THE WEISS CHRONICLES

I had agreed to do mashgiach for an event at our Synagogue.

It was a Chai Lifeline event (the link goes to their website - basically the organization provides various support activities for serious sick kids).

The event was 'make a pretty sandwich' contest with the contestants being kids with cancer. The fellow with the judge wig in both images is our Synagogue's Rabbi who agreed to be the contest judge.

The centerpiece was made completely out of vegetables. My images are poor because I didn't have my camera and used my cell phone which doesn't do well with situations where part of the view is much brighter than the rest (the camera sometimes has problems with this also).

They didn't really need a mashgiach for cooking because there was no cooking. My only role was to check the food they brought for kosher symbols and some minor amount of vegetable washing/checking.

I was there for about 4 hours. I still haven't figured out whether to charge for the event.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:49 PM

Monday, January 21, 2019

Last Night's Super Blood Moon

Kevin Ambrose of the Capital Weather Gang took the image to the left. It is at the Jefferson Memorial (Jefferson seems to be looking at the blood moon).

I went out at about 1230am earlier today and looked and sure enough, the moon was reddish just like in the Ambrose image.

I didn't stay out long to look because it was about 15F and the wind was about 20 mph or so.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:22 PM

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Not an Actual Time Loop

I woke up today and looked at my watch. The watch reset itself to January 1, 2005 (image is of the actual watch - substitute for an earlier blurry image).

It took me a moment or two to process this.

I may have been waiting to hear "You Got Me Babe", the 1965 Sonny and Cher song.

In the 1993 movie "Goundhog Day", Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) hears this song each day when he wakes up and relives the same day.

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:59 PM

Friday, January 18, 2019

A Potential Anti Trust Issue Spotted from a receipt

After dropping Ann off for physical therapy, I went to Krispy Kreme for coffee and a donut.

I noticed that the post payment receipt I got had numerous coupons for discounts on Dunkin' Donuts.

Why would you help a competitor?

The answer must be that the companies will merge. Won't this create a monopoly pricing threat?

It turns out there are rumors of a merger (the holding company that owns Krispy Kreme would be the buyer) on line. One news article is here.

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:55 PM

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Waste of Management in Waste Management

On Sunday (13 Jan) evening at 6pm, I got email from the Montgomery County Division of Solid Waste Services. The message said our collection day would be Monday (14 Jan).

George delayed putting the trash and recycle buckets out until 5am on Jan 14 figuring they would change their mind because of the snow.

However even then, their website (both images are from their website) still said normal collection hours/days. So he put the buckets out about 515am.

At 545am, we got an email saying that the collections would be delayed until Tuesday (15 Jan). I didn't see the email until much later in the day.

The collection actually did happen that day (today).

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:43 PM

Monday, January 14, 2019

More and More Snow

From the time of the previous backyard image until this am our snow total about doubled.

The image on the left was taken about 11am and some of the snow had settled a bit.

However, I'm pretty sure we got over 10".

As the capital weather gang's map shows, both National Airport and Dulles Airport had over 10" and our house is in the middle of the 10-12" area.

This was a storm in which the capital weather gang began with a 2-4" forecast, then raised it to 3-6" and then to 4-8" and that was still not enough.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:56 PM

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Snow today. Somebody did my driveway and sidewalk without me knowing about it.

We had about 4" to 6" of snow last night.

The first image is of our back yard from the dining room window. It was taken about 8:30am.

The second image is of our driveway. It was taken about 11:00am, I had been cooking breakfast and didn't look out the hour previous to this.

The driveway and sidewalk are shoveled (or maybe machine cleared - but I didn't hear any snow blowing machine noise). I didn't do the shoveling, neither did George. I sent an email to one of my neighbors asking if he was the one who did it. He said it wasn't him. There was no note on either the front or side door.

Both pictures were taken in color but they are pretty closed to a black and white image.

Also, as of 1pm, the snow began again.

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:07 PM

Monday, January 07, 2019

A Little Bit of 1964 this morning

I took Ann to her physical therapy this morning (near Shady Grove Hospital).

Near there is a Krispy Kreme.

I had some coffee and two doughnuts. The doughnuts are fresh from the oven and super good (and kosher), the coffee is mediocre.

While I was there the 'dining room' had their sound track on.

They have a nice acoustic environment (good quality speaker and flat walls with no one yakking loudly) and, while I was there, they played a few songs from 1964 (which reminded me of the 1964 Impala).

The songs included, "Louie, Louie" (The Kingsmen), "Dancing in the Street" (Martha and the Vandellas) and "My Back Pages, a.k.a., I was so much older then" (Bob Dylan)

posted by Martin Weiss # 9:16 AM