New Scientist SPACE - Features - 13 things that do not make sense

I never realised how many things just don't make sense.

New Scientist SPACE - Features - 13 things that do not make sense

later...

Happy Holidays

Channukah
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well all over the world every body is celebrating. Tonight Sandra and I lit our Channukiah to celebrate the first night of Channukah.

There is a tradition that no work may be done whilst the candles burn; and I found sitting on the balcony whilst the candles burned and the rain whispered in the cold night strangely peaceful.

I was also thinking, seeing both Christmas and Channukah fall on the same day this year if I could see similarity in the traditions.

On the surface the traditions are clearly different. Channukah being about the redemption and rededication of the Temple after its desecration by the Greeks; and Christianity about the birth of their messiah.

And then I saw the similarity which lies in the seasonal timing of the festivals. Both festivals are celebrated during the winter equinox. During the longest, coldest and darkest nights of the year. And essentially at that moment when the night is darkest we celebrate hope and salvation as these are the longest nights. But they are also the moments when the darkness turns and starts getting lighter and warmer once more.

So season's greetings to all my friends and family and may we all enjoy light and the warmth in the time to come.

Its all good.

Super Sandra

PortSyJohnsPool
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

At the beginning of this year Sandra registered for Homeopathy at the DIT. She had a difficult time registering as she had not studied courses such as physics, chemistry and mathematics at the official requirement levels of the department. Eventually she got accepted as a "mature student" and was exempted from these requirements on that basis.

But the requirements are there for a reason, and many of her courses assumed knowledge she did not already have - and this meant she had to catch up this material.

But this was not the only obstacle she had to face.

English is not her mother tongue and suddenly she was attending a full days of lectures all week long in English.

She had to pass exams in English. She had to deal with oral exams in English. She had to write weekly tests and assignments in English.

In the beginning she would sit in lectures and struggle to understand what was being said, never mind understand the difficult content of subjects such as histology, radiology and anatomy.

Well she worked virtually every night until midnight. She sat with vast huge texts in dense academic English and pored over abstruse diagrams.

Well to her great glory and acclaim Sandra was awarded two distinctions, one second, and two thirds.

She got her distinctions in biology and philosophy. She got a second for Physics. And she got thirds for Chemistry and Anatomy.

Super Sandra!

Woohoo and Weirdddd

Well... WooooooooHoooooooo....

I got back my marks for my UNISA exams and I passed all the exams with two distinctions.
So five more courses completed on my steady march towards a Bsc.

yum yum yum

and now for a link to a web site that shows your something weird about your eye sight.

Sandra's marks should be out any day now! I have a feeling she will have done excellently.

later...

I now have a new computer

I have just bought a new computer. I got it on Friday and have been installing and setting it up.

200G hardrive. 2G RAM. 3.2 Ghz processor. Pentium 4.

Robbie also just got Wireless ADSL Broadband. And to my delight I can connect to his router wirelessly. So I will pay a contribution; and have access to the internet at wonderful speeds.

Tonight I connected good speakers to the computer and its late so I am going to bed.

later...

What a roller coaster

LeeWithAmusingExpression
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Here a nice picture of my cousine lee-anne.

Anyways... let me tell you about my platelet roller coaster.

On Wednesday two weeks ago I went for a blood test because I had a bruise and the test came back in the 40s. Not good. Anyways, continued along as normal and tested again on Friday afternoon.

My count was 18k.

I wanted to beat my head through the wall.

I phoned my haemotologist and she first thought I should go onto cortisone, and asked me if I wanted to go into hospital and get it intravenously.

I said, I only have petichiae on my feet, lets wait until the symptoms get worse. She made me swear that if I had nose bleedings, headache etc I must go straight to Emergency and that I must not pass Begin. I agreed.

Oh. That night there was an already organised birthday party/shabbas dinner; which I went to and tried to not be despondent - but I was soooooooooo tired suddenly.

On Saturday morning I tested again....

19k. It was up

I phoned the doctor and she said OK I don't have to take cortisone yet. But she doubted it would lift and we would have to make some kind of call on Monday as she believes anything below 20k should be treated aggressively.

I spent the day in bed.

Sunday morning I did a count.
19k again.

I studied the Talmud in the evening on illness and sickness. Tracate Brachot page 4 or 5.
I slept and dreamt that night. I dreamt that I looked at my feet and there were no petichiae.

I woke up and immediately checked my ankle and feet, I couldn't see ANY petichiae. I moved into bright light... and... they were still there except a bit fainter.

I tested and my count was 27k

I was ecstatic. This meant I was above 20k and the doctor would not make me treat. I saw the doctor that morning, she said she doubted I would go above 50k and she wrote a letter of motivation to the medical insurance for a treatment of Mabthera (I have been in remission for 1 1/2 years since I took Mabthera.)

I then phoned the medical insurance every day pushing to get the medication authorised. (I will write more on this later as I kept comptemporaneous notes on the conversations with the call center.)

Oh and I also wrote the second year computer science programming exam I am studying through UNISA. I tested after the exam (Wednesday last week) and the count was 65k.

Above 50. Nice.

I tested on Monday this week.

My count was 285k.

How about that!

UNISA exams written.

I wrote my last of my 5 UNISA exams today. It was an iffy exam, the iffiest of the lot. We'll see.

Sandra did her Histology "spotter" practical exam today. Tomorrow she has her Anatomy "spotter" practical exam, and then she only has one left. Physics on the 17th.

Almost out of the woods.

later...

Well Done Sandra!!!

Sandra just got an SMS from her Biology lecture. Actually she got it from an unknown number so she called it and then aplogised profusely for three minutes, aplogising for disturbing her Biology lecture so late at night.

Sandra wrote Biology last week and came home a bit distressed and concerned and asking questions if she got 40% for her test, and 74.8% for her year mark; will they let her through the year. She was complaining constantly about how unfair the exam was; and that the questions were obscure and did not truly test students' knowledge. She was also very frustrated with the number of questions presented in a multiple choice format; which involved subtle differences in the English descriptions of biological processes; which she found frustrating.

Anyways....

She got 75%...

Yes! Thats what the SMS from her Biology teacher was informing her!

So in a foreign language, in difficult acamedic English, involving learning vast tracts of information; involving writing paragraphs in English to describe subtle complicated processes -
Sandra was awarded a distinction.

So Sandra is quite clearly a super super super woman!

Lucky me to have such a star by my side!

later...

(Lets hope the same effect occurs in other courses.)

Blech.....

Blech....

An Office Romance RTF

An Office Romance RTF is worth the read for anyone who has ever worked in an office with Office for months on end. (like me...)

Warning: This story was originally written for Playboy magazine, so it is a bit racy!

later...

Broccoli Toast and Spinach Spread

Sandra has been developing her personal culinary specialities. She was very happy with her Broccoli toast creation the other night. I insisted on eating my boiled broccoli by itself; but, Sandra said I was being silly and the Broccoli toast was delicious.

Today in my lunch box I have spinach spread on the rolls Sandra packed for me this morning. I am not quite sure how she prepares this gourmet food; but I know it involves spinach, cheese and a food processor.

later...

The Engagement Party...

RobbieAndTerri
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well the weekend is almost over and so is the Engagement Party events. It all started at about seven thirty am on Friday morning when my father arrived to fetch me for the airport. We arrived in Capetown at about 11 am and picked up the hired car and made our way down to Claremont and the B&B at which we were staying.

The B&B was very comfortable and relaxing except that I kept sneezing and my ears kept itching. Anyways, I suddenly found out that my shoes were not acceptable (which was true) and that we were going to go shopping for new shoes. But first we went to say hello to Jonx and Steven and to have some lunch at Carlucci's.

After that we went shopping at the Claremont shopping center which I found to be quite an ordeal. Eventually I asked to be taken back to the B&B for forty winks whilst my mother stayed at the center.

Later I had a shower and set off to meet our new in-laws-to-be. We arrived at the President hotel where a suite had been hired out for a cozy warm heimische shabbas dinner.

The evening was a delight and was fill with laughter conversation and smiles. Afterwards we all headed homeward warm and flushed with the enjoyment of the family celebration.

The next morning I was up early and my father dropped me off at Stevie and Jonx's; and whisked Jonx off to purchase his fancy shmancy Canon digital camera with which he hopes to drive his career as a photographer.

[UPDATE]: The new photo of me on my blog; and the beautiful picture of Robbie and Terri were taken by Jonx with his new camera.

I relaxed and playstationed for a while; and then made contact with Arik and went over for a visit and a laugh. A few hours later I was back at the flat and then Jonx and Mom and Dad and Stevie were all in the flat. It was almost 3pm and I was hungry.

Jonx and I went off to Carlucci's for a bite. Howie then contacted me and he joined us at the table. Soon Robbie and Terri were there too and we all ate and chatted. Terri had just had her hair cut and styled in anticipation of the Engagement party at the Grace hotel at the Waterfront.

After lunch I headed back to the B&B with my parents to relax before the evening's fun.

At 6 we arrived at the Grace hotel; and after a bit of confusion finding the bar that had been reserved for the private function; I found a seat and ensconced myself waiting for the people. And people arrived.

Brett Pillemer and Howie Gasmin and Shaun Knox were the people there that I knew the best. It was a fun evening.

The next morning I was up early and spent breakfast chatting with Phil, the son of the owners of the B&B. He had completed an honours in Physics (in astrophysics) a few years ago; and, over the last few years had been studying philosophy. He had just received a scholarship from Oxford to study the philosophy of physics.

After breakfast I joined Jason and Naomi for the morning (whilst my parents and Jonx and Steven went up for a scenic journey around Stellenbosch.) I had and enjoyed breakfast and then wandered Greenpoint market. I bought a second-hand CD of Eddie Brickhill and the New Bohemians, a belt and a flying pig.

[UPDATE]: I was so exicted when I got home to give Sandra the flying pig as a present; that I dropped it on the floor and it broke.

After the morning of reminiscing and chatting and catching up I got dropped off at the flat.

I wanted to playstation but there is something wrong with tv remote so I could not get the station to change to the playstation channel.

So... I decided to be productive and write these memories down before they disappear into the fog of memory.

I think I will return to my current novel that I am reading, the new Umberto Eco novel.

later...

Ancient Persian Custom

Apparently the Persians before they would serve their meals would bring out a silver tray to display to all diners. On the tray would be a whip and a scale. All diners would have some time to meditate on these two items; and then the actual food would be be brought out to enjoy. These two items were meant to lead one to eat with modesty and with forethought; so one would not eat what was not suitable to each individuals constitution and one would not eat out of balance with one's needs.

When I told Sandra about this interesting custom she thought perhaps we should emulate the Persian way and take this ancient tradition up ourselves. But its not possible as we cannot afford to buy a silver tray at the moment.

I have now written two out of five exams and feel saitisifed that I did all right. I have a third tomorrow. Sandra writes her first exam tomorrow - Chemistry. This is the subject she struggled with the most; so I am relieved that it will be out the way quickest so that her tension dissipates a little.

She has just been for a stroll to relax a bit; and has just returned to tell me that according to the fact that I am not studying "my lovely husband has ten minutes for me".

so, until later...

girl in the world

Terri, Robbie's fiance has started blogging. girl in the world.

Phone fixed

Well at last after 5 days without a phone our phone is now working again.

Last week we discovered that our phone was no longer working. I called Telkom and informed them that there was a problem that needed to be fixed. (I called them on the 5th.) I told them that there would only be people at home on the 5th and on the 7th. But that there would be no-one here on the the 6th.

Of course, on the 6th, I got a phone call at 8:30 am from Telkom technician.

"Hello, I am outside your flat."

Anyways, he said he would come back on the 7th.

Of course he did not. I phoned three times on the 7th.

Eventually someone turned up on the 8th. He looked at the line. He did things with his special telkom equipment. He concluded that the problem was not with our line but with the exchange. He said it would be fixed in 1/2 an hour.

Of course it was not.

I phoned Telkom again later on the 8th. I phoned again on the 9th. On the 9th the operator who answered the phone said she would escalate the problem to management.

On the 10th at 8:30am I got a call from Telkom management promising me he would personally make sure the problem was resolved.

1 hour later it was - apparently some piece of equipment somewhere somehow stopped working.

Anyways, I have a working phone again. After almost a week without a phone. Yay.

Tomorrow I write my first of 5 UNISA exams. Structured System Analysis.

later...

Physics

Sandra just phoned me all excited, as she just discovered that for her last Physics test she got an amazing 74% - which means that her year mark for Physics is 68%.
She also got an average of 72% for her anatomy tests!

Not so long ago she was all despondent about Physics and felt that she had no hope in doing well enough to be allowed to sit for the final exams.

Well, it seems that its only Chemistry that is still unknown and a big worry.

She should know by the end of the day.

And on a more frustrated note something has gone wrong with my telephone line at home. It is not working. The technician is going to come tomorrow morning to take a look.

And on a more organised note I have organised a new passport. (my old passport was expiring in December). I now have a South Africa passport valid until 2015.

Sandra's passport has expired; and she has not yet got round to doing something about that.

[UPDATE]: Sandra says that this is not true. She has phoned them and they say she has to wait until someone gets back from holiday somewhere else before she can apply for a new passport etc. She says they also said that a temporary passport should be possible.

Thats a bit of a worry as we were thinking of going to visit Germany in late January to congratulate the newlyweds. Hopefully she will be able to sort something out.

later...

[UPDATE]: Sandra has her DP for chemistry. So she can write all the exams.

Platelet scare on Shabat before New Year!

Well 18 months ago my platelets count were plummeting to zero; I needed absurd amounts of cortisone to be stay above 20k; IVIG stopped working and I was strongly resistant to take the treatments that could make me infertile. And then I took Mabthera and my count soared.

Since then I have been above 150k. Occasionaly 400+k. Once I dropped to 121k but went up again.

Since then (the 121k) I have been very careful to try and only do the count when I feel good and healthy; and when I feel uccky I try not to test unless I have good reason to be concerned!

And then on Tuesday, I had a headache did a platelet count (114k) went onto antibiotics crossed my fingers.

That night just after midnight I experienced rigors. I started shivering uncontrollably and feeling very very very cold. My wife took my temperature and I had no temperature. I was shivering so much I could not talk properly; and my wife rushed me to casualty at the hospital. By the time time I got to the hospital the shaking had stopped. I returned home.

I took a platelet count the next afternoon.
41k.

Not a happy moment. I have never been that low and not kept falling to hit zero.
I phoned my doctor and made an appointment for the next morning.

I did a count Friday morning.
48k.
I was really relieved. (Funny that the way one feels to a count is so relative!) Meanwhile I felt that worst of the virus was over. I was keeping my sinuses clear and sleeping.

I chatted with my doctor. She said that long term statistics were coming in on the Mabthera. That in Belgium patients were staying in remission 36 months, 48 months.

She said my strange rigors was probably because due to all the immuno-suppressants I have taken over the years my body does not react properly to viruses. (As well as being asplenic.)

I said I did not want to touch any cortisone or anything else unless I started presenting. She agreed, she said it was clear that cortisone for me was not a solution from my history. She said she would prepare the medical aid that I appeared to be relapsing and that I must test again on Monday (today) when hopefully the virus would be gone and lets all just cross fingers and press thumbs.

I tested at 6am this morning.
116k.

I immediately grabbed my tefillin and talit and rushed off to shacharit. (The Rav asked what my Mother's Hebrew name was and I was not sure, better find out so he can get the special prayer said for me...)

And I then set off for the 45 minute drive to work.

Looks like I am still in remission! And I had been trying to decide what books to take with me to hospital.

Well hopefully this is a good sign for the new year!

Happy New Year.

Some good pictures from Israel

Flickr: Photos from velvetart

Its already half way through the week. Disengagement in Israel is well under way.

later...

All Assignments done.

I got in my last assignments for the year in last night.

So hopefully I will get DPs for all 5 UNISA courses I have studied for this year. I definitely have 3 and am still awaiting results for the other 2.

It was Sandra's Birthday on Monday, and we went out for supper to celebrate.

later...

Holiday memories: the red wine stain

One evening after coming home from a show at Grahamstown we decided to drink some red wine.

Sandra kept balancing her glass all evening in precarious positions on the bed. It made me feel very nervous, seeing all the bedding was in a very pale cream color.

But, somehow, the glass never actually tipped enough to spill anything. I eventually went to sleep to Sandra's disgruntlement - as she thought I should not be asleep. And so she kept waking me up. And I kept falling asleep. And she kept waking me up.

And then.... I got woken up and I moved my arm; and I felt my arm knock her arm in which she had a full glass of merlot red wine... and it was all over a pillow, and a sheet and a bed.

Well... for the rest of the night we accused each other of being the one who actually spilled the red wine. We did not get much sleep. (In fact to this day there is absolutely no agreement on who was the one to blame. I don't see how it can be my fault as I was asleep, but anyhows Sandra, I am sure, can provide you with a twenty minute monologue on why it could not possibly have been her fault in any way whatsoever.)

The red wine stain looked quite bad. The bedding was clearly new; and it looked like it may have soaked into the new bed as well. We immediately had reacted by putting vast amounts of salt on the marks... but still...

The next morning we showed the char what we had done. She looked very disturbed.

And so were we... How much were we going to have to pay to for the damage? Would it just be one duvet cover and pillow case, or a whole set? Sandra believed we may have to buy a new bed!

We saw a very good play that morning by Berkoff about a poor working class girl in London whose life was pretty sad and self-destructive. Sandra thoroughly enjoyed it.

We then went back to the garden cottage to see how bad the damage was after the char had tried to see if she could salvage the situation.

...and...

the wine stains had been completely removed. OK. There was some tiny discolouration on the bed mattress itself, but very minor (almost to the point of non-existence). And the sheet, pillows, pillowcase, duvet were just like new.

We were shocked.

We were amazed.

The char said she used Preen Vanish.

I gave her a big tip as a thank-you for her amazing act of washing skill.

later...

time goes by

hmm. It feels like I have been back at work for ages. The last week I have been going to sleep after midnight every night as I have been working hard at the last assignment in the one computer programming course I am studying this year. I have been writing funny little programmes in Java. I have been trying to find a way to put them on the internet but have not yet found a suitable server yet.

Sandra has also been up late studying, as she had three difficult tests this week. Its been a very stressful week for her, but she is enjoying the work and the pressure. This semester she starts learning about homeopathic remedies; and if she passes this particular course she will get to have her own homeopathic first-aid kit to take home. She really wants this kit; and is very excited about it.

We went to see Charlie and the Chocalate factory last night. I really enjoyed Johnny Depp. He is from another world.

There is something wrong with out kitchen sink. Something is blocked somewhere in the pipes. I have no idea about how plumbing works - ugggg.

This weekend I will be working on assignments most of the time.

later...

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

We come in Peace for all mankind!

...later

Harry is back at Hogwarts

I just got my copy of the new Harry Potter.

... later

holiday memories: the first surprise

Well, as promised some memories from our recent holidays.

I successfully woke up at 4am and managed somehow to get us on the road by just after 5am. I was very pleased with this.

Then, about 30 minutes out of Durban, I turned to Sandra and said.

"You did pack the tickets and booking confirmations and important telephone numbers?"

"No. Did you?"

"No."

"umm.. I guess we had better turn around then."

"Yes."

So, we ended up leaving Durban well after 6am.

Luckily I had padded my intinerary for unforeseen delays and we still reached Grahamstown before nightfall.

later...

We are back from our holiday

PortSyJohnsPool
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

We are now back from our holiday and I am back at work. Sandra still has one week of holidays left. But she says she has some intense studying to do, for the upcoming semester.

We had a great time and here is a slideshow of some photographs from our holiday. (Click here to see the slideshow.)

I will post some little stories in the next few days about highlights of the holiday which will include the "Red Wine Stain" story, the "Tsotsi" story and the "Sleeping in the car" story (amongst others....) I will put on one story a night for the next few days, so something to anticipate for my avid readership.

later...

Sandra has passed both her semesterised courses!

Sandra just phoned me breathless with excitement to tell me that she had passed physiology.

Physiology is a one semester course on complex medical knowledge about the make-up of the human body. It is a required course to have passed to be permitted to continue to second year in Homeopathy. Or in other words, if she had failed this course it would have meant that an extra year would need to be added to her entire course; as certain necessary second year courses require the completion of this course.

I glanced at her text book; and I did not know most words; as it is written in scientific jargon.

So Sandra, not only had to learn academic English in order to understand the material; not only to follow along in lectures in a language that is not her mother tongue; but she had to learn long strange words that to me seem unpronounceable.

She did all of that; against very difficult odds!

Not only this....

In her other semesterised course - philosophy of homeopathay - she got a first!

This means that not only did she excel in understanding philosophical ideas taught in English; but also, that she could successfully express and demonstrate in depth and accurate knowledge about these ideas in English.

Anyway, since she got this information phoned through to her by one of the other students; she says she needs to go down to the technikon this afternoon to see for herself these wonderful marks. She was so excited that her voice was wobbling a little bit.

Quite a nice way to start our holiday.

...later

We're leaving on a Winter holiday!

I am very excited!

Sandra has been packing things slowly all week. There is a special kitchen box in the kitchen corner which she has been carefully loading with kitchen stuff and food.

This week we both went shopping for warm warm comfortable winter clothes...

because,...

We will be waking up at 4am on Saturday morning; and be out of the door and in the car at 5am at the latest and driving to the Grahamstown Arts Festival. I have paid for accomdation in a garden cottage of the a woman who lives in Grahamstown. We will have our own kitchen, bedroom, living area and garden. (And of course secure safe parking.) We will be there four nights (Saturday night, Sunday night, Monday night an d Tuesday night.) I have already booked for four main festival performances. On the night we arrive we will be seeing a big jazz band, On Tuesday afternoon a tap dancing/gumboot dancing extravaganze, on Wednesday night a classical music string quartet with a clarinetist and on Wednesday morning for a modern dance performance in the main theatre. (Unfortunately I could not book for Sleeping Beauty as it is sold out already.) Of course we will be booking for other performances once we get there. But it is 100% certain that the main festival events will be sold out by the time time we get there. The last time I went to Grahamastown (more than 10 years ago) I learnt that lesson the dissappointing way. So I have booked for these 4 main festival shows; and of course we will see many others shows that we will only book there.

And then on Wednesday afternoon we drive an hour to the Addo Elephanant national park were we are booked for two nights. This national park is completely malaria free and has all the big five. We are booked for a sundowner game drive that evening; and a morning beginners horse ride the following day. We will then spend the rest of the day driving around looking at animals and stuff; finally falling asleep exhausted in the cottage in the middle of the wild.

The next moring we will wake up early and drive 6 hours to the iNtali river lodge in Port St Johns. We should arrive there in the afternoon and will settle into our river facing bungalow before going to the a la carte restaurant for dinner. We will spend the next day wandering the beautiful beaches of Port St Johns and of course the beautiful hikes near the river. We will sleep there again that night.

Finally on Sunday morning we will wake up; and after breakfast take the last 4 hour drive back home.

And then the next day I will return back to work. Sandra still will have a week left of her holidays, but she has been given lots of work to do and so will be busy preparing for her next semester.

later...

Simbithi

Fnished Front with Pillemers
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Mom and Dad have invested in property in the Simbithi development up the North Coast of Natal.

Although Sandra and I have often heard stories about the development...

Such as the difficulty of choosing if the floors should be wooden or tiled; and... what colour the fitting in the kitchen should be. And whether a wall should be here,... or there.

Lots of discussions and lots of decisions.

But Sandra and I have only heard these dicussions; for until yesterday we had never seen the development or the progress in the building of the flat my parents have bought.

Well, this Sunday we went up to take a look. Well I had my telephone with me so I took my pictures with my cellphone camera.

We also took a look at the area where a retirement resort is being built within the development. This development looks like it will be a little village with horse riding, boating, fishing, water sports, golf and all sorts of bird life and wild life. It will have retirement suburbs and residential suburbs and holiday suburbs. Its quite exciting to see how much development is happening in Natal and in South Africa at the moment.

Aftwerwards we went to the shopping center right next to the development for a delicious lunch at an excellent Portuguese restaurant.

Throughout the afternoon I took photographs of the flats in all stages of development. I took some photographs of the views. I took some photographs of the plans and adverts for the retirment complex. I also took some photographs of the shopping center nearby where we went for lunch.

Click on the link (Click Me!) to see the slideshow of the photographs.

It could be quite a lovely place for a holiday on the North Coast.

I hope you enjoy the photographs! (Not bad for a phone, hey?)

later...

Why is my fridge like a cell phone?

Fridge3
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Because I keep getting a new one every year and half!

A year and half ago, Sandra called the people who sold us our Fridge and told them that there was something funny with it...

Defy came and took a look; and said that they would give us a new fridge.

Well, that just happened again!

And each time we get a brand new fridge.

How about that!

later...

schuuller and steeevie

schuuller
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well last weekend (wow has a week gone by already?) Schuuler was in town for a photographic assignment. He was contracted to take the still photographs for Standard Bank's next advertising portfolio for magazine and what not. He spent the Saturday in Pietermaritzberg taking photographs.

Sandra and I joined him for dinner at Cafe 99 where we chatted and ate strange avante garde food. (I had chicken steamed in jasmine tea!)

One of the questions he asked, was what is Stevie up to? Schuuler's assistant also was a friends of Stevie's; and also asked what Stevie was up to at the moment.

And I did not know...

Now I do.

He (and his group) were awarded the tender to create a South African television series for the pay channel GO on Dstv!

(Click this link to see what is on GO today. ie if it were possible to click on a relevant day in January you would see Stevie's show on the list! )

Wow. Mom, has said she will want all the family at Durban to watch each episode together at the Cato Road house.

I think it should start broadcasting in January; but I am not sure.

later...

65% for Histology

I just got an sms from Sandra telling me she has got 65% for histology.

So Sandra is continuing to pass difficult exams in courses with complex ideas and in English!

Sehr gud!

later...

Thank you Durban Muncipality.

SaturdayMorningWakeUp
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Early this Saturday morning I was rudely awakened by hooting and shouting and noise and crashing and uninterrupted loud sounds.

The Durban municipality had decided that this morning I should not worry about setting my alarm to wake me up.

later...

NPR : An Odd Hierarchy of License Plates in Gaza

This is so bizarre (and quite hilarious.)

NPR : An Odd Hierarchy of License Plates in Gaza

Good relations with the wookies, I have....

Well we went off on Saturday night (Orli, Denzil, me, Sandra and Robbie) to the Gateway to see Revenge of the Sith. We first went to eat a meal at some place at the center. We were indecisive about which place to eat at, as we did not which of these joints were the least terrible. In the end we went to place none of us had been to before, and so, could not definitively say "No." Well now we can.

The service was shoddy, the waitress pubescent, the manager incompetent and the food mediocre.

Lee, a friend of mine, was wandering outside wearing clown makeup, on stilts, juggling. He told me it was "weekend money." I did not know he could stilt walk - but I did know he can juggle five juggling balls effortlessly. In Jerusalem when I lived at Givat Ram, there used to be a juggling class held in the hall near by where I lived; where two jugglers used to teach basic juggling. They could juggle nine juggling balls each effortlessly; and twelve together. Apparently they used to travel the world doing shows.

Anyways, we then went on to the cinema. I had booked us all tickets in the new fancy leather seat in the back rows of the Gateway cinema. Sandra was higly impressed - apparently in seats like those any movie is bearable. (Robbie said in seats like those any movie is enjoyable.)

So we all sat down in comfort (with huge legspace) and entered in the world set in a galaxy far far away.

My favourite line was Yoda's:-

Good relations with the Wookies I have.

Robbie favourite line was Kenobi's

Only a Sith thinks in absolutes.

Sandra was bored.

Afterwards, we drove back home, the five of us chatting away.

A nice evening.

later...

I am holding myself back...

(unlike this guy....)

I will probably only see the final Star Wars this weekend (or maybe even next week sometime.)

But I am very interested in this movie's meditation on how democracies can collapse into totalatarianism; and this visual exploration into the birth of one of modern western culture's fictional and mythic icons of evil.

Rise Lord Vader.

later...

Chips for lunch?

I wonder...

Did that guy who appeared to the right of my car window eat chips for lunch. There he was, in a white helmet and dark glasses on his police motor cycle looking at me through my window. What was he doing?

.... indicating for me to pull over....

I put my cell phone away; and pulled over.

We had quite a chat after I rolled down the window and gave him my license.

He told me that the fine these days for cell phone use by the driver of a motor vehicle is R1800.

"Wow! Thats quite a lot... Geez..."

"Yup...."

"So do you have any suggestions about what we should do?"

"Well, I don't have R1800 in my wallet."

"hmmm... so.... do you have any suggestions about what we should do?"

"I do have R50 in wallet right now.."

"hmmm... so... do you have any suggestions about what we should do?"

"umm.."

"Well do you want the the R50?"

"Are you offering to buy me lunch?"

"Yes."

"Drive Safely!"

"Yes Officer."

hmmmm....

Red Eye

RedEye_Tank
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

On Saturday night at 6:30pm Robbie jumped into my car and we went off to the middle of town to see the Red Eye art installation. We had to work out before hand the best way to get there because the art installation was happening in the street itself and so Smith street had been closed off to traffic.

We eventually parked in the Royal Hotel's parking lot and made our way into Smith Street. Wow. I was blown away. The art installation was an "intervention". This means that the artists were attempting to intervene with the way the city normally represents itself, in order to intervene with how we normally see the city.

The main street itself, normally filled with cars, had tables and chairs and the Royal hotel was serving food.

And then the statues in the war memorial area in front of the city hall was tranformed. The artists had taken cheap materials (cheap materials found or lost in the city and transformed.) One statue had a blanket wrapping it up. The statue of Jan Smuts had a bright orange flower necklace. The Angel on the WWI memorial had many little notes stuck to it with the names of different geographical areas of Durban, and a bigger banner with the words "RETHINK" written on it.

The water fountain was filled with little boats made out of discarded milk cartons. This was my favourite.

There were thousands of orange gloves hanging from a large tree. The orange and the green provided a strikingly beautiful contrast. There was a variety of different contemporary dances being staged amongst the crowd and there was a stage with live music. It was great fun. I only realised I had a camera on my phone after the show was basically finished, but I took a few snaps. Here is a link.

The DDC followed, which Jaydon's sister won! To reiterate - Roseanne Immerman won the DDC fashion show which is a very presitigious thing; Marc said soon they will have their own Immerman label of clothing.

The Playhouse's theatres were then turned into an after party; which I went to (until Sandra called to tell me to come home NOW.)

I saw quite a few friends and acquaintances that I had not seen in a while. Vernon was there. Brendan Bunyan fom my time in the Natal Symphonic Wind Band was there (he now works for the Natal Playhouse and has two children.) And I ran into Carla to discover she was a recent mother. She has invited us next week for dinner!

All in all, lots of fun!

...later

Congratulations to Andrea and Rudiger

Andrea and Rudiger
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

To our surprise and delight Sandra and I discovered that Andrea and Rudiger got engaged to be married in Himeville in the Drakensberg.

(UPDATE - Not to "be married in Himeville" - they will get married in Germany. But they got "engaged" in Himeville. OK? No more ambiguitiy?)

This was particularly beautiful as we also got engaged to be married in Himeville.

(UPDATE - Not to "be married in Himeville" - we got married in Durban. But we got "engaged" in Himeville. OK? No more ambiguitiy?)

Congratulations!!!

At the time Sandra wanted to get married that very week in Himeville. She got very frustrated and angry with me when I said "No." She tried to make me go into this little town's magistrate's office and ask them if they could marry us that day; or if possible the following day. hmmmm.

Later on she wanted to get married with only us in a hot-air balloon.

But in the end she was very happy to have a beautiful wedding, in a beautiful dress, surrounded by many of her family.

So soon in the Kelm family there is going to be another celebration of joy and simcha.

Its not Avocado's number

Its not. Its Avogadro's number.

Sandra keeps on calling it Avocado's number though. I want to go to sleep. Altough my cold is almost gone I want to get a good night's sleep.

But Sandra is insisting I sit in the study and keep her company while she studies.

...later

still uggy

I spent most of the week end in the bed trying to get rid of this cold.

Sandra made me snort salt water through my nose, as she said this would help. I did what she told me; it felt quite strange. Apparently, according to Sandra, her father snorts plain water through his nose every morning as part of his daily routine.

We just went for a dusk walk around in the neighbourhood; and then visited my parents. I heard that Stevie is very busy with more than one interesting project. But apparently its all hush-hush, and if it comes together there may be a media blitz (...and I do not know more that that... because my father decided that I do not need to know more that that.) Sounds very exciting.

I forgot today was mother's day. (And I only remembered when I saw the Mother's day card Robbie bought. Actually, I would not have noticed yet; so, rather, when Sandra saw the Mother's day card that Robbie bought - and showed it to me.)

Sandra is studying the brain. I now know that its my cerebullum that I use every morning to drive to work.


...later

sniff sniff

I have been sniffing all day. At work everyone is sniffing as well. Looks like the whole of work environment is fluish.

I am settling back into the work work work day. yada yada.

..gone but for the writing in the sand

Andrea and Rudiger left today from Durban to head back to their day-to-day lives.

Last night we went out for a delicious dinner at the Butcher Boys restaurant. (Rudiger, like normal, felt that this steak could have been bigger.)

I had the impression that they had a wonderful holiday and were sorry to leave.

I am back at work now.

I also have a bit of a sniffle.

Sandra wrote an anatomy test this morning.

later....

74.7% for Philosophy of Homeopathy

Well Sandra discovered today that she got 74% for her philosophy of Homeopathy test.

Yesterday Andrea and Rudiger spent the day on the beach. (After discovering that they had left it too late to get reasonable prices for tickets to Cape Town... You need to book 7 days in advance to get cheap tickets!)

This morning they left for Himeville in the Drakensberg. And this afternoon I got a phone call from them to say they had arrived safely; they had met Beauty; and, they had booked their 4x4 tour up the Sani pass to Lesotho.

Jenny (my mother's sister) has been here all week over Pesach; and she has cooked a special pesahdekka cheese cake.

Which is being eaten right now. So I had better go eat!

..later

Elephants and Sandras

Elephant
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

While Rudiger and Andrea were looking at elephants (and monkeys and other things);

Sandra was learning physics. And I was teaching her physics. All day long!

Hopefully Sandra has a memory like an elephant and tomorrow, when she writes her test, will remember all the stuff she learnt today about Newton's laws of motions and force; and how to solve kinetic and force questions.

For example,
If a monkey is sitting on an elephant;s truck; and the elephant sneezes with a force of 100N how far will the monkey fly into the air and where will it land.

Well? Sandra?

huh?...

Doris never got to see a ...

monkey
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

monkey!

But Rudiger and Andrea did!

They are back from their trip to the game reserve and saw much and had fun.

(But they did not see any lions.)

They are planning to go to Cape Town (probably) this coming weekend.

They are very tired....

A bit rainy today

Well, I just dropped Sandra off at the Technikon and have eaten breakfast.

Yesterday evening I got a call from Andrea and Rudiger telling me that they had reached the game reserve successfully and had already seen an animal with one horn. (I told them it was a called a rhinocerous.) This morning they booked a tour that leaves at 4:50 am. I am guessing they should be ending their tour about now.

I wonder what they saw?

Yesterday afternoon and evening I spent hours trying to teach Sandra physics. This is not an easy thing to do at all. Sometimes I get very frustrated when something that seems so simple and obvious to me... seems meaningless and opaque to her. Her test is on Thursday.

I was planning on going to swim in the sea this morning. Buts its a bit rainy.

Its nice to be on holiday.

Oh... Rudiger asked Sandra what barley soup was; and, Sandra told him it was soup from Bali.

..later

Finished with the Shark onto the Elephants

Shark
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Andrea and Rudiger have finished playing with the sharks and this morning they are off to the game reserve to try and see some wild animals.

Last night they were driving the small Chico when the rain became like a monsoon; so bad that it was too scary to stop on the sides of the road because the car looked like it would be washed away. He had to keep driving in the middle of the road.

The rain was so strong that water came in through the air conditioner and wet Andrea's feet.

Yesterday I went swimming with Rudiger in the sea and Andrea enjoyed lying on the beach.

Its a lovely hot day for driving to the game reserve. They will be there from today until Wednesday; and have booked a tour.

Alles ist gut.

Andrea and Rudiger and Ilan and Sandra

Andrea and Rudiger and Ilan and Sandra
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Andrea and Rudiger are in Durban. We fetched them from the airport yesterday and showed them our flat, and the supermarket and fruit and vegetables and shopping malls. And we ate lunch at a restaurant.

Today we spent the day at the Aquarium and the beach. We saw dolphins and sharks.

Alles is gut.

80% for Biology

I just received a SMS from Sandra telling me that she has got 80% for biology.

Pretty good, hey!

The air tasted like salt water.

This afternoon Sandra and I went, as normal, for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Except this time Sandra was walking with a piece of card with notes written on it. When we started walking up a steep hill; she paused, turned towards me and said...

"On friday the sky was filled with see-through clouds and the air tasted like salt water."

Sandra expression

Sandra 3 tiny
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well. The photopgraphs that Meira took when she visted us in Durban (when she came down for Richard's wedding) arrived in my email inbox today.

Here is the one I like the best.

(Click on it to see some of others.)

...later

an Ilan movie...

Sandra and I went to see The Life Aquatic at the cinema last night. After the movie Sandra decided that this movie belongs to the genre of "Ilan Movies". And its true... I think it was a work of genius.

Go and see it!

I am a Complete Idiot.

...as my wife had the pleasure of informing me this morning.

Why?

Well some friends of mine sometimes put on all night parties of trance music. I sometimes DJ at these parties too. Well, anyways, I no longer enjoy to spend the entire night at these parties as I am not as young as I used to be; and, I then end up too tired and grumpy for days.

So, what I do, now, is wake up early early and pop down to the party in the morning.

There I was, this morning, standing at the door, dressed up, quiet as a mouse so as not to disturb Sandra and...

no car keys. I could not find them anywhere....

I now know I left them upstairs at Robbie's flat when I went up there yesterday.

The Two Egypts

Well Sandra is very very stressed about her physiology test next week... (and highly irritable.)

What else... I am reading voraciously at the moment. I just finished Paul Johnson's History of the Jews and now I am reading Life after Death by Alan F. Segal.

Very good book. Very academic too.

I am currently only on the first chapter where he is describing ancient Egypt's funereal cult and the geography, politics and sociology of the era.

I in fact learnt some more about Hebrew this morning which is appropriate to Nisan and Pesach. Which happens at the upcoming full moon.

Anyways...

When Egypt is referred to in the Bible, the Hebrew word is Mitzrayim.

The word Mitzrayim in Hebrew is in a special form of the plural - a form which indicates "Two".

Its the form of a noun I would use if I want to buy two pairs of shoes etc.

So if we were to translate the word literally the Bible would always refer to the two Egypts and not to a singular Egypt. Therefore at the Pesach table I will be recounting the story of how "...We were slaves in the two Egypts but now we are free men...".

That seems strange.... Does it not???

Well, actually - it makes perfect sense.

Because Egypt was actually split into two seperate kingdoms seperated geographically by huge waterfalls. The climate and society of the two kingdoms were different and in fact they spoke such different dialects of Egyptian that people from the two different kingdoms of Egypt could not understand each other. These two kingdoms were united under the pharoah - but nevertheless they were two seperate distinct entities.

There were in fact two Egypts hence the form of the Hebrew word for Egypt - Mitzrayim.

I find that very interesting!

later...

Sickly

I have the flu.

Kabbalah Lara

A friend of mine, Lara, is off to Israel to make a documentary on Kaballah.

She sent me an email containing these words:

Anyway, I'm in London but on my way to Israel again. This time to do some filming in Tsfat. In a nutshell, I want to make a doccie (documentary film!) that dispels some of the myths of Kabbalah and highlights its light. I don't by any means, plan to give a summary on what Kabbalah is as even if this would be possible, its not what this doc about. Its more to raise a bit of awareness and to steer people away from the celebrity, cult bullshit and give them an alternative sight.

... I plan to make Tsfat my base and to interview some of the colourful and sincere characters I met when I lived there but I still need to find someone more authoritative. Someone who can maybe provide the narrative voice in my doc. I don't want it to be a 'voice of G-d' but rather someone who can explain a few basic principles and such stuff. So do you know anyone like that?

I did suggest Sarah Tov; however I do not have her contact details. (Anyone have her details?)

anyways... If anyone out there can make any useful suggestions for her to consider; please leave a comment here for her to read.

later...

Another Assignment and now 6 and not 8....

Assignment 1 INF 206d
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well, I have just completed another assignment. (This one was 11 pages.) Which brings my total of assignments completed to 5.

I also am no longer registered for 8 UNISA subjects; but 6 UNISA subjects.

The reasons for this was that although I have been working hard and consistently there is no way I could do all these courses and be able to maintain quality and attention.

I know I can with 6 courses.

I have learnt my lesson in the past of trying to cope with more that I should - and it only results in me not succeeding at what I could have accomplished with temperance.

Apparently temperance is the key to success in worldly and spiritual endeavours.

later...

Mobile Me

Me
Originally uploaded by ilanpillemer.

Well, at last my blogging reach will attain new levels of blogdom.

I just got a new telephone as part of my two-yearly upgrade with my serive provider. This phone has a little built-in camera.

I was hoping that it would a nice enough camera that if I see something or go somewhere and feel like blogging about it - I can snap.

Well here is snap of me!

It looks good enough, don't it?

later...

Boring Boring: A Directory of Dull Things

For all those who enjoy a bit of laugh on this Friday April Fool's Day.

Link

later...

This guy scares me.

pearls before swine

Need to escape?

Need to be challenged?

Then maybe you need to get out and try and get some of the pearls up for offer!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH

Congratulations, swimming and snotty noses

I have been trying my best not to catch flu from Sandra. She has been blowing her nose constantly for the last few days. I have not yet caught it. I hope.

I saw Fox and Andrew this long weekend and I went swimming with Andrew at Battery beach.

Congratulations to Marc and Susanne (in Germany) on getting engaged!

Sandra is sniffling too close to me, I am getting out of this room.

later...

Promotion!

Well I got my promotion today! I have been promised it for well over a year now. But I made a decision to actively and relentlessly pursue it; after four months ago I got assurances from senior management that it would happen. And today I received my new salary!

I love Adar.

Tonight is also Purim. And its a nice very long weekend on the way.

Sandra got 70% (or 21 out of 30) on her chemistry test - which has made her quite happy.

On a sour note, our vacuum cleaner broke and we need to buy a new one.

Sandra wanted me to sit and examine the different vacuum cleaners being sold at the local hypermarkets. Ugggggg! I tried to - but it was really boring - so I had to put my foot down after the first ten minutes and say "no more!".

later...

Mr Miyagi

Our bonsai tree has been dying. Sandra bought it for me on my birthday. (But she would not let me look after it; as she thought I would kill it due to mismanagement.)

Well, it has been dying anyways....

Sandra and I had our disgreements about what was going wrong. I thought it was not in the sun enough, and that it was being made to soak in water. Sandra thought it was getting too much sun, and not enough water.

Well, the last weeks the leaves have been falling off.

Then.... we discovered that Mike was a bonsai tree hobbyist. He said we must bring it over and he will take a look.

So we did....

His garden was a bonsai tree haven. We had a pleasant time being shown the different trees and how they need to be looked after. It was actually amazing...

He then looked at our tree. He was amazed that moss had been grown all the around the tree. He lifted it up; and the soil underneath it was dry as dry can be.

Apparently the tree we have is a savannah tree. The moss was preventing the water from reaching the soil; as it was diverting the water away from the soil. The tree was dying of thirst. Also the pot was not really deep enough for the tree.

He said that a lot of these commercial bonsai tree people; do things like this to make the tree look more attractive; but what they do is detrimental to the health of tree - thus many of the trees bought commercially die.

So Mike helped us repot the tree; and explained how we need to look after it.

A regular Mr Miyagi.

later...

Long Weekend coming up!

I have a spider bite or something that was worrying me, so I took a walk across the road to the hospital to ask if I should worry or not.

Sandra came rushing after me, very excited that they may need to cut open the bite with a scapel. She was even very generous and offered to cut me open - as she has been learning how at the Technikon.

I ended up getting it examined by an Italian doctor who was more interested in my I.T.P. than in the spider bite. But he told me not to worry and that it should start getting better soon. (It has started getting better.) Sandra was very dissappointed in the lack of blood.

Last time I went I had an ingrown toenail and was operated on there and then. Sandra missed the opportunity to witness the pain and the blood (and give suggestions)... So she felt very let down that this time nothing fun happened.

Sandra seemed quite satisfied with her chemistry test; though she says she thinks she confused the definitions of atoms and elements. She says she went blank a little bit - as everyone does in exams. I told her I never went blank in exams. I think she ignored my information.

We are a quarter of the way into the month of Adar now.

The final and twelth month of the Hebrew calendar. (I know I know we celerate Rosh Hashana in October... but that is not actually the beginning of the year; rather it is the marker of the day the world was created.) Nisan, the next month in the Hebrew calendar is actually the first month of the Hebrew calendar.

This is meant to be the happiest month of the year; and joy is meant to be greatly increased during this month.

Anyone out there had any especially happy moments?

Later...

VOIP and Chemistry tests

Well, I now have set up Voice over Internet Protocol on my computer.

Go to Skype to set it up yourself. Click on this link to download it! link

This allows you to turn your computer into a telephone that works over the internet. That means that if you have a 24 hour internet connection, you can now make overseas telephone calls to other people with this software for FREE! If you have normal internet then it will only cost you the amount to make the call to connect to the internet to talk to people overseas.

This evening I chatted to my Uncle Jack in Jerusalem this way!

So, all of Sandra's friends and relatives, this could be an amazing way to keep in contact with Sandra, at worst, at the cost of a normal local telephone call.

Nice, hey!

Anyways, Sandra has a chemistry test tomorrow and I have spent the late evening quizzing her. So wish her luck!

later....

Greatly Exaggerated

The reports of Stevie being on this Monday's episode of Madam and Eve were greatly exaggerated.

However... he will be on an upcoming episode.

And apparently he is in the trailers of the show.

Stevie gets a full speaking cameo on television!

I have, to my surpise, seen Stevie twice on television. Both times were in adverts.

Well... Robbie just saw him in a trailer for the upcoming episode of Madam and Eve on Monday night on E.TV at 8:30pm!

because... Stevie has got a full speaking cameo role in this South African television series. The television series is called Madam and Eve, and its based on the cult South Africa daily newspaper cartoon of the same name. link

Here are some pictures and an in-depth analysis of the television show by the BBC. link

The show has won an international award.

Etv's Madam and Eve was selected from 19 entries from around the world to receive the second prize (a bronze rose) in the sitcom category at the 42nd Golden Rose Competition in Montreux, Switzerland. link

Tashi Tagg also got a small role in this television series, and she wrote about the entire process from the phone call telling you you have got the role to the rehearsal and the actual filming.

This is very interesting if you are interested in what Stevie must have gone through, in order to prepare, for the almost a minute that he appears on television screens; across South Africa; tomorrow night.

Last week I played a small role in Madam and Eve. You probably all know that Madam and Eve is a South African sitcom based on the comic strip of the same name, and I thought it would be fun to share what it's like behind the scenes on this kind of show. Through my eyes of course:).

Here is a link to her description of this process.

On other good news from the world of Stevie the University of Cape Town has hired him to direct the student production of Six actors in search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello!

Luigi Pirandello has won a nobel prize for his writings. link

An essential precis of the play according to London Online review :-

Luigi Pirandello received the Nobel prize for literature in 1934. It was awarded for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." His first expolorations of his central theme, truth and reality, took the form of novels. Later he turned to theatre to continue that exploration, in 1921 writing Six characters in search of an author. The six characters have assumed a life off the page and are demanding an author to write them into a play, their original creator having given up the task. The characters object to the way actors act out their drama, implying that only they know the true sequence of events and can represent themselves best. This is the premise of the play, and characteristically for Pirandello its aim is to investigate levels of illusion and reality.

Here is a link to a full summary of the play (as well a brief analysis of each act.) link

Mazel Tov, Stevie!!!

Sandra now has three pairs of new shoes

This morning we went shopping at the Pavilion for new shoes for Sandra. She has been complaining for ages that she needs new shoes.

Now,.... shopping with Sandra is not an easy process.

It is not unusual for her to go shopping for hours and hours and try on thousands of items in millions of shops; and find nothing that is perfect.

Uggg....

Anyways,... after a lot of complaining by me, to please choose something since she says she needs them.

Now she has three new pairs, one pair of closed shoes, and two pretty pairs for going to fancy places. For example, next week Sunday, we are planning to go to the Marion Hill Monastory to listen to a classical music concert.

Sandra has also suggested that maybe we should get season tickets to the next season of the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. Her violin teacher is a member of the orchestra and apparently she can get us quite a large discount. This would mean, that we would have nice seats; and that we would always sit in the same seats. A year ago I suggested the idea myself, but it was not met with incredible enthuisiasm. Now, that it is coming for her, I am quite pleased. So hopefully, soon our Thursday nights will include some classical music. Sandra already has the shoes she needs for Thursday evenings to be a success.

Sandra has a Chemistry exam in the coming week. Right now she is lying in bed with a tub of lemon cheesecake ice-cream and her chemistry textbook.

On Saturday morning we got a char to come and clean the flat. Sandra and her got on well. Her name is Star, and she used to work for Jenny many years ago. Anyways, she is coming again next Saturday. After that, if Sandra is still happy with her, she will come one day a week, during the week. Sandra thinks that Thursday may be the best day (if Star is happy with that day too.) This will be good, as Sandra does not have the time to clean. I do not either (and I do not know how, and when I do try - I always do it wrong.)

We also bought a 5000 piece puzzle this morning.

We both enjoy puzzling, so now there will be a puzzle in the lounge coffee table - for someone when they feel like puzzling a little bit. A 5000 piece puzzle, is quite a large puzzle, so it should entertain us for a few months at least. I find it can be quite relaxing to sit with a puzzle when I want take a break. (And its more constructive then staring at a television.)

My next assignment is a very difficult one. (Probably the most difficult). I need to take a deep breath, and start concentrating on it.

anyhows... later...

Another assignment done.

I set myself the goal of having an assigment finished before this weekend, and last night at twenty minutes to midnight I submitted my assignment on software project management. Wooohooo. I am making steady progress; but there is still the most difficult assignments to do. euuuuwch.

Its been raining the last few days, sometimes in downpours, which has made my drive to work and back a bit worrisome and difficult. Once or twice in the last few days its rained down so hard it has been difficult to see through the windscreen. This can be a problem when there are trucks and whatnots speeding at over 100km/h near you.

Last night I tried to help Sandra understand the different between distance, displacement, velocity and acceleration. She then had quite a simple graph of distance against time to analyse. If the physics does not get much more complicated than that, she should be O.K.

later...

Official Apology to the chihuahua!

I received the following official complant to my Daf Yomi post:

First of all I have to object to being characterized as "a modern orthodox friend". I am none of those. I really don't approve of modern orthodox as an appellation or as identity. And I am certainly not a friend of Ilan's whom I have never met.

I am a chihuahua, and it is my group.

Okay the group is actually managed by my owner's husband who is a friend of the blogger, but otherwise shares my opinions of modern orthodoxy. Also would not like to have my owner herself see him called modern orthodox because that could get him into trouble.

Also the blogger here should have linked the group or at least the thread so people could see the responses of other group memebers to his post.

I wonder what he thinks he's getting away with here. If I could reach him I would bite him.

In response.

(1) I apologise for incorrectly boxing this chihuahua into the modern orthodox appelation. He is whatever he says he is - and if anyone out there in the universe was misled by my label, I ask that you understand that I was wrong.

(2) Here is the link to the daf yomi group. link,

(3) I have appended the responses to that specific post to the Daf Yomi group. link.

(4) I will edit out the offending words from the original post
.
I hope you do, sir, accept my apology and do not dream about biting me any longer.

Cold Switzerland

I had not been checking my blog email address. But I discovered today that I have been receiving email on it. So I will start checking it on a regular basis.

One of emails I had received was from my Uncle Remond in Switzerland. He says its cold there and sent this picture.

He also recommends Marshall B. Rosenberg
"Nonviolent communication: A language of compassion" to all people who get angry with petrol station managers... as anger is not a good thing.

hmmph

On the weekend Sunday shopping I decided to try out the healthy jungle oats youghurt bars as a lunch time thingy to add to my lunch box.

I had one at lunchtime on Tuesday. It was delicious.

I got home. I decided I wanted to take a little nap.

I climbed into bed.....

...and found the bed full of empty jungle oats yoghurt bar wrappers.

Well, needless to say I did not have one for lunch today.

hmmph.

3% NaCl solution is more complicated than Nietszche

It also is isotonic to an onion cell. Well, that took me 3 hours on Saturday night to understand. It was important to Sandra from some reason.

I do now understand that the saline drip is 0.9% NaCl which is isotonic to blood. This is why this saline concentration is used when there is an intravenous drip stuck into my arm; (which has unfortunately been the case many times...). I now know that this is because distilled water is hypotonic to red blood cells and could cause them to explode or something; whilst a higher concentration of NaCl is hypertonic and would cause them to shrivel. I do find this more interesting than onion cells.

Unfortunately I did not get to go see the movie I wanted to see this weekend: Constantine. Hopefully, on Tuesday night I will.

I am half-way through my next assignment; which needs to completed before the beginning of the coming weekend if I keep to my tight schedule. Geez. I have not worked this consistently since first year university.

Sandra said something amusing this weekend.

She looked at me and said.

"Geez. This biology is difficult. I have never had any trouble understanding any university subject before... umm.. except for Nietzsche."

hmmm.

later...

2G or not 2G (But that was not even the question!)

On Friday night we went to the Bass's for Dinner.

Greg had bought a PC in 2000 and was just now running out of the space on his hard drive. A friend of his, gave him an old 6 Gigabyte hard drive that he had - on the basis that he would not be expected to help him install it.

I was there on Friday night, and Denzil suggested that I perhaps try add the hardware.

I decided to give it a go. We unscrewed the case. Upon unscrewing the case I discovered that there was not spare adapter plug to plug the hard drive in with. With most hard drive wires you get two adaptors - one for the primary hard drive and one for the slave of the hard drive. So, I had expected to find a free slave plug. But the CD-ROM was using that adaptor plug.

hmmmm. I thought. Lets just for now, see if I can get the computer to see the new hard drive. I unplugged the CD-ROM; and plugged the new hard drive in. Upon restarting, I then had a lot of trouble because the computer could not find any hard drives. I then plugged everything back in the way it was; and still it would not start.

This was strange.

Eventually, I discovered it was because the plug had not been pushed firmly enough in.

But then, when I went into the CMOS to discover the available hard drives - Denzil and I noticed a very strange thing.

The current hard drive. The 2 Gigabyte Hard drive Greg had bought 5 years ago, was being discoverd as a 6 Gigabyte Hard drive.

I asked Greg about this.

He said, "No. I definitely bought the 2 Gigabyte hard drive. The 6 gigabyte option at the time was expensive and I thought not worth the money. Anyway, the specs should be written clearly on the in-side cover of the box."

I looked on the inside cover of the box...

It read 4 Gigabytes.

So Greg paid for a 2 Gigabyte hard drive. And he had just run out of disk space - and needed more quite urgently.

The label on the inside of the box said 4 Gigabytes.

The CMOS initialisation was telling me that the hard drive actually had 6 gigabytes.

So I then went into windows and looked at his C: drive.
I saw that it had 2 Gigabytes of space and was very nearly full.

I then went into the command line and ran the FDISK utility.

It told me quite clearly that there was 6 Gigabyte hard drive it was aware of.
It also told me it had only created 2 Gigabyte C Drive primary parition and that it was only using 33% of its hard drive capacity.

So I created an extended partition of the rest of the hard drive. I then created a logical D Drive of 4 Gigabytes on that partition.

I then formatted the D: Drive.

And... hey presto...

Suddenly there was now a 4 Gigabyte empty D: Drive ready for use by Greg and others.

Greg's problem had been solved.

There was still a spare hard drive lying on the side of the table.

I told Greg, that the next time I come by, I will try and remember to bring a another plug to plug that 6 Gigabyte hard drive in... and then he would have a total of 12 Gigabytes free.

Greg was not fussed as the actual problem had been solved.

It seemed that when the computer vendor was told that Greg wanted to buy the cheaper 2 Gigabyte hard drive; he gave him the more expensive 6 Gigabyte hard drive - and only made the OS aware of 2 Gigabyte of it.

Quite bizarre.

But not as bizarre as my mother's question at the dinner table that evening...

She asked "What is the name of lake in which people see the Loch Ness monster?"

Anyways....

Later.

Daf Yomi Group

[updated on 10 March due to official complaint]

For those of you who are intrigued by this sort of thing - the 7 year cycle of the study of the Talmud ended and began again on Robbie's birthday (ie 2 March 2005.)

A modern orthodox friend of mine decided to start a "daf yomi" internet group. He is going to manage it, and make sure that every day there is some kind of discussion about the page being discussed that day.

I made this post to it this morning.

>
> Beth mentioned she tries to wrap her mind around the gemara's flow of
> consicousness.

I remember when I was still living in Israel, I was going to a specific yeshiva (whose name will not be mentioned). At that point I was also trying to understand the best way of meeting the talmud.

It appeared to me, at the time, that the talmud was an ongoing conversation about a subject which was never directly mentioned; filled by an incredible assumption of knowledge.

It also seemed to me that to join in to the conversation, meant adding to it - not only trying to understand it. This was one of the resting pillars of the chevruta system. Perhaps this group could also be viewed as such an addition?

It also appeared to me that upon memorisation ( I memorised a page or two of kishdushin ) that were various of levels of association that only become apparent when a piece of text is held in the imagination itself. But that, of course, may have only been my imagination.

But in any event, I discovered an incredible enveloping effect; that made me understand why, in my only particular interpretation, people refer to the "sea of talmud" - as, in a sense, I felt as if I had taken a few steps into the sea and... although I had only got my feet a little wet... the sound of the waves had already drowned out all other worldly sounds.



... then tells us twice in two different ways that it
> is important to "connect Geula to Tefila".



I am of the understanding that Tefila replaced the Temple sacrifices; and, that Geula is in essence, that lack of that Temple. Thus Tefila is the scar of exile, or in Deriddean terms, a "supplement." [Footnote 1]

When viewed in this way, Tefila is ultimately the sign of Geula. (At many different levels of metaphor and actualisation. ) Right?

> So we actually are learning something about tefilla from the melachim
> here (the paragons of tefilla from a certain perspective).

I am sure that once upon a time, I was told by a lamdan, that somewhere in the talmud, the rabbis' conclude that the names of the angels come from Babylon. By this, I was led to believe, that many of our people's "superstitions", or (If I wish to be more sensitive to people's "sacred cows" ) - "symbols by which through homilect/agadah certain principles are expounded" - such as heaven and hell; a dualism between messiah/G-d and devil/yucky guy; and, Tammuz (month names/Babylonian gods) - can be traced. The rabbis' of blessed memory when thus pointing out a historiucal understanding of how certain ideas came into Judaism, whilst using these ideas to explain concepts which are were not necessarily etymologically and religiously linked to these names. A prefiguration if you will, similar to how Christianity attempts to prefigure images in the Tanach to re-explain the Tanach to fit into its quite different religious mythologies.

I however, cannot provide a source for this assertion of mine - and perhaps the lamdan in question was incorrect.

Shabbat Shalom.

-- ilAn

Footnote 1: 'The French word *supplement* means both addition and replacement. The supplement both extends and replaces.', from Derrida for Beginners by Jeff Collins and Bill Maybin, Icon Books, 1996, p34.

As an aside to this footnote; interesting enough we pray for the end of geulah and the restoration of the Temple. But tefila's religious importance lies in its replacement of the Temple and the existence of Geula. Thus in a way tefila opposes itself i.e. we pray for the end of prayer. *ouch*

Jooppiidee Joop Joop

Last night for Robbie's birthday we went to Joop's place.

Here we all ordered the perfect fillet and pepper sauce steaks. My favourite, favourite favourite favourite, favourite meal.

(Except for Sandra who got a vegetarian platter.)

I gave Robbie the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records as a birthday present.

Sandra also got me to buy him a cake, into which she stuck three candles for the 30 year old.

The evening was a joy, and everybody was chatting away.

Sandra, about her courses...
Me, about my how clever I am...
Robbie and Daddy, about legal stuff...
Mommy was more listening to other people, than creating topics...

And all of us about the Shaik trial.

It was a lovely celebratory evening.

Tonight Sandra and I are going to the annual Homeopathy dinner and shin-dig at Kathmandu. (The bar not the country.)

So, tonight, I will get to meet some of the people she has talked about when telling me about her days at the DIT.

yada yada...

All A-OK (except for stupid petrol station managers)

My platelet count is approx. 236 (or 263). I cannot remember which. So thats good.

I went to get petrol this evening (after fetching Sandra from the DIT.) It was pouring with rain. Having filled up, the petrol attendant told me my petrol card had expired (by one day.) It expired at the end of February.

This is at the BP on Moore Road.

I said, well let me pay with my VISA card, since you have a shop here and can take VISA. Let me buy some money to pay you with. This stupid manager then came out to tell me he was going to charge me 5% of whatever money I "buy" for the service.

Arsehole.

So anyways, I agree. And then the attendant came back - saying my VISA card had been refused. I asked what the reason was. The ugly manager then said "Timeout, please try again...". So I said, "Please try again...".

He refused. He then said I needed to leave him with something valuable whilst I go and get the money. I offered him Sandra's student ID card. When he refused, Sandra asked him what on earth he wanted - did he want our house keys?

He refused that too (the idiot did not even appreciate that Sandra was being sardonic)...

He said he wanted something valuable enough that he would not risk being stolen from...

Geez... Arsehole...

So, I left him with my car and my wife and I walked across the road in the pouring rain to an ATM. At the ATM I used the exact same card to draw money.

I walked back, drenched, and gave the attendant cash.

I then marched into the BP 24 hour shop, and confronted the manager with many onlookers; whilst the attendant got my change.

I said my speech I had practised whilst walking through torrents of water.

"I drive approximately 700 kilometers every week. I generally always fill up with petrol at this garage.

I have been spending close to R1000 a month on petrol from this garage...

I cannot believe that my card could work across the road; and not work here.

But because of the unacceptable way you handled this situation, I will be taking my business elsewhere for at least 6 months; and probably much longer... this means that your behaviour has resulted in what seems to me to be significant lost revenue.

I just want you to clearly understand this."

When he nodded his head in an embarrassed understanding; I left.

Oh, I still paid the petrol attendant his tip.

And I have just completed another assignment this evening!

But I still have the darn headache.

later...

Baby Graham

One of my work colleagues is having a baby soon; and yesterday he received a rather Purimesque baby shower.

Strange.

I am feeling a bit out-of-sorts today. I also had a rather disturbing just-before-you-wake-up nightmare in which I woke up due to the alarm clock, and saw red petichiae on my arm. I was horrified as this meant that I would need to probably rush to the emergency at the Hospital.

But then the actual alarm went off, and I woke up and there were no little pink dots.

All in all, a horrible way to start the day. And I feel uggy. I think I will go and check my platelet count on my way home. I have had a headache for almost a week and a half now.

Blechhhhh.

Guests and angst

On Saturday evening we had guests at Park Lane. We invited Vigo and Sinead over for dinner.

In the afternoon Sandra has become very very frustrated because she spent four hours trying to create a table structure in Word 2003. She felt that the table that she had been given to fill in for her assignment did not have enough space for her to fill in neatly. However the more she tried to create an electronic version properly the more it got worse and worse. And four hours later she had not not done any of the assignment, the table was still not working, and guests were arriving soon. I had an unhappy wife.

Anyhows when I saw how much the assignment was causing undue angst, I sat down and created a table properly, and then copied letter by letter, everything she had done into the relevant spaces. Once I had achieved this Sandra became a lot more relaxed.

(When it was time to print out the table at 11pm on Sunday night, we discovered that there was no more ink in the printer! We had to go rushing to my parents' house to sort this out.)

The evening itself was a great success. Very soon after Vigo and Sinead had arrived Sinead and Sandra had disappeared for an examination of Sandra's wedding dress. We discovered that the couple had recently got engaged; and Sinead's mind is full of wedding thoughts and plans and things.

Vigo also brought some chumus; and this was a perfect dip to add to our salad and carrot stick hors d'oevres. Vigo sells salads and whatnots to delicatessens and at markets. Recently he has added Sangria to his product list for when he supplies to functions. He has a Spanish neighbour that supervised his learning process with this drink. I said, "Ahh! Moshgiach Sephardi." Vigo and I found this very funny.

And then, whilst sipping on white wine, we had a delicious cheese Gruyere cheese fondue; followed by lemon-cheese cake flavoured ice-cream.

There was constant chatting and laughter all night. Sandra and Vigo are in many of the same classes at the Technikon, and Sinead has decided to go to University as a mature student to study Psychology.

After dinner, Sinead and Sandra, thoroughly enjoyed going through our wedding photogrpahs; whilst Vigo eyed out the Playstation games he wanted to play.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening - one we hope to repeat soon.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

When I was a little bit younger and a little bit shorter my parents decided to buy an Apple 2e computer. Robbie and I used to play with it avidly; and one of the games we used to play was Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy.

The game was actually written and designed by the author of the best selling book.

The game was a text based game; as in those days graphics were too slow to be used for this kind of thing. I used to play this game compulsively - until one day I somehow when trying to save or delete a saved file. Or save another file or something.

I am not sure how I did it - to be honest - I deleted some essential code for the game and it became unusable. Since I had not bought the game legally, and I was very young and short, I was stuck. I think I got 50c pocket money a week and Robbie got 25c a week in those days.

So I moved on to other games and projects.

Many many many years later I got hold of a DOS copy for windows and finished the game.

For some reason, I had always had issue that I had not completed the game.

I had got to the part when I had teleported into my own brain and was working out how to destroy my common sense.

So I finally completed the game about 15 years after I started it, and achieved a time of peace and satisfaction.

I still have that DOS copy running, on an old 486 PC; I have lying around.

And sometimes when I am feeling very nostalgic I start it up and play through the game. It never fails to amuse - and transport me back to when I was younger and shorter.

Anyhow, a new graphical version has been created by the BBC in order to celebrate the games 25th anniversary. (Actually two versions have been created.)

Its the exact same game; it just now has a visual component to go with it. I think the visual component actually makes some of the problems easier to solve.

I am sure if I had seen the "no tea" as a possession; as clearly, I may have solved the paradox genius problem earlier.

This problem took me the longest to solve.