I realize I haven't written in a while but I've been generally unmotivated to write in here for whatever reason. At first it was just because I had nothing to write about but soon after I just couldn't motivate myself to write in here. Maybe because nothing exciting is going on beyond the things that are related to buying a house, which aren't that exciting. Well, I'm on a flight to Hartford and since they have internet onboard (woot!) and since I'm out of things to do online, I decided to write now. I guess it's a case of taking what you can get...
First, I'm savoring the flavor of the Marlins being 3-0 this season, which is their best start since 1997 (when they won a World Series). I'm hoping this year I actually get to a game in Miami but the 3 hour drive is kind of an issue. Ideally there'd be a 4pm game on a weekend so I can drive in, see the game and leave Miami around 7ish and be home around 10. We'll see how that plan goes.
As I mentioned before we are buying the house and now trying to get the mortgage in order. One company is almost done but they need one more thing from us. We're also trying a different company to compare and see any difference, so we'll see where that goes. Once we have the mortgage, we'll be ready to go and because we don't quite have the mortgage yet, I'm not entirely convinced that we have the house yet because technically we can still pull out if we can't get mortgage rates that suit our needs.
We're on a flight to Hartford to celebrate Passover. Marissa and I are going to New York tomorrow to spend the day in the city at the Museum of Natural History and then it's off to Long Island for our passover seder. Technically passover starts right now but I don't think there's any matzah on the plane. Aside from the seder tomorrow, our only plans are to see the Heaths and spend time with my family. Should be a nice long weekend.
Speaking of Passover, I'm rebelling this year and allowing myself to eat certain food that is not typically kosher like rice or beans or other foods that make no sesne why they are not kosher for passover. It's my own personal fight for my principles.
Anywho, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll find the motivation to keep writing some more or at the very least post funny videos.
Another weekend has come and gone and I'm back to the grind of another work week. It finally heated up this weekend and yesterday was gorgeous. This week is supposed to be pretty hot, with highs in the 80's tomorrow and Wednesday. This is in sharp contrast to last week's weather where temperatures never got out of the 50's.
Last week I did some reading online about a sect of Judaism called Karaism, which is a bunch of Jews who reject the Jewish Oral Law. Basically, their motto is if God didn't say it, then it's not a law and I happen to find a lot of truth in that. Many traditions and rules are basically "man made". Some Rabbi hundreds of years ago decided these and it's become the rule, but my position is if God didn't say it, then why are we doing it? Classic example is during Passover when we are to not eat "leavened breads" (i.e. pasta, bread, etc). That makes perfect sense, but then there's rules that also say we can't have things like rice or potatoes and I think that's ridiculous. When the Jews were fleeing the Egyptians, they didn't know what a potato was or a number of other "new world foods". If it wasn't important enough for God to convey to Moses when the Torah was written, then we ought to not bother with it. Anyway, we'll see where this takes me.
Today is a very bittersweet day for me. It's my last day of my job and it just stinks. To my surprise, my coworkers are taking me out to lunch today and it's a great gesture on their behalf and makes me feel pretty special. This may not be my favorite job ever, but this was certainly a good job and it made for a good experience overall. As for the future, I'm unsure. Sometimes I get the sense that everything will be okay and other times I get concerned. While I might not ordinarily worry, I can't help but be concerned because of the state of the economy and the job openings out there seem to want Bill Gates but only will pay $20k/year. I can't wait to get a job and be gainfully employed again.
No big plans for this weekend really. Before I got laid off, I think we were going to go TV shopping but I think we're going to hold back on any major purchases like that for now and wait and see how long I'm out of work for. Of course, if Marissa gets a new job before I, then that will be okay. But in the meantime we're going to be taking it easy for now. My mom reassured me yesterday when she said the first two years she was married they never did anything and only went out for dinner once a week. Thanks mom.
To be honest, this all feels like a weird dream. It certainly has not sunk in yet and I'm not sure when it will (probably next week when I'm playing video games at 11am instead of being at work). I hope this will just be one good story to tell down the road but I'm hoping for the best in the meantime.
Unrelated to my job status, I made it through another Yom Kippur! This year was by far the easiest. My master plan of uber-carb loading at Waffle House paid dividends because I wasn't really that hungry, even at dinner time! Of course, my ingesting of about 8000 calories and 80g of fat at Waffle House may have played a part in that process. As dinner approached last night I wasn't craving anything per-se, so I opted to just break my fast by eating at Chick-fil-a and enjoying some good old fast food.
Video of the Day (No, this is not how I went out of work, but one day I will):
Other video of the day:
This video is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it's a metaphor for me and the dolphins represent me
I bet you're thinking I'll be writing about how much it sucks that I'm fasting and it's Yom Kippur and how I want to eat but all of that is very secondary today because yesterday afternoon I learned my project at work was canceled and thus, I have been "let go" from my job. To say it sucks would be an understatement. I was totally floored by it and didn't see it coming at all. The hardest part was telling Marissa about it because there's no easy way to tell anyone you've lost your job but it definitely feels like you did something wrong even though I know it isn't my fault. Luckily for me, the situation isn't personal here and they are letting me finish out this week and then I get two weeks of severance pay. It could be a lot worse and it's been handled very professionally.
So I'm back on the job hunting band wagon again and I'll be working on my resume today and applying for jobs. Hopefully I'll get a job before my two weeks of severance pay run out and things can work out. As they say, from my lips to God's ears, right?
Aside from my professional career, Marissa and I went to temple last night and it was a nice, albeit different service. I suspect this temple is conservative (whereas I come from a reform background) and the entire service was very different than what I was used to. They did some weird things like read a few lines of a prayer and then skip down to the last two lines or so as well as interjecting a lot of sermon-type speeches between prayers. Again, it was different than what I was used to but it was nice and I felt good after leaving there. Anyway, I hope the rest of my fast goes by quickly and easily.
In regards to yesterday's entry, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I found a temple to go to for services tonight for the beginning of Yom Kippur. It's about 2 miles from me and it looks nice from the outside. I called up and secured tickets for me and Marissa. I'm really happy she's coming with me because it means a lot to me and this is the sort of thing someone does when one loves another and I love it. So we'll be going to services tonight and atoning for our sins. That's the good news.
The bad news is I have to go to work tomorrow. Let me reiterate, I have to go to work tomorrow while fasting. No food or water or anything from dinner tonight until dinner tomorrow night. It's tough enough to deal with on a regular day but it's even worse if I have to go to work since I can't sleep through much of the day and I can't distract myself with video games or movies or TV. I would take the day off but I'm out of days off due to the wedding and I can't afford to take an unpaid day off so I'll be here at work suffering quietly.
