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random bits
Dear Pittsburgh water authority: could you arrange for me to have more than a trickle of water by tomorrow morning when I'm going to want to take a shower? Thanks. (A water main broke in Oakland this afternoon -- about ten hours ago, so I would have thought we'd have water pressure by now. I wonder if they're having trouble finding the shut-off valves again.)
I got my torah-reading assignment for the high holy days today. I'm reading on the second day of Rosh Hashana. The Reform movement reads the Akeidah on the first day, while traditional congregations read it on the second day. So what do we read on the second day? Creation, because Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the world. I like that. I'm reading the first three days of creation. If I can learn the high-holy-day trope in time I'll do that (it's pretty and I'd like to do it); if I can't, I can fall back to regular trope and maybe I can use that knowledge again in a few weeks for Simchat Torah. Either way works. And I can be certain that I won't have any trouble finding the beginning of the portion. :-)
Today when we studied my rabbi asked if I wanted to do something seasonal. (Sure!) So we studied the first mishna in tractate Rosh Hashana, the Rashi, and some of the gemara (more next time). He read and translated the mishna and Rashi (with occasional kibbitzing from me), and then he had me read the gemara (though he had to do a lot of the translation). That is, he had me read Aramaic without vowels. I got a lot of words wrong, but I also got a lot right; I'm starting to get the right instincts. Neat!
At work I've been trying to get some more resources for my project, and my project manager has had limited success. To my surprise, two other project managers have come to me recently to ask what I need so they can help. I'm happy for the help (especially if they can deliver), but I have the impression this isn't how it usually works. (But hey -- it's just possible I might actually get some QA! Score!)
I've been listening to the latest Ruach CD, a compilation/sampler of new Jewish music that comes out every two years. The big winner on this album for me is L'Chu N'rananah by a group called Mah Tovu. I would definitely like to hear more of their work.
Links:
Geek to geek communications, a write-up of what sounds like an interesting talk. (I'd not previously heard of either the speaker or the conference.)
Sometimes eBay is just a venue for good stories, with sales being secondary. That said, I'm impressed that she got that much -- stories do seem to sell stuff better than conventional listings. (A friend recently reported moving a piece of furniture on Craigslist by casting it as a pet-looking-for-new-home ad.)
I got my torah-reading assignment for the high holy days today. I'm reading on the second day of Rosh Hashana. The Reform movement reads the Akeidah on the first day, while traditional congregations read it on the second day. So what do we read on the second day? Creation, because Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the world. I like that. I'm reading the first three days of creation. If I can learn the high-holy-day trope in time I'll do that (it's pretty and I'd like to do it); if I can't, I can fall back to regular trope and maybe I can use that knowledge again in a few weeks for Simchat Torah. Either way works. And I can be certain that I won't have any trouble finding the beginning of the portion. :-)
Today when we studied my rabbi asked if I wanted to do something seasonal. (Sure!) So we studied the first mishna in tractate Rosh Hashana, the Rashi, and some of the gemara (more next time). He read and translated the mishna and Rashi (with occasional kibbitzing from me), and then he had me read the gemara (though he had to do a lot of the translation). That is, he had me read Aramaic without vowels. I got a lot of words wrong, but I also got a lot right; I'm starting to get the right instincts. Neat!
At work I've been trying to get some more resources for my project, and my project manager has had limited success. To my surprise, two other project managers have come to me recently to ask what I need so they can help. I'm happy for the help (especially if they can deliver), but I have the impression this isn't how it usually works. (But hey -- it's just possible I might actually get some QA! Score!)
I've been listening to the latest Ruach CD, a compilation/sampler of new Jewish music that comes out every two years. The big winner on this album for me is L'Chu N'rananah by a group called Mah Tovu. I would definitely like to hear more of their work.
Links:
Geek to geek communications, a write-up of what sounds like an interesting talk. (I'd not previously heard of either the speaker or the conference.)
Sometimes eBay is just a venue for good stories, with sales being secondary. That said, I'm impressed that she got that much -- stories do seem to sell stuff better than conventional listings. (A friend recently reported moving a piece of furniture on Craigslist by casting it as a pet-looking-for-new-home ad.)
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The problem is that Johan isn't there to help them find the right shut-off valves this time. This is the same spot that broke 7 years ago, producing a 30 foot geyser. Johan had to leave Pennsic to go help them fix it. I still have a photo from the paper of him in his shirt and tie standing on a big chunk of uplifted asphalt, bending over a gaping hole in the street with some repair guys down in it.
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It's partly stupidity and partly entropy.
The Pittsburgh water and sewer system is about 100 years old, though there are pipes as old as 150 years. As changes were made to the system over the decades, the record drawings were stored away in a records room, where they were often hard to find and were subject to deterioration as the paper aged. Even archival paper isn't forever, and these were handled frequently. The city was slow to adopt computerization (money, always money, but also some hidebound officials), and when they finally DID begin computerizing records (which, BTW, was part of Leifr's job when he interned at the City under Johan over 10 years ago), it was too late for some that had deteriorated badly. Also, when money ran out, they not only stopped converting records to computer, but also let go of the guy who maintained the records room (and this was BEFORE the Act 47 budget crunch). So it's hit or miss as to whether they really know what's under the streets in any given location.
In the case of THIS water main break, they OUGHT to know where the valves are since a break happened there before. However, I'm betting the break was not in exactly the same place (unless the contractor did a lousy job repairing it last time, which is unlikely with Johan looking over his shoulder), but rather some place near there, possibly on one of the older pipes that did not get replaced in the previous repair. So it may have required a different set of valves to stop the flood. Also, one of the things Johan was very good at was figuring out how to reroute water supplies among reservoirs and water tanks. Your house and Oakland may be fed off the Squirrel Hill tank, but the flow CAN be rerouted so you're fed from, say, the Highland Park reservoir #1 instead. But it's a tricky process, and both Johan and Tom Bruecken (the only other man who had memorized the entire city's water system) are now gone. Tom, who was retired by then, died about a week before Johan, in a car crash.
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This might take a while.
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S
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Yay!! I remember the thrill of being able to guess at the words at the beginning of unfamiliar Torah portions. Of course, I've never progressed past that.
Yasher koach! (sp?)
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Hey! Our water supply shouldn't affect you.
Oh, that Oakland. Never mind. ;-)
(you can't imagine how often I'm searching for restaurants or local information only to get interesting links that are, alas, about two thousand miles away. or perhaps you can...)
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It makes me wish the yahoo/google/etc "local" searches actually worked well. They seem to miss a huge swath of information, though. (perhaps for exactly the same reason?)