Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Yehuda's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, May 24th, 2009
1:36 am	Moving - Post #2 (I'll try not to make too much of a habit of it) We signed the contract today and went shopping for light fixtures with our landlords. It was actually nice. As part of the progressing towards actually moving the rest of our stuff over (we've already migrated 3 car loads, mostly full of boxes of books) - if you have a car and are likely to be in Jerusalem with a few hours free, please let me know. The main things holding us up right now are getting together enough boxes for everything and arranging cars to move everything in. We're still on schedule, but simpler is better here. ( yes, I know I'm usually one of those who votes for complex being better, but some things...) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
11:37 pm	Moving Since I keep forgetting who I've told and who I haven't - we're moving...across the street. This is due to landlords who have decided to return to this land of Oz and want their apt. back when the contracts up. Unfortunately, this still requires packing everything up, carrying it down stairs and then getting it across the street and into its new home. This translates into "Ooh look, free time on the wing!" *BANG* *rain of red bits* "Nope, only a clay pigeon". There are advantages though, like moving somewhere with a bit of ground floor storage space. We may and probably will be asking for help at various bits. Feel entirely free to say no. G'night (no empty boxes left for now) Current Mood: tired (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
9:34 am	Memorial Day Every year I try and avoid it a bit more. The many songs that just make you well up in tears, the names and not just names but stories and whole people, the numbers. 22,570 is too many. It just is. 2 people who were with me in grade school died in uniform. I met someone from my grade school a few weeks ago and we got to the dead in about 5 minutes. Even calling it Memorial Day sounds so anemic, so hollow. It is Yom Hazikaron and no less. Current Mood: sad Current Music: Too damn much of it (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
5:07 pm	Pesach Cons There are 2 cons during or around Pesach - Bigor - The roleplaying con, usually held the week before Pesach and Olamot - The SF-F Con. I didn't get to Bigor this year at all and I mainly showed up at Olamot one evening in order to judge the filk competition. Then Mike, who is here for a little bit for Pesach, told me he was coming to the con the next nigth to see a show, so I figured I'd go two nights in a row, since the company was good. The con was surprising good. Its been a weak con for a few years but this year it was packed and much fun. The filk competition was packed, the songs were good and the performances were pretty decent. when and if we can get the con to allow the perfomers to actually rehearse in the room it'll be even better. Also, the domestic filk writing industry is flowering. Yay for good Hebrew filk! The other amusing bit, other then the people, was that people kept on asking me if the book stand in the dealers room was mine and being disappointed when I said no. I took a look at the stand and it was well organized but I had some suggestions. I went up to the guy running the stand, who looked familiar, bought a book and mentioned that I had some suggestions if he was interested. We got to talking and then he suddenly stopped and asked me if I was Yehuda. I said yes and he told me that I inspired him to do this. I'm not sure if inspiring other peope to sell books is that much of an achievment, but it was nice to hear. Current Mood: tired (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
8:28 pm	I hardly ever post things here about the economy or economics in general. That's mostly because I'm afraid I'll scare some of you off and a little because I worry about being unclear. But this...tonight I was at an event with a very distinguished economic panel: The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel, 2 very serious and distinguished professors of Finance,head of the Budget Department at the Treasury, the CEO of one of Israel 2 rating agencies and the CEO of a major Israeli bank. What boogles me is that they spent the evening bitch slapping each other in their various speeches. The journalists in the audience had a field day and the rest of us heard some very interesting things. It was much closer to a quite loud multi-sided argument then a panel or speeches to an audience. It was also interesting to have several things I worked on mentioned/discussed, even peripherally. The advantages of public sector work, I suppose. Current Mood: bemused (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
9:13 am	Barak & Ilana's Wedding The wedding was last night and it was awesome. It was a dark and stormy night, the heavens opened up and those of us who were there stayed inside and had a good time. Tag lines of the evening - 1."Who the fuck is Olga? 2. "I told you so" (Ilana's version of "I do" - She really did. It was the second weekend they were dating, I know because I was there.) Request for unlikely future contingency: If you want me to be a witness at your wedding, tell me in advance so I'm not surprised when I'm supposed to join the family under the chupa. Apparently there was a certain deer in headlights effect. I'm now at work on about 3 hours sleep, so I may write more later. Current Mood: Happy+tired Current Music: Oooh, good idea (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
1:13 pm	Happy news As some of you may have heard, I have a new nephew. His name is Yair Tzvi Porath. Its a good name. :) Current Mood: happy Current Music: The Things We've Handed Down - Marc Cohn (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
11:42 pm	I watched a few episodes of this seasons SNL. It astonishing and sad how entirely unfunny it is. The only thing even slightly amusing was weekend update and even most of that fell flat. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
10:48 pm	Vorkosigan I finally read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I've had most of the books for years, but the completist in me prevented me from reading them while I was still missing some. I picked up the last on in September. I read the whole thing in less then 2 weeks. I hadn't planned on that, but the books drew me in, often in a breathless kind of way. I'd get about halfway through and then have to read until I was done. That's impressive and doesn't happen to me nearly enough lately with new books. Now I'm just trying to decide if I really like the little admiral or hate him. Either way, he's unboring. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
10:43 pm	I have a problem - I'm tired. The semester's almost over but work goes on and, especially since I now have to prove myself, keeps getting more interesting. Better in some ways but significantly more effort as well. Its difficult to switch mindsets from being one of the people who sits in the back of the room, takes notes and listens, to one of the people who writes something for the meeting and is an active and noticeable part of the process. I'm just way tired. On an entirely unrelated note, I've finally started reading through the stack of Bujold's I have, almost all of which I've never read before due to being a series completion perfectionist. I'm thoroughly enjoying them. Current Mood: you guess it Current Music: Hummingbird - Kris Delmhorst (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 12th, 2009
10:27 pm	I hate being sick I've been sick now for 4 days and its taking too long. The joys of virii, all bed rest, drink lots of fluids and wait it out. I'm not that patient or all that good at resting while I get better. This post brought to you by the letter Tuesday, as in yet another day in which I shall not be at work or school. I think this is partly karma. I spent most of high school trying to stay home as much as possible using illness, real or fake. I even succeeded fairly well, since there was one year in which I was home over a third of the school year with various medical stuff, mostly fake or exaggerated. Now, when I have things I actually want or need to do, I get sick and am stuck at home recovering. Blah. Current Mood: sick Current Music: That's a good idea, I should put some on (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 5th, 2008
2:43 am	We can has party Had nice birthday party. Spent time with many friends. I need to see alot of you people more often. Missed some of you who weren't here. Good night (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
12:29 pm	1 day to party There will be food, including home-made pizza. (Thank you, Boojie, for the inspiration) There will be many fun people. (Yes, I said many. YEs, you may even be one of them - show up and find out) We'll see you there. (except if you're invisible. WEll, I guess you could be elsewhere, but how likely is that?) Current Mood: happy (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
12:33 am	REMINDER: Birthday Party Next Week On Thursday, December 4th, Shear and I will be holding a double birthday party at our apartment - Ben Tabai 10/18, Jerusalem. It will start around 8PM and go until everyone's gone or we kick the last people out (which now that I think of it is actually a sub-clause of the first part). Come one, come all. If you can read this you're invited. If you're not sure if you can read this, ask. There will be snacks, drink(non-alcoholic) and likely at least some food (kosher). You are welcome to bring alcohol if you want, we just don't drink enough to make it worth buying for ourselves. Yes, I know we planned this last year and it got canceled due to real life. We should therefore have at least twice as much fun in order to make up for it. PLEASE NOTE: If you want/are planning to crash at our place after the party, please let us know in advance. I want to make sure we have at least vaguely enough space. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
12:31 am	Another year of university starts tomorrow. My last, for the forseeable future. MA and stop for now. Its weird. I was angry that the university presidents threatened to close the universities and not start the year, angry at the thought of another year started late or interrupted, but when I heard it was starting on time, I got nervous. Last year was alot to handle and at times too much. And now here it is, around the corner. I hope its better then last year. I think it will be. To those of you starting another year with me - Good luck! Have fun! I'll do the same. But first I will sleep and finish Anathem. Or perhaps switch the order of that... G'night (Comment on this)
Monday, October 20th, 2008
7:17 am	Icon (I keep intending to post a summary of vacation thoughts, but that's for whenever it comes out) Icon was good and weird for me. The good: People! I got to see many people I see far too rarely, hugged lots of them, caught up, talked about whatever came to mind, even got a chance to remind someone of a marriage proposal they once made me - much fun. Got to give some very well received wedding presents, argue about societal deconstruction and go to the con filksing. Fire in the Sky in Hebrew! Also, I got to meet Steven Brust. I like his writing and own almost every book he's written. Went to the signing and brought a book of his that's one of my favorites but that he apparently never hears about from people, which gave me the chance to tell him how much I appreciated it and have him actually care. He was also just fun to talk and listen too. It felt good to be at Icon. The Weird: This is the first time in 10 years that I've come to this con without being a book dealer. Its culture shock. I kept feeling like I was supposed to be doing something and then remembering. Suddenly I'm trying to figure out my place here. The number of people who came up to me and either asked where my stand was or wanted to tell me they missed my stand was simply staggering. It's nice to know you're missed but its also sad, because I enjoyed it too and would have liked to do it again. Also, there was something missing. It wasn't tangible but there was a certain ambiance to the con that was missing for me. This was caused in part by the level of community conflict over the con and how it was organized and managed, which this year reached unprecedented proportions. It was also caused by there simply being significantly fewer people around then expected. I'm glad I was there. We'll see what happens next year. Current Mood: awake (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
7:41 pm	Advance Warning Birthday Party Announcement This is a relatively early announcement since people are already telling us their calendars are filling up. On Thursday, December 4th, Shear and I will be holding a birthday party. Come on, come all. If you can read this you're invited. If you're not sure if you can read this, ask. It will probably be some variant of pot-luck or donation, we're not sure yet. Yes, I know we planned this last year and it got canceled due to real life. We should therefore have at least twice as much fun in order to make up for it. There will be reminders of this, but we wanted to get it in early so as to stake our claim. Current Mood: happy Current Music: True & Destined Prince - Heather Dale (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
7:51 pm	I'm home. I love Shear. I like home. Tired some. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
10:42 am	Tuesday: Some nearly final bits of shopping, a Neil Gaiman reading and Q&A and a nice dinner. For the Doctor Who fans: Last night Neil was asked (after the "what is your favorite Who episode" to which he answered anything by Steven Moffit and recommended Blink) what would get him to write a Who episode. His answer - He'll write it when Steven Moffit asks him. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
12:30 am	The last two days have been resting, shopping and some moving. Bought a bunch of clothes, some comic books and other odds and ends. Helped Tirtzah (Merav's sister) move, making two trips in a row in which I have helped a Hoffman sister move. (1 Comment |Comment on this)