Friday, 31 October 2014

I woke up early this morning, wide awake, and went on a good walk to the gym and back.

Before breakfast, I walked down to recycle the cardboard and buy challah at the local Shibolim bakery.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today, although the first (2-unit) student came in only long enough to tell me she couldn't do the lesson: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-11:15, and 11:30-1:00.

We had lunch today at Greg Café at Mercaz Big. David tried their champignon mushroom tortilla wrap, but didn't like it very well. I had their omelet sandwich, which I always enjoy.

After lunch, we drove up to Yotvata, where I bought a couple of kilos of dates, and back.

As the sunlight was about to disappear from our beautiful valley, we lit candles, drank wine, and ate a bit of challah to welcome the Shabbat Queen.

שלום עליכם, מלאכי הששרת, מלאכי עליון

ממלך מלכי המלכים, הקדוש ברוך הוא

"Peace be upon you, serving angels, messengers of the Most High

From the King of kings of kings, the Holy Blessed One."

Thursday, 30 October 2014

I got up early and feeling quite good this morning after a good night's sleep, so I took a slightly longer walk.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today (although the first class was a no-show): 10:00-11:30 (the no-show), 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, and 4:00-5:30.

We had leftover pizza for lunch at home today.

I finally saw the orthopedist this evening about my shoulder. He gave me a referral to physical therapy and a prescription for a medicine to be injected (he'll do the injecting at my next appointment, in 2 weeks -- the earliest I could get with him). He didn't say anything about surgery, and I didn't bring up the subject, either. Hopefully, this is all that will be needed. I did read, though, on his letter about physical therapy that it is my rotator cuff that is torn, which sound pretty serious to me.

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

I slept well last night got up early enough this morning to have a nice walk to the gym and back.

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lesson today (except for a no-show): 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00 (the no-show), 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

We went to Rachel for lunch today. David had fettucine with mushroom cream sauce, and I had their "Celebration Salad".

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

I slept well but woke up not feeling so good this morning, so I didn't go out for a walk.

Today at the English speakers' WIZO group we celebrated the birthdays that happened in August, September, and October. We had nice food from the Shibolim restaurant (which another member with a car and I picked up and brought to WIZO), and it was nice to see so many people and to chat with several of them.

For lunch today, I ordered pizza delivered since David didn't feel like going out.

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

Monday, 27 October 2014

I slept quite well last night despite having to help David to the bathroom twice. I even got up in time for a nice, refreshing walk to the gym and back.

I had 11 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:30-11:00, 11:00-12:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:45-7:15 (a no-show), and 7:15-8:00.

We ate leftovers from yesterday's lunch (from Buddha Burgers) plus peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

Sunday, 26 October 2014

It was quite easy to wake up early enough this morning to get out for a walk since we set our clocks back and thereby got an extra hour! It was a nice walk, too.

I did the weekly grocery shopping this morning.

In the late morning, I took David to see the nurses because he has been feeling so weak. The nurse said there were many reasons and recommended that we see the doctor (again!). We had planned to go this evening, but we both forgot until it was too late, alas.

I ordered food for us for lunch from Buddha Burgers and picked it up there.

I spent quite a bit of time today learning more about Swift and iOS programming. In particular, I learned about using sounds and about recognizing user gestures such as swiping left or right or up or down or shaking the device.

Shabbat, 25 October 2014

I slept fine last night until about 1:00 a.m. After that, it was spotty at best, and I got up very late.

Almost all morning, in fact, I felt a bit off, but, later in the day, I managed to get through the next video lecture of my Swift/iOS programming class and develop the app exactly as the instructor did. It was pretty slow going, though, despite the fact that I switched to doing the programming on my newer Mac (while continuing to watch to the video on my older one). The use of the 2 computers, however, was a definite improvement.

We went to Barbis for lunch and split large orders of onion rings and breaded cauliflower between us. Not the healthiest of lunches, but enjoyable.

Friday, 24 October 2014

I slept somewhat fitfully last night and didn't get up and go out for a walk this morning. I did, however, walk down to recycle cardboard and buy challah.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-11:15, and 11:30-1:00.

We ate lunch today at Il Pentolino. David had pea soup, scrambled eggs, and a bagel. I ate half of his bagel and had whole-wheat spaghetti with Palermo sauce (sautéed vegetables).

In the evening, as the sun was casting its last rays on our beautiful valley, we lit candles, drank wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat bride.

שבת שלום לכולם
Shabbat Shalom to everyone!

Thursday, 23 October 2014

I woke up feeling quite "off" this morning and so got up too late and too tired to go out for a walk.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30. I would have had 2 more units, but I had to have Berlitz give them to someone else so I could take David to his neurology appointment.

The appointment was at noon. I had forgotten that it was at the clinic here in Shakhamon (our neighborhood), and so we drove into town to the main Maccabi clinic there. Only after I had dragged David in from the parking lot was I reminded by the guard (when I asked where the doctor was) that he was out here instead. So, we drove back and were a bit late. It didn't matter, though, except that I had tired David out unnecessarily.

We talked with the neurologist about several issues. It's actually likely that the most immediate one (instability and dizziness when standing) is actually NOT neurological but, instead, due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain. We're still not sure what they'll be able to DO about it, however.

After the appointment, we drove to Rachel, where I went in and ordered food to go. We brought it home and ate it here.

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

I slept well last night and got up in time for a nice walk to the gym and back. I wore a tank top, but there was a bit of a breeze that made it a little chilly. I might have been slightly more comfortable with a t-shirt instead. Still, it was nice out!

I taught 11 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 6:00-6:45, and 7:00-8:30.

I ordered soya burgers delivered from Barbis for us to each for lunch at home today.

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

I slept quite well last night but woke up tired and needed to sleep some more. By the time I finally got up it was too late to go out for a walk.

I enjoyed the English speakers' meeting at WIZO this morning. A yoga instructor showed us a few simple movements and positions that we can do just siting in a chair -- very interesting!

We ate lunch at home today, having veggie burgers.

I was scheduled to teach 6 units of Berlitz lessons this afternoon, but the middle 2-unit lesson turned out to be a no-show: 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30 (the no-show), and 6:00-7:30.

During the no-show class's time, I was able to do my peer evaluations for the last unit of my Algorithmic Thinking class, so I have now completed everything for that class.

Monday, 20 October 2014

I slept quite well and got up in time for a nice walk to the gym and back. It was cool enough that I wore a tank top but not a shirt. Perfect!

I was scheduled to teach 11 units of Berlitz lessons today, but my 5 afternoon units were all late cancellations, no shows, or only a brief entrance by one student who was obviously having serious connection problems and never showed up again: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-3:15 (late cancellation), 4:00-5:30 (no show), and 5:45-7:15 (the connection student having a connection problem).

We ate lunch at home today (beans and vegetarian weenies).

In the evening, I made a quick trip to Shufersal to get just a few more grocery items, the most important of which was more bread.

Sunday, 19 October 2014

I slept fairly well last night, but, as I was trying to wake up, I still felt very tired and even sleepy, so I got up very late and didn't go out for a walk.

I did the weekly grocery shopping first thing this morning so that I'd be sure to be back in time to take David to the appointment I had made for him with our family doctor.

David has been feeling quite insecure about walking and even standing recently, but the doctor wasn't able to shine any additional light on the matter. Fortunately, we already have an appointment scheduled on Thursday with the neurologist. Perhaps he'll have some ideas. We also would like him to try to find out why David's vision has gone and returned several times now. At the moment, he can see, which is wonderful, but we already have had several episodes of returned vision which were only followed by more blindness, none of which have had anything to do with his eyes.

David didn't feel like venturing out for lunch today, so I ordered food from Buddha Burgers and then went down and picked it up.

After lunch, I made a quick trip to the pharmacy to get a couple of miscellaneous prescriptions filled.

I watched more of my Swift/iOS programming lectures today, but ran into an unexplained problem with my program crashing when I did the exact thing the teacher did -- apparently because of a different version of Xcode. Anyway, I wasn't able to figure it out. Perhaps I'll check it all out later, but I gave up for today.

I upgraded the operating system on both our Macs today to the newest one ("Yosemite") just released by Apple last week.

Shabbat, 18 October 2014

I woke up early enough this morning to walk to the gym and back, and it was very nice out.

I spent quite a bit of time today watching lectures and creating apps as we went along for my Swift/iOS programming class. Today, I was learning how to access maps, map data, and user location data on the iPhone.

We went to Ice Park and had lunch at Landwer Café today. David had an omelet sandwich (although I actually ate half of it), and I had a delicious dish made from buckwheat and cubes of yam.

Friday, 17 October 2014

I slept quite well last night but woke up a bit late, so I only walked down to recycle the cardboard and buy challah before breakfast.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:00-9:45, 10:00-11:30, and 11:30-1:00. The second one was an individual student in Thailand, but we really weren't able to have any lesson at all because her internet connection was so excruciatingly slow. And she works for Shell!

For lunch, we went to Greg Café at Mercaz Big and split a "country salad".

In the afternoon, I watched another lecture from my Swift/iOS programming class.

As the sunlight was about to fade from our beautiful valley, we lit candles, drank wine, and ate challah to welcome the Shabbat queen.

לך דודי לקראת כלה

פני שבת נקבלה

L'cha dodi likrat kalah

P'nei Shabat n'kabalah

"Come my beloved to call the Bride,
We will welcome Shabbat"

Thursday, 16 October 2014

I slept fairly well last night and woke up early feeling rested, so I went out for a walk, all the way to the gym and then a little distance southwest of here before returning home.

I spent quite a bit of time today on my Swift/iOS programming course.

We had lunch at Ginger today, but we were a bit disappointed, especially with the service, which was excessively slow. We probably won't bother going back there again, since the prices are higher than other places, the food isn't much better, and the service is worse. At least they're open on Shabbat and holidays, because they're not kosher.

In the evening, just as the light was fading, we went for a drive up the Arava, going as far as Samar (just south of Yotvata).

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

I didn't sleep really well last night, especially towards morning, and so I got up very late and didn't get out for a walk.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons this morning: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:00. Since this was the eve of a holiday (the last day of Sukkot), I automatically had availability like a Friday and so had no classes in the afternoon.

For lunch, we ordered pizza. Unfortunately, they put jalapeños on it instead of the black olives I had ordered. I pulled the pieces off, but there was still some heat left in the topping and cheese. We each ate a couple of pieces anyway, but I threw the rest of it away. This is the first time they have ever made a mistake like this in the toppings. I guess I could have called and complained about it, but we didn't want to wait for a replacement, and I figured there wasn't much else they could do.

I watched a couple more videos from my Swift/iOS (iPhone/iPad) programming class today. Now we're beginning to look at getting content from websites and working with strings of text data.

חג שמח לכולם
khag same'akh l'kulam
Happy Holiday to Everyone!

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

I slept quite well but still woke up tired and a little late and so didn't go for a walk.

In fact, I felt "off" almost all morning and actually got very little done. Luckily, I didn't have much that I had to do.

We both had "country salads" at Greg Café for lunch today.

I taught 7 units of Berlitz lessons today: 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 6:00-7:30, and 7:30-8:15.

Monday, 13 October 2014

I slept quite well last night and woke up early enough to get in a lovely walk to the gym and back. The weather here is so great this time of year!

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lesson today (although one group was a complete no-show): 9:30-11:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00 (the no-show), 4:00-5:30, and 5:45-7:15.

We ate beans and (vegetarian) weenies for lunch today at home.

Sunday, 12 October 2014

I slept fairly well last night but woke up tired and didn't go out for a walk.

I went to my 9:50 appointment for ultrasound on my shoulder, and the technician told me that a muscle was torn (in Hebrew, which I understood!). In the evening, I went to an appointment that I had scheduled with our family doctor to get more information. He showed me the report, which indicated that the tear is 15 mm (a little over half an inch). He also told me that it was lateral (across the muscle), which is more serious than longitudinal, and that it would probably require surgery to repair it. He also said that there's a lot of pain after such surgeries. Oy vey! Of course, he referred me to the orthopedist, with whom I have scheduled an appointment on the 30th. So, we'll see what's next, but not very quickly.

After the ultrasound I did the weekly grocery shopping.

We ate lunch at Rachel, each having our favorites there.

In the early afternoon, I went to the pharmacy to get our monthly prescriptions filled.

I spent most of the rest of the day working on my application for module 4 of Algorithmic Thinking, and I've finally gotten it all done. The application actually focused on TWO applications of the pattern matching software we wrote for this unit. The first was to analyze a peculiar gene that is found in slightly different forms in both fruit flies AND humans. We showed VERY conclusively that this could NOT be a result of chance. The second application involved finding suggestions for misspelled words. For this purpose, the programs work but are rather slow. The bonus question was about designing a quicker algorithm for this purpose (which is actually pretty easy).

Shabbat, 11 October 2014

I slept quite well last night, got up early, and walked to the gym and back. It was lovely out, although a bit warm due to very little breeze.

I spent much of the day working on my Algorithmic Thinking class. First, I successfully wrote the necessary functions for the project and submitted them, getting 100%. Then, I began working on the application portion, the part that is submitted for peer assessment. One of the main topics in this unit is comparing a particular gene between fruit flies and humans. Already, it's astounding how similar this particular sequence is, and I haven't even finished the analysis yet!

For lunch, we ate some of the food that I had gotten yesterday at Buddha Burgers.

Friday, 10 October 2014

I slept quite well last night but woke up a little tired and got up too late to go for a walk. I did, however, walk down to recycle cardboard and buy challah for Shabbat, despite having to walk up the stairs because the elevator still isn't working.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, all to German students, none of whom I had taught before: 9:00-10:30 and 11:00-12:30.

I called and ordered food from Buddha Burgers for lunch today, and I drove over there to pick it up, since the elevator wasn't working.

I actually called the number in the elevator to inform the company about it. The lady was very nice, but she told me that they charge for coming out on a non-week day (Friday is part of the weekend here, but Sunday is NOT). So, I guess it won't be fixed until Sunday.

I really worked hard on my homework/quiz for Algorithmic Thinking this afternoon. I submitted it but found I had answered one thing incorrectly. After figuring out the correct answer, I submitted it a second time (out of only 2 allowed!) and got 100%. Perhaps even more importantly, I feel that I now have a better understanding of the algorithms covered.

As the light was beginning to fade from the valley, we lit candles, drank wine, and ate challah to welcome another Shabbat, during the season of our happiness, Sukkot.

שבת שלום וחג שמח

ושמחת בחגך והית אך שמח "and you will rejoice in your holiday and be only happy"

Thursday, 9 October 2014 (First day of Sukkot)

The barbecue at Buddha Burgers last night was really nice, and I ate more than I should have. Perhaps that's why my sleep was a little weird. Another, perhaps more important, factor, though, was that it didn't cool off. That was probably related to the lightning and thunder which produced no rain here, just some muddy spots all over the cars. Finally, around 3:00, I just shut the windows and turned on the A/C. In any case, I got up quite late and, of course, didn't go out walking.

I drive over twice to Moshe's today to feed his cats. I wanted to be sure his new, tiny kitten got plenty of food because she is so skinny. She seems healthy, though, and is very cute and sweet!

I finished watching the lecture videos for this unit of my Algorithmic Thinking class, read the lecture notes, and started work on the homework/quiz. The latter seems quite hard for me!

We started to go out for lunch at Barbis, but the elevator wasn't working, so we ordered a delivery from them instead. The poor delivery guy had to walk up the stairs (all 72 of them), but he didn't complain at all. I just checked, and the elevator is STILL not working.

Tuesday and Wednesday, 7 and 8 October 2014

I didn't sleep very well Monday night, so I felt quite tired Tuesday morning. Nevertheless, I walked to the highway 12 kikar and back.

On Tuesday morning, I enjoyed the weekly English speakers' meeting at WIZO, where we had fruits and nuts that we had brought in celebration of the upcoming Sukkot holiday.

David and I went to Greg Café for lunch on Tuesday. He had tricolor pasta with mushroom cream sauce, and I had fatoush salad.

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

Just after my last lesson, I got a call from the vet's office to let me know that the special diet cat food was in, so I decided to drive down there right away and get it. David wanted to come along, too. After getting it, David suggested that we go down to Ice Park for some frozen yogurt, and on the way back, we filled the car with gas. But by the time we got home, it was a bit past our bedtime, so we went to bed pretty fast, and I didn't take time to write here (hence this 2-day post).

I slept quite well last night but still got up way too late to go for a walk. I did drive over and feed Moshe's cats after breakfast, though.

I taught only 3 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:30-12:00 and 12:00-12:45.

We had lunch today at Il Pentolino. David had yam ravioli with mushroom cream sauce, and I had whole-wheat spaghetti with Palermo sauce (basically, sautéed vegetables).

In the afternoon, I began work on the next unit of my Algorithmic Thinking class. The first task was to evaluate last week's assignment for 5 of my fellow students. I finished that and then began watching the lecture videos for the new unit, completing 2 of them. In this unit, we're looking at a technique called "dynamic programming" and applying it to solving a problem from biology about RNA "folding".

In a few minutes, we'll be heading down to Buddha Burgers again for a vegan barbecue to celebrate the first night of Sukkot. It should be fun and interesting!

Monday, 6 October 2014

I woke up fairly early this morning after a good night's sleep, but I thought it was earlier than it really was because the battery was almost run down in my bedside clock (I don't wear a watch in bed). I still got up in time, though, to walk to the bridge over the wash just a little beyond highway 12.

I taught 11 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:45-7:15, and 7:15-8:00.

Between my first 2 lessons, I went to an appointment with our family doctor that I had scheduled for David, but he didn't go with me. Mostly, it was just to talk with the doctor about the lab results and to get all our regular prescriptions for the next 3 months.

We ate lunch at home: vegetarian pepperoni sliced and cooked with canned stewed tomatoes.

Sunday, 5 October 2014

I got up a bit late this morning, but I still enjoyed a walk to the highway 12 kikar and back.

I spent some time early today trying to iron out the wrinkles in my To Do app for iOS (part of my Swift/iOS class), but there appear to be some bugs in the compiler or in Xcode. Hmmm.....

I tried to buy some more food for the cats at the vet's, but they were out. Hopefully, they'll get more really soon because we're quite low on this special food, and I also don't have much of the regular food on hand.

I hadn't been able to schedule an appointment with the neurologist for David on the Maccabi web site, so I went to the Maccabi office to see if I could do it there. It turns out that his schedule isn't available, so I'll have to come back or call, you guessed it, אחרי החגים akharei he-hagim "after the holidays". At least I know.  :-)

We ate lunch today at Chooka, and both of us had sushi. Afterwards, we drove up to Yotvata to buy dates. However, having seen the HUGE traffic jam coming south into town, we decided instead to go around the short loop and come back on highway 12. It's certainly longer, but I doubt that it took much, if any, more time than it would have being stuck in that mess!

I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal a while after we returned to town.

Shabbat, 4 October 2014 (Yom Kippur)

I slept much better last night and woke up early enough and with adequate energy to walk to the gym and back. It was really very nice out this morning, too!

I spent much of the day today learning more about programming for iOS (iPhones and iPads). Some of the things I'm learning now are quite complicated, and difficult to remember, too.

For lunch, of course, we had the food we got yesterday at Buddha Burgers.

Today, we had the windows open all day, and we enjoyed many happy sounds of children playing and enjoying themselves. I think during the whole day I heard about one scooter and not more than 2 or 3 cars drive by (actually, even that many surprised me a bit, but they may well have been on emergency missions).

Friday, 3 October 2014

I really didn't sleep very well last night and woke up feeling tired but unable to rest more due to the pain, despite the fact that I had taken Arcoxia before going to bed. Hmmm......

Although I didn't go out for a morning walk, I did walk down to recycle the cardboard boxes and to buy challah. Actually, they didn't have the nice challah we like, so I bought small loaves that are basically the same but not actually woven like challah. Good enough!

I was scheduled to teach two 2-unit Berlitz lessons today, but the first (9:15-10:45) turned out to be a no-show. The second was from 11:30-1:00.

After that, we drove down and had lunch at Buddha Burgers. They had a buffet of some nice food, most of it not on their usual menu. We not only ate but also brought home for tomorrow since neither of us will be fasting for Yom Kippur.

In the late afternoon, we took a drive around the short loop (up highway 90, over on highway 40, and back to Eilat on highway 12), something we hadn't done in a long time.

In the evening, we lit Shabbat candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate challah to mark the beginning of this very special Shabbat (somewhat unconventionally, of course!).

For those of you who may not know, Yom Kippur (the "Day of Atonement") is quite unique here in Israel. The majority of people, even those who are not at all religious, fast, and NOBODY drives! Even the freeways have no traffic EXCEPT lots of bicycles. For kids, this is the big day when they get to ride their bikes in the middle of the street and even on the freeways! They have already started this evening. But Yom Kippur also has another non-religious meaning here: it marks, every year, the anniversary (this year the 41st) of the Yom Kippur war, when the country suffered a surprise attack and was nearly destroyed by invading Arab armies. This traumatic event still weighs heavily on people's mind at this time of year, and for many it may, in fact, constitute the most important significance of this day.

חתימה טובה khatima tova (a good sealing, the traditional greeting for Yom Kippur -- but literally "a good signature" in modern Israeli Hebrew, something which, by the way, NOBODY has here -- all signatures are completely, totally, and, I think, deliberately illegible!)

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Last night I had a LOT of trouble going to sleep, and I'm not really sure why. Eventually, I did get to sleep and slept fairly well, but, of course, I got up late and definitely didn't have time to go walking.

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

We had lunch at Rachel today. David had a grilled cheese sandwich, and I had their Balkan Platter (cherry tomatoes, cucumber, a selection of cheeses, and salt bread).

After my last class, I drove down to the Maccabi pharmacy to get more Optalgin so that we won't run out. David takes it against pain (it's an over-the-counter med here in Israel, but it's not available at all in the U.S.).

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

I slept well last night but woke up too tired to get up early and go out for a walk. I took ibuprofen last night instead of Arcoxia, but I didn't seem to have too much trouble with pain.

I was scheduled for 10 units of Berlitz lesson today, but the last lesson (2 units) was a late cancellation: 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:30-6:00, and 7:00-8:30 (the cancellation).

I ordered pizza for us to eat at home for lunch today.