Oct
2
Finally
Filed Under Wedding | Leave a Comment
After a lot of stressing, the Sabra and I finally decided on a date: 29 January 2009, we will tie the knot.
So there you go.
Sep
29
Making it known
Filed Under Engagement, Wedding | Leave a Comment
We’ve started telling folks.
Since my sister lives in Portland, OR, and she feels like she’s not with the family on special days, we decided to tell her before anyone else. We called her last night, and I led with “can you keep a secret?” She immediately guessed that I was calling to tell her that I was engaged.
This afternoon, we called the Sabra’s parents to tell them officially. They already knew it was coming since I talked to them the other day for their permission (actually for their blessing because I don’t know how to say “permission” in Hebrew), but we still wanted them to know that the deed had been done.
I am hosting Rosh Hashana this year, and my parents and oldest sister came here for dinner. Before we started making dinner, and before my sister got here, we told my parents. I said, “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that it might take you a little longer to get to Japan, but the good news is that you are still going to get to go to Asia.” When my sister arrived, we told her as well.
I guess it’s becoming official now that the family knows.
Sep
26
moronic…oximoronic that is
Filed Under English, Humor, Language | Leave a Comment
I subscribe to Smithsonian Magazine. I love it. I think it’s one the best written mags I’ve come across, and the breadth of topics is wonderful.
This month’s issue had a cover on it that was nothing more than an advertisement to buy a subscription of Smithsonian Magazine for a Christmas gift. If you bought a subscription, you would receive a gift yourself. said gift is a bear that resembles the ones created in the early Twentieth Century that were named after President Teddy Roosevelt–thus the “Teddy Bear.”
The advert announced that you would receive an “authentic replica.”
Sep
19
The moment
Filed Under Engagement, Ring, Wedding | Leave a Comment
I had the ring in the car when I picked up the Sabra last night, but the moment just wasn’t right to do it.
Tonight was the night.
One of our first “dates” involved a rather long walk down Wisconsin Ave. At one point, we stopped at a church to sit on the step and rest for a bit. Before I knew it, we were talking about weddings and what we liked and didn’t like in the weddings we’d been to, and what we would want and wouldn’t want in our own weddings. Since then, we’d always joked that we should get engaged on those steps.
As fate would have it, the church lies just south of the Metro station we use to get to the gym. So, I’d been trying to see how I could manage it to walk past the church on our way back to the Metro, but we always seemed to switch sides before we’d get to the church.
Tonight, however, was different.
After our workouts, we took showers and changed clothes. Before I left the men’s dressing room, I took the ring out of the box and put it in my pocket. These are relatively new pants, but I was convinced that I would suddenly and spontaneously get a hole in the pocket and lose the ring before we got to the church.
As we headed to the Metro, I kept us on the correct side of the street (the lights were also on our side and they were green most of the way so we didn’t need to switch sides). When we got to the church, I asked the Sabra if she wanted to sit for a minute “for fun and old-time’s sake.” She said sure, and we sat.
I tried to steer the conversation toward the topic of marriage, but it just wasn’t working too well. I was nervous, and I think she knew what was coming and was nervous too. I had already made a big deal that I wanted to go out to dinner, so after my stuttering to try to start the conversation, the Sabra said she was cold and hungry and wanted to get moving (she did have goose-bumps).
We went to Neisha, a Thai place in Tenley Town. I broached the subject again. This time I said, “what do you think? Can you see yourself with a ring?” and I took my ring off, and put it on her finger with the shank up so it looked like a wedding band. She said she didn’t know. I pulled out the real ring and said, “well, what about with this one?” and put it on her finger.
She was a bit dumbfounded for a minute and then realized that this was it, I was really proposing. She was so happy, she almost cried. She didn’t, but she did get up and hug and kiss me.
I think it was a very nice way to propose, but it wasn’t the way I had it in my head. That’s fine. We’re both happy. Also, since it wasn’t the official engagement ring, I still have a second opportunity to “officially” propose.
Sep
18
I played hookie from work today, and I went out to lunch with Shining Starr9. We talked about how the Sabra and I are seriously talking about getting married in January. I told her that I didn’t have a ring yet, so I couldn’t propose because I don’t want to do it without a ring.
She suggested that I buy a “promise ring.” I wasn’t so sure, but I thought I’d give it a try. So, we dropped her car off and headed over to the mall. It was PG Plaza (or the Mall at Prince Georges as they prefer to be called now). We looked at some nice stuff, but it was more than I wanted to spend. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m happy to spend as much as I need to, but since this isn’t the engagement ring, I just wanted something nice to do what needs to be done.
So, after excluding anything out of my price range, I didn’t find anything nice. We ended up at Macy’s, and I did a panic purchase. I bought a ring that looked really nice at the moment, but as I looked at it and looked at it, I came to realize that I didn’t like it at all.
I headed over to Montgomery Mall, which has a different class of clientele. I went into Helzberg and found a really nice ring that had the Sabra written all over it. I returned the ring to Macy’s without even thinking about it, and bought the one at Helzberg.
Now I need to give it to her…
Sep
16
Selfish people
Filed Under General Ranting | Leave a Comment
I believe that humanity is inherently good. I do. I really do. Sadly, we have a tendency to be selfish, but I don’t believe that the vast majority of people wake up in the morning intent on hurting others. We do, however, put others a distant second when it comes to our own conveniences. I really hate this about people.
When I worked on the S/S Norway, I remember that we had a sick customer…a dying one to be exact. Some older passenger had suffered a heart attack, and as cruise ships’ infirmaries aren’t designed to handle such emergencies, authorities on shore were called, and they sent out a helicopter. The patient was hoisted from the aft deck up into the chopper and whisked away to the hospital in St. Thomas or perhaps Miami. I don’t know whatever happened to the gentleman, but I hope that he endured his trauma and is back on a cruise ship somewhere. When the incident occurred I wished him Godspeed, and I prayed that he would be OK.
Before I could finish that prayer, another passenger approached and asked, “Do you work here?” I answered in the affirmative. He wanted to know who he could complain to about the change of itinerary. It seems that since we had to slow the ship down to allow the helicopter to rendezvous and perform it’s rather risky procedure of airlifting someone off a heaving ship, we lost a lot of time and were forced to skip one of our ports of call. It is clearly written on the ticket (albeit in fine print) that the captain and the cruise line reserve the right to change the itinerary without notice. Nevertheless, this passenger was furious that we were going to miss one of our planned destinations. It was his favorite island, and he really wanted to go back. Why couldn’t we go? Who made the decision to skip it?
I tried as politely as possible to point to the retreating helicopter with a sick man aboard, but that didn’t seem to calm the man down. That wasn’t his problem. He paid for this cruise and wanted a refund. I escorted him to the Information Desk in the Purser’s Office. They handled it from there.
Later in the summer, we had similar incident. There was a hurricane brewing in our normal Eastern Caribbean track, so the captain made the decision to follow the Western track that our ship seldom did. (The Western track was actually a more expensive cruise.) People were livid. It didn’t matter that 3000 souls were aboard, and the captain chose not to endanger them. It didn’t matter that safety was the most important thing. It didn’t matter that the passengers were getting the more expensive ports for the cost of the cheaper ones. No. People were pissed because they weren’t getting what they wanted.
Just selfish.
It happened again today. I was on the Metro this morning on my way in to work when the train came to a grinding halt between Gallery Place/Chinatown and Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter. Apparently, there was a sick passenger on the Yellow and Green line at L’Enfant Plaza and as such, trains were single-tracking around L’Enfant Plaza. There was this dude on the train with me that kept sighing really loudly and whacking his thigh in disgust. What did he think he was accomplishing? I mean, were all in the same boat (or train car to be more exact). None of us was responsible for making the train go faster or slower. There was nothing any of us could do, and once again, there was a sick passenger…a human being’s life could have been at stake. We finally started moving, and when we came to a stop again, he again began his physical displays of disgust. I really wanted to say something to him. Tell him that we will all act like that if something horrible were to happen to him and they had to stop the trains to get EMS to him.
When we finally reached L’Enfant Plaza, he booked out of the car like a bat out of hell. I wasn’t sure where he thought he was going to go as the platform was packed with people waiting to board the single-tracking train. Then I thought, perhaps he had diarrhoea and needed a bathroom.
Perhaps I was being the selfish one by getting annoyed, not at the sick passenger who caused me to be a ½ hour late to work, but rather at this man whose bowels were grinding within his body, and all he could think about was reaching the toilet before he had an accident on the train.
Sep
3
A Sort of New Look
Filed Under Geekiness | Leave a Comment
I have decided to follow in the footsteps of LtL and I moved webhosts, He went to BlueHost.com while I went to their sister company, HostMonster.com. Why? What’s the difference? Well, HostMonster.com was having a sale, so I got my hosting for $4.95 a month for 36 months.
If you see anything funky or just not quite right, please let me know so I can fix it.
Thanks,
The Management.
Aug
12
rare moments of introspection
Filed Under General Ranting, Living Life | 1 Comment
I recently received an email from LtL. He decided that he needed a respite from the hustle and bustle for New York City; he needed to rejuvenate, renegotiate, and recreate himself. Like cars, we all need to pull off the freeway of life and refuel once in a while. Many of us have a special place where we can sit and let our batteries recharge (or refill the tank if you’d prefer I didn’t mix a metaphor—unless you have a hybrid). For some it’s going back to their childhood home, or a grandparent’s house. For others it’s communing with nature by hiking and camping. I prefer to go to London or Jerusalem. There is something about those two cities that I really like. A nice vacation in either city will allow me to come home and be able to deal with all the bullshit that is my daily life.
This is not so for LtL. He has decided that in order to fulfill his calling he must leave NYC, break up with his partner of a number of years, sell what he has, quite his job, and drive ½ way across the country to a state and city he’s never been to. His special refilling place is the American Southwest, and the desert. As such, he has decided to head out to New Mexico with no job prospects, no housing, not even any friends.
I think it’s insane. He’s not getting any younger, and still he’s willing to quit his job and seek out a new one with no prospects. I continued to think of all the things I’d say to him when we talked about this decision…like that I thought he was absolutely crazy and it was pretty much one of the dumbest things he’d come up with yet.
Then, in one of those rare moments of introspection that I have, I realized 2 things: 1) I still thought that he was absolutely insane for doing this, and 2) the only reason I was planning on being so disparaging was that I was in fact jealous. I wasn’t jealous of his decision to go to New Mexico in the hopes of working at Spaceport America, but rather, I was jealous of LtL’s courage. I know that he isn’t the type to make rash decisions, and if he did in fact decide to do this, then a lot of thought went into it. I was jealous that I’m not as brave or adventurous as I’d like to be. Every night I lay in bed with the Sabra, and we talk about moving to San Francisco or Boston or Jerusalem or Tel Aviv or London, and every morning when the alarm goes off, we both get out of bed and trudge back to jobs we hate.
But not LtL. He put is money where is mouth is, as the saying says, and got off his ass and did something about his unhappiness. Do I still think he’s crazy? Yep. But I also think that whether he finds what he’s looking for or not, he will be happier for having tried it. I wish him well. I support him to the fullest I can. I hope that his courage and conviction will inspire me to do more of what I want to do than my comfort level will allow.
His journey reminds of a great line from an otherwise mediocre song:
Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change
– Smash Mouth
Aug
4
NOLA Rocks
Filed Under Adventure, Living Life, NASA, Travel, Work | 2 Comments
I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago on business. I flew in on Sunday (July 20) and left the following Saturday. Sunday night, I walked the 2 blocks from my hotel to the start of Bourbon Street. I walked from Canal Street all the way down Bourbon StreetRue Bourbon until I got into the gay part of town. It was still light out, but even so, you could tell that not too much was going to happen. It was, after all Sunday.
I got a Po’ Boy at some random establishment that actually had jazz. Then, it was back to the hotel to get ready for the next day—I had to be at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to set up our exhibit. After the exhibit was set up, we had the rest of the day to goof off. So, I pulled out my camera, and my buddy and I walked all over New Orleans and, of course, the French Quarter.
I was surprised to see that every corner didn’t have some dude on a trumpet…that is how I have always envisioned the Crescent City. I was saddened to see (hear, actually) nothing but loud (and I mean fucking loud) rock & roll and dance music spewing into the street as forcefully as the air conditioning. We did pass a few joints where you could hear jazz, but they were few and far between, and they were competing with the melodic chords of Van Halen and some rave remix. What little jazz I did hear was great. I love jazz.
We went to a bunch of restaurants including Red Fish Grill, Cochon Restaurant, Ralph & Kacoo’s, Crescent City Brew house, Mulate’s, and Café Beignet. Of course, we had Hurricanes at the famous Pat O’Brien’s (although we were there early, so there were no dueling pianos. That was kind of sad). Even though I ate well, and paid dearly for it (both figuratively and literally), I have to be honest…I was rather disappointed in the food. I mean it was tasty and all, but I felt that I have had better “Cajun” cuisine up here in the District.
The rest of the time was dedicated to actual work, but in the evenings, we ended up back on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. Overall, it was a fun experience. I got to see New Orleans, which I’ve always wanted to do. I had my first taste of moonshine. I had a shot of Catdaddy first, but it tasted like Tequila, so the waiter brought me a shot of Virginia White Lightening. Man, did that taste fantastic. I also rode on a mechanical bull at the Bourbon Cowboy. So, now I have scratched 2 more things off my Things To Do Before I Die list.
As calm as it was (given that I was there during the week and it’s not Mardi Gras), it was clear that debauchery is still a constant, and that people still party all day and all night. New Orleans definitely missed out when it came to taglines. I think that “What happens in Nahlins stays in Nahlins” is much more apropos than Vegas (granted, I’ve never been to Las Vegas, but still).
All in all, I had a good time. I was disappointed that there wasn’t as much jazz as the city is known for. I was also sad that I didn’t get decent, proper Creole and Cajun food. I understand that after Hurricane Katrina the Crescent City ain’t what she used to be, but at the same time, things are happening again down there. I can only hope that the next time I go, even more folks will have returned.
Jul
18
www.musingsofjocose.com
Filed Under General Ranting | 2 Comments
Welcome to the new domain. I’ve been holding out for www.jocose.com, but someone bought it and is squatting on it…so then I thought, why not www.themusingsofajocosejocose.com and realized that that’s a little too long, so then I shortened it to www.musingsofjocose.com and bought it. Now I don’t need to be dependent on servatus anymore and I can be my own blog!!!
Thanks for coming over with me.