Sep 27, 2009

The Downside of living in the Jewish State -- Una desventaja de vivir en el Estado Judío

There is a great thing about being a Jew living in Israel. I no longer have to explain why I can't come to work or school on the Jewish Holidays, and I don't have to take any sick days off work/school to be able to celebrate the different holidays. I get 'official' days off on the holidays and the Sabbath, and so does the rest of the country.

Pretty cool right? Well you would think so, except for when it has to do with you trying to live in this 21st century that depends [almost] completely on technology. And what happens when your internet connection is down? Or when the electricity in your house stops working, or you have a major water leak? Nobody will help you. Everybody is taking the day off and won't help you, and if they are willing to do so, it will cost you more than double the normal price.

Right now I'm writing this post in my computer that is not connected to the internet, I'm offline, disconnected from the world, because my internet connection is down and when I tried calling both the infrastructure provider (HOT) and the ISP (Netvision), their recordings welcomed me saying that they're closed until tomorrow night, have a nice holiday... that means, close to 30 hours without internet :'(

It makes me reflect upon the fact that today, a computer without internet, is like a car without gasoline. You can enjoy some of the neat things that it can do, like turning the lights on and off, listen to music, but it won't take you anywhere.

I like living in Israel, but the "service culture" could improve a lot. For example, there could be small 'emergency-teams' that work during the holidays in companies that provide services as important as the internet, electricity, water, cellular communications, etc.

What I have left now is to pray that a miracle will happen and that the internet will come back on it's own. Maybe when all the other Jews go to pray and stay off electric and mechanical machines the internet will free up and return to me.
Or maybe it's just a Jewish conspiration to disconnect us all from our computers and make us atone on this Yom Kippur.
Whatevs!

While waiting for the internet to come back, Gmar Jatima Tova and Shana Tova,
Disconnected,
|¥|@µ®¡

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Hay algo genial sobre ser un Judío que viven en Israel. Ya no tengo que explicar por qué no puedo ir al trabajo o a la escuela en las fiestas judías, y no tengo que tomarme días de enfermedad del trabajo / escuela para poder celebrar las diferentes festividades. Aquí nos dan 'días oficiales' de vacaciones durante las fiestas, al igual que los sábados, y es lo mismo para todos los ciudadanos del país.

¿Bastante bien no? Es lo que se podría pensar, a excepción de cuando tiene que ver con tratar de vivir en este siglo 21 que depende [casi] totalmente en la tecnología. ¿Y qué ocurre cuando tu conexión a Internet está caída? ¿O cuando la electricidad en casa deja de funcionar, o si tienes una fuga de agua? Nadie te ayudará. Todo el mundo está tomando el día libre y no te hacen caso, y si están dispuestos a hacerlo, te costará más del doble del precio normal.

Ahora mismo estoy escribiendo este post en mi computadora que no está conectada a Internet, estoy fuera de línea, desconectado del mundo, porque mi conexión a Internet está caída y cuando he intentado llamar tanto a los proveedores de infraestructura (HOT) y al proveedor de internet (Netvision), sus grabaciones me reciben diciendo que están cerrados hasta mañana por la noche y que me desean felicidades por las fiestas ... Eso significa cerca de 30 horas sin internet :'(

Esto me hace reflexionar sobre el hecho de que hoy en día una computadora sin internet, es como un coche sin gasolina. Puedes disfrutar de algunas de las cosas interesantes que puede hacer, como prender y apagar las luces dentro y fuera, escuchar música, etc., pero no te llevará a ninguna parte.

Me gusta vivir en Israel, pero la "cultura de servicio" podría mejorar mucho. Por ejemplo, podría haber "pequeños equipos de emergencia" que trabajan durante las festividades en las empresas que prestan servicios tan importantes como el internet, electricidad, agua, comunicaciones celulares, etc

No me queda nada mas que orar para que un milagro suceda y que el Internet regrese solito. Tal vez, cuando todos los Judios se vayan rezar y se mantengan alejados de aparatos eléctricos y mecánicos, el Internet se libere un poco y regrese.
O tal vez es sólo una conspiración judía para desconectarnos a todos de nuestras computadoras y nos haga expiar en este Yom Kipur.
Whatevs!

Mientras espero que vuelva el Internet, Gmar Jatima Tova y Shana Tova,
Desconectado,
|¥|@μ®¡

Aug 1, 2009

If only breaking up was so easy

If only breaking up was so easy...
Si tan solo cortar con tu novia fuera tan facil...

Feb 22, 2009

Where do you come from???

Hello y'all!

Since I started this blog I've seen the number of visitors grow and grow. And the little map at the bottom of the blog shows people coming from the most random places.

Sometimes I wonder how people found this blog.
Would you mind sharing with me how you found my blog? Comment.

Thanx!

Feb 6, 2009

Israel Football League

I was watching the Superbowl on METV (Middle East TV, a Lebanese channel) because they show the original American feed, that is, with the original commercials and the whole shabang. During one of the commercial cuts, the American commercials didn't come on, and instead, the METV commercials showed. One of those commercials was about the IFL (www.ifl.co.il). I went to check out their website and decided that I needed to go see one of these games. First of all, because I like football, and second of all, because I had to see with my own eyes football being played in Israel.

The games are played either on Fridays before Shabbat starts or on Saturday evening when Shabbat is over. Today's game (Friday morning) was played in Yoqneam, a small town 40 minutes north of where I live. The Haifa Underdogs received the Jerusalem Kings. It was obvious from the first look that this was an amateur league, with no goal posts (I'm wondering if there is any field in Israel with football goal posts), no scoreboard, no clock and the field was only 70 yards long (mid field was on the 35 yard line). But besides the things before mentioned, the players were wearing the full gear and were pumped up, there were 4 referees that called the plays (mostly well) and a small group of fans, most of them relatives of the players or coaches, cheering for their teams.

This league is by no means professional, and you won't see the next Roger Staubach being scouted from this league, but it has a great significance. The fact that there is an American Football League in Israel means that the sport is becoming more popular... and perhaps one day it could become a real pro-league.

In the meantime, I'm planning on not only going to see more games, but actually getting involved in some volunteering capacity. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be coaching my own IFL team ;)

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Some of the jokes/observations I blurbed out of my mouth today:
  • "If we get lost, we can't ask for directions... nobody around here knows what football is."
  • "Show the replay!"
  • "Challenge that call coach!"
  • "Where's the guy that sells beer?"
  • "What's the halftime show?"
  • "Why isn't the PA system playing any music?"
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Thanks for reading,
Mau

PS: The Underdogs creamed the Kings

Jan 14, 2009

ACA

Jan 1st, 2009

I woke up in my sister’s house at 7:00am. The temperature outside was 6°C (43°F), when I got out of the house I could see my breath, it was really really cold. Got in the van and started driving southwest. About 400km and 4 hours later, got out of the van and found myself shveetzing at 31°C (88°F).

I thought to myself “it’s so nice to be able to wear shorts in January, this rocks!”


Went straight up to the room to change into a bathing suit and made my way down to the pool and beach area. Drank the coconut juice straight from the coconut and once I finished the juice I asked the “señor” to take the coconut to peel and cut, prepare it with lemon and “salsa buffalo”; ate the whole thing. Awesome! The temperature of the water is perfect, the sand on the beach is great, I’m sitting on a pool side bed, under not so hot sun, but hot enough to tan you; and aside of the bubbles of dirt that sometimes float in the water, it’s all great!


I’m here with my sister, brother in law and my two nephews, I hadn’t plan to come to Acapulco, so my sister and her family inviting me over has made this Mexico trip a greater experience than expected.

Dad’s birthday/family reunion on the 31st was also great. Seeing [almost] the whole family, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews was also superb!


I can’t get enough of this beach and it’s paradise like weather! I ACA!