Thanksgiving was great! I'm glad that we were able to come to Chicago and spend time with our families. Abba and Patty did an amazing job with the house. They moved in over a two week period which is quite impressive considering that Ari and I have been in our new place for about two months and we still have boxes to be unpacked as well as a "Monica's Closet". That will have to be cleaned out because Cham and Duv along with Abba and Pat are coming in January! We still have open weekends in between if anyone wants/needs a place to stay in Seattle.
I had a great time over Thanksgiving. Abba outdid himself. I normally don't eat turkey but he put enough margarine on it that I was still picking at the carcass long after the company had gone. And the brisket.....YUM!
I did my fair share of eating out. Ari was amazed by how much I consumed- I think he feels a bit insecure since I'm threatening his position as the "eater" in our little family. But he supports my appetite and makes sure that I'm never hungry. We hit a bunch of restaurants and enjoyed them all.
I also noticed in Chicago how many people are reading this blog. Please comment at least once! Don't let Chammie and Keren's frequent hijacking intimidate you.
Anyways- when we landed in Seattle we noticed snow on the ground! Who would've thunk?! It all melted this morning but it's been hailing on and off today. It's supposed to snow throughout this week. It's not like Chicago though- heavy and sticky. They get light snows here that melts fairly quickly.
I'm pretty sick now. My school wouldn't let me come in today cause they didn't want the kids getting sick. I left my other job early cause my sinuses were throbbing. I'm hoping that I'll be well enough tomorrow to resume my normal workload. I don't enjoy sleeping anymore because of RB so "sick days" are not something I can enjoy.
I don't have any pictures to post of Chicago because I forgot my memory card in Seattle. I hope Abba will send me some of the pics he took and then maybe I'll share a few with everyone.
That's it for now.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Eating my way through Chicago
Due to the paucity of normal restaurants here in the Seattle Area coupled with my insatiable appetite, Ari and I are taking full advantage of Chicago's eateries. I have planned out my orders for each of the respective restaurants listed below. (I think I'm now officially a Polsky- I'm planning my vacations around food!) We enjoy company! Please feel free to critique my tentative schedule and/or join us for a meal!
Thursday
Breakfast- Dunkin Donuts
Brunch- Pizza (any suggestions for which restaurant to go to?)
Dinner- Abba's Turkey!!!
Midnight Snack- Slurpee run plus leftovers
Friday
Brunch- New bagel place next to Betzalel's Store
Motzai Shabbat- Slice of Life followed by Slurpee Run
Sunday
Breakfast- Bagel Country
Linner- Ken's
If you are really curious I will post my orders for the restaurants. I'm hungry now. I think I'll go eat.
Thursday
Breakfast- Dunkin Donuts
Brunch- Pizza (any suggestions for which restaurant to go to?)
Dinner- Abba's Turkey!!!
Midnight Snack- Slurpee run plus leftovers
Friday
Brunch- New bagel place next to Betzalel's Store
Motzai Shabbat- Slice of Life followed by Slurpee Run
Sunday
Breakfast- Bagel Country
Linner- Ken's
If you are really curious I will post my orders for the restaurants. I'm hungry now. I think I'll go eat.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
26 weeks- pics
here are two pics of me at 26 weeks. just to give you an idea of how big i've gotten i've also included a pic of me at 2 weeks pregnant.
and i still have 3 more months to go!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Rain Rain Go Away!
It's been a while since I last posted, but nothing has been happening here. The last exciting thing was Abba and Pat's visit. And you already got Abba's version of events and mine are not much different. All I will add is that my cholent was awesome, as usual, and even though we don't normally eat leftover cholent I couldn't bear to throw so much of it away (needless to say, Rachel and Pat didn't eat any and Abba didn't have much either, and I'm only one man!). I think the reason that most people have a stigma against leftover cholent is that they don't heat it up properly. Because it gets so thick and congealed when it cools (thanks to all the yummy yummy fat), the microwave doesn't do a very good job reheating it. What you have to do is add some water to it and heat it up on the stove. That way it heats evenly and doesn't come out too bad.
The other interesting thing that happened this week was our shopping trip to the Supermall. It's a really big mall, probably somewhere around the size of Gurnee Mills. They have this charity event every year where all these nonprofits sell tickets (we got ours through the school Rachel teaches at) and they have one night where the mall is closed to the public and you need these tickets to get in. The stores have some really good special deals, and they have some really good stores. We got 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond and got a Rowenta Iron and some other miscellaneous stuff. We got this cool wine stopper thing that has a spout and a small metal/rubber cork that fits into it so that you can pour the wine without it dripping down the side of the bottle. We got 8 settings of Correlle everyday fleishig dishes for under $50. I got myself a pull cart for my golf clubs for $40 marked down from $60 - now all we need is some golf weather, but it doesn't look like that is coming anytime soon. I think it has been at least 2 weeks since having a 24 hour span without rain. That's about all that's going on at home.
In work news, Windows Vista has shipped to manufacturers! So now everyone is partying. Actually, there were 2 parties on Friday that I was invited to, but I didn't think it was worth it to go in just for that, especially since the second one started at 2, which is kind of late for a winter Friday. Also they had like coctails and stuff, so other than straight beer or scotch there probably was not much there I could have had. So I worked from home as usual instead. The other big news is that the head of Windows is giving everyone off the entire week of Thanksgiving. The only qualification is that you have to have gotten a "ship it" award for Vista, which is given to people who made a significant contribution to the product. The problem is that I didn't work on it at all since I came in too late. But pretty much everyone I work with is going to have off that whole week. I'm going to talk to my boss about it and see if he really wants me to work anyway since I don't technically qualify. I'm guessing he'll tell me to take off anyway since nobody else will be there, but in the worst case I would just work from home the whole week. I'm hoping that we'll get at least one decent non-rainy day that week so I can go golfing, but I'm not holding my breath.
The only other thing I wanted to mention is that we have had a really tepid response the whole turtle naming contest. I don't want to be mean here, but all the suggestions so far have been really lame (except mine of course). Anyway, I think we should add a clause that says if there are no suitable names suggested by, say, a week from now, the names will default to something really awful, like turtle A and turtle B, or maybe Bert and Ernie, or some even more horrible, lame, or offensive names (read: names that include the word "butt" in them) that I have a whole week to come up with. So start moving people! If you want to see what they look like check out the video that Dov linked to in a previous comment.
See (some of) you in a few weeks in Chi-town!
Ari
UPDATE: I spoke to my boss and he's giving me the whole week of Thanksgiving off! Now I'll REALLY have something to be thankful for!
The other interesting thing that happened this week was our shopping trip to the Supermall. It's a really big mall, probably somewhere around the size of Gurnee Mills. They have this charity event every year where all these nonprofits sell tickets (we got ours through the school Rachel teaches at) and they have one night where the mall is closed to the public and you need these tickets to get in. The stores have some really good special deals, and they have some really good stores. We got 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond and got a Rowenta Iron and some other miscellaneous stuff. We got this cool wine stopper thing that has a spout and a small metal/rubber cork that fits into it so that you can pour the wine without it dripping down the side of the bottle. We got 8 settings of Correlle everyday fleishig dishes for under $50. I got myself a pull cart for my golf clubs for $40 marked down from $60 - now all we need is some golf weather, but it doesn't look like that is coming anytime soon. I think it has been at least 2 weeks since having a 24 hour span without rain. That's about all that's going on at home.
In work news, Windows Vista has shipped to manufacturers! So now everyone is partying. Actually, there were 2 parties on Friday that I was invited to, but I didn't think it was worth it to go in just for that, especially since the second one started at 2, which is kind of late for a winter Friday. Also they had like coctails and stuff, so other than straight beer or scotch there probably was not much there I could have had. So I worked from home as usual instead. The other big news is that the head of Windows is giving everyone off the entire week of Thanksgiving. The only qualification is that you have to have gotten a "ship it" award for Vista, which is given to people who made a significant contribution to the product. The problem is that I didn't work on it at all since I came in too late. But pretty much everyone I work with is going to have off that whole week. I'm going to talk to my boss about it and see if he really wants me to work anyway since I don't technically qualify. I'm guessing he'll tell me to take off anyway since nobody else will be there, but in the worst case I would just work from home the whole week. I'm hoping that we'll get at least one decent non-rainy day that week so I can go golfing, but I'm not holding my breath.
The only other thing I wanted to mention is that we have had a really tepid response the whole turtle naming contest. I don't want to be mean here, but all the suggestions so far have been really lame (except mine of course). Anyway, I think we should add a clause that says if there are no suitable names suggested by, say, a week from now, the names will default to something really awful, like turtle A and turtle B, or maybe Bert and Ernie, or some even more horrible, lame, or offensive names (read: names that include the word "butt" in them) that I have a whole week to come up with. So start moving people! If you want to see what they look like check out the video that Dov linked to in a previous comment.
See (some of) you in a few weeks in Chi-town!
Ari
UPDATE: I spoke to my boss and he's giving me the whole week of Thanksgiving off! Now I'll REALLY have something to be thankful for!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
GO MOM!
Congrats to Mom to finally getting out of Bernie's office into a saner workplace that gives benefits! Your knees will thank you.
As for us here in Seattle, we are preparing for Abba and Patty's long awaited visit. They have the zechut of being our first guest and we are very excited! (Of course, they ARE bringing a prime rib which only makes me and RB more excited.) Since I am working all day tom, I need to do most of my cooking tonight- since we are all swapping menus I will tell you what I am planning:
Challah
Minestrone Soup
Asparagus
Salt and Pepper Kugel
Edamame
Portobello Mushrooms and Zucchini
Apple Dumpling Cake
I hope it all comes out well. Of course, now that Ari works from home on Friday there is a big chance that by tom afternoon all the food could be gone. Mental note to self- must add fridge lock to the shopping list.
As much as Ari eats, recently I have been out eating him! Who would have thought? RB definitely has some Polsky genes in there. I am eating like there is no tomorrow and I am always hungry. Ari's shepping nachas already. I dragged him to a Babies R Us to start checking out car seats and he was freaking out. He needed to prepare himself for the major hurdle of walking into a baby store. Of course, once there, he checked out a glider and made himself comfortable so it wasn't too painful for him.
RB is really low down - I look like a football and my back hurts all the time. Conveniently, every teacher at my school has a million kids so I am getting plenty of tips to deal with the pain. I must run to my afternoon job.
In case I do not post/edit later- Have a good Shabbos everyone!
As for us here in Seattle, we are preparing for Abba and Patty's long awaited visit. They have the zechut of being our first guest and we are very excited! (Of course, they ARE bringing a prime rib which only makes me and RB more excited.) Since I am working all day tom, I need to do most of my cooking tonight- since we are all swapping menus I will tell you what I am planning:
Challah
Minestrone Soup
Asparagus
Salt and Pepper Kugel
Edamame
Portobello Mushrooms and Zucchini
Apple Dumpling Cake
I hope it all comes out well. Of course, now that Ari works from home on Friday there is a big chance that by tom afternoon all the food could be gone. Mental note to self- must add fridge lock to the shopping list.
As much as Ari eats, recently I have been out eating him! Who would have thought? RB definitely has some Polsky genes in there. I am eating like there is no tomorrow and I am always hungry. Ari's shepping nachas already. I dragged him to a Babies R Us to start checking out car seats and he was freaking out. He needed to prepare himself for the major hurdle of walking into a baby store. Of course, once there, he checked out a glider and made himself comfortable so it wasn't too painful for him.
RB is really low down - I look like a football and my back hurts all the time. Conveniently, every teacher at my school has a million kids so I am getting plenty of tips to deal with the pain. I must run to my afternoon job.
In case I do not post/edit later- Have a good Shabbos everyone!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Stupid macho-ism and (gasp) fennel!
Lots of new stuff going on here! I wanted to post before things got too crazy this weekend with Abba and Pat coming and us getting the house ready for their visit.
First of all, our new couch and chair are coming on Friday, just in time for the visit, which is good because we were told 8-10 weeks. But since we didn't have room for our old couch anymore we had to get rid of it, which we thought was a shame since we got it for free and it was pretty comfortable - a perfect basement couch for the day when we actually have a basement. So on Sunday I got the only single guy I know here to help me, and I rented a U-Haul and brought it to my office. So now I have a place to nap there! It ended up being a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. The rental is only $20 but at 79 cents a mile it adds up. And you would never guess how much gas I used (you have to refill it before returning it or pay a $40 refueling fee, plus $4 a gallon! They REALLY want to discourage you from bringing it back not full). The drive to work is probably about 18 miles, so both ways was somewhere between 35 and 40 miles. So how many gallons of gas do you think a 14-foot U-Haul would use up? I figured it would be no more than 3 or 4 gallons. Well, I put in almost 9 gallons! How insane is that? So the whole adventure cost more than I expected, but it was still worth it to be able to keep the couch, especially considering that the movers who bring the new one would probably charge us ~$30 just to haul it away.
On to Monday: Rachel and I had been planning on going out to dinner for my birthday, but we decided to go Monday instead because she got off work early. So she picked me up from work and we went to one of (not many cities require that qualifier here) the kosher vegetarian chinese places, which is about 5 minutes away from work. It looked pretty interesting, and people say it's good. They have a pretty large menu, so initially I had a hard time choosing, but I figured I'd get the best value by choosing a combo meal, of which they only had about 5. It was soup, side and main for like 13-16 bucks. Anyway, I chose the basil "beef" and rachel got the sweet and sour "pork." When mine came I knew I made a big mistake the second I smelled it... One whiff and I knew it contained my most feared food - even more than raisins! - the dreaded fennel. It was that overpowering black jellybean smell. I thought I was going to vomit, and I certainly knew I couldn't eat it. So Rachel and I switched and I ate the sweet and sour pork, which is not the kind of think I would normally get since I don't really like sweet entrees. So neither of us particularly got what we wanted, but the food at least looked good.. and looking back at the menu there were definitely other things that I think I would have liked. And the sweet and sour pork was not bad, it just wouldn't have been my first choice. Anyway, the bottom line is that we can't really judge based on the experience we had there and we will have to try it again sometime. I think on Saturday night we will all go to the other veg chinese place that's closer to our house and I will make a better decision. The most disappointing thing for me was not the meal itself - it was the fact that I did not live up to my (well earned) reputation for ordering the best thing on the menu. It was that whole "combo is the best value" line of thinking that really messed me up. I will not be falling for that one again soon. Also I'm really not used to ordering vegetarian food. I think with real beef things are much more straightforward. But I guess the lesson here is to just get back on that horse - there will be other meals to be had...
So then on the way home there was a certain point where we had to choose a route. I wanted to go one way and as the driver I chose it. Rachel thought the other way was faster. I told her I thought we could be home in another ten minutes on the route I had chosen, and she did not believe me. So, being the stupid typical guy that I am, I was speeding, weaving and trying my hardest to get us home in ten minutes. We were going to make it, when literally 2 blocks away from our house I got pulled over for speeding. The cop is like, "do you know what a police car looks like?" Apparently, at the last red light I was pulled up right next to him and when it turned green I peeled out at about 50 in a 25 zone. Not smart, but I was distracted talking to rachel and feeling good about being right. Anyway, thank G-d I still have an Illinois license, so he asked how long ago I had move out here, so I told him and he let me go with a warning, although he also told me that I have 90 days from becoming a resident to get a Washington license. Is it like that in every state? Why can't I drive on a valid Illinois license until it dies (or expires) a natural death and continue to get off scott-free for speeding because I'm just a dopey out of towner who doesn't know all those fancy "traffic laws" you people have out here? Guess I answered my own question there, but I still think I should be allowed to. But even with the stop we got home only 14 minutes later than when I said It'd be 10 minutes! (I guess some lessons are better left unlearned)
And my final piece of news is that I'm announcing a new contest here on the blog. We are going to have a contest to name Chammie and Dovid's turtles! Right now they are just called "turtle'eem," which I think is just not right. They should have their own names so they can express their individuality. I know you all must be brimming over with excitement, trying to think of clever names like "winky and blinky" (Itchy and Scratchy is already taken by our late newts, may their memory be a blessing. Besides, it's not original). Anyway, submit your entries in the comments section, and someone (TBD) will decide which are the best. The prize will be in a similar vein to prizes for previous contests here (i.e. nothing), but think of the respect of your peers! The years (or however long turtles live) of gloating! The prestige! I hope I'm motivating you here. So good luck to all of you! By the way, nobody knows the gender(s) of turtle'eem, so try and pick something neutral, like pickles and yum yum. Or something... Anyway, if Cham or Dov sends me pictures I will post them so you can try to pick a name that really captures their essence - something that says, "I was purchased from a bucket in chinatown. Please don't make soup out of me."
So that is the news from here. Will be busy the next few days with Abba and Pat's visit. PRIME RIB! Almost makes me forget about the (shudder) fennel...
Ari
First of all, our new couch and chair are coming on Friday, just in time for the visit, which is good because we were told 8-10 weeks. But since we didn't have room for our old couch anymore we had to get rid of it, which we thought was a shame since we got it for free and it was pretty comfortable - a perfect basement couch for the day when we actually have a basement. So on Sunday I got the only single guy I know here to help me, and I rented a U-Haul and brought it to my office. So now I have a place to nap there! It ended up being a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. The rental is only $20 but at 79 cents a mile it adds up. And you would never guess how much gas I used (you have to refill it before returning it or pay a $40 refueling fee, plus $4 a gallon! They REALLY want to discourage you from bringing it back not full). The drive to work is probably about 18 miles, so both ways was somewhere between 35 and 40 miles. So how many gallons of gas do you think a 14-foot U-Haul would use up? I figured it would be no more than 3 or 4 gallons. Well, I put in almost 9 gallons! How insane is that? So the whole adventure cost more than I expected, but it was still worth it to be able to keep the couch, especially considering that the movers who bring the new one would probably charge us ~$30 just to haul it away.
On to Monday: Rachel and I had been planning on going out to dinner for my birthday, but we decided to go Monday instead because she got off work early. So she picked me up from work and we went to one of (not many cities require that qualifier here) the kosher vegetarian chinese places, which is about 5 minutes away from work. It looked pretty interesting, and people say it's good. They have a pretty large menu, so initially I had a hard time choosing, but I figured I'd get the best value by choosing a combo meal, of which they only had about 5. It was soup, side and main for like 13-16 bucks. Anyway, I chose the basil "beef" and rachel got the sweet and sour "pork." When mine came I knew I made a big mistake the second I smelled it... One whiff and I knew it contained my most feared food - even more than raisins! - the dreaded fennel. It was that overpowering black jellybean smell. I thought I was going to vomit, and I certainly knew I couldn't eat it. So Rachel and I switched and I ate the sweet and sour pork, which is not the kind of think I would normally get since I don't really like sweet entrees. So neither of us particularly got what we wanted, but the food at least looked good.. and looking back at the menu there were definitely other things that I think I would have liked. And the sweet and sour pork was not bad, it just wouldn't have been my first choice. Anyway, the bottom line is that we can't really judge based on the experience we had there and we will have to try it again sometime. I think on Saturday night we will all go to the other veg chinese place that's closer to our house and I will make a better decision. The most disappointing thing for me was not the meal itself - it was the fact that I did not live up to my (well earned) reputation for ordering the best thing on the menu. It was that whole "combo is the best value" line of thinking that really messed me up. I will not be falling for that one again soon. Also I'm really not used to ordering vegetarian food. I think with real beef things are much more straightforward. But I guess the lesson here is to just get back on that horse - there will be other meals to be had...
So then on the way home there was a certain point where we had to choose a route. I wanted to go one way and as the driver I chose it. Rachel thought the other way was faster. I told her I thought we could be home in another ten minutes on the route I had chosen, and she did not believe me. So, being the stupid typical guy that I am, I was speeding, weaving and trying my hardest to get us home in ten minutes. We were going to make it, when literally 2 blocks away from our house I got pulled over for speeding. The cop is like, "do you know what a police car looks like?" Apparently, at the last red light I was pulled up right next to him and when it turned green I peeled out at about 50 in a 25 zone. Not smart, but I was distracted talking to rachel and feeling good about being right. Anyway, thank G-d I still have an Illinois license, so he asked how long ago I had move out here, so I told him and he let me go with a warning, although he also told me that I have 90 days from becoming a resident to get a Washington license. Is it like that in every state? Why can't I drive on a valid Illinois license until it dies (or expires) a natural death and continue to get off scott-free for speeding because I'm just a dopey out of towner who doesn't know all those fancy "traffic laws" you people have out here? Guess I answered my own question there, but I still think I should be allowed to. But even with the stop we got home only 14 minutes later than when I said It'd be 10 minutes! (I guess some lessons are better left unlearned)
And my final piece of news is that I'm announcing a new contest here on the blog. We are going to have a contest to name Chammie and Dovid's turtles! Right now they are just called "turtle'eem," which I think is just not right. They should have their own names so they can express their individuality. I know you all must be brimming over with excitement, trying to think of clever names like "winky and blinky" (Itchy and Scratchy is already taken by our late newts, may their memory be a blessing. Besides, it's not original). Anyway, submit your entries in the comments section, and someone (TBD) will decide which are the best. The prize will be in a similar vein to prizes for previous contests here (i.e. nothing), but think of the respect of your peers! The years (or however long turtles live) of gloating! The prestige! I hope I'm motivating you here. So good luck to all of you! By the way, nobody knows the gender(s) of turtle'eem, so try and pick something neutral, like pickles and yum yum. Or something... Anyway, if Cham or Dov sends me pictures I will post them so you can try to pick a name that really captures their essence - something that says, "I was purchased from a bucket in chinatown. Please don't make soup out of me."
So that is the news from here. Will be busy the next few days with Abba and Pat's visit. PRIME RIB! Almost makes me forget about the (shudder) fennel...
Ari
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