Postseason

It appears the Red Sox will not begin their ALDS series until Friday night, and will play Game 2 on Saturday.  So, looks as if I will not be in front of any TV watching them play for about a week.  It will be either Cleveland, Texas or Tampa Bay.

Patriots also won last night, and are now 4-0.  Still though, there's no excuse for almost letting a 17 point lead slip away with just about half a quarter left to play.

The Bruins are in training camp, and will begin defense of their Eastern Conference championship soon.  Celtics beginning training camp soon sans Garnett and Pierce.

Tragic, what happened to that Dodgers fan in San Francisco.  Just don't risk it guys.  Your life is not worth less than your favorite sports team.  Really.

Concerts

I went to a lot of rock concerts during the latter half of the 80's, when I was in college.  As one friend of mine later on said to me when I recounted this a while after graduating: "Didn't anyone bother to tell you that your grade point average is inversely and proportionally related to the number of concerts you go to while in school?"  :)

One concert I have particularly fond memories of was the Yes concert I went to at the Worcester Centrum in December of 1987.  Now, besides what a great performance Jon, Trevor, Rick, Tony, etc. put on, was the fact that I was completely sick as a dog the night of that show.  What compelled me to get up and go to that show is beyond me.  But go I did, and it really was one of the better performances I saw out of all the Centrum concerts I attended during my time at Clark.  Every one of those guys is just such an incredible musician.  And this was during just about the height (maybe a few years following) their mainstream Top 40 popularity.

Learning

I remember one time back in my judo days when I learned a particular technique, and "got it right once" very early on.  Subsequent attempts to apply the same technique kept failing over and over again.  After one particularly tough workout, I remember mentioning to one of my friends in the club (a brown belt), that I felt like I was actually beginning to take a step or two back in my training, and not at all improving.  His response?

"That's actually a good sign.  It's a sign that now you are beginning to take note of the mistakes you're making.  Before, you weren't even aware of those mistakes.  But now that you know you're making them, all you've got to do is figure out how to stop making them and apply the techniques correctly."

What he was saying in a nutshell was -- I was learning.  Much the same with everyday life.  And have I got a lot to learn...

Minute Maid Park

Got my first taste of Minute Maid Park last night, as I was able to see pretty much all of the Astros getting pounded by Cincinnati for their 99th loss of the season.  Sorry, sorry franchise right now -- hate to tell you.

Was able to have my coffee this morning.  Makes a huge difference.

Stayed up late last night watching South Park.  Not something usual, but I suppose these are special circumstances...actually quite enjoyed the two-part episode about Cartman traveling 500 years into the future, all based on his inability to wait three weeks for the new Nintendo Wii to come out.

Yom Kippur

So ends another year.  Going to begin fasting in about an hour and a half.

Got my 4 runs in for the week.  Very happy about that.  Do not have to worry about not having achieved that weekly goal.

Going to a pre-fast meal in about 30 minutes.  Think I'll have time to come back here, throw on my tie, light the candles, and brush my teeth before Kol Nidre.

Red Sox

The Red Sox are closing in on the AL Eastern Division title.  Last night's 10-inning 7-3 win over Tampa Bay lowers their magic number for clinching down to 8, with about 18 or so left to play.

What a blessing it is to have this current ownership regime.  After reading all about the Yawkey/Yawkey Estate regime's sins/wrongdoings in the book It Was Never About the Babe, it's so wonderful to have this regime in charge.  I think the fact that the owners are not in fact locals made a lot of the difference.  Tom Yawkey was not a local either, but he brought all the worst elements of Southern culture with him up north when he bought the team -- and it reflected all throughout his and his estate's ownership of the team.

The Sox are also planning on honoring Yaz with a statue outside Fenway.  Well, the man was an institution for an entire generation.  Without him, the Sox for sure don't win one pennant, and perhaps not two.

Sweatshop

My first true job out of college was working in corporate sweatshop.  It was a high-end sweatshop.  But still nevertheless, it was a sweatshop.  Senior management of this company though, was very good at masking that aspect of the company from its young, naïve, inexperienced workforce.  Of course, I ended up staying there long past my expiration date.  I needed that experience -- because I did not get everything out of my college experience that I could have.  Anyway, I was mostly unhappy throughout my college experience.  My life up until age 18 really had not prepared me for college.  Also, I don't think I attended a college that was really suited for me.  But again, no crying over the past -- all my experiences made me into what I am today -- and I'm very thankful for that.

Another fast coming up in a few days.

I had to go through a lot the past 20 years to get where I'm at.  It was around 20 years ago that I first experienced the Judaism that has propelled me into the observance that I follow today.

Harassment

Just experienced my first anti-Semitic harassment since moving to LA.  Out for my daily walk, crossing Curson and Rosewood, a car stops just after I crossed, and the passenger yelled out "kike!", and sped off.  I stopped to make sure to get the license plate number, the car also stopped halfway up the street, and I heard the passenger use some more expressive language.  I think I was able to catch the license plate number, which I wrote down:

CA 6YZDLT03

It was a white car, but that's all I was able to get.  I called 911, and was told it's not a "hate crime" per se, but it is definitely harassment, which I can report if I choose to.  I have to go directly to the nearest police station and report it in person, though.  I think I'm going to contact a lawyer friend of mine, see if there's some way of reporting this within the community.  Or perhaps Hillygram.  Or Beverly Patrol.

Fasting

Got through the Fast of Gedalia relatively unscathed yesterday, now comes the Fast of all Fasts this Friday evening - Saturday evening.

Lunch will be a Hawaiian-style plate lunch, dinner will be Indian vegetarian.  Toastmasters club speech contest is tonight -- I am a contest co-chair.

Sox lost a game in the standings yesterday, but still hold a seven and a half game lead in the AL East with three weeks to go in the season.  Ellsbury will hopefully be back in the lineup from his injury for the start of the playoffs.

Needed a CBTL pick-me-up this morning after prayer services.  Glad I did it.

Patriots win on opening Sunday

Just heard, Tom Brady is now 21-2 lifetime against the Bills.  A win's a win, folks...

Growing up, the Patriots were really such a joke.  The problem with them back then was even if they happened to be good...they were still never really a likeable team.  Bill Simmons likened them to an uncle in your family who never could get things right, and at just the time he had fooled you into thinking he'd finally turned his life around, he would inevitably show up to some family function drunk. 

Of course with the Pats, that all changed about 11 years ago...will never forget watching that Super Bowl in a bar in SF with my friends Jon and Andrea.  By about the 2nd quarter, it became apparent that they had a chance to win the thing.  And I discovered that in my heart, I had never truly abandoned them like I thought I had.  That's why I was prepared when the Bruins won two years ago.  I had thought for a while that I had abandoned them.  But after the Pats' miraculous win in SB XXXVI, I realized how much I still loved all of my original New England sports teams.  The Celtics will only hold my interest when they are winning and contending for a title -- and I'm totally OK with that.

Paremsan Cheese

I seem to be having no luck with parmesan cheese.  Yesterday, I went into my local kosher supermarket, and was nicely pleased to find that they now carry the same fresh grated parmesan cheese that until now, I had to go to the other side of town to get.  I bought a package, and looked forward to my pasta meal last night.  Only problem -- the parmesan cheese smells like Roquefort...(of course, that did not stop me from finishing the bowl)...

So, I go back today and exchange it for another one.  Guess what?  Same problem.  I think the whole shipment must be bad.  Anyway, I had sliced mozzarella to put on it.  Not the same, but pasta and cheese is pasta and cheese...

Serious bout of insomnia last night...went to bed early enough (10PM), but got up at midnight, and couldn't get back to sleep until almost 4 in the morning...Luckily, I had a very smart person advise me to keep drinking lots of water during the day, which it seems has helped me get here to almost 7:30PM.

Canker Sores

I cannot stand canker sores.  And of course, I've got two of them now - one on the upper and one on the lower lip.  CVS over-the-counter mouth sore medicine only helps so much.

So glad I was able to get a run in this morning before selichot.  Of course now, I feel like I'm just about wiped out for the rest of the day.  Probably going to get my second wind a little later...hopefully.

At least the pasta's cooked for this evening.  Hot pasta never tastes as good as it does when it's given enough "breathing room" time.