Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Check!

I voted today!  I wanted to wait until Election Day, but 1) I got too excited, 2) after telling so many battleground states to vote early and why, I was convinced, and 3) my office needs someone to be there from 6-9am on Tuesday morning when I was planning to vote (I'll use part of a personal day at school for that).  I took my sweet time voting this afternoon.  I really just wanted to savor the moment with the dozen other people who were at the county office with me.  It was phenomenal.

No wordle this Wed (or last)...I'm up too late and have no brain between my ears to speak of.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ummm....

My video debut!  Get out the vote Silicon Valley!  We've been assigned (by Chicago) to make an obscene number of phone calls on Sat, Sun, Mon, and Tues.  We will go from 7am-9pm on the weekend and 6am to 8pm on the weekdays, moving west with out calls as the day goes on.  Sorry I say "um" so much.  I'll work on that.  I'm thankful that it's not as painful to watch myself as I anticipated.  David Martin is all about one take...so that's it!  I did my best for you Obama.


An important GOTV message from Silicon Valley for Obama from David Martin on Vimeo.

The Team!


I never know what to do with my hands. So awkward.

Monday, October 27, 2008

In Need of a Boost

Okay...8 days left (the news will say 7, but as callers, we have to call for 8 more days since we'll be calling on Election Day).  Today we called Ohio and Colorado.  It was fun, but I am oh so tired.  And then the news about some young men with a plot to kill Obama and others...I almost broke down completely.

Here are some ideas as to how not to go crazy:


2. Watch Obama's "Closing Argument."  We need him to bring this country together.  The more I listen to him, the more I want to convince people that he's the man for the job.

3. Watch this great video made by one of my colleagues at the office.  You see me in action in the first 30 seconds.  I love the videos this guy makes.  He picks great music and I'm always inspired when I watch them.

4. Stay away from cable news and the polls.  You'll only get an ulcer.  Watch The Office or The Hills instead.  Remember, there is fun to have in this world.

5. Do something!  Whether it's campaigning or getting outside for a hike or a run or having tea with friends or carving pumpkins...keep busy!

And now, some advice for those living in swing states:
1. VOTE!!!  As soon as you tell us that you've voted, we're going to stop calling you.

2. Instead of getting mad/irate/pissed, you could just ask us to stop calling.  Our office won't call you again.  But remember, you are the most popular people in the country...Move On will call you, local campaigns will call you, and McCain will call you.  It's only 8 more days.  You will survive.  But, if you'd don't say those magic words...we're going to keep calling.

3. Don't pick up the phone.  I can't tell you how many people get mad at us for calling them during dinner.  Ummm...last I checked, you don't have to answer your phone during dinner.  It's not a mandate.

4. You could move.  Take it from me that when you live in a state that's decided (blue or red), no one calls you and no one cares.

5. Make your voicemail message say the following: Who each person in the house is voting for and if they are voting early or if they have sent an absentee.  That might be my best idea yet!


I'm a bit late on this, but I just want to make a shout out to: Bob Herbert at the NYT for this article a while ago and Colin Powell for saying "What if [Obama] is [a Muslim]?"  We need our media to continue exposing how this country feels about race and religion and we need more people questioning how much discrimination exists here.  Olbermann stopped ranting and begged McCain to stand up to the racist remarks from his supporters.  Olbermann did a good job with this...not sure if the right people are listening though.  All I can say is that I hope my students are listening and that change will start to come.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Yes We Did!!!

Bec and I carved our Obama logo pumpkins.  Check out the rock star pumpkins and the video at yeswecarve.com.  

On Sunday, my office held a "rally" to get people to phone bank in Palo Alto.  Over 200 people came (mostly newbies) and made a total of 12,000 calls in about five hours.  Here's one of my favorite pictures...this is Bari, my fearless leader on the 6-9pm shift at the office.  I really can't imagine an evening without her now.  For my sister, who will probably comment on the fact that my earpiece is in...I was actually in the middle of making phone calls.  Note the clipboard.  And I was calling Deerfield Beach!


In this picture, she is probably saying something like, "There was a cute boy waiting at your station and I was just going to leave that to you.  I'm not going to touch it."  It has now become the mission of the moms in the office (and one of the guys who works at Apple) to matchmake for me.  And I just wanted to disclose that I didn't go to temple on Friday night because I had to make some calls.  Once the election is over...I'll get back to my life.

I'll post a better picture of the group in these shirts.  Community Organizer!!  We didn't have much responsibility but we made a lot of change.  Palo Alto really came out for this event and all day, everyone kept saying how amazing it was to see all these people, reaching out to Florida and encouraging them to vote early for our guy.  But, it's tough to be a Floridian Democrat these days.  Many people are discouraged by the long lines at the early polls and think that it's inevitable that the election will be stolen now and on Nov 4 (at least this is what they expressed to us over the phone).  Wow.  It's hard to respond to that in a way that reassures people.  Again, I try to stay away from the blogs and the news and any negativity.  I'm not trying to be naive, but as one of my callers said yesterday, it's so much better to be doing something than to just be watching from the sidelines.

One more thought:  Hearing someone say "Democrats for McCain" on "This American Life" is like Jews for Jesus to me.  I have trouble understanding how a Hillary supporter makes that transition.  But I'm trying to understand, so that I can handle whatever happens in this election.  I'm trying to stay positive about our future as a country and optimistic that one day, we will all come together as Americans.  Right now, I feel as though we are so polarized.  I even had people in the race saying, "I have to beat Obama."  Yikes!  Honestly, I would rather wear an Obama sticker and have people cheer for me that way than having my name on my shirt, but I guess it bugged some people.  Although I wouldn't have done it if I was running in, say, Nevada.  San Francisco is a pretty safe place to be an Obama supporter.

And we're done!


Friday, October 24, 2008

Week In Review

The Half Marathon was disappointing.  I ran well for the first half and then it just went...well, uphill in terms of the course, downhill in terms of my goals.  I'm trying to move on

I've spend every day of the last week at the Obama office.  I'm lacking sleep but so excited.  I made over 150 calls and spoke to one woman tonight who couldn't stop thanking me for volunteering and reminded me to stay positive.  She really lifted my spirits.  Apparently, tomorrow we're going to start calling multiple states.  We've called over 200,000 people since the beginning of September and HQ wants us to call 100,000 in the next 10 days.  We called over 9,000 tonight, so maybe it's possible.
 
Matagonia called me and left a message.  ?????  Is some mastermind trying to see how tortured I can be this month?

I could be injured.  I did something to my foot such that it hurts when I walk and stand on it.  Hmmm...that eliminates most activity.  I'm icing it right now and I think I'm going to skip my long run this weekend and hope that I can run on Monday.  I did have two great runs this week...felt fast and strong without working too hard.

My students rocked the Unit Circle.  Over 70% have completed it perfectly this week.  I pushed them to learn it in less time than last year and they stepped up.  They've been super chatty and I got as mad at some kids as I've been in years for their various violations of norms, saying, "You are exhibiting exactly zero of our core characteristics."

Three day weekend!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Call Away!

I thought I'd send some shots from "The Office." All the computers were occupied nearly the entire time I was there (4.5 hours today) as well as most of the cell phones and land lines that we have. People were coming in with supply donations of paper and toner and water as well as to register to vote (with two days to spare). These are the great people I work with! Note, most of the women my age that come in are without rings on their left hand while most of the men have jewelry. Tough odds. We were hoping to see Joe the Senator stop by on his way through the area. Today, he was at some local big donor functions. The minimum was $1000, so the best we could do was hope he'd want to see his people in action. No luck with that. But, we did hear lots of bell ringing today (signifying a supporter). Also, NM is already voting, so we heard lots of people who braved the hour-long lines today to cast their ballot. So awesome!


You Will Know Their Names

This is the huge billboard outside Niketown SF will all the names of every woman running the Nike Women's Half or Full Marathon tomorrow.

Here's the shirt I'm wearing tomorrow as well.

Baby!


This summer, I ran into these baby pineapples at Safeway. I wanted to take a picture and one of the employees actually brought over the big pineapple for the shot. How cute! Note, the baby costs as much as the big guy. I guess I'm a little behind on the pictures here.
Posted by Picasa

A Pumpkin You Can Believe In

Kate and Chris sent a picture of their pumpkin to me (I did change the vertical ratio to get more of a circle).  Good stuff!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Best Race Photo Ever

Ha! This is the only race photo they got of me. Stopping the SportBand after the race. BTW, I got lots of compliments on the skirt. Although I didn't hear all the negative things that might have been said out of earshot.  Oh, and this is at the Tufts 10K, which may be since there are no men in this picture.  This is right before I shook hands with Joan Benoit Samuelson and told her she was my hero.  I also thought at all women's race would be the best place to wear the skirt.

Weekly Shout Outs!

1) Sox! I went to bed (not unusual for me) and didn't know until my sister told me this morning that they came back. I wonder how many people left at the 7th inning stretch.

2) My friend from grad school who just finished in the top 20 at the WORLD Ironman Triathlon Championships in Hawaii. He is in med school and somehow has time to post a Boston Qualifying marathon time at the end of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride. I'm trying to channel his awesomeness for this weekend.

3) My 2nd period kids yesterday. We had about 7 teachers observing from another high school in the class and my kids worked in groups like you dream about. They were amazing.

4) My physical therapist, who makes me feel like I can do things with just a little massaging and some ice baths.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wordle Wednesday #2!


Watching the debate.  Feeling very nervous.  Reading the presidentialdebateblog for their pretty neutral perspective.  This is finally something of substance, but I'm wishing Bob Dylan could give me some hope right now.

By the way, the "new" Dylan album of outtakes and alternate versions is just awesome.  I'm currently obsessed with the new Joshua Radin, but the Dylan will get its turn in the CD player soon.  

New England was great this weekend.  The Tufts 10K was my best yet and I was able to get my last quality training done nearly perfectly.  I'm feeling good about the half marathon this weekend as long as I can keep getting 8+ hours of sleep.  

Deep breaths America.  Keep after the truth.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

DNF--DNCare!

I think today was my first DNF (did not finish a race).  Of course, this was my plan, so I'm fine with it.  Today, I needed to run 8 miles, 6 of them at Marathon Pace.  The first time I tried this workout, it went very well in flat MP, CA.  The second time, my cold had finally caught up to me and I couldn't keep pace or finish the distance (it was 10 that day).  So, for the third Marathon Pace workout (well, I guess Half Marathon pace in my case), I was going to be in hilly Connecticut and I knew it would be tough to do alone.  So, I signed up for the Hartford Half Marathon, set out to run 8 miles of the course, and all went as planned.  I felt pretty darn good even though my legs were tired after getting up at 1am West Coast time and I did have to sleep for about 40 minutes in the car before the race.  I started nice and easy for my warm-up mile.  It was very crowded and I was worried about getting up to pace to start mile two, but never saw the first mile marker, so it worked well that I was able to take another mile to get warm and out of the fray.  I ran to mile 8 and stepped off the course.  That was a weird feeling, since I felt really great and there was no reason to end it, except that today's race is insignificant compared to next week's.  

I ran back to the park to turn in my chip and get some refreshments.  They had a Whole Foods buffet, but I guess it was different for the 5K and Half Marathon/Marathon runners.  When I got to the park, the first women were just finishing the half.  I went to get some food and the woman said that the 5K food was in the front tent only.  I told her that I ran the half and showed her my blue bib number.  She said, "Did you finish?"  I said, "No, but I paid what everyone else did."  Is it really that big of a deal that I didn't finish the race but wanted some of their apple crisp?  I guess so.  Honestly, by finishing early, I was one less person to crowd up the finish line later.  Even though I was sour about the lady looking down on my for not finishing, I was impressed by the amount of recycling they had: recycle the silver finish "blankets," compost food, compostable plates and utensils.  Good work Hartford!  

Some race notes: The course was great.  It was very flat and wide at the beginning when it was most crowded.   The roads were not too crowned or cambered and they were in good shape.  The starting line was a bit crowded.  They have the runners line up on one side of the street while the 5K went past us on the other.  It wasn't the best laid plan.  And, I wasn't too excited that I never saw mile markers one or four, but otherwise, I'm impressed with the organization of it all.  Bushnell Park (site of the start and finish and State House) in Hartford is small but pretty.  Also, it's a good feeling to have run well today.  I have much more confidence about racing next weekend (as opposed to just finishing) than I did even yesterday.

It is ridiculously beautiful here in New England right now.  The leaves are amazing and driving though Westborough and Pomfret gives one amazing vistas.  It's great timing to be home and I can't wait to run the Tufts 10k on Monday.

Friday, October 10, 2008

My, How You've Changed

David Brooks of the NYT taught me something today in his Op-Ed. "In 1976, in a close election, Gerald Ford won the entire West Coast along with northeastern states like New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine. In 1984, Reagan won every state but Minnesota."

What?!?! Reagan won every state but one? What was going on in Minnesota? Oh right, Mondale was from MN. I have never taken a political science class and know very little about electoral history, but I was amazed to look through the past electoral maps. It's only since Bill Clinton that the electoral map looks as I know it. Northeast and West are blue...everything else is red. But before Clinton, it looks so unfamiliar. So, I had some fun checking out the past of elections. Here's the Reagan map and you can click on maps of the past on the left. Since I'm trying to avoid the current polls, it's interesting to wonder how some of these candidates got every state in the Union behind them. As I scan the earliest elections, it's clear that electoral votes were divided in some way, rather than everything from one state going to only one candidate. I need to learn more about this history. Someday...

Pedal to the Metal

I received this email last night:

"The electoral map looked like this:  http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Oct09.html

If you believed in the polls and the pundits on this day in 2004, Senator Kerry was on his way to the White House with victories in the battleground states of Ohio, Nevada, and Iowa.  As we all know, he lost all of them and the rest is history.  Tragic history.  So, stop getting excited.

Stay focused and turn off the tv.  Travel to a battleground state, and go knock on some doors.  Plan where you're going to be on Election Day.  Send that Oct 9th link to friends and fam and plan a roadtrip to Ohio or Colorado.  Make some Obama mixtapes for the car.  Don't be obvious and pick Sam Cooke for the first song (but, be sure to include him of course)

26 days. 

-b."

And I got this email:

Finally - I felt like it was difficult to get this started (calling for Barack)... maybe I was being distracted by life and not really trying, but there just was not a clear place where I was looking to get started - finally, I got an invitation to participate this weekend, so Sunday, I signed up for a 4 hour shift with a call bank.  YAY!

Awesome!  It's absolutely hard to get started volunteering.  We all know this.  I know it very well since most of my 16 mentees tell me they are going to do x,y, or z volunteering and they never do.  I have cast every vote I've ever had in a very blue state and until this election, I've never thought outside my own state.  I guess I didn't learn enough from my first presidential election in 2000 to do something in 2004.  Thankfully, my learning curve isn't that flat.  The first couple of calls can be tough.  More than 60% of the callers aren't home (or don't pick up) and you don't have a rhythm down.  But, soon enough, you get that rhythm.  In my office, people ring a bell for every Obama supporter they talk to.  The other day, someone rang the bell like crazy after talking to a woman that said she had 50 friends who were voting Obama.  The energy picks up and you start rolling.  Some people will come in for the half hour they have and others will stay all day.  People come in for their lunch hour and make as many calls as they can.  One high schooler came in the other day and stayed until he had 100 phone calls and was doing his Calculus homework on the side.  Whether you make 10 calls or 100, they all count.

I am going to try to take the advice above.  Don't pay attention to the polls (besides, pundits also predict that underlying racism could hurt Obama by up to 6 points) because no one is a shoe-in for the White House.  Keep working hard.  I just keep telling myself...less than three weeks and I can get more sleep.  I told one of my friends...I'd rather have a crappy three weeks than a crappy four years, so that's why I have Obama's name all over my calendar.  Keep it up team!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Wordle Wednesday #1

Tom Brokaw at the second debate:



Poor TB.  And then they stood in front of his teleprompter.  And maybe it's because I'm a high school teacher and I know my students are watching, but he said "drunk" a few too many times, right?

Off to phone NM...

Milestone

There are many things that I don't love about the Nike + system.  It is innacurate for a lot of my running (today I ran 6 miles but it thought I ran 5.17...because half of the miles were at a fast pace...it gets confused).  But today, nikeplus.com alerted me that I've run 500 miles with my Nike+ (ipod or sportband).  I'm not sure how "off" it is, but that's pretty cool to have a website remind you of things like that.

I do like the sportband more than using the ipod.  I can easily look down and see my approximate pace.  I generally use it to pace my long runs and it does a good job since it's calibrated at that pace.  The downside is the screen.  It's like an old computer that had a dark screen with light writing (the sportband has yellow-ish numbers on the display).  I run about 50% of my miles in the dark and the sportband has no light on the screen, so I have to wait until I get under a street light, angle the thing juuuuuust right so I can see my pace.  Sometimes, I think these products aren't tested by real athletes doing what they do.

The weekend at home will be great!  I'll fast for the Yom and then get two races in.  I'm going to participate in some of the Hartford Marathon.  I need to do a fast 8 miles, so that's all I'm doing on Saturday.  Then I'm running my 5th Tufts 10K.  I've run it every year that I've been teaching, except last year when I didn't go home for it.  I love the "all" women races, maybe because I've always done them with a family member.  On Sunday, I'll run my 5th Tufts with Aunt Susan, who I haven't seen since I moved to Cali.  I can't wait!  And on the 19th, I will run my first race with my sister since the Rod and Reed 3.23 mile benefit run in 1996.  I was 15 and she was 11!  Holy mackeral.  The results are still online and it turns out that my mom ran that race, I believe without training, almost as fast as my 5K PR in June.  Beast!  Similarly, Susan will probably finish in a great time despite rowing much more than running to train.  When do I get those genes?

On to the next 500!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

One Thing I Don't Want To Do Early

So, in many states, you can vote early.  This is different than an absentee ballot.  Voting early is just like voting on Election Day, but may not be at your regular polling station.  I don't know about you, but I love going to the polls on Election Day.  I guess if I was definitely out of town or working the polls all day, I would vote early, but I'm really excited to be one of the first in line on Nov 4.  But, I guess that there are fewer disenfranchisement problems when people vote early as the polls are less crowded.  Sigh...

Promotion

Today I called 100 registered Democrats in New Mexico.  I probably only spoke with about 20 or so, most fervently supporting Obama, about three supporting McCain, three who were pissed that I called, and one undecided.  I encouraged them to vote early (which NM does) and volunteer if they had the time..  Some were already all over it.  The point of this for the Obama camp is to identify the undecided and the people who might be willing to talk to them.  Getting so many answering machines was a bit of a bummer, but it was great to get so much positive feedback from the supporters.  

On my way out, one of the phone-bank leaders asked if I'd be willing to come back to train others to call.  I guess I did a pretty good job today.  So, I've upped my commitment.  I figure that there are a lot of people who don't feel comfortable doing some campaigning or don't think they have time.  I guess I should do as much as I can in place of those who can't.

Shout out to Schlotty for another Boston Qualifying time!  Maybe she'll come pace me in Eugene...

Friday, October 3, 2008

Holy Tacos!

Can you believe that just after I posted my blog, this popped up on wordles?  Redwood City Taquerias!!!  (I teach in the R-dub-C, as they say.)

What Are You Saying?

Amy posted a Wordle on her blog today. I loved it, as it reminds me of the NYT when they show words that people have been talking about in sizes proportional to their occurrence.

Ali, I think we should have Wordle Wednesdays instead of Wordless.

First I tried to Wordle my blog:
Something didn't look right. I don't think I've really talked about temple that much. So, I changed my settings to have all posts on the front page and tried again:


Wait, is this the same? I think it is, now that I inspect it. Do I really write "like" that much. A quick Ctl+F in Google Chrome tells me:
214 "like"
142 "think"
118 "school"
118 "new" (including newspaper I guess)
44 "hope"
44 "local"
6 "temple" (why's it so big?)
2 "pluots"

Just to name a few. But something's amiss here. When I clicked on my word count of the Wordle, it said "like" was 9. Clearly, Wordle is not reading my entire blog.

So here's my last attempt. I copied my entire blog and wordled it. This is my blog. I am realizing, I don't really say very much of substance, do I?



So, this is fun. What next? Obvi, last night's VP debate. I copied it from the NYT transcript, which kept in all the "Ifill," "Biden," and "Palin" in front of each person's quotation. In Coolvetica font:

But mine looks different than this posted one...I'll have to play around with this more as you can change fonts and colors and fiddle with the sizes yourself. That's not cool.


There are some great Wordles in the Gallery at their page. I liked the Psalms and Big Lebowski script (inappropriate for younger viewers) and The Declaration of Independence. But maybe Prufrock is my favorite. It would be interesting to see the bailout bill passed today.

Thanks Amy for a fun website!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Shout Outs!

1. Hopkins field hockey team.  10-0!  #3 in the country.  Ripping it up all over the place, setting records, and taking names.  I hope to get to see them when I'm home in Nov.  That might take some pulling off, but it would be cool

2. Red Sox!  Looks like a good game last night.  The Sox have won 10 straight in the post season against the Angels.  I hope all these teams get past 10 wins...

3. I have my first college acceptance.  One of my mentees was accepted to her first choice college.  One down, 15 to go.  


No Better Time Than Now

Note: for those of you on the other side of the aisle, I hope that you at least get something out of this post, if only a reminder about the importance of the democratic process in this country and that we can all make our vote feel more important.  Or, you don't have to read it.

"Are you fired up?"  That was the first question I was asked after I entered the "Silicon Valley For Obama" office.  I went tonight for a Volunteer Orientation, hoping to learn a bit more about how I'm going to talk to voters on November 1 and 2.  I wasn't fired up when I was asked this question to be honest.  I was tired.  I dragged myself there from a long day at school (where I had graded 100 quizzes and 15 projects over the course of the day) and I almost didn't go.  But after a few minutes, I realized that there were two inpired people standing in front of me letting me know what I can do, there were six students from the local girls's private school there with their teacher excited to get to work, and many, many baby boomers.  When they took a poll at the beginning, most people had never been in a campaign office or been a part of a campaign before at all.

Maybe you're like me and delete all Obama's emails that ask me to make calls.  After tonight, I'm totally committed to being in that office twice a week to do so.  It's actually not that intimidating because the goal of the phoning right now is to identify voters.  If they are supporting McCain, you thank them and end the call.  If they are undecided, you ask them if they have any questions.  It's only if they are a Barack supporter that you have a longer conversation about getting involved.  In the last two elections, I have felt as though my vote doesn't really matter since I've always been in a blue state.  I am now realizing that while I still need to vote, it's my voice that matters much, much more.

So, yes, I am now fired up.  This weekend 50,000 calls need to go to Nevada and New Mexico, whose voter registration ends on Tuesday.  That's a big task.  Since I graded like a crazy person today, I think I'll stop by their office on Friday or Sunday and make some calls.  Both states are very precarious right now.  There are battleground states bordering nearly everyone I know (except the one person I know in Louisiana) and what that means is that this is right in your backyard.  You can call New Mexico and Nevada...or you can Colorado or Florida,  New Hampshire or Maine, Ohio or Virginia.  

We are this country.  If we really want change, maybe we need to mix it up a little bit in our own lives.  I've never been the kind of person who felt comfortable asking people to sign something or felt like I can convince someone to change their mind.  I never thought I'd be doing what I'm doing, but, for me, this is too important to sit on the sidelines and hope for hope.  I think about my students and how most of them can't even vote.  I try to think about what might make a better future for each of them (this 11-year old kid is giving speeches about it).  So, I'm doing something.  I hope you join me.  Shoot me an email or give me a call if you want to talk through this.

Local Day #1

Ah the joys of California.

Today, among the things I will eat will be...plain yogurt from Brown Cow in Antioch, CA with strawberries and pluots from the farmer's market, more pluots throughout the day, and homemade yellow squash and tomato soup with local cream and brioche baked in SF.  I will admit that I did make some lemon cheesecake bars (with non-local cream cheese and sugar and ginger snaps...but everything else local) because the lemons are just falling off my tree and I feel guilty that I don't use them very much.  I'll bring those into school tomorrow for our faculty meeting.

I'm thinking that I might need to make apple pie or crisp this weekend to celebrate the Jewish New Year (local ingredients for that will be tough to come by...flour does exist but I'd have to drive up to Yolo County which is more than an hour away).  I went to temple on Monday night for Rosh Hashana, which made me both very sad (thinking about the year that I've just had) and very hopeful (thinking about the next one).  I forgot how much I just really like going to temple.  I love doing the prayers, singing the songs, practicing the Hebrew, and listening to the sermons (the rabbi on Monday told us that we should work not on being perfect but being present...I like this).  It's interesting because I don't consider myself a fervently religious person, but I just like the traditions that I grew up with.  Why haven't I been going to temple out here?  For one, I'm in total withdrawal from being away from Temple Israel in Boston and two, I'm just so darn tired on Friday evening.  But, my Jewish New Year's resolution is to go at least once a month. I'm going to try a local temple that many have recommended and if that doesn't work, I will go to Stanford Hillel.  The dates are already on the calendar: Oct 24, Nov 14, and December 5 or 12 depending on our school dance.  So, hold me to it!