Wednesday, 31 December 2014

I got up early enough this morning to get in a 45-minute walk. It was a little cooler than it had been, especially when I was walking into the breeze. Much of the time, I even put the hood up on my light jacket.

After breakfast, I took another short walk, over to the local Maccabi clinic to make an appointment for David with his psychiatrist (in the middle of January). For that walk, I didn't even wear a jacket at all -- just a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops! When I got back home, I hopped in the car and drove over to Mercaz Big to buy us some new sheets for our bed.

For lunch, I drove over again to Mercaz Big to pick up an omelet sandwich for lunch at home. We had planned to split it, but I ended up eating almost all of it because it smelled funny to David. He ate a little of his cheese sandwich from an early day and then went back to bed. He just hasn't been feeling very good lately.

I cut a hole in the lid of a plastic container and put some wet paper towels in the bottom to try to make a "swamp" for Goldfinger. This will have to do until I can get vermiculite, which will hold the water better. Anyway, it's now there above the heating pad, but I don't think he's even checked it out yet. Perhaps he will during the night.

Tuesday, 30 December 2014

I slept in this morning and so didn't get out for a walk at all.

David had a CT scan of his head this morning, which rather rearranged our morning schedule since he wasn't supposed to eat before it.

Afterwards, I went to the weekly English speakers' meeting at WIZO where Terry, one of our regular members, entertained us with a nice tenor saxophone recital, mostly of jazz music.

I got the cage set up for Goldfinger, our new rat snake today. Now he's happily resting in his hide box (an empty cereal box). He also has water to drink and a heating pad at one end of his terrarium.

I had one 2-unit Berlitz lesson today: 4:00-5:30.

Monday, 29 December 2014

I got up a little late this morning but still walked for about 35 minutes.

I was scheduled for 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, but they were ALL no shows: 10:15-11:45 and 4:00-5:30. I still had to wait an hour each time, just in case someone DID show up. But I can't complain because I get paid the same as if I had taught the full 3 hours.

For lunch today, we went to Rachel. David had a mushroom quiche, and I had their delicious "Celebration" salad. Since I told them it was David's birthday (his 59th, BTW), they also brought us complimentary cake and even a sparkling "candle". Afterwards, we went up and visited our friend, Moshe, for a bit.

The big event of the day, though, was getting our newest family member, a South Florida Yellow Rat Snake. I had actually been planning to get a corn snake, but they only had baby amelanistic corns, and they just didn't interest me much. The one I got is an adult or at least nearly an adult. I don't know if it's he or she, and, since I don't have a probe, I'll never know for sure -- of course, it doesn't matter. In any case, he's a very nice gentle snake, and he loves wrapping around my hand of wrist and just chilling. It really nice to have a snake again, but I'm NOT going to get back into breeding -- too expensive and too much time investment.

Sunday, 28 December 2014

I woke up early this morning, walked over and fed Moshe's cats, and then walked all the way to the south end of Harm Road and back home. I was out for a little more than an hour.

This morning, Baruch came again to do some more cleaning. This week, it was the kitchen counter and the hood over the stove.

A guitar teacher also came this morning to try to teach David to play, but David's finger, it turns out, are just too stiff to do it. The teacher, named Shai, was REALLY nice, though, and he going to see if we can figure out other ways for David to enjoy making music.

I went to the pharmacy and then picked up pitas with falafel for us to eat at home for lunch today. David couldn't eat his, though, because it smelled funny to him.

In the afternoon, I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal.

Shabbat, 27 December 2014

I walked over and fed Moshe's cats this morning.

Most of the day I relaxed, although I did watch a video or 2 from my iOS and Swift programming class.

For lunch, I ordered a veggie burger for me and onion rings from David, delivered to the house from Barbis.

Friday, 26 December 2014

I only walked to recycle cardboard and buy challah this morning.

After breakfast, I went to the vet to get more food for the cats and to the pet store to get more litter for their boxes.

I watched several videos from my iOS/Swift programming class.

I again had no Berlitz lessons today.

After David's appointment with his psychiatrist (at 2:00), we had lunch at Il Pentolino. I splurged and had the Roquefort cream sauce on my whole wheat spaghetti today.

As the light was about to fade from our valley, I lit the Shabbat candles to welcome the Shabbat Queen. However, David was too sleepy to get up, so he didn't join me. We'll drink the wine and eat the challah for kiddush before we go to bed tonight.

Thursday, 25 December 2014

I woke up fairly early this morning and feeling quite a bit better, so I walked for about 40 minutes.

This morning, before breakfast, we drove down to Maccabi so David could get his blood drawn.

I watched several videos for the iOS and Swift programming class today.

For lunch, we ate leftover pizza from the other day.

In the evening, I got the prescriptions from our family doctor for the medicine David will need to take before and after his CT scan to protect his kidneys from damage due to the contrasting agent they will give him.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

I went for a walk for about 20 minutes this morning because I was feeling tired and a little off. Besides, one of my toes was hurting inside the shoe.

David had an appointment this morning for a CT scan, but there was a complication. The scan needs to be done with a contrasting agent, but the contrasting agent can damage kidneys that are in marginal conditions, as David's are. Such people need to take pills twice the day before, in the morning before such a scan is done, and an hour after it, all to protect their kidneys. So the appointment is rescheduled for next Tuesday, and we'll get a prescription for the necessary medication from our family doctor, get it filled at the pharmacy, and give David the pills next Monday and Tuesday.

The trip to the hospital for the aborted scan pretty much wore David out for the day, so he slept most of the rest of the day. I picked up a grilled cheese sandwich for him and burekas for me at Rachel Café and brought them home for us to eat here for lunch.

I did 3 loads of laundry today, but, other than that got virtually nothing done. Of course, since it's Christmas Eve, which is a holiday in almost all of Europe, I had no students at all today.

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

I had trouble waking up and getting up this morning, so I didn't get out for a walk at all.

David went with me to the WIZO meeting this morning, but I'm afraid he didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did. Still, I think he was glad he went.

We bought a guitar for David today. He plans to learn how to play it.

For lunch, I went to Greg Café and brought home an omelet sandwich, which we split between us.

I taught only 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, and I have no lessons at all scheduled for the next 2 days: 3:00-4:30 and 5:45-7:15.

Monday, 22 December 2014

I woke up a bit too late this morning to go out for a walk.

I did the weekly grocery shopping at Shufersal this morning.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today: 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

We had pizza delivered for lunch at home today.

Sunday, 21 December 2014

I slept soundly all night, woke up early, and got in a full hour of walking this morning.

Baruch, our cleaning guy, came again this morning, and the house is now mostly clean and generally in a fairly presentable condition. This is long overdue!

I had my last physical therapy appointment this morning. My right shoulder seems to be almost back to full functionality now despite the tear. I so happy about that!

We went to Buddha Burgers for lunch today.

In the afternoon, I took David to an appointment with our family doctor.

Shabbat, 20 December 2014

I got up a little late this morning, having been up somewhat later than usual last night.

After breakfast at the hotel, we gathered our things, checked out of the inn, and headed for home, arriving here at about quarter to 2:00 p.m.

Later, we drove over to Barbis for a very late lunch.

Friday, 19 December 2014

We really enjoyed the LGBT olim party last night, meeting several interesting people. Of course, we got to bed somewhat later than usual and thus I got up rather late and didn't go out for a walk befor breakfast. I did go on a couple of fairly long walks later in the morning, though.

For lunch, we again went to Tandoori, the Indian restaurant on Zamenhof Street at Diezengoff Square. Of course, we ordered different dishes today and really enjoyed them, too.

I went to Kabbalat Shabbat services at Beit Daniel, the large Reform synagogue here in Tel Aviv. David felt too tired to go. I walked over there, a distance of about 3 km (2 miles), but I took a taxi most of the way back.

I was really not very impressed with the place, but that's probably mostly because the rabbi talked a lot and all in rapid-fire Hebrew of which I understood very little. It was most likely very nice for Israelis, though.

Just I I was leaving, I got a somewhat panicked call from David, who was having an insulin reaction (very low blood sugar level), and I had to explain to him over the phone how to open the door to the small fridge in our room to get the candy bar out. He did manage to do it, though.

A little later in the evening, we went out for a light dinner with a couple of guys from the party last night at a restaurant just one short block from our hotel, and we enjoyed that very much.

Thursday, 18 December 2014

I had some trouble sleeping during the latter part of the night so I didn't have time for a walk this morning.

After breakfast I packed for today's trip to Tel Aviv where we'll be spending 2 nights. Tonight, a little later, we'll be going to an LGBT olim party, which is the main impetus for this trip.

We got delayed for nearly a whole hour on our way up. It turned out that the reason was that they were installing a traffic light! It was a little south of Be'er Sheva, just after the point where the road becomes a divided 4-lane highway. They SHOULD have done one side at a time and simply made the other side temporarily 2-way. But, obviously, they didn't do that. Very annoying!

Nevertheless, we managed to get to the Indian restaurant on Diezengoff Square shortly before they closed for lunch and had some very delicious Indian food!

After that, we made our way with some difficulty to the Gordon Inn, where we are staying. David is now resting until it's time to go to the party.

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

I woke up nice and early this morning and went out and walked and exercised for a full hour.

I taught only 8 units of Berlitz lessons today (although one 2-unit lesson was a late cancellation): 9:00-10:30, 3:30-5:00 (the cancellation), 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00. For lunch, I ordered food from Buddha Burgers and picked it up and brought it home.

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

I slept well until 3:00 a.m., but then didn't really sleep that much again until around 5:00, so I didn't have time to go out for a walk.

I lit the first candle, said the 3 blessings for the first day of Hanukkah, and led the group in one stanza of "Maoz Tzur" at this morning's English speakers' meeting at WIZO. David even managed to pull himself out of bed for a rare appearance there!

Afterwards, we had lunch at Rachel. David had corn soup, and I had their nice Balkan tray (many kinds of cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, and bread).

I taught 7 units of Berlitz lessons this afternoon and evening: 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:30-7:00, and 7:30-8:15.

Monday, 15 December 2014

I woke up early this morning on walked for over 50 minutes.

I taught 12 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We had beans and weenies (vegetarians, of course!) for lunch at home today.

I did the Capstone Exam again for my Fundamentals of Computing specialization, and this time I got 99%. I very satisfied with that!

Sunday, 14 December 2014

I got up too late this morning to get out for a walk.

Baruch, our house cleaner, was late coming today because he woke up late, but he still got in 2 and a half hours of good work, and our kitchen and bathroom look much better than they have in many months.

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

In the afternoon, I went to the pharmacy to get the monthly meds and then on to Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.

I completed and submitted my capstone exam for the Fundamental of Computing sequence of online classes, but I only got 88% on it. Luckily, we can take it a second time beginning tomorrow, and, since I see where my mistakes were, I should do much better then (hopefully, 100%!).

Shabbat, 13 December 2014

I got up very early this morning and was out walking and working out for about an hour and 15 minutes.

I spent most of the day working on my Fundamentals of Computing capstone exam. I'm almost finished, but I'm having trouble with my program to solve the last question. Right now, my whole computer is bogged down trying to run the second test case. Then, if the test case is okay, I still have to run the case that will give me the answer to the question.

We had lunch today at Barbis. David had onion rings, and I had a veggie burger.

Friday, 12 December 2014

I got up very early this morning, put the ice on my shoulder for a little more than 20 minutes, went for a 35-minute walk, and later walked down to recycle cardboard and buy challah, all before breakfast.

I was scheduled to teach 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first 1-unit class was a no-show: 9:00-9:45 (the no-show), 10:00-10:45, and 11:15-12:45.

We ate lunch at Rachel today. David has a mushroom quiche, and I had their "celebration" salad. For dessert, David had carrot cake (though I ended up eating 3/4 of it), and I had tiramisu (both very delicious!).

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

שבת שלום
Shabbat Shalom!

Thursday, 11 December 2014

I woke up early this morning, put the ice on my shoulder for 20 minutes, and walked for more than 50 minutes. Later, after breakfast, I walked some more, down to the local SuperPharm to try (unsuccessfully, as it turned out) to get a battery for David's electronic mandolin tuner.

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

For lunch, I went to Mall HaYam and got pad thai from Manga.

Wednesday, 10 December 2014

I woke up early, put the ice pack on my shoulder for 20 minutes, and then walked over to Moshe's to feed his cats.

I was scheduled to teach 12 units of Berlitz lessons, but one 2-unit student was a no-show: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 3:30-5:00 (the no-show), 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

We had lunch at home today. David ate the rest of his sandwich from Rachel, and I had a vegetarian shnitzel.

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

I didn't feel ready to get up after the 20 minutes of ice pack on my shoulder this morning, and, besides, I was worried that it might rain since I had seen lightning, so I stayed in bed nearly another 40 minutes with the ice still on my shoulder.

I enjoyed the WIZO meeting today, as usual. This time, we played a variation of "Trivial Pursuits", and it was quite fun.

For lunch, I went down to Rachel's and picked up food to bring back home and eat. By the time I headed home, it was raining lightly, which is quite an event here in Eilat. I hope we don't get more rain, though, because it could wash the crude oil spilled from a pipe up the Arava last week right down into the Red Sea, creating an even bigger environmental disaster.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lessons today, all back-to-back and filling my entire Tuesday availability: 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:30-7:00, and 7:00-8:30.

I also went over and fed Moshe's cats this evening, and I'll be going again tomorrow morning.

(only English today, since I'm already quite late getting to bed)

Monday, 8 December 2014

Mi vekiĝis iom malfrue ĉimatene, sed mi tamen eliris kaj promenis dum 27 minutoj.

Mi instruis 12 unuoj (9 horoj) da Berlitz lecionoj hodiaŭ, kvankam neniu montris ĉe unu leciono de 2 unuoj: 9: 00-10: 30, 10: 30-12: 00, 12: 00-1: 30, 2 : 30-4: 00, 4: 00-5: 30 (neniu), kaj 5: 30-7: 00.

Ni manĝis postlasaĵojn de pico por tagmanĝi hejme hodiaŭ.

התעוררתי קצת מאוחר הבוקר, אבל אני עדיין יצאתי והלכתי במשך 27 דקות.

אני לימדתי את 12 יחידות (9 שעות) של שיעורים ברליץ היום, למרות שאף אחד לא הופיע לשיעור אחד של 2 יחיד

9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, 5:30-7:00

אכלנו שיירי פיצה לארוחת צהריים בבית היום.

I woke up a little late this morning, but I still got out and walked for 27 minutes.

I taught 12 units (9 hours) of Berlitz lessons today, although no one showed up for one 2-unit lesson: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30 (no one), and 5:30-7:00.

We ate leftover pizza for lunch at home today.

Sunday, 7 December 2014

הבוקר קמתי מוקדם מספיק כדי לעשות הליכה של 35 דקות בערך, גם לאחר לשים קרח על כתף שלי במשך 20 דקות.

ברוך, מנקה הבית החדש שלנו, עשה עבודה מאוד יסודית של ניקוי במרפסת, אבל זה לקח לו בערך מ 08:40 עד 13:10. זה נראה טוב מאוד עכשיו, ואני מאוד שמח על כך, במיוחד לאור עובדה שיש סיכוי לגשם בחזוי ליום שלישי הבא.

אכלנו ארוחת צהריים היום בודהה בורגרס ונהנינו מאוד.

בשעתי אחר הצהריים, עשיתי קצת קניות, ובכלל זה מקבל יותר כדורי מציצת סטרפסילס, מחבטי זבובים, כתפיות חדשות לדוד, ואת המצרכים השבועיים בשופרסל.

This morning I got up early enough to get in a 35-minute walk, even after putting ice on my shoulder for 20 minutes.

Baruch, our new house cleaner, did a very thorough job of cleaning the balcony, but it took him from about 8:40 until after 1:00. It looks very nice now, though, and I'm very pleased about that, especially since there's a chance of rain predicted for next Tuesday.

We ate lunch today at Buddha Burgers and enjoyed it very much.

In the afternoon, I did a bit of shopping, including getting more Strepsils lozenges, fly swatters, new suspenders for David, and the weekly groceries at Shufersal.

Ĉi-matene mi frue ellitiĝis sufiĉe por piedir dum 35 minutojn, eĉ post meti glacion sur mia ŝultro por 20 minutoj.

Baruĥ, nia nova dompurigisto, faris tre profundan laboron de purigo de la balkono, sed ĝi daŭris el ĉirkaŭ 8:40 ĝis post 1:00. Ĝi aspektas tre bela nun, tamen, kaj mi tre ĝojas pri tio, des pli ke estas iu ŝanco de pluvo antaŭdirita por la proksima mardo.

Ni manĝis lunĉon hodiaŭ ĉe Budho Burgers kaj ĝuis ĝin tre multe.

Posttagmeze, mi faris iom da butikumo, inkluzive akirante pli Strepsils (por la gorĝo), muŝbatiloj, novaj ŝelkoj pro David, kaj la semajna manĝaĵojn ĉe Ŝufersal.

Shabbat, 6 December 2014

I got up a little late this morning but still walked for about 35 minutes (after 20 minutes of ice pack on my shoulder).

I was really very lazy today. About the only useful thing I got down was 3 loads of laundry.

For lunch, we went to Barbis and both had our usual veggie burgers with cheese and mushrooms. Yum!

קמתי קצת אחרי השעה הרגילה הבוקר, אבל אף-על-פי כן הלכתי במשך 35 דקות, אחרי 20 דקות של קרח על הקתף.

הייתי עצלן היום. הדבר המועיל המיוחד שעשיתי היום היה לעשות את הכביסה.

אכלנו ארוחת צהריים היום בברביס -- בורגרים צמחוניים עם גבינה צהובה ופטריות. טעימים!

Mi ekstaris el la lito iom malfrue ĉi-matene, sed tamen mi piediris dum 35 minutoj (post 20 minutoj de glacio sur mia ŝultro).

Mi estis tre mallaborema hodiaŭ. La sola utila ago, kion mi faris hodiaŭ estis purigado de la vestaĵojn.

Por meztagmanĝo, ni iris al Barbis kaj manĝis vegatarajn hamburgerojn kun fromaĝo kaj fungoj.

Friday, 5 December 2014

I woke up a little late this morning, but, of course, I still put the ice pack on my shoulder for 20 minutes. I also recycled cardboard and bought challah for Shabbat before breakfast.

I was scheduled to teach 4 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the second 2-unit class was a no-show: 10:00-11:30 and 11:30-1:00 (the no-show).

We had lunch at Il Pentolino today. David tried the Palermo sauce (my favorite) on penne, but he didn't like it as well as I do.

As the light was beginning to fade in our beautiful valley, we lit candles, drank wine, and ate a bit of challah to welcome another Shabbat.

שלום רב על ישראל עמך תסים לעולם

shalom rav al yisra'el amkhah tasim l'olam

"Send abundant peace on Israel Your people forever"

Thursday, 4 December 2014

I woke up a little later this morning and a little bit tired, but I still got in a 39-minute walk after my 20-minute session with an ice pack on my shoulder (a daily thing that the physical therapist told me to do).

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lessons today (although the first class was a no-show): 10:00-11:30, 11:30-1:00, 2:30-4:00, 4:00-5:30, and 7:00-8:30.

I ordered pizza delivered for lunch today.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

I woke up early this morning, put the ice pack on my shoulder for 20 minutes, and then went out for a walk to the gym and some exercise while there. I wore a light jacket, but on the way home I was a little too warm so I took it off and was then wearing only a t-shirt and jeans (and socks and shoes).

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 6:30-8:00.

My watch band had broken on Monday, so I took the opportunity today to go and get a new one at Ice Park. While I was there, I also picked up sushi at Chooka for us to eat at home.

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Today was a very busy day. I got up fairly early but still didn't have time for a walk. The reason was that we needed to leave quite early for Be'er Sheva. We left the house at about 7:20.

David had his first appointment at the clinic there (at the Soroka Medical Center) for HIV. We will be getting his care there instead of at Rambam in Haifa because it's only half as far away (and is the closest such clinic to where we live). But the drive even to there takes about 3 hours.

We had a hard time finding parking, but eventually we found a spot on the street right across from the outpatient clinics. Then we had to find the clinic itself, which also proved surprisingly difficult.

The doctor we met, though, was really good. I think she's actually a native English speaker, and she was very calm and also knowledgeable. Although there are other doctors there, as well, we plan to try to see her again the next time. The nurse who drew David's blood was also excellent.

On the drive back home, we had to wait at Nakhal Paran for about 10-15 minutes due to road construction, and so I rushed back into the house just as my 4:00 class was to start. Luckily, I had logged into the classroom in the morning before I left, so I could simply start immediately.

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

Monday, 1 December 2014

I woke up early this morning. First, I put a cold pack on my shoulder for 20 minutes. Then I got up and went for a 49-minute walk.

I was scheduled to teach 12 units of Berlitz lessons today, but two 2-unit classes turned out to be no-shows: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, 12:00-1:30, 2:30-4:00 (1st no-show), 4:00-5:30 (2nd no-show), and 7:00-8:30.

We had leftovers at home for lunch today.

Before my last class, I went to Shufersal and did the weekly grocery shopping.