Okay friends, my besties over at Quite Like It designs are making me an awesome return-address stamp, and I'm crazy stoked. Which of these three designs do you like best? Let me know ASAP by voting over in the sidebar!
I know, it's ridiculous and self-aggrandizing, but I think it would be super awesome and fun to win this. What is it?
Winners will see their about.me page featured across our campaign, including on a giant billboard in Times Square. In addition, three grand-prize winners will receive a trip to New York City to see their page in lights and attend an exclusive about.me event.
Can you take a minute to vote for him? I think winning would really give him a boost to keep carrying on his awesomeness -- these are tomorrow's leaders that we have to encourage!
His idea: Pulse Motors. What will it do?
Revolutionize personal urban transportation by making green, environmentally responsible commuting affordable through development of Personal Electric Vehicles (PEVs) designed for the masses.
To vote, just go to the website and enter your email address. You'll get an email immediately with a link, and clicking on that link will finalize the vote. The whole thing will take you fewer than 18 seconds, so get to it!
(I mean, Micah uses the word schvitzing in his video ... that is AWESOME.)
Strangely, rather, very strangely, everything is done. I had my big gigantic 1/3-of-your-grade exam today that, well, I feel pretty lame about but I feel that way after every test so we'll see. I studied for tomorrow's Hebrew quiz, AND did the homework for class, too. I also did laundry (which happened to be free for some reason), and I managed to eat and get to work and do all the other activities of the day, not to mention watching the newest episodes of a few of my favorite TV shows on YouTube and Hulu.com. What I'm wondering is, how did this happen? Did the world slow to a halt today? I even lallygagged at work, chatting with a classmate about our observance and class and Jewish UConn and everything in between. So, really, seriously, how did this happen? I guess I shouldn't complain because it gives me time to write a quick blog post, go through the flashcards one more time, and hit the sack. Oh, and it also gives me time to pack.
Pack for what you say? Well, because I just didn't get enough NYC last week, I'm heading back this weekend, thanks to the kindly Susanne , who is putting me up for Shabbos. I was originally going to be bunking up at another friend's place, but it fell through, so Susanne is a huge, insane, holy lifesaver. There's no particular reason I'm going to NYC, I just want to be there. Well, I guess it is my pre-birthday weekend, so I'm hoping to get some of my Twitter friends together for a drink or two or three. If anything, I imagine I'll have plenty to say at the end of the weekend. Now, in preparation for my Shabbos, I anticipated not being able to use the showering facilities on Saturday morning. This, as I've mentioned in the past, is one of my biggest hang-ups about being shomer Shabbos, and I know it's incredibly stupid. But my options are: Look like Frankenstein (this hair gets all sortsa crazy in the course of an evening of sleep) or look like a happily married frummie. To be honest, I'd rather hit up the latter, so I figured out -- in one shot -- how to tie a scarf so that I can cover my messy hair. I'm pretty proud of myself. Was I meant to be a hair-covering guru? I also found the most amazing site on the planet CoverYourHair.com, from which I purchased a couple nifty headbands/scarves for the express purpose of covering my messy-arse hair on Shabbos morning.
Is it really that big of a deal if I cover my hair? I mean, plenty of people wear scarves. Does it have to mean what people will think it means!? Will they see no ring on my finger and gush with "oy gevalts" ...? Feh.
Anyhow, that's where I'll be this weekend, so if you are also in New York, let me know and maybe we can bump into each other. Other than my big weekend trip, nothing huge is going on. I got notice from the Birthright group I signed up through that acceptance notices will go out in three weeks (oy, the waiting, I can't do it anymore) and that phone interviews would start late "this week." Well, it's pretty much Friday and no one has called me. Is this a bad sign? Sigh. I just want to go to Israel. What's so big about it?
But I'd like to take the rest of this happy little blog space to throw out some links and causes worth thinking about. First? Please click HERE and vote for "Evelyn" -- though, it's really a vote for Evelyn's daughter, Leah, who created a magazine for Jewish girls called Yaldah. Seriously, this girl created this magazine when she was 13 years old. THAT, folks, is making a dream happen. Next up, I want all my happy travelers out there (I'm looking at Mottel for sure) to checkout YeahThatsKosher.com -- the blog for the kosher traveler. It's really a pretty unique idea and the website is just downright handy and well-designed. Thirdly, WebYeshiva.org is offering free classes on Sunday on Rosh HaShanah ! If I wasn't going to be traveling, I would be online and sitting in on those lessons. It's a really great and neat idea, and I encourage everyone to take advantage. Fourthly, if you're in the mood for a little hilarity, my friend has put up a comical parody of the Rabbis for Obama group. Yes, there is now "Rabies for Obama ." Just click on the link. It's beautifully designed!
And lastly, I recommend you ALL watch this video by Sarah Silverman. Now, I know a lot of people don't like Sarah Silverman and she can be a little raunchy and obnoxious, but this video promotes everyone getting their zeyde and bubby out to vote for Obama, and I think it's hilarious and marvelous.
So until we meet again on Sunday or Monday, I issue a little bit of an oy vey for the approaching holidays. Still? Quite unprepared. Thus, on my lengthy bus trek to New York, I'll be delving into some items from the interwebs, things friends and other bloggers have posted. I need to get into the season, to really feel my heart. So with that, Shabbat Shalom!
If not for the annual day of judgment, the world's sins would continue to accumulate, until it would reach the stage where it would have to be destroyed. This is why Rosh Hashana is a yom tov, a day of celebration. (Sefer HaChinuch)
It amazes me to no end -- though, in reality it shouldn't -- how significant the Jewish vote really is. Jews make up, what, 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. population? And yet, we're courted with the best of them, by all parties in hopes that the vote will swing one way or the other. Both sides appeal to our attachment to Israel, whether we're Secular Zionists, Religious Zionists, not Zionists at all, or just see Israel as a necessity in case something bad happens again (we'll need a refuge). Otherwise, for some, it's just the mention of Israel that sparks our interest -- afterall, it's almost hard-wired for us to vote based on the interests of Israel, isn't it?
So I thought it was interesting that while reading the Chicago Jewish News that I happ'd upon a brief opinion piece about a statement by McCain in late July that he intends to move the U.S. embassay in Israel immediately upon his election to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. I seem to have slept through this announcement -- either that or it was quickly shuffled away because of his ridiculous ads likening Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. At any rate, I Googled this interesting little tidbit and came up with a piece from the Huffington Post that quickly cleared up the reason it probably didn't seem to hit on the radar: Bush promised it 8 years ago, and has anything happened since then? Nope. Still in Tel Aviv.
From what I can tell, the moving of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem isn't really that important to the Jewish/Israeli community as most (ignorant) politicians might think. And this seems like common knowledge, so I'm still trying to figure out why the author of this little op/ed piece insists that Barack Obama needs to step up and make the same (lofty and unncessary) promise in order to level the playing field or something.
Believe me, this isn't going to win McCain the election. Lofty, overreaching and ignorant promises don't help your campaign, they hurt it. And I'm sort of glad that this issue fell off the radar about as quickly as it hit it. It seems to me that the big divide for the Jewish vote is that nasty race issue and the elderly Jewish community. So for something a little more light-hearted, and in case you never saw it, please watch this side-splitting segment from the Daily Show!
Well. The truth is often a hard pill to swallow, and this has been one of the hardest. Nay, most frustrating. Nay, most infuriating. This bl...
On Jews
He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?
Pack for what you say? Well, because I just didn't get enough NYC last week, I'm heading back this weekend, thanks to the kindly Susanne , who is putting me up for Shabbos. I was originally going to be bunking up at another friend's place, but it fell through, so Susanne is a huge, insane, holy lifesaver. There's no particular reason I'm going to NYC, I just want to be there. Well, I guess it is my pre-birthday weekend, so I'm hoping to get some of my Twitter friends together for a drink or two or three. If anything, I imagine I'll have plenty to say at the end of the weekend. Now, in preparation for my Shabbos, I anticipated not being able to use the showering facilities on Saturday morning. This, as I've mentioned in the past, is one of my biggest hang-ups about being shomer Shabbos, and I know it's incredibly stupid. But my options are: Look like Frankenstein (this hair gets all sortsa crazy in the course of an evening of sleep) or look like a happily married frummie. To be honest, I'd rather hit up the latter, so I figured out -- in one shot -- how to tie a scarf so that I can cover my messy hair. I'm pretty proud of myself. Was I meant to be a hair-covering guru? I also found the most amazing site on the planet CoverYourHair.com, from which I purchased a couple nifty headbands/scarves for the express purpose of covering my messy-arse hair on Shabbos morning.
