Commuting Thursday

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I ended up walking to the (Green) B line, waiting at BU Central for a train that never came (though six went by outbound). I gave up and walked to Kenmore; walking is warming (and I didn't want any more involuntary tears freezing to my glasses, blocking my vision). This morning, a train arrived just as I got to the T, and another just as I changed lines. It was a little crowded*, but a lot more efficient.

* At one station the conductor continued after the usual "Please move all the way into the cars." with "Inhale, sir. I know it's crowded." Everyone laughed.

I'm having more difficulties with vertical travel today. I want my own personal elevator gerkin. :-)


The hoariest alpha snooper planted corms under the deanery window to listen to the tirades. Pions were everywhere.


Actual content coming soon to a journal near you.

Mishloach manot

AKA shlach manos. In two weeks, it'll be Purim¹, time of much silliness, costumes, and, of course, food. More specifically, Jews are enjoined to (a) have a festive meal on Purim day (for the rabbis, festive = including meat and wine with your bread), and (b) send portions of food to one another, mishloach manot².

I used to end up spending far too much time planning mishloach manot, what to give, who to give to. The absolute minimum is giving one person two kinds of ready-to-eat food³. What are the different kinds? It's based on what blessing is said before eating that food. The categories are: fruit, veggie, grain-based, bread, wine, and everything else. Practically speaking, it means a lot of people give a bag with cookies and candy (grain-based and everything else). I try not to do that, mostly because people are freqently exchanging mishloach manot right after shacharit, and starting the day with a sugar high is not ideal for me (and yes, I'm projecting that to everyone else). Since I bake a lot of bread, it's the obvious thing to make, especially for breakfast. A roll and something to put on it, or drink with it. Ideally, nothing that requires refrigeration, though some years I've put salad in. This year, I'm thinking of rolls and jam, with a plastic knife and napkins, which is fairly easy, if I time the bread properly. Or bread and some kind of hard cheese, maybe.

Which leads to the question of who to give to. A decade (or more) ago, I'd spend Purim evening assembling bags and bags and bags, then schlepping those in to shul in the morning, for the Mad Mishloach Manot Trade⁴. It left me exhausted, unable to enjoy Purim evening. And it became a big social tit-for-tat situation. What if I don't give to X who's given to me? Is that uncouth? An insult? Etc. I realized that part of the problem was the whole mob scene at shul, so one year I changed strategies, deciding to deliver packages to people at home. Which meant I could just go to shul in the morning, and not deal with everything else. It also cut down on my quantities severely, since I decided not to give to people if I couldn't get to their front door. So people in big buildings were out, as were the many undergrads and people who I didn't know where they lived (OK, I've been rewording that sentence too many times, and the grammar just doesn't work. Sorry.). On the up-side, making so many fewer packages allows for a bit more flexibility in what to give particular people, especially taking allergies and such into account.

Which leads back to what to give this year. Bread and jam are easy. Part of me really likes the idea of giving a meal, somehow, perhaps a quiche and a bag of salad, or other things that are reasonably portable. Or, since it's erev Shabbat, give a pair of braided challot and a bottle of wine/grape juice. Though people will already have their Shabbat food made. *ponder*


( notes )