Randomness

[Weeble]

Damn, rats, arghhhh! Forgot the camera.

The wife and I were headed down to our local Amish general store. We have a very large Amish population in the area and lots of dirt roads with horse poop on them. Three young boys under 10 had obviously been tasked to pick apples as they had loaded a couple of wooden boxes (probably > a bushel) and were on the side of the dirt road sampling their harvest. It was just one of those moments, it was Saturday Evening Post special. Needless to say i will have the camera with us hereafter. On a lighter note tomorrow is the Traverse City summer beer fest. The wifey has agreed to be the designated driver, beer reviews if remember will be available ?Monday?.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Today my vacation finally begins. Having worked all through the summer I feel I really need the coming five weeks off.

On Wednesday I'll be travelling with a friend to Israel for ten days. My first time in the holy land. I'm so looking forward to it and I hope nothing bad happens, like a Syrian missile strike or something.

[Asso]

Good luck.
But I'm persuaded you will have a very good time.

[Alelou]

Good luck. Maybe this means fewer tourists to compete with, at least ... and you'll get a good sample of how Israel copes with being the unpopular kid in the neighborhood.

Hoping it's a true vacation and no news is involved!

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Thanks! I think our main problem will be that we're going to be there on two separate Jewish holidays (not even counting the Sabbath), namely the New Year and the Yom Kippur, when almost everything closes.

[Alelou]

Wow, those high holy days are really early this year. Good days to visit Christian or Muslim areas, perhaps. Rosh Hashanah is not particularly somber in my limited experience (mostly with friends and colleagues in NY and NJ). Have some apples dipped in honey!

[Cogito]

Have a good time on holiday, KTR, see you (virtually) in a few weeks time!

[Weeble]

Say a prayer for me while there KTR. Never been there, hope sooner or later I make it. Soooo much history.

[panyasan]

Have a great time, KTR, (I am sure you will) and return home safely. Friends and family of mine have travelled in Israel and while they thought it's a bit too toeristic at times, it was great to see the historial biblicial places. (I remember visiting old-Korinth in Greece and a church in Thesaloniki in Greece, both places are mentioned in the Bible - and one church member in Thesaloniki making a joke about it and me feeling great visiting those places).

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

We'll probably rent a car (which is very cheap) so we can go places even if public transportation is closed. And as Alelou said, those days might be good for visiting Muslim and Christian areas.

We'll be in Tel Aviv over Rosh Hashanah, and I understand there will be a lot of activities and celebrations there. Then we'll go and stay in Jerusalem.

[Linda]

I hope this vacation is a safe, happy, and memorable experience!

[panyasan]

I love my kids.

One day after we arrived at our vacation home - which turned out great - my six year old fell of skip and broke his left arm. We rushed to the hospital and he got operated. We're so glad we picked a vacation country were we at least could understand what people were saying and could manage some communication.

The operation went well, and we're all very happy he was okay. After he was released, we had a great vacation - even when we had to slow him down a couple of times (he is a very energic little boy) (and the worry about my job was still hanging above me in the first days).

Now we're back to normal, back to work etc. and he just got back from bathroom, saying "he had a small accident". Me: what kind of accident. We enter the bathroom and he shows me the damage. Me: How did it end up there? (On the ground). He: I was training to be a fireman! (he really wants to be a fireman). So I had to clean the bathroom.

My kids are one of a kind.

On request of the fireman:

[Alelou]

LOL!

Has the job fear proved to be unfounded, so you can relax on that front?

[Weeble]

Just remember at his age he can damn near hit the ceiling. I would strongly discourage any gambling relative to how far up the wall.....

On a separate note, the following is from the Wall Street Journal. Absolutely amazing and a game changer, IF?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ns_opinion

[Distracted]

The main worry with that is that the labs will be in a Walgreens. With their 200% markup philosophy, one wonders how much those labs will cost.