Careers ruin marraiges.

I think all of this is bullsh*t

I think if you work hard at a marraige, you make it work. I am sure there are lots of studies showing a million reasons why marraiges do not work. I think a carreer is one of the last things I would bank my money on being the problem. What about religion? what about money? what about health? Can people not just be happy? why do things have to always get in the way? of course, I am speaking from a soapbox that is not even in the marraige circle, but still.

Careers ruin marraiges

what do you think?

Every silver lining has a cloud.

Yesterday I went with Jeremy to the Jewish Festival. My brother and Evelyn and Avital and one of her friends I’d never met went too. We pretty much all hung out together. The festival was alright, but they charge you to go in, and you don’t really get anything for the ticket price. But anyway, I had some yummy shwarma, and then we headed back to my house. We decided to go swimming, and as we’re by the pool, I get a call that my dad fell at the festival, and broke his leg, and is going to the hospital.

Well, his car was still at the festival, so Jeremy and Evelyn went home, and Moshe and I went to find the car, and then headed to Decatur. Our goal was to not tell my mom about dad because she was in the middle of some lessons that day, and he didn’t want her to cancel them, but someone from the synagogue called the house to see how dad was doing, and broke the news to her. Oh well. Plan foiled. We went to Emory Hospital and he was in an ER room. His foot was turned at a funny angle, and they were doping him up on painkillers until they could set his ankle. When the x-rays came back, it turned out he had not only dislocated his ankle, but he had two fractures. To fix this, they could pop the ankle back into place, but he’d need surgery for the fractures. Damnit.

We watched as they sedated him to set the ankle, and then as they wrapped it in plaster. Apparently it was really easy for them. But not only does this totally suck in the sense that hey, my dad broke his leg and has to get surgery, but I just bought tickets to go to Argentina with him in 6 weeks. I don’t think he’ll be walking by then. Arrrgggh.

I got a ticket I got a ticket hey hey hey hey

I went to the swing dance, just got home. There were almost 700 people at the dance. It was packed. I couldn't beleive the number of people that were there, and the number of people that I hadn't seen in years that came back into town for it. It was too full to dance for most of the time, but by the end, it had cleared out a bit, and I got a few good dances in. I also got dressed up for the dance, which was good because there were a lot of people dressed up besides me, so it was cool looking.

By the way, Yesterday I bought a ticket to go to argentina. I will be gone for about 12 days in October. I am soo excited. =)

Yummy food

Last night was a lot of fun. I had people over for Shabbat dinner, potluck. It was a blast. There's a usual crowd that gets together once every 2-3 weeks, and I was hosting this time. Somehow though, everyone had a friend in town, so the size doubled. There were 13 people that came, and that was "keeping it small"!! I think everyone had a good time though, and the food was great! there was:
hummus and pita
3 kinds of wine
homemade challah
two salads
burekas
salmon
Green beans
asparagus
3 kinds of potatoes
macaroni casserole
cookie cake
berry cobbler
5 kinds of ice cream

yummmmmm. we had dinner and then played a mean game of Cranium where my team came in second. I think everyone or at least almost everyone had a good time, so of course, that meant I had a good time =)

Today my company had a summer party at Dave and Busters. I hung out with DZ the whole time. Good thing he was there, because I would've been the third wheel with others if he wasn't. I probably should've brought a date or at least my brother, but it was alright. We got some cool prizes, including a stuffed animal Buzz! =)

Tonight is the 10th anniversary of swing dancing in Atlanta dance. I am going to get dressed up for it, and I am excited. I am worried though, that it will be packed. I know it will be. Hopefully though, there will be enough room to dance, and it will still be fun!

forgive me.

ok, I have not had a moment to sit in front of my computer. I have been working on a project at the airport lately, and I leave here by 7:00 am to beat traffic, and then am there all day, and then come home at night only to head out to other stuff all week. I guess I won't be able to remember my funny stories after all these days, but I will hopefully have a few free minutes this weekend to post.

Dream Blog

I created a New Blog today. It is www.belanaomidreams.blogspot.com. There will be a permanent link on the right side of this blog. That way my dreams don't interrupt the usual drone of my blog =)

New Project at Work

Last week I found out about a new project I was going to be working on. It is totally Logistics, warehousing, transportation, etc. 100% up my alley. The project is at the Atlanta Airport, and we're submitting the proposal today. I am also excited because this was the first proposal I've done by myself, and it was not cookie cutter at all! I had to actually gut a sample proposal and rewrite the whole thing. The proposed team is a great team as well. It would be me, Trent and Mike. I haven't really ever worked with Trent, but I've heard good things, and so far, it's been good, and I worked 1 on 1 with Mike for a whole project this past winter, and really liked working with him. I am not sure why I am so excited to work on something that has to do with my major. Maybe it is because it's the first time that it's really been so related to what I studied. Maybe it's because IE's take a lot of crap from other engineers, and I just want to prove that we're just as good if not better =) or maybe it's just that it is not toilet paper, so I am excited. Either way, I am pumped for this project, and am really looking forward to it.

To make matters worse

I heard a few days ago about some photos of the crisis in Lebanon/Israel being altered in Photoshop. Here is an article about it. Isn't what's going on in the world bad enough? why make things worse???

Click here for the article

Funny happenings today

Well, I had to drive to Augusta today for a meeting, so I drove 2.5 hours, was in a meeting for 4 hours, and then drove 2.5 hours back.

Funny Story #1: I was driving on my way there, and for about an hour, I was passing and being passed by a black Audi with the license plate "Envied". I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, but I remember thinking "on an Audi"?? Maybe on a nice car, but I wouldn't have that plate on an Acura or an Infiniti, why an Audi? Well, As I was driving back to Atlanta, the SAME CAR was passing me/trailing me for about an hour! so random.

Funny Story #2: By habit, if I see a government vehicle, I slow down, even if it is a nothing position. Well, today, I saw a government license plate, so I slowed down to pass it. I noticed it was the Department of Driver Services. I also noticed that the driver was talking on a cell phone.

Funny Story #3: I stopped at Arby's for dinner, and picked it because I hadn't been to one in years, and had a curly fries craving. I went to the "drive thru" and as I was trying to figure out what to get with my fries, I noticed they had a 4 for $5 deal and you could pick any four things off a specific menu. It had fries, arby's and Cheddar sandwiches, apple pie, coke, milkshake, mozzarella sticks, and other things. I figured, that sounds like a good deal, and I was feeling in a really "healthy" mood, so I order a sandwich, fries, and mozzarella sticks. I couldn't pick something for my fourth item, so I said, actually, that is all I want - and a water. "Ok, that will be 6.83, drive around". What?? So I get to the window, and I said - I changed my mind, add a coke to that order. "ok, that will be 5.35" Ridiculous.

Disappointing Story: I stopped at Brusters, and they didn't have birthday cake ice cream.

Sore from relaxing.

I have never been so sore from relaxing in my life. On Saturday afternoon, I went with Jen and her gang to go tubing on the Chattahoochee River [sic]. In theory, it was a good time, but because the water level was so low, we had a hard time getting over the rocks when the bottom of the tubes were constantly hitting them. It was just $3 to go all the way down the river, but apparently, we chose the longest route, and it never seemed to end. We were consistently having to get up and unwedge our tube from between rocks, or paddle to start moving the right way. It wasn't actually as bad as I'm making it sound, it was quite the "adventure", but I was sore yesterday.

Oh, by the way...work goes by much faster when you have stuff to do. Imagine that!

Drink for Israel

I forgot to post that on Thursday night I went to Hush VIP lounge where two people planned a huge party to benefit Israel. you had to pay a cover, which included a free drink, and overall, they raised thousands of dollars! It was pretty fun, and there were probably about 150-200 people there. Here is a picture of me with greer and Amanda =)

Bah, Humbug!

ew! I found this bug in my entryway today as I was going to my basement. I am still a bit yukked out. What is it? I killed it and one of the disembodied legs kept moving!

Glad that's over with

Over the past year, I have worked on a project here to create a "product" for our customers. There used to be 2 other people who knew how to use it, but they have since left the company. So, realizing I was the only one left, and knowing that a lot of our sales team didn't know how to pitch it to customers, I decided to give a presentation explaining what it is, why we use it, and basically introducing the company back to this product. I sent the meeting invite out to all the engineers and Project Leads and Managers, and 31 people responded that they wanted to come.

So today was the big day. I did my presentation over lunch, and had great feedback. I think everyone learned what I was talking about, and appreciated the fact that they could now understand what they're selling in order to promote its value more.

My biggest negative feedback was that I spoke too quickly. I should've remembered, I always speak quickly, but when I present or am nervous, I speak faster. oh well. I think all in all, it went well, and I am happy with it.

Here is an article from last year on what I gave my presentation

Blowing off my lunch hour

I went today with DZ to the shooting range at lunch. Thursday is ladies day, so I get to shoot in the lanes for free, they only charge for gun rental and ammo. But DZ has his own gun, so he let me shoot it for part of the time. I shot 5 rounds of 15 (that makes 75 for all you non-nerds), and I hit the target paper almost every time from both distances, but I wasn't consistently hitting a target. It was a bit frustrating, but I am much more comfortable shooting now than I was back the first time I went out. But it's been 8 months since I've even been to the range. Maybe I'll take a lesson. I got a card of a guy that will give a shooting lesson for $20 for 30 minutes. A lesson might be fun. It's something different, and I enjoy doing it. Unfortunately, my mom would probably flip out (again).

oh well.

Not to sound pretentious, but...

I still never posted about my last few weeks in the lovely town of Beech Island, SC. I was sent there to run some tests on three of the new machines we installed, and it was my first true "on-site" experience. I have been to a lot of our facilities already, but mostly it's for a tour/meeting. There hasn't been a chance for me to go and be on my own. Well, I got my chance.

Sitting by the line collecting data and running tests gave me a chance to put myself in perspective. I realized that my entire life, I have been surrounded by people like myself. Almost everyone I know is middle to upper-middle class, college educated, now with salaried jobs. Since they were young, their parents instilled in them the proper way to save/spend money, and they think about things like - planning for the future. Daily activities sometimes include going out, but often include getting together for a meal or hanging out by the pool.

While working by the line, I was interacting with a lot of the hourly and temp. labor that are hired to work the machines, forklifts, etc. You realize quickly after meeting someone that what they talk about is what's important to them. Not that these were bad people (for the most part), but hearing them talk of their lifestyle of going to the bar EVERY NIGHT, and "future plans" (two noteworthy plans were becoming porn stars in Vegas or reopening a bar in Augusta) made me realize how privileged I am. After spending a few weeks with these guys, I almost felt guilty for having the opportunities and education that I have. I suppose partially, everyone makes choices for what they're going to do with their lives. But on the other hand, ever since I was a child, I knew that the progression of my first 22 years would be straight schooling, through college. It was never an option to do anything otherwise. I think that the strength of "fitting in" in the community you were raised plays a big part in that as well. I went to a small private school for High School, and there was not a single person in my graduating class that didn't go to college.

The way we interacted was also very different. I am used to people making proper, PC comments (less some of the men in my office). These guys would talk about whatever they wanted to me, neglecting to remember that not only was I not their good friend (where it might be excusable to be raunchy), but I was female. Of every ~25 people in the plant, I'd see one female. These guys did not know how to act.

I know that in this blog, it sounds like I am some pompous rich kid criticizing and making generalizations about poor people. That is not how I intended to make it sound. I just wanted to make the point that I rarely am put into perspective how lucky I have been throughout my life, and (though I think I am) that I need to realize how to be understanding and accepting of everyone.

::gets off soapbox::

Third time's a charm

I know this is my third post today, but I have posted the pictures from Moshe's surprise party, and also some pictures from my latest trip to Augusta. I love the old houses on the main street - Greene Street, and decided to snap some pictures of them.

Pictures

Mideast situation.

An interesting article. Rather funny too.

A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still don't get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need. Don't thank me. I'm a giver.

Here we go:

The Palestinians want their own country. There's just one thing about that:

There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but is really a modern invention.

Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza was owned by Egypt, and the West Bank was owned by Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians" then. As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation."

So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs From The Same General Area Who Are In Deep Denial About Never Being Able To Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters."

Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they don't. They could've had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That's no fun.

No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course-that's where the real fun is-but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel-or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it-for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mideast.

Unless I'm missing something, the Arabs haven't given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one.

Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding.

My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshaling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death.

Mr. Bush is walking a tightrope. I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq and others, it's in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that can't be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels who've just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there's always a danger of losing moral weight. We've already lost some.

After September 11 our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week (and then every day) start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that's actually not such a bad id...uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.)

oh, to be an engineer.

Thanks to DZ for sending me this incredibly true cartoon =) Click on it to make it readable.