I THINK IT'S TIME

The freaking Gaza ragheads shot their stinking rotten kassam rockets at poor Sderot tonight and killed two children and sent a bunch of adults to hospital with various and assorted injuries. I remember when Sderot was a no more than two or three buildings and one street with one bus stop back in 1970.
We lived with Hezbollah katyushas by the thousands for 30 years until that asshole Barak, (may he burn for eternity), turned tail and ran out of Southern Lebanon and opened the way for the Hamas to let loose from the Gaza Strip, and for the homicide bombers from the West Bank. I said back during the pullout that this would be the result and here it is. I also said that it would better if *we* kept on getting katyushas as we are used to it as an almost daily occurrence and their aim is pretty bad due to the mountains. Those poor folks in Sderot have no idea how to deal with the Kassams and are just whinging and whining about wanting to leave instead of standing up tall like we used to(until '96) and saying that nothing those freaking ragheads do will move us. I used to go out and yell that up the hill towards Lebanon, It's a wonder I didn't get hauled away and locked up in a padded room wearing a straight jacket. 1992 and 1996 were wild years for us up here, but there were only 5 killed and very few injured. I can only think of 3(injured) from those years, myself, Hani Chimi and Hani Azulai, and some who went into shock from close calls. All in all it wasn't as bad as it sounded here. 1996 pissed me off because most of the town evacuated to the center of the country and there was lots of infighting about who got to go where. That should never have happened and it was the first time ever. Usually everyone just went to the closest shelter or stayed in their security room. In '96 a security room took a direct hit and it was a mess! It not only destroyed the room itself, it cracked the rooms above it. Several shelters also took direct hits and nothing happened at all. The answer is not evacuation or moving away. It's staying put (in shelters if must be) and showing them that we aren't moving.
I decided tonight that it's time for us to take out all the terror groups operating under Arafart's benevolence. Gloves off and go get them like the Bushwackers are doing in Afghanistan. Dead each and every one of them and no apologies to the rest of the world. These guys are terrorists, murdererous sleaze who must be sent off to meet Allah ASAP. What the world refuses to understand is that as long as one of them is left, no one is safe. They have to be eradicated and that's all there is to it. Sadly, our gutless wonders won't do a thing except to keep on with their unilateral pullout from the Strip, in the hope that they'll all of a sudden turn peaceloving. Hey! These are the people who danced in the street when the Twin Towers were smashed by their coreligionists. Excuse me, but don't you lot get it? They won't be happy until they've brought the whole world to it's knees. It's long past time for everyone to stand up and take a good hard look at things and realize that the only way to stop them is to stop them every where and to knock off the "poor Palestinian" crap. Things would be so much better there if only they would realize that the only thing holding them back is their very own leaders, each one of whom is a terrorist of the old guard. They all have to go. If there was but one voice with guts to speak up there, things would be different. Their troubles are not our fault, they are the fault of their own so called leaders.

A FUN DAY (NOT)

Spending the whole day babysitting the computer while scan disk and defrag ran on all 3 drives was not exactly what I had planned for today, but that is what I did, until 19:30 when I discovered that it was all in vain. I guess I have to stop futzing around and get Gerald over here. Something is very wrong. At only 7 months, this computer is acting worse than my old one and I bought *that* one in '99 second hand and it still ran, poorly, but it worked! I am verily unhappy about this. I'll just have to get him over here and see what he has to say about it. Maybe upgrading to 2000 pro will help. I've actually heard good things about it and there's no way I'll go to XP.I'm thinking I'm doing something wrong here. 98 is supposed to very stable, so why is it acting so weird? Freezes and illegal notices all the time, are just a few of the things on the list, and how come the scan on *C* gave back an error notice, and said it was fixed and ALL the diagnostics I ran said it's just fine? I know I'm not even close to an expert, but I have learned a fair amount since '99. The way the firewall is acting makes me think there just might be a trojan horse in here that escapes the Symantec check. Every time I bring the firewall up I get a notice about some kind of line error and do I want to run it anyway? I've already un and reinstalled the firewall three times! And now, the Garthwaite daily page gives an illegal procedure notice and shuts down Outlook Express and I go read it on the net which is a pain because there it was in OE. I know Billy Gates donates to the democreeps, but that's taking things a bit too far. Oh, hells. I'm going to run scan disc one more time, take a shower while it's running, crawl into bed, read and watch TV. I'll be out most of the morning and just don't have the patience to deal with this now.

CLOCKS

I've never found time to be anything more than an arbitrary method of keeping in step with others. I don't go wild if my clocks and watches are not synchronized to the second to some fancy schmancy atomic clock. 5-10 minutes either way is exact enough for me.
Some years ago we started going to Daylight Saving Time every summer even though the ultra religious were dead set against it. I never understood why. As if time was handed down with the 10 commandments and etched in stone never to be changed. There are 24 hours in a day, right? And night and day have the same relative number of hours at any given time of year, right? So what's the big deal? They say that there's one more hour light on DLST, but there really isn't, is there? So twice a year we change our clocks. Big deal. Or so I thought until last night when I wished for a Cray computer to help me figure out what time to set the cell phone for to wake up in time for Dark Matters. We changed our clocks, but California didn't-the nerve! And after endless figuring, I thought I had it right. I thought I had it right until Dark Matters ended abruptly an hour early!
I was right to be concerned about things going too smoothly two weeks ago! Now I have to decide if I'm going to get up at 04:45 next week to listen in while Dwight is in England, and I'm not.......more on STL in a bit.
After DM I read the rest of my posts and then got dressed and went to town to get 550 shekels and a carton of fags. I came home and settled in to watch Charmed and Highlander. Teadrinker called to ask what I knew about us deading some raghead Hamas leader in a car in Damascus. I still know nothing about it except the the guy got very dead. No addycoookers(helicopters) or other noises that indicate tension up here. News is on now, so I guess I'll know soon enough.
One thing that I absolutely do not understand is how those ever so self righteous peace freaks don't understand that there are at least two parties to every conflict and if one side carries on in spite of repeated efforts from the other side, things will continue to go boom, and people to get dead. Peace can not be imposed by one side alone.
Another thing that has me ripping hair out is the whole terror situation in Iraq. How is it that so few people understand that the terrorists are increasing their activity in the hope of influencing the American election. Sheesh. That Kerry crap (apologies to crap) is playing it for all it's worth, when he should be sitting in Leavenworth as a convicted traitor, not charging around the United States trying to unseat Bush.
Now our Antiquities guys are worried that the south west corner of Temple Mount might collapse during Ramadan as a result of work the Wakf did there. Yeah, I could like that. Thousands of them up there and it all falls down. Talk about a message from above! The Wakf guy is denying any danger and accusing us of provocation. We shall see! They'll blame us when it crashes, won't they?
The power went off for a while and stupidly, I took a nap. After all that struggle to get out of Night Owl mode!
Bat Chen called with great news. She won her case against her son's father! She won big. Good for her. She might come up tomorrow for a few days. Good thing Fanny's coming tomorrow. I enjoy having Bat Chen here. I'll go by Freja tomorrow and get another turkey. She's never had one and I love doing them!
Oh, yeah, STL. He's moaning and groaning that he's sick with something. I told him that I hope it's painfull. He said something to the effect it's not nice to wish someone ill, to which I could only say that what he did to me was even less nice and that he would do well to avoid being cursed by me! I'm convinced that he got the whole $ 500 and only sent me half. It's time to turn up the heat. Bat Chen is good at stuff like this. Maybe we'll be able to go to Safad and have some fun.
I was even more pissed off this morning when I saw an old Subaru for sale, an automatic, that would have been nice to have until I get around to getting a proper crip car. Thanks to him, I can't do any more than wish.....one way or another he's going to pay. Not that Subaru is my dream car, I hate them, but as a stop gap, it will do just fine. Next time I see it I'll get the phone number and check it out.

MEMORIES

Yom Kippur is over and as always I missed the ones of my childhood years. Every year after the age of 9 or so, after losing the annual *driving isn't allowed on Yom Kippur* battle with my father,(there were many years that I stayed in Portland with my grandparents because of that) off we'd go to services in Portland. On Yom Kippur day itself, we'd all go over to the Branz's house after the morning service, then Dad and Mr. Branz would go back until Ne'ilah and the Branz boys, Jeff and I would hang out. They had the greatest house for that. There was a playroom behind the kitchen, and the kitchen had a nice breakfast nook. I was already a house freak at a very young age. We played board games and that's where I was introduced to Mille Bournes (I still have it) and when it got towards time for the men to leave, we'd drive the lethargic, starving adults wild by doing exercises and stuff like that. We must have started that after all of us were of fasting age. I remember being mean to little Howie because he could eat and we couldn't. Of course he got back at us by coming up to us and chewing in our faces.
None of that was even close to what Yom Kippur was about, but is a source of very fond memories. It's all part and parcel of the good memories I have of my childhood. Maine was such a great place to grow up. I'm just glad that I learned a long time ago that you can go back to the place of your childhood, but you can never ever go back to you childhood itself. So, yeah, I miss Maine, but even more I miss something that exists only as memories now, cherished memories, and when I really think about it, I realize that I don't want to go back there at all. In the words of the immortal Virginia Slim, "You've come a long way, baby"
I desperately want another cup of coffee, but as I had a very short nap this afternoon, I'm worried that it will keep me awake and then I'll be off Gimp Standard Time! There's Dark Matters in the morning, after all and I hate to be groggy for that after only 3 hours sleep. On the other hand, as Teadrinker will be calling any minute, I think I'll get one and settle back in here.

YOM KIPPUR EVE

I haven't had a great week, even though overall it was better than it was bad. For some reason,(human nature?) the bad overshadows the good, and this weeks bad wasn't really that bad! The worst has been that STL is still jerking me around and as result no England. I'm having a really hard time accepting that. A major result of that is that I've had absolutely no desire to be at the computer. The few times I've been out, posts have written themselves in my head, but I haven't gotten them on here. I think I'll try a memory exercise!
I went out one day to stock up on weeds and whole wheat rolls and stopped in at the bookstore to see if the new Cornwell is in yet. It's not, but they had the new Clancy and a Sandra Brown. Bought them both and have been reading the Sandra Brown avidly. I saved Clancy for tomorrow. I love his Jack Ryan books. On my way to that mall, I ran straight into road construction that required a detour. On the way home I got smart and went into the one way almost street that leads straight to Gimp House, the wrong way and took perverse pleasure in not only going in the wrong way, but on the wrong side as well. It will be less fun going to the mall(the right way) but I'll be able to look forward to going home the wrong way on the wrong side! I felt like kicking myself for not thinking of that earlier, but it looks like this old dog *can* learn new tricks!
They changed the clock here back to Standard Gimp Time Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, and I managed to pretty much get off my night owl cycle, by forcing myself to stay awake in the afternoon and not have a nap. It worked out nicely because I had an appointment with my sawbones, and I got there early. That Glow In The Dark test was well worth the pain as it shows even damage to my left knee than we thought. It's enough to get my 80% back AND there's some nasty stuff in my right shoulder that makes the electric chair a slam dunk! I guess maybe you have to be a crip to understand why that's good news.....
Teadrinker caught me on the phone yesterday just before dark. I heard an odd noise outside and contorted around to look at the street. The wind was pushing a solid wall of dust straight up the street towards me. A SOLID WALL. I've never seen anything like it. WOWSERS.
Today I was up early.......still on Standard Gimp Time and raced through e mails, then, charged into town for the newspapers, and almost ran over a bunch of Russians shlepping tons of stuff home from the supermarket. God forbid they should run out of food on a fast day. I so totally detest them. I'm in a quandry about it. On the one hand, we had to allow them to come here under the same criteria Hitler used to define who is a Jew, which means Russians with no more claim to Judaism than one grandparent can come here and be granted full rights as citizens. On the other hand, all those non Jews want things to be the way they were back in the USSR and demand pork and other concessions. That leaves us between a rock and a hard place. I don't have the answer, I'm not even sure there *is* one. I just detest them.
I finally had a spark of genius. I've been trying to figure out how to "curtain" the window in the *liberry* without buying a proper curtain and rod. It finally hit me, hang a sheet or something over the top of the window, and close it. I found an old while table cloth and hung it! Now all the synagogue goers who hang around the shelter outside my window won't be able to look in at me while they have their illegal smokes. The room hadn't even been started at this time last year and the windows were next to the computer so I saw all the *sinners*.
I'll be doing my usual crip fast. Water-doctors orders, and a soy thingy with my meds. That's it. I have the Clancy book and the local papers already next to the recliner. The TV will stay on Fox News as there isn't much else on. I've been doing a lot of soul searching as is appropriate for the days before Yom Kippur and come to few conclusions about myself. I'm not going into details here, but there hopefully will be some noticeable results implemented here. Ooooh, that was weird! I just heard crackles when I moved my neck. I wonder what the is!
Ok, That's it for this year. Tzom kal, v'gmar chatima tova!

TV HEAVEN

I now have two functioning TV sets! The 'old 21" is now in the *liberry* with both VCRs hooked up and working. The new 25" is in my room. I'm soooo pleased with that TV. Only 990 shekels which is $ 220 for a brand new 25" color set. The 21" cost a bit more and is a flat screen. I thought *that* one was huge. The new one is gigantic and I got the cable remote coded to run the TV too! Proud of myself? You bet!
I'm really happy with way the *liberry* is shaping up. Now I can see the TV from here, so will be able to spend more time at the computer! Hooray.
I made a start on rearranging the shelves and bricks for the annex to the one wall bookcase. I just love a room full of books! It will take a while to finish because I have to get more shelves and shlepping them home is a project in it's own right! But it will get done and sooner than I think. Must thank The Philmore one day for the compulsive side I got from him. I can never stop until I've finished unless I'm at the "fix it with the hammer" stage, at which point I take a break and come back to finish.
I called the registrar of voters and she'll be sending ballots at the end of the week. I am so going to enjoy voting for Bush and AGAINST the crapper at the same time. My vote is FOR and at the same time AGAINST. Kerry really gets me going. What a sleaze-(apologies to sleaze)
The whole country here is going on strike tomorrow. Banks, airports, seaports, customs, all gov't workers, everyone. For the first time I am in complete agreement with the strikers. Municipal employees have not been getting paid on time if at all. Some have gone almost a year without seeing a salary. The minister in charge refuses to transfer the salary funds to municipalities that haven't signed a reorganization agreement with his office. That is absolutely no reason to hold up workers salaries. There are laws forbidding that in the private sector and G-d help the employer who breaks those laws. But the government can? And expect the rest of us to be law abiding? I don't think so. There is no excuse for withholding employees salaries. They worked for it and because a few idiots who got elected to city councils don't want to streamline are not justification for people not getting paid for work performed. Things are going to be a bit nuts for a while. Good for Amir. He finally has a strike I can agree with!

Ok *NOW* I'm Scared

I've been around enough to be scared when things go right! Got up this morning at 05:40 after about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Checked AVG, connected, and brought up Reality Radio to listen to Dark Matters. WMP is back there as an option, and scarily, it came up and conected with no problems. It even worked for the whole program. We are talking about the first program in this, our new year. During normal times having things go right is frightening enough. At this time of year, it's down right terrifying!
I called STL and insulted him by stating that he couldn't tell the truth to save his life. He announced that he sent 1100, gave me the number, then added that he didn't call because he collapsed out side the post office and got hauled off to the reair shop. He says there'll be more in a few days..........and pigs will fly. As soon as the dogs have been out for half an hour, I'm off to collect it and I just might pay cash for that TV. It works out the same if I pay cash or use the credit card. Cash solves the problem of having the sale reported to the TV licensing people. Yup, cash! That's $ 220 for a 25" TV! Too good a deal to pass up.
I was up half to three quarters of the night working on that poster/flyer and got it done at 09:45, but when I attached it to the e mail, it got all screwed up. Pictures and text in the wrong places. Must investigate later. I think the whole thing is pretty much crap but sent it anyway. On the up side, I learned a lot about that prog and after ironing out a bug or infestation thereof, just might get to get to like it!

DIRTY DANCING

I was watching a movie called Black Dog and for some reason it got me to thinking that it's been way too long since I've seen Dirty Dancing. Only at the end did I realize why my brain connected between the two....Patrick Swayze was in it. So.......thinking Dirty Dancing, I went through the channels and THERE IT WAS ON ISRAEL 2! That was a bit weird even for me! Just think I want to see a movie and THERE IT IS!? Go figure. It's usually on one of the cable stations and shown a few times a day. When I find it there, I have it on, to listen even if I don't watch. Having the same first name as Baby has nothing to do with it! There, that's better, got Time Of my Life on now. So what if I can't hear the news. I can chair dance. Woooooo!
I think I just might have figured out why I have such a compulsion to watch that movie EVERY TIME it's on. Yeah, the fact that I love the music is part of it, but an even larger part is the same reason I watch figure skating in spite of the fact that I can't do that any more. I can still feel it inside. I'm not quite sure how this can be explained; but, everytime I watch Worlds or Europeans, I can feel every move they make inside. I know I can feel it because once upon a time I could *do* it. It's the same with Dirty Dancing. I can feel the dances while they are doing them. In fact, my upper body dances along with them. It might be hard to believe looking at me today, but anyone who knew me in '85/6 when I was 64 K. (multiply by 2.2 for lbs.) will have no trouble picturing it. Ahhhhh for the good old days. It's just not the same in a wheelchair. The up side is that my upper body still works ok, so I can half dance. I've got to get that movie on CD. This monitor is bigger than my last three TVs so it should be ok watching it here and dancing along on this chair will be ok too.
Of course I tried to dance standing up, but almost passed out from the pain....so I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon.

NOT MUCH

That best describes what got done over this long, very l o n g holiday weekend. I *did* manage to totally mess up the computer with several downloads that have since been removed. I just never learn!
Fox news has been running in the background, and the election shenanigans there just reinforce my reasons for leaving there even more than those for coming here, where things are often as, if not more, insane. Somehow I'm not surprised.
Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm looking forward to Dark Matters and already wondering what challenges will be thrown way while trying to connect! Must remember to check Reality Radio's site tonight to see if they've changed anything since last week. That is the only thing that could possibly get me up, out of bed, and semi functioning at 05:30 on a Sunday morning.
I think I have just enough time to get the turkey off the bones before a mini CSI marathon starts at 13:30. Better get to it before it just rots off the bones, which will be good for winter soup.

HAPPY NEW YEAR/NO MORE ABUSE

New Years are for resolutions, right? Here's mine. That's it. No more. I've had it. I will no longer play Irit's "Fix The Old Lady* game. If she can't accept the fact that I am the way I am, and am relatively happy with myself, she can just stay the hell away. Who does she think she is that she dare tell me how to behave and what to say. Today was the last straw. So they won't come tomorrow. That's just fine with me. I have more than enough to do without worrying about saying the wrong thing. And from now on, they can just come to my house. No more meeting someplace else. This is my home and if she thinks it's not good enough for Romi, that's just too bad. This is where I live and I have two dogs. Tough luck. They have rights too. Think I sound pissed off? I'm past that now. I spent most of the day thinking about it after our argument on the phone, and I decided that she can just take a flying leap at herself. If Guy's parents are willing to let her get away it, that's their problem. I'm not. Even if they decide to come tomorrow, they can just come here. I'll break my back cleaning and washing the floor, BUT I WILL NOT MEET them or GO SOMEPLACE ELSE WITH them. It's way past time that she learn that the world does not revolve around her. At least mine doesn't. She can be as insulting as she wants ands that's just fine, but say one word out of place and she turns into little Ms. Do It My Way, Or Else. Fine. She can do it her way without me. Her loss, not mine. I'll gain peace, quiet and be free from watching every word I say in case she doesn't approve. No English too. As far as I'm concerned they can move to the States next week. It's not like I see them regularly here, only if/when she feels like it and then it's because Guy insists. How he puts up with her, I don't know, nor do I want to.
Tomorrow I have to take the meat off the turkey carcass, wash and cut the veggies and do some design stuff that is all planned out in my head and I spent hours downloading the progs for that today. I won't be bored. I have to get the STL site looking better and ready to go on Sunday! His time is up.

Poor Bat Chen has had the worst few weeks imaginable and couldn't leave the house. The lock on her door broke and now she can't lock it from either side. She can't get it fixed until Sunday because the locksmiths charge rediculous prices to come out on a holiday. Can't say I blame her for deciding to wait. It's just too bad she couldn't get away for a few days. She needs the break and we have a good time together. Maybe she'll be sorted by next weekend and come then. Yom Kippur with her could be good.
I'm going to make another attempt at clearing off my desktop. It didn't work the way I hoped it would. Maybe this time?

K.S. KOPS

You might think K.S. stands for Key Stone, but it actually stands for Kiryat Shemonah. our benevolent police outdid themselves this morning.
I woke up in a panic at 10:15, thought "turkey", threw on a caftan, took the dogs for a quick walk, and after bringing them in, headed for town to get the turkey. Pre coffee even. Traffic was backed up to my street from the traffic circle at the intersection with the main street. I did my up on the side walk trick and couldn't believe my eyes. Kiryat Shemonah's finest were holding up traffic from all 4 directions to hand out flowers! There were 3 Vespas and 2 cop cars parked in the middle of the circle and several cops armed with bunches of flowers in each lane leading into the roundabout! They were stopping every single car to give out the flowers. I just zipped around the circle as it was pretty much at a stand still. This on the eve of our New Year when the shops close early. I got the turkey and decided to take him home, then go back for the papers, did my zip round the circle trick and got home quickly considering that traffic was by now backed up even more. Put the turkey away and charged off again to get the papers. Still no coffee, but the the traffic jam was even worse. Again escaped flowerless, got the papers and home to a nice coffee or two. While the K.S. Kops were handing out flowers, every single handicapped parking space I went by was occupied by a car without a disabled parking card. EVERY SINGLE ONE. And the cops were handing out flowers instead of tickets. Only here could that happen! Coffeeless and in a hurry, I didn't bother to stop and take any pictures of the insanity. My chick is stuffed and in the oven. What a great smell. As it's a holiday, the TV schedule is all messed up. I think I'll watch Fox and enjoy the Rathergate stuff and read the local papers. Not much news in them, lots of ads though. Actually there is an ok movie on later. I'm tired enough so that maybe this won't be another late night.

HOLIDAY SHOPING SUCKS!

If you think Christmas shopping in NYC is bad, try going shopping before a major holiday here! Especially on the same day Netvision yet again woke me up in the middle of the night! I was up until 03:00 and the twit called at 10:15. I bet her ears are still sore from the earfull she got! After being so rudely awakened, I phutzed around the house, did my computer reading, then went to look for the things Irit wanted for Romi. They were nowhere to be found, so I came home, then when Teadrinker called, I told her about the 25" TV for 990 sheks, and told her to buy one. She started with her usual um, er,I, um, er. It took a while but, I finally convinced her, and not trusting her to make the phone call herself, went in to the shop(it's a nation wide chain) that has that special offer and told the guy to call her NOW! He did, she bought it and will get it next week. She keeps calling me and cursing me and calling me a BITCH for making her spend money. I just cackle in reply! I'm going to buy one myself at the end of the month when my credit card clears. It's too good a price not to buy one!
On the way home I stopped in at Fanny's for a little visit. Then home, then at 21:55 I headed out for the grocery shop-the one that stays open until 23:00 before holidays. I got there and the place was almost deserted, except for a bunch of freaking Russians with their genetic accidents. When I got there, the kid sitting outside with guard asked the guard if and why I'm allowed to go in on Harley. I gave him my 'evil eye' and said that people who can't walk go shopping on these! He had the sense to look properly abashed. Got everything I need for the long weekend holiday, all that's left is to get the turkey and frozen onions tomorrow morning and I'm all set! Bat Chen still doesn't if she's coming or not. Truth to tell, I don't much care. I'd just as soon be alone. The kids are coming up with Romi on Friday. It's about time and I think I have Guy to thank for that. I'll take tons of pictures! I got some designer chocolates for Irit. Ferrero Rocher and I'll think of something for Guy tomorrow! Romi, I already know what to get for her, but as there are none in town, she'll have to wait.

A DEN OF THIEVES AND LIARS

Striar the liar said he'd be sending $ 500 today. I think it's time tostart thinking about buying that bridge in Brooklyn, except, Fanny's(my cleaning lady) daughter stole my Cellcom cell phone and 200 shekels from my wallet. That also answered the question;"Who stole the 100 last week?" How do I know? On Friday, before I went to buy fags, I checked that I had the 200 in my wallet. I did. I paid for the fags with my Visa, and didn't spend any cash. I was home all day Saturday,and yesterday, so couldn't have spent it, and I was in all day today. Fanny's daughters came to help with the pantry at around 17:00. The cell phone was next to the bed where it had been all day and my wallet was in it's vest pocket.SFD (Sticky Fingered Daughter) was supposed to do the floor, but she just swung the dry floor cloth around and was in my room, watching TV or so I thought. The other one did 2 shelves in the pantry, then they left. I started getting dressed to go out and noticed that my wallet was standing up in it's pocket. I took it out to see if the money was still there. It wasn't and when I went to the phone to call Fannt saw that the cell phone was gone too. Fanny went ballistic. Daughter #2 showed up with phone and a story of where she found it. I finished getting dressed and stopped in at Fanny's. She gave me the 200 and I went to get fags, then to see if my turkey was in; he'll have it Weds. morning, the other shopping center to find out how much if any damage was done to cell phone bill. At least 10 calls. On my way home I stopped in at Fanny's again. When I told Fanny that I had a list of the numbers called, Daughter #2 said that she'd made the calls because she found the phone outside. I'm beginning to think the 2 of them were in it together. SFD nicked the first 100, nothing happened, and decided that I don't know what I have and where I keep it, and tried again. This time she got caught. Fanny is out of her mind over this. Poor thing. When #2 admitted to making the calls, I told her that it was not good that she waited until I arrived with the numbers. She should have told me when she brought it back. She's much too contrite, and eager to make it up, leading me to suspect her complicity in the whole thing. At least I have the phone and money back. It sucks that Fanny has to deal with this on top of every thing else.
Tomorrow I'll go find out exactly how much she ran up on the phone. I'll take care of STL later. Ain't life fun?

OK, THAT'S ONE WAY TO START THE WEEK!

The following post to Dark Matters pretty much covers the start to a new week:
A purple blur wheels franticaly into the room brandishing a sheet of paper. "Sorry I was late this morning" the purple blur gaspes, and hands the note to Don and Dwight, who wage a short tug of war over the now torn and wrinkled paper."Oh, never mind the note! I'll just tell you. For the last month or so, I've been getting up at 05:45 to have time to reboot, get coffee, and settle in to listen to D.M. The last 3 weeks I got up five minutes earlier because Windows Media Player had to be reinstalled. This morning I was ready for that, and got up at 05:30, only to discover that WMP is no longer an option. I had to down load RealTime before I could tune in. Ragamuffin and Pegasus kept telling me to hurry because they didn't want to miss hearing about Buckwheat. They wrote the note you two just ripped to shreds" finished the purple blur with a sigh, and wondering what challenge the D.M. cosmos has in store for next week. And just in case you're wondering, it *is* worth it!

Ok, so now how do I turn it to the right color without retyping it?
I'll just leave it. The rest of the day wasn't a whole lot better. Had a royal scream up with STL, who says $ 500 should be here tomorrow, and more in the next few days. Wanna buy a bridge? I'll believe it when I see it. I just bummed around the house all day and got absolutely nothing done, unless pondering type thinking counts.
I'm still outraged at the world. Iran is thumbing it's nose at everyone, along with Sudan, Syria and North Korea. They are assuming that the US is too busy in Iraq and Afghanistan to get serious about them. There's a State Department type in the area now who delivered a message to Assad Jr. and is here to report, supposedly. Syria won't be leaving Lebanon any time soon. Such a shame. First Arafart's thugs destroyed the country, then the Assad dy'nasty' took it over. And it's all our fault. If only we'd let ourselves be slaughtered quietly by the Nazis, the world would be a much better place today. Where has morality, right and wrong gone? Ooof, It's bed time.

EXPLAIN, PLEASE

Would someone please explain how it is that I love Kiryat Shmonah, and the people who live here, with a couple of notable exceptions, but detest the drivers in town? I know on some level that the drivers are also the very same people I adore, but something bad happens when they get into a car on the driver's side. It really is beyond my comprehension.
I've been having quiet hysterics since I saw the news. It seems

Arafart slapped Abu Alah in the face today! I've thought for a while now, that he's losing it. Things in this part of the world have gone from lunatic to demented.

The U.S.'s taking on Iraq caused Khaddaffi to yell Uncle (Sam) and cave in. Iran and Syria have done exactly the opposite and are in effect daring someone, anyone to stop them.And just to keep us all confused, after the horror of what just happened in Russia, Putin, that well known lover of peace has threatened to anihilate Chechnya while at the same time helping Iran with it's Atomic program. How much more insane do things have to get before someone up there figures it out?

Today was just one of those days when all the absurdities seemed to hit me at once.

I'm also in a rage at our government at all levels. Local and national. We are supposed to be good law abiding citizens and sit quietly by while the government blatently violates it's own laws. City employees haven't gotten salaries for the last 3-4 months. They are however expected to pay property taxes, water, sewer, etc. bills on time. It's just too insane for words. I think it's time for me to give my muddled brain a rest and go do something less taxing than trying to figure out the ways of the world. An nice argument with a graphics prog actually looks like fun right now.

THE PESSIMISTS GOT TO THEM?

Richard just called and said that they are not taking the coffee shop internet, and that things are looking very bleak for them. They said many times before they opened that they know that it will take lots of time and patience to build anything in this town and that is true. So many people said so many negative things to them that I'm a bit concerned that the negativity got to them. It's too bad because when people talk like that, it's usually a sign that they are jealous and human nature being what it is, it hurts them to see someone try to bring a good idea to fruition.It seems they're even getting it from relatives, the very ones who should be pulling for them, but then, they are human beings who suffer from human nature as well. He did suggest that I take my internet idea to Ava on my own, but I don't want to do it on my own. I think I'll go in later when he's there on his own and suggest a few modifications to the whole idea. If what he's really worried about is people he once owed money to finding them through the net,I can take their names out of the site and the pics from the blog.Their name is just too good not to use and he just might go for it if they are screened from old creditors.It's easy enough to shield them if that's their problem.*Names can be changed to protect theinnocent* I'm just a bit sad that they've only given it a little over a month and gotten so discouraged.
Of course being involved with that took my mind off of the whole STL mess and kept my rage towards him from building up too much. It's way up there right now because today was the last day to pay for the tickets to England.*That* hurts. I might as well resign myself to the fact that he will never pay it off and figure out a painfull punishment, one that will hurt even more than the web site. These are the times I really miss Mark. He was so good at coming up with stuff like that! His plan for Chickotai was sheer genius. I'll just have to try to think like he did. Ah well,
On the up side, I learned a whole lot about website design. Not enough to be able to market it as a skill, but enough not to be afraid of it any more.

THEY DON'T GET IT.

Who doesn't get it? "They" of "Them" infamy. All those shadowy, mysterious, nebulous,curious ubiquitous annonymous, self appointed, annointed third person types who think 'they' know it all, but in reality, know nothing. You know; *them* Those self same *thems* we all knew who they were back in the '70s, a century ago. Actually, some of the updated *today, modern day thems* as well.
Last month when Achy took me to the dress rehearsal at Kfar Blum, I fell in love with the white French Provincial grand piano, and even though I can't play so much as half a note on anything, and live in an apartment that is smaller than the average postage stamp, I decided that I want it. So far so good? You with me? If that's not enough, I've fallen in love with a BBC Prime prog which in itself should tell you something considering my antipathy towards the Beeb. It's called Escape To The Country and the presenters try to find to match city folk who want to move to the country with their dream country estate. Being a nutter about houses, this is the show for me. My big thing has always been old houses, and kitchens are my favorite rooms. This show has me hooked on Agas. After reading gazillions of books that mention Agas, I finally know what they are. I mentioned to Teadrinker that I want an Aga and she scoffed at the very thought, and in a most dismissive manner told me they don't make them in purple and anyway Gimp House is too small. I told her in my most serious voice that I don't care how big Agas are (they do make them in purple, I checked!) I'm going to get one as soon as I find a spot for the French Provincial piano! Poor Teadrinker took me seriously and that's what got me going. I finally figured out that she took me at my word because I rarely don't get what I want.......she kind of didn't get the part about this thing with the piano and Aga is like the Ice Berg Expeditions. The fact that there have never been, nor is it likely there ever will be ice bergs in the Med has never stopped me from going on an expedition to look for them! I never really had to explain that one to her, but she missed the point that the piano and Aga are exactly the same. A quirky hook to hang my fantasy dreams from in my head! I know that I'll never see an ice berg in the Med or have a place to put a grand piano, never mind an Aga, but I can go on cruises to look for nonexistant icebergs, AND plan a Gimp House with that white French Provincial grand piano and a purple Aga! There's a law against fantasizing and teasing people with my fantasies? If they want to think I've lost it, that's their problem. I'm having fun and it hurts no one! It's just me!
Every time they go into a kitchen on that show I start sqeaking Aga and have a whole discussion with Ragamuffin about that kitchen and Agas! Raggy just looks saddly back at me. She gets it. If the Westie who would be stupid if she had a brain can get it, why can't smart people?
Mara told me today that they love what I've done with the web site, especially what I've written there. They both like the text. I think I'll add a link to there here even though it's not even close to finished, in case any one wants a look-see! In fact, I think I'll add it here so I don't have to mess around too much at 01:00.
http://ilana110.tripod.com/

I'll add the link to the page over the week end, but for now, that's the link to the Yoffee Coffee website. Comments are welcome.

PARDON ME........

While I go quietly (not) insane. Ok, ok, so I'm not a geek, but I *can* follow directions......so why can't I get pictures to load onto the Yoffee Coffee site I'm trying so hard and patiently to build? I finally got them to work here, but the Tripod site builder will not work for me.
We have decided to take Yoffee Coffee to the net IF Ava agrees. They should. I found one other site in Israel selling coffee over the net and Ava is one of their suppliers, so there's no reason we shouldn't be able to as well. I checked hosting options here and as none of us has a credit card that works out side the country, we are pretty much stuck with the higher prices here. There is one major advantage to using a local server for our site and that is being able to pick up the phone any time to get advice. I'll be staying in today to try and figure out how to add pages to the site at Tripod. I like the way it's shaping up, and it looks better already than the other one I saw, if I do say so myself.
Yesterday I took some pictures for the site. Artsy fartsy, but pretty good. Thank G-d for digicams. I came home hot, hurting, and tired after taking the pics. I'm going to post them at the Y.C. blog here. Taking pictures in and of itself is not exactly hard work, but getting the stuff off the shelves and arranging it asthetically is tough on a gimp, and I just can't let anyone else do it. Being The Philmore's daughter means I can't stop until it's done. That means coming home and sitting here and letting the frustration level rise to dangerous levels.
I was nasty to Teadrinker when she called. Much as I love her and understand how hard it is for her, I *do* have a life and it was hard not to throw that at her. I just can't take the time to sit and listen to a minute by minute description of her day. When I finally couldn't take anymore, and she made a comment to the effect that I wasn't listening to her, it was all I could do to not say, "I have a life" In the end I said something a little less nasty, but not much, and we hung up. We'll probably end up going through the whole thing again today, but later. I'm not going out until 14:00 or so. Too much to catch up on here.
It looks like I'd better come to grips with not going to England. I have to pay for the flight and hotel by Thursday, and STL isn't going to pay by then. He thinks that if I tell him when it is he'll be able to futz around to the last minute but it doesn't work that way. Brian's e mail and the site are ready to go, and go they will.
It's time to get the dogs in, and go to Y.C. for an update there. I wish more readers both here and there would post comments, even if the ones here are along the lines of;"How can you stand yourself and your boring life?"

WE'RE GOING INTERNET!

I finally got prices from Barak, and ran them over to Richard and we are going internet! Yoffee Coffee is going to have it's own site and domain for seling coffee!!!! I just spent 2 hours arguing with powerpoint,in an almost vain attempt to get the home page started. I know exactly how I want it to look, but being a computer gimp, I'm having much trouble with it. Richard has a guy who can do it, but I want to have the basics ready. Maybe I should start at Bravenet on their freebie site and then move the whole thing to Barak? Yeah, I'll work on that!? It's gotta be easier than what I'm doing now.
Richard liked the blog I've started for Yoffee Coffee but Mara hasn't seen it yet.And I actually got the hit counter installed there! I'm getting better at this stuff. Go gimp!
Romi called me a while ago and gurgled with me for a few minutes. Ok, off to Bravenet before my shows start!

HARRY AND LOUISE ABELON MEMORIAL *LIBERRY*

One of these years I'll figure out how to get the picture with right post, but that won't be today. I've spent 3 hours here messing around with the pictures and at long last, have pretty much figured it out. Above is a view of the *liberry* from my computer chair with the blast door open. These boks are among the safest in the world. The room was built over the Africa Syria earthquake fault which runs directly under the room and is the reason the support columns were dug two meters deeper than originally planned! The walls and ceiling are made of 30-40cm thick steel reinforced concrete and are supposed to withstand a direct hit by missiles. The a/c is also an air filtration system and the window and door are blast resistant. There are blast shutters on the window that close when needed.

One day I'll turn the journal I kept of the building process into a website. The contractor wants a translation into Hebrew, but he's not getting it until a few things are finished. On second thought, I could post it as a site and tell him to get it translated himself!

I guess it's time to go and post at Yoffee Coffee, and ask Richard and Mara what they think of it. Then get started on the bookcase annex!

The Harry and Louise Abelon *Liberry*

BOOKCASE

Bookcase
Here it is in most of it's glory! It sure took long enough to figure out how to use that F***ing blogger blot picture thingy, but I think I've figured it out now! If only I could figure out how to get the pics to publish on the right post? One day I'm sure I will, I think, maybe.
At least I got pics here after gabbling on and on about building the thing!

Purplegimp on Wheelbroom 

HURRICANE FRANCES

Irit thought it would be cute to yell at me for not telling her I was on my way to visit her grandfather......in my hurricane personna! I played along, then called The Philmore to see how he's handling it. At 82 he's not doing too badly, but isn't as swift on the uptake as he used to be. Only to be expected at his age, I suppose. He and Marcelle are staying home, and plan to sit out the worst of it in the bathroom. He did recall that my preferred place to sit it out would be the roof. We reminisced a bit about the 2 hurricanes we had in Maine ages ago that I actually remember! He does too. He was ok with my name change too, as it's actually closer to what it was intended to be! I love storms and can't wait for winter which isn't too far away now. There's a sort of Fall feeling to the air now, not that we have definitive seasons here.......but it is cooler at night and the edge is off the heat in the day.
Aurelia called a little after 22:00 and wanted to know if it was too late to pop in for a visit. As I haven't seen her in ages, I said, "Come on over!" We sat in the *liberrry* which she loved. I told The Philmore about the bookcase and he sounded proud of his gimp daughter for building it all by herself. Go Gimp! I think I'll start on the annex shelves tomorrow in there. I can get the shelves on Sunday, but in order to know exactly how many I need, I'll have to take the 'too high' shelves off and move the books that will go on the annex. Not too much work and just right for tomorrow.
I started a blog here for Mara and Richard's Yoffee Coffee shop, but I can't figure out how to take my profile off and put theirs on. I'm also going to have play with that pic posting site again, I want their pics there. Ah, well, I can always kick it out if it doesn't behave! I WAS RIGHT! The *other* newspaper had a blurb about the coffee shop this week and I didn't even have to go in there! Richard was thrilled. I'm dying to hear what he says about what I posted at *his* blog!

BYE BYE HATED NETVISION!

Woohoo and Oh Boy! What a great day! In a couple of hours I'll be back with Barak and have *my* e addy back! Barak is only 59 a month and that's a joke, which means I can pay Netvision their charge and have Barak too. The only thing that doesn't excite is notifying everyone about the addy change, but as I'll still have the hated vowelless Netvision one, it's not urgent! Hip hip hooray!

One of the people killed in the twin bus bombing worked at the Post Office here. Sad day for us post office regulars. Damn those murderous ragheads.
There's a bad feeling in the air up here again and "they" are doing maintenance work on the shelters. It feels like trouble is coming our way again. There was a bit of talk about a Syrian connection to the bus bombing, which would explain the tense feeling.
This double stuff has got me wondering.......two airplanes in Russia, 2 bombers in Moscow and two buses here. Is it some kind of sick terrorist symbolism representing the twin towers? Maybe I'll post something about that at Dark Matters?
I ran out of fags this morning and couldn't find the packs I *knew* were somewhere around here, so I went charging out to get some and to get my meds for the month. Got half way to town and found that I'd left my wallet at home. Dumb me. Raced back to get it,(if you call 10 kilometers an hour racing) bought 2 cartons, got meds and stopped in at Yehiel's (a car was parked ON the ramp) to ask him to come have a look at the little Sony to see if it's worth saving. He'll be along later, if the Sony is dead, I'll decide what to get to replace it. I really want a TV in the *liberry*. That room will be so nice to sit and read/watch TV in. I'm getting a bit tired of doing that in bed because that's where the big TV is, and there's no chair. The recliner is in the *liberry* with all the books, so that will be nice. I just love the way that room feels now. While I was 'doing the books' I was keeping an eye out for a book I enjoyed a few years ago. For some reason, I though it was a Dean Koonts book, of course I never found it. On Sunday I stopped at the bookstore and got two new books-one a new James Patterson , the other a Grisham. Guess what the Patterson is? Ha! The sequel to the one I'd been keeping an eye out for. Not Koontz, but Patterson. So there.
I got home just in time for Charmed, and put 1 carton of fags away in the drawer, I brought the other in here after a short nap and found 4 packs hiding on top of the monitor. I knew I had more!
I really should go out and do some shopping. I must get back on the macro. My modifications are not working. Sheesh, I hate shopping on Fridays, so it's now or........
I also want to ask the computer guy at that mall about hand held devices. I want one for reading e books, in bed, on buses and airplanes. I'm having trouble holding books and I can't sit here for too long at a go. I don't know much about what will suit, so will start picking brains, then decide.
I think I'll make a cup of coffee, call Barak about a site for Richard and Mara, then, go shopping. Yup, sounds like a plan!