Shabbat Shalom!

Please note that on Friday afternoons until Saturday evening, the author of this blog is unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.

Comments made during this time will be held in a queue, to be moderated afterward.

Thank you for your patience.


(The cake for Parshat Shemot is from a previous year.
I'm not baking this week because the family is away visiting relatives.)

Shabbat Shalom!

Just a couple of LINKS that caught my eye:

That College Kid provides a way of making a rss feed from any website. Suggested as a way for students to keep up with their professor's sites, but would be nice for keeping up with relatives' infrequently updated sites, too.

Who is wise? He who learns from everyone. Here's someone wise enough to learn from George Costanza.


I don't normally "do" resolutions, but if I did, I'd adopt Cheerful Oncologist's. He plans to raise his prices and stop prostituting his tastes.

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat Shalom!

Please note that on Friday afternoons until Saturday evening, the author of this blog is unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.

Comments made during this time will be held in a queue, to be moderated afterward.

Thank you for your patience.

We made hand-shaped cookies (tracing the kids' hands from gingerbread cookie dough) in honor of the way Yaakov (Jacob) crossed his hands when he blessed his grandsons, Ephraim and Menashe, in this week's parsha. They are in the oven, so I won't get a chance to snap a picture in time for this post. Sorry! Stay warm and Shabbat Shalom!

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Some LINKS that made me smile, some that made me think, and a few that made me want to share...

• Boston's French Toast Indicator indicator has been glowing of late. Being a bit snowed-in and house-bound, it seems a great time to find ways to tighten our electricity budget. I just ordered this device. I'm planning to go on a rampage wild goose chase treasure hunt, looking for lost energy (= wasted money) around our house when it arrives.


• David Seah's compact calendar has been updated for 2008. I love the clean, compact design.


• David of the Lake's point is particularly appropriate this week, when we read in parshat Vayechi, about the rise of the Pharoh who knew not Joseph, who enslaved us while voicing similarly worded concerns (that echo throughout Jewish history) May the (benign) stranger always be welcome in our midst.


• This person requested and received more advice that you can shake a stick (wag an index finger?) at, proving that the best advice is solicited advice. Or course, with advice, the getting is easy; it's the following that's tricky. (via lifehacker's mefi roundup)


• After reading this hack for using one of those nifty eye-fi cards, I wonder if it would work with one of those new chumby devices? Not a bad set-up for under $250.


• Craftzine's animation of how a sewing machine bobbin works is clear enough to have explained it to my daughters. "So THAT's how it works," said my nine year old. (They recently were given a sewing machine to share, and are busy planning projects with it.)



• Leora explores the Jewish themes in Lemony Snicket novels. His Series of Unfortunate Events is a family favorite for us.



• I enjoyed this thread on chowhound about "Which shortcuts to you take, which make you cringe ?"



• Is that an apology in your pocket, or do you just plan to e-mail me? (via swissmiss) (Maybe RWAC should submit his Mad Libs Eulogy to that site?)



• How to figure out which tasks you can ignore shows how Penelope Trunk achieves excellence by resigning herself to imperfection.



• I'm going to have to try to make the sprinkler toy from Make's PVC collection this Summer. I have made similar flashlights, using a cardboard toilet paper tube instead of PVC, both with my kids, and with a classroom of fifth graders.



• Many thanks to Jaffer, who sent this link as an alternative to onion goggles for those of us who wear prescription glasses.



• Lifehacker's excellent practicing simplified GTD was very good.



• Tie-dyed tissue paper is going on our Winter Vacation activity list!



• Foregone conclusions are like magnets to a moral compass, making it hard to navigate to the truth. Of course, that assumes Truth is the goal.



• Are Jews the only ones who measure time from a reference point other than a person's life? There must be others, but I can't think of any off-hand. Please let me know if you have other examples.



• Know someone who knits? Ask him to try his hand at marzipan knit cupcakes.



• I loved this "take a seat" concept!



• Don't forget to check out Batya's latest Kosher Cooking Carnival, dubbed "the Great Green one".



• It was a thrill to see my draft-dodger post on Lifehacker, which is one of my all-time favorite blogs. Lifehacker is syndicated everywhere, so it's hard to track links. I've seen these: eaforums, lathefamily.org, hownow.brownpau, and biggreenme, but others got lost in the (temporary but intense) traffic tsunami.



• I think ubertechnica liked my GTD system. I've never been called a dude before!

Shabbat Shalom!

Son of a Draft Dodger and Charlie the Tuna

How to attach a magnetic draft dodger to a wood door:

The more it snows (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), On snowing. And nobody knows (Tiddely pom), How cold my toes (Tiddely pom), How cold my toes (Tiddely pom), Are growing. -Winnie The Pooh, as reported to A. A. Milne

The draft dodger I made on Monday was so helpful, I've been making them for the other drafty doors in our house.

Magnets inside the draft dodger tube keep it attached as the door swings open and closed. In our mudroom, the magnets were aligned with the nails that held the door flashing.

Most of the doors in our house are wooden and without flashing. In order to use this design on non-metal doors, I could have stuck a few tacks or nails along the bottom. However, I didn't want to do anything permanent to the doors; I didn't want to mar their surface with nails, or risk misaligning the hinges by banging on them with a hammer.

Enter Charlie, stage right. Last week, he solved my vitamin-pill woes. This week, I called upon him to protect my chilly toes.

I used the same method as before, attaching (clean!) tuna can lids with leftover 3M command strips. These allow for a secure attachment, but a complete removal if necessary.

To improve the aesthetics, I cut them into butterflies and painted them. (What? You were expecting me to panel the house in tuna lids? )

The tuna lids cut easily, but have sharp edges. I'd recommend NOT using your best scissors for this activity.

I used Jacquard "lumiere" metallic and opalescent paints for this. I love these paints; they are a joy to use. I started with one of their "exciter" sample kits a few years ago, and fell in love with its rich, generous, high-quality pigment concentration and beautiful colors.

It is expensive paint, but I think it worth the price. Now I buy them in bulk either on-line from dickblick or dharma, or from the local craft store (when I have a coupon.)

Note the ever present bottle-cap paint pallets.

A commenter suggested it would be better if were waterproof. I'm not sure it's necessary, yet it can't hurt. So I've been lining them with duct tape and giving them a quick spray of Scotchguard.

Off topic tip: I've also used these strips to attach strong magnets to the inside of my baking cabinet, to hold a few dedicated measuring cups and measuring spoons.


The adhesive strips were placed on the diagonal, to hide them from view.

Here is the front of a tuna-can butterfly, with the adhesive strip attached to its back. I placed them so the wings would cover the strip-removal-tags. The metal is thin enough to bend forward if I need to get to the tabs and remove the butterflies.


Wiping the wall with rubbing alcohol prepares the surface for the command strip adhesive. (per package instructions.)

Here you can see our Butterfly Verification Assistant, carefully executing the Critical Butterfly Count (CBC) . The CBC is a vital step in Butterfly Placement Assessment. We passed.

Be sure to test the door movement before attaching the fabric cover.

Here is the completed project, in use:

It's time to abolish the draft. (Creating a draft dodger.)

The drafty door between our unheated mudroom and our kitchen has been driving me nutty!

The tile floor was too cold for bare feet, and I could almost see the money from our heating budget seeping through the crack!

This morning, I finally fixed it. Here's how I did it.

First, I measured the door in units of empty paper towel tubes. Since they had to fit inside one another to form one long tube, the total length (of three tubes for my door) had to be a bit longer than the width of the door.


I fit the three tubes together, folding one to fit inside the other, forming a "supertube". These were attached with a ring of glue from a hot glue gun, along the inside of the outer tube.

Using a chopstick and a broom handle, I stuffed the supertube with plastic grocery bags, packing them tightly.

On the door flashing, I placed a super-strong magnet on each nail. Then, I put some hot glue on the magnets, and quickly pressed the stuffed supertube onto the glue-y magnets.

The result is a supertube that attaches to the (nails in the) flashing, magnetically.

This project requires the strong magnets, because the flashing is aluminum (not attracted to magnets), so the tiny nail-heads are the only metal for holding the whole supertube. In order to work properly, the attraction has to be strong enough to hold up to frequent door opening.

For doors without flashing or metal, see the next post for what to do.

When opening the door is tested with a full length supertube, it will knock the supertube off, due to interference from the corner/end piece.

Trim the end piece just enough to allow the door to open easily, allowing the maximum draft-covering length to remain.

I needed about 3/4 of an inch of clearance.

Then I covered the supertube with fabric, using the glue gun. I was careful to leave only one layer of fabric over the magnets, to avoid interfering with their hold capacity.

This was a very quick project, using materials on-hand and about 10 minutes (including photographs.) The frog fabric was from my stash, purchased on clearance at about $2/yard, and I used less than a quarter-yard. Scraps of sheets/tablecloths would work nicely, too. The total cost was under $2.

I wonder how many minutes of New England Winter it will take to recoup my costs from the heating oil bill?

It works very well, and our bare toes are grateful!

Stay warm, everyone!

Shabbat Shalom!

Please note that on Friday afternoons until Saturday evening, the author of this blog is unavailable, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.

Comments made during this time will be held in a queue, to be moderated afterwards.

Thank you for your patience.

This cake for parshat Vayigash depicts Joseph's servant on his way to bring gifts for Joseph's father Yaakov, traveling from Egypt in a Pharoh's chariot, after the brothers have been reunited.

We're having a minimalist, from-the-freezer, snowed-in, guest-less, cocooning shabbat this week with challot from the freezer and just one cake.

Shabbat Shalom!



LINKS that made me smile
"To the person who broke into my car last night." What a great attitude! You deserve to enjoy your new toys, Epes.

Nerd sniping is a dangerous trend that threatens to harm our family and many of our friends. Stop it now.

I wish this video were slower, so I could figure out the steps to make this origami toy.

The public needs to be made aware of this egregious example of the politics of personal destruction and this important public service announcement (via Neatorama)

The glowing reviews of these onion goggles intrigue me. The problem is, I wear strong prescription glasses. I wonder if I could rig up something made of foam to fit around my glasses, that would work in the same way?

Thanks to WiseBread, I have that song from 1776 stuck in my head..."To the right, ever to the right; Never to the left, forever to the right ..." but I forgive them, because I've bookmarked their cell phone signal boosting hacks list, which touts a method that might justify the existence of my twist-tie stockpile. (While this artistic prodigy's latest work justifies hoarding all those little ketchup packets.)

Jessica Hagy's Indexed is like peeking into the contents of a great idea index!

I find it hard to tell friend from foe in the Kipple Wars. My problem is Kipple disguised as non-Kipple, and vice-versa.

Brian Clark asserts that all bloggers have muses. Hmmm. Here's mine.

I've printed a copy of Furoshiki - Japanese fabric package/gift wrapping techniques to study.

Are you an over-buyer or an under-buyer? from The Happiness Project .

I may be susceptible to this virus. Must. Be. Careful.

There's a video going around of a masked "superhero" in New York, defending someone from a group of attackers. Here's another hero, sans mask.

RWAC says his cute Mad Libs Eulogy is in bad taste, but I disagree. I know he meant it in jest, but in the throes of grief, having any starting point, especially one as non-threatening as this, could be helpful. Humor is an emotional tool in stressful situations.

Delivering a eulogy combines public speaking and death. What could be more stressful? (Please don't answer that. Let's all think happy thoughts, and have good news to share. Amen.)

On a more serious note, consider this a gentle nudge to discuss and record your life-end preferences with loved ones, today. May you live long and prosper** to 120.

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks' weekly "Torah Thoughts" are reliably eloquent and consistently excellent. Here's his dvar torah for Parshat Vayigash from last year.

Shabbat Shalom!

** Since on their wedding day, a Jewish bride and groom's prayers get Priority Shipping* to Heaven, it is customary for the couple to bless the wedding guests.

Composing a meaningful personalized blessing for each guest in the midst of all that nuptial hubbub (on an empty stomach) is challenging, particularly if you've never met the person!

On my wedding day, when confronted with the need to bless countless newly-introduced spouses-of-colleagues-of-in-laws with unspecified religious preferences and family situations, all I could think was, "I didn't know there was going to be a diplomacy quiz!"

Whenever stymied for an appropriate blessing, I fell back on "live long and prosper" from Star Trek. Thank you, Mr. Spock.

(* It is said that G-d forgives the bride and groom on their wedding day, purifying the couple as though through a private Yom Kippur.)

In Praise of Parallax

Emily (age 7) has discovered oatmeal. It is her new favorite breakfast.

On Monday, her older sister and veteran oatmeal fan, Hannah, taught her how to make it. (We have an instant water dispenser, which makes this very simple.)

Yesterday, after witnessing Emily's less-than-successful first solo attempt (result: oat soup), I subjected the girls to a lecture entitled, "Best Practices in Measuring Cup Management: Theoretical Approaches and Practical Concerns".

It was a multi-media presentation (diagrams on the refrigerator door) complete with a live demonstration with audience participation (we moved our heads around while looking at some water in a measuring cup) and a question-and-answer period at the end of the session.




I know it was well received, because this morning, Abigail (age 9) serenaded Emily with:

"Measure from the bottom of the meniscus - that is how to pour the water for breakfast..."

This original composition is best appreciated when rendered by someone whose natural mispronunciations make it rhyme. ("menist-kist", "brefkist")

After they left for school, I settled down to read my e-mails.

I subscribe to more e-mail newsletters than I can read. To keep my inbox clear, I set up filters that collect newsletters in a folder. I read what I can when time permits.

This morning, I received a copy of an internationally-distributed-sometimes-inspiring-and-profound-Torah-portion-related newsletter that I usually just skim, apparently forwarded by my rabbi, Rabbi G., directly to me.

Mine was the only e-mail address in the "to" field, yet he hadn't written an introductory note. I hadn't spoken with him in over a month. This was the first time he forwarded something from the Internet to me.

Rabbi G. often contacts me by e-mail, but his messages are usually very focused and specific one-sentence notes that ask or answer a question or request. When he sends e-mails to the whole shul, they are always short and action-oriented.

Clearly there was something in this newsletter that demanded my attention, something he assumed I'd want or need to know, something I'd notice and understand immediately when I saw it. It had to be something that needed no explanation.

Ignoring all the barking e-mails in my inbox, I studied this (long) newsletter, trying to discern its message for me. I read and re-read the divrei Torah, thinking about each sentence, testing its applicability to my life - and to my imagination of Rabbi G.'s perception of my life.

I read all of the classifieds, donations, and dedications, looking for names of relatives and close friends. Did someone die? Did a family member make a sizable donation? What was the last question I asked Rabbi G.?

Could the parenting advice column be what he wanted me to read? Was this his way of telling me something, gently preparing me for something about a friend or loved one?

My anxiety mounted. I was missing it. It was still too early in the morning to call him and ask for clarification.

Maybe it was meant for someone else. Maybe it was a slip of his mouse, sent to me in error. Perhaps I'd soon receive another e-mail, this time with an explanatory note.

On my third reading, I figured it out.

The newsletter was not sent by my rabbi, but from the e-mail address of one of the newsletter's editors who shares my rabbi's surname. Not Rabbi G. G., but Rabbi D. G.

The newsletter editors must have had a problem sending this issue, and sent it as a forward from a personal address. Thus it fell through my e-mail filters and into my inbox. I had never noticed that the editor of this newsletter had the same last name as my rabbi. Since they use "BCC", each recipient gets an copy as the only recipient address in the "to" box.

I took a deep breath, and indulged my inner Winnie the Pooh with a smile. "Silly old bear."

Later this morning, talking to a friend on the telephone, I caught myself sharing a couple of points mentioned in that newsletter.

I had this information to share, only because I read the newsletter so carefully. This only happened because I thought mistakenly it was addressed directly to me.



Changing my perspective changed my measurement of the value newsletter's content. Unlike the water in Emily's oatmeal, when I looked at the newsletter from a different point of view, I really did get more out of it.

My "parallax error" in perception resulted in better accuracy!