Israel - Day 1 - Tel Aviv and Jaffa Beach

(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal, except first incredible one Minna Blumenthal)

Israel - Day 1 - Tel Aviv and Jaffa Beach

Got Skills?

I thought this was a very telling sign right off the highway in Washington, D.C. 

"Does your child have life skills?"

And then it lists things like:

"Cooking, budgets, sewing, ironing, time managment, communication, and fun"

The classes are offered by ActualLifeSkills.com.

I took a look online at what a typical 6-week class offered on Sundays for 3-hours at a time and at a cost of $345. 

It even covered things like:

"Handshakes, eye contact, and conversation starters
Voice projection and confidence
Party/guest etiquette, gifts and thank you notes"

And of course, aside from the cooking and budgeting already mentioned, there were more of the foundations such as laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping.

I would suggest adding things like computer basics, child rearing, human relations, home maintenance, car mechanics, hunting, fishing, gardening, first-aid, fitness, and even self-defense. 

Since, we spend so much time teaching book skills, I have often thought why we don't spend more time teaching these fundamental life skills. 

We are raising a generation of kids that can score 1500+ on the SATs, but they don't know sh*t about real life and couldn't survive a week without electricity, Internet, or mom and dad taking care of them. 

Back to basics. 

Back to life skills. 

Back to survival. 

Back to being self-sufficient. 

There is no reason that we can't add these items to our broken school curriculums. 

You shouldn't have to go to special classes to learn to live life. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Got Skills?

Don't Swim Off Your Balcony

Amazing new dual 37 story residential towers in Mumbai, India called the Aquaria Grande.

And it features...glass balcony pools!

I doubt you can do laps in these things, but maybe nice just to cool off and enjoy your luxury living arrangements.

Wonder if this up to building code?

Also, if you don't swim, can you use it as an aquarium or perhaps for catching the fish of the day?  ;-)

(Thanks to Dave Zeppieri, Sr. for the post on Facebook)

Don't Swim Off Your Balcony

Catching A Shark

So it's sort of become a tradition that when we go away, I try and take my daughter on a special activity of her choosing. 

This time we went fishing in the beautiful Caribbean.  

What I didn't expect is that I would end up reeling in a 66-inch Spinner Shark.

This thing was massive and powerful.

The guide keeps telling me to pull up slowly and then drop forward while quickly reeling it in then stop and repeat. 

But this shark wasn't exactly cooperating and it kept pulling this way and that and hard.

In fact, about 15 minutes earlier another shark had jumped out of the water and actually broken the end of the line and got away. 

This one was another real fighter, but we were determined.

We get to the point, where we had it on the side of the boat coming up and all the people are standing back and I am thinking to myself what am I crazy sitting up front here with this monster fish about to come over the side.

The guide says "Don't worry, I am an expert."

Expert my foot, I think to myself...what the heck am I doing? 

Fortunately, since no one wanted to measure it to make into some sort of mantle piece trophy, we end up letting it go (apparently, it's against the law to actually kill these in Florida). 

My daughter was so brave with all the fish, and doing her job keeping the baitfish swimming around and alive with her bare hands in the water--she was awesome. 

I don't frequently let so loose, but I find that when I do, these really are special moments in time for me with my daughter that I end up remembering and cherishing the most. 

Thank you G-d for this amazing experience; now to treating the sunburn. ;-)

(Source Video: Rebecca Blumenthal)

Catching A Shark