!

First of all, everyone who actually finished the 34 days is a winner in my book (awwww, group hug!).  That's a long commitment and I'm proud of everyone who toughed it out.  Hopefully it will lead to good habits and make all of us aware of how much we actually don't move unless we force ourselves off the couch.

But as promised, there are multiple prizes in this competition:

First place (as already mentioned) goes to 'Lighthouselady'.

Last place prize (but having completed all 34 days) goes to 'nycspark1'

A 'Middle of the pack' prize was picked out of a hat (actually a paper bag) from among all the walkers who completed all 34 days... and the lucky winner is  'Ilanadavita'.

The winners (in all three categories) will receive a genuine treppenwitz coffee mug:

  

Winners can claim their prize by emailing their shipping address to:  treppenwitz [at] gmail [dot] com.

Just as an aside, anyone who wants to feel like a winner can order this mug (or any of the other products) from the 'treppenwitz swag shack'. 100% of the profits from sales go to support this site, as well as to enable the philanthropic impulses of the site-owner.

So what's next?  Glad you asked.

Starting immediately, you can sign up for the next treppenwitz walking challenge which begins this coming Sunday morning.  Rather than being a month-long slog (which seems to have scared off a lot of people off), this one will be for 6 days only... and is appropriately named 'Six days and then you rest'. 

Not to be discriminatory or anything, but for this competition I have limited the field to those with an average step count of between 100 and 15000.  So this will require you to have at least a day or two of steps registered before you can join the competition if you are new to the site.

If you aren't already a WalkerTracker member, come on over and sign up (it's free!).  It's really kind of nice the way a micro-community springs up around these competitions and everyone offers encouragement to one another.

What are you waiting for?  =:~)

Not realizing which team he's on

The other day Zahava came up from her studio late in the afternoon to find all three kids camped out in front of the TV, watching something that was highly inappropriatefor the youngest member of the group (Yonah, age 5). 

After giving Ariella and Gilad the the requisite lecture about what kind of shows are appropriate for a five year old to watch, Zahava gave them the stink eye (something only mothers know how to give properly) and then went on about her business.

Fast forward to a tender moment on the couch in the living room.  Zahava asks Yonah if he'd like to watch something on TV with her.  Yonah considers her offer seriously for a moment and answers, "OK Imma, but make sure it's 'propriate for me".

I don't think he fully grasps that he and his parents are playing for opposing teams in this competition.

I can't believe I ate (almost) the whole thing

I would have liked to have played hookey from work yesterday in honor of my birthday, but unfortunately life as a grown-up doesn't always work out the way you'd like.  However I did the next best thing; after work I went with my lovely wife to Tel Aviv for the evening.

We started out at the Ramat Aviv Mall where Zahava had to shop for a new computer for her design business.  The iDigital store there at the mall is wall-to-wall Mac products... heaven!

While she was meeting with a technical adviser about the machine she wanted, I explored all the neat Apple toys and accessories.  BTW, if any of you noticed a hit on your sites from Ramat Aviv last night, it was because I caught up on some blog reading on one of the ginormous 30" screens they had hooked up to their demonstrator computers.  I didn't even need to put on my reading glasses!

In the end Zahava, closed a deal on their top-of-the line professional machine which has more raw computing power than the old Cray Supercomputers, hard disk space in the terra-byte range and more RAM memory than my last computer had storage!  Since they'll have to ship this monster to her Mac technician for configuration and transferring all her work files over from her old computer, we left the mall happily unencumbered.

BTW, the mall itself... OMG!

Don't people wear clothes in Tel Aviv!  :-P' ' '     I mean seriously, who needs 'pron' when you can simply stroll through the mall and be literally assaulted by thongs, bikini lines and boob jobs for free?  And irony of irony, I forgot to wear my concealed holster for my gun (which I try to do when in Tel Aviv), so as we walked through the mall, people were glaring at me like I'd just opened my raincoat to flash a bunch of girl scouts! 

Whatever.

Anyhoo, the technical negotiations regarding Zahava's computer went later than we'd expected because they apparently aren't used to actually selling this high end computer. I guess they keep just one in the store to make people drool... so it was really late when we finally hit the road.

As we got into the car I asked Zahava if she wanted to get something to eat since neither of us had eaten dinner before heading out.  She readily agreed, and we immediately settled on one of our very favorite restaurants in the Tel Aviv area; Dr. Shakshuka.

For those of you not in the know, Dr. Shakshuka is a landmark eatery in old Yaffo (Jaffa) whose menu only begins with pretty much every kind of Shakshuka known to man.  From there it branches out into middle eastern grilled meats, soups, salads, breads, desserts... you name it.

Ever since our friends Imshin and Bish introduced us to the place we have been addicted!  It is located around the corner from the old clock tower in Yaffo and is in one of those old Arab style stone buildings with outdoor courtyard seating for the overflow crowd.  Inside the walls are packed with memento photos from soldiers and celebrities, and the ceiling is strung with hundreds of antique brass 'Primus' cooking stoves.

We normally go for just the Shakshuka when we're there, but since it was my birthday we let the waitress talk us into the 'sampler menu'.  She started by bringing us a big skillet of Shakshuka with grilled Margez (a spicy South African sausage) mixed in, a dozen or so different salads and a big jug of lemonade.

From that point, we started getting a couple of new dishes every 5 minutes or so.  Grilled beef kabobs, pergiyot (spring chicken), steak, lamb in gravy, beans and beef in a spicy tomato sauce, a spicy North African meat and vegetable soup, and on and on and on.

Somehow we also attempted to have a couple of draught beers (Zahava finished hers... I managed only half of mine)... and that, just to keep things moving in the right direction.  But finally we both leaned back in defeat and signaled to the waitress not to bring anything else.

She seemed mildly hurt that we hadn't finished everything but agreed to wrap up the remains of our favorite entrees.  As she was taking away some of the wreckage of our meals she asked us about dessert and tea or coffee.  It was like that scene from 'The Meaning of Life' where the obese guy is being offered 'just a tiny after dinner mint' ... if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about.

Finally we were talked into just a glass of Nana (mint) tea... but naturally it came with a few 'small' pieces of spiced honey cake (and sparklers since Zahava had told them it was my b'day).  Oy!

On the ride home Zahava tipped her seat back and went to sleep, leaving me to concentrate on driving... and digestion.  All in all, a great way to spend a birthday evening (even though I consumed my calorie allotment for the rest of the month).  :-)

48 things you may not have known about me

Yeah, it's that time again.  Another trip around the sun means yet another list.  If you are interested in the lists from previous years, you can go here, here, here, here and here.

So let's get right to it:

1. I hate being subjected to snap judgments.
2. I admit I often judge others in a snap.
3. I can feel my older kids starting to pull away, and although I know that's normal and healthy... I can't help myself from fighting to try and keep them close.
4. At 21 I couldn't wait to jump on that ride called 'adulthood'.  Now that I'm 48 I wish I could slow it down just a bit.
5. I love spotting religious Jews in Tel Aviv.
6. I love spotting secular Jews in Jerusalem, too.  Maybe more so. 
7. My favorite soft drink is Root Beer.
8. The only thing better than a tall glass of Root Beer is a tall glass of Root Beer with chocolate ice cream floating in it!
9. I love giving gifts.
10. I'm impossible to gift shop for.
11. I'm a great secret keeper... mostly because I forget most things people tell me.
12. Although I'm a total coffee snob... I'm starting to understand and appreciate (good) tea.
13. I used to think glasses were the coolest thing.  Now I just find them to be an annoyance.
14. I traveled the length and breadth of Israel by bicycle in my 20s.
15. I want to do it again before I'm 50.
16. I have a secret desire to hike Shvil Yisrael (the Israel National trail that goes from Eilat to Dan near the Lebanese border) with my family.
17. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am not 'special' in the way that all people think they are somehow destined for greatness when they are young.
18. I look into my wife's and children's eyes and finally know I am special.
19. I've stopped asking 'why me?' when bad things happen.
20. I look around at my life today and my relative good fortune (tfu tfu tfu), and ask myself every day 'why me?'... what did I do to deserve such 'riches'.
21. I love that we use the good silver, china and crystal at least once a week.  They're for us to enjoy now... not to save for 'someday'.
22. Using the good silver, china and crystal means occasionally losing or breaking a piece. 
23. We can always buy more silver, china or crystal... We can't buy more enjoyment from life.
24. I often wish there were some sort of cable that would allow me to transfer my hard-earned life experience directly to my kids.
25. I know in my heart that the previous is a silly wish since much of my enjoyment for, and appreciation of, life has come directly from those life experiences.
26. My wife works from home and I have an hour commute each way.  I know I'm the lucky one.
27. I miss my brother and sisters because we live so far away from one another.  I feel bad that I don't tell (or show) them that enough.
28. I would love to take a serious carpentry/cabinet-making course.
29. I've have promised myself that, one day, I will own a fine swiss watch... but I'm OK with the fact that it may not happen soon.
30. I hate shopping for clothes so much that I have very little presentable clothing left to wear.
31. When I get angry about the relatively minor stupidities that my older kids perpetrate, in the back of my mind I silently wonder what kind of saints my parents must have been to not have given up on me during my tumultuous teenage years.
32. Naps (especially on Shabbat) are more important to me now than when I was 3.
33. Although I miss my family when I'm away... I never tire of all the new experiences that come with traveling. 
34. I wish I could travel more with my family.
35. I want to learn how to use a slide-rule.
36. I wish I knew how to use a sextant.
37. A couple of times a year I decide on the spur of the moment to call up someone with whom I've only had an online friendship. 
38. I have never regretted reaching out and turning a virtual friendship into a real one.  In fact we have hosted an incredible number of such friends in our home.
39. I've regretted not asking for something far more often than I've regretted asking.
40. If you asked my two older kids if I've ever had 'the talk' with them, they will probably say no.  But in truth we've had hundreds of talks that contained far more useful information than I could have ever packed into one tense, sweaty-browed lecture.
41. I'm not done talking to them... there's still lots more for them to learn.
42. If I could have only one wish granted, I'd still ask for two or three.  At least that much I've learned from living here. It never hurts to ask!
43. Although I don't have the patience to write a real honest-to-goodness letter... mail it and wait for a reply... I genuinely miss the anticipation, surprise, touch and even smell of real mail.
44. When I was younger I had enormous appetites. 
45. I still have huge appetites, but my desires are now focused on quality over quantity.
46. Without being morbid, I wish I could make my kids understand that they should be nicer to each other since one day they will wake up and find that there is nobody else left in the world who truly knows and understands what makes them tick.
47. I once greeted an Indian client of mine with a casual 'How are you?'... expecting to get an equally flippant reply of 'Fine'..  His response surprised me:  He said, "I am the ocean, David.  On the surface the ocean might appear calm or angry... but the ocean is so huge and deep that nothing can change it.  It is always just the ocean.".
48. I don't know what the secret of life is or what happens after this life is over.  But I sure am enjoying the ride.