Tuesday, 31 October 2017

I woke up much too early this morning, so I stayed in bed and eventually got some more sleep. In the end, though, I got up quite late, of course.

Hannah came by for a few minutes this morning on her walk. We chatted, I gave her some water to drink, and Pascal enjoyed sitting on her lap for a while.

I walked to WIZO and back today. In the more organized part of the meeting, we shared stories about Halloween. We found that it's a very American holiday — our British friends basically knew very little about it and had no experiences of it to share.

I had a salad, a vegetarian shnitzel, and a few cookies for lunch.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lessons today (although the first lesson, 1 unit, was actually a no-show): 2:30-3:15, 3:30-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:30-8:15.

Today's pic of the day is a shot of some lovely flowers that I took last Wednesday:

Since I still don't have my phone back, I don't know how far I walked today. It wasn't a lot, though, since I only went to WIZO and back.

Monday, 30 October 2017

I got up early this morning, but I took part of the extra time to scan a play for our group.

I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-9:45, 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, and 6:30-8:00.

I had my usual salad, plus a veggie burger sandwich with cheese, for lunch.

Before my last class, I took a nice walk around the big loop, slightly shortened.

I didn't have my phone today, so I don't know exactly how far I walked, but I do know that it was more than 5 kilometers.

Since I didn't have my phone today, I couldn't take any pictures. So today's pic of the day is a panorama I took for the top of White Mountain a couple of weeks ago when I was up there:

Sunday, 29 October 2017

Since we went off of summer time last night, I was able to sleep in and still get up fairly early. I then ate breakfast a bit early.

After breakfast, I walked over to Pelephone in the industrial area to see what could be done about a problem I've been having recently with my iPhone 6 Plus. Most of the time, it works fine, but sometimes the touch screen quits working entirely, not registering touches or swipes. Turning it off and on again, perhaps several times, usually fixed the problem. Sometimes, it has the opposite problem, where it registers touches or swipes even when I didn't do anything at all. This can also be stopped by turning it off. The only things they could offer there was to send it off to their lab in the Center, which would mean I'd be without it for about 10 days. I could, of course, borrow a temporary phone, but none of this would be free (and I didn't even dare ask how much it would cost).

While I was over in that area I bought a couple of things at the health food store and then headed back into town. I went to Mors Computers, and they told me it was likely to be either a problem with the screen itself (which can be replaced for 300-some shekels) or with the motherboard. If it's the latter, there's really nothing to be done (either impossible or WAY too expensive). They took it to check it out, and I told them to replace the screen if that turns out to be the problem. In any case, I'll be without my phone until at least tomorrow and probably until Tuesday, since I'll be too busy tomorrow to pick it up even if they do finish.

After that, I took the bus back home.

I finished the rest of the work for my synthesizer course except for a couple of reviews of the work of fellow students. We are required to do 3 each week, but there was only one available so far. After a few days, there will be more.

I had a salad and cheese wrapped in tortillas for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon I was lazy, but in the evening I walked down to Fay's for our weekly play-reading group.

Since I left my phone at the shop, I don't know how far I walked today, but it WAS quite a bit.

I did take some pics today, but I didn't upload them before I dropped my phone off, so today's pic of the day will be a pretty flower from last Wednesday:

Shabbat, 28 October 2017

I got up leisurely this morning and didn't go out for a walk because I knew I'd be walking plenty later in the day.

This morning I put the finishing touches on draft 3 of my Funky Fugue, its final iteration for my synthesizer class, and then I submitted it. You can click here to listen to it.

I walked down to Hannah's place for our weekly Torah study, and afterwards she treated me to lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant just down the street. This is the first time I've had Ethiopian food, and it was delicious.

On the walk to Hannah's I took several pictures, including today's pic of the day, another pleasant walkway in Eilat:

After visiting some more with Hannah, I walked back up to my place.

By that point, I was pretty hot and tired, so I just relaxed and even napped a little in my comfortable Ikea chair.

I talked for a little while with Richard, Joyce's husband, in Ohio. Joyce is back in intensive care and not doing so well.

In the evening, I walked down to Ice Mall to meet Mikimi, a friend from Tsfat that I knew a number of years ago. She is visiting Eilat with her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. It was so nice to see her again and catch up a bit.

I walked a total of 8.9 kilometers today.

Friday, 27 October 2017

I woke up pretty early this morning, but I delayed getting up and didn't go out except to buy challah.

I taught 5 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:45.

For lunch, I had a veggie burger and cheese sandwich with tomato. I also ate a carrot, a cucumber, half of a yellow bell pepper, and a few cookies.

For most of the afternoon, I just relaxed and really got nothing done, but I did at least manage to do the weekly chores.

In the evening, I lit candles, drank a bit of sweet red wine, and ate a little challah to welcome Shabbat.

I walked a total of only 690 meters today.

Thursday, 26 October 2017

I woke up quite early this morning, but I got out of bed pretty leisurely. Rather than going for a long walk, I went for a rather short one, but I spent some time working out at the outdoor gym, something which I hadn't done for a while. It really felt good.

I spent quite a bit of time today tinkering with my music and creating some new synthesizer "patches" (combinations of notes, effect, etc. on a synthesizer to produce some kind of desired "voice"). I've now added some pretty cool ones to my piece, but I think I want to play around with it some more to see what I can sharpen and improve.

I had a salad, cheese slices wrapped in tortillas, and 4 breadsticks for lunch.

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons: 3:00-4:30 and 7:00-8:30.

Between my lessons, I took a medium-length walk just as the sun was disappearing behind the hills. I took quite a few pictures, including flowers and views across the valley. One of those views is today's pic of the day:

I walked a total of 5.4 kilometers today.

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

I got up early this morning, but I didn't go out for a walk right away. Later, though, I did go out and went all the way around the big loop. I took quite a few pictures, too, mostly of beautiful flowers. Today's pic of the day, however, is a view across the valley from the hill behind the hospital just a few minutes before the sun came up:

I ate breakfast late and mostly relaxed during the morning.

I taught only 3 units of Berlitz lessons today: 12:00-1:30 and 7:30-8:15.

In the afternoon, I did some grocery shopping at Elimelech Supermarket.

I had a salad and a vegetarian shnitzel for lunch.

I got a little more work done for my synthesizer class this afternoon. I created a rising whoosh special effect.

In the late afternoon, Hannah came over and we went for a lovely walk together in the desert hills. It was so pleasant out, and we both had a really nice time.

I walked a total of 9.5 kilometers today.

Tuesday, 24 October 2017

I got up early this morning but didn't go out for a walk because I knew I'd be doing quite a bit of walking later in the day.

I submitted my week 3 project for my synthesizer class this morning, reviewed the submissions of 3 classmates, and began watching the video lectures for week 4.

I presented some of my recordings for today's meeting of English speakers at WIZO. I think it went well, and it was very well received. Here are links to the 8 tracks that I played for the group today if you'd like to listen to them, as well:

Folk Song for Strings
Khanukah Medley
Achat Shaalti
AvinuMalkenu
Esa Einai
BaShana HaBa'a
Funky Fugue (Draft 2)
Variations on HaTikva

After WIZO, I walked into town on some errands, including getting my prescriptions filled (my regular ones and the one for

Cardiloc that the cardiologist gave me). Then I walked leisurely back home, taking pictures along the way. I took 3 photos of a friendly tortoise shell cat that I petted, and one of hers is today's pic of the day:

I finished watching the video lectures for week 4 of the synthesizer class this afternoon.

I had a salad and weenies wrapped in tortillas for lunch.

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

I walked a total of 4.6 kilometers today.

Monday, 23 October 2017

I slept well last night and got up bright and early this morning. I felt a little tired but fairly well-rested. I needed to eat breakfast much earlier than usual in order to get to my appointment with the cardiologist at 8:00 at Maccabi in town. I walked down to it.

Although my results from both the Holter test and the EKG are normal, he wants me to continue on the blood thinner and to get back on the Cardiloc (which he really never intended me to go off of in the first place). We talked mostly in Hebrew, but I used English a little to explain a few things and to make sure I understood accurately. Even though my AT (atrial fibrillation) doesn't seem to be showing up on the recent tests, the fact that I've had it means that it could return at any time. The AT, in and of itself, is not really the problem, since it seems to appear only sporadically and to go away immediately, at least so far. The problem is that a clump of blood could form in the heart during the irregularity of the beat and could then later be pumped out into the circulatory system, where it might get stuck, blocking blood flow to that part of the body. If "that part" happened to be somewhere in the brain, it could cause a stroke in the worst case or some temporary impairments in a less severe case. Since these are, of course, serious possible outcomes, it would be wise for me to take the medicine that may prevent the AT in the first place. I think I'm finally reconciled to this now. For some reason, in my mind, I've been rather resistant to the whole idea of my having any kind of heart problem. So, I'm glad that I'm getting more realistic. Luckily, this is NOT so serious in general, and my chance of dying from it, even without treatment is not too high.

After my appointment, I took a bus back home and arrived in plenty of time for my first class.

I taught 8 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:00-10:30, 11:15-12:45, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

In the afternoon, I re-mastered a couple of tracks from my album of orchestral music (mostly a matter of setting them at a higher volume level) and recorded them (called "bouncing to disk"). I also bounced the latest version of the piece I'm working on throughout my current synthesizer class, which I've named "Funky Fugue". I intend to play these and some others, including my singing tracks, for the WIZO presentation I'll be doing tomorrow.

I had only a couple of cheese sandwiches (with mayonnaise and old-fashioned mustard) for lunch.

I walked a total of 2.3 kilometers today.

Sunday, 22 October 2017

I slept quite well last night and felt MUCH better when I got up this morning.

After breakfast, I walked down to Maccabi for my EKG appointment (before I see the cardiologist again tomorrow). While I was there, I also got my annual flu shot.

After a couple more errands in town, I caught a bus back home. By that time, I was feeling quite tired, but I was NOT feeling sick.

During my walking this morning, I took several lovely flower pics, including today's pic of the day:

I spent most of the rest of the day working on my synthesizer piece and also relaxing.

I had half a yellow bell pepper, a cucumber, a carrot, a tomato, and some almonds for lunch today.

In the evening, I once again enjoyed our weekly play-reading group. This week we started reading our third play by Pirandello. It moved right along, and I think we were all really getting into it.

I walked a total of 3.6 kilometers today.

Shabbat, 21 October 2017

I generally slept pretty well last night, although it took me a little while to get to sleep. I was also awake for a bit in the middle of the night. I got up rather late, but I felt rested and quite a lot better than I did yesterday.

I decided I'd better not join Hannah for Torah study today as we had planned.

I had a nice conversation this morning with David in Tel Aviv.

I still stayed home all day and took it fairly easy. Finally, at about noon, I ate a little food to make sure my stomach wouldn't rebel, and it didn't, so later I ate more food. I still didn't eat a full normal amount, but I least I won't be getting weak due to lack of eating.

I tinkered a lot with my synthesizer class project today. Finally, I turned in the draft for week 2 and evaluated the work of several of my classmates, thereby officially finishing the week. Then I watched the videos for week 3 and even began work on its version of the project. The things we're learning about synthesizers are really cool!

Joyce is in the hospital again, but I talked briefly with her husband, Richard, this afternoon.

Friday, 20 October 2017

I woke up in the night feeling quite strange. I stayed in bed quite a long time, but well before I got up, I realized that something was clearly not normal. I was achy all over (including a bit of a headache), didn't feel like eating at all, and had a bit of diarrhea. For breakfast, I ate only a banana and some cashews, and I drank a cup of coffee that was actually mostly milk.

I managed to get through my lessons this morning (5 units back-to-back: 9:00-10:30 and 10:30-12:45), but I felt exhausted. I sat in my comfortable chair for a while, but then I just went to bed and took a nice long nap. I felt a bit better when I got up.

I ate a container of "gil" this afternoon. It's something like yogurt.

In the evening, I got some good work done on my week 2 project for my synthesizer class.

I did not leave my apartment at all today, not even to get challah or to take out the trash and recycling. Nevertheless, I walked 30 meters, according to my iPhone.

It feels like I have something somewhat like a mild flu, but that doesn't quite fit. I checked my temperature both first thing in the morning and this evening, and I definitely do NOT have a fever. Actually, I haven't had any nausea or vomiting. It must be some kind of intestinal bug. Oh well, I'm sure it will pass. I hope I feel better tomorrow, but if I don't, I'll just take it very easy.

Thursday, 19 October 2017

I got up early this morning and got out for a nice morning walk. I met Hannah over by the pencil kikar and she walked back home with me from there.

I taught 6 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:00-10:30, 10:30-12:00, and 3:00-4:30.

Before lunch, I did some grocery shopping at Elimelech Supermarket.

I had a salad, 2 hard-boiled eggs, and 3 breadsticks for lunch.

After my last class, I went out again for a short walk before sundown.

In the evening, I scanned the rest of the Strobe 2 manual, watched the week 2 lectures again, loaded the sample patches that the teacher produced in the lectures, and fiddled around with some of them to create variations that I liked better.

I walked a total of 5.3 kilometers today.

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

I woke up fairly early, but I still didn't quite feel like going out for a walk, so I didn't.

After breakfast, I had a nice conversation with David in Tel Aviv, our first since he returned from a lengthy trip to the U.S. It was very enjoyable, as always.

Today's pic of the day is of Pascal just before I started my first lesson:

I taught 9 units of Berlitz lessons today: 10:00-11:30, 12:00-1:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:30-8:15.

I had a salad and a veggie burger and tomato sandwich for lunch.

In between lessons, I spent quite a bit of time today reading the manual for Strobe 2, the software synthesizer that we are using in my current class. It's really very powerful and has a lot of interesting features that present intriguing possibilities.

I only walked a total of 10 meters today — in fact, I never even left my apartment!

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

I had a little trouble sleeping last night, but eventually I slept very soundly. I did get up a little late, though.

I walked over to WIZO this morning and took a couple of lovely flower pictures along the way. One of them is today's pic of the day:

Today, our Eilat Play Readers group did a staged reading of the play "The Apollo of Bellac" for the WIZO English speakers' meeting. We all had a good time, and it was well-received by those present.

I had my usual large salad, plus some slices of cheese for lunch today.

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

I walked a total of 1.6 kilometers today.

Monday, 16 October 2017

I got up quite late this morning after a good night's sleep.

I was scheduled to teach 10 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the last lesson (2 units) turned out to be a late cancellation: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 3:00-5:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

Before lunch, I did some grocery shopping at Elimelech Supermarket.

I had my usual big salad, weenies wrapped in tortillas, and 3 bread sticks for lunch.

Despite my busy teaching schedule today, I managed to watch the week 2 lectures for my online class. Now, we're getting more deeply into the details of synthesis and the capabilities of our synthesizer. This is really going to be an interesting class!

During my next-to-last lesson, I received a message about the cancellation of my last one, so I took advantage of the opportunity and went out for a walk around the big loop, slightly shortened. It was really lovely out! Along the way, I snapped today's pic of the day, kids playing at night on the soccer/football field on Sheshet HaYamim next to Nakhal Shakhamon:

I walked a total of 5.5 kilometers today.

Sunday, 15 October 2017

I stayed up and worked on my project a little late last night and so didn't get up very early this morning, either.

After breakfast and the rest of my morning routine, I got right back to work on my piece for week 1 of my music synthesis class and actually finished it quite quickly. Then I walked down to the mall and, later, up to the pet store. As I left the mall, I snapped today's pic of the day, showing White Mountain, where I hiked last Thursday, as seen from downtown (and you can see where it gets its name):

Even though it wasn't very hot today, I took a bus back home because it was in the middle of the day, so there wasn't so much shade.

I had a salad and a veggie burger and cheese sandwich for lunch.

In the afternoon, I put a few more finishing touches on my project, added the other necessary components (screen shots and a reflection on the process), and submitted it to be assessed by my fellow students. If you'd like to listen to it too, click here.

In the evening, we finished reading "Henry IV" by Pirandello at our weekly play-reading group. All of us were quite impressed with it.

I walked a total of 4.8 kilometers today.

Shabbat, 14 October 2017

Today was a big day for work on my project for week 1 of my music synthesis course. This is good, because it is due by Monday morning. I started working on it yesterday and continued today right after my regular morning routine.

In the mid-morning, I walked over to Hannah's place, where we began our first Torah study together at 11:00. We're following the triennial cycle, so we read and discussed the middle third of the first portion, Breishit. We both really enjoyed talking about the 2nd creation story, the affair with the forbidden fruit and the snake, and the surprisingly strange story of Cain and Abel.

After we finished, Hannah offered to take me out for lunch, and I suggested the Gulf Restaurant. She agreed and really enjoyed it as much as I did, I think. She had the taxi drop me off at home on the way back so I didn't have to walk uphill in the heat of the day.

I got back to work on my project when I got home, with a break to talk with Joyce and Richard in the late afternoon.

I chose to write a short fugue for my project, but I have to be sure it follows the required form and uses the 2 required instruments. Of course, a fugue is WAY beyond the real scope, but it IS permitted. I do still have my work cut our for me, though. Luckily, I also have most of tomorrow to work on it.

Since I didn't take any photos at all today, the pic of the day is another view from my walk up White Mountain on Thursday:

I walked a total of 2.3 kilometers today.

Friday, 13 October 2017

After my big walk up White Mountain yesterday, I didn't even consider going out for a walk this morning.

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

Between the two lessons, I walked up to the bakery and bought some challah (they didn't have my regular kind) and also did a little grocery shopping at the market next to it.

I had a large salad and two weenies sandwiches for lunch.

I was lazy for most of the rest of the day, although I did at least do the dusting and the sweeping.

In the evening, I lit candles, drank a little sweet red wine, and ate some challah to welcome Shabbat.

After that, I took a short walk. I took today's pic of the day during that walk:

I walked a total of 2.8 kilometers today.

Thursday, 12 October 2017

I got up early this morning and walked out to meet Hannah. Then we walked back to my place together and chatted for some time.

After she left, I ate breakfast and continued working much of the day on compiling my list of favorite patches (virtual instruments) in Strobe 2 (the synthesizer we are using for my new class).

I ate a salad and 2 veggie burger, cheese, and tomato sandwiches for a late lunch.

Just after 4:30, I set out on another walk. My goal this time was the top of White Mountain (where I've been 2 or 3 times before). I arrived at the top just in time to catch the last sunlight of the day on Eilat. Then, as I walked north along the ridge, I caught shots of the light as it gradually receded across the valley and up the Jordanian mountains on the other side. The shot I took as I first came over the ridge of White Mountain is today's pic of the day:

I managed to get down off the mountain and onto a nice smooth dirt road on the way back to town just before it became too dark to see a trail clearly. The road was easy to follow, though. I did use my flashlight (in my iPhone) near the end, however, to see the short final trail down to Harim Road. I got back home at about 7:20.

I walked a total of 12.7 kilometers today, some of it hiking up steep trails, and also including walking the ridge of White Mountain from almost one end to the other.

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

I got up reasonably early this morning, but I only went out for a fairly short walk. It was actually quite chilly out, even though I was wearing my tank top instead of going shirtless (I know, I know: it's all relative!).

I was scheduled to teach 5 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the last lesson (2 units) turned out actually to be a no-show: 9:00-9:45, 10:00-11:30, and 12:00-1:30.

I had a large salad and weenies wrapped in tortillas for lunch.

In the afternoon, I rested a bit, spent quite a lot of time listening to various sounds in the Strobe 2 synthesizer (part of our assignment for this week in the new class I'm talking), and took a short walk.

Just before the sunlight disappeared for the day, I went for a nice walk around the big loop, taking several pictures, including today's pic of the day (taken from the little hill behind the hospital):

I walked a total of 7.3 kilometers today.

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

I got up quite early this morning and decided to walk up into the hills in the moonlight. The moon is still more than half lit, so it did provide light, and I had a very clear moonlight shadow, but it was nevertheless a little difficult to perceive the trail accurately, making it just slightly dangerous. For that reason, I didn't go very far, I walked quite slowly and carefully, and I used the flashlight on my iPhone part of the time. I took several nice pictures of the valley so long before sunrise that there was still no hint even of the approaching day. One of them is today's pic of the day:

There was no WIZO meeting today because WIZO House is closed for the entire Sukkot holiday. So, after breakfast, I walked into town on a couple of errands, including getting a mouse for Goldfinger. I took the bus back home, though.

I signed up for another online class through Coursera. This one is called "Creating Synthesizer Sounds for Electronic Music", and it's taught by one of the best online teachers I've encountered, Loudon Stearns of Berklee School of Music. I've already watched all the videos for the first week and now have only the project to do. It's going to be very interesting!

I had a salad and a shnitzel for lunch.

I was scheduled to teach 5 units of Berlitz lessons today, but the first lesson (3 units) turned out to be a late cancellation, giving me plenty of extra time: 3:15-5:30 and 6:30-8:00. I took advantage of some of that time to do a little grocery shopping.

I walked a total of 6 kilometers today.

Monday, 9 October 2017

I slept well but long last night, and so I got up quite late. I did go out for a short walk, though. I even took a couple of pictures of the sunrise, including today's pic of the day:

I taught 10 units of Berlitz lesson today: 9:30-11:00, 11:15-12:45, 2:30-4:00, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

I had a salad, corn on the cob, and cheese slices in tortillas for lunch.

I walked a total of 1.2 kilometers today.

Sunday, 8 October 2017

I got up fairly early this morning but didn't go out for a walk.

I ate an early light breakfast and then mostly relaxed until it was time to walk down to the Soleil Boutique Hotel for this months WIZO breakfast (really, more like a brunch). There were only 5 of us today, but we had our usual great time. On the way down, I took several flower pictures, including today's pic of the day:

Afterwards, I walked up to try to get a mouse (they didn't have any yet, but will later) and then on up to the Shufersal near Maccabi to buy a cake. I rode home from there by bus.

I felt quite tired by that point, from the big meal, the walking, and the heat. Although it's cooler than it was in the summer, it's still pretty hot, especially in the sun in the middle of the day. So, I mostly relaxed for the afternoon.

At 4:45, though, I left to go early to Fay's (by car, thanks to Jud) because we were doing the final rehearsal for our play, "The Apollo of Bellac", that we will be reading at WIZO a week from Tuesday. After that, we started our normal reading session, beginning another play by Pirandello entitled "Henry IV". We read the first act and were all quite impressed with it. None of us had previously been familiar with it at all, not even Bassia, our leader and resident thespian.

I walked a total of 4.9 kilometers today.

Shabbat, 7 October 2017

I went to bed quite late last night and got up very late this morning. I also got a pretty slow start.

Finally, I ate a very light breakfast and then headed off walking down to the beach. I joined my neighbor, Tony, and some of his family and friends for a nice relaxing time, in the shade, on the beach for about 2 hours. I took several pictures of people enjoying the loving day, including today's pic of the day:

A couple of Tony's friends were driving back up into town, so I hopped a ride home with them.

I mostly relaxed for the afternoon. In the evening, I began some work organizing my photos. I've been saving them according to the date on which I took them, but I have a structure more oriented to what they show. Rather than change the current structure, I'm simply creating aliases (pointers to the files rather than copies of them) and organizing them into a topical hierarchical file structure. Of course, it's pretty slow going, but it will be nice to have them so well grouped when I finally finish the process.

I walked a total of 3.1 kilometers today.

Friday, 10 October 2017

I woke up early but stayed in bed quite a while longer. I finally got up and went for a fairly short morning walk, buying challah on the way back. The full moon was just about to set behind the nearby hills, but I managed to get several shots of it before it did, including today's pic of the day:

I taught 4 units of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30 and 12:00-1:30. After my lessons, I finished the weekly chores around the house and ate a light lunch.

I mostly relaxed after that, until I walked into town about 5:00, met Hannah at her place, lit Shabbat candles there, and then walked together with her up to Bassia and David's place. Another friend, Jud, drove there, and David and Bassia served us all a lovely Shabbat meal. We also all enjoyed a lot of great conversation.

I walked a total of 8 kilometers today.

Thursday, 5 October 2017

I got up quite early this morning but rather tired, so I decided not to go out for a walk at all. In fact, I was just generally lazy. I even ate breakfast nearly 2 hours later than usual.

Hannah came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and we just enjoyed visiting. And, of course, she and Pascal loved each other.

My neighbor, Toni, had invited me to his step-daughter's 12th birthday party, so I went over to her mother's house at about 4:30 and had a very enjoyable evening. We just sat around the table out on the patio and ate and drank and had lots of friendly banter.

I didn't take any pictures today, so the pic of the day is another one I took on my walk yesterday evening, showing the Sukkot moon just after it rose over Aqaba:

I walked a total of only 490 meters today.

Wednesday, 4 October 2017 - Erev Sukot

I got up a little late this morning and didn't go out for an early walk.

After a slightly early breakfast, though, I put my laptop and 3 different headsets into my little pack and walked into town. I arrived at Mors computer shop a few minutes before they were supposed to open, but, miracle of miracles, they were actually already open!

Now I've finally got the whole microphone situation figured out. They showed me where I needed to click, so I was able to verify that the new headset I had just bought yesterday was, indeed, working fine. After walking back home (and resting a little), I checked all the headsets I have. The mic on the one I had been using was not working (which is what started the whole issue, really). A couple of other ones I had were okay. I used one of the old ones for the one lesson I had today, and I think I found out why I have NOT been using it: the sound level in its speakers is quite low, and there's some cracking sound in the right side. I made it through the lesson without trouble, but, in the future, I'll use the new one I bought which puts out much better sound.

I taught only a single 1-unit lesson today: 12:00-12:45.

After I was finished teaching, I was just lazy for a while, until I ate lunch quite late. I had 2 carrots, a cucumber, a tomato, sunflower seeds, salad dressing, 2 beets, and a vegan shnitzel.

After lunch, I set to work on finishing my music production project and its documentation. Then I submitted the whole thing for peer review in the system. Now I'll be completely done with the course as soon as I do the 3 required reviews of my fellow students' projects.

Feeling very good about finishing that, I set out this evening for a walk and ended up going around a slightly shortened version of the big loop, but in the reverse direction. The sun had already disappeared, and by the time I got up to the Harim Road at Nakhal Shakhamon, the Sukot full moon had just come up over Aqaba. I took several pics over the course of my walk, ending with today's pic of the day, after dark, with the moon over Aqaba and the gulf, as seen from the south end of the Sheshet HaYamim bridge over Nakhal Shakhamon:

I walked a total of 9.9 kilometers today.

Tuesday, 3 October 2017

I got up fairly early this morning, but I didn't go out for a walk because I had to eat breakfast early and get to WIZO early.

On my walk to WIZO, I snapped a few flower shots, including today's pic of the day:

The reason for the early arrival at WIZO was so that we could rehearse our play-reading there. In a couple of weeks, our play-reading group is going to do a stage reading (NOT an acted performance) of the play "The Apollo of Bellac" by Jean Giraudoux. The rehearsal today went quite well.

Afterwards, we had our usual WIZO meeting including free conversation followed by some more structured story-telling. Several people told of moving, important, or funny moments from their lives.

After that, I walked down into town to pick up my computers. The iMac turned out to be fine, after all. The mic port on the laptop seemed to work but not with my regular headset. However, when I got it back home, it didn't work with the other headset I have, and it also didn't work with a brand new one that I bought later in the day. Strangely, though, none of the 3 headsets seems to work with my Mac, either. The speakers are fine in all cases, but not the microphones. Very strange, indeed!

I had a salad with a tomato, a cucumber, 2 carrots, and sunflower seeds, plus 2 cheese sandwiches, for lunch.

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

Between classes, I walked down to the central post office to pick up a registered letter (my holiday gift card from Berlitz), and I also picked up a brand new headset (which, as I mentioned above, doesn't seem to work any better than my old ones).

I walked a total of 6.1 kilomters today.

Monday, 2 October 2017

I went to bed a little late last night and so also go up a little late and didn't go out for a walk.

I taught 10 units (7.5 hours) of Berlitz lessons today: 9:00-10:30, 11:00-12:30, 3:00-4:30, 5:00-6:30, and 7:00-8:30.

I did some grocery shopping before lunch.

For lunch, I had a salad (with a tomato, a cucumber, 2 carrots, and sunflower seeds, but without lettuce), 2 beets, some broccoli, and weenies wrapped in tortillas.

I didn't take any photos today, so I'm using one of some buildings in Tel Aviv that I took a week ago for today's pic of the day:

I walked only 280 meters today (to the market and back).

Sunday, 1 October 2017

I slept well last night but woke up way early and didn't get back to sleep for some time. Then, of course, I got up a bit late and didn't go out for a walk.

I did walk into town, though, after breakfast to do a couple of errands. One of them was to try to get a USB headset. It turns out, however, that they can only be special-ordered. So, instead I walked back home to get my computer to bring in to see if they can get my current headset to work, at least with a USB adaptor if necessary. While I was going in, I also took my old iMac which I hadn't used in many months but which wouldn't turn on when I tried it the other day. Of course, I took a bus into town this time. I also took a bus back home, after checking first to see if the pet store had any mice (they didn't).

I had a salad and two veggie burger and cheese sandwiches with barbecue sauce for lunch.

I spent most of the rest of the day reviewing my fellow students' work (ftheir projects for weeks 2 and 3) and continuing work for the last week (week 4) of my own project, "BaShana HaBa'a".

In the evening, I walked down to Fay's house for our weekly play-reading group (but I got a ride back home afterwards). We finished reading the Pirandello play that we started last week, and it was really good!

I walked a total of 6.6 kilometers today.

I didn't take any pictures today, so today's pic of the day is a silhouette I took early yesterday morning before sunrise: