Month: October 2007

  • Organizationally challenged.

    I’m taking a class this semester on conflict in organizational structure. Doesn’t seem like it’ll be that difficult; the professor is friendly and the material is familiar. So far I’m finding it quite entertaining, actually: being taught organizational conflict – in Israel – by a middle-age tzabar, a gever-gever who served more than his fair…

  • Public service announcement: better sherut!

    Today I was on the 18, on the way to the bus station in Jerusalem. As the bus pulled up past the Beit Shemesh sherut que, I couldn’t help but daydream of a time, one day, when Jerusalem would have a better sherut system. Sherut literally means service, but I can’t help but feel like…

  • Is spam cultural?

    Isn’t it kind of funny that different cultures – aside from having different foods, traditions and rituals – also have different spam? Once in a while I glance over my spam folder and usually about 40% of the subject lines are in Hebrew. The Israeli spam is also different because it seems to cover a…

  • The Atari of Jerusalem.

    If you live in, or even visit Jerusalem, you can’t help but come across some very – creative – street art. It’s taken pretty seriously and also not seriously. Personally, I think street art is the new bumper sticker as far as Israeli political/social expression. Unless, of course, it’s just meant for smiles. Here it…

  • Making the next move.

    We spent the weekend as a pilot trip in Tzur Hadassah, a small yishuv right next to Beitar and Gush Etzion. It’s 15 minutes from Jerusalem (without traffic) and it’s the kind of cozy, neighborly community that a young, childless married couple uses to kick off into becoming an experienced, childbearing married couple. Tzur Hadassah…

  • Conflict students vs. WordPress geeks.

    I’ve been spending today at WordCamp Israel 2007, a conference focused on bloggers, blogging, and of course, bloggers blogging using WordPress. It’s being held in Michlelet Afeka, a small engineering college in Tel Aviv, so part of me feels like I’m in school. I don’t mind, as long as it’s not a university located in…

  • Today's Word: Senior/בכיר.

    In the past week I have read articles and received emails concerning the strike-affected academic schedule and peppered among all of them is the word בכיר (bachir), meaning ‘senior’, as in ‘senior professor’. Only senior professors are striking, because they are the ones being affected by the paycheck problems. Other professors get paid according to…

  • Biking for charity in Israel.

    The buzz around my corner of Jerusalem these days is the intense 5-day bike ride to raise money for Alyn Hospital dubbed Wheels of Love. Quite a few of my friends are participating and it’s nice to see. One friend created this video on his 24km practice run yesterday… Try to put the motion sickness…

  • My professors are on strike.

      University professors to strike as of Sunday Well, here we go again. Sort of. Last time it was the students striking over fee hikes. This time it’s the faculty striking for pay hikes. C’mon guys… I have one more year – 3 credits – to finish. All I want to do is get my…

  • Two teeth dumber… yet also wiser…

    I’m sitting here, post-removal of my last two wisdom teeth, done by an Israeli doctor at my insurance clinic, and I’m feeling – wise. For weeks, people have been warning me about getting my wisdom teeth out here – “Go to an American, go private, pay extra for gas.” Sure, it freaked me out, but…

  • Back to – what?

    Remember when I said I was taking my last final ever? Kidding! I’m going back to school. A couple more teachers, a few more books. Lots and lots more dirty looks… at my disappointing experience studying at Bar Ilan University. In the end of August I decided to switch from the thesis track to the…

  • Aliyah tip #253: Read.

    I’ve fallen back in love with reading. I’ve been a reading maniac lately. I went on hiatus the past two years, thinking that I didn’t have time because I was in school. Which is funny, because I wasn’t doing much reading for school, either. But man, do I love it. Reading is my medicine. It…