THE WEISS CHRONICLES

It is in the low 50s at noon today in our vicinity with rain. Our furnace has been on already this morning. Our normal maximum for 28 May is 80F. Lowest daily maximum temperature for DC was 57F set in 1858 when the temperature records were taken downtown instead of at airports. That 1858 record will not be broken as DCA recorded a temperature of 58F just after midnight. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ For nearby recording stations for 28 May, Dulles (IAD) had a record low maximum of 54F back in 1968. BWI had a record low maximum of 58F in 1996

In the mail today was a letter and a redeemable check if Ann gets insurance on a car she never owned. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... We've also gotten junk calls about her 'Ford Fiesta'. I'm not sure how we got this but I think she once was car shopping and may have clicked on 'more information' on a car like this. Coincidentally, today I received a phone call asking me if I wanted to insure my Mazda RX-3 (I did own one of these back in the mid 1970s).

I got there a bit before 10am as I had an optical exam at that time. My eyesight changed a bit but not drastically. I am starting to get cataracks and probably will need surgery in a few years. Fortunately, no astigmatism though. I ordered new glasses. The exam was only $5 copay. The glasses were over $400. Across from the Lenscrafter store was, I think, a grand opening of a store called UNI QLO. This a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, a Japanese Company. There was a drum quartette (or maybe trio) and a long, long, long line of parents and kids. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Yes, the quartette was loud. Really loud and I found it annoying. I wonder who had the idea to do this.

Our chair lift stopped working. I called the company that installed it in March 2024 (which meant we were outside the warranty period). I actually had to call them twice before they called me back. First they had me look at the electrical outlet and a switch on the chair itself and a few other things. When that didn't show any problem, they made an appointment and showed up on time. They said it was the battery. They replaced it. Here's the kicker .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The battery was supposed to last 7 years. So the repair guy said there would be no charge.

I donated plasma 13 May. There were three new machines that weren't there the previous time I went there. One was a new partially automated blood pressure machine that also takes your pulse. One was a machine that takes your temperature with a beam on the forehead. Both of these were an improvement but not by much. The third new machine (in the image) took the hemoglobin count via a device fitted on the thumb. This was nice as previously, there was a blood test and some pain (although minimal pain) to get the blood for the test. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. They also seemed to have a new plasma separator which took a while to get ready to work with my blood. Thus I got to the room at about 410pm and didn't finish with the donation until about 615pm. Vitals: BP 115/84, pulse 74, HG = 14.6

I went to Shacharit May 10. The post Haftorah Dvar was given by someone I didn't recognize. He spoke a bit on the subject of Jerusalem Day and the Israeli hevrah that is part of Beth Sholom (who sponsored the Kiddush by the way). But most of his dvar was about a famous sentence in Parshah Kedoshim, "Love Your Neighbor As Yourself" (Lev 19:18). He mentioned the disagreement between Rabbi Akiva and Ben Azzai noted in the Jerusalem Talmud in Tractate Nedarim 30. Akiva says the 'Love Your..." is the most important pasuk and Ben Azzai says that "This is the book of the generations of Adam..." (which is from Genesis 5) is the most important. Our Dvar presenter gave a passionate defense of Akiva's position with lots of emphatic gestures and oratorical vocalizations. I was amused as it seems like someone passionately claiming that $100 is more than $50. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... But maybe I missed something. Also the image is from the internet, I didn't take a picture at the service. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .

I went to a birthday party. One of the people sponsoring the event was Charlie Meyers who was in my graduation class at Northwood High School. The other was a friend of his, Dale Ross, who was born one day later than Charlie. Both of them had parents named Michael and Sylvia. They were neighbors in an apartment when they were young and kept up with each other and were in a dorm together at the University of Md- College Park. The party was at Har Sholom and catered by Moti's (so kosher). Nice cooked meat and middle eastern table and sushi and hot dogs and beer and wine (I had two Stella Artois beers, one of my favorite brands - it is a Belgian beer owned by a subsidiary of Anheuser Busch - this even though I am not supposed to have beers). .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... There was also entertainment. It was a group called Capital Fools. Musical comedy and some impressions. I couldn't understand the lyrics of the songs but there was a pretty good Donald Trump impressionist. Unfortunately I ate something that went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing a lot and decided to go rather than subject the people around me to coughing noise. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ann had two observances for birthday 76. One was on 30 April, her actual birthday. She had apple pie and whipped topping. Today she had another. George was here and we had pastry for pre-lunch course. Our home aide took the photo. ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... It was a Napolean with candles. We actually were able to eat a decent lunch after this, although with a 20 minute break.