email of the week:

an exchange between a stranger and myself earlier this week:

Stranger:
--- abaskin wrote:
> If you have interest in shidduchim   on my Web site
> and in my self,
> please welcome to the art network for therapist
> www.xxxxxxx   where is biggest
> collection animated
> pictures for therapy  and to the bible illustrated
> for therapy
> www.xxxxxxxx 
>  Best regards, Alex

Me:
Why are you emailing me?

where did you get my address?

if i do not get a response from you within the next
two days with a full explanation of why i recieved
your email, i will report you and your website as
spam.

Stranger:
--- wezit <abaskin> wrote:
> Your email  I received   from shiduch list, and sent
> to you request about
> your interest  in  this questions - it isn't spam,
> if you have not interest
> in shiduch, please inform me

Me:
thank you for the prompt response.

i should not be on any shidduch list as i have  not
signed myself onto any.

please let me know who gave you my email address.

Stranger:
--- wezit <abaskin> wrote:
> shidduch list 

Me:
where did you get this shidduch list, and from whom?

i would like to contact the person who gave you my
personal email address, if that's not too much to ask.

thank you

Stranger:
--- wezit <abaskin> wrote:
> http://www.thebronsteins.com/archives/000059.html
> 

Me:
that website is my Chatan's website.

that link goes to an announcement about our engagment
party.

1. do not use his website to gather email addresses
for spamming.  you will be reported as a spammer.
it's illegal to do that.

2. i find it interesting that you saw my name and
email address on an engagement announcement and
decided it was a shidduch list.  you need to be much
more careful about what you're reading and what it
means.

 - i haven't heard from him since.  : )
although i'm starting to realize how bitchy engagement has made me...

also

we got all of our China dishes last night.  now all we need is fleish and silverware for both, linenes, towels, etc...  and serving pieces for the China.

we're getting beds on Sunday, i think.  cool

ra!  (i'm a lion)

please

Urgent Tehillim request:

A five-year-old girl has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Family and friends are trying to reach out to the Jewish community to recite Tehillim on her behalf.

Her name is SERACH DENA BAS MEIRA MALKA for a Refuah Shleima B'soch Sha'ar Cholei Yisroel.

*grin*

i'm glad to see we're providing ppl with entertainment.

although i'm shamed to report that in the past day or so taht shleppy's poll has been up, it;s gotten as many hits (if not more now) than connor and murphy.  i urge you all (once again!) to GO OUT AND WATCH BOONDOCK!!!!!!!!!  NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6 weeks

6 weeks left and i'm gonna maaaaaaake it   lalalalla

</ dancing, dancing>

6 weeks left and i'm gonna mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaake it!

lalalalalalalalalalalalala

well

it's quite simple, i promise.  in one of my not thinking fits, i entered a title last night with <> around it, which of course got read as HTML tags.  which were never closed, cause i wasn't really doing HTML, so everything under it (ie, the whole blog) disappeared.  total amateur mistake.

 thank god for mayoress!

gr

i just totally broke my blog.

title goes here

hi.  my name is dani.  this is my blog.

you're welcome and invited to come, read, play, and comment.

you can even make fun of me a bit.  but please, be gentle.  i'mkinda sensitive, and when i get annoyed, i get vindictive.

for all those who have apparently typed perfectly their entire lives - bite me.  i don't type well when i'm typing fast, and i don't like to go back and edit a post after it's up (although i sometimes run-through before i put it up to make sure it's mostly english).

also - as a general rule, if you're bugging a friend of mine, i'm not going to be happy with you.  it's totally cool to leave messages for my friends (i do it all the time), but don't annoy them.

i think that's it for my list of stuff.   keep voting - shleppy's fate hangs in the balance...  : )

update

wedding rings - check
marriage lisence - no check
tuxedo - half check
couch - Check
table - check
coffee table - check
bedroom set - check
in trouble with parents - check

Yachad

for the curious in the crowd:

NJCD/Yachad is an OU organization (National Jewish Council for Disabilities).  I work at the OU in Kashruth (the division that deals with Kosher certification).  Yachad believes in inclusionary programming, such as the learning together lunch we had yesterday.

i highly recommend going to their site and looking around.

yay avraham!

throw your hands up and rejoice!

we have jobs!!!!!!!!!

avraham's a high school teacher (jewish history and computers).  yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is good.

oh, you

in the middle of all my stress-iness (it's a new word, people, write it down) i had the most wonderful lunch break.

Yachad has a girls high school, and 9 of the students joined us.  we spent the first half-hour learning and discussing Rosh Chodesh, Iyar, and the general Jewish calendar.  my chavruta was a delightful 16 year old girl named Leah who excitedly told me every answer to each question i asked.  she's very meticulous, counting to make sure she gave me her correct age, concentrating each time, and never missing the mark.

we then watched a video about Yachad (um, hi, i teared up), listened to Rabbi Weinreb, and had pizza.  at the end of the hour, i had to go back to work.

i saw Leah as i was walking out (she'dd run off to make the rounds and see what the table looked like from all different perspectives) and i thanked her for learning with me.  without a thought, full of spontaneous sweetness, she opened her arms.

best hug ever

music

i'm currently searching for sheet music for the following songs. if anyone has and is willing to share it with me so we can use it for the wedding, i'd really really appreciate it. the printed are the ones we already found.

Legend of Zelda (printed)
Kathy's Song - Simon & Garfunkel
Fade to Black - Metallica
Free Bird - Lynryd Skynyr
Godfather Theme (printed)
Moondance - Van Morrison
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright (printed)
Octopus' Garden - Beatles
Penny Lane - Beatles (printed)
Drift Away, either version
Tiny Dancer - Elton John
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Good Riddance - Greenday (printed)

we still need to find an apt, get furniture, make sure avraham has a job, figure out a ton of stuff like Kibudim... and the invitations go out within the week.

Cool.

sunday = good

lesson of the day.

don't wear pointy toed mules with a 2 inch heel when going to the beach.  or just about anywhere.  unless you remember to put on some form of a sock before leaving the house

also, disney dun good with its latest movie. recommendations from all (including someone who only caught the 2nd half due to sleeping complications).

ou response of the day

this in no way is a communication from the OU office to the public.  this is a modified version of a response i wrote today that i thought was entertaining enough to share:

Thank you for checking with the OU on your Kashruth question.

 

We’re sorry that you couldn’t have the drink you preferred with your meal.  We understand that it can be very frustrating to not have the ideal complement available to fully round out the meal.

 

In your first email you hit the nail on the head – it is politics.  Let us explain what that means.  We are a certifying agency, one of numerous agencies worldwide.  Various Hashgachoth have all different standards, none of which will we evaluate for the public.

 

It’s quite simple really – for us to allow in food from Hashgacha A and not Hashgacha B would lead to questions from consumers, similar to the one you posed.  However, they’d be more pointed, wanting to know why we are willing to rely on one agency and not another.

 

Beyond evaluating other Hechsherim (which we also do not have the time to do, given that there are so many, and we prefer to dedicate our resources to the products that we certify), we could also open ourselves up to lawsuits.  Imagine the uproar if it were published in a Jewish newspaper or magazine that the OU approves of Hashgacha A, but Hashgacha B is questionable.

 

To avoid this situation completely, we rely only on the products that we certify ourselves for the food establishments that are under our supervision.  Regardless of which Hashgachoth we may use, Israeli hotels we may frequent, or specific products we may eat, OU policy must stand.

 

In the same way that you rely on Rabbi *** to provide Halachic guidance for you, we rely on Rav Moshe Feinstein (who gave the Psak regarding milk in America). We are sorry to learn that you do not think highly of Rav Moshe’s Kashruth standards.  We’re not sure if you’re trying to imply that Rav Moshe was bribed by the local Dairy farmers to give the Psak, but we can assure you that he was not.

We’re happy to hear that you otherwise enjoyed your meals, and hopefully your full stay here.

I"ll leave it to you, my happy reading public, to imagine what the original letter said.

PS

i have to apologize for my lack of blogging.  i've been a bit swamped with working, schooling, wedding.  ugh.

I'm going to try to write more and post during my lunch break.  i wrote a page or two of what may turn into my new passion, i'll post that too.  the thought of doing what i'm thinking of doing is a bit too monumental for the sweeping lack of time i find myself stuck in currently.

on the up side - i think i passed another world civ quiz.  : )  yay for tomorrow being thursday!

i need to buy a raincoat.  gr.

Symbology

I'm sitting here pondering the signifigance of my engagement ring.  I don't like diamonds, so I'm not wearing one.  Instead I have a beautiful sapphire.  Yay, I got jewelry...  but you have to wonder - what's the point?

I think that part of the reason people wear engagement rings is to let others know that they're taken (familiar ground for us Kisoi Rosh fans).  The symbol of a diamond ring screams - "I have a man, a man has me, step back".  It's like a warning to would-be flirts.

So when you get back to the sapphire stone in my beautiful band (I love our taste, Avs!), one has to wonder if we've stepped far enough out of the bounds of the symbol to, in essence, not have the symbol at all.

This all occurred to me before I got the ring.  I'm not so spaced-out as to not have had these points spinning 'round my head before I experienced peoples' reactions to my ring.  Naturally the question arose - why bother with the "symbol" if it's fulfilling the role of the symbol after all?

TANGENT: In a circle I have been known to rub shoulders with, it is now de riguer to gift the bride with a ring, bracelet, necklace, flowers.  In that cricle, if you only get a ring, you have not fulfilled the parameters of the 'engagament symbol'. :END TANGENT

I told Avraham, I'm sure, that I don't want or need a ring.  I'm equally sure that he laughed at me, for a few reasons.
  1: To us, the ring fulfills the requirements for the symbol.  (Sheitel!)
  2: We both buy into general protocol, and couldn't divorce ourselves from the idea that a public symbol of sorts was necessary
  3: It's a beautiful gift, a token of his love & regard for me, regardless of its societal symbol status or lack thereof.

All told, most people don't recognize my ring as an engagament l'chatchila, but once they know, they (pretend to) appreciate the nuance we have added to the symbol known as the engagement ring.

Beyond all that, there's a freedom in the fact that according to Halakha we were not forced to get a diamond ring.  If there were a Halakhic significance or imperative to other people recognizing my ring as the symbol it is, you could bet your bottom dollar that there'd be a colorless stone on my finger right now.

Mer - tell me what you think, apply as you wish.  Gloves off, baby!  : )