Just a short update.
It finally started snowing in Boston. The city embraced the white flakes with open arms. The sub-zero degrees we had here for a couple of weeks made the snow catch pretty quickly. The river, slowly freezing for days, turned fluffy white with wet patches.
Yes, it is going to be a white Christmas after all.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPAD
Monday, December 20, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Hi
Why don't I write more? I really have no real response for that. I guess I just don't feel like it. But it is time for a short update, so here goes:
CJ keeps on growing, and fast too. He can get around (I would not call it crawling) and we had to baby-proof parts of the house. He eats solids as well as formula, but the MRS. wouldn't let me add condiments to his food, so he eats steamed vegetables with hardly any taste. But I guess he doesn't mind, yet. Yet, because he is extremely opinionated. If he wants something he will make sure he gets it, either by crying, by getting to what he wants, or by getting physical with us or with whatever object annoys him.
Oh, yeah, and finally he got his first tooth! Now, that doesn't mean less drooling, he has many more teeth on the way. But I can at least find comfort in the fact that we got used to sleepless nights.
Winter just got here last week. Temperatures dropped as low as -18 degrees at night. The river started growing ice patches. And the heavy coats were brought out. It hasn't snowed, yet, and not too much rain gets in on cold days, but when the 5 minute walk to the train at 07:00 can cause your ears to fall off you know it's winter time.
And speaking of winter and snow - Christmas is just around the corner, the trees are dressed in lights and the stores had the unbelievably annoying Christmas song in the background for the last month. This year christmas and hanukkah did not occur at the same time, and we have kind of missed the holiday sport of Hanukkah. We lit candles on less than half of the days, and the holiday was really unnoticeable. We will not celebrate Christmas, but at least I'll have some days off and it will feel more like a holiday.
So as I said at the beginning, just a short update. We wish y'all seasons greetings, and unless something drastically changes and a muse decides to sit on my face, we'll meet again at 2011.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPAD
CJ keeps on growing, and fast too. He can get around (I would not call it crawling) and we had to baby-proof parts of the house. He eats solids as well as formula, but the MRS. wouldn't let me add condiments to his food, so he eats steamed vegetables with hardly any taste. But I guess he doesn't mind, yet. Yet, because he is extremely opinionated. If he wants something he will make sure he gets it, either by crying, by getting to what he wants, or by getting physical with us or with whatever object annoys him.
Oh, yeah, and finally he got his first tooth! Now, that doesn't mean less drooling, he has many more teeth on the way. But I can at least find comfort in the fact that we got used to sleepless nights.
Winter just got here last week. Temperatures dropped as low as -18 degrees at night. The river started growing ice patches. And the heavy coats were brought out. It hasn't snowed, yet, and not too much rain gets in on cold days, but when the 5 minute walk to the train at 07:00 can cause your ears to fall off you know it's winter time.
And speaking of winter and snow - Christmas is just around the corner, the trees are dressed in lights and the stores had the unbelievably annoying Christmas song in the background for the last month. This year christmas and hanukkah did not occur at the same time, and we have kind of missed the holiday sport of Hanukkah. We lit candles on less than half of the days, and the holiday was really unnoticeable. We will not celebrate Christmas, but at least I'll have some days off and it will feel more like a holiday.
So as I said at the beginning, just a short update. We wish y'all seasons greetings, and unless something drastically changes and a muse decides to sit on my face, we'll meet again at 2011.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPAD
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Working again, ain't that shick?!?
So it has been almost two weeks since my back surgery and finally I went back to work. I didn't go easily back to work, I actually dove head first back to research - and it felt really good.
I must admit I didn't suffer too much staying at home the last 10 days. Spending quality time with The MRS. and CJ was fun. It is unbelievable how fast they grow! Now I have to decide whether I should say "yes, he is 6 months old" or "hey! Only 17 and a half more years".
We got to the point were we need to child-proof our apartment. Move the TV to a high shelf. Lock the cabinets, remove books from low shelves, and more. The little 'energy-machine' (I won't use the term I really call him, otherwise I might find myself with an ex-wife instead of a wife) can scream like the is no tomorrow. He can crawl, especially backwards. He can hit, mostly direct hits to the face while you try to sleep, or to the glasses at all other times. And the most important thing he learned is to be opinionated. And I mean really opinionated - he knows what he wants and when he wants it, and if you don't understand then 'tough'. You will hear a high pitched, loud squeal until he will get everything his way.
Returning to me, but only for a short while, I am finally off most narcotic pain killers. I do not feel like a drug addict, but I have a new look now. "Heroine shick"! I lost nearly 8kg since I started using the opiate narcotics (yes, the pain killers are from the same chemical family as opium and heroine) and I am now the lightest I have been in over ten years (let's see how long this would last). But as I stopped using the pain medication, and as the pain is slowly subsiding, my appetite is recovering. However, I will try to keep the status quo, pat least in this area.
That's it. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow is another work day. A full day of experiments and measurements in the dark lab.
How long will it be till I am fed up with that?
See you on my next post
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPAD
I must admit I didn't suffer too much staying at home the last 10 days. Spending quality time with The MRS. and CJ was fun. It is unbelievable how fast they grow! Now I have to decide whether I should say "yes, he is 6 months old" or "hey! Only 17 and a half more years".
We got to the point were we need to child-proof our apartment. Move the TV to a high shelf. Lock the cabinets, remove books from low shelves, and more. The little 'energy-machine' (I won't use the term I really call him, otherwise I might find myself with an ex-wife instead of a wife) can scream like the is no tomorrow. He can crawl, especially backwards. He can hit, mostly direct hits to the face while you try to sleep, or to the glasses at all other times. And the most important thing he learned is to be opinionated. And I mean really opinionated - he knows what he wants and when he wants it, and if you don't understand then 'tough'. You will hear a high pitched, loud squeal until he will get everything his way.
Returning to me, but only for a short while, I am finally off most narcotic pain killers. I do not feel like a drug addict, but I have a new look now. "Heroine shick"! I lost nearly 8kg since I started using the opiate narcotics (yes, the pain killers are from the same chemical family as opium and heroine) and I am now the lightest I have been in over ten years (let's see how long this would last). But as I stopped using the pain medication, and as the pain is slowly subsiding, my appetite is recovering. However, I will try to keep the status quo, pat least in this area.
That's it. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow is another work day. A full day of experiments and measurements in the dark lab.
How long will it be till I am fed up with that?
See you on my next post
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPAD
Thursday, November 4, 2010
I'm here, but first 'let's go back'
So I disappeared for over a month. It wasn't because I didn't know what to write, or I didn't have time. I disappeared because, as my last post stated, I threw out my back (or actually herniated a disc) and I had to go for back surgery. I decided that the next time I update my blog is when the anesthesia wears off and I know that everything went as it should.
Well (although I wrote this post last night - yes, before the surgery, summoning the 'evil eye') this has been posted which means all is well, for now.
It is actually the time to summarize a year in Boston. Last year, on Halloween, I landed in this foreign land, not knowing where I am and what exactly I'm going to do. And now, a year later, a child later, a freezing winter and hot summer later, a tax report later, several Jewish (and non-Jewish) holidays with friends later, a car purchase later, a couple of surgeries (or surgical interventions) later I can finally say - Hey! I now know where I am, but I sure as hell don't know exactly what I'm doing!
Dangerous paragraph alert: NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHES!!!
So some of you might read the above and say "back surgery" is only one, why does he say a couple. So, of course, nothing goes smoothly when you really hope it will. Just a week before my surgery was scheduled my body decided it was a good time to start a small infection by a lymph node. 'Sure' it said (my body if you are not following), 'if we can stop the surgery, why not?'. This infection was dealt with at MIT medical, that did a poor job. Why poor? Well, first when they decided to open me up they did not give me enough lidocaine and I could feel the cut and the drainage. Second, they left most of what was growing in there. The back surgeon didn't think twice, once he saw what they did, and sent me to a surgeon of his own. This surgeon flooded me with lidocaine, and I really didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel the 1inch cut, or the wick that was placed deep inside the wound. The intention of this wick is to allow me to reopen the cut a couple of days after the surgery (how fun) and avoid it from closing. Anyways, it worked and we are passed that.
END OF DANGEROUS PARAGRAPH
CJ, our son, is growing really quickly. He looks and acts just like a real person. A real person that cannot talk or walk, but still a real person. His advancement is incredible. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago he was this crying, eating, pooping and peeing lump of meat, and now he is completely different. Now he is a crying, eating, pooping, peeing lump of meat with wills and wants and with a very strong conviction for getting what he wants.
So a year, a year of so many changes and so many turn-of-events. A year of many visitors and new experiences.
All I wish ourselves for the upcoming year in Boston is more new experiences, more visits and more advancements. And hopefully, this time, we can skip all the health related issues.
Have a great end of year without me around,
See you on my next post.
- Posted using BlogPress from the COSTiPAD
Well (although I wrote this post last night - yes, before the surgery, summoning the 'evil eye') this has been posted which means all is well, for now.
It is actually the time to summarize a year in Boston. Last year, on Halloween, I landed in this foreign land, not knowing where I am and what exactly I'm going to do. And now, a year later, a child later, a freezing winter and hot summer later, a tax report later, several Jewish (and non-Jewish) holidays with friends later, a car purchase later, a couple of surgeries (or surgical interventions) later I can finally say - Hey! I now know where I am, but I sure as hell don't know exactly what I'm doing!
Dangerous paragraph alert: NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHES!!!
So some of you might read the above and say "back surgery" is only one, why does he say a couple. So, of course, nothing goes smoothly when you really hope it will. Just a week before my surgery was scheduled my body decided it was a good time to start a small infection by a lymph node. 'Sure' it said (my body if you are not following), 'if we can stop the surgery, why not?'. This infection was dealt with at MIT medical, that did a poor job. Why poor? Well, first when they decided to open me up they did not give me enough lidocaine and I could feel the cut and the drainage. Second, they left most of what was growing in there. The back surgeon didn't think twice, once he saw what they did, and sent me to a surgeon of his own. This surgeon flooded me with lidocaine, and I really didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel the 1inch cut, or the wick that was placed deep inside the wound. The intention of this wick is to allow me to reopen the cut a couple of days after the surgery (how fun) and avoid it from closing. Anyways, it worked and we are passed that.
END OF DANGEROUS PARAGRAPH
CJ, our son, is growing really quickly. He looks and acts just like a real person. A real person that cannot talk or walk, but still a real person. His advancement is incredible. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago he was this crying, eating, pooping and peeing lump of meat, and now he is completely different. Now he is a crying, eating, pooping, peeing lump of meat with wills and wants and with a very strong conviction for getting what he wants.
So a year, a year of so many changes and so many turn-of-events. A year of many visitors and new experiences.
All I wish ourselves for the upcoming year in Boston is more new experiences, more visits and more advancements. And hopefully, this time, we can skip all the health related issues.
Have a great end of year without me around,
See you on my next post.
- Posted using BlogPress from the COSTiPAD
Sunday, September 19, 2010
I'm back - or am I?
So some of you might wonder where is the weekly post I have promised? You know what, a biweekly post instead? But as you can see I suck at committing. The last two months I have been suffering from a herniated disc in my back which has changed a lot in our life. At first it was painful, but I could deal with the pain and it did not disrupt my life too much. However, around a month ago things changed, and changed fast. I could hardly step on my right leg and I had to use a cane for walking. As weeks went by the pain became stronger and stronger up to a point where I missed work for over a week.
Right now I am waiting for an appointment with a back specialist, or rather the assistant of the specialist, because seeing the specialist in flesh and blood requires a wait of two months. Oh yeah, and for the mean time i am heavily sedated with an assortment of pain killers and narcotic sedatives. The amount I take daily could probably put a horse to sleep, but every time I say the word 'pain' near medical personnel at MIT I am immediately offered more drugs or refills of my current favorite narcotic.
As you might understand, work is progressing at an agonizing slow rate, but I guess it will have to wait until I feel better.
The most aggravating thing in this situation is the fact that I cannot hold CJ in my arms, and have not held him up in three weeks. I know that once I feel better, that boy is going to beg me to get off my hands and onto the floor. I promise you that.
p.s. We would like to convey our best wishes to Dani and Maayan for the birth of their beautiful girl - Yarden. May you have only happiness with her.
Right now I am waiting for an appointment with a back specialist, or rather the assistant of the specialist, because seeing the specialist in flesh and blood requires a wait of two months. Oh yeah, and for the mean time i am heavily sedated with an assortment of pain killers and narcotic sedatives. The amount I take daily could probably put a horse to sleep, but every time I say the word 'pain' near medical personnel at MIT I am immediately offered more drugs or refills of my current favorite narcotic.
As you might understand, work is progressing at an agonizing slow rate, but I guess it will have to wait until I feel better.
The most aggravating thing in this situation is the fact that I cannot hold CJ in my arms, and have not held him up in three weeks. I know that once I feel better, that boy is going to beg me to get off my hands and onto the floor. I promise you that.
p.s. We would like to convey our best wishes to Dani and Maayan for the birth of their beautiful girl - Yarden. May you have only happiness with her.
Friday, August 20, 2010
3 agenda points (or - what's between books, bugs and flip-flops)
So there have been a few topics that I contemplated about in the last several weeks. Nothing too existential, but topics non the less.
And well try to keep them alphabetically ordered.
1. Books - it is just amazing to see the amount of reading that is taking place in this city. The morning and evening commutes are times that most people on the train spend by reading. Books, ebooks, articles and more. Any written page is good.
It was once said the the Jews are the "of the book" (although the origin of this phrase from the Quran means both Jews and Christians). And many Israelis say this with pride, as if we are the chosen ones and are above all other people. But when you stop to think about it, it seems like Israelis have abandoned the book a long time ago. Now I know that the MRS will not agree, because she swallows books at an alarming rate, but if you try to generalize the behavior and actions of a whole nationality - it is true! The real people of the book are those who spend their commute reading (with or without earphones playing music) instead of texting or listening to music on their phone's loud speaker as if to annoy everyone around.
2. Bugs - apparently pests are a function of geography. Ladybugs in Israel are not very abundant and are considered cute, with their red bodies with black polkadots. Here, on the other hand, there are so many ladybugs and they get everywhere (even through screen windows) that there is only one way to address them - as pests. Also, it seems that ladybugs have had some transformation here, instead of a red body with black spots you can find many that are black bodies with red spots. And the real questions is 'do you start to mutate when you arrive in huge numbers?'
3. Flip-flops - Summer is almost at an end and the Plagues of Boston (after the Ten Plagues of Egypt) are flip-flops. So let's say it out loud - "NO! Flip-flops are not acceptable footwear with your business suit/formal attire/work cloths/else. If you are not wearing a bathing suit under your cloths or you are on a vacation, please avoid them"
So that's it.
Oh yeah! This was written with my iPad (wooh hoo!)
And well try to keep them alphabetically ordered.
1. Books - it is just amazing to see the amount of reading that is taking place in this city. The morning and evening commutes are times that most people on the train spend by reading. Books, ebooks, articles and more. Any written page is good.
It was once said the the Jews are the "of the book" (although the origin of this phrase from the Quran means both Jews and Christians). And many Israelis say this with pride, as if we are the chosen ones and are above all other people. But when you stop to think about it, it seems like Israelis have abandoned the book a long time ago. Now I know that the MRS will not agree, because she swallows books at an alarming rate, but if you try to generalize the behavior and actions of a whole nationality - it is true! The real people of the book are those who spend their commute reading (with or without earphones playing music) instead of texting or listening to music on their phone's loud speaker as if to annoy everyone around.
2. Bugs - apparently pests are a function of geography. Ladybugs in Israel are not very abundant and are considered cute, with their red bodies with black polkadots. Here, on the other hand, there are so many ladybugs and they get everywhere (even through screen windows) that there is only one way to address them - as pests. Also, it seems that ladybugs have had some transformation here, instead of a red body with black spots you can find many that are black bodies with red spots. And the real questions is 'do you start to mutate when you arrive in huge numbers?'
3. Flip-flops - Summer is almost at an end and the Plagues of Boston (after the Ten Plagues of Egypt) are flip-flops. So let's say it out loud - "NO! Flip-flops are not acceptable footwear with your business suit/formal attire/work cloths/else. If you are not wearing a bathing suit under your cloths or you are on a vacation, please avoid them"
So that's it.
Oh yeah! This was written with my iPad (wooh hoo!)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
From a special place (or gadget)
So the first thing I want to say is that this post has been written and posted from my newest toy - my iPad! Yes, I thank the MRS. for this great gift she got me.
I have not written in a long time because I can hardly find the time to sit and write. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, but free time is a very expensive commodity at the present time.
CJ is growing fast. He is just getting big every day, and he starts controlling his hands. It is really interesting to see how he grows and develops. But again, him growing is a very time consuming matter. It takes a full time job of two (he and the mrs.) and a half (me) people to grow.
The work is progressing slowly, and I cannot report of any ground breaking results yet, even though I have to present a talk in a huge conference in a week.
At least our visa status has been extended for 2 more years, so, theoretically we are here until 2012.
That's all I have to update about right now. I will try to post more short posts (now that I have the iPad it should be easier) every time I have something to say, and until then...
I have not written in a long time because I can hardly find the time to sit and write. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, but free time is a very expensive commodity at the present time.
CJ is growing fast. He is just getting big every day, and he starts controlling his hands. It is really interesting to see how he grows and develops. But again, him growing is a very time consuming matter. It takes a full time job of two (he and the mrs.) and a half (me) people to grow.
The work is progressing slowly, and I cannot report of any ground breaking results yet, even though I have to present a talk in a huge conference in a week.
At least our visa status has been extended for 2 more years, so, theoretically we are here until 2012.
That's all I have to update about right now. I will try to post more short posts (now that I have the iPad it should be easier) every time I have something to say, and until then...
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