Saturday…

Well, I missed out on “the Friday Five” once again. This is happening a lot this summer. So, here’s an update (we’ll use bullets):

• The summer gig is done. Yay! I’m still “employed” but will not be staffing a program for many many months. In response to the reduction in stress, I stopped chewing my nails and actually had to use the nail clippers!
• I have a week left at the ‘bux. I’ll miss the people–both co-workers and customers, but not the job. Especially the way the company has been going lately.
• I have to make a to-do list, because there’s tons to be done before the end of August and I’m so far behind.
• I started looking at the biblical hebrew book and I’m nervous, because I actually can’t read the English transliteration (it’s different than the modern transliteration I’m used to).
• Riley is very cute, but still not housebroken. I’ve been spending a lot of time with him and will miss him when I leave. He has also become attached and barks at me when I return from wherever (even if it was for just a few minutes). It’s nice to be missed I can’t wait for him to able to roam the house without accidents.
• Does anyone have suggestions for resources for a Comparative Judaism/Religion class for 8th graders? the materials I have (and when I googled the topic they are used nation-wide) are so out of date (1978 and 81).

Friday 5

I’m actually going to do it! This Friday Five is a day in the life of a senior summer school program coordinator.

Day: Today

1. Go to starbucks at 5AM, work until 10 AM. Clean out the milk refrigerator, sit on floor of walk in fridge and scrub frantically at permanent white spots (did the milk bleach the refrigerator?) Frantically brew coffee, and try to hear drink orders (I swear that when I’m in cafe I can’t hear a thing).

2. Come home. See email from Pres. (soon to depart) of company saying call in the office (he’s back from vacation!) Call. He’s not in yet. Decide to fall asleep and hope that he’ll call in a half hour. Wake up to his phone call nearly 1/2 hour later. Vent about how crazy/horrible it is to have the building the program is in sold and all my contacts gone. Vent about new VP of marketing that wasn’t the greatest find/went over my head/stepped on my toes.

3. Get dressed and drive into work. Get lost in hometown because woke up too early/had to find an alternate route. Finally arrive.

4. It’s 12:39 and lunch (free for me!) is over in 20 minutes. Make a beeline for the dining room. Enter room. Dining manager stops me to talk about management changes (thankfully not in the dining room) and lend her support (she’s awesome!). While talking, a whole table of “students” call my name. I signal 1 minute. After discussion with manager, I go make my sandwich. One major complainer from the table comes and talks to me. They want my opinion of a restaurant. I give it. I meet a program director as I head to a table to eat by myself (she’s already eaten). We chat, I eat alone.

5. I strategize with program directors. Print signs. Help load people onto bus for tour of Monona terrace. Meet maintenance guy in classroom who has a better/alternative mike set-upc (yay!). Meet new property manager. Not impressed. Noodle around with future sessions’ schedule. Eat dinner. Help set up diva instructor. He speaks to me nicely. Victory! Strategize about little bus trips (free) to local attractions/necessities for next week. Pack up computer. Go home. Put in laundry. Watch a little TV. Here I am!

Touched

Today at work one of my not-so-talkative regulars asked me if I was going to be there on Friday. I said yes, and asked why. She told me that it will be her last day, she’s taking a sabbatical this summer (I think she works for UW police or something) and then having surgery and then another vacation. She wanted to be able to say goodbye to me on her last day on this side of town.

You know, I don’t talk much anymore about the ‘bux. After a year and some even the weird things seem kind of routine. But, it really touched me that she wanted to say goodbye. I hope I’ll be there in the drive-thru on Friday.

Even though

Even though global warming freaks me out, especially after seeing the bleaching that has occurred in the Caribbean Sea near St. Thomas, sunshine and temperatures over 32 make me happy. The intense cold makes living hard. I don’t mind the cold, but you certainly don’t feel like going outside for long periods of time. I always want to just huddle under blankets. The fog isn’t that fun either. And, thunderstorms and tornadoes in winter are just weird. I think that I do want normal winter weather again. I’ll just relish today’s sun.

Random note: Yesterday, I had one of my 5 AM shifts and I didn’t have a lot of time for a nap (which I usually need to get myself all the way through the evening). So, I skipped the nap and hoped for the best. I didn’t crash at all! I made it all the way past 10 PM! I wonder if I can credit that to exercise. It could be true.

Friday 5

A quick one today

1. 4 applications in the mail, 4 to go. Keep’em rolling.

2. It’s cold outside! Sticking my head out of a drive-thru window is not what I consider pleasant. And, now I’m sick with upper-respiratory yuckiness again.

3. As an AAC (Alumnae Admissions Coordinator) for Smith, I interview prospective Smithies. I have had my first encounter with an overly anxious father. I’m meeting his daughter tomorrow. I’m a little concerned, though because last Sunday, when I left my phone at home and he needed to reschedule the appointment, he called me 11 times! Yes, 11! (2 messages, 2 hang-ups)

4. I won a $5 gift card to a local video store at work. I wasn’t super excited because I don’t have a membership there, but wow! what a bargain. We went over to check it out tonight. I got 4 movies for a little over $3! And, I still have $2 left on the card. Who knew?

5. My Sundays are free for a little while. I’m going to soak up the luxury of time this weekend. Do a little cleaning, some work, some relaxing. I’m looking forward to it.

Snow again

I wasn’t in the Midwest last year at this time. I came back from Maine on December 17, but we certainly have gotten a lot of snow already this year. The roads haven’t been clear in over a week, especially the side streets. Madison doesn’t like to plow more than necessary, which translates into diligent driving.

It’s coming down heavily right now. All the schools in the area outside of Madison Public Schools are closed. I’m not leaving anytime soon, although the tenant in my building in charge of shoveling is diligently scraping away every few hours.

Today, I’m thinking about things, pretending it’s a free day, and doing the work that needs to get done. This weekend, the long-time boyfriend of a co-worker died unexpectedly. He had been having irregular heart rhythms, and they were slowly trying different procedures, but after the last one, he came home and stopped breathing. He died a few days later in the ICU. He was in his late 40s, and left behind a 7 year old son. My co-worker, who’s in her 50s with a grown child, had already lost her first husband to heart related illness. She’s the sweetest woman and I can’t even conceive of how she feels now.

On a lighter note, I had my 7th grade Hebrew School students read the Genesis 42, where Joseph pretends not to recognize his brothers and then punishes them. We read Five Books of Miriam again. This time we read a midrash about who Asnat is (Joseph’s wife). It mentions that she’s Joseph’s niece. The conversation took an unexpected turn and we ended up discussing incest and birth defects (not using that word) for the rest of class. Interesting discussion, to say the least.

Wisconsin got hit yesterday (Saturday) with our first winter snowstorm. It was a strange one, as my sister said, it was like the world did not know what to do: snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, sleet, snow, rain, snow. You get the picture.

People do the strangest thing when it snows a lot. Firstly, people stayed out. It was awful out, slippery roads, and windy, white-outish. The people that came through the drive-thru (because, yes, of course I was working) were in bad moods. They were so rude. I had a man and woman glare at me icily because I wouldn’t take their pop cans through the window (health code violation!). And someone handed me a ten dollar bill and change and was not happy when I handed them back the change and asked about the extra…apparently he though I should be able to read his mind and give him a five?!? He also asked for shaken soy milk.

People also walk in the middle of the street in the snow. I can’t figure it out. Why, when it’s so icy and cars are fishtailing all over the place do they think it’s acceptable and safe? It’s unfathomable.

Oh yeah. The snow was pretty, too!

But, now comes the days where I have to walk around the corner to the parking lot instead of through the yard. When, I have to make sure that my shovel is in the trunk. It’s always slushy at the end of the driveway and the corner of our street. And, the deep hole near our front walk fills with slush as well. So, lots of winter pitfalls, and lots of potential for fun.

Happy December!

5 Things on Saturday

Ok. So, I’m slacking on the Friday 5 thing. But, I’m going to try to keep it going somehow. So here are 5 thoughts.

1. Thanksgiving has passed. I love winter. I love fall. I do not love Thanksgiving and the Christmas season.

2. I worked on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and today.

3. Wednesday was busy. Thursday was really busy after the Berbee Derby, but people were really nice and in a good mood. Friday, it was quite busy, for some reason chaotic, and people were not nice. Saturday. Well, apparently, people did not want more coffee on Saturday.

4. A little boy came in today dressed in the Spider Man suit with muscles. He demonstrated his strength by holding up a bottle of water.

5. On Thanksgiving a 2-year old came in and I discovered that he knew120 signs. That’s a lot of signs. Both of these little boys were with their fathers.

You’re Jewish? What do you think about Jesus?

A few weeks ago, I filled out a survey for my co-worker’s human resources class, which is actually code for educational diversity. It was personalized to my diversities and asked questions about being a Jew and being a lesbian and how those identities developed.

It was an interesting questionaire and made me think about my feeling regarding growing up in a non-Jewish area and what it has been like to return to Madison as an “adult”. In Madison, there are definitely more Jews, but at my ‘bux, which is in the suburbs, there are a large amount (disturbingly) of evangelical christians. At work and in general life I’ve ended up having many conversations about being Jewish and what that means. I have responded to a lot of shocked looks, especially after they ask how we feel about Jesus.

Them: You mean, you think that he’s a prophet, just not a son of God?

Me: No, We believe that he was a respected teacher, just an ordinary man.

Them: really? are you sure that you don’t think that he’s a prophet?

Me: Yes. (and then I attempt to explain the political realities of Jesus’ time)

I also get questions about Sunday school, since religious school is taught on Sundays. And whether Shabbat is the Pentecost….(I think he was confusing that with Passover).

Being in Wisconsin, everywhere I go, if I say something about my Jewish side of life or what I want to study in graduate school, I have to explain myself and represent an entire group of people. It’s different than the encounters I had in Chicago or on the East Coast where it’s more likely that I’m not the first Jewish person they’ve met.

Friday 5

 1. It’s swiftly turning to winter here in Madison, although I have a feeling that we’ll stay in a holding pattern of 30-50s for a few more weeks. that’s ok with me. I love fall. And, winter is my favorite season.

2. I got my flu shot today, without any ill effects as of yet (knock on wood!). Have you gotten your flu shot this year? I highly recommend spending the 10 or so dollars and 5 minutes of your time. I have rarely gotten the flu in the last 12 or so years, and when I have been afflicted, it’s been shorter than normal. Since I frequently fall into colds and bronchial infections, this is a luxury.

3. The Madison Young Adult Havurah is having their first social action event on Sunday. We’re serving food at the Salvation Army (I know that some people have problems with this org, but they do feed and house a lot of Madison’s people in need). I’m looking forward to hanging out and doing good. And, it’ll be a fun event for the havurah.

4. Going to Chicago on Tuesday/Wednesday. I was supposed to go on Friday, but I didn’t get the time off I requested. So, we’ve rearranged. I can’t wait. I haven’t been in the Windy City since June!

5. Starbucks made their own holiday up. It was on Thursday. The “Global day of Cheer“. Can we just all pause a moment and consider how strange this is? And, of course, the store has turned into a sea of red and white. I’m going to be enduring Christmas for the next month.