A Smattering of Schmutter

I've determined that any events that occurred this weekend may be a result of my penchant for goading people into arguing with me about baseball statistics. I know I'm smarter than most people, az why do I feel the need to prove it to myself (and occasionally others) all the time? That's just silly.

Anyway, one of the aforementioned events, is not one that I need to discuss further. In fact, this event need not be discussed in my presence for the foreseeable future. The other events, which I will recount in exhausting detail, will be recounted in exhausting detail right now right now.

I spent the first days of Sukkot in Woodmere, NY. I think I like Woodmere a lot, but I'm not quite certain that Woodmere likes me. You see, I awoke Friday morning to learn that a tree branch from across the street broke in the middle of the night and landed on a branch on our side of the street, which proceeded to pendulum its way down and strike my poor car. I now have a slightly dented fender and a smashed right-turn signal. If I didn't figure it out then that nature (read: The Big Guy) was after my schmuttocks, it was the following day when I walked right into a low-hanging branch on my way to Cedarhurst. It certainly didn't help that I was reading while I was walking, but still.

Anyway, remember last year when I posted about how much I love Sukkot? At the same time, it's become apparent that some people (myself included) find it a burden, because if you want to have some semblance of a meal you need to find a sukkah in which to eat. I found this to be the case. However, if you actually try to go eat in a sukkah, you will often find yourself in excellent company. Par exemple, yesterday evening I had just returned from a not-so-pleasant event in Flushing Meadows, and on my way back I acquired for myself some shwarmas from Grill Point. I then joined some guys in the sukkah of one hundred and eighty two Bennett Avenue to eat said shwarmas. It really was quite the party; people were in and out of the sukkah all the time. The point is, it's nice to get together during the week and have a nice meal with a bunch of people. Az if you think you have time to get to a sukkah for lunch or dinner this week, give it a try; you might have a surprisingly nice time.

Remember when there was no such thing as amazon.com or bn.com or half.com, and if you wanted to buy a book you had to go to a bookstore and pay full price? I tend to buy used books on amazon.com a lot, az I have many old/used-ish books. Az like, the books usually have two prices on them, an American price and a Canadian price, right? Az you might see something like "In US $4.95, in Canada $5.95." Well, those days are ovah! For Nomah! (Hameivin yavin) I don't mean because books are more expensive now; I mean that for the first time ever (!), the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar. I had to put the price of the Canadian dollar into the system at work today, and I noticed this. As of the close of the currency market today, one Canadian dollar is worth 1.0098 US dollars. The dollar is just getting clobbered these days. Even the Shekel is back up to a quarter each. Anyway, I just found that interesting.

That's all I got for today. I guess since it's now October 2nd, I'll wish you all a freilichen Gandhi Jayanti.