le artist

I painted tonight. It was the first time I've painted in about 6 years. I'm not a painter or anything, but it was so great to move the acrylic around the canvas with my brush. I felt like I could have kept painting all night.

me and my coworkers

THE POWER HOUSE TEAM!!!

time to grow

I recently got some constructive criticism from a guy at work. As a preface, its really nice when someone takes sincere time to give this type of guidance because I know the easier thing is to not take the time to really say what you think.
I wrote a business plan to propose a change in the structure of our dept. He said that he thought it could have been a lot better given what he knows about what I really think and how intelligent and articulate I really am. He gave me really good suggestions on how I can make it better mostly having to do with structuring and format. Its good for me to know because i really have never learned that kind of stuff, so it would make sense that I have a lot to learn, and that should be exciting that i simply don't know and not that I suck but it still tapped into my insecurities of feeling like I'm not good enough and I don't have what "it" takes to make it. I want to think of myself as teachable and eager to learn, but as he was telling me i had to focus extra hard, telling myself, "be open. be receptive. don't let your ego get in the way." I guess I' happy to learn and be open about the things I want to, but lord help me if someone shines a lite on weaknesses of mine for me.


Well, its already several days later and I'm happy with how I've handled it. I am really putting my best foot forward and trying to learn more about this. I'm also feeling grateful to this guy for his gentle butt-kicking. It worked. Sometimes its the gentle push we didn't even know we needed.

Worthwhile interntet leisure time

My friend Meighan, who I feel like I've known since 7th grade, is why the Internet is great. She is unabashedly an evangelist of all things creative, fun, and beautiful. She scours the city and web for these beautiful things and collects them and adds commentary on all these treasures. You can check out her blog by clicking here. Its worth going back to on the regular.

Here she is

Look how happy i look.
She did it. That's amy.

The Resurrection of Pepe and how we rode into the sunset...

Three days, one tiring walk to the mechanic where I had to walk Pepe about two miles to the garage and 40 shekels ($10) later, Pepe has been resurrected to his normal smoke-sputtering self. The problem was one starter plug which the mechanic found, fixed and replaced in about seven minutes. It was such a relief to have it be something so simple and I felt so liberated once again having transportation.

The intervening days I'd been forced to take public transportation. The truth is I don't mind public transit at all, and I'm very glad its there. Its just that there are certain times I really need a vehicle, such as for surfing.

So, I celebrated this miraculous resurrection and return to freedom of mobility by getting into my wetsuit as if I were Clark Kent getting into a phone booth and heading to the ocean to surf into the sunset. Literally. I actually surfed well past the sunset and into the dark. It was really exciting. On a side note, I'm loving surfing these days and totally hooked. I recently progressed to a whole new level and its making every session so enjoyable.

the death of Pepe

This Jeremy blog entry is one that must begin on a sad note. Pepe la Moto is my beautiful blue scooter that I bought from my good friend Dena Scher. I've had Pepe nearly the entire time I've been in Israel I've made multiple voyages on him nearly every day I've been here over these last two and one half years. Effectively, next to Shimshon, he is perhaps my most enduring friend here in the holy land. Sadly this last shabat, pepe sputtered out a frightful fit of words that went from the familiar machine gun like, "wan-wan-wan-weeee-wan-wan-weee-weeewan-wan-wan-" and grumbled down to a, "waah-waah-whaah-whhhoo-whhaah" before sputtering to a complete stop.

Unfortunately the estimated value of my bike is about one fifth of the last set of repairs I did on it and it doesn't seem worth it to keep fixing Pepe. So, sadly, the time has come to part ways with this true and trusted companion.

Be well my friend. Thank you for a great few years.

Self portrait

This is a digital representation of my real self. Or, is it a real representation of my digital self? Recently, i think the line has become blurred and looking into the future it will only become more blurred. There are already many people that only know of me in my digital life. Web 2.0, messenger, blogs, email. I now work and socialize with so many people only as my digital representation. How much of me actually comes across? Do i like myself more in this environment that i have so much control over? Is this now the real me?

Leora's Dinner Party

Wow. I am so excited to be writing this blog and I never thought this would have happened to me. I mean, of course I'd hoped, but I didn't think I'd actually be up here. So, first of all, I really need to thank everyone that made this possible. The great guests whose interesting lives, witty conversation and healthy appetites helped to make the evening so pleasurable. Obviously I need to thank everyone who contributed all the tasty food. Amy, I'm loving you and your friends. Thank you for introducing me to such a great group of people. But most of all, thank you Leora for pulling this all together. It was a wonderful shabbat. So thank you everyone, I couldn't have done it without you.