I got up early this morning and got in a good walk and work-out.
After breakfast, I again went to the Maccabi nurses to get my finger re-bandaged. This time she put a very small one on it for minimal protection and told me to come back in 2 days. Now I can actually use that finger pretty normally except for washing my hands (or other things that might get it wet).
We went for the first time today to the weekly meeting of the local chapter of WIZO (the Women's International Zionist Organization). Despite the name, this is really more like the local Anglo community center, and we want to get more connected to the other English-speakers here in town. We really enjoyed the meeting, talking with several interesting people. As a result, I have decided to cancel my Tuesday morning availability for Berlitz so that we'll be able to attend regularly. It's social contact that we both really need.
Because there was food at this particular WIZO meeting (they were celebrating some birthdays), we ate lunch very late, at Café Café at Ice Park. Then we walked around the mall once, had frozen yogurt, walked around 2 more times, and watched the 6:00 show (the Xmas show again!).
I have started listening to the more than 130 recordings I made using "ChucK Makes More Variations" and sorting them into 3 categories: outstanding, OK, and defective. So far, I haven't found any that I put in that last category.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
Monday, 30 December 2013
I was quite lazy this morning, so I didn't get up and go for a walk at all.
I went back to the nurses this morning so that they could check out my finger and put a new bandage on it. The nurse who saw me put some antibiotic cream on the wound and then bandaged it up with a lighter bandage than yesterday. In particular, I can bend the main joint of the finger in this one, which I couldn't do in yesterday's.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. David had a shwarma burrito, and I had the actual Buddha burger. Afterwards, we drove down to Ice Park to walk and to eat frozen yogurt.
I listened to all the pieces that I have arranged so far for orchestra. For some reason, they all seemed a bit dull to me today -- a little too quiet and too slow. Hmmm.....
I did a little work on organizing our closet today. I moved some things that we're not likely to use much if at all to a high shelf, and I rearranged David's t-shirts so that it will be much easier to see what we have and to choose a shirt.
We returned again to Ice Park in the evening, walked around it another time, and ate more frozen yogurt. We also chatted quite a bit with Diana, the pro skater and acrobat. She's also a very nice person to talk with.
I did a lot more recordings of pieces produced by running "ChucK Makes More Variations". I think I now have more than 100 different recordings, each of them different even though they have all been produced by the EXACT same program with no input changes, either. All the differences are due to the many random choices made by the software itself.
I went back to the nurses this morning so that they could check out my finger and put a new bandage on it. The nurse who saw me put some antibiotic cream on the wound and then bandaged it up with a lighter bandage than yesterday. In particular, I can bend the main joint of the finger in this one, which I couldn't do in yesterday's.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. David had a shwarma burrito, and I had the actual Buddha burger. Afterwards, we drove down to Ice Park to walk and to eat frozen yogurt.
I listened to all the pieces that I have arranged so far for orchestra. For some reason, they all seemed a bit dull to me today -- a little too quiet and too slow. Hmmm.....
I did a little work on organizing our closet today. I moved some things that we're not likely to use much if at all to a high shelf, and I rearranged David's t-shirts so that it will be much easier to see what we have and to choose a shirt.
We returned again to Ice Park in the evening, walked around it another time, and ate more frozen yogurt. We also chatted quite a bit with Diana, the pro skater and acrobat. She's also a very nice person to talk with.
I did a lot more recordings of pieces produced by running "ChucK Makes More Variations". I think I now have more than 100 different recordings, each of them different even though they have all been produced by the EXACT same program with no input changes, either. All the differences are due to the many random choices made by the software itself.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Sunday, 29 December 2013
I got up a little late this morning, but I still took the time to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back.
This morning my finger definitely looked infected, so I decided I had better go in and see what the nurses thought. Sure enough, it WAS infected, so they sent me up to see the surgeon. He cut it open and drained it. It hardly hurt at all, though, since the skin was dead (from the freezing last Tuesday that the skin doctor did). Then he sent me back down to the nurse, who had me soak it in an iodine solution for some time and then bandaged it up well. Tomorrow, I am supposed to take the bandage off, wash it well, and then return to the nurse to get it re-bandaged.
Today is David's 58th birthday, so of course we needed to celebrate. We decided to eat at Il Pentolino and even has desserts. Naturally, I told them it was his birthday, so they put a sparkler candle in his ice cream and sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
Later in the day, we went down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a walk around the mall a couple of times. I chatted a bit with Diana, the female professional skater, and found out that she also loves to sew and made most of her costumes (which are really nice!). She also told me that the male skater's name is Yifgenie, and he's from Ukraine.
Before returning home we took a short drive up highway 12, to the pass just before the checkpoint. The view of Hakl, Saudi Arabia, was quite clear as we headed back down.
This morning my finger definitely looked infected, so I decided I had better go in and see what the nurses thought. Sure enough, it WAS infected, so they sent me up to see the surgeon. He cut it open and drained it. It hardly hurt at all, though, since the skin was dead (from the freezing last Tuesday that the skin doctor did). Then he sent me back down to the nurse, who had me soak it in an iodine solution for some time and then bandaged it up well. Tomorrow, I am supposed to take the bandage off, wash it well, and then return to the nurse to get it re-bandaged.
Today is David's 58th birthday, so of course we needed to celebrate. We decided to eat at Il Pentolino and even has desserts. Naturally, I told them it was his birthday, so they put a sparkler candle in his ice cream and sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
Later in the day, we went down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a walk around the mall a couple of times. I chatted a bit with Diana, the female professional skater, and found out that she also loves to sew and made most of her costumes (which are really nice!). She also told me that the male skater's name is Yifgenie, and he's from Ukraine.
Before returning home we took a short drive up highway 12, to the pass just before the checkpoint. The view of Hakl, Saudi Arabia, was quite clear as we headed back down.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Shabbat, 28 December 2013
I woke up early this morning and felt very good, so I went out for a nice walk to the gym and even worked out there a bit. I wore my warm Yellowstone coat but it was really a bit too much. By the time I started down our street on the way home, I had taken it off completely, leaving me just in jeans and a t-shirt. My new slogan: "Winter in Eilat? Yes, we do have it, but it usually doesn't last all day."
This morning we made another visit to Hai Bar, the wild animal park next to Yotvata. We've been there several times before, and it's always enjoyable. David said it was the perfect present for his birthday, which is tomorrow.
For lunch, we ordered soyaburgers from Barbis delivered to our house, and they were delicious.
We talked to David's sister in Ohio, who is still in the hospital. She sounded MUCH better, though, and she's hoping they'll release her on Monday.
After watching the videos for week 3 of the Android class and looking at the first assignment, I decided to officially drop it. It's definitely not for me. I also noted that my next class will be beginning in a little more than a week. It's called "Write Like Mozart", and the professor's introductory video was quite interesting, too. I don't think I'd want to do 2 classes at once, and this one seems much more intriguing and even useful to me.
David has been listening to audio books. Yesterday, he finished the second one by Amy Tan (which he didn't like as well as "The Joy Luck Club" by the same author). Now, he's listening to his second book by Tom Clancy, and he's really enjoying it, as he also did the first one. The Bluetooth earphones that I got him last summer are really great, and so I'm really glad I spent the money.
This morning we made another visit to Hai Bar, the wild animal park next to Yotvata. We've been there several times before, and it's always enjoyable. David said it was the perfect present for his birthday, which is tomorrow.
For lunch, we ordered soyaburgers from Barbis delivered to our house, and they were delicious.
We talked to David's sister in Ohio, who is still in the hospital. She sounded MUCH better, though, and she's hoping they'll release her on Monday.
After watching the videos for week 3 of the Android class and looking at the first assignment, I decided to officially drop it. It's definitely not for me. I also noted that my next class will be beginning in a little more than a week. It's called "Write Like Mozart", and the professor's introductory video was quite interesting, too. I don't think I'd want to do 2 classes at once, and this one seems much more intriguing and even useful to me.
David has been listening to audio books. Yesterday, he finished the second one by Amy Tan (which he didn't like as well as "The Joy Luck Club" by the same author). Now, he's listening to his second book by Tom Clancy, and he's really enjoying it, as he also did the first one. The Bluetooth earphones that I got him last summer are really great, and so I'm really glad I spent the money.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, 27 December 2013
I didn't go out for a walk this morning except for the short one to recycle cardboard and buy challah at the local bakery.
I finished watching the videos for the 2nd week of the Android class, and I came to a rather surprising conclusion: I don't actually want to take this class! Somehow, it's just not inspiring me. Perhaps it's because I can't think of anything really interesting to program on Android, or perhaps it's the professor's somewhat casual and disjointed style, or maybe it's something else or some combination of these. I haven't made a final decision, but I'm almost sure that I'll drop the class.
We had our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
Before sunset, we lit candles, drank a tiny bit of sweet red wine, and ate delicious whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat. Pascal (our big black cat with a bit of white on him) celebrated, too, by eating rolled oats and a few of the little black seeds they put on the challah.
A little later, David and I walked over to the green strip, sat there for a little while on the bench, and then walked back. Even though the distance is quite short, the slight amount of grade causes David to develop quite bad pain in his legs. I guess we're going to have to stick mostly to level walking, as at the mall.
The cyst that the doctor froze on Tuesday has gotten quite weird. About 2 days ago, it began leaking clear, odorless, tasteless drops of fluid, which it continues to do. It has also turned a rather ugly purple and is now slightly painful to the touch. I hope this is all simply part of the process of getting rid of it, but, so far, the cure is worse than the disease!
I finished watching the videos for the 2nd week of the Android class, and I came to a rather surprising conclusion: I don't actually want to take this class! Somehow, it's just not inspiring me. Perhaps it's because I can't think of anything really interesting to program on Android, or perhaps it's the professor's somewhat casual and disjointed style, or maybe it's something else or some combination of these. I haven't made a final decision, but I'm almost sure that I'll drop the class.
We had our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
Before sunset, we lit candles, drank a tiny bit of sweet red wine, and ate delicious whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat. Pascal (our big black cat with a bit of white on him) celebrated, too, by eating rolled oats and a few of the little black seeds they put on the challah.
A little later, David and I walked over to the green strip, sat there for a little while on the bench, and then walked back. Even though the distance is quite short, the slight amount of grade causes David to develop quite bad pain in his legs. I guess we're going to have to stick mostly to level walking, as at the mall.
The cyst that the doctor froze on Tuesday has gotten quite weird. About 2 days ago, it began leaking clear, odorless, tasteless drops of fluid, which it continues to do. It has also turned a rather ugly purple and is now slightly painful to the touch. I hope this is all simply part of the process of getting rid of it, but, so far, the cure is worse than the disease!
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Thursday, 26 December 2013
I was lazy this morning and didn't go for a walk.
David felt a little sad this morning because he is beginning to confront the fact that his mental faculties are on the decline. Obviously, this isn't something that's easy for ANYONE to face. I wish I could give him better news, but I have to be honest and say that the general trend has been downward now for quite some time. Just how quickly it will proceed is anyone's guess, but, unfortunately, the future does NOT look so bright for him. Please keep him (and me, too, for that matter!) in your thoughts and prayers.
I spent most of the day working on my ChucK piece. I continued to balance the various solo instruments so that they all play near the same perceived loudness. I also set up a rather elaborate randomized scheme for choosing which instruments will play and how likely it is that various combinations will be chosen. I also worked on fine-tuning the fades at the end of phrases for the sustaining instruments. Another thing that I did was to randomly vary the tempo slightly to give the whole piece a more human, less mechanical feel. I'm pretty happy with it all now, so I think I'll try to take a little break from it and work on my neglected Android class.
We ate lunch today at Café Café at Ice Park. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had pieces of toasted bread with various spreads.
In the late afternoon, we took a short drive up the Arava and then proceeded directly to Ice Park when we returned to town, where we ate frozen yogurt and watched the 6:00 p.m. show. There were two different student girls, but Santa and Diana did their same Xmas routines.
David felt a little sad this morning because he is beginning to confront the fact that his mental faculties are on the decline. Obviously, this isn't something that's easy for ANYONE to face. I wish I could give him better news, but I have to be honest and say that the general trend has been downward now for quite some time. Just how quickly it will proceed is anyone's guess, but, unfortunately, the future does NOT look so bright for him. Please keep him (and me, too, for that matter!) in your thoughts and prayers.
I spent most of the day working on my ChucK piece. I continued to balance the various solo instruments so that they all play near the same perceived loudness. I also set up a rather elaborate randomized scheme for choosing which instruments will play and how likely it is that various combinations will be chosen. I also worked on fine-tuning the fades at the end of phrases for the sustaining instruments. Another thing that I did was to randomly vary the tempo slightly to give the whole piece a more human, less mechanical feel. I'm pretty happy with it all now, so I think I'll try to take a little break from it and work on my neglected Android class.
We ate lunch today at Café Café at Ice Park. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had pieces of toasted bread with various spreads.
In the late afternoon, we took a short drive up the Arava and then proceeded directly to Ice Park when we returned to town, where we ate frozen yogurt and watched the 6:00 p.m. show. There were two different student girls, but Santa and Diana did their same Xmas routines.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
I managed to get myself out of bed and out for a good walk this morning. I went all the way to the gym and back but didn't work out there.
We ate lunch today at a place called "Sushi Mushi" at Ice Park, where we hadn't eaten before. We both had their vegetarian sushi combo, and it was very delicious but also somewhat expensive.
In the afternoon, I went to the Maccabi pharmacy to pick up out monthly supply of medicines.
We called David's sister in Ohio, but her husband answered and told us she was in the hospital again, alas!
We drove back over to Ice Park in the evening for frozen yogurt, a couple more walks around the mall, and the Xmas ice skating show. There were a couple of different kids this evening, but Santa did his same routine (to a pretty hyped up version of "Jingle Bells"), and Diana also did her lovely routine to "Santa Baby". This time, I went down to a spot right by the rink to watch the main parts of the show.
I spent most of the rest of the day working on getting the volumes of the various instruments right for soloing in my ChucK piece. Next, I planning to work on more interesting ways to randomly choose the instruments to play.
We ate lunch today at a place called "Sushi Mushi" at Ice Park, where we hadn't eaten before. We both had their vegetarian sushi combo, and it was very delicious but also somewhat expensive.
In the afternoon, I went to the Maccabi pharmacy to pick up out monthly supply of medicines.
We called David's sister in Ohio, but her husband answered and told us she was in the hospital again, alas!
We drove back over to Ice Park in the evening for frozen yogurt, a couple more walks around the mall, and the Xmas ice skating show. There were a couple of different kids this evening, but Santa did his same routine (to a pretty hyped up version of "Jingle Bells"), and Diana also did her lovely routine to "Santa Baby". This time, I went down to a spot right by the rink to watch the main parts of the show.
I spent most of the rest of the day working on getting the volumes of the various instruments right for soloing in my ChucK piece. Next, I planning to work on more interesting ways to randomly choose the instruments to play.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
I couldn't quite get myself out for a walk this morning. I woke up with a bit of a sinus headache and just didn't feel quite up to it.
I'm on vacation now from Berlitz until the 6th of January, so I'm trying to get various things done.
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal since I obviously did NOT have time to do it yesterday. I was very happy to see that they had 6-packs of 1.5 liter bottles of PespiMax, since last week they had none. I bought six of them!
For lunch, we went to Buddha Burgers. David had a vegan shwarma burrito, and I had hummus with vegan shwarma. We split a piece of their fabulous vegan cheesecake for dessert. It was ALL very delicious!
I've had a cyst (actually, TWO of them, right next to each other) on the last joint of my right index finger (finger number 2 for you keyboard players) for several months now. They didn't hurt, but they had become somewhat annoying, so I got an appointment with the dermatologist about them. Today was the day. He dipped a stick with cotton on the end of it into a thermos of something very cold, probably liquid nitrogen, and pressed it on the cysts. It hurt a little when he did it, and actually more afterwards. Now, they have merged together into one bigger bump, but I'm sure this is part of the process of finally eliminating them. The doctor said to come back to him in about 4-6 weeks.
After I came back from my appointment, David and I drove down to Ice Park, where we ate frozen yogurt and took a couple of walks around the mall. While we were eating, they had an ice skating show. About 3 local girls who are learning did solos first. Then, the professional male skater (I think he's from Bulgaria or Hungary, but he's had a gig here for months) came out in a full Santa costume, gave a present to the last girl, and then did his routine to some Xmas song (I don't remember which one now). After that, Diana, the female professional skater and acrobat from England (who has also been here for many months), did her routine in a red Xmassy costume to "Santa Baby". She was great, as always, especially her amazing acrobatics on a ring that she climbs onto and then they raise it high above the ice! At the end, all the skaters came out with Santa caps and skated around the rink a couple times to a version of "Jingle Bells". Who'd have thunk?
I spent much of the rest of the day making further changes to my ChucK piece. Now I'm working on setting up additional instruments which will be randomly chosen to play the melody. My main goal in all my work on this is to increase the variety of music the code will produce each time it is run without changing the code itself at all, and without changing any parameters, either.
I'm on vacation now from Berlitz until the 6th of January, so I'm trying to get various things done.
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal since I obviously did NOT have time to do it yesterday. I was very happy to see that they had 6-packs of 1.5 liter bottles of PespiMax, since last week they had none. I bought six of them!
For lunch, we went to Buddha Burgers. David had a vegan shwarma burrito, and I had hummus with vegan shwarma. We split a piece of their fabulous vegan cheesecake for dessert. It was ALL very delicious!
I've had a cyst (actually, TWO of them, right next to each other) on the last joint of my right index finger (finger number 2 for you keyboard players) for several months now. They didn't hurt, but they had become somewhat annoying, so I got an appointment with the dermatologist about them. Today was the day. He dipped a stick with cotton on the end of it into a thermos of something very cold, probably liquid nitrogen, and pressed it on the cysts. It hurt a little when he did it, and actually more afterwards. Now, they have merged together into one bigger bump, but I'm sure this is part of the process of finally eliminating them. The doctor said to come back to him in about 4-6 weeks.
After I came back from my appointment, David and I drove down to Ice Park, where we ate frozen yogurt and took a couple of walks around the mall. While we were eating, they had an ice skating show. About 3 local girls who are learning did solos first. Then, the professional male skater (I think he's from Bulgaria or Hungary, but he's had a gig here for months) came out in a full Santa costume, gave a present to the last girl, and then did his routine to some Xmas song (I don't remember which one now). After that, Diana, the female professional skater and acrobat from England (who has also been here for many months), did her routine in a red Xmassy costume to "Santa Baby". She was great, as always, especially her amazing acrobatics on a ring that she climbs onto and then they raise it high above the ice! At the end, all the skaters came out with Santa caps and skated around the rink a couple times to a version of "Jingle Bells". Who'd have thunk?
I spent much of the rest of the day making further changes to my ChucK piece. Now I'm working on setting up additional instruments which will be randomly chosen to play the melody. My main goal in all my work on this is to increase the variety of music the code will produce each time it is run without changing the code itself at all, and without changing any parameters, either.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Monday, 23 December 2013
I managed to get myself out of bed early enough to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back, so at least I got some exercise today.
I had only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, and the first turned out to be a no-show: 11:15-12:45 and 3:30-5:00.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had Italian shakshuka, and I had an omelet sandwich.
Later, we drove back down to Ice Park for yogurt and a couple more walks around the mall. Although there are almost no holiday decorations, of course, there was a short message on the big video screen wishing everyone "Merry Christmas".
I spent most of the rest of the day trying to get my "ChucK Makes More Variations" piece to allow for different numbers of phrases to be randomly selected. I finally succeeded, but it was trickier to accomplish than I had originally thought.
I had only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, and the first turned out to be a no-show: 11:15-12:45 and 3:30-5:00.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had Italian shakshuka, and I had an omelet sandwich.
Later, we drove back down to Ice Park for yogurt and a couple more walks around the mall. Although there are almost no holiday decorations, of course, there was a short message on the big video screen wishing everyone "Merry Christmas".
I spent most of the rest of the day trying to get my "ChucK Makes More Variations" piece to allow for different numbers of phrases to be randomly selected. I finally succeeded, but it was trickier to accomplish than I had originally thought.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Sunday, 22 December 2013
I was lazy and didn't go out for a walk this morning. I did take time to make yet another change to "ChucK Make More Variations" and then played it numerous times, recording about 15 or 16 of them. Now it randomly choose a base frequency within a specified octave range and plays in the "key" of that frequency, which need not be ANY actual key as we know it, and actually usually will NOT be.
Almost all of today was occupied by a trip to Tel Aviv for David's dental appointment. We left home before 7:30, got only snacks for breakfast, filled the car with gas, and headed north. We arrived at our destination, Asuta Hospital in Tel Aviv, at about 11:45. His appointment was at 1:00, but they had called us while we were on our way and asked if we could be there by 12:30. In the end, the dentist started work on him at about 12:45.
After the appointment, we ate lunch at the Arcaffe located there on the ground floor of the hospital and then headed home, arriving here just after 7:00 p.m.
Although it was a long day, driving in the desert is always interesting: the colors, the textures, the tree in the middle of the road (in Nakhal Tzikhor -- they split the 2-lane road for a brief section so as not to disturb a beautiful acacia tree!), the remoteness. On the way back, we could see a bright planet to the southwest, orion rising over the Jordanian mountains, and lights from the heights of Jordan.
Almost all of today was occupied by a trip to Tel Aviv for David's dental appointment. We left home before 7:30, got only snacks for breakfast, filled the car with gas, and headed north. We arrived at our destination, Asuta Hospital in Tel Aviv, at about 11:45. His appointment was at 1:00, but they had called us while we were on our way and asked if we could be there by 12:30. In the end, the dentist started work on him at about 12:45.
After the appointment, we ate lunch at the Arcaffe located there on the ground floor of the hospital and then headed home, arriving here just after 7:00 p.m.
Although it was a long day, driving in the desert is always interesting: the colors, the textures, the tree in the middle of the road (in Nakhal Tzikhor -- they split the 2-lane road for a brief section so as not to disturb a beautiful acacia tree!), the remoteness. On the way back, we could see a bright planet to the southwest, orion rising over the Jordanian mountains, and lights from the heights of Jordan.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Shabbat, 21 December 2013
I woke up slightly late and felt more than a little lazy, so I didn't go out for a walk this morning.
I spent much of my time today making a small improvement to my final project, even though it's already turned in and being evaluated by my peers. I'm calling the new version "ChucK Makes More Variations" because there is now even more that is left to chance. The results are really quite amazing: phrases that sound "right" and even seem to be in a logical order. It's really fun doing algorithmic composition!
We took a drive around the short loop this morning, going up the Arava to highway 40, up highway 40 past Ne'ot Smadar to the Shizzafon Junction, and then returning to Eilat on highway 12.
For lunch, we went to Barbis and both had soyaburgers.
We talked for a while this afternoon with David's sister in Ohio. She's out of the hospital but still feeling a little weak. They're having a big family party at their place today, so we didn't talk too long since they were quire busy preparing things.
In the early evening, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt. David's legs weren't feeling very steady, so he stayed in the car in the parking building while I went in and got the yogurt. Then we sat together in the car and ate it.
I spent much of my time today making a small improvement to my final project, even though it's already turned in and being evaluated by my peers. I'm calling the new version "ChucK Makes More Variations" because there is now even more that is left to chance. The results are really quite amazing: phrases that sound "right" and even seem to be in a logical order. It's really fun doing algorithmic composition!
We took a drive around the short loop this morning, going up the Arava to highway 40, up highway 40 past Ne'ot Smadar to the Shizzafon Junction, and then returning to Eilat on highway 12.
For lunch, we went to Barbis and both had soyaburgers.
We talked for a while this afternoon with David's sister in Ohio. She's out of the hospital but still feeling a little weak. They're having a big family party at their place today, so we didn't talk too long since they were quire busy preparing things.
In the early evening, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt. David's legs weren't feeling very steady, so he stayed in the car in the parking building while I went in and got the yogurt. Then we sat together in the car and ate it.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Friday, 20 December 2013
I didn't sleep very well last night and so didn't get up early, either. I did walk down to recycle the cardboard and buy challah at the local bakery before breakfast, though.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30 and 11:30-1:00.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino.
I evaluated the final projects of 5 of my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. Two of them were really, really interesting and took full advantage of some of the cool capabilities of ChucK.
Shortly before the sun went down, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome the Shabbat. Pascal, our Israeli cat, also joins us in making Shabbat. What HE likes, though, are the pieces of rolled oats and small black seeds that are on the outside of the challah. I also give him some additional rolled oats that I have. This makes him very happy!
This evening, I went back and listened to all the project that I submitted for the class. I also made a small change to allow more variations in the lengths of the melody notes in my final project, and I found, somewhat to my surprise, that it makes the results even MORE interesting. I think my next step will be to make the choices of beginning and ending notes and chords for phrases somewhat random and then setting it in an infinite loop of of 4-measure phrases. Maybe I can even figure out a way to make it stream on the web from some kind of host site. Wouldn't that be cool?
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30 and 11:30-1:00.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino.
I evaluated the final projects of 5 of my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. Two of them were really, really interesting and took full advantage of some of the cool capabilities of ChucK.
Shortly before the sun went down, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome the Shabbat. Pascal, our Israeli cat, also joins us in making Shabbat. What HE likes, though, are the pieces of rolled oats and small black seeds that are on the outside of the challah. I also give him some additional rolled oats that I have. This makes him very happy!
This evening, I went back and listened to all the project that I submitted for the class. I also made a small change to allow more variations in the lengths of the melody notes in my final project, and I found, somewhat to my surprise, that it makes the results even MORE interesting. I think my next step will be to make the choices of beginning and ending notes and chords for phrases somewhat random and then setting it in an infinite loop of of 4-measure phrases. Maybe I can even figure out a way to make it stream on the web from some kind of host site. Wouldn't that be cool?
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Thursday, 19 December 2013
I got up late this morning and so didn't go out for a walk.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at home because I only had an hour between classes.
In the evening, though, we went down to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at home because I only had an hour between classes.
In the evening, though, we went down to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
I got up early this morning and walked for about an hour. I went up highway 12 to just before the large tanks, then turned left and followed the side roads (including one that is unpaved) back to town. It was a nice walk.
I had 8 units of Berlitz lessons scheduled today, but the second student was a no-show, and the last one left without warning about half an hour into the class: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30 (the no-show), 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-7:30 (the one who left at about 6:30).
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had shakshuka, and I had stuffed mushrooms.
I had 8 units of Berlitz lessons scheduled today, but the second student was a no-show, and the last one left without warning about half an hour into the class: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30 (the no-show), 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-7:30 (the one who left at about 6:30).
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had shakshuka, and I had stuffed mushrooms.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
I was tired (or lazy? or sick?) this morning and so didn't get up early and go out for a walk.
I taught only 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:45-1:15, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at the Aroma at Mercaz Big. Afterwards, we drove down to Ice Park and walked once around the mall. Next, we filled the car with gas at the station by the airport and got it washed.
I got a good start on the second week's materials for my Android programming class.
Before my evening class, we drove down to Ice Park again, walked around another time, and had frozen yogurt.
I taught only 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:45-1:15, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at the Aroma at Mercaz Big. Afterwards, we drove down to Ice Park and walked once around the mall. Next, we filled the car with gas at the station by the airport and got it washed.
I got a good start on the second week's materials for my Android programming class.
Before my evening class, we drove down to Ice Park again, walked around another time, and had frozen yogurt.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Monday, 16 December 2013
I didn't get up very early this morning, and I didn't feel like going out, either. I think I'm still fighting some kind of sinus infection or irritation. Oh well!
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers and then headed down to Ice Park to exercise by walking around the mall a couple of times. We also got frozen yogurt while we were there.
I turned in my final project for my class, "Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists," and began looking at the videos for the second week of my new class, "Creative, Playful and Serious Science of Android Apps".
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers and then headed down to Ice Park to exercise by walking around the mall a couple of times. We also got frozen yogurt while we were there.
I turned in my final project for my class, "Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists," and began looking at the videos for the second week of my new class, "Creative, Playful and Serious Science of Android Apps".
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, 15 December 2013
I got up very early this morning and went for a good walk and work-out. It was cold, but I kept nice and warm with my green jacket that I bought in Yellowstone in 2002.
Today I put some finishing touches on my final project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, including inserting a lot of comments into the code. In doing so, I discovered a logic error that would produce some wrong notes. I hadn't noticed them particularly, but after I fixed it, I did notice that the music seemed better, so perhaps I just hadn't heard them directly before. Anyway, I'm very happy with how it is now. I'll listen again tomorrow, do any final tweaks, and turn it in. I'll also try to record a few runs of the program and post the MP3s somewhere so that anyone who in interested can check them out.
We ate lunch today at Aroma at the local Mercaz Big. We split an omelet sandwich, and so lunch was very inexpensive!
I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal this afternoon.
In the early evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a couple of walks around the mall, one on each level.
Today I put some finishing touches on my final project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, including inserting a lot of comments into the code. In doing so, I discovered a logic error that would produce some wrong notes. I hadn't noticed them particularly, but after I fixed it, I did notice that the music seemed better, so perhaps I just hadn't heard them directly before. Anyway, I'm very happy with how it is now. I'll listen again tomorrow, do any final tweaks, and turn it in. I'll also try to record a few runs of the program and post the MP3s somewhere so that anyone who in interested can check them out.
We ate lunch today at Aroma at the local Mercaz Big. We split an omelet sandwich, and so lunch was very inexpensive!
I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal this afternoon.
In the early evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a couple of walks around the mall, one on each level.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Shabbat, 14 December 2013
I slept well last night and woke up reasonably early this morning, but I was lazy and didn't go out for a walk anyway.
This morning after breakfast, we drove around the short loop. In particular, it was nice to see the snow on the tops of the highest peaks across the Arava in Jordan.
I spent much of the day working on my final project for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It was quite a bit harder than I had expected, but I've basically got it working now. Tomorrow I make some additional tweaks and add another thing or 2.
We ate lunch today at Barbis, where we both had soyaburgers with mushrooms and yellow cheese.
In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a walk around the mall for a bit of exercise.
This morning after breakfast, we drove around the short loop. In particular, it was nice to see the snow on the tops of the highest peaks across the Arava in Jordan.
I spent much of the day working on my final project for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It was quite a bit harder than I had expected, but I've basically got it working now. Tomorrow I make some additional tweaks and add another thing or 2.
We ate lunch today at Barbis, where we both had soyaburgers with mushrooms and yellow cheese.
In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and a walk around the mall for a bit of exercise.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Friday, 13 December 2013
I got up early enough this morning to walk to the gym and back, but I didn't work out there at all. A little later, but still before breakfast, I did my regular Friday walk to recycle the cardboard and buy challah.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, my max for a Friday: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30.
This morning (prompted by a report on Facebook from my friend, Liz) I looked out my window and saw SNOW on the mountains of Jordan just across the valley from us!
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today. We bundled up to go there, too, because it was cold out (okay, so it probably wasn't even under 10˚C = 50˚F, but it felt cold to us!).
Just before sundown, we lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat.
I got some work done on my final project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's turning out to be surprisingly difficult, especially since it's based on the same idea I used last week. Mostly, it's the fact that I'm trying to write in a minor key (instead of last week's major) that's creating complications.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, my max for a Friday: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30.
This morning (prompted by a report on Facebook from my friend, Liz) I looked out my window and saw SNOW on the mountains of Jordan just across the valley from us!
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today. We bundled up to go there, too, because it was cold out (okay, so it probably wasn't even under 10˚C = 50˚F, but it felt cold to us!).
Just before sundown, we lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat.
I got some work done on my final project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's turning out to be surprisingly difficult, especially since it's based on the same idea I used last week. Mostly, it's the fact that I'm trying to write in a minor key (instead of last week's major) that's creating complications.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Thursday, 12 December 2013
I got up very early this morning and set out on my walk. When I got to the bridge over the nakhal, just after the highway 12 kikar, though, I began to feel a few small drops. There weren't any heavy clouds, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't rain much, but I also didn't want to get even further from home, just in case I might get quite wet trying to return. So I immediately turned around. However, the drops did NOT continue so I simply came back around a longer way and thus got in a walk of more than 45 minutes.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30. We had lunch at Chooka at Ice Park today, but we also walked around the mall before eating and again afterwards (the 2nd time on the upper level). David is making an effort to improve his physical fitness, and I am more than happy to help.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30. We had lunch at Chooka at Ice Park today, but we also walked around the mall before eating and again afterwards (the 2nd time on the upper level). David is making an effort to improve his physical fitness, and I am more than happy to help.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
I woke up early this morning and so got in a good walk and work-out.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 4:30-6:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park. I had shakshuka, and David had ravioli with tomato sauce.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 4:30-6:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park. I had shakshuka, and David had ravioli with tomato sauce.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
I slept well last night but woke up a little too late to go out for a walk this morning.
I made sure to take time to sweep the balcony this morning because I read that there is a chance of rain here tomorrow. There was quite a bit of cat litter that had been kicked out of their boxes, and, if it gets wet, it's a real mess! So, I prevented that possibility. Of course, I'll still have to protect the litter boxes themselves from the rain, but that's easy (and a smaller mess even if it doesn't succeed totally).
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:45-1:15, 2:30-3:15, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at home today.
I finished watching all the videos for my online class that's finishing up this week, and I evaluated the projects of 5 of my fellow class members from last week, as is required each week.
I made sure to take time to sweep the balcony this morning because I read that there is a chance of rain here tomorrow. There was quite a bit of cat litter that had been kicked out of their boxes, and, if it gets wet, it's a real mess! So, I prevented that possibility. Of course, I'll still have to protect the litter boxes themselves from the rain, but that's easy (and a smaller mess even if it doesn't succeed totally).
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:45-1:15, 2:30-3:15, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at home today.
I finished watching all the videos for my online class that's finishing up this week, and I evaluated the projects of 5 of my fellow class members from last week, as is required each week.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Monday, 9 December 2013
I woke up in the middle of the night last night and had trouble getting back to sleep, so I didn't get up early this morning at all and had no time for a walk.
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 11:00-12:30, 4:00-6:15, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had a veggie shwarma burrito, and I had hummus with veggie shwarma.
On the way home, I stopped briefly at the pharmacy to pick up a few over-the-counter meds that we were running low on.
I watched several more lecture videos for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. This is the last week of that class, and they are now teaching us about event processing, including keyboard events (key presses), mouse events, and MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) events. It's very interesting!
Thirty-four years ago today, I became a parent for the first time. What an exciting event that was! I can't believe it's been that many years!
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 11:00-12:30, 4:00-6:15, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had a veggie shwarma burrito, and I had hummus with veggie shwarma.
On the way home, I stopped briefly at the pharmacy to pick up a few over-the-counter meds that we were running low on.
I watched several more lecture videos for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. This is the last week of that class, and they are now teaching us about event processing, including keyboard events (key presses), mouse events, and MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) events. It's very interesting!
Thirty-four years ago today, I became a parent for the first time. What an exciting event that was! I can't believe it's been that many years!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Sunday, 8 December 2013
I got up a little late this morning and so didn't go out for an early-morning walk. After breakfast, though, I did walk down to the new local post office to pick up a package they had for me. It takes about 12 minutes to walk down there, but it's uphill on the way back, so it's a little slower, and I got some pretty good exercise from that.
I did my weekly trip to Shufersal for the grocery shopping this morning. On the way, I also stopped at the pet store and the health food store for some other items.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had their veggie weenies with sauerkraut on the side, and I tried a "pashtida" (like a quiche, but without a crust) that they recommended. Unfortunately, it was quite a bit saltier than it should have been, at least for my taste. We both also had dessert: a chocolate cake with ice cream for David, and their scrumptious cheesecake for me!
In the early evening, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Most of the rest of the time during the day I spent working on my two online classes. I made a few additional changes to my random melody project, including correcting an important logical error I had made, and now the melodies sound even less random. I spent more time, however, inserting comments into my code so that those assessing it will be able to tell what I did and how. I also, of course, highlighted places where I fulfilled particular requirements.
Finally, I completed this week's work for my new class on programming for Android. I successfully produced the obligatory "Hello world!" app and ran it on two emulated Android devices (both inside my computer, of course), and I took the quiz. On my first attempt, I only got 19.75 out of 20.00, so I attempted it again (some questions were the same, but not all) and managed to get 20.00 out of 20.00. Yay! I've always aimed for top grades when I've been a student, and so the tradition continues. What can I say? :-)
I did my weekly trip to Shufersal for the grocery shopping this morning. On the way, I also stopped at the pet store and the health food store for some other items.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had their veggie weenies with sauerkraut on the side, and I tried a "pashtida" (like a quiche, but without a crust) that they recommended. Unfortunately, it was quite a bit saltier than it should have been, at least for my taste. We both also had dessert: a chocolate cake with ice cream for David, and their scrumptious cheesecake for me!
In the early evening, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Most of the rest of the time during the day I spent working on my two online classes. I made a few additional changes to my random melody project, including correcting an important logical error I had made, and now the melodies sound even less random. I spent more time, however, inserting comments into my code so that those assessing it will be able to tell what I did and how. I also, of course, highlighted places where I fulfilled particular requirements.
Finally, I completed this week's work for my new class on programming for Android. I successfully produced the obligatory "Hello world!" app and ran it on two emulated Android devices (both inside my computer, of course), and I took the quiz. On my first attempt, I only got 19.75 out of 20.00, so I attempted it again (some questions were the same, but not all) and managed to get 20.00 out of 20.00. Yay! I've always aimed for top grades when I've been a student, and so the tradition continues. What can I say? :-)
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Shabbat, 7 December 2013
I woke up very early this morning and got out for a good walk to the gym and a good work-out there. It was chilly enough for me to put up the hood on my hoodie most of the time.
Right after breakfast, David and I took a drive around the short loop, starting by driving up highway 12. On the way back, we stopped at Yotvata to buy a couple more kilos of dates since we're currently on our last kilo.
We had a late lunch at Mike's Place this afternoon. I had nachos, and David had a veggie bean burrito. He also had a Bloody Mary, and I had a White Russian.
After returning from lunch, we talked a bit with David's sister in Ohio. She's back in the hospital, with pneumonia AND a blood infection, so she's not feeling very well, but she'll be okay.
Later in the evening, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I spent most of the rest of the time during the day working on this week's project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. Each time the program is run, it creates a random melody but with a lot of constraints on how it can move up and down so that it doesn't actually sound so random. Then it generates appropriate chords and a bass line to accompany the melody. I had quite a bit of trouble getting it all debugged, but it seems to be working very nicely now. Of course, some of the melodies are better than others, but it's interesting to see what comes out.
Right after breakfast, David and I took a drive around the short loop, starting by driving up highway 12. On the way back, we stopped at Yotvata to buy a couple more kilos of dates since we're currently on our last kilo.
We had a late lunch at Mike's Place this afternoon. I had nachos, and David had a veggie bean burrito. He also had a Bloody Mary, and I had a White Russian.
After returning from lunch, we talked a bit with David's sister in Ohio. She's back in the hospital, with pneumonia AND a blood infection, so she's not feeling very well, but she'll be okay.
Later in the evening, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I spent most of the rest of the time during the day working on this week's project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. Each time the program is run, it creates a random melody but with a lot of constraints on how it can move up and down so that it doesn't actually sound so random. Then it generates appropriate chords and a bass line to accompany the melody. I had quite a bit of trouble getting it all debugged, but it seems to be working very nicely now. Of course, some of the melodies are better than others, but it's interesting to see what comes out.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Friday, 6 December 2013
I got up a little too late to go out for a regular walk this morning, but I did have time to go down and recycle the cardboard and buy challah before breakfast.
I had only one student today (for 2 units): 9:00-10:30.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
We lit candles, drank a bit of sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat this evening.
I began working on this week's project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I got the code written that will enable the computer to produce a random melody using the given scale and observing certain constraints. I tested it, and it seems to generate reasonably interesting melodies. Now I'm getting ready to write code that will pick chords to go with the melody generated, chords that will fit with the melody notes and that will follow constrained chord progressions. Hopefully, it will all sound good when I get it together!
I had only one student today (for 2 units): 9:00-10:30.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
We lit candles, drank a bit of sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat this evening.
I began working on this week's project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I got the code written that will enable the computer to produce a random melody using the given scale and observing certain constraints. I tested it, and it seems to generate reasonably interesting melodies. Now I'm getting ready to write code that will pick chords to go with the melody generated, chords that will fit with the melody notes and that will follow constrained chord progressions. Hopefully, it will all sound good when I get it together!
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Thursday, 5 December 2013
I woke up very tired this morning and so didn't get up early at all and got no exercise.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had their omelet sandwich.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had their omelet sandwich.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
I got up a little late this morning, but I still had time to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back, which I did. It was so warm out that I wore only sandals, jeans, and a t-shirt.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30 (but this student had to leave for a meeting at 1:00), 3:00-4:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We decided to order pizza to eat at home for lunch today, since David wasn't feeling like walking very much.
After my last class, he felt a little better, so we drove down to Ice Park and ate our regular frozen yogurt there.
I took the time to assess my peers' work for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and most of them were quite nice. I also watch another video lecture for my new class on programming for Android.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30 (but this student had to leave for a meeting at 1:00), 3:00-4:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We decided to order pizza to eat at home for lunch today, since David wasn't feeling like walking very much.
After my last class, he felt a little better, so we drove down to Ice Park and ate our regular frozen yogurt there.
I took the time to assess my peers' work for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and most of them were quite nice. I also watch another video lecture for my new class on programming for Android.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Last night a little after 1:00 a.m. I was awakened from a deep sleep by the sound of David falling in the bathroom. Of course, I quickly grabbed my glasses (I don't do ANYWHERE without them!) and headed for the bathroom. David was lying on the floor with his head right next to the door frame, but he was conscious and not bleeding anywhere. I kept checking his pupils, but detected no difference between them, so I was quite sure he didn't have a concussion. Of course, he was tired and did have some pain. In the end, it was about 2 hours before he was able to get it together enough to get up and get back to the bedroom and to bed. Needless to say, we both got up very late this morning. Luckily, I had no classes scheduled in the morning at all today.
Today I started a new online class even though my current one won't be over for a couple more weeks. The new class is called "Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps", and it looks like it's going to be an interesting programming class. I already was nearly bumping up against the limits of my 2009 Mac, so I made the decision to switch to doing this class on my newer (2011) Mac, which I also upgraded a year ago to 16 MG of RAM. I actually use it for a lot LESS things, too, since my older one is still my main one. Actually, the newer one was David's, but I took it over after he lost his vision and really couldn't use it anymore.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had hummus with vegan shwarma again, and I had their vegan frankfurters. Both were, of course, delicious!
I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-3:15, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
Today I started a new online class even though my current one won't be over for a couple more weeks. The new class is called "Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps", and it looks like it's going to be an interesting programming class. I already was nearly bumping up against the limits of my 2009 Mac, so I made the decision to switch to doing this class on my newer (2011) Mac, which I also upgraded a year ago to 16 MG of RAM. I actually use it for a lot LESS things, too, since my older one is still my main one. Actually, the newer one was David's, but I took it over after he lost his vision and really couldn't use it anymore.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had hummus with vegan shwarma again, and I had their vegan frankfurters. Both were, of course, delicious!
I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-3:15, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Monday, 2 December 2013
I got up early this morning and so got some good exercise.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, and 6:30-8:00.
I watched most of the videos for the new week of my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. This week we're getting into object-oriented programming, and it will give us a lot of power, especially in setting up musical compositions.
We ate lunch today at Il Pentolino, but we had different dishes. David had cheese ravioli with Palermo sauce, and I had their special Il Pentolino salad.
Yesterday, I had planned to do the grocery shopping in the late afternoon, but I completely forgot about it, so I did it today.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, and 6:30-8:00.
I watched most of the videos for the new week of my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. This week we're getting into object-oriented programming, and it will give us a lot of power, especially in setting up musical compositions.
We ate lunch today at Il Pentolino, but we had different dishes. David had cheese ravioli with Palermo sauce, and I had their special Il Pentolino salad.
Yesterday, I had planned to do the grocery shopping in the late afternoon, but I completely forgot about it, so I did it today.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Sunday, 1 December 2013
I slept in this morning for some unknown reason, so I didn't go out an walk at all.
Today I put the finishing touches on my project for this week, added lots of comments in the code, and then submitted it, even though it's not due until tomorrow night.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. David had hummus with vegan shwarma, and I had a vegan shwarma burrito. Both were very delicious!
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. While we were eating it, I chatted a bit, almost entirely in Hebrew, with Daniel, the owner of the business, who was sitting near us working out a schedule for his workers. The business is called סחוט (skhut), which means "squeezed" (as in fresh-squeezed juice). In the handwriting font that they use, though, it looks almost like "Gino".
Today I put the finishing touches on my project for this week, added lots of comments in the code, and then submitted it, even though it's not due until tomorrow night.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. David had hummus with vegan shwarma, and I had a vegan shwarma burrito. Both were very delicious!
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. While we were eating it, I chatted a bit, almost entirely in Hebrew, with Daniel, the owner of the business, who was sitting near us working out a schedule for his workers. The business is called סחוט (skhut), which means "squeezed" (as in fresh-squeezed juice). In the handwriting font that they use, though, it looks almost like "Gino".
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Shabbat, 30 November 2013
I got up early this morning and got in a good walk and work-out. It was a bit chilly out, but my light wrap get me warm.
I did more work on my project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. The major changes had to do with the percussion. First, I increases the frequency of various drum hit to give it a bit more energy. Then I did something quite interesting but perhaps a little bizarre: I used the clap audio clip, played very rapidly (every 50 milliseconds) to create the effect of a machine gun. Then I spawned a separate programming to bring it in at randomized times and from random directions (left to right). Although there's a lot of randomness, the average time between blasts gradually trends shorter as the piece progresses, and they also tend to get slightly louder. The title of the song I'm using for the main melody is "L'Homme Armé" which is French for "the armed man". So, our armed man has moved into the 21st century and now has a machine gun (we're just lucky he hasn't yet acquired nuclear weapons, because that could have destroyed the whole piece!). Somewhere along the way, he apparently also visited India, because his melody is played on a sitar.
For lunch today, David and I went to Mike's Place. We had been there once or twice before, but it used to be difficult to get to. Now that some construction has been finished, it's shorter and easier. We got there a bit after 1:00 but found out that the kitchen wouldn't be open for at least 45 minutes. The bar WAS open, though, so we both had drinks while we waited. David had a Bloody Mary, and I had a Strawberry Mimosa. I had never had one before, and it really was rather too bitter for me, so I don't think I'll order one again. When the kitchen opened, we ordered Tex/Mex dishes: a veggie quesadilla for David and a veggie burrito for me. They were good but certainly not the type of Mexican food one gets in Southern California. I don't know if they're like you'd get in Texas or not, having never had Mexican food there, I think.
After lunch, we drove up the Arava as far as Samar, then returned home and talked for a short while with David's sister in Ohio before going over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I did more work on my project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. The major changes had to do with the percussion. First, I increases the frequency of various drum hit to give it a bit more energy. Then I did something quite interesting but perhaps a little bizarre: I used the clap audio clip, played very rapidly (every 50 milliseconds) to create the effect of a machine gun. Then I spawned a separate programming to bring it in at randomized times and from random directions (left to right). Although there's a lot of randomness, the average time between blasts gradually trends shorter as the piece progresses, and they also tend to get slightly louder. The title of the song I'm using for the main melody is "L'Homme Armé" which is French for "the armed man". So, our armed man has moved into the 21st century and now has a machine gun (we're just lucky he hasn't yet acquired nuclear weapons, because that could have destroyed the whole piece!). Somewhere along the way, he apparently also visited India, because his melody is played on a sitar.
For lunch today, David and I went to Mike's Place. We had been there once or twice before, but it used to be difficult to get to. Now that some construction has been finished, it's shorter and easier. We got there a bit after 1:00 but found out that the kitchen wouldn't be open for at least 45 minutes. The bar WAS open, though, so we both had drinks while we waited. David had a Bloody Mary, and I had a Strawberry Mimosa. I had never had one before, and it really was rather too bitter for me, so I don't think I'll order one again. When the kitchen opened, we ordered Tex/Mex dishes: a veggie quesadilla for David and a veggie burrito for me. They were good but certainly not the type of Mexican food one gets in Southern California. I don't know if they're like you'd get in Texas or not, having never had Mexican food there, I think.
After lunch, we drove up the Arava as far as Samar, then returned home and talked for a short while with David's sister in Ohio before going over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Friday, 29 November 2013
I got up a little late this morning and so didn't go out for a walk. I did, however, take the cardboard down to recycle and bought challah at the bakery.
I had only 4 units of Berlitz lessons scheduled today, and the first student (half of those units) turned out to be a no-show: 10:30-12:00 and 12:00-1:30. After that, we went and had lunch at Il Pentolino.
I did a lot of work on my project for this week for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. In fact, I think it's almost finished. It's an abbreviated setting of "L'homme armé", a French secular song from the time of the Renaissance. These days, it's mostly famous because so many composers of that time, including most famously Josquin des Prez, wrote masses (of all things!) based on it. My setting is limited (by the requirements of this project) to 16 measures (of its full 32 measures), so I only do the beginning and end, basically. I use a sitar (a classical string instrument of India) for the melody, and it's accompanied by a walking bass line (played on a double bass-like instrument) and a fast, constantly moving descant, played by a modified sine oscillator and a flute. There is also some percussion accompaniment. The net effect is pretty good, but I think I need to find a way to liven it up a bit more.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat.
I had only 4 units of Berlitz lessons scheduled today, and the first student (half of those units) turned out to be a no-show: 10:30-12:00 and 12:00-1:30. After that, we went and had lunch at Il Pentolino.
I did a lot of work on my project for this week for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. In fact, I think it's almost finished. It's an abbreviated setting of "L'homme armé", a French secular song from the time of the Renaissance. These days, it's mostly famous because so many composers of that time, including most famously Josquin des Prez, wrote masses (of all things!) based on it. My setting is limited (by the requirements of this project) to 16 measures (of its full 32 measures), so I only do the beginning and end, basically. I use a sitar (a classical string instrument of India) for the melody, and it's accompanied by a walking bass line (played on a double bass-like instrument) and a fast, constantly moving descant, played by a modified sine oscillator and a flute. There is also some percussion accompaniment. The net effect is pretty good, but I think I need to find a way to liven it up a bit more.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Thursday, 28 November 2013
I woke up early and got out for my walk to the gym, work-out while there, and even full stretches on the way home. And it was lovely out this morning, too! I wore only sandals, jeans, and a t-shirt and felt very comfortable.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:15-10:00, 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-4:45, and 5:00-6:30. Next week will be considerably less busy since today was the last of day of the 2-week special classes for the WHO (World Health Organization). So, today I said goodbye to students in Egypt, Thailand, Nigeria, and Mongolia! The most interesting moment was when we did a role play of labor negotiations with a woman in Nigeria representing management and a man in Egypt representing the union (and they did a great job, too!).
We ate lunch at home today, but we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt after my last class.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:15-10:00, 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-4:45, and 5:00-6:30. Next week will be considerably less busy since today was the last of day of the 2-week special classes for the WHO (World Health Organization). So, today I said goodbye to students in Egypt, Thailand, Nigeria, and Mongolia! The most interesting moment was when we did a role play of labor negotiations with a woman in Nigeria representing management and a man in Egypt representing the union (and they did a great job, too!).
We ate lunch at home today, but we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt after my last class.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
I slept in again this morning because I felt very tired. I think I'm fighting some sort of cold or sinus infection, but I don't have any other symptoms.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today (although the 2:30 group was a complete no-show): 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 6:00-7:30.
We ate lunch at home, but we went to Ice Park for frozen yogurt around 4:00.
I evaluated last week's projects of 7 of my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musician and Digital Artists. I am only required to do 5, but I was hearing a lot of interesting music, so I decided to do a couple more.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today (although the 2:30 group was a complete no-show): 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 6:00-7:30.
We ate lunch at home, but we went to Ice Park for frozen yogurt around 4:00.
I evaluated last week's projects of 7 of my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musician and Digital Artists. I am only required to do 5, but I was hearing a lot of interesting music, so I decided to do a couple more.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
I slept very well last night, but, for some reason, I just slept in this morning and so didn't get out for a walk at all.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
Before and between lessons, I managed to watch all the video lectures for this week for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. They just became available. This week is exciting because we are learning how to write programs that will run concurrently (at the same time), something which is especially useful in making music.
We ate veggie weenies wrapped in whole-wheat tortillas, coleslaw, and chips and salsa for lunch at home today.
Between 4:00 and 5:00, David and I enjoyed the perfect weather out today by walking over to the green strip and back. I've also had all the windows open nearly all day long today.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
Before and between lessons, I managed to watch all the video lectures for this week for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. They just became available. This week is exciting because we are learning how to write programs that will run concurrently (at the same time), something which is especially useful in making music.
We ate veggie weenies wrapped in whole-wheat tortillas, coleslaw, and chips and salsa for lunch at home today.
Between 4:00 and 5:00, David and I enjoyed the perfect weather out today by walking over to the green strip and back. I've also had all the windows open nearly all day long today.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, 25 November 2013
I got up early enough this morning to get in some great exercise.
I was scheduled for 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but I actually taught somewhat less than that. My first lesson was a level check, so the first unit of the 2 was spent doing that. My next 2 lessons were both no-shows, so all I had to do was sit around a wait at hour for each of them. My last lesson of the day was supposed to be 3 units, but the student told me at the beginning of it that he could only stay for 2 units (an hour and a half) today. Here are the times I was scheduled to teach today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 4:00-6:15.
Because of the 2nd no-show, we had time to go down to the local bakery for lunch today. David had pizza, and I had their platter of various kinds of bread (with butter and jam).
After my last class, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I was scheduled for 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but I actually taught somewhat less than that. My first lesson was a level check, so the first unit of the 2 was spent doing that. My next 2 lessons were both no-shows, so all I had to do was sit around a wait at hour for each of them. My last lesson of the day was supposed to be 3 units, but the student told me at the beginning of it that he could only stay for 2 units (an hour and a half) today. Here are the times I was scheduled to teach today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 4:00-6:15.
Because of the 2nd no-show, we had time to go down to the local bakery for lunch today. David had pizza, and I had their platter of various kinds of bread (with butter and jam).
After my last class, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, 24 November 2013
I got up early enough this morning for a good walk to the gym, a good work-out there, and stretches on the way back.
My first order of business after breakfast was to go to Maccabi (our health plan) and pay the bill for the ER, which they ruled we would have to pay ourselves since Maccabi offices were open at the time we went there. I don't like it too well, but it was only 807 shekels, and we were allowed to do it in 3 payments (without any interest charge), so we'll be fine. From there, I went on to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David tried their rice noodles with tomato sauce, which were okay but not wonderful. I, on the other hand, had their hummus with vegan shwarma (which I had tried before), and it was fantastic! We each had a piece of their incredibly good vegan cheesecake, which is to die for! On the way home, I stopped at the Maccabi pharmacy to pick up some medicines that they had had to order (so I hadn't been able to pick them up last week).
I finished work on my project for this week. Perhaps I'll make another tweak or two to some parameters, but basically it's fine now. It's a short (30 seconds) 3-voice ricercare in the phrygian mode. A ricercare, for those of you who don't know, is an earlier predecessor of the fugue. Both of them involve starting with a single voice stating the subject. Then each other voice in turn starts with the same subject but in alternating keys. I'm pretty pleased with the way mine turned out.
This evening I talked for about 2 hours with my daughter, Amy, in California (via Skype, of course). It was really fun talking with her, and we both enjoyed it immensely, I think.
My first order of business after breakfast was to go to Maccabi (our health plan) and pay the bill for the ER, which they ruled we would have to pay ourselves since Maccabi offices were open at the time we went there. I don't like it too well, but it was only 807 shekels, and we were allowed to do it in 3 payments (without any interest charge), so we'll be fine. From there, I went on to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David tried their rice noodles with tomato sauce, which were okay but not wonderful. I, on the other hand, had their hummus with vegan shwarma (which I had tried before), and it was fantastic! We each had a piece of their incredibly good vegan cheesecake, which is to die for! On the way home, I stopped at the Maccabi pharmacy to pick up some medicines that they had had to order (so I hadn't been able to pick them up last week).
I finished work on my project for this week. Perhaps I'll make another tweak or two to some parameters, but basically it's fine now. It's a short (30 seconds) 3-voice ricercare in the phrygian mode. A ricercare, for those of you who don't know, is an earlier predecessor of the fugue. Both of them involve starting with a single voice stating the subject. Then each other voice in turn starts with the same subject but in alternating keys. I'm pretty pleased with the way mine turned out.
This evening I talked for about 2 hours with my daughter, Amy, in California (via Skype, of course). It was really fun talking with her, and we both enjoyed it immensely, I think.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Shabbat, 23 November 2013
I slept in this morning; I guess I was just tired after a long, busy week.
We took a drive all the way to Mitzpe Ramon today. While there, we bought PespsiMaxes and candy bars, then drove back down into the makhtesh to eat them and the rest of the lunch we had brought with us: hard-boiled eggs, potato salad, and dates. Our average mileage for the trip was 20.5 km/l (more than 47 mpg!).
When we got back home, we talked with David's sister in Ohio. Then we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
In the evening I did much more work on my project for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I still have some additional things I must add to it to meet certain requirements, and, of course, there's a lot of room for refinement still.
We took a drive all the way to Mitzpe Ramon today. While there, we bought PespsiMaxes and candy bars, then drove back down into the makhtesh to eat them and the rest of the lunch we had brought with us: hard-boiled eggs, potato salad, and dates. Our average mileage for the trip was 20.5 km/l (more than 47 mpg!).
When we got back home, we talked with David's sister in Ohio. Then we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
In the evening I did much more work on my project for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I still have some additional things I must add to it to meet certain requirements, and, of course, there's a lot of room for refinement still.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Friday, 22 November 2013
I got up very early this morning, got in a decent walk, and also later walked down to recycle cardboard, go to the local market, and go to the bakery to get challah and sufganiot (jelly-filled donuts, eaten for khanukah -- and for MONTHS before here in Israel, apparently!), all before breakfast.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, the maximum possible for my Friday availability: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Then we went to lunch at Il Pentolino and had our traditional dishes there.
At candle-lighting time, we lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate challah and sufganiot to welcome the Shabbat.
This afternoon and evening I began work on my project for this week for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It has to be in the Phrygian mode, so I decided to write a 3-part ricercare (an early predecessor of the fugue). I've got it prototyped in Digital Performer (so I can see the notes and hear how they sound); now I've got to get it programmed in ChucK, to be followed by lots of editing, no doubt.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, the maximum possible for my Friday availability: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Then we went to lunch at Il Pentolino and had our traditional dishes there.
At candle-lighting time, we lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate challah and sufganiot to welcome the Shabbat.
This afternoon and evening I began work on my project for this week for Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It has to be in the Phrygian mode, so I decided to write a 3-part ricercare (an early predecessor of the fugue). I've got it prototyped in Digital Performer (so I can see the notes and hear how they sound); now I've got to get it programmed in ChucK, to be followed by lots of editing, no doubt.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thursday, 21 November 2013
I again got up early and got out early on my walk. I decided to walk a different route and explore some of the area southwest of us. Much of the construction there has now been finished, and there are a lot of nice apartment buildings and a few villas (single-family homes). Unfortunately, my toes were hurting inside my shoes for some reason, so I returned home a little sooner than I had planned. Still, I got some pretty good exercise.
I taught 9 units of lessons today: 9:15-10:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
I started today on evaluating last week's work of 5 of my fellow students in my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I actually looked at all 5 of the projects assigned to me and wrote about them, but I haven't submitted my evaluations yet. I think I'll look and listen one more time before I finalize my evaluations.
We had hard-boiled eggs and potato salad for lunch at home today.
Between 4:00 and 5:00 we took a short drive down the coast, just to get out of the house a bit.
I taught 9 units of lessons today: 9:15-10:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
I started today on evaluating last week's work of 5 of my fellow students in my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I actually looked at all 5 of the projects assigned to me and wrote about them, but I haven't submitted my evaluations yet. I think I'll look and listen one more time before I finalize my evaluations.
We had hard-boiled eggs and potato salad for lunch at home today.
Between 4:00 and 5:00 we took a short drive down the coast, just to get out of the house a bit.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
I woke up very early this morning and got out onto my walk before 5:30. I wore shoes (instead of sandals), jeans (instead of short pants), a t-shirt, and a light hoodie, and that was just the right amount to keep comfortable. I walked to the gym, worked out there a bit, and then headed home. Eventually, I needed to push the sleeves of the hoodie up my arm a bit and unzip it partway to keep from getting too warm. In fact, for the last couple of blocks, I took the hoodie off completely.
I taught 11 units (8.25 hours) of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 6:00-8:15.
We had veggie hamburgers and coleslaw for lunch at home today.
After 4:00, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt.
I listened to the rest of this week's video lectures for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's quite exciting, especially the stuff about physical modeling of musical instruments and even noise-makers! There is a LOT of power in the ChucK programming language!
I taught 11 units (8.25 hours) of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 6:00-8:15.
We had veggie hamburgers and coleslaw for lunch at home today.
After 4:00, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt.
I listened to the rest of this week's video lectures for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's quite exciting, especially the stuff about physical modeling of musical instruments and even noise-makers! There is a LOT of power in the ChucK programming language!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
I woke up a bit late this morning, and I felt that I hadn't slept very well. Somehow, I just wasn't relaxed, but I don't know why. Anyway, I did not go out for a walk at all.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00. Three of the 5 classes were groups of WHO employees from various countries. Unfortunately, the internet connections in some developing countries are not very good, and this caused some serious problems for some of the students. The most common is lengthy delays, both in hearing what others in the class say (including me) and in us hearing what THEY say. This can be quite frustrating all around and often leads to nearly no participation at all.
We ate lunch at home again, and one more time we had veggie weenies wrapped in tortillas. However, today we had whole-wheat tortillas, which were definitely better although smaller.
Today I managed to watch several of the videos for the new week of my programming class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and they were excellent. The regular teacher of the class brought in his former professor, Perry Cook, from Princeton to do the lectures this week, and he is really great!
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00. Three of the 5 classes were groups of WHO employees from various countries. Unfortunately, the internet connections in some developing countries are not very good, and this caused some serious problems for some of the students. The most common is lengthy delays, both in hearing what others in the class say (including me) and in us hearing what THEY say. This can be quite frustrating all around and often leads to nearly no participation at all.
We ate lunch at home again, and one more time we had veggie weenies wrapped in tortillas. However, today we had whole-wheat tortillas, which were definitely better although smaller.
Today I managed to watch several of the videos for the new week of my programming class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and they were excellent. The regular teacher of the class brought in his former professor, Perry Cook, from Princeton to do the lectures this week, and he is really great!
Monday, November 18, 2013
Monday, 18 November 2013
I woke up a bit late and somewhat tired this morning, so I didn't go out for any walk.
I taught 13 units (that's 9.75 hours!) of Berlitz lessons today, although the first student (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-6:15, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at home, including trying some nice mini cornbread muffins that I had found yesterday in the frozen section at the market.
My class at 2:30 has 3 students, one from Burkina Faso but who is currently on a business trip in Niger (both in West Africa), one in Mongolia, and one in Washington, DC (who is originally from Nicaragua). All work for the WHO (World Health Organization).
I taught 13 units (that's 9.75 hours!) of Berlitz lessons today, although the first student (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-6:15, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at home, including trying some nice mini cornbread muffins that I had found yesterday in the frozen section at the market.
My class at 2:30 has 3 students, one from Burkina Faso but who is currently on a business trip in Niger (both in West Africa), one in Mongolia, and one in Washington, DC (who is originally from Nicaragua). All work for the WHO (World Health Organization).
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Sunday, 17 November 2013
I woke up very early this morning but didn't let myself get up until after 5:00. Then I walked to the gym, worked out a bit there, and walked back.
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping. Then we drove together up to Yotvata to buy 2 kilos of dates, and, when we returned to Eilat, we ate lunch at Buddha Burgers.
After lunch I went to the pharmacy for the monthly prescriptions and then to the post office to pick up a package we had ordered from Amazon UK. Unfortunately, I went to THREE different post offices before I finally got to the right one, a new office located only about 4 blocks down the street from us!
I finished tweaking my project, added the necessary commenting, and submitted it today. It's quite a jaunty little setting of the Dreydl Song.
In the early evening we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt, then returned home to update the software on David's iPhone, to load a bit more music onto it, and to buy 3 new books for him to read.
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping. Then we drove together up to Yotvata to buy 2 kilos of dates, and, when we returned to Eilat, we ate lunch at Buddha Burgers.
After lunch I went to the pharmacy for the monthly prescriptions and then to the post office to pick up a package we had ordered from Amazon UK. Unfortunately, I went to THREE different post offices before I finally got to the right one, a new office located only about 4 blocks down the street from us!
I finished tweaking my project, added the necessary commenting, and submitted it today. It's quite a jaunty little setting of the Dreydl Song.
In the early evening we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt, then returned home to update the software on David's iPhone, to load a bit more music onto it, and to buy 3 new books for him to read.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Shabbat, 16 November 2013
For some reason, I was tired and just slept in this morning, so no morning exercise.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that it was my birthday, but maybe it's just as well. You see, I was actually born in California around 6:00 p.m. on the 15th which here in Israel would be around 4 a.m. on the 16th. Putting that together with the fact that the earth actually takes about 365 and a quarter days to go around the sun, I deduce that I actually completed my 61st such trip sometime around 10 a.m. this morning, local time. So there!
We had intended to take a drive to Mitzpe Ramon this morning, but David's bowels had other ideas, forcing us to turn around before even making it up to the first checkpoint on highway 12. Perhaps it's just as well, since I then was able to get more work done on my project. In fact, I thinks it's just about finished now, though I won't submit it until tomorrow so that I'll have a few more chances to listen to it.
The project is our 4th assignment for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. For this one, we were required, among other things, to use the mixolydian mode, to use functions, and to use a tempo of 100 beats per minute. I chose to do a setting of the Dreidl Song, a popular chanukah song in the U.S. My arrangements includes a countermelody and a simple bass line that begin before the main melody. It also has a bit of percussion using samples.
We ate lunch today at the Aroma in the south beach area of town. Although we have, of course, eaten many times at Aromas around the country, we had never eaten at this particular one before.
In the afternoon, we talked with David's sister in Ohio and then drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that it was my birthday, but maybe it's just as well. You see, I was actually born in California around 6:00 p.m. on the 15th which here in Israel would be around 4 a.m. on the 16th. Putting that together with the fact that the earth actually takes about 365 and a quarter days to go around the sun, I deduce that I actually completed my 61st such trip sometime around 10 a.m. this morning, local time. So there!
We had intended to take a drive to Mitzpe Ramon this morning, but David's bowels had other ideas, forcing us to turn around before even making it up to the first checkpoint on highway 12. Perhaps it's just as well, since I then was able to get more work done on my project. In fact, I thinks it's just about finished now, though I won't submit it until tomorrow so that I'll have a few more chances to listen to it.
The project is our 4th assignment for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. For this one, we were required, among other things, to use the mixolydian mode, to use functions, and to use a tempo of 100 beats per minute. I chose to do a setting of the Dreidl Song, a popular chanukah song in the U.S. My arrangements includes a countermelody and a simple bass line that begin before the main melody. It also has a bit of percussion using samples.
We ate lunch today at the Aroma in the south beach area of town. Although we have, of course, eaten many times at Aromas around the country, we had never eaten at this particular one before.
In the afternoon, we talked with David's sister in Ohio and then drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Friday, 15 November 2013
Last night I happened to be awake enough to notice that David got up to go to the bathroom around 3:00 a.m., which is not at all unusual. I went back to sleep, but when I woke up around 4:30, I noticed he was still not back in bed. At first, I didn't realize how much later it was, but when he didn't return for a number of minutes, I decided I had better get up and check on him. It's a good thing I did, because he was lying on the bathroom floor and had obviously fallen sometime earlier, although I had NOT heard it as I thought I would (and have, on previous occasions). He was conscious and seemed find other than some pain and stiffness and a little blood from his arm. My concern was how to get him up. I knew that the blood would make the floor slippery, so I had to clean that up first. It looked like his hand had a cut on it, but we later found out that was just dried blood from the arm. Anyway, I didn't panic, and eventually he was able to get up on his arms and knees and then use the bathtub to stand up. After he had sat for a bit on the plastic chair in the bathroom, we got him safely back to bed, and I went back to bed, too. Of course, I did NOT get up early at all this morning, but I did have time to do the cardboard recycling and buy challah at the bakery before breakfast.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Then we went over to Il Pentolino for our traditional Friday lunch.
We lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate delicious challah to welcome Shabbat. Even our cat, Pascal, gets in on the act -- he likes the tiny, dark seeds and the pieces of rolled oats that are on the crust of the challah. I put some of them in a small dish for him, and he eats every last one of them! Our other cat, Katom, sometimes checks to see what he's eating, but Katom isn't interested in those seeds at all, and he seems to think that Pascal is crazy (which he just might be, LOL!).
This evening I began work on my next project for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. These week, we are required to use the Mixolydian mode on Eb, and the tempo must be 100 bpm. I'm doing a short setting of the Dreidl Song (a favorite chanukkah song in the U.S.), with an oom-pah bass line and a countermelody about the main melody. The countermelody actually starts several measures before the main one in order to make the piece the required length of approximately 30 seconds.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Then we went over to Il Pentolino for our traditional Friday lunch.
We lit candles, drank sweet red wine, and ate delicious challah to welcome Shabbat. Even our cat, Pascal, gets in on the act -- he likes the tiny, dark seeds and the pieces of rolled oats that are on the crust of the challah. I put some of them in a small dish for him, and he eats every last one of them! Our other cat, Katom, sometimes checks to see what he's eating, but Katom isn't interested in those seeds at all, and he seems to think that Pascal is crazy (which he just might be, LOL!).
This evening I began work on my next project for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. These week, we are required to use the Mixolydian mode on Eb, and the tempo must be 100 bpm. I'm doing a short setting of the Dreidl Song (a favorite chanukkah song in the U.S.), with an oom-pah bass line and a countermelody about the main melody. The countermelody actually starts several measures before the main one in order to make the piece the required length of approximately 30 seconds.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Thursday, 14 November 2013
I got up early this morning and walked to the gym but didn't work out there. Instead, I walked by a different way in order to buy more Snickers bars for David.
This morning I checked the peer evaluations I did yesterday and then submitted them for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at home today and had vegetarian shnitzels and potato salad.
This morning I checked the peer evaluations I did yesterday and then submitted them for my online class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch at home today and had vegetarian shnitzels and potato salad.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Last night my mind got to thinking about my new project, and so I had trouble getting to sleep. Unfortunately, this caused me to get up very late and not have any time to go out for a walk.
I looked at the code and listened to the pieces of the 5 students whose work I was assigned to evaluate for my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class, but I only saved drafts and didn't submit any final evaluations yet.
I taught 11 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-8:15. And now I'm exhausted!
We ate lunch at home today, since we only had one hour. We had veggie weenies wrapped in flour tortillas, chips and salsa, red cabbage salad, and pickles.
I looked at the code and listened to the pieces of the 5 students whose work I was assigned to evaluate for my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class, but I only saved drafts and didn't submit any final evaluations yet.
I taught 11 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-8:15. And now I'm exhausted!
We ate lunch at home today, since we only had one hour. We had veggie weenies wrapped in flour tortillas, chips and salsa, red cabbage salad, and pickles.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
I got up early enough to walk to the gym and back this morning, but I didn't work out there at all.
This morning I watched all but one of the lecture videos for the new week of my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00. You may notice that most of them were back-to-back, which is particularly challenging and tiring, since we have to fill out an information card for each class before we can enter the next one, and we get an rating of "unsatisfactory" in the punctuality category if we are late entering a lesson even ONCE during an entire YEAR!
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had their Buddha burger (gluten-free), and I had a nice mixed stir-fry dish, with rice, quinoa, cabbage, bell peppers, onion, and pieces of gluten and tofu.
This morning I watched all but one of the lecture videos for the new week of my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00. You may notice that most of them were back-to-back, which is particularly challenging and tiring, since we have to fill out an information card for each class before we can enter the next one, and we get an rating of "unsatisfactory" in the punctuality category if we are late entering a lesson even ONCE during an entire YEAR!
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had their Buddha burger (gluten-free), and I had a nice mixed stir-fry dish, with rice, quinoa, cabbage, bell peppers, onion, and pieces of gluten and tofu.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Monday, 11 November 2013
I got up a little late this morning, but I still managed to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back and thereby get some good exercise for the day.
I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 4:30-6:00. In many countries, today is a holiday marking the end of World War I, but, as I found out from my first student today, not in Germany. Hmmm... I wonder why (NOT!).
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had a sort of salmon shwarma burrito (talk about mixing it up!), and I had a "Vitamins, Health, and Iron" salad: lentils, purple onions, sprouts, walnuts, a few pieces of dried fruit, and tsfati cheese. It was okay but nothing all that special.
We had popcorn at home this evening, something we haven't had in forever!
I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 4:30-6:00. In many countries, today is a holiday marking the end of World War I, but, as I found out from my first student today, not in Germany. Hmmm... I wonder why (NOT!).
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had a sort of salmon shwarma burrito (talk about mixing it up!), and I had a "Vitamins, Health, and Iron" salad: lentils, purple onions, sprouts, walnuts, a few pieces of dried fruit, and tsfati cheese. It was okay but nothing all that special.
We had popcorn at home this evening, something we haven't had in forever!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Sunday, 10 November 2013
I didn't wake up until 6:00 a.m. this morning and was surprised to have slept until it was light. But I also still felt tired, so I didn't get up until after 6:30 and so didn't go out for a walk at all.
After listening several more times to my project this morning, I submitted it. There is so much randomness in it that it's different every time I run it. However, there is a certain sameness that testifies to the successful limiting of the randomness. I'm quite happy with it. I call in "Random Dorian Techno", and I hope my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists who get assigned to evaluate it will like it, too.
I did a little shopping this morning. First, I went to the pet store to get more food for the cats. Then I continued to the health food store to get more peanut butter. Finally, I drove on down to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers again today. I had vegan shwarma hummus, and David had a baked potato with various sauces.
In the early evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurts and a walk around the circle of the mall.
After listening several more times to my project this morning, I submitted it. There is so much randomness in it that it's different every time I run it. However, there is a certain sameness that testifies to the successful limiting of the randomness. I'm quite happy with it. I call in "Random Dorian Techno", and I hope my classmates in Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists who get assigned to evaluate it will like it, too.
I did a little shopping this morning. First, I went to the pet store to get more food for the cats. Then I continued to the health food store to get more peanut butter. Finally, I drove on down to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers again today. I had vegan shwarma hummus, and David had a baked potato with various sauces.
In the early evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurts and a walk around the circle of the mall.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Shabbat, 9 November 2013
I got up early and was out of the house by 5:30. I walked to the gym, worked out there a bit, and then walked back home.
I continued work on refining and commenting the code for my current project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I think I've got it sounding pretty good now, and my comments in the code are very extensive, describing quite precisely what is going on at each point and why.
We drove up highway 90 to highway 40, highway 40 to highway 13, highway 13 to highway 90, and back down 90. We stopped at Yahel, expecting to have our now-traditional Shabbat lunch there, but we discovered that the Kakao restaurant was closed! Have they gone kosher? Probably, but there was no sign at all. Luckily, I thought to test David's blood sugar because it turned out to be 49! Normal is between 70 and 126. Fortunately, the convenience store there WAS open, so I quickly went over and got him a Snickers bar, which, of course, brought his blood sugar up to where it should be. After that, we drove on back to Eilat and had a very late lunch of soyaburgers at Barbis.
When we got back home, we talked for a while with David's sister in Ohio and then went down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I continued work on refining and commenting the code for my current project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I think I've got it sounding pretty good now, and my comments in the code are very extensive, describing quite precisely what is going on at each point and why.
We drove up highway 90 to highway 40, highway 40 to highway 13, highway 13 to highway 90, and back down 90. We stopped at Yahel, expecting to have our now-traditional Shabbat lunch there, but we discovered that the Kakao restaurant was closed! Have they gone kosher? Probably, but there was no sign at all. Luckily, I thought to test David's blood sugar because it turned out to be 49! Normal is between 70 and 126. Fortunately, the convenience store there WAS open, so I quickly went over and got him a Snickers bar, which, of course, brought his blood sugar up to where it should be. After that, we drove on back to Eilat and had a very late lunch of soyaburgers at Barbis.
When we got back home, we talked for a while with David's sister in Ohio and then went down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Friday, 8 November 2013
I got up very early this morning, walked to the gym, worked out, and stretched on my home. Later, after checking my e-mail, I walked down to recycle the cardboard boxes and buy challah for Shabbat, all before breakfast.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.
Shortly after noon, our landlord came over to fix a couple of lights for us, including a fixture in the bathroom that needed to be replaced. He also is trying to fix our living room blinds, but he's going to have to replace one of them in order to do it, so he couldn't do it today.
We had our usual favorite dishes at Il Pentolino for lunch today.
This afternoon and evening, I began work on my 3rd project for my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class. The title of this assignment is "Make Techno", and one of its main purposes is to practice using sample files. I think I've just about got it the way I want it now, although I may still adjust a few parameters to make it better. I also need to add LOTS of comments to help the assessors see what I'm doing and to make sure that they know I fulfilled all the technical specifications. There is a LOT of randomness going into this piece: choices of notes (from specified sets of notes, however), choices of samples, playback speed of samples (including reverse direction in some cases!), panning (left to right) of some of the sounds, and whether or not to play a clap sound at each step. It turned out to be even more fun than I thought it would!
Just before the start of Shabbat, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome to Shabbat bride.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.
Shortly after noon, our landlord came over to fix a couple of lights for us, including a fixture in the bathroom that needed to be replaced. He also is trying to fix our living room blinds, but he's going to have to replace one of them in order to do it, so he couldn't do it today.
We had our usual favorite dishes at Il Pentolino for lunch today.
This afternoon and evening, I began work on my 3rd project for my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class. The title of this assignment is "Make Techno", and one of its main purposes is to practice using sample files. I think I've just about got it the way I want it now, although I may still adjust a few parameters to make it better. I also need to add LOTS of comments to help the assessors see what I'm doing and to make sure that they know I fulfilled all the technical specifications. There is a LOT of randomness going into this piece: choices of notes (from specified sets of notes, however), choices of samples, playback speed of samples (including reverse direction in some cases!), panning (left to right) of some of the sounds, and whether or not to play a clap sound at each step. It turned out to be even more fun than I thought it would!
Just before the start of Shabbat, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome to Shabbat bride.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Thursday, 7 November 2013
I got up in plenty of time this morning to walk to the highway 12 kikar, feed our friends' cats, and walk back home.
I was scheduled for 9 units of Berlitz lessons today, but 1 1-unit class was a late cancellation: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 3:00-4:30, 6:00-6:45 (the late cancellation), and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers again today. David had their seitan (gluten) fingers, and I tried their weenie burrito. Both were, of course, excellent!
I walked over and fed our friends' cats again before my evening class. Our friends will be returning from the trip to Poland late tonight.
I was scheduled for 9 units of Berlitz lessons today, but 1 1-unit class was a late cancellation: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 3:00-4:30, 6:00-6:45 (the late cancellation), and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers again today. David had their seitan (gluten) fingers, and I tried their weenie burrito. Both were, of course, excellent!
I walked over and fed our friends' cats again before my evening class. Our friends will be returning from the trip to Poland late tonight.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
I got up early enough to walk to the highway 12 kikar, feed our friends' cats, and walk back home.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We ate lunch today at Café Café at Ice Park. David had artichoke lasagna, and I had Italian shakshuka.
Our landlord came over this evening to check on a couple of minor things that need fixing: a loose light fixture in the bathroom that sometimes causes the light to suddenly go out and a broken rod on the blinds in the living room.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We ate lunch today at Café Café at Ice Park. David had artichoke lasagna, and I had Italian shakshuka.
Our landlord came over this evening to check on a couple of minor things that need fixing: a loose light fixture in the bathroom that sometimes causes the light to suddenly go out and a broken rod on the blinds in the living room.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
I got up early this morning, walked over to the highway 12 kikar, then to our friends' apartment (which is in one of the three 20-story buildings near there), fed their cats, and walked on home.
This morning I watched the videos for the new week in my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and also assessed the second assignment projects submitted by 5 of my fellow students (as required).
I had 6 units of Berlitz lesson today, but the last lesson (2 units) was a no-show: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino today, but we didn't have our regular dishes. Instead, David had cheese ravioli with the sauce that I usually get, and I had whole wheat spaghetti with the "Il Pentolino" sauce, a cream sauce with peas, chunks of Bulgarian cheese, and croutons in it. Both were delicious, of course.
After my last class we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. I also watched the ice dance show, which began with 2 solos by young girls who are just learning and ended with the 2 regular, professional performers doing their usual solo routines. It was all very enjoyable. Then David and I walked together all the way around the circle in the mall before returning home.
In the evening, I drove over to feed our friends' cats again because I didn't quite feel like walking.
The weather here is absolutely perfect! We've all all the windows wide open all day, and I even left several of them, including the bedroom window, open all night last night.
Today would have been the 119th birthday of my father, since he was born in 1894. Of course, he died more than 40 years ago, in early 1973, when he was 78 and I was only 20.
This morning I watched the videos for the new week in my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists, and also assessed the second assignment projects submitted by 5 of my fellow students (as required).
I had 6 units of Berlitz lesson today, but the last lesson (2 units) was a no-show: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 4:30-6:00.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino today, but we didn't have our regular dishes. Instead, David had cheese ravioli with the sauce that I usually get, and I had whole wheat spaghetti with the "Il Pentolino" sauce, a cream sauce with peas, chunks of Bulgarian cheese, and croutons in it. Both were delicious, of course.
After my last class we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. I also watched the ice dance show, which began with 2 solos by young girls who are just learning and ended with the 2 regular, professional performers doing their usual solo routines. It was all very enjoyable. Then David and I walked together all the way around the circle in the mall before returning home.
In the evening, I drove over to feed our friends' cats again because I didn't quite feel like walking.
The weather here is absolutely perfect! We've all all the windows wide open all day, and I even left several of them, including the bedroom window, open all night last night.
Today would have been the 119th birthday of my father, since he was born in 1894. Of course, he died more than 40 years ago, in early 1973, when he was 78 and I was only 20.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
I got up early enough this morning to walk over and feed our friends' cats before breakfast.
I had 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first student (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had lentil soup with bread, and I had seitan fingers (breaded pieces of gluten) with dips and a small salad. Both were dishes we hadn't tried before, and both were delicious!
After lunch, we drove down to the gas station by the airport, filled up, and got the car washed.
Before my evening class, we went to to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. On the way back, I again stopped and fed our friends' cats.
I had 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first student (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had lentil soup with bread, and I had seitan fingers (breaded pieces of gluten) with dips and a small salad. Both were dishes we hadn't tried before, and both were delicious!
After lunch, we drove down to the gas station by the airport, filled up, and got the car washed.
Before my evening class, we went to to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. On the way back, I again stopped and fed our friends' cats.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Sunday, 3 November 2013
I got up late this morning and also felt quite tired, so I didn't go out for a walk at all. However, later in the morning, I did walk over to our friends' place, about a 15-20-minute walk from here, and fed their cats. Our friends are on a short vacation in Poland.
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal. This week they had plenty of 6-packs of PepsiMax, but some weeks they have none, so I bought 6 of them instead of the 4 that we would typically use in a week. I'm trying to keep overstocked on this so that we don't have to drink Coke Zero, which we like less.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had their veggie weenies with sauerkraut on the side, and I had hummus with vegan shwarma and whole-wheat pita. Its was delicious!
I finished work on my project for week 2 of my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class that I described yesterday. I tuned it up a bit so things would be more balanced, corrected a couple of minor omissions, and added LOTS of comments to guide the assessors through what I did. Then I submitted it, even though it's not due until tomorrow night.
In the late afternoon, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. After we finished eating it, we took a stroll around the mall for a bit more exercise. On the way back home, I stopped by to feed our friends' cats again.
This evening we got another audio book for David to listen to, using one of the credits we get eat month for being members of Audible, so we got the book, whose regular price is $28, for nothing (beside the monthly membership fee, which, I think, is about $10 and also affords us discount on other books we buy).
This morning I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal. This week they had plenty of 6-packs of PepsiMax, but some weeks they have none, so I bought 6 of them instead of the 4 that we would typically use in a week. I'm trying to keep overstocked on this so that we don't have to drink Coke Zero, which we like less.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had their veggie weenies with sauerkraut on the side, and I had hummus with vegan shwarma and whole-wheat pita. Its was delicious!
I finished work on my project for week 2 of my Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class that I described yesterday. I tuned it up a bit so things would be more balanced, corrected a couple of minor omissions, and added LOTS of comments to guide the assessors through what I did. Then I submitted it, even though it's not due until tomorrow night.
In the late afternoon, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. After we finished eating it, we took a stroll around the mall for a bit more exercise. On the way back home, I stopped by to feed our friends' cats again.
This evening we got another audio book for David to listen to, using one of the credits we get eat month for being members of Audible, so we got the book, whose regular price is $28, for nothing (beside the monthly membership fee, which, I think, is about $10 and also affords us discount on other books we buy).
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Shabbat, 2 November 2013
I got up a little late this morning and felt a little tired, too, so I only walked to the highway 12 kikar and back. It was still good exercise, though.
I spent much of the day working on the 2nd project for my class. It's a setting of an old French noel (Xmas carol) that I picked mostly because it's in the Dorian mode, a requirement for this project. The project also has a required tempo, so I needed a piece that would sound okay at that speed. There's a 4-measure introduction before the actual melody starts, and there are 2 additional fade-away measures at the end, which bring it exactly to the required length of 30 seconds. I start with noise that gets gradually louder (though never very loud) and wanders left and right in a random walk. There are also random 16th notes chosen for a full 3 octaves of the Dorian mode. When the melody starts, the noise continues to wander, though somewhat more quietly, and the random notes during this phase are chosen only from chords that match the melody. There is also a bass line that plays along with the melody. For the last 2 measures, the random notes are again chosen from the whole gamut, and every thing fades away to nearly nothing. All of this is accomplished by programming in the ChucK programming language. It's basically finished now, although I still need to add more comments, and I'll probably also tinker a bit more with the parameters that control everything and how it works together.
For lunch, we again drove up to Yahel. However, we went up highway 40 and came back on highway 13 to highway 90, continuing south to Yahel. After eating, we drove directly home on highway 90.
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and then talked to David's sister in Ohio after returning home.
I spent much of the day working on the 2nd project for my class. It's a setting of an old French noel (Xmas carol) that I picked mostly because it's in the Dorian mode, a requirement for this project. The project also has a required tempo, so I needed a piece that would sound okay at that speed. There's a 4-measure introduction before the actual melody starts, and there are 2 additional fade-away measures at the end, which bring it exactly to the required length of 30 seconds. I start with noise that gets gradually louder (though never very loud) and wanders left and right in a random walk. There are also random 16th notes chosen for a full 3 octaves of the Dorian mode. When the melody starts, the noise continues to wander, though somewhat more quietly, and the random notes during this phase are chosen only from chords that match the melody. There is also a bass line that plays along with the melody. For the last 2 measures, the random notes are again chosen from the whole gamut, and every thing fades away to nearly nothing. All of this is accomplished by programming in the ChucK programming language. It's basically finished now, although I still need to add more comments, and I'll probably also tinker a bit more with the parameters that control everything and how it works together.
For lunch, we again drove up to Yahel. However, we went up highway 40 and came back on highway 13 to highway 90, continuing south to Yahel. After eating, we drove directly home on highway 90.
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and then talked to David's sister in Ohio after returning home.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Friday, 1 November 2013
I got up very early again and so got my usual great exercise.
Also before breakfast I walked down to recycle the cardboard and to buy challah for Shabbat.
I had no Berlitz lessons scheduled today. So I took advantage of the time to do several other things. I took the trash out, recycled the containers and plastic bottles, bought a couple of light sweaters with zippers, did 3 loads of laundry, and worked my second project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I've got it working acceptably now, but I want to make additional refinements to it to make it better.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
In the evening, of course, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat.
Also before breakfast I walked down to recycle the cardboard and to buy challah for Shabbat.
I had no Berlitz lessons scheduled today. So I took advantage of the time to do several other things. I took the trash out, recycled the containers and plastic bottles, bought a couple of light sweaters with zippers, did 3 loads of laundry, and worked my second project for my class, Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. I've got it working acceptably now, but I want to make additional refinements to it to make it better.
We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.
In the evening, of course, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Thursday, 31 October 2013
I again got up early and got in a walk to the gym and excellent exercise there. On the way home, I did my stretches, too. It was warm enough that I felt comfortable wearing just a t-shirt, short pants, and sandals.
I had 11 units of Berlitz today (although one was an observation feedback session): 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 12:45-1:30 (the feedback session), 3:00-4:30, 4:30-6:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We made a quick trip again to Buddha Burgers for lunch. We both had vegan shwarma burritos.
Before my last class, I went down to the candy store and replenished David's supply of Snickers bars. They had completely run out.
I had 11 units of Berlitz today (although one was an observation feedback session): 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 12:45-1:30 (the feedback session), 3:00-4:30, 4:30-6:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We made a quick trip again to Buddha Burgers for lunch. We both had vegan shwarma burritos.
Before my last class, I went down to the candy store and replenished David's supply of Snickers bars. They had completely run out.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
I woke up nice and early this morning but forced myself to stay in bed until 5:15. Then I got up and had a good walk and a good work-out, including stretches on the way back.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 5:30-7:00. This 1st and 3rd sessions were with the same student, so he had a LOT of English time today. The last lesson was with a group of students in Norway, all but ONE of whom are originally from Venezuela.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. I had their gluten-free vegan burger (which I hadn't yet tried), and David had their vegan roast beef burrito. We split a piece of vegan cheese cake and also each had a cookie for dessert. We're actually vegetarian, not vegan, but we certainly like the delicious vegan food they have there!
I started working on my next project today. We are limited to the Dorian mode on D for this one, and it also needs to be 30 seconds long. Furthermore, they even specified the tempo (240 BPM), which is rather fast. I think I've found a great solution, though. I'm going to do a setting of an old French noel that is in Dorian mode and sounds fine at this speed. Of course, I'll add some other stuff to it to make it interesting and also to fulfill some other requirements for the project.
The weather today was absolutely perfect! I had most of the windows open until 7:00 this evening, and it was not cold in here at all. I shut them then just to keep it from becoming too cold during the night, but I'm still sitting here at nearly 8:00 p.m. with my shirt off and feeling quite comfortable.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, and 5:30-7:00. This 1st and 3rd sessions were with the same student, so he had a LOT of English time today. The last lesson was with a group of students in Norway, all but ONE of whom are originally from Venezuela.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. I had their gluten-free vegan burger (which I hadn't yet tried), and David had their vegan roast beef burrito. We split a piece of vegan cheese cake and also each had a cookie for dessert. We're actually vegetarian, not vegan, but we certainly like the delicious vegan food they have there!
I started working on my next project today. We are limited to the Dorian mode on D for this one, and it also needs to be 30 seconds long. Furthermore, they even specified the tempo (240 BPM), which is rather fast. I think I've found a great solution, though. I'm going to do a setting of an old French noel that is in Dorian mode and sounds fine at this speed. Of course, I'll add some other stuff to it to make it interesting and also to fulfill some other requirements for the project.
The weather today was absolutely perfect! I had most of the windows open until 7:00 this evening, and it was not cold in here at all. I shut them then just to keep it from becoming too cold during the night, but I'm still sitting here at nearly 8:00 p.m. with my shirt off and feeling quite comfortable.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday, 28 October 2013
I got up very early this morning (not so surprising so soon after setting the clock back an hour!) and so got in a great walk, work-out, and set of stretches on the way back. I also was delighted to see my friend, Liz, out walking her big dog this morning. We enjoyed chatting for a bit, and I shared this little limerick with her, one that illustrates a little of the craziness of the English language:
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So the flew through a flaw in the flue.
I was scheduled for 7 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first student was actually a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 12:00-1:30, 4:00-4:45, and 5:30-7:00. The last lesson will be observed and I have to go to a feedback session on Thursday to talk about it. I never like these feedback sessions because it seems that no matter how well I think the lesson went, the observer always finds a million things that I should have done but didn't do. This makes it very hard for me to maintain my usually positive outlook on things, but I'll continue trying. :-)
We ate lunch at Café Café today. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had nice whole-grain bread with various spreads.
The second week of my Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class opened today, and I have already watched all the lecture videos for the new week. There were a lot less of them this time. The assignment for this week is going to be quite a bit more restrictive about what we can do, so I may find it harder to make interesting music, but I'll see what I can come up with. In fact, I'm rather looking forward to the challenge.
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So the flew through a flaw in the flue.
I was scheduled for 7 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first student was actually a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 12:00-1:30, 4:00-4:45, and 5:30-7:00. The last lesson will be observed and I have to go to a feedback session on Thursday to talk about it. I never like these feedback sessions because it seems that no matter how well I think the lesson went, the observer always finds a million things that I should have done but didn't do. This makes it very hard for me to maintain my usually positive outlook on things, but I'll continue trying. :-)
We ate lunch at Café Café today. David had ravioli with tomato sauce, and I had nice whole-grain bread with various spreads.
The second week of my Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists class opened today, and I have already watched all the lecture videos for the new week. There were a lot less of them this time. The assignment for this week is going to be quite a bit more restrictive about what we can do, so I may find it harder to make interesting music, but I'll see what I can come up with. In fact, I'm rather looking forward to the challenge.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Sunday, 27 October 2013
We went off of daylight savings time (called "summer time") here in Israel last night, so we got an extra hour. David and I actually went to bed a little later than usual, but I got up quite a bit later. Still, with the extra time I was able to get to the gym and exercise a bit well before breakfast.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. I had their shwarma tortilla roll and vegan cheesecake for dessert, and David had vegan weenies (with grilled onion and sauerkraut) and a 3-flavor mousse cup for dessert. Delicious!
After lunch I went to the pharmacy to pick up some additional things. David waited in the car.
Later in the afternoon, I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal.
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. We also walked around the mall a couple of times for exercise.
After that, I did some reading in the book I bought that accompanies my programming course. Although it basically covers the same things, it goes into a little more detail and has additional examples.
We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers. I had their shwarma tortilla roll and vegan cheesecake for dessert, and David had vegan weenies (with grilled onion and sauerkraut) and a 3-flavor mousse cup for dessert. Delicious!
After lunch I went to the pharmacy to pick up some additional things. David waited in the car.
Later in the afternoon, I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal.
In the evening we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. We also walked around the mall a couple of times for exercise.
After that, I did some reading in the book I bought that accompanies my programming course. Although it basically covers the same things, it goes into a little more detail and has additional examples.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Shabbat, 26 October 2013
I got up a little later this morning but still had time for a good walk and some exercise at the gym. It was quite chilly out this morning; I'm going to have to start wearing more than a t-shirt and short pants, I guess.
I finished my first assignment for my class, Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's a simple 4-part harmonization of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". That may sound pretty easy, but I had to start with pretty basic things: simple oscillators (producing sine, triangle, sawtooth, or square waves), and we were limited to the programming concepts and structures that have already been introduced in the lectures. I ended up using 5 sine oscillators and one sawtooth oscillator. By using "for" loops I was able to create crescendi and decrescendi (gradual increases and decreases in the volume level, respectively). The final result sounds pretty good but, of course, very electronic and synthesized (because it IS!).
We took a drive today around the long loop, starting by going up highway 12. On the way back on highway 90, we stopped at Yahel for lunch. We ate at the Kakao restaurant there in the Tzel Tmarim center. I had Tel Aviv French Toast, and David had a small pizza.
In the late afternoon, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. David's legs were doing better today, so we also walked all the way around the big circle.
I finished my first assignment for my class, Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists. It's a simple 4-part harmonization of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". That may sound pretty easy, but I had to start with pretty basic things: simple oscillators (producing sine, triangle, sawtooth, or square waves), and we were limited to the programming concepts and structures that have already been introduced in the lectures. I ended up using 5 sine oscillators and one sawtooth oscillator. By using "for" loops I was able to create crescendi and decrescendi (gradual increases and decreases in the volume level, respectively). The final result sounds pretty good but, of course, very electronic and synthesized (because it IS!).
We took a drive today around the long loop, starting by going up highway 12. On the way back on highway 90, we stopped at Yahel for lunch. We ate at the Kakao restaurant there in the Tzel Tmarim center. I had Tel Aviv French Toast, and David had a small pizza.
In the late afternoon, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. David's legs were doing better today, so we also walked all the way around the big circle.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Friday, 25 October 2013
I again got up very early and got in a great walk and an excellent work-out at the gym. Later, I walked down, recycled the cardboard, and bought challah and candy for Shabbat.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino, having our usual favorites there.
In the afternoon and evening, I worked on my first project for my programming class. We are restricted to using the features of ChucK (the programming language) that they have already taught us, so some things are a bit more complicated than they would be otherwise, I think. What I'm doing is setting a very simple 4-part harmonization of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", which is surprisingly tricky when you have to start from the basics of sound and simple oscillators!
Of course, we also lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat at candle-lighting time.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino, having our usual favorites there.
In the afternoon and evening, I worked on my first project for my programming class. We are restricted to using the features of ChucK (the programming language) that they have already taught us, so some things are a bit more complicated than they would be otherwise, I think. What I'm doing is setting a very simple 4-part harmonization of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", which is surprisingly tricky when you have to start from the basics of sound and simple oscillators!
Of course, we also lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat at candle-lighting time.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Thursday, 24 October 2013
I got up early and got in another good walk and work-out this morning.
I had no classes in the morning, so I used the opportunity to go over to Maccabi (our HMO) with the papers from the ambulance company and from the ER (after David's fall a couple of weeks ago). They paid for half of the ambulance fee, but we don't know how much they'll pay for the ER yet. We'll get a letter from Maccabi about it.
At lunch time (12:00-2:00) we joined a group of other Anglos here in Eilat organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN), the organization that helps Americans, Canadians, and Brits make aliyah. The meeting was at Il Pentolino, one of our favorite restaurants, and the food was paid for by NBN. It was really nice to meet the other Anglos, several of whom have only been here for a short time. They'll be sending us all the contact info of everyone there so that we can keep in touch. I hope we'll make some new friends this way.
I was scheduled for 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one student was a no-show: 2:30-4:00 (the no-show); 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30.
After the first lesson, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
I had no classes in the morning, so I used the opportunity to go over to Maccabi (our HMO) with the papers from the ambulance company and from the ER (after David's fall a couple of weeks ago). They paid for half of the ambulance fee, but we don't know how much they'll pay for the ER yet. We'll get a letter from Maccabi about it.
At lunch time (12:00-2:00) we joined a group of other Anglos here in Eilat organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN), the organization that helps Americans, Canadians, and Brits make aliyah. The meeting was at Il Pentolino, one of our favorite restaurants, and the food was paid for by NBN. It was really nice to meet the other Anglos, several of whom have only been here for a short time. They'll be sending us all the contact info of everyone there so that we can keep in touch. I hope we'll make some new friends this way.
I was scheduled for 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one student was a no-show: 2:30-4:00 (the no-show); 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30.
After the first lesson, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
I woke up early and got up at just the right time for a great walk, a great work-out, and my stretches on the way back. The weather was absolutely perfect this morning, so the whole thing was just a big pleasure!
I was scheduled for 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one lesson (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30 (a student in Norway who supervises maintenance at a wind farm), 12:00-1:30 (a student in France who works for a Dutch company that staffs clinical trials of new medicines), 2:30-4:00 (2 students in Spain who are originally from France and work for a high-speed internet provider for businesses), 4:30-6:00 (the no-show, a Dutch student who recently relocated to the Boston area because of her husband's job), 6:00-6:45 (a Russian student who now lives in Bulgaria but this week is on vacation in the Canary Islands), and 7:00-8:30 (a student who works for Shell Oil in Brazil).
We ate lunch at home today: vegetarian weenies wrapped in large flour tortillas, and (for me) chips and salsa.
I also managed to watch several videos for my new class in programming for musicians. ChucK is such a cool programming language!
I was scheduled for 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one lesson (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30 (a student in Norway who supervises maintenance at a wind farm), 12:00-1:30 (a student in France who works for a Dutch company that staffs clinical trials of new medicines), 2:30-4:00 (2 students in Spain who are originally from France and work for a high-speed internet provider for businesses), 4:30-6:00 (the no-show, a Dutch student who recently relocated to the Boston area because of her husband's job), 6:00-6:45 (a Russian student who now lives in Bulgaria but this week is on vacation in the Canary Islands), and 7:00-8:30 (a student who works for Shell Oil in Brazil).
We ate lunch at home today: vegetarian weenies wrapped in large flour tortillas, and (for me) chips and salsa.
I also managed to watch several videos for my new class in programming for musicians. ChucK is such a cool programming language!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
I woke up early this morning but really felt tired and so did not get up for a walk at all.
I taught only 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-12:15 and 2:30-4:00. I had also been scheduled for 2 more units (4:00-5:30), but that student canceled late enough yesterday for it to be a late cancellation (so I still get paid!).
We went to Café Café at Ice Park for lunch today. David had cheese ravioli with mushroom cream sauce, and I had stuffed mushrooms, a new dish for me which was very delicious! After eating, we drove over to the Yellow gas station next to the airport, filled up, and got the car washed.
After my last class, David took a shower (sitting on a plastic chair in the bathtub, as usual, and I made sure to be there to help him get out. We don't want any repeats of last week -- one cracked rib is enough!
Then we went to vote. Even though the polling place is at a school only one short block from here, I knew that David wouldn't be able to walk it, so we drove over and were VERY lucky to get a parking place right across from the entrance to the school.
These elections are held regularly every 5 years and are for local offices only. We choose a candidate for mayor, and we choose a party for the city council. There were LOTS of people over there, including people trying to get everyone to vote for their mayoral candidate or their party. The advertising and the hype is MUCH greater for these local elections than for the national ones, I think! Anyway, we got in, located the room we were assigned to, and they let me help David vote. We both voted for דובי כהן Dubi Cohen for mayor and for his party, מהפך Mahafakh ("turnabout"), for city council.
Today, I started a new online Coursera class. It's called "Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists", and I love it already. We're learning to program in a language called ChucK written especial for this purpose, and one of the videos was a great introduction to ChucK by the inventor of the language! It's going to be really, really cool!
I taught only 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-12:15 and 2:30-4:00. I had also been scheduled for 2 more units (4:00-5:30), but that student canceled late enough yesterday for it to be a late cancellation (so I still get paid!).
We went to Café Café at Ice Park for lunch today. David had cheese ravioli with mushroom cream sauce, and I had stuffed mushrooms, a new dish for me which was very delicious! After eating, we drove over to the Yellow gas station next to the airport, filled up, and got the car washed.
After my last class, David took a shower (sitting on a plastic chair in the bathtub, as usual, and I made sure to be there to help him get out. We don't want any repeats of last week -- one cracked rib is enough!
Then we went to vote. Even though the polling place is at a school only one short block from here, I knew that David wouldn't be able to walk it, so we drove over and were VERY lucky to get a parking place right across from the entrance to the school.
These elections are held regularly every 5 years and are for local offices only. We choose a candidate for mayor, and we choose a party for the city council. There were LOTS of people over there, including people trying to get everyone to vote for their mayoral candidate or their party. The advertising and the hype is MUCH greater for these local elections than for the national ones, I think! Anyway, we got in, located the room we were assigned to, and they let me help David vote. We both voted for דובי כהן Dubi Cohen for mayor and for his party, מהפך Mahafakh ("turnabout"), for city council.
Today, I started a new online Coursera class. It's called "Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists", and I love it already. We're learning to program in a language called ChucK written especial for this purpose, and one of the videos was a great introduction to ChucK by the inventor of the language! It's going to be really, really cool!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Monday, 21 October 2013
Again I got up early enough for a good walk to the gym. I felt a little tired, though, and had some sinus congestion, so I didn't work out today.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 3:00-4:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ordered pizza for lunch today, and it was very good.
In the early evening, before my last class, we took a short drive down the coast to the border crossing to Egypt.
I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 3:00-4:30, and 6:30-8:00.
We ordered pizza for lunch today, and it was very good.
In the early evening, before my last class, we took a short drive down the coast to the border crossing to Egypt.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sunday, 20 October 2013
I got up about the same time as yesterday and so had time enough for my walk and work-out.
This morning I went to the doctor to get all our prescriptions for the next 3 months. Later, after lunch, I went to the pharmacy to get them filled.
I got a letter the other day from the Israeli tax service saying that the State may owe me money. It instructed me to go to the post office with my ID and a blank check (with my ID number and the bank account number). I did that this morning, and the lady entered some things into the computer and gave me some kind of a receipt. Apparently, because I'm working but not making very much money, I'm going to get some put into my account. I have no idea how much or when it might happen, but it seems like a nice thing, in any case.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers, trying some different dishes. Still very delicious!
After the pharmacy, I went to the pet store and bought a scratching post and some catnip. Then I continued to Shufersal for our weekly grocery shopping.
In the evening, I worked some more on my "House Sonatina". I think I've got a good rough draft of it now. Next, I'll do a lot of fine tuning, and perhaps I'll even add some additional tracks.
This morning I went to the doctor to get all our prescriptions for the next 3 months. Later, after lunch, I went to the pharmacy to get them filled.
I got a letter the other day from the Israeli tax service saying that the State may owe me money. It instructed me to go to the post office with my ID and a blank check (with my ID number and the bank account number). I did that this morning, and the lady entered some things into the computer and gave me some kind of a receipt. Apparently, because I'm working but not making very much money, I'm going to get some put into my account. I have no idea how much or when it might happen, but it seems like a nice thing, in any case.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers, trying some different dishes. Still very delicious!
After the pharmacy, I went to the pet store and bought a scratching post and some catnip. Then I continued to Shufersal for our weekly grocery shopping.
In the evening, I worked some more on my "House Sonatina". I think I've got a good rough draft of it now. Next, I'll do a lot of fine tuning, and perhaps I'll even add some additional tracks.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Shabbat, 19 October 2013
I got up later this morning than yesterday but still had time for a good walk and work-out.
I began working today on a piece using some of the EarSketch sounds (from Georgia Tech and related to the Survey of Music Technology course I just finished) and REAPER. I'm calling it "House Sonatina", and the idea is to take the clips of house music from the library and put them together in a form resembling the classic sonata-allegro form. We'll see how it turns out -- it's coming along okay so far, I think.
We drove up to Yahel for our now-traditional Shabbat lunch at Kakao at Tsel Tmarim there. David had pizza (although I ate half of it), and I had their Tel Aviv French Toast.
We talked to David's sister in Ohio today, which was really nice, especially since we had NOT talked to her in more than 2 weeks.
Finally, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt. David stayed in the car in the parking garage while I went in and got the food and brought it to him since his little toe has been giving him a lot of pain. Apparently he injured or perhaps also broke it when he fell the other day. We were so concerned with checking for head injuries and with dealing with the pain from his cracked rib that he didn't really notice the toe much until we left the ER. Anyway, there's probably not much that can be done for it, either.
I began working today on a piece using some of the EarSketch sounds (from Georgia Tech and related to the Survey of Music Technology course I just finished) and REAPER. I'm calling it "House Sonatina", and the idea is to take the clips of house music from the library and put them together in a form resembling the classic sonata-allegro form. We'll see how it turns out -- it's coming along okay so far, I think.
We drove up to Yahel for our now-traditional Shabbat lunch at Kakao at Tsel Tmarim there. David had pizza (although I ate half of it), and I had their Tel Aviv French Toast.
We talked to David's sister in Ohio today, which was really nice, especially since we had NOT talked to her in more than 2 weeks.
Finally, we drove over to Ice Park and had frozen yogurt. David stayed in the car in the parking garage while I went in and got the food and brought it to him since his little toe has been giving him a lot of pain. Apparently he injured or perhaps also broke it when he fell the other day. We were so concerned with checking for head injuries and with dealing with the pain from his cracked rib that he didn't really notice the toe much until we left the ER. Anyway, there's probably not much that can be done for it, either.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Friday, 18 October 2013
I woke up very early this morning and had a splendid walk and work-out. It was cool but with almost no breeze, so it felt just about perfect out.
Also before breakfast, I took my usual walk to recycle the cardboard boxes and to get challah and candy for Shabbat.
I taught 3 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-11:15.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino and had our usual dishes there.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat.
The weather is just about perfect here now. We are using no A/C and have the windows open all day and most of them all night, as well.
Also before breakfast, I took my usual walk to recycle the cardboard boxes and to get challah and candy for Shabbat.
I taught 3 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-11:15.
We ate lunch at Il Pentolino and had our usual dishes there.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat.
The weather is just about perfect here now. We are using no A/C and have the windows open all day and most of them all night, as well.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Thursday, 17 October 2013
I had trouble sleeping for about the first half of last night and so didn't get up until very late. Obviously, I didn't have time to go out and walk.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, although the first student turned out to be a no-show (after having called the office to tell them she'd be late): 10:00-11:30, 3:30-5:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Chooka today. David had a nice rice dish with tofu, and I had my usual vegetarian sushi combo.
Later, we returned to Ice Park to have frozen yogurt.
I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, although the first student turned out to be a no-show (after having called the office to tell them she'd be late): 10:00-11:30, 3:30-5:00, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Chooka today. David had a nice rice dish with tofu, and I had my usual vegetarian sushi combo.
Later, we returned to Ice Park to have frozen yogurt.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
I got up nice and early this morning and got in both a nice walk to the gym and a good work-out while there. I also took time to do my stretches on the way back.
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-8:15.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had a dish with whole-grain rice and white beans and vegetarian meatballs (actually made of gluten, and very tasty!). I had their shnitzel burrito (vegan shnitzel, of course), and, as usual, I finished much of David's meal. We also split a piece of vegan cheese cake which was better than many cheese cakes I've had that used actual milk products. The more we eat at Buddha Burgers the better we like it. There are still plenty of dishes there that we have yet to try, as well, so I'm sure we'll be going there quite frequently.
I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6:00, and 6:00-8:15.
We ate lunch again at Buddha Burgers. David had a dish with whole-grain rice and white beans and vegetarian meatballs (actually made of gluten, and very tasty!). I had their shnitzel burrito (vegan shnitzel, of course), and, as usual, I finished much of David's meal. We also split a piece of vegan cheese cake which was better than many cheese cakes I've had that used actual milk products. The more we eat at Buddha Burgers the better we like it. There are still plenty of dishes there that we have yet to try, as well, so I'm sure we'll be going there quite frequently.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
I woke up early this morning but felt too tired to get up and so slept nearly another hour. I didn't get out for a walk at all as a result.
I was scheduled to teach 7 units of Berlitz today: 11:00-12:30, 3:00-4:30, and 4:30-6:45. However, things didn't quite go as planned.
During my first class, David decided to take a shower. Our shower is also a bathtub, but we have a plastic chair that we put in there for him so that he can sit while he bathes himself. However, he is often quite unstable getting in and, especially, out. During my break, I was in the bathroom peeing when he got out and suddenly fell, with his head coming down right beside me! I really only caught exactly what happened out of the corner of my eye, since I wasn't looking that direction or even expecting him to be getting out at that moment.
Of course he complained of pain, mostly in his ribs. But what worried me was that he threw up shortly after falling. Because of that, we decided we had better call for an ambulance, and that's what I did. The paramedics checked him, got him up onto his feet (I certainly could NOT have done that all by myself!), and got him to his chair. We got him dressed, and then they transported him to the ER with me following right behind in my car.
After much checking at the ER to rule out more serious problems, they determined that one of his ribs had a small crack in it. It's not a serious problem, of course, but it's causing him plenty of pain, which won't be going away very soon, I'm afraid.
I had had to contact Berlitz, of course, so that they'd let the student I was teaching know that I wouldn't be back. Later, I had to call them from the ER to cancel my remaining lessons for the day (there went 5 units of pay!).
By the time we got out of the ER, it was about 3:30, and we hadn't had lunch yet, so we headed over to Il Pentolino for our traditional dishes there. We chose it mostly because we can almost always park right in front of the restaurant (which we did today, too), and so it's the place that involves the least amount of walking for David.
On the way home, I had to stop by the doctor's office with the prescription they had given me in the ER so that he could write a Maccabi prescription that I could actually get filled.
After bringing David home and resting a little, I headed out to the pharmacy. Of course, a lot of other people were also there by then, so I had to wait quite a long time, only to find out that the medicine (Tramadex) is not available ANYWHERE in the whole city. So, I headed BACK to the doctor's office to try to get a prescription for another medicine. But he just flat out said that there is no other pain medicine that we can safely give David because of all the meds he's on and because of the danger of ruining his kidneys (which are already marginal). So the strongest thing we'll be able to give him is Optalgin, a pain killer that's available over the counter here but is banned in the U.S. The main advantage of it is that it doesn't damage his kidneys as most others, such as ibuprofen, do.
So, it was a busy day. We're glad that David had no worse injuries than a cracked rib, but neither of us is looking forward to the weeks of pain ahead, obviously.
I have to add a postscript about hospitals and ERs here in Israel. The short story is that they are some of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse places imaginable. Anyone who thinks that Israel is even remotely like an apartheid state has NEVER spent even 10 minutes in an Israeli hospital or ER. For example, the main person examining David today was an African-American woman (yes, really American!) who is a medical student here in Israel. The physician supervising her and also doing some of the examining was almost certainly an Israeli Arab guy (fluent in Hebrew and English, although his native language is probably Arabic). Another physician working there was almost certainly Jewish, but I heard him say חג שמח (Happy Holiday in Hebrew) to a patient who, presumably, was a Muslim (since we are in a 3-day Muslim holiday). The guy who took David to x-ray and back was Russian, at least judging from his appearance. And that's just a tiny sample of a typical Israeli ER.
I was scheduled to teach 7 units of Berlitz today: 11:00-12:30, 3:00-4:30, and 4:30-6:45. However, things didn't quite go as planned.
During my first class, David decided to take a shower. Our shower is also a bathtub, but we have a plastic chair that we put in there for him so that he can sit while he bathes himself. However, he is often quite unstable getting in and, especially, out. During my break, I was in the bathroom peeing when he got out and suddenly fell, with his head coming down right beside me! I really only caught exactly what happened out of the corner of my eye, since I wasn't looking that direction or even expecting him to be getting out at that moment.
Of course he complained of pain, mostly in his ribs. But what worried me was that he threw up shortly after falling. Because of that, we decided we had better call for an ambulance, and that's what I did. The paramedics checked him, got him up onto his feet (I certainly could NOT have done that all by myself!), and got him to his chair. We got him dressed, and then they transported him to the ER with me following right behind in my car.
After much checking at the ER to rule out more serious problems, they determined that one of his ribs had a small crack in it. It's not a serious problem, of course, but it's causing him plenty of pain, which won't be going away very soon, I'm afraid.
I had had to contact Berlitz, of course, so that they'd let the student I was teaching know that I wouldn't be back. Later, I had to call them from the ER to cancel my remaining lessons for the day (there went 5 units of pay!).
By the time we got out of the ER, it was about 3:30, and we hadn't had lunch yet, so we headed over to Il Pentolino for our traditional dishes there. We chose it mostly because we can almost always park right in front of the restaurant (which we did today, too), and so it's the place that involves the least amount of walking for David.
On the way home, I had to stop by the doctor's office with the prescription they had given me in the ER so that he could write a Maccabi prescription that I could actually get filled.
After bringing David home and resting a little, I headed out to the pharmacy. Of course, a lot of other people were also there by then, so I had to wait quite a long time, only to find out that the medicine (Tramadex) is not available ANYWHERE in the whole city. So, I headed BACK to the doctor's office to try to get a prescription for another medicine. But he just flat out said that there is no other pain medicine that we can safely give David because of all the meds he's on and because of the danger of ruining his kidneys (which are already marginal). So the strongest thing we'll be able to give him is Optalgin, a pain killer that's available over the counter here but is banned in the U.S. The main advantage of it is that it doesn't damage his kidneys as most others, such as ibuprofen, do.
So, it was a busy day. We're glad that David had no worse injuries than a cracked rib, but neither of us is looking forward to the weeks of pain ahead, obviously.
I have to add a postscript about hospitals and ERs here in Israel. The short story is that they are some of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse places imaginable. Anyone who thinks that Israel is even remotely like an apartheid state has NEVER spent even 10 minutes in an Israeli hospital or ER. For example, the main person examining David today was an African-American woman (yes, really American!) who is a medical student here in Israel. The physician supervising her and also doing some of the examining was almost certainly an Israeli Arab guy (fluent in Hebrew and English, although his native language is probably Arabic). Another physician working there was almost certainly Jewish, but I heard him say חג שמח (Happy Holiday in Hebrew) to a patient who, presumably, was a Muslim (since we are in a 3-day Muslim holiday). The guy who took David to x-ray and back was Russian, at least judging from his appearance. And that's just a tiny sample of a typical Israeli ER.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Monday, 14 October 2013
I got up early enough to walk to the gym and back, but I didn't work out there at all today.
I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 12:00-1:30 and 5:00-6:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had shakshuka and I had east/west noodles (really, more east, as in Asian). I made the mistake of finishing David's dish, though, and therefore had quite a bit too must to eat. But at least it was fairly healthy.
In the evening we drove back over to Ice Park for our traditional frozen yogurt.
Yesterday and today, they have been planting a lot of trees and flowers and putting down an artificial turf lawn in the area around our parking lot, behind our building. It now looks MUCH nicer! However, I'm not very pleased about the motivation for it. It seems that the municipality did this, and the reason is quite simple: in 8 days, the mayor is up for re-election. My questions is this: is this kind of work REALLY the city's responsibility? If it is, why did they wait until now, just before the election, to do it? If it's not, isn't this a questionable use of public money? Either way, the mayor is basically using public money to try to get people to vote for him. I'd say that he lost my vote, except that I was already planning to vote for his biggest opponent, Dubi Cohen, whose writings I have been following and with whose plans I've been quite impressed.
I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 12:00-1:30 and 5:00-6:30.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. David had shakshuka and I had east/west noodles (really, more east, as in Asian). I made the mistake of finishing David's dish, though, and therefore had quite a bit too must to eat. But at least it was fairly healthy.
In the evening we drove back over to Ice Park for our traditional frozen yogurt.
Yesterday and today, they have been planting a lot of trees and flowers and putting down an artificial turf lawn in the area around our parking lot, behind our building. It now looks MUCH nicer! However, I'm not very pleased about the motivation for it. It seems that the municipality did this, and the reason is quite simple: in 8 days, the mayor is up for re-election. My questions is this: is this kind of work REALLY the city's responsibility? If it is, why did they wait until now, just before the election, to do it? If it's not, isn't this a questionable use of public money? Either way, the mayor is basically using public money to try to get people to vote for him. I'd say that he lost my vote, except that I was already planning to vote for his biggest opponent, Dubi Cohen, whose writings I have been following and with whose plans I've been quite impressed.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Sunday, 13 October 2013
I got up early enough this morning to get over to the gym and get in a decent short work-out.
This morning we went over and both got our annual flu shots. If you haven't gotten yours yet, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. I've been getting them every year for at least 2 decades, I think, and I highly recommend them!
We ate lunch at Buddha Burger today. I ordered a shwarma burrito, and David ordered a roast beef burrito. Of course, EVERYTHING at that place is actually vegan, so no animals were killed or even disturbed. David was only able to eat about half of his, so I finished it as well as mine. Both burritos were delicious, but I think the shwarma was the best.
In the afternoon, I went to MaccabiPharm to get some more of David's anti-pain medicine (optalgin -- it's not sold in the U.S.). Then I proceeded to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
In the evening, I spent some time listening to more of the sounds that are in the EarSketch library that I downloaded as part of my recently completed Survey of Music Technology class. I think I'd like to do some more composing using the sound samples, so I need to have a better idea of the resources that are actually available for this.
We also went over to Ice Park this evening for frozen yogurt. There was a complication, though. The yogurt at our regular place was not frozen hard enough, so they couldn't make any for us. We managed to find another place in the mall that was able to serve us our usual favorites.
This morning we went over and both got our annual flu shots. If you haven't gotten yours yet, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. I've been getting them every year for at least 2 decades, I think, and I highly recommend them!
We ate lunch at Buddha Burger today. I ordered a shwarma burrito, and David ordered a roast beef burrito. Of course, EVERYTHING at that place is actually vegan, so no animals were killed or even disturbed. David was only able to eat about half of his, so I finished it as well as mine. Both burritos were delicious, but I think the shwarma was the best.
In the afternoon, I went to MaccabiPharm to get some more of David's anti-pain medicine (optalgin -- it's not sold in the U.S.). Then I proceeded to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
In the evening, I spent some time listening to more of the sounds that are in the EarSketch library that I downloaded as part of my recently completed Survey of Music Technology class. I think I'd like to do some more composing using the sound samples, so I need to have a better idea of the resources that are actually available for this.
We also went over to Ice Park this evening for frozen yogurt. There was a complication, though. The yogurt at our regular place was not frozen hard enough, so they couldn't make any for us. We managed to find another place in the mall that was able to serve us our usual favorites.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Shabbat, 12 October 2013
I woke up a little late this morning, but I still walked as far as the gym and back but without working out there at all.
We again drove up to Yahel today for lunch at Kakao at Tzel Tmarim. David had Italian pasta salad (although I ate more of it than he did, I think), and I had khaloumi salad. Both were good, and they were ones we had never tried before.
This afternoon, I took the program of one of the best peer projects that I had graded for my Survey of Music Technology class and played around with it, tweaking various parameters to see what effect it might have. It was quite interesting. My next class, called Programming for Musicians and Artists, will begin a week from Monday. I'm really looking forward to it!
This evening we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
We again drove up to Yahel today for lunch at Kakao at Tzel Tmarim. David had Italian pasta salad (although I ate more of it than he did, I think), and I had khaloumi salad. Both were good, and they were ones we had never tried before.
This afternoon, I took the program of one of the best peer projects that I had graded for my Survey of Music Technology class and played around with it, tweaking various parameters to see what effect it might have. It was quite interesting. My next class, called Programming for Musicians and Artists, will begin a week from Monday. I'm really looking forward to it!
This evening we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Friday, 11 October 2013
I got up too late this morning to go out for a walk. I think I'm battling some sort of cold or allergy or sinus problem. It seems to be mostly okay in the daytime, though. I did do my regular Friday morning walk to recycle cardboard and buy challah and candy before breakfast.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00 and 12:00-1:30.
We had our usual favorites for lunch at Il Pentolino.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome Shabbat.
I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00 and 12:00-1:30.
We had our usual favorites for lunch at Il Pentolino.
In the evening, we lit candles, drank sweet wine, and ate challah to welcome Shabbat.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Wednesday, 10 October 2013
I slept really well last night and got up early enough to get to the gym and do a short work-out.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today, although one student was actually a no-show: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 3:30-5:00 (the no-show), 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Chooka at Ice Park today. David had a dish we had never tried before with rice, tofu, and green curry sauce. It was delicious (I ate nearly half of it). I had their number 1 vegetarian sushi combination, my usual dish there, which was also very good. After we had eaten that, we walked over and had frozen yogurt for dessert.
I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today, although one student was actually a no-show: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 3:30-5:00 (the no-show), 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.
We ate lunch at Chooka at Ice Park today. David had a dish we had never tried before with rice, tofu, and green curry sauce. It was delicious (I ate nearly half of it). I had their number 1 vegetarian sushi combination, my usual dish there, which was also very good. After we had eaten that, we walked over and had frozen yogurt for dessert.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
I woke up very early this morning and so got in a nice walk and a good work-out. It was VERY pleasant out today.
This morning I went to the bank to get my replacement bank card (for the one that I left at Café Greg a while back and they cut it up), then to the pet shop for more cat food and cat litter, and finally to Shufersal for the belated weekly shopping trip.
I spent most of the rest of the day working on my lengthy, illustrated blog post (on my old blog) about our wonderful trip to Aqaba and southern Jordan. Here's a link to that.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. We both had shakshuka, which was delicious. In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park again and had frozen yogurt.
This morning I went to the bank to get my replacement bank card (for the one that I left at Café Greg a while back and they cut it up), then to the pet shop for more cat food and cat litter, and finally to Shufersal for the belated weekly shopping trip.
I spent most of the rest of the day working on my lengthy, illustrated blog post (on my old blog) about our wonderful trip to Aqaba and southern Jordan. Here's a link to that.
We ate lunch at Café Café at Ice Park today. We both had shakshuka, which was delicious. In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park again and had frozen yogurt.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Today was our last day in Aqaba, and we returned home after lunch.
Before lunch, we drove up highway 15 in Jordan in the direction of Amman. Of course, we didn't go anywhere NEAR that far, but we did enjoy the beautiful scenery of the interior of southern Jordan. We then checked out of our hotel and took another drive down the South Coast of Jordan, going a little past the Tala Bay Resort. We returned to the area of our hotel, where there are plenty of restaurants, and ate lunch at one we hadn't yet tried, called Papaya. We split a pizza, which was quite good, and I had their cheese sandwich, which was okay, but not as good as the delicious one I had yesterday.
After lunch, we proceeded to the border, only stopping long enough to buy a couple of sodas to keep ourselves hydrated.
The trip back across the border was a little quicker than the other direction, but we did have to undergo some interrogation by Israeli security folks. I think we were far enough from the typical traveler (non-Israeli-looking Israeli citizens, not speaking Hebrew very well, driving our own car, etc.) to arouse some suspicion, but, of course, in the end there was no problem. It was especially exhausting for David, though, since he gets confused quite a bit these days and they, not surprisingly, wanted to interview us completely separately (in English, though). In any case, it felt very, very good to be back home in Israel!
After a good rest (including a nap for David), we drove over to Ice Park and got our traditional frozen yogurt.
Tomorrow, I'll try to write in more detail about our trip. I have uploaded my pictures from my iPhone to my computer and started editing them, but there's more to do. Here's my broadest feeling about this vacation: in terms of distance, we have surely never vacationed so close to home before, but in terms of culture, we have never traveled so far away. It truly was a trip "abroad"!
Before lunch, we drove up highway 15 in Jordan in the direction of Amman. Of course, we didn't go anywhere NEAR that far, but we did enjoy the beautiful scenery of the interior of southern Jordan. We then checked out of our hotel and took another drive down the South Coast of Jordan, going a little past the Tala Bay Resort. We returned to the area of our hotel, where there are plenty of restaurants, and ate lunch at one we hadn't yet tried, called Papaya. We split a pizza, which was quite good, and I had their cheese sandwich, which was okay, but not as good as the delicious one I had yesterday.
After lunch, we proceeded to the border, only stopping long enough to buy a couple of sodas to keep ourselves hydrated.
The trip back across the border was a little quicker than the other direction, but we did have to undergo some interrogation by Israeli security folks. I think we were far enough from the typical traveler (non-Israeli-looking Israeli citizens, not speaking Hebrew very well, driving our own car, etc.) to arouse some suspicion, but, of course, in the end there was no problem. It was especially exhausting for David, though, since he gets confused quite a bit these days and they, not surprisingly, wanted to interview us completely separately (in English, though). In any case, it felt very, very good to be back home in Israel!
After a good rest (including a nap for David), we drove over to Ice Park and got our traditional frozen yogurt.
Tomorrow, I'll try to write in more detail about our trip. I have uploaded my pictures from my iPhone to my computer and started editing them, but there's more to do. Here's my broadest feeling about this vacation: in terms of distance, we have surely never vacationed so close to home before, but in terms of culture, we have never traveled so far away. It truly was a trip "abroad"!
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