Something my mom sent me

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
 
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
 
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
 
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
 
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
 
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
 
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
 
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
 
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……
 
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
 
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
 
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
 
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
 
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
 
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no

lawsuits from these accidents
.
 
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
 
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.


We r ode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

 
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
 
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
 
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
 
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
 
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
 
HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL!
 
And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!
 
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
 
and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
 
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
 


PS – The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age

You may laugh now.

Totally another subject….

Soooo my company is looking. Pass it around to whomever, and when sending in a CV, tell ’em “Mikey sent me”.


MobiMate Ltd. is a world leading mobile software developer, providing software products to the world’s major mobile industry players, such as: Nokia, HP, Palm, Mitac, Sony Ericsson and others – at the cutting edge of mobile technology and smart devices.
We invite the best team players to join the best mobile team around, in a dynamic environment, and enjoy the newest and most thrilling cellular and PDA technologies.

Requirements:
– Highly skilled, experienced developers (C++ or Java ) that want to be part of our elite development team, over coming technology boundaries and challenges.
– Good knowledge of OOP/OOD.
– B.Sc. in Computer Science (or Engineering)

Advantages:
– Experience with Win32 API / Windows Mobile / Symbian
– Development of UI for mobile applications.
– Inclination for rich client side development.

Welcome, and more.

I’d like to send out a hearty welcome to a good friend who has joined LJ to be safe from harm. Props go to . w00t w00t.

Yoss and I recorded a show last week, and I didn’t get a chance to post about it. Check the feed and subscribe.

Opening night was last night for CST’s “Macbeth” and it was a hit. I only screwed up ….. Well, since I NEVER screw up, because I’m perfect, that sentence can go unfinished. Come see the show, it’s really good.
After that, we went out for drinks and such at a place on Emek called “Coolinary” – what a terrible pun. It’s big on the wine, and only have one type of beer, so I don’t think I’ll be frequenting there very often. The service was great, though, and they had about as much fun as we did.

See you at the theater!

Kill switch, galore!

Last night, Dan and I installed a nice little electronic switch in the theater’s intercom.
The intercom has been located under a curtained off corner, that usually contains lots of set parts, walls, etc in a large mess, and lucky for all of us, the intercom is in the farthest corner from civilization.
With the use of some CAT-5 STP cable, two screwdrivers, a razor, a cutter, soldering iron and solder, and a little electric tape, the intercom has been relocated closer to reality, and has had a small switch added to the top of it.
Through rigorous testing (and using another intercom as reference), we managed to pipe the only circuit that causes the loud buzzer to ring when someone at the gate presses the button through a simple on/off switch. This is primarily to prevent the buzzer being sounded during a performance (which has happened quite a few times before) and driving everyone mad. The intercom retains all of its other functions even when the kill switch is off. Just the buzzer is gone.
Fun and rejoicement resound through the hills of Avalon.

Goddamn Interview meme thingie…

So me being a stupid idiot, I fell for the temptation of the stupid interview meme.
I saw that had posted one here, and added that I am up for it, but she should be careful wuth the questions.
Seeing as she wasn’t, I guess I’ll answer her anyways.

1. Leave me a comment saying, ‘Interview me.’
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal. Or downright silly, taking into account how I think. Or not, depending on how I feel.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. Name three things that make you believe your mind is dirtier than mine. (Heh heh.)
A. I have the capability of taking whatever you have and taking it one step further.
B. Whenever presented with the possibility of sexuall innuendo/situation, I manage to find the lowest possible comment
C. I’m a dirty old man, whereas you can’t ever be that.

2. What major changes/surprises do you expect to happen in your life in the upcoming year? (This is after your “one year” post).
That’s kind of hard. Prediciton has never been my strongest trait, but some developments have started in different fields, and who knows where the wind will take me? Life is constantly evolving into something more complex than I ever thought it could be the moment before, so the revelations continue to be surprising as ever.

3. Is there any particular subject that will make you friends-lock an entry?
Simply put, no. I don’t believe in censorship in any shape or form. If it’s not going to be reveled to the world, it’s not going online. The whole friends-lock is kind of complicated, as I have many non-LJ-user blog friends, and I like the open-ness of the online journal/blogging. I know that my folks and some co-workers read my LJ, and it’s fairly easy to find me just by Googling me. So I won’t conceal anything, as it defeats my personal views. If you want something private, write it in a diary – on paper. 🙂

4. If you weren’t texan, what WOULD you be? (Not necessarily geographic affiliation. Identity in general.)
That’s kind of hard to answer. I am not a “full-blooded” Texan – I was actually born in California, but spent most of my developing years in Texas. I think I’ve kept a lot of mannerisms from that time of my life, but I’ve included a lot that I was exposed to since, having spent a lot of time in Israel throughout the terrible teenager time of my life.
In short, if I wasn’t a Texan, I’d probably be a cross between a nasty New Yorker and a relaxed Californian.

5. Name three famous women you’d have sex with if ever given theopportunity. And I mean with no reservations, whether married, busy,ill – you’d do them anyway.
A. Angelina Jolie (from her Lara Croft or Fast and Furious looks, not the Hackers one).
B. Christina Applegate – but only from her Kelly Bundy years, even though she did develop into a older hottie, I still lvoe the dumb blonde look.
C. Natalie Portman – a nice Jewish girl (as long as she still has her hair – no shaved heads for me, thank you).
D. (I know you said three, but….) Lucy Liu – not as if I could ever get that, but a man can dream, right?

So there it is.
I hope you had fun reading this, and please send all cashier’s checks to my POB in the Cayman Islands.

A whole year?

So a friend invited me to her first “blogversary” – a whole year since she started to blog.
This made me look at some things.
It’s been a year since I started working at my current job.
It’s been almost a year since I started driving Stella.
It’s been almost a year since Shannon.

It’s been almost a year since a lot of things – but most importantly, I have survived all that, and much much more.
It just makes me wonder if I actually have the capability of surviving longer than I ever thought I would, and that thought makes me shiver with fear.

What if I survive a nuclear holocaust? What if I survive the remaining wars amongst the few people left? After that, what is there to survive for?

I know, I know, kudos to me for the optimism, right?
Just weird thoughts flitting through at late hours.

The wind, the music, the peace…

There’s nothing like it.
Driving the highways, dodging the maniacs that are trying to actively kill me, as if they could no longer distinguish reality from GTA:Vice City, and doing all of this to different kinds of music.
This morning’s random playlist consisted of some Irish tunes and German death metal.
The evening ride, during which I almost nearly got killed by more stupid people had a large country selection of Alabama and Brooks & Dunn.

It’s very (sur?)real, but so much fun I don’t know how some bikers don’t.

Thank you, iPod Shuffle! Thank you, xTremeMac for making the armband! (no longer sold on their website. boo hoo!)

Not exactly the 4th of July, but….

So the larger part of yesterday was spent in the the saddle, traversing a large part of the central areas of Israel.
This is all in anticipation of a biker’s day activity that Dan & I are trying to put together.
It wasn’t as much fun for , who received the bad end of the deal being tossed around a lot for hours on end.

This Independence Day promises much fun and craziness – between a party at some friend’s place the night of, to a company picnic the day of, to another rehearsal the night after. I have already been invited to about 5 other events which I’m contemplating, but we’ll see. A friend is also putting together a BBQ of her own, so maybe I’ll drop by after the company party.
This day brings on mixed feelings.

Yes, it’s great that the Jewish people have a place to live. I wonder if the Palestinians have an Independence day too? So we fight, bleed and die to get this land, and 50-odd years later, “You want a piece (intended pun!)? Have some!”
And let’s not even go to the barbecue subject. Everyone seems to think that if you can cover the landscape with smoke and smell of burnt cow-flesh, then you have done your patriotic duty.
Well, what about us !@#$ed vegetarians, eh? Maybe I don’t like my clothes smelling like I was caught in a burning farm with 3 angry cows.

In any case, we shall see what the new celebration brings and rejoice that my rented house, the one I pay tons of rent and Arnona fees that is more than reasonable, is under Israeli rule. Yipee.
Cue: “Send In the Clowns”

Peace, I’m out.

It’s late, so this is a quickie

Ok, it’s been way too long without a post, a podcast, or other proof of my existence.
So it’s late, and I’m going to keep this short.

After having closed “She Stoops to Conquer” wonderfully and completely without flubbed lines, I have now dove into rehearsals for Macbeth. My second attempt at Shakespeare, first one that actually requires me to act. Yay.

Life is hectic, trying to do too much with too little and somewhat appearing a little flustered because of it. This, too, shall pass. (Will it?)

So, to everyone who still hasn’t deleted this or removed all links from their memory, Happy Chernobyl day!
May all your meltdowns result with as hellish consequences.