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!

Magnets on the inside of cabinets

Remember that tuna can project a few weeks ago? Admit it: You were wondering what I did with the lids. I knew it.

I use a seven-section pill container for my vitamins. It had a reserved place in a corner of one of my kitchen cabinets, but I kept forgetting about it because it was tucked away, out of sight.

I wanted a place for it that I'd always be able to see, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving something personal (and perhaps dangerously attractive to children) out in the open.

The solution was to glue-gun magnets to the back of the container, and stick it to.... something metal.

The "something metal" was the tuna can lids.

I washed them well, and lined their potentially sharp edges with glue from the glue gun. When the hot glue dried, I used leftover 3M Command strips to attach the tuna can lids to the inside of the cabinet door.

(I didn't want to do anything that would ruin the cabinet door. The clothespins in the picture are also held up with leftover command strips. I put them there to hold in-use recipes.)

(I'm a big fan of those Command Strips. The package with hooks usually comes with extra adhesive strips, which I save for projects like this. I've even used these strips for a friend's seasonal rental apartment, where nails were prohibited, everywhere, including in the shower and to attach mezuzot firmly to the door-frame for a season. They stayed up all summer and removed completely with a single stroke.)

This has worked really well. The tuna lids are very thin, so the combined width of the pill container fits in the gap between the edge of the shelf and the cabinet door. I was able to put them up higher than the children's unaided reach.

The best part is, I haven't forgotten to take my vitamins since setting this up, three weeks ago!

UPDATE: This project works well inside a cabinet, but if you want something more aesthetically appealing, try cutting the metal into shapes and/or painting, as described in this post.

7 for the Seventh Day

A few weeks ago, Teacherninja tagged me with the seven things meme, in which I'm supposed to share seven weird or random things about myself, and then inflict it upon invite seven others to do the same.

Though I've shared eight things in a meme not too long ago, I started sorting through my abundant idiosyncrasy supply to meet his challenge. I quickly realized that there are just too many odd things from which to choose. (Well, *I* don't think they're odd, but there does seem to be a consensus forming amongst those who know me...)

Since today is the seventh day of Chanukah, I decided to narrow the list to weird or random things about how I celebrate Chanukah.

1. We prefer our donuts without jelly. All of us. I bought one of those Bismark tips for filling them, but rarely bother to use it.

2. When my son was two and a half, he came to me one Chanukah morning, and proudly said, "I lit the candles."

"That's nice," I said, thinking he was engaging in imaginative play. It took a beat before I realized this was a naive and dangerous assumption.

"Show me. Show me the candles you lit."

He led me downstairs and cheerfully pointed to the chanukah candles burning on the table. He then took me to the kitchen, where he explained the furniture ladder he constructed to reach the matches that were stored in a high cabinet above the counter.

Breathing deeply to hide my panic as I put the fire out, I asked him as casually as I could, "So, did you light any other candles today?"

He shrugged and said, "I don't remember." Then he skipped away.

Thank G-d, there was only that one fire

He's fifteen now, and has taught others about fire safety as a Boy Scout. Yet there hasn't been a Chanukah since that he (and everyone else) hasn't had to listen to a fire safety lecture from me.

3. We have a tradition that everyone must give tzedaka before any of the gifts are opened. I dump a pile of change on the dining table, and the kids take from it and deposit it in the tzedaka box.

[begin kvell] This year, a few of the kids insisted on giving from their own money, instead of using mine! [end kvell]

4. We light with candles. After too many mishaps with olive oil, we've decided (for us) it's more mehudar (beautifying) to keep our house unchared and my heart out of my teeth.

I ordered a case of 48 candle boxes about eight years ago, and still have about half of it. The candles cost about 20 cents a box this way. I think we're building up stock, however, as we get a few boxes each year from tzedaka mail, my mother, and this year the PTA sent each child home with their own box.

These trays go under each person's menorah.

5. Over the years, we've developed a system we like that lets the kids receive a gift for each night of Chanukah, without overdoing the consumerism, mess, and needless acquisition (and acquisitiveness.) I hope.

A few weeks before Chanukah, I hang a large personalized black bag for each family member on a portable garment rack in our hallway. Also hanging on this rack, is another bag that holds a collection of reusable fabric bags for wrapping the gifts. I made these using colorful fabrics from torn t-shirts and stained tablecloths.



(Here's an old t-shirt being made into three quick gift bags: turn shirt inside out, seam across the chest, under the armpits, and then seam each sleeve below the shoulder. Cut excess with pinking scissors. Voila! Two small bags and one large one. We tie them with pipe cleaners - easy to remove and reusable, too.)

When the grandparents and aunts ship gifts to the children, they know they needn't bother with (or pay for) wrapping paper. As the gifts arrive, I put them in the gift bags, and then in the appropriate big black bag.

By the time Chanukah arrives, there are usually five gifts in each child's bag from the grandparents and aunts, leaving me with three gifts per child to get. For the girls, I provide a hair ornament, a book, and a craft supply. For my son, it's a book, a larger pair of slippers, and a roll of duct tape. (This is not a gag gift. He loves making things from duct tape.)


The idea is to have something for them to open each night, without accumulating a bunch of unnecessary stuff, and without a trash bag full of expensive and unappreciated wrapping paper.

I also like this system because it extends the anticipation, and allows each gift to have its own spotlight night. Since the wrapping bags come from home, when the children reach into their bags to select a gift, they really don't know whether they are getting an extravagant gift from a grandparent, a toy from an aunt, or very modest gift from us.

Even when they know what they're getting, they don't know which night they'll choose it. This also makes it much more difficult for the children to compare what they receive to what their siblings get.

6. When something does arrive in wrapping paper, (surprise!) I save and hoard it for crafts.



7. I made our chanukah napkins knowingly using fabric that has a misprint on it, because the fabric was $1 /yard on clearance one February (ten years ago!)



It has a chet on the dreidel, not a hey. Useful acronyms, anyone? Neis Gadol ???? Sham?

And now for the next victims lucky tagees:
FernChasida, AidelMaidel , Miriam, Jendeis, BabkaNosher, Ayelet, Tzipporah

Here are the links to thier completed tag posts (updated as I find out about them):
FernChasida, AidelMaidel, Miriam, Jendeis, BabkaNosher, Ayelet, Tzipporah, (and Batya, indirectly!)

Link Potpourri - Productivity, Chanukah, etc.

How am I supposed to get anything done, while this whole Internet thingy is still going on?

PRODUCTIVITY

• Try to do one nagging task each day, or even better, avoid having a nagging task. by Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project



• Never underestimate the power of a checklist.



• Leo Babauta wrote this great concise recap of the heart of GTD: Focus on Actions to Get More Done in Less Time for FreelanceSwitch.

CHANUKAH

• Check out this cute home brewed menorah.



• Ted of Help! I have a Fire in My Kitchen wrote this excellent and comprehensive chanukah article, which I have bookmarked for future forwarding to anyone looking for background on Chanukah.



• Jack did a great job with Havel Havelim 144



• Five things people say about Christmas that drive me nuts by Penelope Trunk



• Apparently, great minds think alike! SimpleJew also made a chanukiyah shaped challah last week!



• Torahlab: The Scroll of Antiochus, free PDF in Hebrew and English, translated by Rabbi David Sedley. (Requires free newsletter subscription to download.)



• Babkanosher's clever method of telling the chanukah story , adjusted perfectly for an elementary public school classroom, highlighting the Macabees' fight for freedom of religion, without bringing religion into the story. What a great balancing act!



• I'm not sure which impressed me more about Danya Ruttenberg's recently republished wrenching and thoughtful article, Moving Past Two-Mindedness - the conclusions she reached, or the path she took to get there.
  
  She describes meditating on her anger with Judaism in the glow from chanukah candles that she continued to light, despite her frustrations. This iconic image will remain with me as a symbol of the commitment and intellectual honesty required for our Jewish national pastime: wrestling with G-d.
  
  In 2004, I enjoyed the collection of essays she edited, Yentl's Revenge: The New Wave of Jewish Feminism (** see disclaimer, below) and thus found the evolution of her rapprochement with Chanukah and Judaism - and her honesty and rigor within her progressive feminist paradigm - particularly interesting. (Even her creative use of pronouns was new to me.)
  
  I also plan to follow her suggestion to put applesauce and sour cream in squeeze containers when serving latkes, like she observed in Germany, which apparently is not the only place in the world where they put bacon on just about everything.
  
  As a kosher-cooking Jew of Yekkish (German) extraction, I've read so many recipes in non-kosher German cookbooks that my brain automatically translates "half a pound of bacon" to "a stick of margarine and a full package of onion soup mix" without conscious intervention.
  
  She also shared The Grinch Who Stole the Latkes



• If you're worried about the lead content in the children's toys, here is a new lead test kit.



• Texas No Limit Holdem Dreidl game by ModernTribe (via Judaica Journal)

ETC.

• A mathematical equivalent to moral relativism? I guess it all depends on what units you use.



• Good to know: Superglue can be removed with Vaseline.



• Pop Quiz: Neil or Carl?



• Now I know why scientists to work in labs, rather than in cubes. (via mindhacks)



• This idea for augmenting store-bought maternity clothes makes me want to make something similar (from outgrown t-shirts, probably) for the girls.
  
  At a minimum, can just sew contrasting outgrown shirt piece onto the bottom of the next one, in order to stem the insidious, burgeoning population of belly shirts collecting at the bottom of my girls' closets.
  
  Will probably try this with and without a coordinating ribbon on the front (to hide/disguise the seam.)



• This book signing proposal made me smile.



• I believe with perfect faith that the Internet will soon provide me an opportunity to use the word snoutband in a sentence.



• Yoda pizza could be made kosher, I think. Must keep this on file for my Star Wars-obsessed daughter's birthday party.



• This one made me sigh: The Man Not in the Mirror.



• I wish there were a way to make a Torah scroll's handles from this tree.

Gut Chodesh, everyone!

---

Disclaimer: I read widely and have eclectic taste. I seek and enjoy diverse perspectives, distinct voices, and opinions that differ from my own. I don't restrict my reading to "kosher" lists or sources. (Or blogs, for that matter!)

Orthodox readers who prefer to limit their exposure to non-Orthodox material should not construe the expression of my appreciation of this book as an indication that this book meets their requirements, or as an endorsement of its authors' arguments, conclusions, or lifestyle choices.

If you're trying to keep your bookshelves hashkafically pure, then this book is not for you.

I found it a fascinating collection of well-written essays from young women trying to reconcile their identities, Judaism, post-feminism, yearning for spirituality, and practical concerns. As they wrestled with G-d, I didn't always identify with or cheer about the outcomes, but I did appreciate the integrity of their struggles.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

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.


I had a little fun with the shapes of this week's challah, making an oil flask and a menorah with 4 lit candles (orange peels) in honor of tonight being the fourth night of chanukah. (The oil flask one isn't burnt, that's cocoa I put on the background to set off the shape of the flask.)

The cakes are about parshat Miketz, where we read about Pharaoh's dreams. One is of seven lean and hungry cows, ready to dine on the seven fat ones. The other cake has two stalks of grain, one with seven fat ears and the other with seven skinny ears.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

FAME
In addition to Ted's generous and wonderful "The Magic and Mystery of Challah", Jen Taylor Friedman (inventor of "Tefillin Barbie") kindly linked to my toy shul instructions, sparking discussion on Jewschool (which I found, thanks to an e-mail from Stacey, a Juggling Frogs reader, and sent in a lengthy comment.)

Shortly afterwards, it was featured on the very popular BoingBoing news site. (Thanks to Aidel Maidel telling me (and everyone else) about it, and for her kind words!) From there, discussions and links exploded, and now I've lost track of them all.

Many thanks to readers who have pointed out Hashkafah.com (thanks jewinjeru!), chatiryworld, fodors (which has a couple of threads, I think, but this was the first), and Menupages Boston's Blogston Proper: All Hanukah Edition!.

There were also a couple of prolific and extended, passionately negative, disturbingly x-rated and profanity-laced discussions, which I don't understand and obviously can't share here. Sometimes I think the Internet is one big Rorschach test. May everyone get the therapy they need.

LINKS that made me smile

• Giving gelt for chanukah? You might want to try MoneyGami (via SwissMiss)
• This was a lovely article by Rabbi Horowitz: "Wal-mart is Coming"
• It's amazing what we can do when we can identify a common enemy.
• A couple of cute stories of hanukkah in Jerusalem shops (via Jewschool's Danya)
• SephardiLady deftly relates her thoughts on saving for retirement to this week's parsha, Miketz.

SOAP!
CrunchyGranolaMom's redesigned family soapsite looks wonderful! May you have every success!

PRODUCTIVITY
I enjoyed this well-written (and free) e-book about Time Management for Creative People by at wishful thinking.

Tim Ferris' "How to Take Notes like an AlphaGeek" does a great job of explaining his system, parts of which are remarkably similar to mine.

He numbers his pages 1, 2, 3, and then uses 1.5 to refer to the back of the page, while I prefer the Vilna-Talmud-inspired "B" side for designating the back of the page; he likes graph paper, as is in my beloved squared notebooks, and has developed a similar indexing system for retrieval of the information stored in his notes.

It's interesting that while he's running around the world and taking on all comers in a 4 hour workweek, and I'm at home playing with my kids in a zero hour workweek, the same type of system works for both of us.

MAZAL TOV again to the winners of the Chanukah Book Giveaway: Preemie Twins' Nanny**,Shelli**, Chavlene**, Phyllis Sommer, and SephardiLady, and THANKS to all who entered, and to Sharon Estroff and Broadway Books for providing the copies of this book to give away to Juggling Frogs readers.

I'm interested to hear what you think of the book when you read it. You can see Amazon's page/reviews for it here. Send me links to your reviews, and I'll attempt to compile them.

(** Please send your mailing address to Carolyn at Jugglingfrogs dot com, so I can get your prize to you before I spill something on it!)

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

Making Latkes tonight? Check out this potato peeling method:

I had to share these two potato peeling demonstration videos that demonstrate the same quick method for peeling potatoes.

The first one is in Chinese (I think). Japanese. (Thanks, Jaffer!) It is delivered with so much energy that I felt for my wallet. There's nothing for sale, just a cool idea:
http://www.5min.com/Video/Quick-way-to-peel-a-potato-6766

From what I can tell, she scored the skin, parboiled (maybe: see below) the potato, submersed it in an ice bath, and squeezed the skin off.

Here's another video that shows the same method, with a lot less enthusiasm and detail, but in English: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-peel-a-potato-skin-3841

Maybe we'll have latkes tonight instead of donuts!

Update #1: (see comments by Mother-in-Israel) - The jury's still out on this one, because we're not sure if the potatoes are really parboiled, or cooked through. I guess we'll have wait for verification of this technique from empirical research before recommending it.
If any of you understand Chinese Japanese. , or know of this technique, please clue us in!
Update #2: Thanks to Jaffer's Japanese-speaking brother, it looks like parboiling gets another vote!