r/Judaism

Forget how I got introduced to Reddit.  It must have been through another article about how Jews collected to a designated topic published in The Forward or JTA.  I signed on and have been a regular contributor.  I don't know if there are trolls.  There don't seem to be, though I rarely read any of the comments that other responders make to the original post.  They gave me a handle, which I use.  And by now I have established a pattern of what I will and will not address.  A lot of posts come with a link to some other article, usually a reputable one from a respected source, though I scroll past these.  I want to read what the posters present, not what somebody else created that they want to convey.

Most of the participants are far younger than me.  They have themes that young people solicit advice to address.  Many are exploring Judaism for the first time, either as potential converts, people raised in secular homes, or people invited to a synagogue for the first time.  Others want background information, looking for basic sources for new entrants or those rediscovering to get their bearings.  Young guys know the internet sites.  I know the classic books.

There's some culture to exchange, notes on cuisine.  There's also some pilpul which I usually scroll past.  Unfortunately, internet anti-Semitism impacts most of them a lot more than it does me as a late life rather successful Jew with far less future uncertainty than most of them anticipate.

Most of all, it gives me a chance to be helpful to somebody I don't know in an electronic environment that appears considerably more respectful than most.

Fall Clean-up

Transitioning from outdoors to indoors takes more than one form.  Some outdoor tasks include taking down the sukkah, storing it for next fall.  My garden has probably produced its lasts, though there might still be a pumpkin to be had.  I'll need to take out a big bag, then one square at a time remove what currently occupies each of the thirty-six squares.  The deck needs to have stuff for next summer brought inside, though the antigravity recliner, used far less than I had hoped, seems to survive its winters outside.  I assume the umbrella bases will as well, though the umbrella itself would keep better indoors.  And I have disappointing planters outside my front door.  Rosemary can be salvaged indoors, but it already died.  Spearmint also looks dead but tends to resurrect itself each spring.  For my big pot, I'll make pesto from the remaining basil, then replant it next spring.  

I also have some outdoor tasks.  Have given up on leaf raking.  The lawnmower's mulching seems adequate.  My snowblower has not worked in two years.  This November I will make it work, even if I have to follow the YouTube repair directions one word at a time.

As I come indoors for a few months, the indoors need to be optimal.  I am committed to using my fireplace for the first time in years, and using it safely.  Again, some targeted work.  I spend the majority of each day in My Space irrespective of season.  That needs to be as close to optimal as my energy allows.

So I seem to have much to do.  Allot a few small moves forward each day.

Professional Laundry

Only on rare occasions do I wear dress clothing.  Mostly to synagogue.  Suit for some yom tovim, jacket often, dress shirt usually, all requiring professional maintenance.  I once ironed my own shirts, but as I got more prosperous, the convenience of letting somebody else do it better than me became my norm.  Suits always seemed just a bit more than I wanted to pay, though when I wore them frequently, they needed professional attention about once or twice a year.  I almost never laundered my sports coats, items I would wear to work but remove as soon as I got there or leave it on when rounding in the hospital.  Shirts comprised the vast bulk of what I took around the corner, once a choice of two, now a choice of one.  But in retirement, dress shirts have become a rarity.  Most of my trips to the cleaners have not been for cleaning but to get slacks purchased off the rack hemmed to the right length.

Some sticker shock recently came my way.  I tried to recapture weekly use of a midweight all season green velour jacket.  I knew my cleaner would charge more than I wanted to pay, so I took it someplace else but declined service when told the $14 price.  I can replace it at Goodwill for less than that.  Moreover, parts of the lining already had minor tears.  Just wear as is.  When a major spill occurs, replace it.  Shirts are not so easily discarded.  I accumulated a dozen over the course of a few years.  Casual ones I set aside to do myself, but the synagogue ones went to the laundry.  $41 and change for twelve shirts.  Too much.  At my last submission they were less than $2 each to wash and press.  That I can learn to do myself, or maybe not wear shirts that cannot just be popped in the washing machine and worn.  I have ample knits.  I also have a steamer, bought on sale years ago and still in the box.  Maybe try that out.  

Interestingly, pants have not been an expense, once properly altered.  While I have wool dress pants, they have largely given way to synthetic navy or dark gray slacks that go with anything and look fine after a run in Delicate Cycle.  

Dry cleaners have always had among the highest profit margins of all small retailers.  Big Box investors have never captured that market.  Most that I have used were run and owned by Asian immigrants, all pleasant hardworking people who had to give up quite a lot to relocate themselves halfway around the world.  I admire them, particularly the fellow around the corner, and want to help him succeed.  My guess is that Covid devastated him economically.  People who no longer went to the office each day left their suits in the closet and wore knit shirts.  Most do not have employees, or maybe a clerk, but those that do saw the minimum wage rise.  I do not know about their rents, chemicals, and other overhead.  But with less business and more overhead, price per garment will have to rise.  It did, though more severely than I would have predicted.  For the Wall Street Journal's analysis:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/pandemic-doomed-neighborhood-dry-cleaners-now-survivors-are-raising-prices-11656996034

So pick one or two, perhaps a basic white and a basic blue, that go with anything else I could wear, designate those as synagogue wear, and never accumulate twelve of them to launder professionally.

Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

Only four weeks off.  Always one of my premier annual efforts, usually successful though with enough daring to sometimes flop and more often than not create a minor injury.  Always know where the first aid kit can be found in the kitchen.

Unlike other dinners which go by categories, this one is modified to incorporate ingredients.  Turkey for sure, though a half breast instead of a big bird.  I have a large roasting chicken, but while the right amount of meat for everyone and it presents on a platter as a whole bird, it wouldn't be a suitable substitute. Stuffing is a must. Sweet potatoes, cranberries, and apples need to appear on the menu.  They come in different forms, though.  I always make bread.  Appetizers are the course most likely to fail.  Dessert is the course most likely to delight.  While cranberries usually get made into sauce, I have incorporated them into dessert.  

For Thanksgiving in recent years, I leave my many cookbooks on the shelf, instead searching the internet for what I want to make, the bread for motzi being the exception, as I really like the Hungarian farmhouse loaf that I make most often.  But this year, I'll seek out motzi electronically.  I can search by dish, such as appetizer or dessert, by pareve, by ingredient like sweet potato, or by what my favorite kitchen masters have to offer.

I think one of the attractions for this has been the diverse ways the final result can be created, from planning, purchasing, to the final kitchen execution.  One of my more stimulating post-retirement challenges.

Best Optical Properties

 

Been wearing glasses more than sixty years.  Some technical and economic transitions along the way.  Economical to expensive, plastic frames of mostly gray to metal to rimless in the lower half, single prescription to bifocal progressives, glass to plastic.  My current ones are the least functional that I've had.  When I take them off the world looks brighter.  My optometrist told me that there have been some advances in lenses with better optical properties than Costco, my usual source, offers.  A quick query to the WWW brought me to a plastic called trivex, and also informed me that glass lenses still have the best optical corrections and are still available, but have become a small part of the market due to some of their downsides.

In any case, my world brightens every time I remove my glasses.  Healthy eyes though maybe a year or two away from having lens implants/  The coated polycarbonate lenses that I have filter out too much light.  With prescription in hand, off to Costco, the largest provider of lenses that bypasses some Italian fellow whose monopoly of other major retailers extorts unreasonable prices.  I asked the optical agents at Costco about glass and trivex. They didn't know what trivex was, which is a bad sign for eye professionals in this era.  I thanked them, saved $60 by having no reason other than bifocals discount to purchase a Costco membership, and drove on.  

Nearer my home, there was what I thought was an independent optician, which turned out to be part of another chain.  I do not know their relation to that Italian extortionist, but I stopped there to see what my options were.  They had access to everything, with an agent who can guide me.  I wanted to see better.  Price only a secondary consideration.  They have all the materials, including glass which I did not know could be ordered with progressive prescriptions, though not with rimless.  I chose trivex, picked a new frame, selected an optical option that gives me best peripheral vision, and got gouged for the coatings, anti-reflective and scratch resistant.  Adding machine came to $519, but I just want to see as well as technology will allow.  For now that's high-end lenses.  Not too far into the future, that's probably with surgical lens implants.

Usable Kitchen

Sometimes you just have to pick a project and do it until it is done.  My pride and joy kitchen, upgraded several years ago at significant expense has been my go to recreation space, other than My Space.  When challenging myself for special dinners, it is the place of greatest satisfaction.  It also is the place to put things where they fit at the moment without regard to loss of the room's intended function, which is partly to eat and partly to bring me joy.  It's out of hand.  I just have to go one element at a time, area by area, until it returns to the best I can make it.  No timer to guide me.  Just have to set this as a day's priority.  Usually no time is better than right now, but I have some deadline driven activities competing with this, so it will have to either wait or get done in small segments instead of the big swoop, but it is still a priority.

Retiring My Keurig Machine

It cost $64 with a 20% discount from Target, though my k-cup machine carried a Mr. Coffee Brand, perhaps the first challenge to Keurig exclusivity.  While I remember the circumstances of its purchase, I do not remember the year, though it was in the early days of K-cups replacing other brewing methods.  It changed morning coffee rituals, mostly for the better.  I did not abandon my French press or Melitta cone but used them much less frequency.  The K-cup increased the cost per serving of morning coffee, probably diminished the quality of the final brew compared to other methods, and probably harmed Planet Earth in a big way.  But it expanded the variety of what is available.  Purchasing a couple of 12 oz containers, and even some grind in store beans from Sprouts when on sale locks me into those varieties for a very long time.  I try to keep just two open bags or cans at a time.  With the K-cup, I can buy boxes with several types.  Typically, my box of 40 will last a little under a month, though when I am a Costco member on alternate years, their boxes of 100 are the best buy, lasting several months but without the desired variety.  Just pop into the machine, pour some water from the cup I will be using, then do something else while it brews.  No need to watch the cone and refill it to maximize its coefficient of extraction.  No need to set a kitchen timer for 4 minutes for the French press.  

This Mr. Coffee device served me well.  It clogged a few time, usually easily remediable by brewing some vinegar without coffee, then flushing with a few brews of plain water.  On rare occasions the piercing pins clogged.  The Internet had some You Tubes and related guidance on fixing that.  I learned troubleshooting and my limited dexterity rose to the occasion with a safety pin as the proper tool.  Alas, this time the home remedies failed.  So after somewhere between a decade or two, when K-cup coffee has become something of a population norm, Mr. Coffee could take its place in an appliance recycling bin or landfill in favor of a more modern replacement.  

During that span, technology and patent law have changed.  Keurig still dominates the market, but other brands have entered.  And for the most part, the price of the machines has declined while most machines no longer require the user to pour a cup of water into a receptacle to be heated, though a few at the low end still do.  A search on amazon.com and walmart.com offers a plethora of models, from No Frills to expensive.  I started my search at Target, all expensive Keurig.  Boscov's had only a few models, one a chintzy off-brand, the others expensive with a lot of frills that I won't use.  Then Walmart which had what people like me would buy.  Two models interested me, but only one in stock for $55 so I took a box with the black plastic model, carried it to self-checkout which did not register, but with the rescue of their checkout attendant, I had a new Keurig maker.

It came with instructions to prime the machine, which I did.  Then set it up where its predecessor stood.  First coffee this morning.  Chose a Costco K-cup, put it in the place it goes, pushed the 8 ounce option, and in less than a minute my cup filled.  Just the right amount of water, though it also gives options for a 6 and 12 ounce brew.  Came out good.  And with the water coming from a reservoir instead of from my mug, I can use the same mug for consecutive cups, fewer for me to wash.

Now some discards.  The Mr. Coffee.  I think I'll put it in ordinary trash with a mixture of sadness and appreciation.  The new box goes in recycling.  Probably don't need to keep the instructions, or could put them in the folder I keep for instructions.   The device has a signal to tell the user when it needs to be descaled.  YouTube or the Keurig site should tell me how to do it.

But after two days of Melitta cones, I've returned to K-cups.

Impromtu Haftarah

It was my intent to attend shabbos services with my own congregation this week, but forgo the next.  By now I have a protocol of when to go and when they can make their minyan with other men.  In the absence of a hired rabbi, we have congregants speak after the Torah returns to the Ark.  Rather than invite those who have the most to convey, they settled for a sign-up sheet, which creates the risk of Dunning-Kruger's who overestimate their erudition having too much presence on the schedule.  That came to be this week, but still I was willing to go.  I'm masked out.  We are probably the only place that still has everyone involuntarily masked.  But still my bye week was next week.  What I was not willing to do was go there without my wife, who felt a little tired.  While my first inclination was to stay home too, she suggested I go to Chabad instead, a place that I always enjoy attending, though never frequently enough for the novelty to wear off.  This being the parsha where men listen to their wives and do what they say, not always with the best result, I acceded, driving to Chabad.

My congregation edges slightly over a minyan.  Chabad's assemblage of ten men seems more secure, though despite a later starting time than most Orthodox places, did not reach the magic number until just moments before needed.  I chatted with their door attendant, asking him if he were armed.  He was not, but with a little conversation before entering the sanctuary I learned he was a native of South Africa who did his compulsory military service there before emigrating. However, he never acquired proficiency with a pistol.

After taking a seat, I followed along in the Siddur as best I could, noting landmark passages amid the leader's undertone to find the right page.  Eventually Torah reading arrived.  To my surprise, after the second Aliyah, the Rabbi/Torah reader approached me to ask if I wanted to do the Haftarah.  Now, I can do any one proficiently with a week's notice. Sight-reading more iffy, particularly one I've not done before.  I asked for him to read the next Aliyah, a long one, while I assess whether I am perhaps a Dunning-Kruger haftarah chanter.  Chabad commonly truncates the standard Ashkenazi portion, as the did this week.  While Isaiah has a lot of vocabulary unfamiliar to me, sometimes tongue-twisters, there weren't a lot of these.  With the shorter reading I assessed my ability to pull it off.  At the end of the Aliyah, I consented, looked the words over another time while he continued the parsha, then did a pretty decent effort for the Haftarah.  I learned later, that they have a small cadre of sight-readers, though less than they once did.  A few handshakes followed, and the service continued to its conclusion, this time without a customary sermon, though Yizkor earlier in the week probably captured the rabbi's thoughts from his bimah.

People there recognize me as a member of someplace else, that same someplace else to which a handful of those in attendance once belonged.  People drift off for a variety of reasons, but since status quo usually serves as the default, there is often a measure of discontent prompting the transfer.  One person was sent to Cherem by my congregational Rabbi, another VP basically accompanied her husband as he became more a fixture at Chabad.  A surgeon's daughter married into Chabad, so he also became one of their pillars.  A few decided they wanted a place identifiably Orthodox with a mechitza.  Lots of reasons.  Seeing me there, they assumed some preference on my part to be there instead of my own shul which is true, some irritation, also true, some shul shopping on my part, not really.  But I was pleased that their Rabbi invited me to do something there, while my own place opted for sign-up sheets in lieu of recognition of who might be capable.  

As much as I like worshiping with that group, being recognized for a skill that I offer, Chabad has a difficult reality.  They will welcome anyone and hope to influence you in a favorable way.  You cannot influence them, as their structures and practices are set from afar with an element of immutability.  Communal congregations, including my own, do not have that constraint.  They are a composite of their participants who create their character, or at least can be.  That is until their own leadership impedes that advantage.  Which is why I even consider being someplace other than my home sanctuary for selected shabbatot.

Doing the Difficult

Despite no shortage of professional advice on accomplishing what I set out to do, my track record on taking items from my daily task list from its morning coffee review to a cross-off after supper when I create the next day's list never quite reflects a maximum effort.  Some things seem to have priority.  I take my medicine each day, an easy project, exercise on scheduled days, something that I don't especially like doing, and measure my weight and waist each Monday morning.  So my health seems to have my commitment.  So do things with deadlines or schedules.  Always go to my OLLI courses, nearly always do my two NEJM articles the week when that journal issue is the current one, send my monthly Medscape manuscript to the editor on time, read most of my library books by the return date, review the weekly Torah portion either on Thursday or Friday each week.

Some of my mental activity has not received the same personal commitment.  Nor has my effort to make my house the sanctuary I would like it to be, let alone attractive for sale when the not too distant years leave me unable to continue living there.  Perhaps a deadline system would be better.  Or maybe the daily task list should not have all the things I could do, but the one or two each day that I will focus on doing.  Or perhaps I really don't want to do serious writing or home maintenance but deceive myself into thinking I do.  Whichever, some reframing of intent and measurement of performance needs to be incorporated.  I assert that it starts now.

Boscov's Non-Profits Day

Periodically our regional department store Boscov's runs an important promotion.  They call it Friends Helping Friends, and each time I subscribe.  Basically a charitable organization enrolls and sells discount cards for $5 each.  They keep the $5.  Purchasers go to Boscov's on the designated day where they purchase what they want.  The card has three bar codes with discounts of 25%, 15%, and 10% depending on the department of purchase, with some announced exclusions.  Clothing gets a big discount, other stuff less.  And at the bottom of the coupon, the purchaser enters a raffle for a $1000 gift card.  

I need very little, but made a small list.  My nylon parka with its Houston Rockets logo served me well for decades.  Zipper getting difficult to use, but serviceable.  Maybe look at a replacement.  My last black leather belt disconnected from its buckle.  Look at a new one.  I broke my good fleishig salad bowl.  See what they have.  And I have a few airline trips looming so maybe a new carryon case if the price is right.

Stores since Covid have been mostly empty, with people like me drawn to amazon.com or walmart.com or specialty online retailers for furniture.  They don't seem to have as much stuff on the shelves or on display when I roam their aisles, perhaps supply chain issues or perhaps a credit crunch that limits what the retailer can borrow to purchase from a wholesaler.  Salespeople can be hard to find, particularly at Boscov's.  Since this store has registers scattered in the various departments instead of the more common unified checkout, finding a place to pay for what you want to take home sometimes needs some effort just short of a hog call to see who comes.  But I can look at what I want to get, check for defects, make sure most things fit, see what the luggage compartments would be like to use.  And when I shop in stores, I rarely encounter a lot of people.

Yet everyone loves a bargain, even when only the illusion of a bargain.  When I got to Boscov's this time I had to park farther from my customary entrance than usual.  Despite this, I encountered fewer shoppers than expected.  With my coupon in my shirt pocket, I checked the winter coats.  Apparently technology of fashion has passed me by, as my current ski parka remained faithful for decades.  No team logos.  Even nylon with puffy fill has given way to a more canvas-like fabric on the majority of the coats, but I still found some similar to what is being replaced.  Hoods no longer zip off, at least on the ones in my price range.  Pockets adequate.  I picked one in navy, priced at $40 discounted to $30.  Then the belts.  I really liked my infinitely adjustable black belt, but the buckle separated.  I assume they no longer carry them because of similar quality issues.  Boscov's has a sponsored house brand for their clothing, usually a best buy.  My size for a belt is a medium, which they call 34-36 inches.  When I get specified sizes, 34 usually fits better than 36, but for an item discounted to $12 this is a low risk purchase.

My state has a no plastic bag law, so consumers bring their own or purchase a paper bag at the register, or since I usually only buy one or two things, I just carry it out with the receipt in hand, to show the attendants who now monitor the entrances.  No go for Boscov's.  Everything goes in a container.  My coat did not fit in their paper bag, so they put it onto a hanger, which I really neither need nor want, then draped the kind of thin plastic that becomes a smothering hazard over it, much like the laundries do.  The lady at the register stuffed the belt into the plastic, tied the bottom, and I was on my way.  To the car, place the reasonably protected new garments into the trunk, then return to see what's on the second floor, where the discounts were only 15%.   No suitable salad bowls.  Their carryons came in two genres, cheap and expensive.  Even with the discount, the expensive exceeded what I wanted to pay, and the on display selection far less than I had seen in other places and a pittance of what is offered online.  Cheap they had a lot of, but for a single one time purchase, I'd rather spend the extra $50 and only have to buy a small suitcase one more time.  I already know the cheap ones either have something break or be replaced by new technology, which is why I am buying one now, even though I do overnight travel infrequently.  Returned to elevator, then car, empty-handed from the second floor.

So it worked out well.  Hadassah got $5.  Boscov's got customers who got a bargain and might want to come back for something else on a day without discounts.  I got a coat and belt.  And Boscov's reinforced its reputation as the last department store that is not part of an international conglomerate.  It still has a presence unique to our community and its shoppers.

Shuled Out

Lots of people have busy seasons.  CPAs each April.  Students at finals.  Rabbis during the Holy Days, probably starting in the summer when they write their series of messages for a crowd that materializes far beyond anything else they will encounter for the next year to the days of having to show up on time and stay to the end.  As more Judaism's consumer than contributor, about once a week for shabbos is about my speed, and even there, dinner each week engages me but showing up for worship often does not.  Pesach at home challenges me, going to shul five of the eight days eventually reaches its limits.  And that three week stretch from Rosh Hashanah to Simchat Torah has to give before the end.  It did.  Stayed home for Simchat Torah and Shabbos Shuvah this year.  Just too much shul, mostly as spectator.  Shul saturated, or shuled out.  And masked out.  Add a large measure of unhappiness to the baseline congregational experience that has accumulated and the limits come into focus.  Without the break, shuled out risks becoming Jewed out.  

Fall Clothing

Our weather has not gotten especially cold, but other than for an eagerly anticipated week in Florida, I will not need short pants or t-shirts for a while.  Time to create some room for long-sleeve pull-on shirts and for sweaters.  I've been apportioning the seasonal clothing between a duffle that was once a travel staple in the pre-wheeled luggage days, but has really become too heavy to use for either auto or airline trips.  It holds a lot of stuff, but I still have overflow to vacuum bags.  I probably should clean what I've already worn, though dry cleaning and professional shirt cleaning, my luxuries in my working years, now have fees that give me pause.

I don't really need any new clothing, though enough socks have needed to be discarded.  My supply is so large that they don't really need replacement, though an attractive sale price at Boscov's could get me to purchase a few pairs.  And I'm down to my last black belt.  I only wear dress clothing to synagogue.  I do have casual long-sleeve button down shirts that still do better with professional cleaning, while the pullovers I wash myself, so maybe inventory those, but I probably have enough.  Or maybe re-learn how to iron my own buttoned shirts, maybe the best option for the casual ones.

Outerwear I have more than enough for every contingency.  My beloved red nylon parka with its provocative Houston Rockets logo patch has a temperamental zipper.  Probably more cost-effective to replace the coat than the zipper, but it's one of the few clothing items that I both really like and has served me faithfully for longer than expected.  I can fiddle with the zipper, eventually getting it to close each time.  And when I get my eye appointment with anticipated new eyeglass prescription, I also renew my Costco membership.  Their tables always have some items of men's clothing that I more want than need, but I always rationalize what I get.

I tend to think of Labor Day as a demarcation date, return to school, Holy Days, and football.  But change in weather, with change in personal appearance invariably follows.

Broken Fridge Shelf

 All of a sudden, jars from the refrigerator door came crashing to the floor.  Not the first time, probably not the last time.  Nothing broke, despite many being glass.  Never does.  This one differed.  Usually I jostle the shelf and the plastic joint between door and shelf dislodges.  I put it back, restore the jars and we're back to where we were.  This time, though, the joint remained undisturbed.  The right vertical portion of the plastic shelf simply fractured.  The left half remained intact, so I returned what could safely be contained on a reasonably secure shelf  on the left, placing the others on the lower fridge shelf.  Then try to replace the broken part. 

Not so easy.  I copied the code number of the refigerator model from its label, then typed it onto Google Chrome.  When I replace a part last time, that model was found in the bowels of cyberspace,  This time none exists.  Maybe what I called 0 was really O.  No results there either.  I checked the number again.  Maybe another typo somewhere but no.  I called the 800 help line, which was eventually answered.  While waiting, I checked the label again.  Maybe what I thought was an 0 was really a Q.  I thanked the person who answered, went back upstairs to my laptop, and repeated the search with a Q.  My refrigerator model has been recorded in cyberspace.

Now the shelf.  From Frigidare, $47 + shipping.  From Amazon $38 plus shipping.  However, there is a generic for $30 total.  I could always send it back.  Should arrive in a few days

.

Check-out Misadventure

In many cities, Kosher consumers preferentially to their main shopping at the supermarket that has an agreement with the regional Kosher certifying agency to provide meat, deli, and baked goods under their supervision.  In my town, that's Shop-Rite, which also seems to have the lowest prices on perishables and house brands.  Being retired, I do not have to shop there on Sundays, but with yontif beginning Sunday night and needing a few urgencies, I made a regrettable exception.

Rising food prices have set in, though we generally take our vengeance at the voting booth, not the retailer who we know has to purchase the things we buy before we do.  Profit margins in the grocery industry have always been meager, competition from other grocers keen, investing in technology expensive, and customer loyalty often fragile.  Limiting overhead has high priority.  Shop-Rite did this but largely eliminating check-out cashiers in favor of self-checkout.  While there is some controversy to this from orderliness of the checkout to displacing workers whose wages are often meager, I prefer to scan and bag myself.  Today, those of us with full carts did not have that option.  All registers for more than 25 items had cashiers.

It did not go well.  When I do it myself, I place as much as I can on the conveyor, scan like items such as frozen, work two or three of my reusable bags at a time, then either add to the conveyor or just scan from the cart, as I place full bags into the cart.  The person ahead of me filled the conveyor, but as it moved forward I put as much as I could onto it with the order separator.  About a third fit on the conveyor.  She scanned my card, waved me to the bagging area, and I worked my three bags.  However, while the conveyor moved forward, she didn't stop.  The person behind me started filling up the conveyor, leaving me very little room to add more items.  Rather than pull items from the cart like I do, she stopped and waved me back to add more items to what was left of the conveyor, about a third of its length, while she resumed scanning, letting the items fall to the end table unbagged.  Thus I shuttled, while the customer behind me continued to make my share of the conveyor ever smaller.  Scrambled with my bagging, moved another full bag to my cart, leaving the bag for frozens on the end table as there were still frozens not yet scanned.  Eventually got done, but understand why I prefer to do it myself.  At one time the checkers did the bagging as they go, knew to group cold stuff and limit how many heavy bottles go in one bag, while the customer kept feeding the conveyor as the scan proceeded.  They were pros and much appreciated for what they did and more often than not how well they did it.  In many fields, proficiency as been devalued.  Or maybe they are following protocols that are not as well thought-out as they could have been.  But for whatever reason, checkout to the tune of $145 was an ordeal that I don't want to repeat.

Solutions are several.  Never shop there of Sunday.  Never buy more than 25 things at a time even if I have to shop there on consecutive days.  Maybe divide my shopping between Shop-Rite and someplace else, since Trader Joe's only has cashiers and take items out of the cart while I bag.  But I cannot load the conveyor and bag at the same time.  I can scan either from conveyor or cart, then stop to bag and scan some more.  Or maybe SR left this inept process in place as an inducement for their customers to do it themselves and thereby do it better.

Phone Bank

As a political committee member I have an obligation to support our candidates.  As somebody who might like to move ahead, I have a parallel obligation to myself to do a few things that I'd prefer not to do.  A two-for=one came my way with a mass invitation to man a phone bank on behalf of our state representative, one who did not make a good impression on me but a trusted friend vouched for.  I assume our state Senator, who I do admire, will get some support from the phone effort as well.

This late in the campaign season, I assume the focus, or script if they provide us one, will be to encourage people to cast their ballots.  The party registration balance favors my Democrats so turnout correlates with victory, even if we get some Republicans to turn out as a byproduct of the phone effort.  This late in the season, Dialing for Dollars has long passed.

I don't particularly like being on phone squads, but I am part of the group and need to take my turn.  In all likelihood, technology has advanced some since I last called a list for the synagogue some time ago.  That list was about a dozen, all with some attachment and no hostility.  I don't know if this session will only call registered Democrats or a broader public.  See how it goes.  The date I picked, and I only picked one, comes about two weeks before Election Day and maybe a week before voluntary early voting, which I plan to do myself.  If the session goes well, I will have the option of doing another.  And I could use a new experience.

Joining a Committee

Ended the fast a little thirsty, not at all hungry, I thought.  On exiting, the congregation provided a two pack of Oreos and a water bottle.  I went for the cookies first, finished about half the water on the ride home, and helped myself to more food than I thought I needed once the

Did I get from the experience what the sages thought I should get?  I left less resentful than when I arrived.  The Appeal card still goes in the shredder.  Our Presidential message invited participation by volunteering for committees, along with a mechanism for doing this.  While I fundamentally disagree with sign-up sheets, preferring chairmen to think about what their committees do and seeking the talent to do it, that's apparently not our congregational way.  They have less than they could have had because of it.

Good chance to do some science.  My first inclination was to take the committee list, have my wife pick two for me based on what she thinks I would contribute to more than my own interests, and submit it without telling me what she chose.  Big downside to that.  I really don't want to be on a Cemetery Committee that has really been as defunct as the corpses its mission serves.  Instead, I will choose two, based on my interests:  Israel Affairs and Community Interface.  I know both chairmen.  Neither really want committees other than themselves nor do they seem to have purpose.  Will submit my requests as the President outlined in his message.  When no response from chairmen in a month, I will politely bring that to the attention of the President, who really manages what he inherited with little vision of what might be possible.  Or maybe they will respond.  Good experiment to conduct, just the same.

Buying Stuff

Need a few things, could use a few others.  With that in mind, I drove to Walmart which seems to have the best price on methylcellulose pills which one of my doctors recommended I ingest two each morning.  I saved a bit over Walgreens, though would have gotten a better price purchasing in bulk online.  Still, with 200 tablets, I should be good through the end of the calendar year.  My supply of fleishig utensils has dwindled.  Walmart seemed a good place to boost the supply.  Their offerings came in two genres, a house brand for minimal cost and Oneida at more significant cost.   The packaging allowed me to touch the metal which was better with the established brand but not three times better.  Yet it lasts forever.  Deferred the purchase.  Later in the day I looked at what Boscov's offered.  Only name brands, three of them.  Oneida too expensive.  Pfaltzgraff an excellent price and reasonably sturdy.  Farberware, my go to for cookware, seemed a little flimsy.  Deferred purchase.  Look online for better price on Oneida.  I have a special guest coming and really need to upgrade the fleishig flatware.  

Some air travel on the horizon.  With the cost of checked baggage approaching excessive, and the TV travel swamis all advising packing light, it seems time to replace my deteriorating carryon.  I looked at what Marshall's had.  And now Walmart.  They come in hard and soft.  If I carry them, they should avoid harsh baggage handlers tossing them to each other while Sweet Georgia Brown plays in their background.  Soft sided allows better cramming.  However, the selection of hard plastic cases exceeds those of soft options, so there must be a reason for this imbalance.  I looked at each.  Some had very low prices, probably for a reason.  Swiss Gear and American Tourister had higher prices.  It's a one-time purchase, with three airplane trips anticipated within the coming twelve months, so getting a known brand may be wise.  I opened a few.  Soft ones suit my packing style better, but maybe my packing style is really as dysfunctional as the experts on TV imply.  Looked at Boscov's later.  Again, divide by costly and cheap.  Once I know what they look like, I could go back online and pick one.

Can't go to Walmart without looking at fishing.  Fall lends itself to some peace and quiet at a pond, even if the fish don't find my lures edible.  Nothing that I wanted to get.  Came home, though, with a poncho to keep in a nook in the car door and with some creme filled chocolate cupcakes with kosher certification that I probably should never eat.

For the most part, if I really need something, it's probably better to get it online as long as the total price exceeds the free shipping minimum.  This may be why there aren't a whole lot of people at Walmart or Boscov's and the amount of merchandise on display seems less than it once was.

Not Knowing What It Means

As a retired physician, clinical medicine, especially diagnosis, still interests me.  Each week I read the NEJM case of the week, sometimes getting it right, always picking up the CME that goes with it.  As an endocrinologist specialist, I've gotten isolated from much of the diagnostics from DNA identification of microorganisms that have replaced traditional cultures to much of the modern imaging.

My cardiologist thought I should have an echocardiogram, which I did.  Patient portals were designed for people like me, but for the first time ever, I struggled to interpret my own results.  My LV is small, all else seems pretty normal.  A web search told me what LV volumes are, but they seem more significant when large rather than small.  I've been familiar with LV dilatation as evidence of heart failure since my student days.  Perhaps the small volume explains why I am among that subset that never fully progresses in endurance despite faithful aerobic exercise.

The ordering doctor should review it with me soon.

Medication Respite

Achiness has overtaken me.  I feel mostly healthy, just hurt.  Legs more than anyplace else, not recovered from a few days off treadmill.  No other systemic symptoms.  Nor fully localized symptoms not accounted for by injury.  Doubt infectious.  Could be inflammatory.  Could be medicine.  That's the easiest to address.  Cannot think of an introductory or time correlation with any of them.  Statin most likely.  Introduction of HCTZ did not go well, and that is the most recent addition.  Calcium Channel blockers cause all sorts of odd symptoms.  

Filled my weekly pill case as I do every Sunday morning.  Doubt PPI would do this, and I've been on it a very long time.  NEJM Review suggested it is better to take this in the morning so after the Yom Kippur fast at mid-week I will move this.  No reason I have to take the multivit right now.  It is being taken for the small amount of iron it provides and I have endoscopic studies scheduled to explore its loss.  Nothing other than being disqualified as a patelet donor is likely to happen from not taking it for ten days.  I've suspended the statin before, not a huge effect, but it is the most likely culprit.  BP cannot be neglected.  I've taken the ACE inhibitor chronically and it is unlikely to cause what I feel.  That has to stay for now.  Calcium Channel blocker and HCTZ can be suspended and BP followed more closely while they are on hold.  

I have the option, also, of going back on naproxen, which I rarely take ass nd whose efficacy is partial.  These are the days I miss Vioxx, of blessed memory.  It always reversed achiness, but since the statin and antihypertensives are fundamentally to reduce heart risk, Vioxx even if still on the market, does not seem a great option.

Pills status quo to YK, then reset with morning only dosing of PPI and ACE.  Follow BP on alternate days.  Assess musculoskeletal situation in about ten days.