Thursday, 31 July 2014

I got up very early this morning and so got in a good walk and a great work-out at the outdoor gym, all before 6:00 a.m.

I spent all morning working on my mini-project for this last week of Principles of Computing. I did make some excellent progress, but I've still got quite a bit to do.

I had 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, although one student (2 units) turned out to be a no-show: 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30 (the no-show), and 6:30-8:00.

We ate lunch at home today, having seitan (gluten) pieces in a teriyaki sauce.

Wednesday, 30 July 2014

For some reason I got up very late this morning and so didn't go out at all.

I began work on my mini-project for this last week of Principles of Computing. It's going to be quite tough, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

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

We ate lunch at home, so I haven't been out of the house all day except a brief time on the balcony to clean the cats' litter box.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

I got up a bit late this morning and only walked to the highway 12 kikar and back.

I really enjoyed chatting once again this morning at the weekly WIZO meeting.

We ate lunch at home, finishing the pizza that we had had delivered a couple of days ago.

I was scheduled to teach 8 units of Berlitz lessons, back-to-back, this afternoon, 2 units turned out to be a late cancellation, and 2 more turned out to be a no-show, thankfully: 2:30-5:30, 5:30-7:00 (the cancellation), and 7:00-8:30 (the no-show).

Today, I completed the homework/quiz for this week of my Principles of Computing class.

Monday, 28 July 2014

I got up early this morning and thus was able to walk to the gym and get in a decent work-out there.

I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:30-8:15.

We went to Chooka at Ice Park for lunch today, each of us having his usual favorite dish there.

I watched all the videos for the newly-released week of Principle of Computing. This, sadly, will be the last week of this class, which, in case you hadn't noticed, I've been enjoying immensely.

Sunday, 27 July 2014

I got up very late this morning and so didn't go out for a walk at all.

I did the weekly grocery shopping today and not much else.

We ordered pizza to eat at home for lunch.

Shabbat, 26 July 2014

I slept well, got up early this morning, walked to the outdoor gym, and got in a nice little work-out.

We ate lunch at Barbis and then drove up to Yotvata to replenish our supply of dates and to give Rosa (our car) a little exercise. We hadn't even been out of Eilat in some time.

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

Other than that, I just spent a quiet, relaxing day doing very little.

Friday, 25 July 2014

Last night, just as I was falling asleep, the sirens sounded and so we had to get up and go into my office, which is also our safe room. A few seconds later we heard a couple of distant booms. According to what I've heard today, there were 2 or 3 rockets fired this way, and Iron Dome intercepted at least one of them. No rockets landed near any people, for sure. My falling asleep process having been interrupted so rudely, I found it a little difficult to get to sleep, but I nevertheless finally did and slept quite well. I got up early and walked to the gym and back in the cool morning air. Later, I walked down and but us challah for Shabbat.

I taught my full load for Friday of 6 units of Berlitz lessons this morning: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Il Pentolino. I had my usual favorite, but David tried something different.

In the evening, as the sun was lighting the mountains of Jordan just behind Aqaba for its last few minutes, we lit candles, sipped sweet red wine, and ate challah to welcome Shabbat.

Thursday, 24 July 2014

I woke up early enough this morning to walk to the gym and back. At first, there was almost no breeze, so it felt rather hot out, but then a breeze came up and made it more pleasant.

I was scheduled to teach 10 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one 2-unit lesson was a late cancellation: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30 (the late cancellation), and 6:30-8:00.

Because of the short time for lunch today, we ate at home.

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

Last night I thought it would cool off more than it did, so I left the windows open. That turned out to be a mistake, because the heat kept both of us from sleeping very well. Finally, around 3:00 a.m., I closed the windows and turned on the A/C with the thermostat set at 30˚C (86˚F). Then we slept better. However, I got up too late to go for a walk this morning.

I finished my mini-project for Principles of Computing this week and submitted it. It's a program that recursively checks the tree of all possible moves from a given state in Tic-Tac-Toe and finds a best move.

I was scheduled to teach 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first two students (a total of 6 units!) were no-shows: 10:00-11:30 (no-show), 2:30-5:30 (no-show), and 5:30-7:00.

We went to Rachel for lunch today. David had a grilled cheese sandwich, but he only ate a little of it. I had a nice salad that I hadn't tried before with delicious bread.

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

I got up fairly early this morning and walked over to Moshe's place (in one of the towers near the highway 12 kikar) to feed his cat, Dvash.

I enjoyed the weekly English-speakers' meeting at WIZO this morning. Several of us told interesting stories about travel experiences. I told a little about our aliyah trip to Israel.

We ate lunch at home today.

I did this week's homework/quiz for Principle of Computing and began working on the mini-project.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-4:00 and 6:30-8:00.

Monday, 21 July 2014

I got up a little late this morning but still had plenty of time to walk over and feed Moshe's cat, Dvash.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 6:15-7:45.

We ate lunch at home, and I watched all but one of the lectures for the new week (just released this morning) of Principles of Computing.

Sunday, 20 July 2014

I got up very late this morning with a sinus/shoulder/neck headache. But I still managed to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back.

After breakfast, I went to an appointment with our doctor to get our monthly prescriptions (actually, for the next 3 months). Then, after lunch, I went to the pharmacy to get them filled.

In the late morning, I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal.

We had lunch at Rachel again today. David tried a different salad from the one he had last time, and I had a toasted sandwich.

In the early evening, we took Katom, our 13-year-old American cat, to the vet because he had been throwing up from time to time. Luckily, there seems to be nothing seriously wrong with him, but he DOES have to go on a diet of special weight loss food, which we ordered for him. Also, no more milk products (like most cats and dogs, he is probably lactose-intolerant)!

I spent much of the rest of the day tinkering more with Zombie Apocalypse. Yes, I know, it's an obsession! LOL  I'm now including a "danger matrix" that is designed to ward the humans AWAY from the edges, places where humans have already been attacked, and, especially, the corners. It's working somewhat.

Shabbat, 19 July 2014

I got up early this morning and got in a good work-out. After breakfast, I walked over to recycle the plastic bottles and one battery.

I spent most of the rest of the day tinkering and playing with my version of the Zombie Apocalypse simulation. In fact, I'm STILL trying to improve it! It's all completely for fun, of course.

We ate lunch at home, eating up what we had brought home from Il Pentolino yesterday.

Friday, 18 July 2014

I got up very early this morning and so got in both a great walk and a good work-out. Later, but still before breakfast (as usual), I walked down and bought challah for Shabbat.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today, my full availability for a Friday: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 12:00-1:30. Then we went to Il Pentolino for our traditional Friday lunch.

In the afternoon, I tinkered some more with my Zombie Apocalypse simulation and ran a couple of loads of laundry.

Thursday, 17 July 2014

I got up late this morning but still managed to walk to the highway 12 kikar and back. The breeze out was lovely!

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons again today, but more spread out: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

I managed to complete my project this week for Principles of Computing and got it perfect (100%).

We ate lunch today at Rachel and both had their celebration salad. It was delicious!

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

I got up early this morning and got in a good work-out once again.

I made a few more changes to my Zombie Apocalypse simulation (allowing humans a limited number of lives), did the homework/quiz for this week in Principles of Computing, and started work on this week's mini-project.

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

We ate weenies in tortillas and chips and salsa for lunch at home today.

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Despite the sirens (and the missiles they were warning us against) at about 1:30 a.m. last night, I woke up early and got in a good walk and work-out at the outdoor gym.

I finished watching this week's videos for my Principles of Computing class today.

Once again, I enjoyed the weekly WIZO meeting. Fay, the founder of the group, talked to us briefly about her recent trip to England, and it was delightful (as she ALWAYS is!). I also enjoyed conversations with several people there.

We ordered pizza to eat at home for lunch today.

I listened to parts of this week's broadcast of "Pipe Dreams", including the part where they played music from my album of old English organ music. It was very nice. Afterwards, I wrote to the host, Michael Barone, to thank him and to give him more information, and he wrote back within only an hour or two with a very nice reply!

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

Monday, 14 July 2014

I got up a bit late this morning, but I still walked all the way to the outdoor gym and back. I only went briefly on one machine while there, though.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:15-5:45, and 6:00-7:30.

I did some additional modifications to my Zombie Apocalypse simulation today, enabling it to compute and display the number of brains the zombies had eaten so far. I'm having too much fun with this! LOL

I watched 2 or 3 of the lecture videos for the new week of Principles of Computing. The themes this week are recursion and binary search.

We had veggieburger sandwiches for lunch at home today.

Sunday, 13 July 2014

I got up a little late this morning and so only walked to the highway 12 kikar and back. It was fairly warm out, too.

I spent much of the day today chasing around about phones, although I won't go into the details here.

I also did the weekly grocery shopping, and we ate lunch at Chooka at Ice Park, each of us having his usual dish there.

Shabbat, 12 July 2014

I got up quite late this morning, but, of course, I still walked over to feed Moshe's cat, Dvash.

Today, I spent most of the day tinkering with my Zombie Apocalypse simulation and watching it to see how things would play out with various combinations of barriers and numbers of zombies and humans. It's really quite fascinating to watch!

We ordered lunch to be delivered from Barbis today because it was very hot out, and we decided it might be better for David NOT to go out. He tends to get dizzy and sometimes become nauseated, apparently from the heat.

Friday, 11 July 2014

I got up quite early this morning and walked over to feed Moshe's cat. Moshe is visiting is family in Natanya this weekend. Later, I walked down to the bakery to buy challah.

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

I tested my mini-project (Zombie Apocalypse) and made a few necessary change so that I got 100% when I submitted it for grading. For the rest of the day, I tinkered with the user interface (which THEY wrote for us) to make it easier to play the game.

We ate lunch at Il Pentolino. I had my usual, but David had a bagel egg salad sandwich.

In the evening, we lit candles, sipped sweet red wine, and ate challah to welcome Shabbat.

Thursday, 10 July 2014

I arose early and got in another great walk and work-out. The weather is really very nice so early in the morning, especially since there was a lovely breeze this morning.

I was scheduled to teach 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but one 1-unit lesson was a late cancellation, and I was notified of it by e-mail early in the morning: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-3:15 (canceled), 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

Because of the cancellation (and the early notification about it), we were able to go out for lunch. We ate at Barbis, having onion rings, crispy cauliflower, and stuffed mushrooms.

Despite all the teaching today, I managed to finish my mini-project, Zombie Apocalypse, for my Principles of Computing class. Actually, I THINK it's finished, but I need to test it some more to be sure.

I got a short e-mail message this morning from Michael Barone, the host of the U.S. radio program, "Pipe Dreams", telling me that some of my music will be featured on his show next week and including a link to the program. The music will be from my album of old English organ music. Here's the link to the program page, where you can see my music in the 2nd hour.

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

I got up early again this morning and so got in another good work-out at the outdoor gym.

I had 10 units of Berlitz lessons today, but two of the 2-unit lessons turned out to be late cancellations: 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00 (canceled), 4:00-5:30 (canceled), and 7:00-8:30.

We ate lunch at Rachel today. Both of us had toasted sandwiches, and they were delicious.

David attended a meeting of the local club for blind people this late afternoon, but he was not very impressed.

I got started working on my mini-project for this week in Principle of Computing: Zombie Apocalypse. It's fun, but I'm working on the hardest part now, and I'm trying to figure out a good way to test it to make sure I've got it right. Maybe I'll get some time to work on it tomorrow morning. If not, there's always Friday and the weekend.

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

I got up quite early this morning and got in a good work-out at the gym.

I enjoyed the weekly meeting at WIZO this morning, which included a nice presentation on some interesting things in Jerusalem.

We ate falafel for lunch at Mercaz Big.

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

Monday, 7 July 2014

I got up very late this morning but still walked to the highway 12 kikar and back.

I watched all the video lectures and completed the homework/quiz for the new week of Principle of Computing which just became available today. Now, all I have left to do is the new week's mini-project: Zombie Apocalypse! It actually looks like it will be fun and not too difficult.

We ate lunch at Café Café today. David ordered a different pasta sauce but didn't like it, so they let him have a dessert instead and didn't charge us for his main dish. Now THAT is good customer service!

I had only 6 units of Berlitz lessons, but the first lesson (2 units) turned out to be a late cancellation: 12:00-1:30 (cancellation), 2:30-4:00, and 7:00-8:30.

Sunday, 6 July 2014

I got up very early this morning and got in a great work-out, returning home just as the sun peaked over the Jordanian mountains.

I continued tinkering with my Yahtzee strategy program today.

I ran a number of errands: taking David to his doctor's appointment, doing the weekly grocery shopping, and getting a few things at the pharmacy.

We ate lunch at Greg Café at Mercaz Big. David had penne with mushroom cream sauce, and I had a delicious and healthy salad, with lentils, cubes of yams, smoked almonds, pine nuts, tomato, cucumber, etc.

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

Shabbat, 5 July 2014

I got up quite late this morning and only walked as far as the highway 12 kikar. It was quite warm out, with only a slight breeze, and the sun was already shining brightly (although almost all of the route I walked was still shaded by buildings and trees).

I finished this week's mini-project for Principle of Computing the morning. It's basically a program for picking the best combination of dice to "hold" (i.e. not roll again) for Yahtzee. The version we had to submit did somewhat simplified scoring, but in the afternoon, I extended my program (and actually re-wrote one of the subroutines completely) to better take into account the actual rules.

We ordered lunch from Barbis today but had it delivered and ate at home.

In the late afternoon, we took a short drive up the Arava as far as Samar, and then we went to Ice Park for frozen yogurt before returning home.

Friday, 4 July 2014

I got up quite early this morning and so got in a good work-out at the outdoor gym. Later, I walked down to recycle cardboard boxes and buy challah.

I was scheduled to teach two 2-unit Berlitz lessons today, but no one showed up for the second one, so I only had to wait in the classroom for an hour instead of teaching for the full hour and a half: 9:00-10:30 and 11:30-1:00.

We had an appointment with David's psychiatrist today, and after that we had our traditional lunch at Il Pentolino.

This afternoon, I began work on my project for this week in Principles of Computing. I think I'm about half done with it.

Before sunset, we lit candles, sipped sweet red wine, and ate whole-wheat challah to welcome Shabbat.

Thursday, 3 July 2014

I again got up quite early and got in a good work-out at the gym. The breeze was also very nice today.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 6:30-8:00.

We ate vegetarian weenies wrapped in whole-wheat tortillas for lunch today at home.

In the afternoon gap, I was able to get a load of laundry done and complete the homework/quiz for this week in my Principles of Computing class.

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

I got up early this morning and walked to the gym and had a good work-out there. It was warm out, but the breeze was very nice.

I taught 12 units of Berlitz lessons today (although there was a no-show): 10:00-11:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30 (the no-show), 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30.

We had lunch at Greg Café at Mercaz Big.

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

I woke up very late this morning and so did not go out walking at all.

I have now watched all but one of the videos for the new week of my class, Principles of Computing.

As usual on Tuesday, I enjoyed the WIZO meeting immensely.

We ate lunch today at Café Café at Ice Park. David had cheese ravioli with mushroom cream sauce, and I had shakshuka.

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