Teshuvah was easier when my sins were harder by 530nm330hz nicely captures how I've been feeling during the high holy days this year. I have plenty of big flaws to work on, of course, some pretty basic, but as we attack the more-accessible ones it can feel like an uphill climb to tackle the others. Food for thought.
It's like clearing a rockslide. It's ( Read more... )

It's summer. High heat and humidity are normal for summer. I get that. But I still hold that, for Pittsburgh, temperatures in the 90s and heat indices in the 100s until 10PM and by 10AM are abnormal. Just sayin'. I sure hope I can catch a ride to Shabbat services tonight; there's nothing to do about the walk home, but it'd be nice to not ( Read more... )

Within the first couple days of the Indonesian quake/tsunami six(ish) years ago, death tolls over 100,000 were being reported (final count was over 200,000).

Within the first couple days of the Japanese quake/tsunami, death tolls in the hundreds were being reported. (Of course, we're not done yet ( Read more... )

For the expanding grandeur of Creation, worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations, modim anachnu lach. - (Mishkan T'filah, adapted from Eugene Pickett, approximate complete text))
( writing inspired by this )

My congregation recently started a writers' circle. This isn't the type where everyone submits stuff for critique in advance; rather, the group gets together, the leader assigns writing prompts, we write for (usually) 15 minutes or so, and then those who want to share what they wrote. It's an exercise in introspection as much as, if not more than ( Read more... )

The interview parlor game is back. ( Read more... )

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur bracket the Yamim Noraim, the ten days of awe,
but the season really begins before Rosh Hashana. During the whole month
of Elul we're supposed to be preparing; we hear the shofar every morning
to remind us. (Except today, actually -- we don't sound it rightbefore the holiday.) While we have until Yom Kippur (or, ( Read more... )

It's been a few weeks since the kallah ended and there are things I'd meant to have written about by now. Well, better late than never.
( Read more... )

( fish-fest, Mac software, marketing, assorted links )

I'm thankful for many things ( Read more... )