What's on my mind Today

אוהבים ללכת לים?

2007-10-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have always asked myself what is people's facination with going to the beach. The air? the views? the sand?

Little house on the prairie style

2007-04-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me to write about this. So here I go.
Warning! Please do not read if pregnant :-)

Well, the story begins with the following facts. I was pregnant. I was due in a week. Yes, a week is still enough time to get ready... according to my calculations, especially if you consider that the pregnancy is only 40 weeks. Ok when I put it that way... perhaps it is not a long time. Then consider the fact that I did not imagine giving birth ahead of time... OK . I am glad we got that straitened out.

It is the middle of the night. Actually past 2A.M. which technically means early morning. I was just woken up.. no, no, not labour pain. It was the cat who jumped on my face, thinking it would be fun for me to eat some of her fur, while I am asleep.
After making sure she was out of my way, trying to return to what I wanted to do, yes sleep, knowing that soon my nights would be drawn into a vacuum of unsleepiness bound by the "food siren", as I call it" of the baby.

I wasn't able to sleep, feeling some pressure in the lower abs area. Naturally, I thought I ate too much for dinner, knowing how us pregnant ladies eat, and I especially (pregnant or not.. truelly , ask my friends :-) ). Nope! It was not the food.

Soon enough (meaning in a couple of minutes if not less), I felt some pain that was coming and going. I got up to get dressed and made sure the whole house was up with me.. it was time to go to the hospital. Suddenly blood! oh no.. this is sooner than I expected. Lots of blood.. Oh no... Come on we need to hurry.
No one is in a hurry. I mean, labour pain can last for hours!.

Hurry..... my water broke... I have to change my clothes. Done. Can we go now, already? Wait!... more water, more water. let me get cleaned again. Alright I am ready now... wait more water. It's coming out! IT'S COMING OUT, call the AMBULANCE NOWWWWWWWWW!!!

"I want a DOCTOR. I want a DOCTOR" I hear myself saying out loud, almost screaming at the top of my voice.

And out you go. paramedics came in just in time to see her pop her head out and cut the abilicle cord.
I got dressed, walked down 4 flights of stairs and got to the ambulance that drove us to the hospital.

Kind of "Little house on the prairie" style of delivery, don't you think?
"Bring clean sheets and some hot water"

PS. For those pregnant women who had to read the artile.. don't say I didn't warn you :-)

Don't show the donkey part of the work

2006-08-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

We were sitting in a coffee shop when this guy walked in. He was carrying a laptop case. It was hot. He face was sweating. He sat at the table next to us. When the waitress came up to him to take his order the only thing he wanted was a glass of water. Not mineral water, tap water.

He place the laptop case on the table and opened one of the pockets. He peeked inside to make sure t was there and then closed it again. He was sweating. His face was dripping. He wiped his face with his hards. Once the waitress came back with the water he gulped it all in one long sip. He then opened that pocket again, peeked inside making sure IT was there and then closed it again.

I was following his every move. He wiped the sweat off his face yet again. I then got a call and turned to take out my cellular phone from my hand bag. He disappeared. I asked my friends if they had notice the strange guy that was just sitting at the neighboring table. No one notice he was there and no one felt when he was gone. I was looking to see if he had left something around and could not see anything obivious. I began describing to my friends what I had just seen. We decided to check the neighboring table for anything conspicuous. There was nothing there. Not a thing.

Not a few minutes go by and this guy comes back, still carring the laptop case, his face still sweating. He sits at the neighboring table again. I point him out to my friends. He clears the sweat from his face and opens the that pocket again. This time he takes it out. It was the laptop electical cord. He then takes out the laptop.

He did not seem like a computer guru to me, by the way he was typing (he was not typying two hundred words a minute that was for sure, ten is more like it). He was looking at something. Concentrating. What laptop is this? An HP.

Suddnenly his friend shows up, he too carrying a laptop case. He too takes out his laptop, and IBM thinkpad. The waitress come up to them and take an order. This time a real one.

The moral of this story
1. You can never be too careful - better safe than sorry
2. Looks can be deceiving
3. Don't show the donkey part of the work - with only some parts of the puzzle, our imagination can take us to a multitude of places.

We all laughed at this. I am gald it ended this way.

tags: memories & short stories / don't show the donkey part of the work

A heaven of stairways

2006-08-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

When we get old, the last thing we want to do is to climb stairs. In our teens, we use stairs as a good cadio-vascular sport, to get in shape. What is fascinating is how kids love stairs. Going up and down the stairs can keep them busy for a quite a while.

When we were in Italy, I was amazed to see little kids just having a ball walking those slopes, rolling down the hill and climbing a maltitude of stairs. Whether it was up or down just did not matter. It is quite a good exercise for parents as well. Pushing a stroller with a 30 pound todler, the stroller probably weighs another 10 pounds, and of course you have to put something in or on the stroller: water, souvaniers, dipers. It could come to 45 pounds just like that... and push.

Those hill towns of Umbria, Italy sure are lovely. They are very old and some are very well preserved. They are also very slopey. You cannot get that using your treadmill, that is for sure. No wonder those 80 year-olds live that long, the great fresh air along with the exercise keeps them fit.

Some of the cities have escalators / moving stairs that could take you from the parking lot up to one of the main streets.

The main question remains: how did they ever manage to get all those rocks for the buildings and the fortresses in the 15th century and for so many cities. This is, my friends, a mystery to me. It's definately worth a visit.

tags: memories & short stories / a heaven of stairways

The most beautiful girl in the garden

2006-07-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

She was already a famous singer when I was a child. She is considered one of the first women rock singers and she sure was unique for her time. With a beautiful voice and great fingers (for the guitar) she is definately one I would recommend seeing.

The old theatre/cinema by our appartment building is no longer there. They brought it down and built a monstrous building (with very noisey neighbors , I must add). A whole generation of kids are growing up on the ruins of this cinema, not knowing there was culture and art right under their noses. I remember Yehudit Ravitz performing there.

I could hear her from my bedroom. I must have been about eight years old. The theatre/cimena was quite large (and considered sophisticated for that time). Many perfomers, artists and comedians appeared there with much sought out perfomances. Those old wooden seats, no aircoditioning (but there were ventilators), the stands of flickering lights, the scent of the theatre , such memories.

She was in the dressing room. We could look through the window and see her sitting causally with her band getting ready for the performance.
All the songs in her repertoir were known. I knew all the word and I was lying in bed singing along with her.

A few weeks ago I got to see her again (this time in Givatime). I had second row tickets. Really close to the stage and the band. WOW. It was a much smaller theater with comfortable seats, airconditioning and excited audience who energized the band to sing just a few more songs for us.

I really enjoyed her performance. As usual, I know most of the songs and the lyrics too. It was fun to sing along , live , this time. The girl who sat next too me knew the words too and we laughed when our eyes met while we were singing the songs.

Yehudit Ravitz also sang a few songs just her and the guitar, without the band. Those were really touching songs. She is working on a new album and she sang a new song from that album. It was kindof a bossa nova style song and it was just beautiful. I cannot wait for her album to come out already.

My old time favorite (from the quite songs) is "The most beautiful girl in the garden". I really should record it and upload it to this post.

tags: michali blog/memories & short stories/the most beautiful girl in the garden>, michali blog/memories & short stories/yehudit ravitz>

The Sting

2006-06-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

He was miraculous. It was said that he has been here about ten years ago. I must have been sleeping to have missed that too. Sting came here and gave an amazing performace. He filled up a soccer stadium (about 25,000 people showed up) WOW.

I had so much fun. His song repertoire included songs from the Police and solo Sting songs from all his years of music making. The band was a small rock type band, which consisted of two electic guitars, Sting on the bass guitar and the drummer (who by the way was awesome and energetic throughout the whole concert). He did not take any breaks and sang for an hour and half, just like listening to a CD recording, but live. It was just great. He sounded great.

We sure were hungry after the concert. We decided to stop at the Pancake House. It must have been midnight and the chariot was soon to turn back into a pumpkin.

I have this rule. I never leave my handbag or purse out of my sight. It is always on me or very close to me. I heard too many stories of people who have had their wallet stolen, even in the office (right out of thier own room), and I wasn't going to let that happen to me.

It was a choice between the booth or the table and chairs. My preference was the booth, but I was overruled. I hung the handbag on the side of my chair leaning backwards with one hand always on the bag.

I guess I was so mesmorized by the concert and sooooo hungry, I let myself dive into the food without paying attention.

As we got to the car, I opened the purse and terror struck me. It was gone. My wallet was gone. My camera was gone. Gone, gone, gone. And to top it all off, my eye glasses were broken in two. I immediately ran back to the restaurant to see if the culprits were still their. They were long gone.

I was quiet. I was angry. How could this have happened to me. To me. To me. To me. TO ME!!!! I am always so cautious, so suspicious, so benevolently alert.

Most people don't understand me. When things go wrong I usually close up. They think I am depressed but I am not. I really need to stay away from everyone. I don't need to talk about it, but I do need to do two things - sort out my feelings and my thoughts. What I realy need is some piece and quiet, to be left alone. No need for consolation, just let me be.

In terms of my feelings, I was mad as hell. I am sure if I had caught them, I would have taught them a lesson or two. With my bare hands.

In terms of my thoughts there were two things I needed to do:

Go over the whole restaurant scene and see where I went wrong
Find a solution so that such an unfortunate incident will never, ever, ever, ever happen to me again.

It was obvious that the only time I took my hand off my purse was when I was eating. Although I sucked in the pancakes like a vacuume cleaner, they had enough time to reach into the handbag and take their loot.

My conclusions

We should have sat in the booths
When ever going out don't hang your handbag or purse on the chair!
Take a small purse - it is less conspicuous

If you must take a large purse or handbag, make sure

It is not made of cloth (cloth can be easily cut with a small knife).
It should have many segragated pockets that can be firmly closed (by a zipper or some other method) .
Spread your precious items in the different pockets

Of course someone can run off with the whole handbag and we are back to square one. So

Before leaving your home take out of the wallet anything you don't need - cash, credit cards, coupons, pictures, memories. Bring just what you need for that activity.
Keep the purse or bag in front of your eyes, on your legs, between your feet, anywhere away from the long arm of the thief.

Material things come ago. We can learn lessons from other people's mistakes. We can learn lessons from our own bad experiences. We cannot move the clock back and relive the day.

I was stung, and the scars will stay with me for a long time.

I hope that in time I will be able to reminisce about the Sting and forget about the sting.

Tags: memories & short stories / the sting

How to kill mosquitoes

2006-06-06T01:15:00.000-07:00

I really dislike mosquitoes. I haven't really found any use for them either, in the food chain, maybe for spiders, but truely, spiders can eat other insects.

There are many other problems with mosquitoes. For one it is very difficult to get rid of them. Every female mosquito can lay over 100 eggs. All they need is some still water. Worst of all, they can pass diseases on!

Outside they are a nuisance, but at home, inside your private dwelling they are much more. You are trying to sleep and suddenly, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz the next thing you know, you have been bitten, on your eyelid.

"But I put some mosquito repellent" you say to yourself, half asleep. "OK not on my eylids, but, well , everywhere else on my body, even on my clothes.
And how the devil did they get to that spot. It is covered with a shirt? ".
The Buzzzzz is still lingering in your head when you are thinking "What should I do next?"

The next step is to kill the mosquito. Obviously, if you don't, you are not going to get to sleep tonight.

So how do we kill the mosquito?
As you turn on the light, the mosquito has done a disappearing act. But don't let that fool you. Once you are still she will be back haunting you. One bite is just not enough!

Vacuum cleaner - Spray a bit of insect spray killer into the bag, turn on the vacuum cleaner and let it suck them in.
Problems:
- Very noisey at night
- Until you hook up the vacuum with the long hose to reach the ceiling, the mosquito will find a new place
Shoe - yes that is very close to your bedside. Just pick up the shoe and, splat, the mosquitoe is gone.
Problems:
- your significant other will not apprieciate the shoe print on the wall
- after sucking so much of your blood it will definately leave a mark
- if the shoe has a non flat surface, the mosquito will be able to escape
Newspaper - absolutely. It consists of a flat surface, there is only the blood on the wall to worry about. (And that you can clean in the morning... )
problems:
- naa.... it will stay there until you repaint the wall or the ceiling (and there's a trophey for your success, hanging there for your view, no shelves needed)
Clap your hands - just scare the creep and clap your hands, where the mosquito is in between both palms.
problems:
- In most cases, the mosquito is quicker (unless you are Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid, and then you can just use chopsticks :-) )
- If you did manage to catch it, all the blood is splattered in you plams.... yackkkkkk
- If you do it with wet hands you may have a better chance of catching it.

Ok, so what do we do. We seem to have covered all the options.
Well, I have an idea.
The Solution (my invention):

Get 1 piece of paper towel
Fold it in half
Soak it in some water so it is damp (it shouldn't be dripping)...now you are ready to go
Place the damp folded paper towel on the palm of you hand and...
shlack, fast, decisively yet lightly place the paper towel on the mosquito.
The mosquito got caught in you own little homemade net.
==> Now it is stuck to your paper towel and not to you, it didn't splat all the blood on the wall, your hands are clean.

Good night.

tags: michali blog/howto/how to kill mosquitoes

Strawberry Fields Forever

2006-06-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, people had a small piece of land, they had to cultivate, plant, water it and pick the grown fruits, then find someone to sell the goods to. It was hard work that insisted on hard physical abilities and working for hours at the fields, no matter what the weather was like.

It is fun to see that today you can pay someone to pick fruits on their own land and then pay for what you have picked.
This new trend of berry picking sure is fun and fruitful to us all.

It is always more delicious to eat berries (and other fruits for that matter) that have been picked straight from the trees. Even if you keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of days it will probably still taste better than buying things at the supermarket.

Every season you can pick different fruits from strawberries, blueberries, apples and even grapes.
I recommend this to everyone. But get there early before the sun is very strong, and before others have had the chance to get the best, sweetest fruits.

Cheers.

Tags: memories & short stories/strawberry fields forever

pitch

2006-05-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

It is interesting that one word could have multiple unrelated meanings.
For example the word Pitch.

pitch (n) - the act of throwing or tossing an object
pitch (n) - the vibration frequency of a sound wave
pitch (n) - the angel of the roof

Pitch has other meanings too, but when we use the word in this sense:

Pitcher (n) - the person who tosses an object

it makes sense.
But using the word as such:

a pitcher (n) - a container for liquids

I wonder where it came from?

Well as it turns out, there is another definition to pitch:

pitch (n) - a sticky (gummy) type non flowing liquid that is concentrated and doesn't flow.

perhaps when extracting this viscous fluid from solids, it was placed in a container today known as a pitcher.

Tags: words & phrases/pitch

Beware of Freeware

2006-05-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

You hear or read about hackers taking over your PC and doing something illegal or just cruel, and you get angry. But when a legitamate company does it, it is much much worse. This really disturbs me and I had to write about it promptly. You shoud hit while the iron's hot.
Listen to this story that happened to a friend of mine.

A Korean company, who shall not remain nameless, http://netpas.net/, offers all types of maritime software to companies. They have one free product that calculates distances between ports, called Netpas Distance.
They publicize it as a "smart solution for fast business".

And SMART it is!
Today my friend recieved some strange phone calls from people asking him, why did you send me this link? Or can you help me install the software?
My friend answers naively "What are you talking about? what the do you want from me?"

As it turns out, this particular software had a back door!. They took over his machine, and literally went through his email's sent items (and not the address book, since his address book is almost empty) and sent a recommendation email about the software on his behalf.
This is the format it appeared as:

"Dear SO and SO.

Good Day.
I would like to recommend you a nice tool for ports distances.
Netpas Distance covers more than 10000 world ports and 50 million ports distances.
It shows port positions and routes in its world map.
Furthermore, it is free of charge.

Please try it.
Download : http://netpas.net/product/p2.php

Best Regards,
MY FRIEND"S NAME"

They used my friends name. All the emails that were sent to all the people were in the sent items as if he went one by one and sent them.

My friend sent email to their support guys in Korea and asked them, how dare they send emails on his behalf signed by him.
Their support person answers the most stupid answer I have ever heard:

"Dear SO and SO,
We are surprised with your mail.
In the recommendation screen, there is enough explanation and only with your clicking OK, it can send recommendation.
It took more than 5 years to build up this huge database and took almost 1 million USD until now.
We have provided this service for more than 1 and half year and this is very small reward we can expect from our free users.
Anyway, several users have made this kind of complain and we decided to commercialize Netpas distance.
If you purchase your license, you do not need to see this recommendation screen any more.
Best Regards,
Netpas Support"

This is definately a theft of identity. How dare they send email signed with his name.
The problem is also that the emails were sent to all the people around the world that he contacts for business purposes, including CEO's and General Managers that he corresponds with (even his own company's CEO).

Another thing, they were able to bypass all security, anti-viruses, firewalls and any protection you may the computer and in the network. They could have read all his emails and documents

Just be ware.

Can legal actions be taken against them?
How would a company go about doing something against them?

tags: memories & short stories/be ware of freeware

An afternoon off

2006-05-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

And my music saga continues.

Powered by Castpost

Friday afternoon, I met with shimon and it sure was a success. He is the colleague I was talking about in a night off.
As I said then, I had to get back to music. And I got the chance.
I brought some books with lyrics and chord and we just dived into them. It was amazing. For three consecutive hours, plus a recording. I still want to work on that recording.
The piano came out spotless, perfect, amazing. My singing start off bad, but ended up really good, so I want to redo the beginning.
It is amazing in today's technology, you can re-record just a line, or a word from the song (that came out bad in the original recording) no need to redo the whole thing.

If you are interested to hear shimon play the paino and the guitar, goto shimon golan

tags:memories & short stories/an afternoon off

Snake

2006-04-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

tags: michali blog/games/snake

Disappear

2006-04-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

If I disappear
will anyone remember
If I disappear
will anyone care
the fun times we had in September
I ask a question: would they dare

If I disappear
will anyone acknowledge
If I disappear
will anyone share
I know they will not accept the challenge
I think it will be hard to bare

As times are changing and passing by
The fight was won by a lullaby
No sound to hear, the siren healed
As times are changing will they kneal?

If I disappear
from the face of this earth
I think I will take a bow
I won't disappear because of his birth
New horizons have dawned on me now

lyrics: Michal Dabby

Tags: poems

breathe

2006-04-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

Out in the playgound again. Many small kids, moms and dads returning to their youth, chasing ball, climbing the slides, riding those bouncing horses.

It is the best place to push some fruits into your kid's diet. They are consumed by the fun they are having that they do not pay attention to what is being given to them.

But watch out. Apples for babies can be a dangerous
This baby was so happy that he was given a slice of apple. It was wet and sticky. He held it all by himself. He could take a bite whenever he wanted too. No strings attached.

Suddenly, he was not breathing. A piece of apple got stuck in his airways. Luckily, his mom noticed, she remained cool, she turned him upside down on his stomach, trying to get the piece out.

It came out. He cried. He was OK. He wanted another apple and got mad that his fell on the sand.

tags: memories & short stories

A night off

2006-04-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Finally, after a long time of not having the house to myself, the quietness, the serenity, and only MY friends there. Boy it was an enjoyment.

I invited a few of my co-workers over for some fun and drinks. It was more than I expected, and I am not a pessimist. I always think that it will be great, which is mostly true, but this was a hit.

As it turn out, one of my co-workers is a proficient piano player. I was amazed at the easiness his fingers stroke the keys and the swiftness of his movement. He had a whole repertoir of songs, different genres, languages and styles. The synergy of my singing with his piano playing took me back to my own world of music and relaxation. I haven't sang like that since my band broke up 4 months ago.

I must say I was so excited, that I couldn't sleep until 3am. The music was playing in my mind, the lyrics were flying through my brain, the songs were vibrating my vocal cords. I had to sing quietly, as to not awaken anyone. What excitement. I love it.

I have to get back to music. SOON.

tags: memories & short stories

Magic Carpet

2006-04-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

We took a trip today to some forest. We met my friends at the park. There is a small stream there, and really small waterfalls. It was really hot out, but the trees surrounding the area gave it a cool feeling. The breeze, the fresh air, the scent of the blooming flowers just what I love.

On the way back we passed this magic carpet of beautiful flowers blooming. The vivid colors were almost glowing in the sunlight. It was magic. Red, Yellow, white, purple and blue, were just magnificent.

tags: memories & short stories

Housewife

2006-04-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

definition: a woman who manages a household as a main occupation.

A couple of days ago, I finally had a chance to watch an episode from the series "Desperate Housewifes". Normally, I am less than keen on such types of series. They are just not my style, and I prefer to spend my time doing other things. The series name deterred me from even watching it. I mean, what horror and exaggerated tales can they come up with about managing a house that I don't already know. And that "desperate" word, it just wasn't catching, for me. I wasn't hooked. Another girly girl series? Another girl band like mud-fighting, cat claws scratching series?

One night, out of all the channels (and there are many many channels to waste time zapping through) there was absolutely nothing to my liking. Curiousity overtook me, and by surprise i must add. I zapped through the channels and ran into the channel broadcasting an episode of desperate housewifes. "Let's check it out", I said to myself. What is it all about?

To my surprise, I found the series, quite ammusing. There is a bit of mystery, some "comic relief", if I could call it that, and some real-life everyday problems. I must admit it wasn't bad at all. I just may watch another episode, to be on the safe side.

I did check some other things relating to the word housewife, since it did bug me a bit.
first, I found a more likable (and genderless) word: homemaker. It sounds warmer to me. Homemaker.
Second, I found a place that had a definition for househusband (checkout: househusband). I checked it out just to see that there is no such word, but found it encouraging that there is one somewhere.

So, to all you non-deperate housepeople, homemakers, career breakers... have fun.

tags: words & phrases

עוגן

2006-04-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

מילים: מיכל דבי

שמת לי טבעת על האצבע
כעת אנחנו זוג

קיצצת לי את הכנפיים
כבר לא יכולה לעוף
המרחקים, המרחבים לא נגישים
הדרכים מהות מחסום

קשרת לי סלע לרגל
אני שוקעת במצולות
מנסה לשאוף אויר
נלחמת לצוף

ועכשיו אתם שניים
עוגן דורש ועוגן מנטרל
אט אט נעצרת קליל
נשאר רק לחלום

tags: poems

pants on fire

2006-04-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, we went to the public playground. It is a nice play ground with large grass area and a place for kids to play soccer. For the younger crowd, there are slides and other fun stuff.

Through the corner of my eyes I saw a group of kids, later I learned they are fourth graders, huddled around at the far end of the park. I thought to myself that I should keep an eye on them, if they are huddled like that, they must be up to something.

Sure enough, not even a second after the thought had crossed my mind, I saw a blazing fire from two of the bushes. At first I thought I wasn't seeing well, since it is a bit far, but no! It sure was a fire. Strange enough, none of the other people noticed the fire. The bushes themselves were not blazing , yet, but all the dry leaves on the ground, with the aid of the wind, were catching fire very quickly.
I was afraid that the appartment buildings behind the bushes will catch fire as well.

I called the fire department immediately. I called to one of the guys who were there and pointed out the fire. He quickly went towards the dangerous area to make sure the kids are not getting close to the fire. I gave them my pail and they took sand from the playground to throw at the fire. They brought some bottles of water too.

By the time the fire truck arrived, the fire was out, there was still smoke everywhere. The firemen used the hose and lots of water to drown the whole area so the fire won't re-ignite.

Now I ask you, shouldn't fourth graders know better? What were they trying to do?
The kid who lit up the fire said he wanted to see what would happen if he threw a burning match at the bushes. Of course when the fire was blazing, he split and let his classmates "take the heat".

tags: memories & short stories

Basketball

2006-04-02T01:35:00.000-08:00

My favorite sport.
I love watching it and definately playing.
I played a few times in teams from work, and that was lots of fun.

I always played one on one with friends, but playing as a team gave it a totally different way of thinking.

So what do I actually love about it? It is a sport that uses your whole being. It takes advantage of everything you have and allows you to grow and improve in areas that you are lacking.
I divide this into two categories: brain activity and physical fitness.
Basketball is a team sport, you learn to share, strategize, out-think your opponent, always be a few steps ahead in your actions and learn to read the mind of your team members. It develops your senses through practice, trial and error. You need to learn to trick your rival into thinking one thing, while you actually do something else.
In terms of the physical fitness, you need to use every part of your body. Strong legs are necessary for running and jumping. Strong hands and arms are needed for dribling, shooting, grabbing, and throwing the ball. This is a great cardio-vascular activity, especially if you play full-court. You can run around like crazy.

When I lived in the US, in the summertime, we would play at lunch time, just a few of us. The courts weren't that great, but it was the outdoor and it was just great fun. I loved it. Some of the players were really really competitive. Some were really really good. I just loved it. It gave us a chance to get closer and be close friends and also relieved us from the horrible days at work. We were the ESW gang.

Back home, there was a more organized basketball team. They would rent a real basketball court for an hour and a half for us to play. I was the only girl.
I got some really good exercise there, and made some great friends. I was in really good shape and ran as fast as the guys, so that was an advantage. We played once a week and I would have loved it if it was even twice a week. During the year I really improved all my skills.

I wish we could do this again.

tags: memories & short stories>basketball

tags:

Swan Lake

2006-03-19T03:33:00.000-08:00

Picture This!
A small man-made lake.
Swans, ducks and other bird types swimming from one side of the lake to the other.
A nice breeze suddenly interrupts the hot humid air, like oxygen to your skin.
While you are standing outside, hiding away from the sun, the birds look so refreshed out there.

Yes. That is where my team (the automation and test tools team) sat once every so often to have our brainstorming/monthly meeting.
Sipping ice cold Lemonade-Mint ice drink..... mmmmmmm... so refreshing, so wonderful, so helpful to open our minds and think of new tools to impelement for testing...

Those were the days.

tags: memories & short stories

מגדל

2006-03-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

בונים מגדל
אל על אל על
אחד על השני
והופ... נפל

tags: poems

boat on the river

2006-03-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

It was a warm day at noon time. We were all at work. Our VP was crappy as usual. There are no windows in the cubicles. But the urge to be outside and take advantage of such a beautiful day, just over took us.

We snuck off, the six of us, during lunch time. Hey, we are entitled to a lunch break.

We uploaded the kayak on the truck, the boys tied it up with a bunch of ropes and off we went....

Driving RT. 95 was not a good decision. We should have taken the back roads.

I sat in the back of the truck, my head turned to the back window, to watch the kayak. The resistence of of the wind, while we were on our way, took its toll on the ropes. One of them got torn and the kayak flew across the road, as I was screaming as if I was waking up from a terrible dream..."It's flying, the Kayak is flying..."
and no I was not HYSTERICAL at all. AT ALL.

We sure were lucky the car behind us kept some distance. Actually, they stopped as the kayak bounce and skidded on the road, and made sure the rest of the cars stop as well, so we can pick up the kayak and tie it back up on the truck.

The rest of the day was great. We took turns on the kayak, two at a time. The water was really cold, only one of us went for a swim (and it was not me! ).

Another on of those great days!.

tags: memories & short stories

תפוחים

2006-03-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

שני תפוחים על העץ
אחד אדום , שני ירוק
אחד חמוץ , שני מתוק

והרוח מנשבת בין הענפים
התפוחים מתנדנדים משמאל לימין

tags: poems

Smile Check

2006-03-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Many of you most probably never heard that before. What is it? Where did it come from?

Well here's the story. Going back again to my wonderful time in Denmark, when Efraim , Alberto and I were testing the cellular phone. We had lots of tests to accomplish, with too little time to spare. It was tense and intense. But, luckily, I was with two great guys who made the whole experience great.

I don't remember if it was Efraim or Alberto who invented this phrase , but it came out once. A smile check, to check if all is well, if we are all on the same page, if we are all nice and happy.

I tell you, it caught on. Even sending an SMS message with a smile check for testing, or for "testing".
Just a simple check, and it put a smile on our faces.

Today, I use it widely, when a friend is going through some rough times, or if lots of pressure builds up, I just send a smile check. Yes it is that simple. And it works too.

Try it.

Smile Check.

words & phrases

לוש, לוש, לוש

2006-03-05T02:09:00.000-08:00

לוש, לוש, לוש Knead, knead, knead

לוש, לוש, לוש Knead, knead, knead

את החול הרך נלוש This soft sand we need to knead

קצת ביד ימין some with the right

קצת ביד שמאל some with the left

ומה יצא and what came out is

ארמון של חול a sand castle

Piano Man

2006-03-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

Piano was always my favorite instrument. When I was six years old and my mom asked me what instrument I would like to play, it was obvious that I wanted to play the piano. Something about that instrument intrigged me above all else.

A couple of years ago, when I was working in Alphacell, one of the guys there got a few people together and created a band . At first, I was reluctant to join, but a friend convinced me to check it out. There were 8 people there. Two male singers, a pianinst, an electric guitar player, a keyboard player, a drummer, a bass guitarist and a classical guitarist. I joined as a backup vocalist.

The song list was already set, as I joined late, recovering from a flue that knocked me out for three weeks. As we would be practicing the songs, trying to perfect them, I learned more about how difficult it is to be in-sync and attuned to what was around me. Everytime he struck the keys of the piano, my first instinct was to look at him. There was something about how he played it that seemed to talk to me. I cannot really explain this in words. It is a unique feeling, as if he is talking just to me through the piano. Only I can hear those magical sounds that came out.

We ended up doing a couple of songs together (one with the whole band (Stronger/sugababes) and one just me and the pianist (always a woman to me/Billy Joel). They both came out quite good, as I am not a professional singer, as opposed to my dear pianist friend.

The end of the story is, Alphacell went on a long vacation, we were lucky to have a last recording from that time, as I listen to the songs, I feel really lucky to have been in a band, I still remember the paino lingering in my head as if it is burned to my brain as a stamp of beauty and marvel. Piano man and I are still good friends 'till today. I miss that dearly!

tags: memories and short stories

It's summertime

2006-03-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

It's summertime, and the living is easy...

Where has winter gone this year , I honestly don't know. I don't care much for freezing Boston weather but here, this year, almost no rain, nice warm weather, just amazing.

The flowers and the insects have all been fooled into coming out early. We have found some nice trail to walk about, the flowers are beautifying the view. The scents are delicious and the insects were busing buzzing around. The freshness and cleanliness of the air is filled up by woods and dry leaves. No one was around. The quietness, the serinity, the vividness so relaxing. A few hours outside and it feels like a really long relaxing vacation.

Significant Other

2006-02-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

Another one of those supposedly politically correct phrases. Who coined this one anyway?
I must say, how is it then, when there are things to be done, household chores, changing a diaper with poop, they manage to become so insignificant?

tags: words & phrases,phrases, words, idioms

Sleeping like a baby

2006-02-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

Now, this is something I must comment on. Unfortunately, I cannot understand this phrase at all. You may wonder: why? I mean, all the words are in plain English, so what is the problem? What is it there not to grasp? Why would anyone even waste their time (and your's if you are still reading this) to figure out something that is so obivious?

Well, here we go. In my own personal opinion, this phrase can mean different things to different people. For example, if you think that babies just eat and sleep, eat and sleep, Sleeping like a baby would be a really positive thing: no worries, I can sleep.
BUT if your expert knowledge is otherwise different, such that babies have a hard time sleeping, waking up screaming all the time, perhpas from a nightmare, well sleeping like a baby means a whole different story to you. Doesn't it?

tags: words & phrases,idioms,words

Cut to the chase

2006-02-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

Cut to the chase is a really nice idiom. It means get to the point or make a long story short. I like it because it is kind of picturesque. Don't nibble on your thoughts, cut to the chase (a nicer way of saying don't waste my time with marketing fluff, get to the point already).
It's origin is from the movies where they would want to move from a dramatic scene to something with more action to it, such as a chase scene.

All for one ...

2006-02-17T22:13:00.000-08:00

I was going over some of my soft-pictures, and bumped into another fun day. It was Lyonel, Shih-Yi, Andy and I. We went to an archery place. There actually is an indoor target practice with real bows and arrows. They even give lessons to people and it is a real hobby.
Boy, that was fun. I was really good... So good that I managed to hit Lyonel's target, most of the time... Hey, who said I had to point to my own target.

My friends on the other hand, were really good. We should go again

The Gambler

2006-02-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

On a warm summer evening... we were driving down to Rhode Island to have some (more) fun. I think it was about two hours until we finally reached there. We all took a day off, QA team and some of the Dev guys. Not a small bunch, I must add. FoxWood was really big. Lots of different corridors, huge rooms, many people. The parking lot was full of cars. Inside, lots of noise, free drinks, no clocks. Just come in little guys, just come to have fun, we won't make soup out of you...

We started of at the machines, three of us used the same machine, each person inserting a quarter, each in his own turn pulling the handle... hoping for some luck. Sometimes the quarters went rolling down like crazy, other times the silence was broken off by the yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaa, in the neighboring machine. Seems that the neighboring machine is always luckier haaa...

I wanted to get to the roulette table and try my luck there too. It was my dad who showed me how to play and he has a set of numbers he likes.. they aren't really lucky I must add, but I used them anyways.. with some of my own variations.

I was down to my last 4, figuring.. hey what do I have to lose? I put them all on one number.... and luck struck. It was that number. Unbelievable. I broke even. Got all my money back and some change. My friends made some money in poker and rolette just the carribean poker lost :-(... well next time it will be better.

It sure a fun day:-)

Virus Vs. Virus

2006-02-15T02:03:00.000-08:00

My doctor told me I have a virus, there is nothing to do. Even if I take all the pills she gave me, It will still take a week to go away.

Have you ever though how strange it is that this thing called a virus, you can't see it, you cannot smell it, you cannot touch it or hear it (until you get it), takes over you body in just a few days, when it manages to get through your nose to your lungs or somewhere else it prefers to live in and reproduce, so that you can be down and out for a few days, sometimes even weeks.

And then just when you thought it is all over, nearly taking you last breath away, literally, it just gets worse, showing you who really is boss. Then it is gone, as if it was never there.

As opposed to the computer virus. The minute it arrive, it manages to ruin your hard-drive, and all those favorite picture, programs and other meaninful stuff that we save on our computer. The miute you use some anti-virus software (that is if you caught the virus in time and you have an anti-virus) you can probably save your computer quite quickly.. If not, I hope you backed up your stuff.. and format...

Stormy weather...

2006-02-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

As the east coast battles yet another stormy week, I cannot sit and wonder what is the connection ?
New York and MA have been having oodles and oodles of snow, such that NY was almost dsconnected completely.
That reminds me that 3 years ago, just about these dates it was, my sister and I took the train to NY. It was a 4.5 hour train ride (which is not bad at all) and were supposed to meet up with some friends. It sure was a fun weekend....

Until it was time to go home. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wild snow storm took over the city. Our train ride back was supposed to leave around 13:00. As time grew near, the snow became heavier and heavier, making the access to taxis and other rides impossible. Everyone was stuck at home, the train tracks were full of snow. We had to wait for 4 hours, on the train, until it finally began moving. There were various stops on the way because of the bad weather. We were heading in the same direction as the storm.

We finally made it home after 10pm.
It was sure an experience.

Stormy

The sound of music

2006-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

I have always loved music. It is a great recreation, whether you are making it, or just listening to it. There are so many forms to listen to music, that has evolved through out the years, it sure makes a difference. You can listen to the radio, at home (in your room), in the car, at work (with earphones). You can listen to a cd player and your favorite cd's anywhere, you can even take them with you. As technology evolved and someone knew that the best way to have some quite on the bus or at the train station, is to have people carry some small gadget such as the "discman" and today the "ipod" and others that you can put, litterally, thousands of music pieces from different generes, creating your own "music store".

When I was at the hospital, I had an mp3 cd player. I created an mp3 cd that had about 120 different songs and had about 7 hours of all my favorite songs (luckily, I brought an extra set of batteries : -) ). It was a great way to bypass the bad or dull moments, as well as a calming and soothing experience. I was able to retract to my own little world and ignore whatever was going on around me. (especially the needles! )

Music is everywhere, even when you jog, or go to a spin class or some other form of excersice. Music is there to either relax you or get your juices going, get the blood pumping and lets rock & roll.

Music is in my head all the time. Some times I wake up in the morning and some song just lingers in my head, of course it is in automatic repeat mode... sometimes it is difficult to get rid of it... until a new song comes a long. The funniest thing is when you begin singing your song, and finally you are rid of it for good, and your room-mate at work "got infected" by the same bug.

Finally I just want to say.. music (in all it's forms) is the best invention.

connect the dots - yesterday once more...

2006-02-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

We were there too. There were many people demostrating their company's products trying to hook people, influencing them to join their service or buy a license. Me too. But I believe in our product. It is nice, fast, reliable, and users like it too.

But I did meet some strange people. Some of them ask a question after question, with no pause. They weren't really interested in knowing what it does, but mostly saying some buzz words and showing that they are aware of what is going on.

It was really difficult to aim to the right crowd when I didn;t really know what type of crowd it was . There were many many different people, of different ages and backgrounds, and I had to get some info out of them about their basic knowledge and profession and interests before I was able to show everything.

And you really cannot show everything. There are so many features that in order to hook someone you need to show a feature that will blow their brains out.
You cannot use the same approach with everyone that was there.

Some of the people I encountered were really great. They asked smart questions they wanted to know if we have certain features and how the technology work. How we are better than our competitors etc. It was a lot of fun!

I was glad Frank was with me too!

Gravity and more

2006-01-31T07:40:00.000-08:00

Wind, wind, wind

In the field the apple fell

It fell and fell and fell apart.

Yoyo the duck

2006-01-31T05:14:00.000-08:00

where does he go, what does he do, who does he meet...

As he leaves the safety of his warm surroundings, he meets a red beetle with black spots on its wings, walking about on a rock just by him. Shaking off the egg cover, startles the little beetle and it flies away. Yoyo decides to walk on the wild side and meet new friends. He sure feels adventurous today. Well, of course he does, it is his birthday.

Anthony Zimmer

2006-01-30T05:56:00.000-08:00

A really good French movie - thriller/suspense. All through the movie you are trying to guess who is Anthony Zimmer and when he will show himself.
Recommended.
Excerpt in English

Have a nice one...

2006-01-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

What an odd phrase. It used to have a nice day, or have a great day. Last time I visited the East coast I was constantly "blessed" with have a nice one.
Frankly, I don't really like this phrase. Have a nice one .... what...
It's a silly way to supposedly bless someon with unmeaingful words. It's even worse than saying about someone, he's a nice guy.

Field testing with Efraim and Alberto

2006-01-29T04:01:00.000-08:00

Field tests with Efraim and Alberto
Today I'd like to remeber some good times when I worked in Alphacell. We were sent to Denmark and Portugal to do field testing to our cell phone. This means that we had a bunch of tests, some that we needed to run while driving, and some from our hotel. We really had a great time. Alberto,Efraim and I hit it off from day one. We worked like crazy, but eventhough we were extremely tired by the end of the day, we managed to have enough strength to go out ( even if it was 10pm).

In portugal we went to a fadu restaurent (Club Du Fadu), where this portugal band played the official songs of Portugal, what the women would sing as their hubbies went out to sea. The food and wine were great. The company , excellent and the music followed through the vein... or was it the great wine that did that.

In Denmark we found an amazing restaurent by the sea, on our last drive test. It was wonderful.

Such great memories. I wish we were there again.