Good Luck Boston

So the Poot came back from Israel, made a brief appearance at home, and is off to Boston, along with clean laundry, a 6 month supply of groceries from the stockpile, and my newly acquired hand-me-down Saturn.

I guess I'm back to using the van.

South Mountain Reservation

We haven't just spent the last few weeks obsessing about cars.
Grandma was here for shabbos last week. When we took her home we spent a few hours walking around in South Mountain Reservation.

100,000 Miles Continued ...

As Eli pointed out, there have been a lot of car posts lately, odometer readings in particular.

I don't want to overdo it, but when I posted 100,000 miles on my Astro I said there would be pictures of my van growing up, so here is the first installment:

It all started on January 8th 1997 in Flemington, NJ:

We say goodbye to the old Astro and welcome the new. (But not before the 3 of you take the old for a spin in Donaldson Park.)

All three of you learned how to drive in it.

Don't worry, he's just fine.


Over the years it has done a ton of shlepping.

To the Post Office for The Great Resume Mailing.

With the fixings for Bikur Cholim pesach gift bags.


On dozens of camping trips.




We dressed it up for Purim,
Just joking.

And cleaned it for Pesach.

Even used it for an occasional nap.

I am up to 100,341 miles. Since my Pi has gotten a new car, I will mostly be driving his old Saturn (much better gas mileage) so I won't be putting much mileage on anymore.

Next installment will be: How Do You Get To 100,000 Miles?

New Car For My Pi !!!!!

New Car For My Pi!!!!

100,000 Miles and a promotion

Two big milestones this week.

1st, I reached 100,000 Miles on my Astro. It was a very emotional moment for me.

The transition from 99,999 to 100,000 wasn't dramatic on a digital readout:

Sadly, there was also supposed to be a video here of the changeover. I had it all set up perfectly:

I knew exactly when I was going to reach 100,000 miles - 5 seconds after the trip odometer reading reached .9 miles. The camera setting was at video. My mpg player was set to Willie Nelson's 'On The Road Again', with the earbud pressed against the camera microphone. I was on a side street with no traffic so I could drive and film at the same time.

At the right time, I pressed the button to record ...       but not hard enough.     15 seconds later, 100,000 miles!, I pressed the button again to turn off the camera ...     and turned it on, filming this exciting moment:

I'll try again at 150,000 miles.

The second big thing this week was that I had my annual review.

I am no longer a 'Jr. System Analyst', but an 'Internet Developer.' Much cooler.

Coming in a future post will be pictures of the car growing up.

A Walk In the Park

It has been one year since I started my job in Clark, NJ.
But this post is not about my job. It is about Rahway River Park.

If I leave the house at 7:20am, I get to work on time at 8:00 with about a 40 minute commute. Instead, when I leave the house 20 minutes earlier at 7:00, there is much less traffic and it is only about a 25 minute commute.

Leaving me anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the number of red lights ) for a walk in the park before I start work. Sometimes I also have my camera with me.

Looking back on the year ...