Shabbat, 31 May 2014

I woke up very early this morning and so had plenty of time for a nice walk to the gym and back. It was quite hot out, even though I returned before 6 a.m.

I spent quite a bit of time this morning going over the quizzes for both of my University of the People classes. Unfortunately, there were a lot of errors in the keys. In College Algebra, 4 out of 15 were incorrect, and in Calculus 6 out of 15 were wrong. Someone else wrote all the materials for both of these courses, and, obviously, they were rather sloppy, and little or no proofreading had been done.

We had lunch today at Landwer Café at Ice Park. David had a nice but simple thin-crust pizza, and I had shakshuka, which, unfortunately, was overcooked and very dry (but still tasted reasonably good). Later in the afternoon, we drove down to Ice Park again for frozen yogurt.

Friday, 30 May 2014

I got up quite early this morning and so was able to walk to the gym and back, and then later to recycle cardboard and buy challah, all before breakfast.

I had 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, but no one showed up for the second class: 9:00-10:30 and 12:00-1:30 (the no-show).

We ate our traditional Friday lunch at Il Pentolino today.

In the afternoon, I looked at more videos from my career development class. Some are quite interesting, others less relevant for me.

Thursday, 29 May 2014

I got up early this morning and got out there walking. I felt a little tired at first, but by the time I was approaching the highway 12 kikar I decided to go further and went all the way to the gym. I'm very pleased that I was able to do that comfortably!

I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 11:30-1:00.

We ate lunch at Café Neto today at the Mall HaYam (the old mall). We both had grilled cheese sandwiches (on really great brown bread with seeds!) and a small side salad. Yummy!

In the late afternoon, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt and the show. Three little girls skated before the pros, and they are really getting quite good. I was happy to see that. Of course, Ifgeny and Diana were both really great as they always are!

I also watched videos from a new class that I am taking through Coursera. This one is called "Enhance Your Career and Employability Skills" and is offered by the University of London's Careers Group. It's quite different from the other course in that it's more information- and self-reflection-oriented. There are actually no requirements at all, and all students can simply take what is useful for them. So far, I found it very interesting and thought-provoking. Of course, as a person who is only a few years from retirement, I have a somewhat different perspective on a course like this than a young person might have.

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

I woke up too tired this morning and so didn't go out for a walk at all.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30.

We ate lunch at Greg Café at Mercaz Big. I had their sabich salad, and David had their tricolor pasta. However, he was unhappy with his dish, and so we complained to the manager. As a result, they did not charge us for David's dish, which was good customer service, I think.

In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

I got up and got my walk in this morning even though I felt a bit tired.

We went to the weekly WIZO meeting this morning. There was no particular program, but it was nice chatting with people, and several of us shared interesting anecdotes or proverbs that we liked. David got to meet Debbie, a nearly totally blind woman originally from the U.S. (DC, in fact) who recently moved to Eilat.

We ate lunch at Chooka at Ice Park today, having our usual favorites there (sushi for me and chaing mai for David).

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 6:15-7:45.

Monday, 26 May 2014

I got up and walked to the highway 12 kikar and back again this morning. I was lucky to run into my friend, Liz, who was out walking her dog, and we enjoyed chatting a bit before continuing our walks.

I taught 12 units of Berlitz lessons today (although one lesson was a late cancellation): 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00 (the late cancellation), 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30.

We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today.

Sunday, 25 May 2014

I got up and did my walk to the highway 12 kikar and back this morning. I am GOING to get back in shape -- this is important!

I assessed the work of 5 of my classmates in my Python programming class. Only one of them completely met the requirements of the "Rice Rocks" project. One, in fact, basically just turned in the template we were given (i.e., did NOTHING). In any case, that brings this class to a close for me. Now, I can hardly wait for the next one in the series to begin (in 2 weeks).

We ate lunch at Togarashi, an Asian food place over at Mercaz Big. We both had pad thai, and it was really very good.

In the afternoon, I did the weekly grocery shopping, and then in the early evening we drove down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.

Shabbat, 24 May 2014

I got up nice and early and went for a good walk to the highway 12 kikar this morning. I felt less tired coming back, so I guess I'm beginning to get back in shape, at least a little.

After breakfast, I took the trash out and also took the plastic bottles and other containers to their appropriate recycling bins. Most of the rest of the morning, I didn't do much at all other than play my version of Rice Rocks and tweak it a bit to make it more interesting. In particular, I changed the scoring so that I get 5 points for each rock destroyed (instead of just 1 point) but I LOSE a point for every missile shot. This tends to discourage me from just sitting in the center spinning around and shooting missiles as fast as I can, which seemed to be my best strategy before. Now, the game is a bit more involving. I won't turn this version in, though, since it doesn't follow the specified rules.

We ate lunch at Barbis today, both having soyaburgers with yellow cheese and mushrooms. Afterwards, we took a drive up the Arava as far as Samar (just south of Yotvata).

In the evening, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.

Friday, 23 May 2014

I didn't go for a walk this morning except to recycle the cardboard and buy challah.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. After that, we went to an appointment with David's psychiatrist and then on to lunch at Il Pentolino, where we each had our traditional dishes.

In the evening, we made Shabbat by lighting candles, sipping sweet red wine, and eating challah.

I actually received this a few days ago, but I'll write about it today anyway. I got my Passover gift (a portable phone and tablet recharger) and my monthly statement from Berlitz. Also included was a Berlitz advertising flyer, in Hebrew. Never mind that this is more than a month AFTER Passover.

On the right side are cartoon characters representing Moses and Pharaoh. Moses says:
שחרר את עמי!
Shakhrer et ami ("Let my people go!").

Pharaoh says:
לא!!! בעיזו עוד שפה צריך להגיד לך את זה?!
lo!!! b'ezu od safa tzarikh l'hagid l'kha et ze?! ("No!!! In what other language is it necessary to tell you this?!").

On the left side of the flier is written:
ברליץ מאחלת לכם חג פסח שמח!
Berlitz m'akhelet lakhem khag same'akh! ("Berlitz wishes you a Happy Passover Holiday!")

So, I fear that, if Berlitz had been around at the time of the Exodus, Pharaoh might have been able to learn enough languages to keep the Israelites enslaved! Oy vey!

Thursday, 22 May 2014

I got up early enough and walked again to the highway 12 kikar and back. If I can keep this up, I'll get back in shape pretty quickly.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We ate lunch at a falafel stand at Mercaz Big today. It was a little busy there, so we had to wait a bit for them to make our food, but it was good and inexpensive. Afterwards, we stopped by the pet store to get litter and food for our cats, and then I went to the pharmacy to get our monthly prescriptions filled.

I finally turned in my "Rice Rocks" program today, even though it's not due until early Sunday morning.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

I got up early enough this morning to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back.

I tweaked my program for "Rice Rocks" today to make it just a little more fun to play. I still haven't turned it in, though, since it's not actually due until next weekend, and I might want to do even a few more tweaks.

I taught 12 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30. That last stretch of teaching for 6 hours straight, with only three 5-minute breaks and one 10-minute break was a bit much!

I went to Buddha Burgers and picked up lunch for us today, since David was feeling a little unstable on his feet and was worried about falling if he went out.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Last night I slept well, and this morning I got up early and walked to the highway 12 kikar and back. I must get back to doing these walks regularly -- I've gotten quite out of shape, I'm afraid.

This morning David and I went together to the weekly WIZO English-speakers' meeting. Today, we heard a presentation about a woman named Magda Watts, a holocaust survivor originally from Hungary who now lives here in Eilat. She makes dolls that illustrate scenes and are similar to 3D caricatures. It was interesting to learn more about her story (another woman was presenting, since Magda herself is very old and doesn't get out much).

We ate lunch at Greg Café at Mercaz Big today. David had pizza, and I had a sabich salad.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-4:00 (although this student arrived late and left very early), 4:00-5:30, and 6:15-7:45.

I managed to get the explosion animations and sounds added to my Python programming project today, so now "Rice Rocks" is fully operational!

Monday, 19 May 2014

I slept better last night and woke up quite early. I decided to drive over to feed Moshe's cats this morning instead of walking, though, just to save time.

I taught 12 units (9 hours) of Berlitz lessons today, although one 2-unit lesson was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, 4:30-6:00 (the no-show); and 7:00-8:30.

We ate lunch at Chooka at Ice Park, each of us having his regular favorite there. Later, because of the no-show, we were able to drive down to Ice Park again for frozen yogurt.

I also managed to do a little tweaking of my project for my Python programming class. I now have it ready to turn it, but I plan to add the optional explosion visuals before I do so.

Sunday, 18 May 2014

I was awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night last night, but, other than that, I slept pretty well. Of course, I also got up rather late.

Both David and I had appointments, back-to-back, with our family doctor this morning. Mine was just to get a letter including last Thursday in my sick time.

We had lunch at Buddha Burgers today, both of us choosing hummus with (vegan) shwarma.

I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal in the late afternoon.

In the evening, I had an appointment with the ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor to deliver the results from my hearing test. He said that it's perfectly normal for my age, which is what I, too, had thought.

I spent most of the rest of the day working on my final mini-project for my Python programming class, "Rice Rocks", an implementation of the classic arcade game of Asteroids. It's almost done, but it needs several more tweaks, and I'll probably also add the optional explosion graphics before I turn it in. It isn't due for nearly a week.

Shabbat, 17 May 2014

I slept fairly well last night, although I woke up enough to turn over onto my other side several times.

I watched all the lecture video and took the quiz (there's only 1 this week) for my Python programming class. This is the last week of the class, and our mini-project will be to continue last week's project to complete a game similar to Asteroids, to be called "Rice Rocks" (remember, the course is being offered by Rice University!). Tomorrow, I'll start work on it.

We ate lunch at מסעדת מפרץ Misadat Mifratz ("Gulf Restaurant"), a Middle Eastern-style restaurant near the hotel area. It was good.

In the evening, we went over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.

Later still, I went over to check on Moshe's cats and make sure they had food. I'm taking care of them for a few days while he's up north visiting his parents.

Friday, 16 May 2014

Last night I slept really soundly and got up relatively early. I didn't walk down to the bakery to get challah, though, until after breakfast.

I taught one 2-unit Berlitz lesson today: 10:00-11:30.

We ate lunch at Il Pentolino today. David had penne but with Palermo sauce, the sauce that I generally got (and got today, too). I had whole-wheat spaghetti, my usual choice.

We made Shabbat early this afternoon so I could go down to Ice Park to watch the ice skating competition. David decided not to go with me, and it's probably a good thing he did, since it was quite cold there. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to see it, of course. Nevertheless, it was nice watching all the skaters, nearly all kids. Some were quite good, too. There were skaters from Eilat, Holon, and Metula (probably the only 3 ice rinks in the whole country!), mostly girls but a few boys, too, and even 3 boy-girl couples.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

I slept well last night and woke up fairly slowly and late again. I felt much better this morning, though, and thought that I was pretty well recovered. By afternoon, though, I did NOT feel so good -- I felt somewhat bloated and had quite a bit of gas. I also again felt tired and rather weak. It's a good thing that I took another sick day. Tomorrow, I only have one 2-unit student, so I'll be fine no matter how I may feel.

We went out to the falafel stand downtown for lunch again today. The food was good, but the weather is beginning to get too hot to eat comfortably outside now, and they have no indoor area, alas.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

I had a hard time sleeping last night, but I don't know why. Of course, just before morning, I was sleeping very well, but I had to get up to get ready to go to the appointment with the doctor I had scheduled. At least I did eat a more or less normal breakfast this morning.

When I went to the doctor, I felt a bit weak, but I figured I'd feel better as the day wore on, so I told him I could go back to work tomorrow. As it turned out, though, I felt generally worse, and I finally decided to tell Berlitz I could NOT work tomorrow. Now I have to contact the doctor for a new letter!

We went to Greg Café at Mercaz Big for lunch tomorrow. I had hoped to get edamame, but they don't have it anymore, so I ended up getting a muesli, fruit, and yogurt mix. It was good but a bit too sweet, of course.

My abdomen still doesn't feel right, and I haven't been able to move my bowels again yet, either. I hope that tomorrow will be better.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

I slept quite well last night but woke up very late and quite slowly.

My abdomen has not felt right all day, but it was better than yesterday, and I had no diarrhea. In fact, I had nothing at all, although I tried several times when I thought there might be something.

I didn't eat any breakfast, but we went out to Café Café at the old mall for lunch. David had a nice east-west noodles dish, and I had a half-sandwich (omelet) and a small salad. I didn't even eat quite all of it, but it set okay on my stomach.

I decided I had better take tomorrow off, as well, since I'm still not sure what's happening with my bowels. I also scheduled at appointment with my doctor tomorrow morning, not because I really need to see him but because I have to have a letter from him for Berlitz.

Monday, 12 May 2014

In the night last night I began to notice that my abdomen felt very uncomfortable. Finally, I got up to see if there was a problem with my bowels, and, indeed, there was -- I had diarrhea. At least it wasn't of the uncontrollable sort. I thought that I might have trouble with my stomach, too, but, so far, I haven't.

I called Berlitz first things to take a sick day, which I was reluctant to do, since I was scheduled to teach 12 units today (9 hours). Later in the morning, they called me back because they couldn't find anyone to replace on any of the lessons. Apparently this means that I will have to teach all these people some other time for FREE (compensation lessons), which seems a little unfair to me.

I haven't really felt good all day, although I didn't have that much diarrhea. However, my abdomen still hurts, and my throat also feels swollen. Ibuprofen seems to help a little with the latter. I only ate a few crackers, in the afternoon, but even that didn't feel very good in my stomach. I never felt nauseated, though, thankfully.

I've already sent Berlitz an e-mail telling them that I'll be taking tomorrow off, as well.

Sunday, 11 May 2014

Today was a busy day.

It started with an appointment for me to get my hearing tested, at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. After that, I came home and got David up, and we headed over to Maccabi in town to get his blood test done. We also arranged to pay for his ER visit in February in payments since Maccabi refused to cover it. Then we came home and finally ate breakfast.

After breakfast, I headed over to get our car's required annual mechanical and safety test. It turned out that I had to get 2 new tires in order to pass it, so I went and did that, too. This tire place (צמיגי אילת - Tzmigei Eilat "Tires of Eilat") is the fastest one I've ever been to (I've bought tires there several times before, as well). They're good!

We ate a late lunch today, at Buddha Burgers.

I spent most of the rest of the day working on my mini-project for this week in my Python programming class. It involves part of an implementation of a game of Asteroids: the spaceship, one asteroid that re-spawns at a random place, traveling in a random direction, and spinning at a random rate every second, and the ability to fire missiles with the appropriate physics from the spaceship. I've think I've pretty much got it done now, although I'll continue testing and probably tweaking it some more before I actually submit it.

Next week, we'll add collisions, including asteroids killing the ship and missiles exploding the asteroids. There will also be multiple asteroids, and the game will keep score.

Shabbat, 10 May 2014

I slept well last night but woke up a little late this morning.

I spent much of the day watching the videos for the new week of my Python programming class and taking both the quizzes. Now I just have to work on the week's mini-project, called "Spaceship".

We took our friend, Moshe, to Barbis for lunch today and enjoyed visiting with him.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Ice Park for frozen yogurt, and we also walked once around the mall.

Friday, 9 May 2014

I slept well but got up a bit late. Before breakfast, I did my usual Friday routine of taking the cardboard boxes to the recycle shed and buying challah for Shabbat. I also picked up more Snickers bars at the candy store while they are still on sale, 3 for 10 shekels (instead of 5 shekels each).

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00. I was originally scheduled to teach another lesson, 12:00-1:30, but I had had to ask them to give it to someone else so that I could take David to an appointment with his psychiatrist at 12:30. In fact, he wasn't able to see us until about 1:15 due to an emergency case he had to deal with first. He told us to reduce the dosage of David's main psych med to see if it would help him not to sleep all morning virtually every morning, as he has been doing for at least a couple of weeks now.

At that, we went over to Il Pentolino for lunch. David had their namesake salad, and I had my usual whole-wheat spaghetti with Palermo sauce. We both splurged, though, and had dessert -- chocolate cake for David and crème brûlée for me (I had to look up that fancy French spelling!).

In the evening, we made Shabbat by lighting candles, sipping sweet red wine, and eating delicious whole-wheat challah.

Thursday, 8 May 2014

I slept okay last night, but was awakened prematurely by a wrong-number phone call before 5:00 a.m. No, this is NOT Asher! I did get some more sleep after that, though.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, although the first lesson (2 units) was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We ate lunch at Greg Café at Mercaz Big. I had a fatush salad (yummy!), and David had a toast salad.

After lunch, David had an appointment with the "natural medicine" doctor at Maccabi and got a reflexology treatment (basically, just a nice and thorough foot massage). He enjoyed it, but he is NOT convinced that they can help him there with his various pains.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

I slept well again last night but again woke up not feeling so well. I always feel better after I've been up for a while, though.

I had taken today as a Berlitz vacation day, so I tried to use it to get various miscellaneous tasks done.

I turned in my week 6 mini-project, Blackjack, for my Python programming class after testing it thoroughly, which, of course, was no fun at all... Right!

I got David a new gmail address because he was receiving so much junk in his old one that we couldn't get rid of. The new one is david.a.fyffe@...

His computer is now set up with the updated SpeakEasy software so that he can hear his e-mail read to him, hear news read to him, etc.

We ate lunch at Buddha Burgers today. David had a shwarma burrito, and I had their delicious schnitzel meal.

I went to the pharmacy to get a few miscellaneous prescriptions filled, to the local Maccabi office to pick up a couple of documents and schedule an appointment with David's psychiatrist for Friday, and to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.

I helped David with using the SpeakEasy system on his computer and with using Voice Over (a mode specifically created for blind people by Apple) on his iPhone.

Tuesday, 6 May 2014 יום האצמאות Yom HaAtzma'ut (Independence Day)

I slept well last night but still didn't feel that well when I got up this morning.

I spent much of the day working on this week's project for my Python programming class, an implementation of a simple blackjack game. It was quite a lot of fun, and it seems to be working fine now.

We ate lunch at Barbis, splitting a soyaburger and a large order of breaded cauliflower florets.

In the evening, we drove down to Ice Park, walked once around the mall, and had frozen yogurt (duh!).

Monday, 5 May 2014, Israeli Memorial Day

Today was Memorial Day here in Israel, and it's not at ALL like the holiday with a similar name is the U.S. Here, nearly every family has lost someone in a war or to terrorism, and on this day, all are remembered. It's a very somber day throughout the country. However, it is NOT a holiday (although restaurants and bars and other places of entertainment are all closed). So, this morning, I ran several errands to the Maccabi office in town and to our local Maccabi office. I actually would have had to teach in the morning if I had not taken this as a vacation day.

I watched all the video lectures for this week of my Python programming class, and I also took both quizzes for the week and assessed the work of 5 of my classmates on last week's mini-project.

In the evening, there is a HUGE ceremony at Har Herzl, in Jerusalem, that marks the national transition from the sadness of Memorial Day to the great joy of Independence Day. It's something I always enjoy watching on TV: the marching, the pomp and circumstance, the speeches, the torch lighting (all lit by women this year!), and the spectacular choreography. Since David has now totally lost his eyesight (again!), he really did NOT enjoy it much this year, unfortunately.

Sunday, 4 May 2014

Today, we got up and set out for Haifa a bit later than we should have, and so we ran into quite a lot of traffic in several spots on our way. But we still made it in pretty good time, thanks to the wonderful bypass around the krayot (the collection of "suburbs" of Haifa north of the main city)!

The appointment with David's doctor at Rambam went really well. She called in an internist who is now working in the department to consult with him, and, in fact, he will be David's main doctor there from now on. We are very pleased with him and believe that he will really work hard to solve as many of David's problems as he possibly can. Of course, his other doctor will still be very much involved in his care, as well.

They sent some of his blood tests in to a rush lab, so that the results were back within a couple of hours, and we waited there for them. Generally, it was good news. David's sodium level was finally back up to 135, which is the very bottom of the normal range, but which is higher than he has had in YEARS!

Because of the wait, we got a somewhat late start home. We stopped for lunch at the northern rest stop on highway 6. After that, we only stopped a couple of times, once to pee by the side of the road, and then again in Mitzpe Ramon before heading across the last stretch of the desert. When we arrived back in Eilat, though, we went directly down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt. Only after that did we actually return home. Both cats were VERY happy to see us!   :-)

Friday and Shabbat, 2 and 3 May 2014

This entry will have to serve for both yesterday and today. Yesterday (Friday) we drove up to Nahariya from Eilat. We're staying at a hotel in Nahariya. Last night, we had both intended to attend services at EVS, but David got sick and had to stay in the hotel while I went by myself. Still, it was nice to see so many of our old friends.

Today, we got up very late and drove over through Karmiel, Rosh Pina, Tsfat, and, especially, the Birya Forest. Then we continued to Khurfeish, where we had a delicious lunch at one of our favorite Druze restaurants. After a short nap in our hotel room (David, not me), we want over to visit our friends, Egonne and Yehudit.

Tomorrow, we go to the HIV clinic at Rambam, in Haifa, and then we continue on home.

Thursday, 1 May 2014

I slept well last night but woke up quite late this morning. I felt nicely rested, though.

I had no teaching at all today, because this is a holiday in most of Europe (where nearly all my students are).

Today, I did my entire project for this week for my Python programming class. It's a game of "Memory" where we start with 16 upside down cards, with numbers 0 through 7, repeated twice in random order. We can click on cards to turn them over. If we turn over 2 matching cards, they stay face up. If they don't match, they turn back over when we click another card. The goal, of course, is to get all the cards turned over (number side up). Also, there is a counter to count how many turns it took.

I took David back to the hospital again today for another CT scan. They told me something about the doctor requesting it, but I couldn't quite understand exactly why. We're both hoping there aren't any problems.

After the CT, we drove down to Ice Park for lunch at Chooka. David had chaing mai, and I had my usual vegetarian sushi combo. Next, we drove over to the Paz gas station next to the airport to fill up the tank and to get the car washed. It was very dirty from the dust storms and sprinkles.

In the evening, we drove back down to Ice Park for frozen yogurt.