Jonah

For past few weeks Jonah has been asking when Spring will be here because he wants to go outside and play baseball. ( I was shepping such nachas) Yesterday the weather finally cooperated and we went outside, brushed the snow off his favorite bat and I tossed him a ball for 15-20 minutes.

He picked up right where he left off, connecting with most of my pitches, some weakly, and some really hard. Of course if I were coaching against him, I would have my fielders play a strong shift on teh first base line, because most of hits went in the same area. A couple balls came right back me. He hit a couple over the neighbors fence, which was pretty impressive.

After he would get a hit, he would run around until he decided that he was home. When we finished we went to the basement, and I draw a picture of baseball diamond on the white board, and explained where the bases were and other fun stuff.

It should be a fun spring/summer

Sleep issues

I'm on a 2 day waking up for Minyan in the morning, my alarm goes off at 6:30 and I'm there by 6:45. Here's the problem, it's been a while since I set my alarm, now I wake up several times pre-alarm and check what time it is. This morning, I think I checked at 4:30, 5:30, 6:00 and then I got up a minute before my alarm went off.

I think it's because when I'm falling asleep I have the mindset that I want to get up before the alarm goes off so I can shut it off before it wakes anyone else.

Shliach Aliyah

This afternoon Nat and I met with our Shliach Aliyah (person who helps us with the moving to Israel process through the Jewish Agency) and things are moving along. In a couple of days we will be able to apply to Nefesh B'nefesh set a date to move (yay) We have to call the movers and start to figure out our lift story.

She is going to enroll us in the Community Aliyah program for Ariel, I'll receive job listings for in English every other week, and then we'll get set up with someone who will help me get my resume in the Israeli style, whatever that is.

As far as our house, that is still the one thing that can derail our plans, it should go on the market next week, hopefully we'll be able to either rent it for a few years until the market turns, or sell it for not to great a loss. We have to do some work, painting and minor fixing, that should start to happen any day. And that is our story

Moving companies

We went to a chug Aliyah today, they had 2 moving companies there, which was good because we had no clue about any of that aspect of this master plan. No we have a a very little clue. Basically we have someone walk through or house and then he decides how big of a lift we would need.



The whole thing was kind of weird, because there were representatives from two companies, each guy gave a 5 minute spiel on the shipping processes and then took questions. They didn't talk about their specific company, just general info. Afterward, Nat and I talked to one of the guys and he talked about his companies special 60th Israel anniversary deal.

I think the only large items we are planning on bringing is our couches and mattresses, the rest will be small appliances and things from the house. I do like that they come and pack for us, because packing doesn't seem like fun.

Sammy

Sammy was fixed from top to bottom this morning:)

We had to be at the hospital at 6:15 AM, the surgeries started at 7:30 first they did his ears, and then they fixed up his lil' tushy.I wish I had brought the camera, when we got there, they put him in a backless gown, that was huge on him, and they had huge socks for him to wear - he looked pretty funny. But sad that we didn't give him breakfast.

The whole thing took about 40 minutes, then another 40 minutes of waiting for him to wake up. Once he woke up - we stayed for about a half hour and then we came home. He's behaving like his normal old self. The only aftercare that we have to do is, they couldn't bandage the incision area, so we have to shower off his butt a few times a day to make sure that it doesn't get infected.

Brett Favre

I had ESPN on a few minutes ago and Brett Favre was giving his retirement press conference and he was crying for a good part of it. Why is he crying? No one is forcing him to retire, he can still play if he wanted to, this is his choice, he should be happier with. Personally, my dream is to retire before I'm 40 with enough money to last several lifetimes, I certainly wouldn't cry through my goodbyes.

As far as my feeling on Favre, and maybe this is the Packer hater in me, I think he was one of the most overrated QBs in history, thanks a lot to John Madden. I saw some articles on different sports sites ranking him, and would he be in your top 5 or 10 QB's in history, and I think that's crap. If my team has the ball with under two minutes, Favre isn't the guy I want with the ball, he's to reckless, and is prone to dumb INT's, for example, the last pass of his career.

I'm not saying he wasn't a good QB, I just think he's overrated because of the media man crush on him, and the fact that he jumps on lineman after tossing a TD. He has many records, TD and yards, but he also has thrown more INT than anyone else in history.

Interview

I did a work related TV interview, I don't imagine I'll have the same audience as my Fox News interview, if you live in Shelby Township or possibly Utica you'll be able to see it!! The girl who did the interview is a recent graduate of Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, one of my alma maters, so that was cool, we got to play Specs geography (its like Jewish geography, but about the staff at the school that we both knew.)

I haven't seen a tape of it yet, I just hope that whatever I said was correct, I'm not a real doctor, I just play one on TV:)

I'm Jewish

This really isn't that much of a newsflash, but I just got an official letter from the Rabbi stating that Nat, the kids and I are all members of the tribe.

In case you're wondering, we need that letter so we can send in Aliyah application, so we are one step closer!! Now all we have to do is mail in the Application, then apply to Nefesh B'nefesh which from what I hear is even more difficult paperwork, then sell (or rent) our house - and then actually go through with this whole Aliyah deal.

I'll keep y'all updated as things happen