Election Day..Decisions decisions

 How do you vote for someone you don't feel good about?

I have finally narrrowed down my options to 3 parties. 

Bayit Yehudi, Machane Mamlachti, and Tzionut Hadatit. Each one has reasons why yes and why no. 

Bayit Yehudi - Pros: I like AS, I always have. And she needs votes more than anyone.

Cons: She may not pass and I will have wasted my vote on her again. Also I don't know anyone else in her party

Machane Mamlachti - Pros: BG is pretty responsible with putting the country first. He understands security as well. He also has people on his list I respect very much that I would be happy with them representing me. 

Cons: Who knows which side this is a vote for. Also, BG has been allowing free building for the Palestinians in Shetach C for the past year. Not loving that. 

Tzionut Hadatit:
Pros: IBG - I believe him, I believe he cares, and I believe that he is right-wing. 

Cons: BS - very divisive and elitist, just because we both wear a kippa - I don't feel he represents me. 

Leaning AS because I will be rooting for her to pass when all is said and done in the evening of the exit polls. But not sure. 

Maybe Bennett will return and surprise us all. 

Dvar Torah - RCN

 Every now and then, the shul youth take over the downstairs minyan. This means we provide Chazzans and a speaker for a Dvar Torah. Usually, I end up giving the Dvar Torah, due to lack of volunteering. 

I'm fine giving a couple minute Dvar Torah, iusually I take a R' Efrem idea and expand on it. But as I was getting ready to speak, I noticed RCN, one of the Rabbis and personalities that I most respect. He was sitting right there in the front row. Made me nervous, but then I remembered that I speak and present all the time at work, to C-levels, and to just speak my best which will be fine. It was pretty good I think. He said a loud Shkoyach. Shavua Tov!

Ultra - Better

 Tonight, we had an ultrasound for our little tiebreaker. At the first ultrasound, the doctor said there is the sac, but there isn't a fetus. We've been carrying that around for a week, hoping she meant that she just couldn't see it yet - which according to websites is the case. But we let out a collective sigh of relief when the ultrasound tonight showed a cute little fetus in there if I do say so myself. June 18th Due Date.

Last Softball Game of Season

 In softball, we got our first official win. It was a fun, back and forth game, until I beat out a play to first with bases loaded and two outs. We scored 8 more runs after that. I made a couple of plays in the field as well. 

So was I out or safe? You make the call. 

Me? We won 22-6, it feels great, and no further comments. 

As far as the season, I ended up batting an official .308 , and an unofficial closed to .350 if we count the forfeited game. I got better as the season went on, and the team wants me back for the March season. This sport is so hard. So on a personal note, I'd call this season a success. 

Contact Flag Game 1 - that was fun

 So we lost our first flag contact game, but had a great time. It is such a fun league. I caught my only target, making a tip toe catch on the sideline for a first down. I also mauled some kids at the line, especially the one that said we can get by these sh*tfaces. I also had a pick in the endzone on fourth down, and returned it half the field. I think this may just be my favorite sport. However, I hate losing, and we lost 14-12.

Interception:

Blocking:

Toe drag swag (though blocked by the guys head):

Chagim 2022

 That brings us to the end of Chagim season of Tishrei 2022. It was truly a great time, filled with smachot, davening, family, friends, grandparents, siblings, etc. It was a good month to be living in Modiin.

Already spoke about Rosh Hashana a few posts back. 

Erev YK we went to the beach for a mikva and 3 on 3 football game. 

YK - I was supposed to do mincha in the main shul which was exciting to me, but I completely lost my voice 2 days before chag. Could not even whisper, in fact I did zoom calls with a text to voice app (including calls I gave tutorials on). DR switched me. Somehow, by miracle I was able to sing by the time Neila came around, so I did that at the Newmarks. It was pretty good until I started losing my voice again around Kedusha and it was a struggle to get through. 

Arba Minim was a big success this year, I love Shmita. 

First chag of sukkot was fantastic, lots of family time. 

Eitan came to shul almost every day, and he got his own lulav and etrog. He loved the shaking, the hoshanot, and of course, the Torah coming out. I also brought an Etrog to Hila and Hadar. 

One day of CH, we spent with the Newmarks and went to a Petach Tikva zoo which was very nice. Later we did takeout of Keyad Hadimion, and I painted a snacks bowl for my home office. 

The next day was my family day. We went fruit picking in the morning, which was really fun. Then we had a rest break, and left for Jerusalem. We went to the aquarium which was so nice, both kids loved it (Fish are friends not food). We finished the day with a short wiffle ball game (Eitan was a star) at Bubby and Zayde, and then a BBQ which was super fun to see everyone. 

The next day, I worked for most of the day and left for Jerusalem at 2:30 for the proposal. Was incredible to be there, and of course the Lechayim afterwards was a lot of fun. 

Friday morning, Shifra was positive about the rest of the day. We quickly setup the Sukkah Hop for the next day. The Sukkah hop was nice, Eitan's grade was small (though he loved going to the Rabbi's sukkah and the Raymonds), but the other groups were big.

Friday night we had delicious brisket at Sandy's thanks to Donni. 

Shabbat lunch we had at the Newmarks which was nice. 

Sunday morning I went to Hashkama, went shopping, and then played wiffle ball and football (Hoshana Raba tradition). I then went to JJ for Kreplach, and had by far my least ever there (8-10 range). It was so delicious though. I sent a message to teens about Chag and included to please not talk about scores you find out about in shul.

Simchat Torah night was so much energy, thanks to the teens, specific teens, and RAC. It was very leibidik, and elevated the holiday to another level. E and H both had a great one, collecting tons of candy, kissing torahs, going on all the grandfathers' and my shoulders, and loving the atmosphere. I gave out a TON of candy at night and in the morning, and I liked it, I think I will be a candyman when I grow up. Then we had Ari and Maya and Amitay which was super fun. It is really fun to be so close to them in Modiin, especially with our kids liking each other so much. They played nicely for over an hour by themselves with barely any intervention on our part. Ken Yirbu!

The morning davening was nice, but nowhere near the same level. I gave out a million candies again, and it was great holding E and H for Kol Hanearim. We gave out the leftover Q and A ice cream to the teens, and gave lollipops to non-teens. 

All in all, a wonderful holiday season. I love holiday season, family, etc. but I also love my day to day life, so I am enjoying the moments but also looking forward to real life. 

She said yes!

 So my little brother manned up tonight and asked a young lady to spend the rest of their life together. She said yes (she loved the ring by the way, so I am glad with the choices we made). 

I've been to proposals before. I was at Ari's, Shai's, and Matan's, my bros for life. But there is something so magical about getting to watch your little brother, who you literally watched grow up and help raise, beat up occasionally, but love unconditionally, make that move. It was a perfect scene in Armon Hanatziv, nearing sunset, with a beautiful setup. Me and two of Shirli's friends set the place up according to F's request, and texted him when ready. Bitchu Bashem (YRG) was playing, the nature was beautiful, and they walked down to decide to spend the rest of their lives together. It was very cute, and then after one million pictures and time to call parents, I drove everyone home. 

At my parents was a very nice Lechayim with lots of hoopla, family and friends. Turns out he followed my footsteps about proposing on Sukkot, but not about the car dying on the way home, so that's great. 

The best part of the day by far was how happy E was for the entire day, from the proposal, into the car ride home, to the Lechayim. He deserves so much happiness. 

So happy for the happy couple, wishing them a lifetime of happiness and love. 

Softball Game 6 - OBP

 Annoyingly enough, to our most winnable game of the year, our ninth guy did nto show up, forcing us to forfeit. We decided to still play though, and I got to play catcher. I did pretty well, even threw out a guy trying to steal on me. This was a game between the two teams I could have joined and lets just say, I picked the right one. The other team is very junior and not close to winning, while our team is. Minus the forfeit, we won 15-6. I reached base 4 times and scored all 4. 

The first time up, I got an infield single, stole bases, and came around to score. The second time up, I hit maybe the nicest hit of my life, a true line drive gapper to left center that split the gap and went to the wall for a triple. I cannot remember the last time I pulled the ball like that. The next time up, another infield single, and came around to score. My fourth time up, I got my first walk of my fast pitch career.

It was a really fun morning in the park, and I am glad I decided to play softball instead of football and instead of doing AM deliveries.