Two blocks away and the smoke is still billowing. 

You can barely see the flames, but keep in mind the building in front of it which is shielding the view is actually three stories taller which gives some idea to how high the flames are. 

FIRE!!!!

Working on a few emails from home in the city I start hearing explosions. I know they aren’t gun shots they were far too loud, sounded more like rocket shells going off. I look out the window and just a couple of blocks away there is a huge amount of smoke and flames coming from a close building. Curiosity getting the best of me I have to check it out.

I will not hold you in suspense, it turns out a car repair shop had a small fire which spread to their oxygen and acetyl tanks. Those were what made the explosions. Now this was my first time witnessing a major fire inside the city directly adjacent to major residential complexes. The car repair shop was actually the first floor of the complex which of course caused it to spread to the apartments above. Standing about a block away with residents the horror fear and anguish was sobering. People were crying and screaming and there was just quite a bit of emotion, all of it of course captured by the news media that was quick to show up.

Also to my surprise was the sheer number of responders that are required to show up to even a minor event such as this. Well of course you have the fire department, in this case roughly 9 engine companies 5 ladder companies, 2 heavy rescue trucks and a battalion chief (from what I could see). Then you have the police department, in this case quite a bit of crowd and traffic control was necessary as it was adjacent to a major highway exit and residential street. Probably about 60 officers closing off around 2 blocks on all side. Then of course you need to have PG&E to ensure there are no power or further gas explosions around the area, maybe 7 of those trucks showed up. Based on the sheer amount of water being used and of course dumped flooding is always a concern so the Water Department was also present. Various city officials and a couple of other unknown agencies also came, all told roughly 200 responders for a single fire. Keeping in mind that this is at a time where there are no other events going on and it is a beautiful fall day, I can now begin to imagine the vast taxing of the emergency system if a larger scale incident would have happen such as earthquake, city wide black out etc. I would love to say everything went smoothly but even on something so limited there was still major communication flaws with none of the agencies being able to communicate with each and there was a lot of individuals running around trying to get or give information.

We need to work on this!

Yes the KFC man and the Joker, they make a great pair. 

Madonna throughout the decades, and yes they could actually sing too! 

Is this just wrong? Yes that is a priest with a small boy (doll) wrapped around his waist. Yikes 

A version of Wizard of Oz bound to cause more restless sleep than any Friday the 13th movie! 

Jesus! Literally Jesus with Brutus.  

The Arab 'woman' and their small disdain for the war. Oh and add a SF cop just for fun. 

Nothing like a Rabbi in the Castro. 

Geisha men for all. 

What is he? I have no idea but the outfit must have taken forever to put on. 

Solid Gold Baby! FYI, yes these girls. 

Halloween in the city

Disclaimer: I am writing this after the benefit of a couple of beers and shots, so suffice to say the literary skills might not be up to usual par.

Now here I was promising a blog tomorrow and although technically it is tomorrow it is still attached to yesterday. I decided to discover Halloween as only San Francisco dares to hold it. Not knowing what to expect or what the norm will be I grab my trust medical uniform and head down Market toward the Castro. Now for those outside the city. Castro is the gay district, now when you consider what San Francisco is known for this is really saying something. Even before I got to Castro I am stunned to find all traffic on Market street (a major artery in the city) at a complete standstill as a Greek Orthodox priest stands dead center of three lanes anointing them with his lit and smoking incense burner. The beauty of this city was no one honked (except for one lone cabbie), in fact most just laughed it out and clapped. I love the tolerance.

Prior to this evening I actually think I have gotten the habit of telling male versus female. Granted the Adam’s Apple is not a perfect test, but I am getting better at it. Yet after tonight all bets are completely off. Normally men are dressing like woman, and the woman as men, but now the men are dressing like women dressing like men. I don’t think I have ever been so confused. Walking down the street following a skirt with two great legs coming out of it, only to turn the corner and find out it’s a guy. That was a fearful surprise even before the alcohol. Took it all in stride because the evening/morning just got crazier.

Further on once I hit Castro any preconceptions I might have had went right out the window. Between a 20 foot inflatable governator (Schwarzenegger) who got the air kicked out of him (literally) by virtually everyone present (he is not well liked in this neighborhood) to the 30 wailing drag queen Arabs in full afghans mercilessly insulting Saddam it was simply indescribable.

Now just in case there is any question (grandparents I know you read this), I am into woman. However if I was into men I would have been in complete hog heaven. I have never had so many people hit on me, and yes now I have heard every line there is when it comes to hitting on a medic. The best thing for the women is this is the one place where the guys were certainly not checking them out beyond their outfits and possibly shoes. I have seen more men in tights and high heels than ever thought possibly but most certainly entertaining. I do love the straightforward manner a number of the guys have, they come up to you and point blank ask, straight or gay. I look them straight in the eye and with a bit of an apology tell them straight, he doesn’t skip a beat and says ‘that’s ok girlfriend no one is perfect, one of these days you join the right team’. Absolutely hilarious.

But the highlight of the evening/morning was walking to the curb to take a phone call and meeting two righteous girls (not in costume at all) who were very cool in a running Joan Rivers play-by-play of the costumes parading by. Ironically they are (or were) at technology companies, one in fact even met people I work closely with, seriously small world. One even persuades a passing male pirate to spank me with his sword, although I think she enjoyed it more than I did. Suffice to say everyone was very open (quite open) but definitely out for a good time. After Castro we hit another club to meet up with their other friends where there was a more normal distribution of gay/straight than Castro. We hung out for just a short time when they headed over to their hotel while I hopped a cab back to the old pad to write this blog and head off to bed.

Buffet at the Supermarket, Payment Optional

I thought this would be like any other trip to the supermarket, just grab a couple of quick things and be on my way. Little did I know that today was Saturday (actually I knew it was Saturday it is the next part I didn’t know) and that on Saturdays when the store is nice and busy it is open season for the buffet. I know this is a stereotype but I kind of expect a homeless person to go into the grocery the maybe make sure of some of the unpacked foods, but here are teenagers and even 20 year olds walking around opening containers of food, eating some and putting the container back. Even seemingly ‘respectable’ couples grabbing some of the fruit off the stand and eating it while pushing a loaded cart through the store. So why does this bother me so much? Besides the fact that there is the chance that one of these days I am going to end up buying a box of something that has been previously opened and consumed, but this is what drives up my prices. For each percent of shrinkage (no this is not in reference to a blog from earlier in the week, this is the industry term for the price of lost and stolen goods) I as the consumer am being forced to pay more. In fact the supermarket I go to has it so bad that at any given time there are no less than 4 security guards to try and curtail people running out with goods. Twice I have seen people chased as they run out full speed their jacket or shirt piled full of products. The crazy thing is I do not live in such a bad neighborhood, but yet many think this is just fun and sticking it to the man. Well apparently now we are the man since we are the ones paying the price.

Now that I am off the soap box I am truly stunned by the reaction from my blog from earlier in the week. I have gotten a number of emails enjoying the openness of the conversation and in fact even taking the opportunity to ask about other things such as blue balls, why men feel the need to constantly readjust in public and shrinkage (the Seinfeld version). Fear not I am not going to go into any of those at this point, for I also got emails from others horrified that I would talk about anything of the sort in a public setting. It was not that it was about me, but rather that I was talking about something better left in private. Since when is anatomy, behavior, and even sex something to be so completely mortifying that it needs to be shunned at all costs. Why can we not have open and frank conversations especially when it is done specifically for either entertainment or educational purposes. To those of you emailing expressing disgust over open conversations about anatomy, I would frankly say, grow up. Enough said.

Ok tomorrow back to the levity that pervades my entries.

The Human Spirit

The human psyche goes through an unbelievable rollercoaster throughout the life of a person. We experience such euphoria at times, but also we are subjected to some of the most painful experiences only humans can imagine. Yet we survive and even thrive to grow to be stronger. The stories I hear of friends and even strangers on busses and planes is enough to wonder how mankind can do these things to each other. Military torture has nothing on emotional torture we do to each other.

There is a close friend of mine whose husband spend ten years cheating on her with virtually every woman he met. Imagine now wondering if you or your son might have any number of diseases he might have picked up on his travels. Yet another friend of mine’s former husband has decided that although he makes a horrible father to the point his daughter cries and begs not to have to go to his house, he is trying for increased custody simply to decrease his child custody payments. One would expect a certain amount of bitterness and quite a bit of anger on behalf of these friends, and yet they are some of the most cheerful and caring people I have ever met. I have another who is going through a horrible medical situation yet she has had a smile on her face every day that I have seen her and a pillar of strength to both her children. Sometimes when you wonder how our society can do certain things you hear or see these stories and you understand that this is how we continue to survive. I take a moment and salute everyone who has gone through a horrible experience and yet does not let it taint their spirit or their attitude. May we never lose a bit of our childlike enthusiasm or our love of life.

Speaking of love of life as I was driving my way for another three hour session donating platelets (this time I did not wrench the needle out of my arm by mistake) I had this black BMW on my rear bumper just literally inches away. Ok maybe a few feet but still pretty close. The remarkable thing was I was not far that far away from the car ahead of me, thus it was not like I was being excessively slow. Now hear I am jamming to some good music and this car is just laying on my bumper. Now I love the fact that I am not in a rush in fact I can take all the time I need. So I just ease off the gas a little bit, no brake, just less gas. I look in the rear view mirror and see this guy with sunglasses on literally banging on the steering wheel. All around us there are cars going slower than us, so its not like we are going anywhere quickly. I remember a joke someone told me when I had my old car (yes I will admit a BMW), “What is the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?” The porcupine has its pricks on the outside. (insert laugh here). You know I think some people just need to relax a little, smell the flowers, although probably not on the side of 101.

In other news I was scheduled to fly to Boston to give a talk at a work event on Monday and in typical form for my company I find out today that the event has been postponed. I am a bit disappointed since I was supposed to meet up with a friend I have not seen in a while, however excited to be in the city for Halloween which should be a blast, I will most certainly post pictures here. As for now I am off to have some Tapas for dinner (Tapas being translated as not enough food for a growing boy).

When not to rest ones eyes

Well I am starting to get used to the commute from the big city to the little city, however 5:30am seems to be getting in earlier and earlier. So I stumble into my car and sink into those wonderfully plush leather seats and am ready to fall back asleep. Driving at 70 MPH (and police officers reading, of course I am never at this speed! Well if so someone is right on my tail, I promise) is really not the proper time to rest your eyes because they are sooo heavy. Fear not I always have a bottle of water and mints to help wake up the brain but it does take some effort. Instead I have to put on some good music that I can really rock to. So if you are driving on 101 at six in the morning and see someone singing at the top of their lungs looking like Stevie Wonder, say hi to me!

The funniest thing happened to me today, well it really isn’t funny in fact it is downright aggravating but I am laughing it off. A colleague of mine volunteered to do something yesterday and asked a whole bunch of senior management what they thought. They all agreed it was a great idea and should get done. This morning she replies to all of them which includes of few VPs and directors saying now she doesn’t have time but she is sure I will be able to handle it. This is the epitome of someone trying to climb the ladder, making themselves look good with the least amount of work possible. And you know what, G-d bless them. They spend so much time trying to out do others that their work is lacking and people talk about them behind their back. Hence the humor part of this whole thing. But in all honesty it really is a shame that this still happens. I mean lets face it, yes I know business is war, but we are also all here for the group or company to succeed, not just one person. The more they do this the less a team can come together as a group. That is a real shame, however there are much more important things to spend our time thinking about.

I have gotten a couple of emails from readers about yesterday’s entry, most citing surprise not realizing the life it leads without our control. Well believe it ladies, it is many times no more in control than your chest on a cold day. Ok enough of that though.

Short entry today as I actually need to get some work done, but hope I continue to provide entertainment value to your day.

Most inconvenient

If there are any family members reading this for the sake of your mental health I might recommend this is one blog entry you might want to skip. Ok maybe not the entire entry just the next paragraph.

So this is probably way more information than most of you want to read but it is most embarrassing. As many of you know men will randomly get an erection. Ok settle down we are all adults here and it is not a dirty word. But seriously men can have these at the most inopportune times, sometimes just when we really have to go to the bathroom. Ok so why am I brining this up now. Can you picture having to stand up in front of 6 executives with this problem? It is horrible. Here I am in the back of the room listening to the previous speaker and checking a few emails when something sets it off. God knows what it was (who knows what goes on in the head of us men), but once it starts you take all your energy to make it go away. You think about work or really ugly woman naked, anything to make it stop. But the problem is the more one thinks about it the worse it gets. Oh no the previous speaker is done, now I have to get up and go to the front. I try to use my laptop as some woman use a clipboard. I am sure no one else notices but I cower behind the podium which I hate to do during a presentation until it finally decides on its own to go away. Listen I know you women have your fair share of challenges and problems but us men have them as well. As Elaine said on Seinfeld, “I don’t know how you live with them”. It is a challenge it is definitely a challenge.

Ok moving away from my public mortification, I did get my second parking ticket in the city, but this time completely unfair. They said I parked in a two hour spot for more than two hours but I distinctly remember having to move my car to go to the store, the same spot just happened to be available when I came back. I checked no chalk marks on the car so yes I am going to write a letter to contest, we will see what happens.

Elsewhere in the world I am thrilled to say I went to the gym for the first time in almost two weeks and it is amazing how much better I feel. It never ceases to amaze me how much a quick 45 minute workout can change your entire physical feeling. Of course naps help do the same thing, but difficult to take a nap at work.

As for work there is the usual infighting, bickering and jockeying for attention by certain people. I love the fact I simply don’t care about that whole thing. I do my job to the best of my ability, try to help out where I can provide assistance and don’t sweat the small stuff. Nothing like stopping a heart attack to put things in perspective. So while they scheme and backstab and do everything else leading to ulcers, I am actually really enjoying life. Go figure.

Even as facilities cleans up the line of spectators continue to cheer enthusiastically for over seven hours for each and every runner. 

At 7 hours since starting the runners are a mere trickle across the finish line. 

This entire limo started filled from front to rear. 

A limo filled with Tiffany necklaces supplies firemen with tuxes wh ohand them to the runners. 

Nothing dampened their spirit as an endless sea of foil covers the grounds. 

Enthusiastic runners struggling to stay warm in the rain and fog.  

Run with heart and soul

Today was the second annual Nike’s Woman’s Marathon for Lymphoma and other blood borne cancers. Considering the face that I had to be up at 2 am to meet with the rest of the crew to stage this was truly a unique event that will not be soon forgotten. Over 15,000 women showed up to run but to talk about numbers would be serve a disservice on the level of describing the entire flooding of the ark with Noah with just the number of animals saved.

The time is 3am, a heavy fog covers the entire city as the temperature hits a high of 54 degrees. Small groups of people sway along the streets just making their way home after a night of partying on a typical Saturday night. Approximately 50 members of the Red Cross meet up at pier 27 where almost 100 cots and 10 truck load of supplies wait to be distributed. Coffee is drunk as we are briefed on the morning’s logistics. I am assigned with three others to the first First Aid Station at the two mile marker. Not many injuries are expected so should be an easy gig, not unlike the dozens of others from the past summer. Each station loads into their respective vans and makes their way along the course. Bundled up and still in a dark and foggy city, we set up the station in anticipation for the masses. At 5:30 the first group of walkers come by quickly followed by the elite runners and then the masses. A quick rush of 30 or so victims coming in as quick as we can treat them, mostly basic blisters, Vaseline requests, cuts and scrapes and only one serious trauma. Yet by 7am they all pass as they are still in a group from the starting line. We quickly make our way to the finish line to be a mobile team helping as they complete the race. As of now nothing different than any other event from the summer, with the exception that the sun has risen although a rain has now begun to fall over the city.

Waiting at the finish line we watch as dozens come in limping as we ask many of them if they are ok and need assistance. One young lady comes in limping severely with tears flowing down her cheeks. Thinking they are tears of pain I quickly go to help her, but she pushes past mumbling that she is ok. In disbelief I look back to see the back of her jersey where in black hand written letters she wrote, ‘This one is for you Mom’. This is when I started to watch the runners beyond just people running a race. Hundreds of woman with buttons and lettering to indicate their status as survivors of this terrible disease. Through torn ligaments, bleeding and pain, there was a passion that they carried with them that drove them through 26 miles of hills and hard asphalt. It is the memory that they were told that they would not see their next birthday, and yet years later after many birthdays, they are now a marathon runner. There is no stopping, and there is no talk of giving up anywhere along the route. With tears and hugs they cross the finish line showing their strength and determination.

Then there are those with slips of paper attached to their jerseys or buttons with faces and smiles. These are those that are running for those they have lost or are currently fighting. They are running for those who can not run for themselves. They run to show their love, their hope for the future, and the frustration of not being able to kill this disease. With almost the same veracity and determination as the survivors they push their body to achieve wondrous accomplishments. They stream across the finish line to be met by 6 firemen in tuxes handing out little blue boxes with white ribbons atop silver trays, each box holding a tiffany’s necklace of a woman runner. Yet they pay little mind to a sight that many woman dream of on many a warm night. This is not for the reward of free Jamba Juices of necklaces for most, this is for a more meaningful purpose. The rain continues to beat down on these runners and yet there are triumphant looks on their faces.

Yet with all the heart in the world the body can only take so much punishment. As they cross the finish line the runners are covered in shiny metal blankets the thickness and consistency of plastic wrap to warm the runners in the rain and in the cold. After the euphoria wore off the pain of torn ligaments, bruised hips, hearts that took an awful lot of punishment, to name a few start to be felt. With the help of some med students from UCSF our motley group of Red Cross volunteers treat well over 600 patients with all various degrees of injuries. Our main treatment tent began to look like something from a war movie and yet never once did the mood change from excitement to one of frustration or exhaustion.

The medical students I was teamed up was a 3^rd year orthopedic surgical student and a fourth year ER student. Although very knowledgeable in all various types of injuries and treatments, school had rarely taught them bed side manner in the field or basic treatments. So many patients are reluctant to go to get assistance, rather they would prefer to try to tough it out, part of our job is to identify those that really do need assistance and encourage them to see assistance before they turn critical. The medical students were quick learners with all we taught them and were open to both suggestions and teamwork, learning as much from us as we did from them. I just hope they remember what it is like in the field as they continue into the much more comfortable lifestyle inside the hospital operating room.

By hour seven of the race the runners are much more sporadic but if possible the crowd was even more enthusiastic as each runner crossed the finish line The emotions ran high as they remembered those loved ones who could not join them today. Our medics are now approaching an exhausted level after being on shift for more than 16 hours straight many times without a break or meal. Yet we continue to treat going through supplies in the field by the packet load and smiles and congratulations for all the winners who crossed the line. I don’t think I can remember a more rewarding time I have had being part of a group of volunteers in my life. May these events provide some level of comfort to those who have lost close friends and family while also provide a means of celebration for those who fought and survived this affliction.

With that I am going to get some sleep as I received a mere 2 hours of sleep last night.

I don’t get it

This past week has been so complicated and confusing that I am not even sure where to begin, however today is fairly representative of the week I just had.

Flew home from Orlando at 7am on a fairly typical flight, nice 5 and a half hour trip. Landed in San Francisco airport and immediately started to drive to the south bay, took about three exits before I realized I live in San Fran now and had to do a u-turn. Found this killer parking space right in front of my building and in less than two hours got a parking ticket for parking for more than two hours without a permit. Yes I am going to contest it since I had not even landed two hours previously. I went to get my mail and half my mail is missing (like my Netflix movies), the mailman happened to be there so I asked about if the rest of my mail was at the post office. He assured me that the 6 letters I got was all the mail I got in two weeks. I have my doubts but nothing I can do about this except wait.

Oh but the crown to add to the crown, the crème of the crop, was a date I was supposed to go on from a mutual friend. In 4 roundtrip emails she determined that since I live in San Francisco and she lives in the south bay that it is too difficult to go on a date even though I am down in the south bay 5 days a week. Wait it gets better, she determined that in four emails that I was not right for her and not worth a date. Now I have scared some woman away but rarely so quickly and with such definitiveness. I look at it and laugh for who would imaging I would actually find a female that could make instant decisions.

Wait it gets even better. I come home and flipped on the TV set to find the oddest behavior is still going on with it. The volume turns on instantly but the picture wouldn’t turn on for 5-10 minutes like it needs to warm up. But this time it got worse, every 30 minutes or so the screen would go out and I would have to reboot the TV. So I decided to go to the supermarket and get some essentials after being on the road for 12 days. The clerk who had the chest of a female but the voice of a male and an Adams apple, but regardless she she/he just finished scanning all my groceries and as I look to scan my credit card the cash register went blue screen. Yes indeed the cash register crashed and took maybe 10 minutes to reboot and reload. At least my work computer is still in working order, but maybe I shouldn’t say that and jinx it.

So this is how my week went. Everything attempted for work just didn’t come out as planned, and yet best intentions. Never enough time in the day to accomplish everything tasked to me, and yet more just gets assigned everyday. A bit disheartening I think. However the highlight of the week came about because on of my good buddies and my roommate from college came and spent a few days with me over the weekend in Orlando visiting Disneyworld. There was thrills, chills, screams and laughter, ok maybe not that dramatic but it was certainly a ton of fun. It was great seeing him again since it had been over a year since our last trip.

Today as the entire city is fogged in I will continue my quest for applications writing ever more involved and exciting essays. Is there no end to the excitement?

Meat Market, the other side

Before I go into a tirade of some craziness I am getting used to here in the city that has nothing but surprises, I should make a blanket apology to all members of the fairer sex. Yes that would be to you ladies out there, I am sorry if I ever personally spent just a moment too long maybe checking out your legs, or your chest or some other aspect of your body. I think I have begun to get a small glimpse of what you go through.

Walking down the street to simply go to the supermarket I pass 2 self-service laundry stations, two bars, a gas station, a salon and a sushi restaurant. Outside of most of these establishments there are usually a number of people hanging out socializing, reading a book or just watching the world go by. Any girls in this area tend to simply look up, possibly make eye-contact and go back to what they were doing. The men however will look up and start with your face and move all the way down to your feet and then back up again. Once you pass them if you look back oh they are so checking out your butt. Now granted I can understand that in my case, I have a fine looking rear end, but every time I have to wonder if I sat in something or is there something they are staring at. Occasionally I will get a smile (tends to only be with the guys) and on a good day I will even get a ‘hey, how you doing’. Granted this is slightly flattering but definitely a bit unsettling. Coming back from a red cross event I had my uniform on, boots, BDU pants, uniform shirt, utility belt and all and I was fairly mobbed. Who would have guessed that what works on woman also works on men. Now if only I was attracted to that gender I would be all set. But it has been a learning experience walking down the street and having many eyes on you.

To answer a question from my previous entry the cost of the haircut was $25, certainly not unreasonable, but still a bit higher than usual. Must be all that shampoo and conditioner.

Tomorrow I leave on two weeks worth of business travel leading me to Raleigh, Baltimore, and Orlando. Hopefully there will be some good movies on the plane because unfortunately I am actually caught up on my emails and a couple of my large projects. This is a great feeling, but definitely a little bit unusual for me, don’t get me wrong I am not complaining at all!

View from my apartment. That is Market street one of the main streets in the city. The lights in the background are the hills surrounding the city. Castro is just a few streets away. 

My bedroom, office, and family room in my new apartment. High ceilings and a great view make this a great new home! 

A view of my breakfast area in my new apartment. This room almost became my bedroom, except for the fact it is roughly 4ft by 5 ft.  

A haircut that becomes everything but

So I understand living in San Francisco is going to take some adjustments on my part. Not everything will be the same in the big city as compared to the suburbs, doubly so when you consider that city is San Fran. Well today I went for a rather mundane and monthly errand of getting my hair cut. Down in the south bay this would entail a quick trip to a barber where in no more than 15-20 minutes of razor and scissor action I will be up and out and about my way. This time was just a smidgen different.

I found a new barber shop that is just a couple of blocks from my house, but as I have learned there are no standard barber shops, they are all salons. But regardless I decide to venture and give it a shot. There is a single guy working the chairs working on a patron who I am still struggling to determine if male or female. Patron had a voice of a female, but the face of a male. I am still working on this, but lets move on. The cosmetologist (hair stylist) begins with me at high noon. I should have been a little worried when he starts by asking how I have perfect skin. Yes you pretty single girls, apparently I have perfect skin. The cut takes not only a full hour but entails two shampooing and of course a conditioning, for one can not have a shampoo without conditioner. Before you ask the question, my hair was clean prior to my arrival apparently multiple shampooings are part of the service. My barber was definitely a perfectionist, but he was ‘getting to know my hair’. Theoretically the more time he works with it, the faster he will become, but it takes time for him to learn my hair. This is all well over my head, literally. After all of the spins, turns and washes I walk out with the same hair cut from down south but the experience was well worth the time.

This week was spent working on applications with a total of 9 full essays being written. If you think that is not a huge source of fun, well you are absolutely right. Friday night however I went to a hat party. No this is not some weird ritual for the beginning of winter, rather a way for a good friend to try to celebrate while she had to have her head shaven as she is in the midst of some intense chemo. C is an unbelievably strong person for both her family and her friends keeping up the good humor while going through this terrible scary time. I give her so much credit.

Between that and going out for dinner on Saturday night also in the south bay I seem to be making more trips to the south bay in the evenings now that I am in the city than I did while I was down there. How perplexing.

Today in 1974 Oskar Schindler died, a man who saved over 1200 Jews during the holocaust. Let us take a moment to reflect on people who take the hard road because they know it is the right thing to do. People who face ridicule, physical hardship, and all other varieties of retribution for taking a stand when others will not. Our thanks to them.

Discomfort

Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashanah. For those of you who may be less familiar with this holiday lets take just a second and give the cliff notes version. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish New Year (we use the lunar calendar), yes I say the beginning for we do not satisfy ourselves with the celebration of something as momentous as the New Year with a single evening of drunken festivities. We take a ten day period of reflection and atonement to be concluded by celebration. We begin with Rosh Hashanah comprising of two days in temple usually spent with family or close friends as a time to step away from work or school and instead spend that time with those loved ones we might not get as much quality time with. For the next 10 days we are to not only remember the past year and think of the future but also take that time to apologize or make amends for words spoken, actions taken and sometimes inaction. No amount of apologies or confessions to God can make up for a transgression made to another person. So we take this time to try to get back to those we might have hurt, or lost souls we may have distanced ourselves from for reasons we can’t remember. This holiday period ends on Yom Kippur where we actually refrain from all food and drink for approximately 30 hours where we make final amends to God and pray for health and happiness in the New Year. It concludes with a festive dinner again with family and friends which tastes infinitely better than any feast throughout the year partially due to the lack of food for the past day and partly due to the lightness of a cleansed soul.

Tonight the Rabbi (equivalent to a Christian priest) talked about discomfort. He made reference to that feeling that many of us feel either in a religious service, in school or even at work where we begin to feel sleep overtaking us during some monotonous lecture or endless meeting, and even sometimes during a sermon. This is not due to the heat or even a large lunch, he surmised, it is due to us allowing our minds to be turned off. How many times have we failed to be able to fall asleep at night because our mind is racing a thousand feet a second. Same principle holds when the mind is not moving at all. So take that time and infinite capacity of your mind and think about stuff. What should you think about? Well in his case for us it was to think about Jewish thought, but I put forth it is anything that stretches your mind. When we travel or pick up a book to read, many times we will pick up trashy ‘throw-away’ novels that although entertaining contain nothing new. But every once in a while we pick up a book that causes us to go, ‘Ha’. A new view point on a conflict we thought we knew everything about, maybe a view of the future which causes some consternation. These are good things. Being discomforted by a thought is what we as free thinkers need to relish, for only through free thought does progression happen.

In many religions new thought is listed as heretical, Jewish thought being no different. In the 1960s there was a belief that anything worth inventing had already been invented, much to the dismay of future DNA, supercomputers, and even deep space travel. How many times in a lecture or in a meeting do we simply recycle what someone else had said or even what the text book identifies as fact. And as the Rabbi identified, although an intelligent and even sophisticated conversation can take place, it is ultimately worthless and pointless for all that is being discussed has already been discussed. It is only with the insertion of new ideas does the conversation create meaning. So let us know shout someone down in our next meeting who has an off the wall idea we might not agree with, let us not fear what we do not understand. Let us pick up a book written by a religious, ethnic or even country enemy and see their point of view. We may never adopt it for our own, but expanding our mind although ripe with discomfort, is ultimately paramount to our survival.

As for me, I chose a temple at random this past week and without knowing a soul I entered into the sanctuary. In some ways it is like every other temple I have been throughout my life and in others unique. The way people enter the sanctuary could have been from any church or temple worldwide. Friends who only see each other once a week or sometimes once a year greet each other with hugs, handshakes and perfunctory kisses, while searching for others they know. Seats are taken nearest the aisles leaving an entirely vacant row for others to climb over. Throughout the service whispers of gossip can be heard gliding over the air vents over who married who, who is dating who and whom lost their job. Children climb over their parents and play with their toys while the parents of older children point to where we are in the prayers to their child whose attention might have wandered. Occasionally you see the tables turned and the child returning the favor for the parent. English sections read aloud begin together but are read at different paces by different readers and end as much as a minute apart reminding us of the tower of Babel. And yet there is a comfort in the community, a sense of being a part of the larger group. It is that warmth that we cherish when we go to a place we can call home.

With the idea of full circle and reflection today is a day filled with much history. In 1932 Iraq a country causing ample amounts of consternation with our citizens and citizens around the world actually achieved their independence from Britain. Yes Iraq was ruled by the Ottomans for centuries before won like a trophy in World War I by Britain. The League of Nations granted Britain the right to rule Iraq, an obligation they took for 17 years. And yet also on this day the reunification of Germany came about. Do you remember where you were on that fateful day when the Berlin wall began to fall I remember coming home from school and sitting at our kitchen table in Milwaukee and seeing pictures on TV being narrated by Tom Brokaw and trying to figure out why it was so momentous. Not understanding that this was a truly a sign that decades of fear of nuclear holocaust with the cold war was slowly coming to a close. That seeing Germany once again as a sovereign country and not a chess piece between two super powers showed an end to threats and posturing throwing the world in such turmoil. We give thanks, but also understand that this has meaning to us in our current day.

Countries will continue to change hands, and no foreign land can successful rule another forever. At some point a people yearn to be free, be it in Germany, Iraq, or the Israel. It is far better to have a people the means to learn to fish, than to hand them some aid for a finite amount of time. How can we as Americans help others help themselves?

Fine Art

No this is not going to be about pieces at the Smithsonian or at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, rather this is about a different fine art, the art of meeting someone at a bar. For those of you who have found the love of your life, or the love of right now you have no need for this. But for the rest of us there is a certain dance that goes on when visiting a nightclub or bar and thinking about actually meeting someone. I am by no means an expert on this and still learning.

There is the first look, the look across the bar through the haziness of maybe one too many drinks. The look tries to define if both parties are interested and approve of the other one’s looks. Now in the past this was relatively easy for all you needed to do was look at any body of the opposite sec and you were good to go. Now however in the city we need to have our gaydar out to help identify if that person we are eyeing up is straight or not. But lets pass that right now, after that first look it is up to the guy to approach and with all the confidence of an NFL Linebacker engage in conversation. Now this is ripe with its own possible pitfalls as that first look might have been nothing more than a casual look catching eyes with multiples across the bar. By fear not once that first conversation is struck the ice is broken and you are in for the haul, long or short is for you to decide. There are times when conversation dies early due to lack of compatibility and then you have that gap in conversation, you know that awkward moment when both are trying to find an excuse to retreat to their separate corners without making it obvious that they are retreating. Otherwise armed with a phone number they might return as a general would after conquering the barbarians of the North.

If this all sounds complicated and a lot of work, well that’s exactly how it feels occasionally at the bar. Sometimes going for just a simple drink is not just that. Good night all I need to get some shuteye.