The rabbi of Temple Israel, one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the Capital Region, is resigning after 18 months on the job.
Rabbi Daniel Wolpe was hired in September 2008... Wolpe and his wife, Susan, filed for bankruptcy in Albany in September, five months after a Michigan court ordered the Wolpes to pay a $164,585 judgment to another couple
. . .
In 2006, Temple Israel fired its longtime cantor, Philip Friedman, who pleaded guilty to molesting an 11-year-old girl. He was supposed to be helping his victim prepare for her bat mitzvah.
Got caught in one of Florida's famous 15 minute downpours, so I headed into Andrew's, which appears to be the bar where all of the people from the state house hang out.
Neat menu:
Governor Crist's Sandwich Board
Lots going on in my mind that I want to write about, but I'm off to check out the Capitol. I'll be writing more from St. Petersburg later.
Heading down to Florida for a bit over a week. I'll probably post a bit while on the road, and let everyone who still checks out this site know what I've been up to. Maybe some photos, too!
Now that the election is more or less over (save for a couple of House and Senate seats), I'm going to slow down a bit on my normal online reading habits. For the next few months, I'm going to stick with the following really great blogs:
These are several weeks late, but I wanted to share my photos from Ari and Lila's wedding. The wedding was beautiful. It was held at Six Mile Creek Winery in Ithaca, NY.
Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, I mean, Ari and Lila
Ben Folds just came out with a new album, Way To Normal. It's his third solo album, and while it's still not quite as good as his stuff with the Five, it's supercreative and a lot of fun. Here's first single, "You Don't Know Me."
It happened on pretty short notice, but I've left Albany for NYC and am moving into my new condo in Manhattan today. It's been pretty nervewracking; not one of the best experiences, but I'm hoping it will be for the better. We'll see...
I interrupt this long lull in posting to say that I am once again totally pissed off at the airline industry... I'm stuck in Dulles Airport on my way to Los Angeles. I have SIX meetings tomorrow. I find out in 15 minutes if I can get to LA today at all.
The Metroland just released its 2008 Best of List, and the gang at the Wine Bar and Bistro on Lark gave it the nod this year for Best Wine Bar:
It's like being in the wine cellar itself, with snug, sort-of- underground rooms in which to tope, and an innovative tapas menu for gustatory accompaniment. There even are some outdoor tables if you seek the open air. The selection is extensive, with many specials, and the servers are happy to help you choose.
Additionally, as a wise and beautiful woman once said about the Wine Bar: "It's so... orange!" :)
Anyway, congratulations to Kevin, Jonathan, Joni and the rest of the gang who have made the wine bar the success it's become!
I played in my first doubleheader today. We lost the first game, 17-11. Not particularly eventful, but I went 4-4 with 4 runs scored. It was our first loss of the season so far.
The second game was the most intense softball game I've played in my two years. We were up by about eight runs going into the fifth inning (out of seven) and our pitcher began grooving pitches and the other team hit a couple of home runs. Suddenly, we're going into the bottom of the seventh and we're only up 13-11. They got two baserunners and then next batter hit a groundball back to the pitcher, and it should have been the third out. However, the first baseman dropped the ball, didn't get the out, and then picked it up and overthrew home plate. Two runs scored, and their best hitter came to the plate with the score tied and a man on. We intentionally walked him (much to the chagrin of the other team's captain) and managed to get the next guy out. We scored a run in the top of the eighth as the rain started to come down, and held them in the bottom of the inning for a 14-13 victory. And I finished 3-5 with 3 RBIs... don't get a lot of those, normally.
We're 3-1 now, a far cry from last season when we didn't win a single game. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.
So, I've been fretting just a little that I'm starting to approach the big 3-0 and I don't appear to be on the marriage track. But now I understand why:
Ari's getting married in two months, and he and I did a bachelor tour this weekend... We saw Stone Temple Pilots at two festivals, the first on Saturday night in downtown Kansas City and the second on the outskirts of St. Louis. The shows were great, and we had a good time. STP is clearly back in form and enjoying themselves after nearly six years apart.
Scott Weiland was clearly going for a Jack-Nicholson-as-the-Joker look...
They played the same setlist twice:
Big Empty
Wicked Garden
Big Bang Baby
Vasoline
Lady Picture Show
Lounge Fly
Crackerman
Sour Girl
Creep
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Coma
Down
Sin
Some jam I didn't recognize that sounded like a James Brown tune
Sex Type Thing
Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Dead & Bloated
Good setlist, but no real surprises. Greatest hits, basically.
Now that we have our nominees, I'm going to take a month off from politics online and in real life to get a bit of a breather. I'm hoping that by the time I start following again, Obama is up 10 points.
Was filling up my tank today before heading to the airport in Phoenix, and this woman in her 30s came up to me asking for gas money...
She didn't seem poor or anything -- she was driving a kempt mid-90s Saturn.
I gave her five bucks.
Are we going to be seeing more of this sort of thing as gas prices go up? I noticed in L.A. that diesel, for instance, is well over five dollars a gallon everywhere.
Just a quick post before hopping a plane from Charlotte to Phoenix -- I'm going to be in a lot of places over the next 10 days or so -- Phoenix, Tucson, LA, DC, NYC, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
For the third time since last Wednesday, I'm on Amtrak to NYC (got a last-minute invite to the annual Hillel gala and I've been told the food's going to be great!). I've really gained an appreciation for public transit in the last year or so. It's still a shame we don't have a high-speed rail between Albany and NYC; a European/Asian-style train would do the trip in an hour as opposed to two and a half. Unfortunately, Americans don't have much of a taste for trains and buses, and it really shows in our lack of such infrastructure.
Speaking of Amtrak, the Herrick St. bridge in Rensselaer (the one that goes up to the train station) has been closed for a couple of weeks now. What does it say about the quality of the construction that they're doing bridge work only five years after the bridge opened?
UPDATE (10:34 AM): The train gets more and more attractive in light of stories like this:
American Airlines said Wednesday it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. The nation's largest carrier said the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags.
American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter. American had previously expected fourth-quarter capacity to fall 4.6 percent from the same period in 2007.
Riding home on the train... thought I'd share this nice picture of Mickey and Lily, my mom's two dogs. They usually don't get along that well -- little Lily steals poor Mickey's food and bullies him around, but look where we caught them when they thought we weren't looking!
Great show in Virginia! It was downpouring torrentially all night, and people were turned away from the show because the roads were so bad, but we made it in. Good setlist -- they played the entire new album.
Here's a clip I shot (my first YouTube!) of them performing Jigsaw Falling Into Place (someone posted a full version here:
I'm in NYC today, home tonight, NYC again Monday, NYC again next Thursday, and then I head out West on Memorial Day. (Whew!)
I haven't had a lot of time to post this week. I was in Baltimore and DC for a lot of it and was exhausted when I got home.
One thing to report, though. Most weeks, I don't walk down the street and run into the Pope. This, however, was one of the weeks where I did. I got to see the Popemobile and everything!
I am tremendously antisocial right now... I could've spent the last two nights out on the town, and instead am completely glued to Six Feet Under.
Oh well, during the few hours I managed to get myself out of the house, I had my weekly tennis match. I just joined a USTA league, and I've gotten my butt kicked in two singles matches and one doubles match -- I didn't even win one set in the three matches! I just didn't appear to be ready for prime time. In the singles matches, I'd been playing in the #2 slot, which was the lower seed. Today, the #1 didn't show up, so I had to play #1. I figured that it would be another ass-kicking, maybe even worse than the other matches (though that would barely be possible).
But, in a miracle on ice, I mean hardcourt, it didn't play out that way. My opponent had a really, really nasty serve -- he aced me on the first two serves of the match, and it seemed hopeless. However, he was a really, really erratic player, with no real strategy, and didn't have many other court skills other than that serve to speak of... and as I learned to handle the serve and as it slowed down, his advantage dwindled. I played him to a tiebreaker in the first set, but I lost it. In the second set, I went up 3-1 before he won three straight games and took a 4-3 lead. I then proceeded to win the last three games of the set, and we went to a ten-point tiebreaker for the third set.
I won the first two points of the tiebreaker, and then he took the next three. I tied it up at 4-4, but then he took the next four to put me on the ropes at 4-8. The adrenaline must've kicked in, however, and I could suddenly do no wrong. I played him to a 9-8 lead, and then after a 20+ shot totally defensive rally, my opponent put a shot into the net. Final count, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 1-0 (10-8). Go me!
In other sports news, Kaz Matsui has the best player card ever at the moment (h/t K-Hole).
(Posted from Richmond, CA, outside of San Francisco)
So, Brett Favre retired today... I still remember his first game with Green Bay ('91? '92?); he came in for Don Majikowski and just looked special... I remember thinking to myself, "This young guy's going to be good. There's just no way he isn't." And then I made a point of watching his next game.
I was like 11 years old then. Now the dude is old, gray, and crying at his retirement press conference... I'm ancient.
For the third time in the last six years, I'm sick on my birthday. Not as sick as I've been on past birthdays, but to be on the safe side after mono, I'm spending it conked out on Benadryl...
... another dinner at the wine bar (OK, I'll use the proper name, The Wine Bar and Bistro on Lark). Cavendish Quail and escargot tonight -- really delicious.
Speaking of the wine bar, Kevin's trying to get permission from the neighborhood associations to open the place up on Sundays and to keep it open until 2 AM (it currently closes every night at midnight). He's got my support. There's no reason that he should have to kick a full bar of people out at midnight now that he actually has a full bar! There's not a lot on this section of Lark St. (Bomber's up to Washington Ave.) that is open past midnight other than Elda's and Romeo's, and the wine bar doesn't exactly attract a rambunctious crowd.
Alas, my Jewish brothas, Valentine's Day is for us others, May your ballers be enough, as for me it will be tough, to get my butt there tonite, cause yes it might start a fight, even though yesterday was hump day, nothing ever outdoes Valentine's Day!! HUBBA HUBBA to All, Have fun at B-Ball!!
From Paul on my Jewball listserv, regarding tonight's pickup game:
Roses are Red Violets are Blue St. Valentine was not a Jew So be at basketball tonight It will only be a small fight In two days things will be alright.
To all my none Jewish friends I do not discriminate Give her dinner & flowers On your very early date And get your butts to the court So we can have at least eight.
Earlier this week, I was in a restaurant in the City and heard a Kayne West song
that sampled the Steely Dan line from Kid Charlemagne, "Did you realize, that you were a champion in their eyes..."
Is nothing sacred anymore? Steely Dan as a rap sample? Though I guess I heard a rap song sample Black Cow some time about ten years ago...
Also, in a sign that I'm old, I have to admit that it was the first time I'd even heard a Kanye West song!
In another sign that I'm getting old (aside from the back pain and the fact that my masseusse told me today that I might be on my way to something called Frozen Shoulder if I'm not careful), it hit me this week that the first time I heard Dave Matthews Band was fifteen years ago! Jesus, I'm geriatric.
So, for those of you who don't know (and a lot of you do because I've been bitching about it for weeks), I'm getting all four wisdom teeth out on Thursday morning.
I don't know what that's going to do to my eating abilities over the next few days, but I'm assuming I'll be drinking shakes for most of the next week. So, I'm eating whatever the heck I want tonight. And what's that? Twix, Doritos, and scotch...
I was a little iffy on these particular Twix... I came home to find that I bought the newfangled peanut butter Twix instead of the caramel ones, and yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" when I realized it. But, y'know, they're almost indistinguishable from the originals.
The Doritos are Cool Ranch, always a good choice; and boy, do I like my Johnnie Walker Black Label.
And man, I just cannot stop watching The Wire. I've plowed through three-plus seasons in like two weeks.
