Sam I am

Internet access in Europe is very expensive. In our hotel in Milan, high-speed internet access cost 22 Euros per day. In Hamburg, high-speed internet access is only available in some smoking regular rooms and some non-smoking “executive” rooms. (“Executive” equals more expensive for not many more amenities.) And then internet access is 29 Euros per day! You can also buy two hour blocks of 9 Euros. It’s fairly absurd. In the United States, a hotel will charge at most $15 per day. And many hotels provide free internet access. If I weren’t on call for work, I would certainly not pay for the internet access. Of course, if I were on vacation, I wouldn’t even have my laptop with me in the first place.

I visited the Duomo in Milan last year on vacation.

I went again today with coworkers. It is still impressive.

My apartment is virtually complete. There are a couple of small items on the punch list. The plumbing work was completed a couple of days ago, and I have an inspection next week. All of my furniture is moved in, except for a sofa that was lost by the moving company. I am around 50% unpacked.

I am evaluating some software for work. Part of this evaluation involves travelling to every vendors’ facilities. I am typing this message in the Delta lounge in Newark. In an hour, I will leave for Milan. After Milan, I will be in Hamburg and then Amsterdam before returning on Friday for the marriage of Harlan and Kathleen. (Today I was at the wedding of Kirsten and Barnabas. I had to leave early to make my flight out.

In the coming weeks, I will also be traveling to Provo, Boston, Toronto, and Denver. It’s a lot of travel in a short period of time. Ironically, all of this travel came up after my apartment was completed. This is ironic because when I was renovating, I barely did any travel for work.

Of course, not that I will really write about dating in detail, but the dating life has been interesting for the past couple of weeks. In the apocryphal Chinese curse sense.

Finally, I haven’t been getting a ton of sleep. One feature of my new apartment is that it gets a lot of light. This is great in that I wake up early. Unfortunately, I have still been staying up late.

I’m a bit worn out. Life at home and at work have both been very busy. I have been taking a lot out on friends; fortunately they put up with me being a bit stressed out. (I hope you all know who you are.)

So to sum up:

• Nearly completed apartment
• Missing sofa
• Lots of work
• Lots of travel
• Not a lot of sleep

Yee ha!

Passover is this week. I generally do not keep kosher for most of the year, but I do keep somewhat kosher for Passover. By that, I mean that I do not eat wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye unless they are served as matzoh. Many people are confused by the term kosher. Quite simply, kosher means is food that is prepared according to Jewish dietary laws. (Kosher is similar to Hallal in Islam; one translation for kosher is “legal”.) Kosher does not mean blessed by a rabbi, foods like bagels and corned beef, or sacred. (I have heard all of these statements in general conversation.) There are many website where you can get more information about kosher food.

Some typical rules regarding kosher food include a prohibition on eating milk with meat and not eating pork (pigs do not have cloven hooves and chew their own cud). I do not typically follow these rules. However, the rules for Passover are slightly different. Passover is meant to commemorate the freedom of the Hebrews from slavery. As they were fleeing from Egypt, there was no time to let bread rise. Matzoh is meant to remind us of this journel from Egypt. It is also known as the bread of affliction. The only ingredients in matzoh are flour and water.

There are many other rules regarding keeping kosher for Passover; I do not necessarily follow them. Rules regarding “kitniyot” seem especially unnecessary. These rules pertain to the eating of grains like corn and rice. Although other grains like quinoa are okay. As I said, some of the rules seem a bit unnecessary. I also do not get rid of all food with leavening.

I keep kosher because I think it is important to remember that to enslave another human being is wrong. Or, as it is written in most haggadahs, “Once we were slaves in Egypt.” (The haggadah is the book that accompanies the seder feast; the seder feast describes meals that begin Passover.) I don’t think it is such a silly thing to commemorate. You can read more about Passover at Wikipedia; Utah Hillel also has a great writeup about Passover.

Some foods I like but don’t eat during Passover:

• Beer
• Pizza
• Bread (including Nan)
• Pancakes
• French Toast
• Sandwiches
• Pasta
• Foods fried in batter (French fries are okay)

I’m thinking of switching from Blogger to WordPress as a tool to publish my web pages. Anyone have opinions? Email me a note. Thanks!