Washington D.C. on a beautiful Spring day.
Thank you G-d for the changing seasons, the warm sunshine, the soft elegant standing flowers, and the vibrant colors.
(Source Flowers: G-d)
(I am merely the photographer)
April 29, 2015
Beautiful Spring Day
Thank you G-d for the changing seasons, the warm sunshine, the soft elegant standing flowers, and the vibrant colors.
(Source Flowers: G-d)
(I am merely the photographer)
April 28, 2015
Big Kiss Followed By Hard Slap
It was when I was very sick last year from surgical complications...
And someone did one of the nicest things for me...and also one of the most hurtful.
This was at the point of hospitalization #3, I think (there was more after), and the doctors were shaking their heads--uh, not a good sign.
Frankly, I didn't know anymore whether I was going to make it.
At that time, someone close reached out to me and my wife and said they were going to hold a prayer vigil for me in their home one evening to try and help.
They did and even sent me photographs of the wonderful people taking the time to ask G-d to save me...I was deeply moved and grateful.
But subsequently on a phone call with the person who set this up, they said to me seemingly with resentment at having to have done it and undoing all the good they had done...
"You know you really need to get some zechusim of your own!"
Zuchusim means qualities or deeds that merit some reward or good.
In other words, I was getting judged and scolded and was being told that I was in pain, suffering, and sick because basically I MUST be an aweful person who deserves it.
And if not for her organizing the prayer group and those others with zuchusim that attended, I on my own probably did not even deserve to live.
Gee, thanks for the slap, slap, and slap.
While I am sure her words were intended to help me by exhorting ultimate life betterment, at the time and even now, the roughness and shrill of them hurt--it's nothing less than a matter of soul!
While I am no saint--and I think few of us can claim that title no matter how hard we may put ourselves on that lofty pedestal--I know that in my own way--maybe not the most traditional way that other religious people can fully relate to--I try my best to serve G-d, be a decent human being, and a good influence...while not perfect by any sense of the word.
Laying sick and vulnerable, I needed to be told that I was okay and everything would be okay with G-d's blessing--that whatever the suffering and whatever the reason, my life has good in it and meaning to it--even while we can all better ourselves.
But while I felt the kiss from this person when they organized the beautiful prayer group for me, I soon felt the sting of the slap from the strict harsh "religious" judgement from someone that didn't even really know my days in and outs.
While I know I can do better--and I am committed to continue to try to learn and grow as a person--and serve G-d and help others--but for crying out loud have some compassion, go easy on the severity of the judgement and exhortations, and maybe give some benefit of the doubt.
Words have meaning even though deeds surpass words, and we should be careful with both. ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos posting of Batmancomic.infogenerator)
April 27, 2015
Creation and Time Management
This is a photo of a beautiful embroidery.
It is called "Creation" by Leonard Nierman.
Really liked it!
Also, wanted to share something funny I heard from a colleague about time management (as learned at DoD).
It doesn't have to do with creation being 6 days and on the 7th day, G-d rested and it was good.
Rather it had to do with being on time (or not) as follows:
"If you're on time, you're late. If you're 10 minutes early, you're on time."
Wish that was standard fare. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 26, 2015
Andy Blumenthal With Roberta Grossman
First we saw her upcoming movie "Above and Beyond."
It is the story about the birth of the Israeli Air Force, and it was co-produced with Nancy Spielberg (Yes, the sister of Director Steven Spielberg).
In 1948 when the U.N. (under G-d's guidance) established the State of Israel, the Arab nations prepared to attack the fledgling nation state.
Just 3 years after the end of Holocaust, the surrounded Jewish people with inferior arms, faced almost certain devastating defeat in their War of Independence.
However, brave volunteer pilots from America, Canada, and South Africa answered the call to help their brethren in Israel.
With ingenuity, some smuggled air planes, brief training by Czechoslovakia, and the blessings of Hashem, the Israel Defense Forces stopped the advancing Arab armies--of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq--in their tracks.
It is an amazing story of courage and heroism, and Ms. Grossman did a wonderful job answering enthusiastic questions from the audience in Virginia today.
Kol Hakavod on a excellent film--thank you! ;-)
The Best Cut
Recently, I went to the Surgeon about my other hip to read my MRI...
After having read the report myself before the appointment, I was convinced I was heading under the knife again with the pain I was experiencing, challenges getting around, and the verbiage in the report like:
"Significant..."
"Advanced."
Anyway, my daughter came along because I wasn't sure I was going to easily get parking in this place...always a challenge there.
Waiting for the doctor, I asked G-d for a miracle, since after all the hospitalizations this last year, I literally thought that another one at this time could very well kill me.
Low and behold, the doctor comes in and as if G-d is directing his speech for the next 40 minutes or so, he does everything to dissuade me from having the surgery this month, even though he was the one at the last appointment that had already booked me on his surgical calendar.
So today the miracle unfolded...
First, the doctor read my MRI, but then quickly flipped the screen to an MRI of another patient--a 76 year old--and he showed me the unbelievable progression of the osteoarthritis from near onset to ultimately the complete collapse of the joint over about 9 years time for this lady...the last MRI looked like complete and utter bone devastation--I had never seen anything like it!
Next he opened his drawer and took out a horror basket of used replacement joints parts that he had removed from patients that needed revision--he showed me the wear and breakage and described in horrible detail how he often has to dig these out of the bones of his patients and how each revision--which everyone will need after about 10-15 years or sooner if they become symptomatic--becomes more complicated and dangerous in terms of infection, blood clots, and recovery.
Then he told how in the field so many replacement surgeries do not go well and that he sees 3-5 patients a week who come to him because they are UN-happy with the replacements their doctors did.
This went on and on, and bottom line...he said, "I love to do the surgeries--I really do--but wait as long as you can before getting it [on the other hip], since while it can provide for short term improvements, each revision is worse, and at your age you could need three--on each side."
Needless-to-say, from this whole thing, I was in utter shock and some disbelief as I had been told these prosthetics can last 20-25 years with the newer models, and I was not aware of what the revisions really entailed in later years or the challenges they brought.
As he continued to describe the risks in painful vivid details (note, I was his last appointment of the day and he was talking his time here), my eyes were literally welling up in tears.
I looked over at my daughter and she was sitting mouth agape shaking her head at what he was saying. I was deeply sorry that she had to sit through this (what we had thought was a simple MRI reading and confirmation of the upcoming procedure date).
I left the doctor's office, of course, canceling the surgery--still in severe pain and with trouble walking--however, "scared straight" to make the best of this for now, but also afraid of what lies ahead.
I have to have faith that the L-rd who made the miracle to hold off on the surgery for now will continue to guide and protect me through this illness that today has no cure.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 25, 2015
There Is Today
While I've lost some mobility with my hips...
I am trying to make the most of every day.
Rebecca is showing me the ropes with racquetball, and even Dossy tried it.
A friend told me: "There is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only today!" ;-)
(Source Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)
April 24, 2015
DC, The Cleanest City In The World
April 23, 2015
Shut Up, Pleez!
Perhaps they don't have enough to do, are craving attention, trying to make a name for themselves, are plain 'ol destructive, or are simply acting the fool and looking for their next victim.
But they have to get into everyone else's business, telling them how to do their jobs, taking over and hostage any meeting they can shove their way into with their private agendas, emailing everyone and their mother with their henpecking of the day, and demanding their needs are the priority and rises up over everyone elses--no matter whom or what else is going on.
These people think they have an open mic and they are going to grab it, hold it, and never let it go.
You beg them to stop, to control themselves, to work out their issues constructively, to give others a chance, to get in line, to let you do your job and they should do theirs, to get some situational and personal awareness, but rather than putting the mic down....
No, they see your calm and rationale requests for peace as squirming capitulation and the opportunity to hit you again and again.
Everyone else has already given up and just won't respond or even acknowledge the Chicken Little screaming over and over again "The sky is falling"--when it isn't, and when so much important work is getting done by very hardworking and good people, who know how to act professionally.
The kids nowadays say it straight up, "shut your pie hole!"
And that is really such a good idea. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 22, 2015
Might Does Not Make Right
"Do what is right--the others be damned!"
And this is right on the money.
You should always follow the dictates of your conscience.
Do not worry about pressure from others or what others will do that you cannot control.
My dad (A"H) used to say:
"YOU do what is right--YOU be the example!"
He was my example, and I will always follow in his footsteps. ;-)
(Source photo: here with attribution to cursedthing)
April 21, 2015
Growing Shoes For Growing Feet
Great innovation from The Shoe That Grows.
Innocent children around the world living in poverty are frequently forced to walk barefoot, without shoes, risking dangerous injury from hard and sharp objects as well as disease from contaminated soil.
Now there are expandable shoes that can be adjusted in the front toe piece and side with snaps, as well as with a back heel strap.
The shoes are made to expand five sizes and last 5 years with high quality rubber soles and leather uppers.
A donation of one pair for a needy child is just $10.
No child--or adult--should ever have to go without the basics like shoes and this can help millions get to a higher standard of living, which everyone deserves. ;-)
(Thank you to Michelle Blumenthal for sharing this with me.)
April 19, 2015
Pumping Some Iron
How You Treat Animals
But this isn't always how we treat animals.
Some absolutely revere their animals as integral parts of their family or faith--as pets, they may be loved and cared in nice homes, and as source for milk, dung, and tilling, they may even considered sacred as in Hindu India, or for sacrifices on the Temple alter in Judaism.
I've seen dogs picked up after and wheeled around in baby strollers, while in the Movies like "Meet The Fockers," Jinx the cat is exalted for doing her deed in the toilet, the same one used by the family.
One colleague told me how she had to run after her dog cleaning up all over her house, when it was sick and had a bleed out of its butt--yeah, ick!
And I remember learning about how in Nazi Germany, dogs would walk on the sidewalk, while Jews were forced into the gutters.
On the other side of the animal coin...
We have animals sickeningly and inhumanly confined and caged in tiny spaces; starved or fattened; pepped up on antibiotics, and clubbed, electrocuted, given lethal injections, shot and cut up.
Animals are used for food, fur, and even so-called fun from cock fighting to bull runs.
Further, animals are used for research in everything from new medications to abusive studies in mind control and even punishment.
Animals have also been used for horrific torture of POWs where masks were attached to victims faces and a fire would heat the other side and force the rodent locked inside to burrow into the faces of their victims.
Similarly, in Nazi Germany, gruesome studies were conducted on humans by sewing live cats into the stomach of victims.
In more positive ways, animals have been used to locate everything from disease to the implements of war--from dogs being used in identifying human diseases like cancer and tuberculosis to giant rats used to locate land mines.
Also, animal products are used in many life-saving medications.
I found the remorse of an animal experimenter today in the New York Times to be refreshing, and those who choose to become vegan or disavow the use of fur and other animal products to be noble, as long as they accept that others may feel different.
When the experimenter in his guilt thinks about the tables being turned, he imagines aliens coming to Earth and abducting and conducting experiments on us humans...oh, he seems to go, now I know how it must feel.
Guess he didn't think to walk in that chicken's shoes before...
While to carnivorous animals, we are just another piece of beef in the food chain, other domesticated animals can be "man's best friend."
Killing an animal for survival is one thing, and where people draw that line can vary quite some--for example, how badly does Kim Kardashian need another fur to keep her warm?
But pure abusive and sick treatment of animals for amusement, profiteering, or psychotic ends is wrong, period.
Animals are not people, but they are G-d creatures and sentient, and they should not be harmed or pained just because some of us like to act like animals too. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 18, 2015
G-d Gave Us So Many Gifts
It is called (in Hebrew) "Elohin Natan Lecha Bematana,"which means G-d gave you as a present.
It's about everything wonderful that G-d has given us, and we just ask for one more gift...peace.
Hope you enjoy (it brought tears to my eyes)!
****************************
Chorus:
God gave you as a gift
Something great, something wonderful
God gave you as a gift
The life on earth
Gave you the night and the day
Love, hope and dream
Summer, winter, autumn, spring
Good soul to look around
Gave you green fields
Flowers and blooming trees
Rivers, streams and seas
Sky, moon, stars
Chorus
Gave you feasts and Sabbaths
Israel, the fathers' land
Hands and head to fulfill dreams
Gave you all the wonders
Gave you such nice things
To bring kids to this world
Listen to songs, see colors
Oh, so many are your deeds, God
Chorus
God, oh, please give me just one more gift
A small gift but a wonderful one
God, please give me just one more gift
The peace on earth
***************************
April 16, 2015
CIO, Social Butterfly Or Tyrant
There are those who "lead" by friendship, as if the workplace is one big playpen; and the notion is that those who have the most office buddies wins; to them it's not the mission or work that is important but rather it's a popularity contest, plain and simple--they are immature and still stuck in the preschool mode of thinking about what leadership is and how to work productively with others.
Then there are others who "lead" by tyranny--it is a one person show and they are it; no one else has an viewpoint or idea that matters; anyone else who is good to great is a threat to them--they are insecure and narcissistic and the scariest thing in the world to them is to surround themselves with people smarter than themselves or give credit, respect, and honor to others.
Now there is nothing wrong with doing a coffee, lunch, or happy hour, networking, and building relationships with good people...in fact, interpersonal skills is a critical part of the job and of success.
However, those who flutter around smoozing it up with anyone and everyone, and unlike normal working discussions that have a congenial, "how you doing?" aspect and a serious, let's get down to business part, these social butterflies never get past the game on last night, their trip to Paris, or their one night stand...it's all personal, conferences, speeches, but no real work getting done (maybe some smoke and mirrors).
Similarly, there are times, when decisions need to be made and the debate must end, and not everything in the office can be a vote where majority wins--sometimes tough decisions and trade-offs need to be made, authority exercised, and responsibility taken.
Nevertheless, it's when moderation and good judgement is lost and a person's emotional issues, personality disorders, and social anxieties take over that they act the fool--and they either rule by shaking hands and kissing babies (or the office equivalent of favors, favortism, and coffee or drinks, I'm buying!) or they are hard-a*sed, prickly jerks who cannot work with anyone that can pull their own weight and instead we see a flurry people make a dash for the exits.
How do either of these types of people become leaders of anything? Don't the executives they report see or hear the chaos in the ranks below and the projects going bottom-up, kaput?
We've got to get along and nothing wrong with work friends, but we are here to do a job and do it well and for that we need to come together as decent human beings who treat each other with respect, dignity, and where everyone can make a valuable contribution--CIO social butterflies and inglorious tyrants begone! ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 15, 2015
The Wrong Way To Test
In Atlanta, 8 former public school educators were sentenced to prison--three were sentenced to as long as seven years--for a conspiracy inflating student scores by "changing answers" to the tests.
Interestingly, in another article today, we see that not only are students put to the test, but so are job applicants.
In fact, "Eight of the top 10 U.S. private employers now administrator pre-hire tests in their job applications."
While testing can certainly show some things, they can also miss the point completely.
I know some people that test wonderfully--straight A students, 100+ on all exams, 4.0 GPAs--and for the most part, they are wonderful at memorizing and prepping for the test...but sometimes not much else.
Some of them have no practical knowledge, little critical thinking or creativity, and are even sort of jerky.
And others who test poorly may be well thought, articulate, hands-on, and good with people--I'd take a million of them.
"Failing the test" is not necessarily getting it wrong...it may just be errant to the current educational and professional testing system that values memorization and spitting back over insight, innovation, and practical skills.
The challenge is how do we compare and contrast students and professionals competing for schools and career advancement, if we don't easily have something standardized like a test to rally around.
Maybe there is no getting away from more holistic assessments--where we look at bona fide life and career experience, a wide range of recommendations from teachers, coaches, and supervisors, hard and soft skills (including communications and interpersonal), professional and personal ethics, genuine interest in the pursuit, and the motivation to work hard and contribute.
Tests--students cheat, educators game the system, memorization and robotic answers are the name of the game to get the A, and boring homogeneity prevails--but it's often the easy way out to evaluating candidates for a phony success. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 14, 2015
3-D Printing Comes To Life
(This little guy pictured here was made experimenting in the class and was a precious gift from her.)
Already prophetically envisioned in Star Trek as "the replicator," this technology has been around in primitive trial form since the 1980's.
In 3-D printing, alloyed material is successively layered under computer control to make complex shapes and products.
It makes traditional 2-D printing (on paper) look like rubbing two sticks together to build a fire (circa the paleolithic period of mankind thousands of years ago).
The promise of 3-D printing for advanced manufacturing is absolutely incredible.
The Wall Street Journal describes how NASA researchers and engineers are working toward using 3-D printers in space to "make bricks suitable for airtight buildings and radiation proof shelters" simply using the sand already on Mars.
Moreover, the astronauts on their journey may be eating pizza from these printers as well (except for the sand, but still probably better than MREs--Haha).
Already objects have been printed "19 feet long...stone-like building blocks weighing one-and-a-half ton each"!
In the future, 3-D printers could be sent in advance to planets we look to colonize and "lay down landing pads, roads, and shelters" in preparation of our arrival.
These printers could even build working replicas of themsleves or "swarms of self-assembling construction robots" boosting our capacity for even more building.
Moreover, technology is in the works to recycle from 3-D printing by melting down the printed products back into material that could be reused for new printing projects.
On Earth, where we have long been drawing down our natural resources as well as polluting our environment, the prospect of going to other worlds where their are new resources and we actually have the ability to use them constructively is humanity's chance for a whole new chapter of life beyond. ;-)
(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)
April 13, 2015
| Go With A Winning Strategy |
And one of my colleagues said wisely about it, "I rather play chess!"
I though it was a smart retort, since chess is a game of strategy versus checkers, which is more a game of luck.
Checkers is by far the more one-dimensional game with each piece moving or jumping in a similar fashion, while in chess, you deploy specific types of pieces (king, queen, rook, bishop, night, or pawn) for different manuevers.
In life, when we deal with things that are especially challenging, double-edged, tricky, or plain dangerous, we need to handle it with a well-thought-out game plan and a solid strategy.
Having a plan and maintaining agility in dealing with the "facts on the ground" as they unfold is by far the better problem-solving approach than just trying to jump over the other guys pieces or block his next move.
Chess in the only way to get to checkmate ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Florls Looijesteijn)
April 12, 2015
Live To Live or Live To Die?
The resume virtues are the skills you need to get ahead in the marketplace, and the eulogy virtues are “whether you were kind, brave, honest, or faithful.”
While we'd like to believe that most feel that being a decent human being is more important than how much money we earn, unfortunately our education and economic systems are geared far more toward the latter, where it's widely acknowledged that "money makes the world go round!”
In fact, many will often sacrifice the moral high ground for landing on a bigger, cushier hill of worldly possessions and pleasures.
Interestingly enough, my daughter asked me last week, whether it is better to personally live a happy life but die with a horrible reputation or to live selflessly, struggling with life challenges, but be revered after you die?
To me the answer was simple--live, learn, and grow regardless of momentary personal happiness. Do what’s right, period--honor and chivalry is alive and well.
But my daughter told me that over 90% of people polled chose their happiness in life as their #1 goal.
I suppose it's easy to say what's the point of leaving a legacy if you were not happy living your life every day, but I would counter with what's the point in chasing life's daily pleasures, if you were a bum and everyone knows it?
The point isn't even what people say about us when we are alive or dead, but rather that we know that we tried our best to live as decent, ethical human beings and that hopefully, we left the world a better place than when we got here.
Sure, there is no blessing in being poor or unhappy--but living purely to satisfy one's voracious materialistic appetite is just being a selfish little pig--come on admit it!
On your deathbed, will you wish you that in your life you had more money and status or that you had been a better, more giving human being?
I say forget the resume and the eulogy, just think about what will really gives you peace of mind and inner happiness and it's more than any amount of money can buy or any seduction you can imagine. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
April 11, 2015
Happy Chametz Time Again
Thank you to Congregation Magen David for a wonderful end of Passover party.
The family, new friends, music, singing, dancing, and food made for a truly joyous evening.
Happy and thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it.
Now counting up to Shavuot and the giving of the Torah.
The Jewish people rock! ;-)
(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)
Disabled, Can You Imagine?
Weller has suffered for 10 years with primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
He describes losing everything...from "incalculable personal pleasures" to being "totally helpless."
And what's more, you have to save your chips in asking others for things, because "you'd be asking the whole day."
"Say goodbye to any sense of personal space, too"--in needing everything, you're essentially left like an open book to everyone around you.
Here, I can't help thinking about those moments of personal indignity--in caring for our own bodies--that even that someone else must be there for.
Then, there is the just sitting around and endless thinking..."There isn't much else to do."
I remember learning about some medieval torture methods and one involved lying a person down in the space cleaved into the stone face of the dungeon and there a person would essentially rot--not being able to move, sit or stand up, or even roll over.
How long could a person last like that before completely losing their mind?
While Weller says that he used to imagine being paralyzed as feeling like being "encased in stone," but now he see it more that your limbs just ignore you, to me whether you are paralyzed in your own body or embedded in medieval stone, the challenges physically and mentally are as scary as anything that can be imagined.
How do you keep your sanity, let alone any hope?
Weller says, you live in the past, "happiness isn't is, but was, [and] you try not to contemplate the future too much."
G-d should have infinite mercy on his creations and lift up the fallen, cure the sick, and release the innocent that are imprisoned...please, please, please let it be. Amen.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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