Best Prediction Ever

This is well worth the two minutes. Ridiculous(ly lucky), and the call is hilarious. Hat tip: OD.



Mike Blowers calls Matt Tuiasosopo's HR... before the game. The pitch, the count, the place... crazy.

Catching Up

SerandEz & Friends would like to apologize to its readership for the dearth of posts lately, and again, we hope and believe it will pick up substantially as we get into November. Just to give people a brief update as to how some of us are doing:*

• Ezzie's new job is fantastic, and a large number of his friends believe it's the perfect job for him. He thinks it might be, too.
• Serach's really happy with her job, too, and is really looking forward to spending Sukkos in Cleveland and Los Angeles. So is Ezzie, but he's not loving the driving to and from Cleveland that he's going to be doing.
• Elianna loves school, and her friends, and just about everything and everyone, and Coke. Her Daddy is so proud. She also scored a 1600 on the BSATs. [/inside joke]
  
• Kayla is walking and talking and, much like her sister, slightly too clever for her own good. Their parents are already terrified of how they'll function as a team when they're older.
• POBODY'S NERFECT HAD A BABY BOY!!! (And better bring it to Cleveland for Yom Tov.)
  
• Shoshana got married and moved to the Midwest. {jealous}
• Special Ed got married and is totally whipped. {not jealous}
  
• Da Kirsch made aliyah. {jealous}
• iPayTooMuchForMyHair left the accounting world and followed her dream, went to makeup school, and just opened up her own business.
• Jameel had a baby boy, RaggedyMom had a baby girl, Moshe and FFD are on rotations, Holy Hyrax started to do amazing logo design work for public companies, SJ, Erachet, Chana, Fudge, and the Apple have all graduated and moved onto bigger and better things (or onto paths that will lead them there), G went back to learn in kollel for a bit, Bad4Shidduchim went to Israel on behalf of NbN, DGEsq bought a house, Prof. Justice started writing judge's opinions, we got to hang out with Stam and M^2 one fine rainy morning... it's been a little crazy and a lot of fun for everyone, and we hope that everyone's lives move in the right direction. (And yes, I know I left lots of people out - not sure who would want what included. :) )
  

On that note, we'd like to wish everyone a wonderful g'mar chasima tovah and may we all be inscribed in the book of good life, health, happiness, and peace. Have an easy and meaningful fast, and we hope to see all of you soon, whether out here in the J-blogosphere or at the "real-life" Casa SerandEz! :)

* There are also a few more potential bits of exciting news coming soon, so there may be an update to this in the near future, too. :)

Too Smart

Friday:

(Scene: Elianna is standing on the toilet using a makeup brush and a cup to "paint" in the bathroom in the morning.)

Serach: Elianna, please come down and start taking off your clothes so you can get ready for school!
Elianna: Noo!!!
Serach: Eliannaaa...
Elianna: Go on the computer for a few minutes, Mommy. [resumes painting]

(A few minutes later - Elianna has locked the door to the bathroom from the inside, with Kayla also inside)

Serach: Open the door this instant!
Elianna: Get a hanger, Mommy! {we can unlock the door from the outside with something like a hanger or Q-tip or bobbypin}

On Shabbos, Elianna also would interrupt a story being told and tell Serach to "tell the hanger story, too".

Friday night:

Guest to Elianna: Who made you so smart?!
Elianna: [pause, mischievous smile] Coke!

Nice. :)

Yom Kippur

Since Ezzie is now a big business man, here are some thoughts from my hospital's library.

How To Protect Our Children

I received an email about a very important workshop being held on Wednesday, October 14th on the subject "How To Protect Our Children." It is being held at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (125 E. 85th Street on the corner of Lexington) at 7:30 PM and is sponsored by the Sisterhood of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Sisterhood of Congregation Orach Chaim.

From the flier:

"Sexual abuse and domestic violence are issues that even the Orthodox community faces today. Learning how to recognize the signs, and what to do if you suspect someone is being harmed, are among the topics to be covered at this workshop. Funding for this lecture is provided by the UJA Federation of New York Commission on the Jewish People.

The workshop will introduce The Mount Sinai Savi Takanot Project and Beth Israel's Victim Services Program's SOVRI Helpline to the community population. It will include a panel of experts in this field from both hospitals who will proved answers to concerns and questions.

For more information contact Yvonne Koppel: yvonne121@aol.com"

Again, the information is:

"How to Protect Our Children"
Wednesday, October 14th 2009
7:30 PM
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
125 E. 85th St. (on the corner of Lexington)

My Girl(s)

Today in the park, a little kid scratched Kayla (15 months) across the face and knocked her over. Elianna (3-1/2) saw Kayla afterward and demanded:

"Who hurt my baby sister!?" [...]

"I'm going to go and tell them they have to say I'm sorry!!"

Perks

One of the nice perks of working in a company that has a large amount of Jews: Hataras Nedarim goes really quickly. :)

Serach, the girls, and myself would like to wish all of SerandEz's readers a wonderful, sweet new year full of peace, health, happiness, and fulfillment. May we all be inscribed for good.

L'shana Tova tikasevu v'seichaseimu l'alter l'chaim l'tovim ul'shalom.

RSA Raffle (Last Chance)

Two Blocks

This excellent letter reminded me of another one recently that I thought was a poignant read:

Abuse is more common in the Jewish community than most people think it is. How can I say that? Well, I am a survivor of abuse, and including myself, I know of five people who were abused within a two-block radius. That is five people too many.

Parents, especially as school has begun anew, please read pieces such as this one and make sure to properly educate your children. I believe most abuse is committed by people who the children know well; don't assume that "don't talk to strangers" is enough. They need to know what to tell you about and what to say no to. And don't think that kids can't stop abuse:

A child’s vulnerability to predators is dependent to a great extent on the manner in which he or she is treated by their parents, said Lipner. He recalled an incident in which a six-year-old girl scared off a would-be abuser by saying, “That’s stupid and I’m calling the police.”

Educate your kids.

How Rude (Ouch)

From Moshe:

SerandEz.blogspot.com

R.I.P.

Let me just say...
Life is thank God great, and this blog is not even close to dead yet. Plenty of great stuff coming over the next month, and full revival is expected after the Yomim Tovim.

J-Blogger Convention - Live Online

Just as a reminder... for those who are planning on watching and joining the J-blogger convention taking place simultaneously in Israel and over the internet today, the online feeds start at 10:30am EDT. Just go through the Nefesh B'Nefesh site to join in - let me know how it is! Last year it was great.

Fitting In

Growing up, I never thought of my family as loud. That title was reserved for my sister Vervel, who reminded me of just how crazy she can be as we drove through the nights last weekend from Baltimore to Cleveland and back for Grandma's funeral. Her wonderful {choke} renditions of whatever songs were playing on West Virginia radio were... great, and reminiscent of those Pesach sedarim from way back in the day, where the four cups of wine were enough to make her hyper and a little off-kilter.

But this post is not about my sister. At my grandmother's funeral, my cousin R' Avram Goldish commented how in the Cleveland community my grandparents' home was known as "the Loudishes". While my own nature is on the quieter side (it is!), I feel compelled to note that my dear wife fits perfectly in with the rest of the family.

And since we're about to go out to celebrate her birthday, I figured what better way to note it than with a post - Happy 26th Birthday, Serach!!

Hilda Goldish Hespedim

Note: Audio only. Speakers are:

• R' Naphtali Burnstein, Rav of the Young Israel of Greater Cleveland (starting at 0:11) - includes words written by David Goldish [son] (7:12)
  
• R' Avram Goldish [grandson] (12:45), Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivas Nesivos HaTorah, Yerushalayim
• Hudi Goldish [grandson] (25:00)
  
• Ezzie Goldish [grandson] (37:25)
  

Subscribe Free for future posts Add this player to my Page

Double Trouble

Elianna: My daddy got married to my mommy yesterday and I held the flowers.
Erachet: Oh really?
Elianna: Yeah!
Erachet: You were there?
Elianna: Yeah!
Erachet: You were at your mommy and daddy's wedding?
Elianna: Yeah! ...No. No, I didn't.

Erachet: Kayla was crying and crying so I thought maybe she was hungry, so I put her in her seat and gave her some cheerios and she was interested in eating them, except then I started eating a chewy bar and she decided she wanted that, so she kept pointing and crying, but I didn't want to give her because I didn't know if she could have peanut butter yet or not, so finally she started crying "up! up!" so I started taking off her tray, and then she suddenly noticed the cheerios that had been there the whole time and she went, "oh!" and started grabbing handfuls of them.

Happy Cries

There's plenty of those at Bad4Shidduchim today, as she continues the series of posts on the Nefesh B'Nefesh landing. Amazing.

A Brilliant Accident, or Utter Brilliance

I loved this post at Chana's. Excerpt:

G. Nature is one of two things: Intelligence or accident. There is no third alternative. They actually are saying: "Accident plans ahead"; "Accident does nothing without purpose."

A. They do not say that Nature is mere accident. They call it Adaptation.

G. What difference does a new name make? Adaptation is the result of either Intelligence or accident. Is it an accident that the seeds are protected from eaters by their being coated with a slippery mucus, or by being made bitter, or by being covered by hard cases? Or is it an accident that the unripe fruit is green, and is held tightly by the tree; and that only when ripe does the fruit become colored, and then only on the outside of its skin; and that the tree then releases its grip? Adaptation, or whatever term they may use to denote processes of accident, cannot make purposeful arrangements. Without a great Intelligence in control, how could a seed come into being? If one finds a watch in the wilderness, would he attribute it to anything other than an intelligent mind? Such attitudes are possible only when men live in a dreamworld of unreality.

A. But perhaps Life is different. A watch is lifeless, but maybe Life can perform such achievements.

E. That is but another name. The choice must still be made: Life is either accident or Intelligence. To say it is neither would be an evasion.

"Authentic" Judaism

Everyone's definition of "authentic" Judaism is different, but I do think that what some people define as "authentic" is a bit nuts. To that end, please check out R' Gil's post on the subject.

Nefesh B'Nefesh Flight Landing

If you'd like to watch today's NbN flight landing in Israel, and see if you can spot Bad4 - posting furiously about every detail of the trip - or anyone else you know, you can do so here! Enjoy :)

Baruch Dayan Emes

Hilda Goldish, a'h - better known as Grandma (or "Grandma Cleveland"). She was 95 years old. She had the biggest smile in the world, worked for the Hebrew Academy greeting card room until she was 87 years old, drank Coke (and only Coke) from 10-90, and lived in the same house on Shannon Road for nearly 60 years. She loved nothing more than little kids - "until they talk back" and her biggest complaint in life was that "that guy" on Jeopardy (her favorite show) who kept winning "wasn't letting other people have a turn". She also had a huge yellow cookie jar that was always full, a cheap plastic basket stuffed with strawberry (or Elite lemon) candies, and that bottom drawer in the kitchen with some of the oldest (but best) toys you've ever seen.

The accompanying picture is the last time we saw her, Pesach time.

The funeral will be in Cleveland on Sunday at 3:00pm at Berkowitz Kumin Bookatz.

Baruch Dayan Emes. We love you Grandma.

Good4Her

Congratulations to Bad4Shidduchim on being selected to fly to Israel to accompany the Nefesh B'Nefesh flight leaving this coming Monday! I think she's a great choice (duh), and expect to read some great stuff from her over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, I'm taking off a day of work so we can make a little round trip (and avoid traffic in the process) to Baltimore (Shabbos) and Philadelphia (Sunday) this weekend, then take part Labor Day morning in a rivalry softball game here in Kew Gardens Hills between my company and its larger counterpart.

This blog will continue to be sporadic probably until after the Yomim Tovim. Thank God, work has been incredible, and life has been busy. Kayla is walking, Elianna is a grown-up, and Serach is finally on vacation for a couple of weeks.

Please daven for my grandmother, Chaya bas Pesel. Thank you!