Monica

I saw a news story today about how US life expectancy is at an all-time high. The article doesn't give enough data to be really useful (it's just the popular press, after all), but I found on reading it that I'm not really interested in life-expectancy figures any more. I'm much more interested in the much-harder-to-compute health expectancy.

In other words, at what age do the statistics say the average person will be last able to live independently with a functioning mind and body? (Yes, of course I recognize that this is hard to characterize precisely.) I don't care if life expectancy goes up to 120 if the last 20 years of it are spent lying in a bed no longer able to recognize anyone. That's where we face our challenges today. Keeping people alive is easy; keeping lives worth living all the way to the end is harder.

Guess-the-anonymous-poster update: One outstanding guess (paging aliza250), one where I had to be told (eclectic_1), all others identified. That was fun.

The stereotype is that smart people (including anyone whose job title implies serious analytical skills) don't get picked for juries, but I'm beginning to wonder. I've been called three times and picked twice, and our engineering director is currently away from work because he's on a jury. Do they just sometimes miss in the screening, or are the lawyers not really screening for this sort of thing after all?

A Texas judge has ordered that a person convicted of animal cruetly must post pictures of the animals she starved in her jail cell. Good for the judge! This is similar to the local story some months back of the hit-and-run driver who is required to carry a photo of the person he killed in his wallet during his probation. Such orders do no harm (it's hardly "cruel and unusual") and serve to put a human (or animal, in the one case) face on the damage done by these people. More, please. (And remember, we're talking about people convicted of criminal charges; I am not advocating haunting those who accidentally cause harm and don't try to hide it with such sentences.)

Do spammers really think that people still open messages with the subject line "URGENT"? Or that most of us think we even might know a sender named Brittany? Ah well; it doesn't fool the filters.

At my most recent physical my doctor called for a routine test that kicks in for women at age 40. (Am I being sufficiently delicate?) No surprises there; the surprise came when I called to schedule and the person said "oh, and no caffeine for two days before". After I moved from incoherent blubbering to actual words, I explained that this posed a difficulty and she relented. It turned out to be advice, not medical necessity. Don't scare me like that!

Shavuot was good. More about that later.

One of the other people on that cantors'/etc list turns out to be worship chair at her own congregation and a year ahead of me in the Sh'liach K'hilah program. It's been interesting to compare notes with her, and she's given me some good information about the SK program. Last year's class was 17 people, she said; this year's is bigger, though she doesn't know how big. So it sounds like a fairly intimate experience, which I like.

She also warned me that the air conditioning in the classrooms is set for "arctic", and there is no internet access in the dorm but there is in the library. That's managable.

I got an information packet from the program in the mail a couple days ago, including a class schedule. Sounds like good stuff. I will assume that the word "chugim", which appears daily, corresponds to "SIG" or "BOF" -- subgroups on specialized topics. (I can imagine four ways to spell "chug" in Hebrew, and I'm too lazy to try them all in the dictionary.)

My professional world is getting a little bit smaller: two past coworkers will be joining my company soon. Nifty.

I heard an ad today from Subway for "low-fat" and "Atkins-friendly" sandwiches. I presume this represents union, not intersection. I'm not sure what the options are for fulfilling both criteria in a sandwich/salad context. My dentist, in whose office I heard this, didn't know either.

A man is suing the Atkins people for his heart problems, saying he needed angioplasty to clear his arteries -- and is asking for $15,000. Usually these suits ask for a heck of a lot more than that; it makes me wonder what the figure is based on.

I've been needing a new pair of non-casual shoes for a while. ("Non-casual": shoes you can wear with skirts, like for Shabbat.) I went to the higher-end store in Squirrel Hill a while back and ended up buying something I ought not have (I went looking for flats and let the clerk talk me into a slight heel). Today I noticed a PayLess in the same mall as my dentist's office, and I believe I've solved my problem for $12.99. I know what I'm doing in the future... (I try to support independent businesses over chains when I can, but they've got to work with me here.)

I watched the season finale of Enterprise. I thought they had promised a complete story in one season. Technically they might have, but I'll bet they address this ending next season...

Off to the annual congregational meeting and, technically, the end of my board tenure.

Shabbat was good, though the first Shabbat after the spring time change is always a systemic shock to me. ("It's almost 8PM! How can it still be Shabbat?! Last week this time we were well into dinner!") The really long days, come June, are a real challenge for me. I have trouble reading all afternoon/evening (eye strain), but usually don't have people to spend the time with, and I didn't receive an electricity-is-ok tradition so using the TV/computer feels wrong to me. (I know there are Conservative arguments that permit this. I don't disagree intellectually -- but the gut feeling remains.) Walks in the park and naps help, but I have a lot to learn. I think this summer I will try to have guests for Shabbat lunch more often, especially as Dani agreed in principle to my goal of recreating some of the feal of that Shabbat dinner we had a few weeks ago (the one with what turned out to be Chabad folks). If I aim for lunch rather than dinner, I get to have a fun gathering and occupy some of the long stretch while doing so.

Shabbat dinner worked well for me. I've sometimes had trouble with cooked chicken getting too dry in the oven (while being held for potentially a few hours). The answer seems to be that sealing in foil does much better than putting in a covered casserole; the foil was a Pesach change (don't have Pesach casseroles yet), but I may have to keep doing that. So we had chicken in orange sauce, which was really easy: oil pan, place chicken breasts in it, brush tops with orange marmalade, bake on high heat uncovered for a while (this was 45 minutes at 375), then cover (seal) and hold at lower temperature (this was 180 for about 2.5 hours). Oh, I added more marmalade before the second cooking.

Lunch was cold foods because the crock pot isn't kosher for Pesach and I wasn't sure about the status of the hot plate. Since cooking on Yom Tov is permitted (for food to be consumed that day only), I'll have hot meals for both tonight and tomorrow's lunch. Tomorrow will probably be just me; if I get an invitation at morning services I'll take it, and if not I'll come home and make something.

For those who care, an interesting discussion about kashrut has sprung up in a previous entry.

Pesach changes the diet pretty fundamentally (though it doesn't seem like it should be that big a deal), and according to the nutrition-tracker I've been using, I haven't been doing so well this week on assorted vitamins. Not having that morning can of liquid nutrition (not kosher for Pesach) makes a bigger difference than I thought. Fortunately, it's only a week. Unfortunately, perhaps scheduling myself for a physical (which includes routine blood stuff) for a week after Pesach wasn't smart. Will cholesterol and sugars and stuff be back to their normal levels by next week, I wonder?

We finished the taxes this afternoon. We've owed significant but non-crippling amounts of money the last two years, so I think we finally got the W4s right. (This is the outcome we want.) Of course, this might have more to do with the economy than with any precognitive skills on our part.

While we were in Toronto Dani's sister and mother were asking me various questions about religious practice, and at one point one of them asked me if I wear a talit. I do, and I specifically wear the talit that used to belong to Dani's maternal grandfather. I never take it to Toronto and have never mentioned it, because I didn't know how they would feel about somebody other than Dani (or some other direct relative) having it. Dani offered it to me openly, but that doesn't mean he correctly read his family on this, after all. So anyway, someone asked, and Dani started to laugh, which prompted them to ask why, and he spilled the beans. Not only does his mother not mind, but she's pleased -- and she wants a picture of me wearing it. Ok...

(At some point, possibly this summer when I'm at HUC, I may get myself a larger one as well. The one I have is the smaller "scarf" variety, and sometimes, like on Yom Kippur, I would like to have the option to really wrap myself in it. Nothing wrong with having two -- besides, it makes trips to the dry-cleaner easier.)

Good heavens. I had not realized that list price for my allergy medicine is almost $3/day. (My co-pay, fortunately, is 50 cents/day.) C'mon, guys; develop generics! Besides, it would lower my co-pay a bit. :-)

Fortunately, I do not take allergy drugs year-round -- just for about 6 weeks in the summer, starting soon. I have mild allergy symptoms for longer, but I tend to develop immunities to allergy drugs after a while, and I'd rather not do that again.

Wednesday night I went to a seder hosted by friends from my congregation. Dani was too sick to go. I think I woke him up when I asked him to drive me over there; oops. (It was before sundown and I had food to contribute.) It was very pleasant, and it included several other people from my congregation who didn't have anywhere else to go, so I wasn't the odd person out at the family gathering. (The only family were the couple, her father, and their younger son, who is in college. The older son lives in California.) ( seder geeking )

Then Thursday it was off to Toronto. Fortunately, Dani was feeling much better. Crossing the border was innocuous in both directions, though the US guard looked at us funny when we said we were married. You would think that no one would be surprised by last names that don't match these days. (This was also the first time I had to show photo ID. Dani always has to show his green card, but they've never challenged me before.)

( Thursday's seder )

Talk of SARS is everywhere in Toronto, but it doesn't seem to be keeping people from going out. Friday we accompanied Debby and Tucker to a crafts show; it was smaller than last year's but well-attended. And Saturday night after Shabbat we went to see Second City (fun show), which was also well-attended. I thought our brief brush with the outskirts of Chinatown on Friday was a bad idea, but it wasn't prolonged and I think it was ok.

Saturday morning I went to Beth Tzedec (Conservative) for services. I was met at the door by a security guard who directed me to the SARS instruction sheet, which said, basically, "no kissing (not even the Torah), no handshakes, kiddush is cancelled, and don't enter this building if [list of conditions here]". We heard some horror stories from Debby (who works in a hospital) about entire congregations, workplaces, etc having to go into quarantine because of contact with one person, so I guess that makes sense, but it still surprised me a little. I mean, if I'm in the same room as someone and breathing the same air, does it really matter if I shake his hand?

( more about services )

We spent most of the time there being "on" with various family members. While visiting is preferable to being bored because everyone is off doing stuff and we can't really go anywhere, it's also wearing. I really wish there were a practical way to visit with Dani's family in smaller doses. We visit with my family several times a year, in 6-8 hour doses, which works well -- but they're local, so we can.

I also wish some of his family would come to Pittsburgh occasionally; the burden shouldn't always be on us to go there. Looking ahead, next year's seders are on Monday and Tuesday, which means there'll probably be pressure for us to come up the previous weekend. I think I'm going to lobby for driving up Monday, hitting the two seders, and leaving Wednesday. I probably won't get away with it, but I can try. (I won't give the effort four vacation days, so if we extend the trip it will be by going up Sunday.)

( random travel notes )

I learned two new euphemisms during this trip:

• "highway maintenance ahead"; yes, the sign was orange. That's putting a positive spin on construction, I'd say.
• "unprotected contact", which seems to mean being within 15 feet of someone without wearing a full-body condom. (Well, mask, gown, and gloves; they don't seem to be doing the hats and booties.)

Under normal circumstances I'd have started taking my (prescription) allergy medicine a few weeks ago, at least. I'm not sure what exactly I'm allergic to besides fresh-cut grass, but it's in season all summer. But this year has been strange weather-wise, and I haven't needed to.

However, I've had three major allergy attacks this year, and I'd love to know what the common factors were. The most recent was at Ralph and Lori's last night -- but I had no problems there on Sunday. The first was also at their house, several weeks ago, and I've visited them many times since without problems. So maybe it's a combination of something just outside the dining-room window and certain weather conditions; I don't know. I don't recall the first attack well enough. (The third attack was at someone else's house.)

In all cases, I took an allergy pill and things cleared up within half an hour or so. But I'd like to do a better job of predicting these things, rather than merely reacting to them.

(The reason I don't want to just take the pills all summer regardless of need is that I'm afraid of developing an "immunity" to the drug. I've had many past allergy medicines that have become ineffective over time, and I'm pretty much down to the last thing I can take. So I don't wnat to blow this one. I will, of course, take it every day at Pennsic, because I know that would cause problems otherwise. And for a couple days on either side just to be safe.)

Shabbat was pleasant. It's actually been a few weeks since I've been to my synagogue for Friday night -- last week was the shabbaton, the week before was an SCA event, and the week before that I went to a different synagogue. Saturday morning was its usual fulfilling service. We ended up talking at Torah study about Christian/Jewish differences on the subject of intermediaries, motivated by the discussion in Leviticus about the temple priests making attonement for you after you bring the korban.

Saturday afternoon was an On the Mark practice, the first one with our new members (Ray and Jenn). We had previously had a meeting, but this was the first time we actually made music. I think it's going well; there are all sorts of interesting possibilities with the current members and repertoire. I hope that Ray and Jenn will speak up if there's something in the repertoire that they really don't like; I worry about the steamroller effect. I need to remember to actually send out detailed email with the to-do list for next time; I didn't do that last time and I needed to.

Sad commentary on the technological age: it appears that the most effective way for me to keep the repertoire list up to date is to use index cards. Yes, actual physical paper. I used to keep the list on the computer, but we don't have a computer at practices, so I'd print it out, start scribbling on it, never quite get around to making updates, and then decide that the accumulated scribblings were the permanent record. Which works fine until you've added so much stuff that you no longer have an organized list. (This isn't just a list of titles; it's title, who plays/sings what part, what keyboard settings we use (if the keyboard is involved), what key we do it in, etc.) (No, I don't have a Palm or equivalent yet. I'm waiting for some improvements to the user interface.)

On Saturday we also got a call from Marion, who was in town with her husband Fred at the last minute. We got together on Sunday afternoon. It was good to see them again. Fred is still allergic to cats, but he seemed to be coping pretty well with Erik's desire to curl up on his lap. (Cats always gravitate toward those who least want their presence.) They of course knew about the cats in advance, so maybe this involved drugs.

Fred was delighted that we had a good solid storm while they were visiting. We even went out on the front porch to watch it. He says they don't get real storms in Seattle.

After they left Dani and I headed off to Sunday dinner at Ralph and Lori's. Dinner was tasty and the games afterwards were fun. I would have had more fun if I had realized that my allergies were kicking into gear before we left; I sneezed through dinner and some of the gaming before discovering that Lori and I take the same prescription allergy medicine. Things got better after that.

The allergies are being weird this year, in part due to the random warm days early on and in part due to it never getting and staying cold enough last winter to kill everything off. I have summer allergies, not spring allergies. Except this year. But it's random; I haven't taken any more allergy medicine since last night, and I'm fine.

The folks at Tree of Life would like me to attend their annual meeting next week (even though I'm not a member there). They're doing something to thank their guest cantors and random other people who've helped out over the last year. Cool.

My track record amply demonstrates that I only go to doctors if something is really wrong, or if they're pretty darn convenient. As a result, I need a new dentist now that I work on the South Side instead of Shadyside.

There's a dentist next to the Giant Eagle where I sometimes pick up lunch (mmm, salad bar), so today I walked in and asked if they take my dental plan. They do, so I picked up a card and put it in my pocket.

When I got back to the office I noticed that after the usual info they had a line in fairly large print that says "We cater to cowards".

I think these guys are going to be my kind of dentists. :-)