I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

Fun Brandeis fact of the day: President Jehuda Reinharz has not only an "LJ" (jehuda), but also a "fan club"!
[channeling the future Rabbi Breindel:] "Je-HUDA Reinharz!"
"Yeh-who-da WHAAT?"
"Je-HUDA Reinharz!"

Free (or dirt-cheap) 2 weeks in Israel! Katya Myer, program director at MIT Hillel, wrote me yesterday to let me know that MIT Hillel is hoping to run a Birthright trip to Israel June 14-28. However, they are short of interested people, and unless they get enough, the trip cannot happen! For those unfamiliar with Birthright, it is an amazing program of FREE 10-day trips to Israel for young Jewish adults ages 18-26 (who have never toured Israel before). I asked Katya if people over 26 could join in; she said anyone into their early 30s can come for only a small additional fee on the order of $200-300. The trip covers roundtrip airfare, hotel, transportation, most meals and other associated land costs, so it's still a pretty amazing deal. I am so totally thinking about this. Anyone else? I would have to work it out with my office -- but I have the vacation time coming, and it looks like for once in my life I could actually swing it... at least, assuming I put off both my parents for another month or more... *sigh*

Still have to make arrangements to get to msmidge's nuptial festivities, of course. And figure out if I can make it to 1776 in the next two weeks. (Thursday 5/6 at 8pm, anyone?) And mitgsp's GenComm meeting is this weekend. And I ought to send my niece a present for her impending 6th birthday. Oy gevalt!

And last night, instead of going to bed at 11 when I was supposed to, I stayed up and devoured more than half of the book red_queen lent me months ago, Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed. It is AWESOME! I am a total new fan. I wonder if I can syndicate her blog to LJ? (Her website also has great advice for aspiring writers. I am taking note.)

And, now that I have wasted the first 20 minutes of my lunch hour on LJ, I should go get something to eat. :-) Shabbat shalom, y'all.

Excerpted from our shul e-mail list:

"Ray Jackendoff's CD, Romanian Music for Clarinet and Piano, has been issued by Albany Records and can be ordered from their website (http://www.albanyrecords.com). It is hoped to get some copies in Tower Records in Cambridge. This recording was made in Bucharest by Ray along with Valentina Sandu-Dediu, piano, and contains five engaging works by four 20th century Romanian composers who you never heard of: Martian Negrea, Stefan Niculescu, Dan Dediu, and Constantin Silvestri. One of the pieces was written expressly for the performers by Dan Dediu, the pianist's husband and one of the hot young composers in Romania. Check it out!"

Must go harass Tower Records for this! I love Ray; I had a crush on him for some time when I studied with him at Brandeis :-) More recently, it's been great having him around shul since he and his wife joined. They're both lovely people.

Liam is here! Yay!

Welcome, struct :-)