Quote of the Day

"One of the great problems with Americans is that - being a decent people - they assume that everyone else is equally decent." -- Rav Meir Kahane

Current Weight: 163.6 lbs.

Lost 1.4 lbs. this week at Weight Watchers.

Goals for this week: Lose another lb.

18 lbs. to go towards goal weight.

Quote of the Day

"There'll be no niggers on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it." -- Pinky Higgins, Red Sox manager/general manager 1955-65. Nuff Ced.

Listening to Kol Israel

Reshet Bet.

Quote of the Day

"SCORE!" -- Fred Cusick, longtime Boston Bruins announcer and member of the broadcaster's wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame

Quote of Day

"My strength is the strength of ten because my heart is pure." -- Spenser, the fictional Boston private detective created by Robert B. Parker

Shabbat Shalom.

Reading Resolution by Robert B. Parker

An Old West novel written by my all-time favorite author of detective crime fiction.

Current Weight: 165 lbs.

Gained 1.2 lbs. this week at Weight Watchers

Goal for this week: lose at least 1 lb.

19 lbs. to go towards goal weight.

Quote of the Day

"We don't have to take our clothes to have a good time..." -- Narada Michael Walden and Preston Glass (song originally recorded by Jermaine Stewart)

There are no bad foods; only bad portions.

Quote of the Day

"Every failure brings with it the seed of success." -- Napolean Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Current Weight: 163.8 lbs.

Lost 4 lbs. at Weight Watchers this week.

Goals for this week: Lose at least 1 more lb.

18 lbs. to go towards goal weight.

Quote of the Day

"Put on your yarmulka, it's time for Chanukah..." -- Adam Sandler

Current Weight: 167.8 lbs.

Lost .8 lbs. this week at Weight Watchers.

Goal for this week: Lose at least 1 lb.

22 lbs. to go towards goal weight.

Quote of the Day

"I care what people think, but that doesn't change what I say. I am who I am." -- Curt Schilling

Quote of the Day

"...when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite." -- Winston Churchill, explaining the courtly flourish in his letter to the Japanese ambassador to Great Britain on December 8th, 1941 declaring to him that a state of war now existed between the two countries.

Quote of the Day

"I hope to see the very concept of Jewry obliterated." -- Heinrich Himmler

Bostoner Rebbe Z"H

Quote of the Day

"Step by step, rung by rung, climbing Jacob's ladder." -- Huey Lewis and the News

Quote of the Day

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains." -- Anne Frank

Current Weight - 168.5 lbs.

Lost 2 lbs. at Weight Watchers this week.

Goal for this week: lose at least 1 more lb.

23 lbs. to go towards goal weight.

Quote of the Day

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." -- George Washington

Quote of the Day

"If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass [in the UN] by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions." -- Abba Eban

Quotes of the Day

"No one consistently can predict anything, especially investors. Prices, not investors predict the future." -- John Henry, Red Sox principal owner

"I get knocked down, but I get up again." -- Chumbawamba

Quote of the Day

"If you will it, it is no legend." -- Theodor Herzl

Current Weight - 170 lbs.

Lost 4.2 lbs. first week back at Weight Watchers.

Goal this week: lose at least 1 lb.

24 lbs. to go towards goal weight...

Quote of the Day

"The final goal of the resistance is to wipe this entity off the face of the earth. This goal necessistates the development of the capabilities of the resistance, until this entity is wiped out." -- Hamas representative in Lebanaon Osama Hamdan speaking in 2006, attempting to justify suicide bombings on buses in Israel.

Steps to Success

1. Good decisions.

How to get to good decisions:

2. Experience.

How to get experience:

3. Bad decisions.

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.

Current Weight: 175 lbs.

Weight Watchers Goal: Reattain my lifetime membership goal weight of 146 lbs.

Quote of the Day

"If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing." -- Margaret Thatcher

Quote of the Day

"Every crisis is an opportunity if managed properly." -- Robert Kraft

Go Pats

Back on the FranklinCovey Planner system

Shabbat Shalom!

Set three new one year goals

Quote of the Day

"The truth is if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war." -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Quotes of the Day

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -- Ronald Reagan

"Don't point a gun at someone unless you're willing to pull the trigger." -- George Shultz

Defiance

One of the best films I have seen in a very long time.

Quote of the Day

"The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive." -- Bruce Springsteen

Quote of the Day

"Where there is Torah, it sustains the world." -- Rav Ovadia Yosef

Quote of the Day

"I never let my schooling interfere with my education." -- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

"Sally, you've never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it!" -- Gordon (played by Matt Robinson): The very first words ever spoken on Sesame Street 40 years ago this month.

Quote of the Day

"When I was growing up in Cuba, Luis Tiant was my idol. Now, I'm 36 and he's 37." -- Hall of Famer, Red Sox killer in the 1975 World Series, and eventual Red Sox first baseman Tony Perez

If you try to please everyone, you please no one.

Macaroni and Cheese

My all-time favorite comfort food.

Shabbat Shalom!

I'm not going to the Turkish Embassy reception tonight

Instead, I'm going to learn Gemarah with Rabbi Hessi of Chabad Tyson's Corner.

Quote of the Day

"There are no ugly women, only lazy one's." -- Helena Rubinstein

Following up on yesterday's blog...

The Turkish prime minister is in Iran meeting with Ahmadinejad, and I might be attending an event at the Turkish embassy on Thursday for Turkish Independence Day...I wonder if I might be taking my life into my own hands...

Just found out today I've been a lifelong Turkish citizen

Too bad relations with Israel and Turkey are what they are at the moment...I would have loved to go back and visit.

My Favorite Sports Moment of the Decade

Vinatieri's winning field goal in the '02 Superbowl (I was living abroad in '04 and did not see Games 4, 5 or 6 of the ALCS live).

First Baseball Autograph

Luis Tiant at the Randolph, MA Shopping Center Plaza -- 1977.

Quote of the Day

"You can't have everything...where would you put it?" -- Steven Wright

Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS)

I took this test developed by a member of Dr. David Burns' team. Dr. Burns is a well-known leader in the field of cognitive psychotherapy and is the author of the best-seller "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy".

I rated positively (no dysfunction) in the following areas:

Approval Addiction

Love Addiction

Perfectionism

Omnipotence (blaming oneself inappropriately for the negative actions and attitudes of others not really under one's control)

Autonomy (ability to find happiness within oneself)


I rated borderline positive/negative in these areas:

Achievement (workaholic)

Entitlement (feeling "entitled" to things - success, love, happiness, etc.)


I did not rate purely negative in any of the areas measured on the scale.

Quote of the Day

"If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything." -- Peter Marshall

Quote of the Day

George Bernard Shaw: "Anyone who's 40 and isn't a conservative doesn't have a brain...anyone who's 20 and isn't a liberal doesn't have a heart."

Conference Call on Nuclear Iran

On Thursday at 1PM, I will be listening in a conference call organized by the Israel Project in DC with 2 Congress representatives.

Reps: Hoekstra and Sherman
Title: "Conference Call on Nuclear Iran: What Do We Think We Know amd What Can We Do?"

Tom Brady

New England's Athlete of the Decade.

Gave a D'vor Torah today at Chabad Tyson's Corner

on Parasha Bereishit. Thank you Rabbi Lamm...

Be True to Yourself

and Shabbat Shalom.

I Visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

for the first time in 13 years and the first time since I became observant.

If I Could Hire 9 Ethnic Food Chefs to Cook All the Time For Me...

These would be my choices:

Chinese
Japanese
American
Mexican
French
Italian
Ethiopian
Israeli
Indian

...and a mashgiach for the kitchen.

VA License Plate I Saw Eruv Yom Kippur Day

Pulling into Tyson's Corner at about 2 in the afternoon:

DC Natsi

I reported this to both the Fairfax County Police Department and the local ADL office.

Lashon Hara

the prohibition in Jewish law of speaking gossip.

Business Tip of the Day

Be aware of office politics. That does not mean you necessarily need to involve yourself in them. But do be aware of their existence.

Countries I Have Visited and/or Lived In (not counting airports or train rides through)

Israel
Turkey
USA
Canada
Colombia
France
Bahamas
Korea
Japan
Germany
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
UK
Ireland
Mexico
Cuba
Costa Rica

Quotes of the Day

"Culture hides much more than it reveals. And, strangely enough, what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants." - Edward T. Hall

"It's not personal, Sonny...it's strictly business." - Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (In my opinion, one of the most evil lines ever spoken in the history of Hollywood).

My Myers-Briggs, DISC and Holland Code Personality Types

Myers Briggs: ESTJ

DISC: S dominant (Counselor personality type)

Holland Code: SEC

My Favorite Values in the Workplace

1. Good decision making.

2. Exploiting, shaping and influencing some situation or market before others see the potential.

3. Fighting Anti-semitism around the globe - and prevailing.

My Favorite Skills and Interests (Fields of Fascination)

My Favorite Skills

1. Communicating my thoughts and feelings effectively to a group or multitude and using my words expressively in speaking or writing.

2. Instructing, teaching, tutoring or training individuals confidently and with passion.

3. Enabling other people to perform at the best of their capacity by providing them direction and serving as a leader.

My Favorite Interests (Fields of Fascination)

1. Public Speaking
2. Coaching/Managing
3. Reading

Quote of the Day

Marty Nemko: "We find comfort among those with whom we agree...growth among those whom we don't."

Top 3 Places I Want to Live

1. New York City
2. Atlanta
3. Washington, D.C.

My Choice of Careers

Corporate Presenter
Business Skills Trainer
Leadership Skills Trainer
International Cultural Awareness Skills Training for Businesspeople
Author
Lecturer
University Instructor

Quote of the Day

Albert Einstein: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

First Blog

This is my first blog. I will try to post at least one line a day, excluding Shabbat and holidays.