Public thank you

We'd like to thank the Hararys for the wonderful shabbos in Passaic. Ahuva and Hodi get along great-- Hodi pats (lovingly of course) Ahuva on the head continuously and Ahuva pulls her hair-- they're bestest friends. Also, shout out to Yehudis and Chaife for a fun motz shabbos party in the Heights.

Catch up on news

First of all, happy birthday to Shmuly and to me. Hope everyone had an easy fast. Not much news in Chicago - just snow and more snow. One exciting event - Michal is finally getting the hang of potty training. Wishing Yehudis, our fearless leader, a Tzaisaich L'Shalom and a wonderful trip - fuhr gezunt and kum gezunt (go and come in good health) and have a great time in between. Tovey is off to the big apple tomorrow for Ilana Alyesh's wedding. Mazel Tov! Shmuly and Avital will be returning to Baltimore where the snow has mostly melted. The BP's visited the Aquarium today. So that's all the news that's fit to print - not much - but just wanted to keep everyone up to date. Love,

Mommy

RIP CHRISTY AFRICAN ELEPHANT

As members of the zoological society, we received an email....

We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Christy African Elephant. The 29-year-old pachyderm, who arrived at the zoo in 1984, was humanely euthanized as a result of renal (kidney) failure.

in search of...

i figure if i can't find a job, i should start searching for other things.
anyone know where i can get flexible headbands with teeth (such as the one i'm wearing in the following picture)?



p.s. the find-tovey-a-job contest is still going!!! send in your submissions now!

Maybe I'm cold blooded?

The long awaited WINTER has graced us with her presence! Who's excited? Slippery streets, black ice, biting winds, climbing over piles of shoveled snow to get to the crosswalk, stepping in 4 inches of slush to avoid getting hit by cars and other pedestrians, and of course there's the thrill of getting hit by stray snowballs as you climb up the giant hill to work. I know, right?! What's not to love?

I've also had the absolute wintery pleasure of being freezing for the past 3 days now. My heat apparently doesn't go on that high - or it's just that cold outside. I've taken hot showers, blow-dried hair, layered in sweatshirts, socks, blankets, and even a thermal that didnt' do diddly squat. And then there's 'inside out' remedies like warm drinks, warm food, but alas, like the Berenstein Bears who dared to go in the Spooky old Tree, I've still got the shivers.

Either I'm cold-blooded like my fav BY teacher (shoutout E-BP! hehe) or sick, but either way I think the time has come to start workin on my "get the heck out of Dodge" plan.

So ... where to live? I want mild/warm preferrably without tornadoes, hurricanes, and/or earthquakes. The basic plan is to avoid natural disasters and political unrest.

I'm open to suggestion.

Baby Pix

Miriam Orit Isenberg....Newest member of the Isenberg Club. Now how can we get a family sweathshirt in size NB?

Snowy day activity

cinnamon buns from leftover challah...kinda crumbly but still pretty yummy.

New Baby, New Name

Moshe and Devora's baby finally has a name - and it is beautiful. Her name is Miriam Orit. May they be zoche to raise her in good health to Chuppah and Maasim Tovim. We wish them much mazel and bracha. Welcome to the family, Miriam Orit.

Al Hanissim - a different twist

fun post by an apt of YU guys.
Happy Chanukah! enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/coopjr#p/a/u/2/7wUJvABpPyI

Thank you from Mommy

Thank you all especially you organizers for the beautiful bouquet I got today for my birthday. It is very pretty and I really appreciate the thought and effort behind the gift. May we all be zoche to have a good healthy year and may we see much nachas from all of you.

New Baby

Does anyone out there have any more details about M & D's new daughter other than the fact that she was born??

Where'd it go?

Inquiring minds want to know . . . what happened to Mendy's blog about the escaped pt?

Happy Chanukah!

Interview #2!

Shmuly got an interview at THE Ohio State University! (Columbus, OH) Does anyone know why they insist calling it THE Ohio State and not just Ohio State University?? Oh and we're going to Cincinnati next week for Shabbos...

Day 2 Back at Work

I started back at work yesterday. I figured taking off 6 - 8 weeks for a maternity leave should be adequate, and it was just about 7 weeks. I didn't want to wait until next week and start during Chanuka. Especially since I'll have to take off on Thursday next week since all of the kids are off from school/playgroup.

Hadassah M. is under the care of her Bubby 2 days a week, and her Aunt Janice the other 2 days while I am at work.

Anyway, yesterday I came back to work. I set up my workstation and get ready to log in. My attempt ends with the following message: "You account has expired." My manager was not in yesterday, but I didn't know if he could help anyway. I called the helpdesk. The helpdesk guy confirmed that, yes, indeed, my account had expired. On Dec. 5. According to him, accounts expire annually and managers have to go into the system and request an extension for the next year. I called my manager's cell phone -- he was in Los Angeles packing up for his return flight to Baltimore (although he actually took a flight to Philadelphia and told me that his plane was heading for Tel Aviv next and he saw a lot of frum ppl on his flight from LA) -- so he couldn't really do much about the problem. So I called the guy in LA who is my manager on paper, but I didn't get through to him, just left a voicemail which he apparently didn't think was real important to respond to. So, in the end, yesterday was pretty much a wasted workday as far as I was concerned.

And, based on the fact that I'm blogging instead of working right now, you can infer that things have still not been fixed yet today. My manager is here today, and he called my LA manager to let him know that this has to be taken care of. LA manager told him to call his AA and get her to take care of whatever it is that he has to do to make things work again. But we tried calling her and she didn't pick up. Left her a voicemail and have yet to hear back. At least I have access to the internet so I'm not just staring into space all day.

As for other news, Tuesday afternoon saw all of us, except Yosef, at the dentist's for our semi-annual cleaning. Yanky, Tzvi, Sara, and I all get our checkups, while Shifra and Hadassah were just there as spectators. Everything went fine until the dentist was busy when we were ready to be checked after the hygenists did their thing. We waited around way too long. The kids were not so happy about it. And after the dentist checked us out, the 3 kids still had to get their fluoride. Yanky said he didn't want the kind that they paint on, so Tzvi and Sara echoed his sentiments. Yanky elected to do the fluoride rinse instead and got that over with. But T and S didn't even want to do that. In the end, Tzvi let them to the painting on kind while he just stood out in the hallway. Sara got that kind too while sitting on my lap with me pinning her hands down and after some tears. Parenting just feels so cruel sometimes. B"H, no cavities to take care of though, and the kids got to go to the pizza shop after the ordeal.

Lisa

It's SENT!

My paper is DONE.


D.O.N.E ~> Done!!!

Thank you, gracias, merci, toddah rabbah to ShiMendy for all their help, editing, and critiquing and of course Mrs. B (Shoutout Pittsburgh) for supplying the sources re: Protestant and Counter Reformation! I almost didn't expect this day to come. I just emailed the actual doc to my prof. If you wanna read about the Oppression of the Jews as a tactic of the Counter Reformation (I know you're all dying to get your hand on it) let me know and I'll gladly fwd it on.
 
...And now time to focus on studying for my final exam. Bbye Christianity, hello Islam* :) hehehe
Lila tov to all and to all a good nite.

PM
*Course titled Jews in the Lands of Islam

PS - Anyone know if the Isenbergs of the West Rogers variety are on the site - would love to hear from 'em...

stories 2 - from m - swiss cheese night

from m...

Last night, my team was on call, so we cover the other teams' patients till the night [float] team arrives.

One hour before we were supposed to "sign out" [to go home], i get a page about a lady who lost her IV access and will need one for pain medications and a blood transfusion later that night...all the floor nurses tried and could not get it so the on call team was called.

So I figure.....an easy IV line, no problem. Off I go to meet a cachectic long-term IV drug using lady with NO VEINS...ok...so i'll try...first i try with a relatively large bore needle [18]...poke, and manage to hit the vein twice but it doesn't hold...darn 18...ok...poke again with a smaller one, a 20...poke, poke, nada..ok...a tiny 22...poke poke zilch...OK...a 24! poke poke poke poke poke.....nada...nada nada nada nada and nada...antecubitals...miss...hands...nope...neck...miss.....finally [half an hour later], try an EJ [external jugular]...poke poke poke over and over NADAAAAAAAAAA. meanwhile pt is not a happy camper [think hysterical crying]...perhaps should have stuck to "3 strikes, you're out" rule but nobody else around...so...called in a colleague...an expert who rotated with anesthesia [hat tip to expert line placers here] for 3 months...who has never met a stick he couldn't do...till now.. poke poke poke poke poke for half an hour + EJ attempts...nada....so now 2 frustrated residents, no IV access, and a lady who wld put swiss cheese to shame from all the holes...what to do?

call the senior.....suggest to him a central line or ultrasound.....
senior's answer - nope - we'll sign it out to nightfloat...time to go home

sorry lady....what can i do? time to go home. night float will take care of ya...
see ya in the am.

ps i called an expert PICU nurse to try before we left....she got a 24 in.....happy ending for all...
well for most of us...

Third times a charm...

You all must be wondering why I'm on here with three aliases...here's the reason. I created a gmail account and forgot the password 2 times. After getting the run around from google saying that I'm not spanish and have no connection to my prior addresses I broke down and created a third new one - ebp782. Just in case you wanted to email me. I figured that I should post something here before I forget the password again...so here's the latest news from the B-P's.....
...Adina got a black eye, Ari is the star of the week ( I had to go and bring his class freeze pops), Chaim realized that we are not moving to the 6th floor barclay apt, and I got pretty new pink fleece pajamas. Already an accomplishing week. I can't think of anything else except that I would invite everyone to a kiddush at YM...but it's already taken by the Gutstein's aufruf...guess it will have to be another week. Have a happy Hanuka!

Interview #1!!

Shmuly got an interview at University of Cincinnati! Hopefully it'll be the first of many!
We're thinking about going there for shabbos next week for a Friday interview. We'll keep you updated.....

Dovi - Before you throw Italy under the bus...

New Mexico wasn't so innocent either.
In the late 1600s the governor of New Mexico and his wife were accused of practicing Judaism; soon thereafter the same charge was leveled against a soldier and bureaucrat named Francisco G�mez Robledo, who was also said to have a tail -- supposedly the mark of a Jew. All were examined by the Holy Office. All were acquitted.

.... The Inquisition's punishments for such transgressions ranged from the forced public wearing, for months or even years, of the humiliating sanbenito -- a knee-length yellow-sackcloth gown -- and headgear resembling a dunce cap to years of imprisonment in a monastery to garroting and burning at the stake. By the time the Inquisition was abolished in Mexico, in 1821, it had put to death about a hundred accused crypto-Jews, and many suspected Judaizers still languished behind bars

Full Article: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/12/ferry.htm

Parents are home again

Hi guys! Well, we're back from Baltimore again. We had an uneventful flight and are happy to be back home again. Thank you to Yosef and Lisa for hosting us, to Hadassah Miriam for giving us the opportunity to visit, and to Shmuly and Avital for living there too. It was nice seeing 6 Isenberg siblings together at once. Rucky and kids are going to be spending a couple of days with us because Dovi is going to New Mexico for the CRC. We'll have to start gearing up for Chanuka this week - I've already had some requests for Sufganiyot. Itchy is having some WITS friends stay with us over Shabbos. Stay well and warm everybody. Love, Mommy

Shmuly was caught redhanded!!!

So, everyone knows how Shmuly is "against the blog" and "doesn't give in to those things." Well..... a picture is worth 1,000 words isn't it?

:)

JOBS????

Ok so I made my schedule for next semester, and apparently I am only going to school two days - mondays and wednesdays from 10-7. So that leaves tuesdays and thursdays wide open. So here's where the title comes in! Who wants to find me a job in ny? :) I don't even know where to start. So...
Thanks in advance -
Chaife

IT'S OFFICIALI !!

I shall be heading across the Atlantic for work and play! (First Stop - Israel!)  My ticket is booked (12/28 - 1/14) and once I get the guide book from Chaifenstein (Thanks Drs. Rubin) I'm going to book my hotel stay in ROME! Yes, Rome, like the Italian Republic (Italian: Italia, IPA: [i'taːlja] or Repubblica Italiana, IPA: [ɾe ˌpubblika ita 'ljaːna]), the Southern European country.

Elana B is gonna meet me out in the Middle East and we're going to explore the Holy Land for a week and stay through Shabbat. Bright and early Monday morning we head to Roma. I'm uber excited - it's going to be ballisimo! And maybe I'll even get to meet Andrea Boccelli or Josh Groban. Yes, I know the don't live there and the likelihood I'll run into them even if they did is slim to none - but a girl can dream.  Here's where I'd imagine Davey starting to sing "al improviso aah tuu tuu!" hehe.

Ahhhhh...Heat

Waking up to a brisk 69 degrees yesterday, I knew something was amiss. Our thermostat was set to 73, and nothing was happening. I called American Home Shield (a home warranty we got with the house for a year) for them to send out a service company. They sent out Tony from Always Heating and Cooling (who, after three weeks of phone calls, finally gave up their task of replacing our AC in the summer). Tony went to check if there was power running to the furnace with the black and red thingy that electricians use. He registered no electricity. He noticed there was no fuse. "That's the problem," he diagnosed. I told him we never had one. He was insistent, and I told him not to come to my house and tell me its not working because of no fuse, when the heat worked all last winter and until yesterday. He then asked me how to get out of the basement. I guess its possible to forget WHERE YOU CAME FROM in ten minutes. He comes back, all packed up, telling me that since the fuse is bypassed, there is improper installation, and the home warranty doesn't cover it. Please give me 60 bucks. I begrudgingly paid, and called Uri Brill of U & E Service (his wife does the makeup). He came as the other guy left, whipped out his electric meter dohickey, and lo and behold! There WAS electricity running through the unit. Tony must have forgotten to turn his thing on! And that doesn't surprise me from a guy who gets lost in other houses.
Sof kol sof, our board which was replaced in August got "zapped", and since this furnace is nearing the end of it already extended life, and good 'ole Uncle Sam is giving tax credits for 1/3 of the cost of upgrading to an energy efficient system, we are having our furnace replaced. (Ironically, when we have no heat, a chimney sweep is coming today to check our fireplaces.) Thanks again to Zaidie and Savta for their hospitality at Chalet Isenberg Chicago.

-Dovi