THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Funny Comment at the Caterer 

It was at the end of the day (yesterday, 30 August). 

The chief chef and assistant chief chef and the owner were going over and over and over what they were going to order from suppliers the next morning (for two weddings on 3 September).

One of the assistant cooks turned to me and said,

"Mucho blah blah"

(the second phrase means 'and do not ask')

posted by Martin Weiss  # 9:18 AM

Monday, August 28, 2017

More about the TN trip 

 The Sunday before the eclipse (August 20) Glenn, Gerry and I went for several hikes in the Smokies. 


There was a path from Gatlinburg all the way to the main visitor's center in the National Park. Since we stayed at a hotel near the southern border of Gatlinburg we actually hiked from the hotel to the Park visitor's center and back.  We did other hikes and heard a blue grass band named Monroeville. We also took a tram to the top of a mountain west of Gatlinburg.






Gerry took both pictures. The pictures  expand with a double click.


The first is at Laurel Falls (there are laurel trees on both sides).



The second is at a Park informational sign along a trail.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 12:10 PM

VIP Seat, Crazy Uniforms and an odd ending to the game 

 I was at the Nationals Game today.

I was in section 35-36 of the VIP seating. In the first image (click twice to enlarge), it is in the pink about at the same distance from the plate as the left fielder would play. This was because of Jewish Federation Day at the stadium and we got credit for 'large donation'. 

The uniforms were pretty odd (second and third image) and it almost made it look like little league. However the play was very good (no errors).


The game on a base hit. The National's were down 6-5. There were two outs and a runner on first and the National's Dan Murphy hit a single to center.  The center fielder bobbled the ball and the runner on first tried to score. He was out on the throw home.

Other oddities were that players uniforms and the score board identified some of them by nicknames. For example, Anthony Rendon was called 'Ant'. Of course some players didn't buy into the nick name. For example, Howie Kendrick was 'Kendrick'. 

The VIP seats actually have padding, as compared to the plain wood in the regular seats. Also, there is a table in front of the seat for beverages and food (and yes, the VIP area was catered with kosher food). There were also TV monitors so you could compare your view with the one the TV presented.

In sum, a lot of nice things (I paid $75 but there were some big bucks sponsors so the actual 'cost' of a VIP seat was probably at least twice as high. 

posted by Martin Weiss  # 12:44 AM

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Eclipse In East Tennessee August 21 

The first image is of Lake Tennessee in Fort Loudon Park. It is from the Knoxville, TN News Sentinel newspaper, on line.

People are in the lake looking at the eclipse just before totality.  At totality it got too dark for pictures, but not actually nighttime dark, more like twilight dark but with the sky more purple and with a little light at the horizon in all directions.

I was at this site for the eclipse with Glen Kruser and Gerry Berg. It was pretty wonderful but I didn't take any pictures myself because, I wanted to take in the whole experience (neither did Glen or Gerry take pictures).

Actually, the only thing wonderful is from about 2 minutes before totality to 2 minutes after.

The second image shows temperature, pressure and wind measurements at the National Weather Service station at Madisonville, TN. which is about 5 miles south of Ft Loudon Park. 

The top graph shows the effect of the eclipse on temperature. There is about a 10 degree drop from 90F to 80F between 2pm and 3pm. The graphs also show that we in a high pressure area (2nd graph) and had almost no wind (third graph).

posted by Martin Weiss  # 7:23 AM

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Evolution of Appetizers 

I was mashgiach at a bar mitzvah party today.

Among the appetizers was a sushi cocktail (probably 8 ounces and eaten with a fork). They also had a chicken lo mein appetizer and a BBQ brisket with mashed potatoes appetizer (neither is as pretty as the sushi cocktail). 

If you had one of each, you would have had a difficult time eating much of the main course, at least right away. 

In addition to those appetizers there were a half dozen others. The main course was carved chicken or beef with various toppings. 

They also had a large dessert serving. 

The caterer wrapped up about a dozen aluminum pans of various foods for the client to take home after the event.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 9:06 PM

Thursday, August 10, 2017

This guy is kind of hero to me 

Over the past few years or so, I've been having short conversations with Rickland Conley at Shopper's Food Warehouse at White Flint Plaza (they have a Kensington zip code).

The image is from Rickland's facebook.

We began to talk about sports during the bagging (Rickland is a bagger and, I think, one day both of us were wearing apparel with the logo of a sport's team).

As time went on, he was got cancer.  The doctors tried a variety of therapies but none worked particularly well and for a year or so he has been in stage 4 but nonetheless he comes to work and does the bagging.

One day he told me that "cancer was actually about the best thing that ever happened to me because it made me a better person, a better husband and better father".  He also said one day that," before I had cancer I would wake up and say 'damn (annoyed) another day' but now I wake up and say 'Damn (happy) another day'"

At the store today, I told he he was sort of a hero to me because of his attitude.

Labels: 'before

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:36 PM

Thursday, August 03, 2017

Hot blood coincidence 

Today, I went to the blood center to give blood I waited about  an hour because the air conditioner wasn't working.  The A/C is need not only for the comfort of the donors but also because the quality of the blood products decays in higher temperatures.  After an hour there was an announcement that it would be at least another hour and a half before the A/C was fixed. So I left. I'll have to reschedule.

The coincidence is that earlier this week was Tisha b Av. One of the Kinot (elegies) read on the morning of that day is about the burning blood (first image from a video game of the same name) of a prophet named Zachariah son of Jehoiada. The story with some differences appears in 2 Chronicles 24 and in the Babylonian talmud at tractate Gitten 57 and Sanhedrin 96, in chapter 4 of Lamentations Midrash Rabbah and in Luke chapter 49 (the second image is an illustration of that story) and possibly in Matthew chapter 23. 

PS I ended up giving blood platelets on 10 Aug.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:49 PM

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Saved from a week of jury duty earlier this week 

I was in the Jury pool on the 31st of July.

I was called to go to a courtroom on the 8th floor of the county building as were about 40 others.  It was a case involving a dog that had bitten a 9 year old.

I think there were 7 trial lawyers in the courtroom, 3 with the defendants and 4 with the plaintiffs. 

From about 10am to about 2pm, the judge asked a series of disqualifying questions, (e.g., 'do you hate dogs'). 


Fortunately, I was not selected as one of the 6 jurors and 2 alternates.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:37 PM

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Crape Myrtle 8 days later 

Compare this with the picture taken on July 23.



The lily tree still has flowers on it, although its a bit fewer.  

The crape myrtle has blossomed out with lots and lots of florets.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 4:30 PM

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