"today's wisdom" (from Beliefnet)

The giving of Torah happened at one specific time, but the receiving of Torah happens all the time, in every generation. (Meir Alter, the Gerer Rebbe.)

it's all in how you say it

A fellow congregant called and asked me to be on the steering committee (read: board) of the sisterhood.

What I thought: Having a sisterhood (and brotherhood) is anathema to an egalitarian congregation. If we say that men and women don't have assigned roles, why on earth would I want to help perpetrate an organization that tries to go backwards by (re-)assigning those roles? It's not like our sisterhood and brotherhood are trying to move past conventional gender roles -- the women handle babysitting during services and serve cookies and coffee afterwards, and the men hold barbeques and talks by investment bankers. Feh! I want none of it! And not just because babysitting and serving coffee aren't my thing! There's a higher principle here. How can I help you see this?

What I said: I'm flattered, but no.

short takes

I took Erik back to the vet last night to have more blood drawn. I went armed with questions about the tests (thanks, spiritdance!), and got lots of information. We will know a lot more when these next results come back, but one of the tests takes a few days so I might not hear until next Monday. With luck, though, this time I'll hear something a little more conclusive than "ok, I know which other test to do now". I hope.

Embla was hiding in the attic this morning. This is unusual; she generally comes running when I get up. When I walked downstairs I realized that the carrier was still out from last night, so I put it away. She was back to normal tonight when I came home from work. I guess she was worried that it might be intended for her. :-)

Choir last night was missing some of the regulars, but we also picked up two new people. One, ommkarja, has been in the choir before; the other is a member of the choir at Ray and Jenn's church. They're both good; I hope they stay. (And one is an alto! Yay!)

Our newspaper delivery has been rather spotty for the last few weeks. (The problem pre-dates the recent weather changes.) The service hasn't been good in a while, really; the carrier seems unable to put the paper on the porch or even, often, on the walkway. I've found papers in bushes, papers on the street in front of the house (that's not even trying), and recently, far too many missing papers.

I think I finally have the attention of someone who might care, though; tonight was the second time in a week that I've gotten a call asking if service has improved. And today I did get a paper on the porch without asking. But it's still annoying. Not quite as annoying as the thought of regularly reading That Other Paper, though. :-)

In the "at least they're making gestures" category, I now have a stack of coupons good for free coffee at 7-11. Maybe one of my local friends would find them useful.