ATM Machines

I don't know why ATM machines haven't figured out how to dispense rolls of quarters. I have had this problem for a while now, I always need (lots of) quaters when the banks are closed. I have to park in this lot where I have to put in $5.50 of quarters. I had enough for today, but then I realized I wont have enough for tomorow morning. Of course, I couldn't find an open bank within a stones throw of my location on 42nd and 5th. I am hoping when I go home tonight I will stop by the grocery store and the clerks will show me some good ol' Floridian courtesy and sell me a roll of quarters. Many a time back in FLA when I was in the middle of doing my laundry in the middle of the night and I would run out of quaters, I would run to the grocery store and they would kindly sell me a roll. I hope I have the same luck tonight.

I can't really figure out why we are still paying meters with coins, in some cities in Miami - you can use your cell phone to pay your meter.

Mi K'Amcha Yisrael...

This is such a beautiful story. If only everyone tried, a little bit everyday to make someone else's life a little easier, what a better world we would create for ourselves. May God bless these men with the highest level of blessing.

Disney

I got back from Disney today. I am not such a fan of theme parks. I would rather be hiking outdoors, go to a cool museum or to a b-ball game. But the trip was free so I went. It was decided that we go to MGM (I didn't care to voice my opinion since I wasn't paying). I cant believe that park is still open. MGM is basically half the size of a football field filled with shops with themes of various Disney movies (a star wars themed shop, a toy story shop, an Indiana Jones store, etc) I can count on one hand how many rides there are. There is the tower of terror, the movie ride and the star wars ride, for $60 (and that was the FL discount price) you would think there would be more rides. The shows were also pretty dull; you can count them on one hand as well (Indiana Jones, Stunt show, Muppet's and Fatisma). It was pretty dull. I don't think that this is a place you even need to go once in your life. I would have rather stayed at the hotel and drank beer in the hot tub! I don't think I will ever take my kids to Disney as a kid I think my parents took us about twice, the rest of the trips were class trips to Disney. Growing up we took many road trips which were fantastic. We had themed trips - like the baseball trip where we went to another baseball game every other night in another city. We did lots of camping, hiking, science museums (I still don't like to drink coke because of an exhibit I saw when I was 10 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago - prob one of the best science museums in the world) bike trails, mountain climbing, zoos, whitewater rafting. We stayed in quaint little cabins in the woods, we stayed in old fashioned bed and breakfasts and regular Holiday Inns. We did something in every city east of the Mississippi River. I think these vacation were better than any summer camp or theme park has to offer. A few years ago when I was living in Brooklyn, a friend and I went to the water park in Great Adventures and we decided we didn't want to go back to Brooklyn and wanted to get away but we didn't know to where. So we bought some underwear (bec we only had our swimsuits) and hit the road. There were rules - no using interstates and we could only stay in mom and pop inns and eat in non chain/fast food restaurants. It was loads of fun! Hopefully now that I am moving back to NY its easier to go on road trips because you cover many states in just a few hours.

PSA - please shower before flight...

I am sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for my friend to pick me up. I just arrived from NY and he is driving up from Miami - but he left from work so I am camping here in the airport which is more like a hotel lobby for the next three hours (I usually would not do this but he is paying for my trip!. (MCO has a Hyatt in the middle of the airport). I am a pretty good traveller and I usually have no problems on flights until today. I was sitting in the middle of the exit row, I don't mind sitting in the middle if I am in the exit row BUT the guy sitting to my left (next to the window) had a stench that could kill birds. It was a stench that would paralyze you. He was wearing a yarmulke and I really wanted to tell him that he is giving Jews a bad name with his odor. Most normal humans take at least one shower a day. I have even met people (very rare) who take showers every two days, but, there should be a law that if you are going on a plane you must shower before the flight. It was terrible. He fell asleep and started drooping over into my seat when he could have leaned on the window! Thus, I was forced to practically sit on the lap of the guy to my right. (He was cute - I didn't mind ;) and he bought me a drink!) I am assuming the stench reached him as well. I really could have used a gas mask. This is a PSA (public service announcement). IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO BOARD A PLANE, AS A COURTESY FOR THE OTHER PASSENGERS ON BOARD - PLEASE SHOWER BEFOREHAND!!!!

Brooklyn from the air

Yesterday I flew into LGA. Since there were high winds the pilot came from the southwest as opposed to coming in from the east like the usually do when landing at LGA. This provided me for a tour of Brooklyn I have never had before. Because of the high winds we flew really low and I saw Brooklyn and parts of Queens from above, it was really interesting. We came in from just west of Coney Island and crossed through Brooklyn. I could actually see people and recognized streets and buildings, lots and lots of buildings. The only greenery I saw were the cemeteries. From the air Brooklyn really does look like a jungle of brick.

I'm off to NY

So it looks like I'm moving back NY. I will be in NYC from Tues - Fri for some interviews. My fingers are crossed. Then I am off to Orlando for one last hoorah weekend with some friends. I will then drive up to NY the next week. Cant wait to trade in my shorts for some tights and boots!!!

Prayer for the United States Armed Forces

Almighty God on High, omnipotent King, look down from your Sanctified Abode and bless the valiant soldiers of the American Military Forces who risk their lives to protect the welfare of all your creation. Benevolent God, be their shelter and fortress, and do not allow them to falter. May harmony dwell in their ranks, victory in their battalions. Fill their hearts with faith and courage to thwart the evil schemes of our enemies and to abolish every rule of evil. Protect them on land, in the air and in the sea, and destroy their adversaries. Guide them in peace, and return them speedily to their families alive and unharmed, as it is written: "God will shield you from all evil; He will guard your soul. God will safeguard your departure and arrival, from now and forever more." Grant us true peace in fulfillment of the prophecy: "Nation shall not lift up sword against another nation, not shall they learn war anymore." Let all the inhabitants of the world know that Dominion is Yours, and Your Name inspires awe upon all that You have created. May this be Your will, and let us say, Amen.

Troop "Surge"

Last night President Bush addressed the nation during primetime and released his plan of adding additional boots on the ground in Iraq. I supported this war from the beginning and I continue to support the war but 20,000 additional troops is not enough. The bottom line is that the Iraqi's are in a centuries old civil war. The once oppressed Shiites are now taking revenge on the once powerful Sunnis. These people having been killing each other for the past thousand years and they will do it for a thousand more. We need to take a lesson from what happened in Germany in WWII. We need another Dresden for this war to be victorious. Coalition forces need to give everyone in the Sunni triangle 48 hours to get out with only the clothes on their back and then they need to bomb the sh** out of the place and level it. Then they need to move to Sadr City and level that as well. We need another 200,000 troops on the ground not 20,000. We need to flood the place. As I said before, for every American soldier that gets killed, a city goes. This will end the war in no time. The Iraqi government is just a puppet of Iran. They are enjoying this violence and havoc. The government needs to be cleaned up. The US should not allow an al-Sadr follower or Ahmedinejad lover to lead Iraq. Frankly, I don't not care about the Iraqi people. The US gave 3000+ heroes to liberate them. They need to bite the bullet and fight for themselves now. They need to turn over their fathers and sons, mothers and brothers if they want a free and democratic Iraq. Most of all, we need to stop fighting a politically correct war. If we allow our brave men and women in uniform to do their job without them having to worry about being dragged to a court martial for killing the enemy - we will win this war.
May God bless the brave men and women in uniform. They are the real heroes!!!

Don't see The Good Sheperd

Last night I went to see The Good Sheperd. It was the first major motion picture I have seen in a while. It was very long boring and pointless. You always know a movie is going to suck when it is based on star power and not a good plot. Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Robert Deniro, Angelina Jolie and others had roles in the film, but added nothing to the substance to the movie. I was under the impression that the movie was about the early days of the CIA. It was about a recluse agent who has a bitchy and bitter wife who goes around the world doing various missions. Most of the movie is flashbacks of this agent. It is very hard to follow and very pointless. It was another movie with the message of don't trust your government and government agencies are corrupt. I think I usually don't see anything critics say is good - they are usually wrong. They rate movies based on the fame of the stars in the movies. I usually enjoy movies that the critics don't like because they are good. Critics are probably paid by the studios to give their movies good ratings because they rarely give good rating to small low budget Indy films. Dumb movie. Dumb actors. Dumb plot. Don't see it.

How is this Yeshiva still open?

It boggles my mind why there are no padlocks on the doors and no yellow crime scene tape around the perimeter of Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, NY. There is no doubt in the minds of many that heinous criminal activity occurred in that building. Thus, this is a crime scene. The fact that the yeshiva allowed this molestation for 40 years makes them culpable and it's beyond me how there are still people living in Brooklyn who have no problem sending their sons to school there. I know in Brooklyn people tend to be all about their "frummy" image (even though they all deny it!) and care about what people are going to say or think about them. What are people going to say or think when they hear you kept your child in an institution which harbors child molesters? What are people going to say or think when it comes to marrying off these boys, will potential matches think, hmm.... this boy went to Torah Temimah, was he also molested there? Parents have the power to set a precedent here for the whole yeshiva community in Brooklyn which seems to provide a safe haven for child molesters and other types of abusers with the attitude of he is respected in the community therefore he doesnt commit crimes and I also must respect him. If parents pull their children out of TT this will send a message to other yeshivas that parents will not tolerate any sort of abuse and the Yeshiva is not the end all and be all. This will force yeshivas to be accountable for the behavior of the staff they employ. The bottom line is that these places are businesses and parents need to send a message that this is a free market. If you have an ice cream store and make an ice cream flavor I like - I will patronize your store, if you fail to provide me with the ice cream of my liking I will go to another store. In Brooklyn, yeshivas are a dime a dozen (even though they all complain that there is nowhere to send their kids) start holding them accountable and they will be forced to shape up. I come from a small town where there was one school and we had to make do with what we had as the years went by new schools opened and forced the "original" school to shape up. If yeshivas start seeing a mass exodus from TT, hopefully, they will see that it's in their best interest to keep their "patrons" happy, otherwise this will result in a loss of business. Only the parents have the power to do this but as long as they continue to blind themselves by "what other people might think" nothing will ever change and unfortunately will only claim more victims. For the parents who think Kolko in innocent or is an isolated incident are destined to become victims of their own ignorance.

If TT allowed this criminal activity to go on for nearly forty years I wonder what other criminal activity they permitted over the past four decades. A thorough criminal investigation should be executed on this institution and I am certain that there will be more criminal defendants. This too should set precedent for yeshivas who engage in criminal activity that they can not hide behind the innocent cloak of religion. If you break the law you need to be held accountable, no matter how ling your beard and how black your hat.

PS. I just found this on Kolko's page on ratemyteachers.com - something else that should be investigated.

Cute Bumper Sticker

I saw a cute bumper sticker today:

"To err is human; to forgive is divine - neither of which is a Marine Corps policy!"

Loved it!

Semper Fi!

Locks for Peyot?

Everyone has heard of Locks of Love. Locks of Love provides wigs for children who suffer from cancer and hair loss due to chemo. I had a student who had her Bat-Mitzvah at a beauty salon and the girls got manicures, pedicures and haircuts and all their hair was donated to Locks of Love. My sister just told me that there is an organization (I am still trying to find the name of it) who collects hair to make peyot to attach to a yarmulka for hasidic boys who lost hair due to cancer. If I recall, if you don't have hair, you don't need to have peyot. I assume the purpose of this is to make the kids suffering with cancer "fit in" with their friends who have the long peyot. In many hasidic sects the men shave their heads and just leave the peyot. I guess this is not so far off since the cancer victims look the same because they are all bald - I guess just adding peyot to the yarmulkas solve the problem. Very innovative. The phrase "necessity is the mother of invention" rings true here.

Here we go again...

So 2007 began yesterday. I am kind of over all the New Years hoopla. It is another reason to throw a party and get a bit tipsy (or wasted!), I think as you get older you tend to see your life speed by. Each year goes by faster than the year before. I mean, wasn't Y2K just yesterday??!! New Years is just a day for people to "freak out" about another year that flew by and to make useless resolutions that they are not going to keep in the coming year.

But here are some things we can look forward to this year:
1. another presidential candidate showdown (it'll be another Hilary v Rudy - Obama will be Hil's VP)
2. more violence in Iraq (see my solution to that situation below)
3. More troops going to Iraq (God Bless and Protect them)
4. nasty campaign ads (ugh!)
5. tax hikes (NY is getting a gas tax hike - bec gas prices aren't high enough)

My predictions:
1. Castro will die this year
2. Israel will get their missing soldiers back in a body bag (I pray I am wrong on this one)
3. The UN will continue to Ignore Iran (what else is new?)
4. Israel (under different leadership) will take out Iran's nuke sites
5. The Box Office will see its lowest year ever (who goes to the movies anyways these days - the good ones aren't in the theatre)
and of course
6. Pat Robertson's prediction - which is not so far off but I don't think you need God to tell you in this day and age that there is going to be a terrorist attack, with the lack of brains some people have in this country I think another terror attack inevitable. (I kind of agreed with him on the whole Ariel Sharon's coma was retribution fron God for ethnic cleansing Gaza in 2005.)

"But he's such a nice guy"

A few days ago I had a conversation with someone I know, Mr. S. The topic was the sexual molestation allegations against Yehuda Kolko. Mr. S is Kolko's age and grew up with him in Boro Park. He was so livid about all the allegations against Kolko. He kept saying Kolko is the nicest guy I know, all these people just have personal vendettas against him. I asked Mr. S, who is not in any way part of the yeshiva community nor is affiliated with any of the institutions that Kolko is affiliated with, how he doesnt even have an inkling of doubt about Kolko, how forty years of allegations doesnt put an inkling of doubt of some misconduct. He refused to believe that Kolko had a bad bone in his body and that he is innocent because he is "such a nice guy." He adamantly maintains that all the allegations are false and that Kolko is the real victim.

It dawned on me that the reason Kolko was allowed to go nearly forty years molesting boys without getting "caught" was because people are so blinded by a nice word. Mr. S is not in any way shape or form part of Kolko's community but because he knew him as such a nice guy, who always had a nice thing to say to him, he is innocent. It's scary to think that if someone who is not part of Kolko's tight knit religious community can be blinded and not see the truth, how much more so are the people who are in Kolko's inner circle. Many people in Kolko's community revere him as a respected man and that there is no way that a person of such stature would ever abuse little boys. This must be a figment of the imagination of the accusers who are all out to get Kolko.

Here is where that little thing called common sense kicks in. There are some allegations that are so heinous that it should raise a red flag to anyone when someone is charged with this type of crime. There has to be cause for someone to be charged with a crime. Lots of time and effort is spent on investigating and obtaining an arrest warrant. Thus, it cant be that Kolko was sitting home eating cholent and minding his own business and he got arrested. He must have done something to warrant an arrest. If someone has child molestation allegations against them, it should raise a red flag, no matter how nice, religious, charitable etc the person is. People need to use common sense and realize that while Kolko may portray a nice persona to some people, he is a monster to others.

If I was married to someone and deeply in love with the person and allegations of child molestation arose, he would be out the door so fast, it's probably one of the only things I would get divorced over. Even if it's never proven. If you are really innocent, you don't put yourself into situations where allegations could even arise. I used to teach very hormonal 7th and 8th graders and the boys in the class always wanted to give me hugs. I had a policy that I did not touch the students, all the students and the other teachers knew that, further, I was never in a situation when I would be alone with a student. There are ways to keep yourself out of being falsely accused if you really are innocent.