So who is this Stam anyway?

The devil you know

Probably should have taken care of this right at the beginning, but like they say, better late than never.

There's steriotypes about just about anything in this world--some old, some new, some just plain weird. Jews included. So to redress a few that I've heard of:

1. Jews do not have horns (no, not even really little ones hidden in our hair! If I remember correctly, Michaelangelo or some other great artist mis-translated a bit of the Hebrew bible which can be either 'rays' or 'horns' in English, and so painted Moses with horns :P). Or tails. Or pointed teeth. If you're looking for any of those, go check out the MeadeHall. Plenty of devil-types there. Even one knee-high one who I mentioned a few posts back.

2. Jews don't own all the banks, newspapers, and stuff like that. Don't I wish! But if we did, would I be scraping together my savings for a secondhand laptop? :P If you're looking for someone who owns/controls nearly everything, start at www.msn.com

3. "Jews are meek, especially when persecuted." I think I must have overlooked this one during my edJewcation ::winks::. I'm not meek. Quiet, maybe, but not meek.

4. Jews do have plenty of weird customs, but none of them involve sacrifices, especially not of the human variety. Just stuff like wrapping leather boxes with long straps around arms, wearing sheets while praying, waving palm branches at certain times of the year, stuff like that. You know, just the mildly weird instead of majorly horrible. We'll leave the majorly horrible for obscure cults and stuff.

And that's all that I can think of offhand, although if anyone else wants to remind me of others I'll redress them at a later occasion ::grins::

Unusual...

Well, isn't this interesting?

During my chassidus (the inner secrets of Judaism, the way G-dliness works in/creates the world, that kind of stuff. A little hard to explain on one foot.) class, the way the brain/heart/liver work together was brought as both an example and a lesson on how the teachings reflect both on the large (cosmic, meta-cosmic, maybe?) and the small (the body). And not a basic explanation, either ("Well, the heart's a big pump, and..."). Full, in-depth descriptions of how and what it does.

And I found myself learning things about the way the body works that I'd never learnt in science class. From 'religious studies'.

Sometimes I wonder if doctors really understand things better that the old men who sit around and study old dusty volumes of the Talmud...

Travel problems

If you're planning an extended stay overseas, and you have any idea that you'll need large amounts of money sent to you, be darn sure you have a proper way of getting it to you there...

And be real sure that it's going to work. And not cost you half the Earth to pull the cash out.

I thought I'd done all this.

You see, when I left Australia for Israel I didn't have a credit card I could use to pull out cash here. But this was when the international links were just getting better, and so by switching banks (to the Commonwealth Bank) I could get a keycard with access to the international Cirrus and Maestro systems. Their symbols look somewhat similar to the Visa or Mastercard twin circles, but they're just a different color. Cirrus is light blue/dark blue, and Maestro is light blue/red.

So that all seemed fine. Even the fees (AU$4 for a withdrawal, or AU$1 for a balance inquiry) didn't seem excessive, considering the service offered.

Then I get to Israel and find out that not only is there a per-withdrawal limit, but there is also a per-day limit.
Of approximately US$500.
For which I have to make two separate withdrawals.
And the Israel links (or the ATMs) aren't sophisticated enough for me to ask for a balance, either.

One word.

Surprise, surprise

I know that no mere man has a hope of understanding a woman...

But even so, you'd think I could do a little better than I am so far. Who can predict what that little slip of a girl is going to do next?!?

Maybe this is why she's a wild mage, or because of it. But she changes direction on me so darn fast I just about get whiplash.

First she's angry/scared and won't even talk to Aeryn. Then she's just angry, but only because Aeryn let her hurt him. Then she's not angry at all, just wants to know how she did. And then-

::sighs::

Is it any small wonder why Aeryn ends up looking surprised more than half the time?

Oops.

Think, then act! Think, then act! Think, then act! How could I have been so stupid as to have overlooked this??

I don't think that it's fully sunk in just how different the MeadeHall is from more typical dice-based RPing. There's more emphasis on the actual character interaction, and less actual fighting, unless one or more of the players are feeling frisky.

Something I still seem to be a little behind on. Case in point, the session I'm in the middle of. I came within a hairs-breadth of having to write Aeryn off completely, as far as the Hall (and I) was concerned.

Of course, this depended on the reaction of the other player, but had things swung one way, then the only in-character response appropriate to him would have had me removing him from Marsember. Permanently.

Fortunately for me, they didn't.

Stam, when are you going to learn to actually think before starting these things?

Mixed Messages

If the first things that happen during a day are any indication on how the rest of the day/week are going to turn out, then this one's going to be a funny one indeed.

I finally got up and walked into the office, knowing that there was just enough water for one cup of coffee. Well, so much for that one. Someone beat me to it. Damn.
My first words of the day were, "I think I'm going to go back to bed."

Then my parents called. Apparently they had agreed that I would need a laptop for work, so they're arranging to get me my savings plus the little extra needed. Definitely on the plus side, that one. Except now I'll be broke after I buy it >_<

Logging on to Neopets, I checked out my little gallery of body parts and find that the Gallery Faerie ("There's no such thing as a Gallery Faerie!" I hear you say? Well, you're mostly right. But some people are nice enough that they actually created accounts based on the idea, and spend their time and hard-earned NP on gifts to others.) dropped by, giving me one of the really expensive items I was missing. Wow.

I stepped outside after that, headed to the store to get some decent water so I could (finally!) have a cup of coffee. And it's stinking hot out there. Ick.

Cup of coffee safely at my elbow, I brave the phone lines to call my old workplace.
Bad: My former boss is still there.
Good: He's not the boss of the department anymore.
Good: The boss of my ex-boss thinks the department is running better now.
Bad: The boss of my ex-boss doesn't want to re-hire me.

Confused? Mixed messages? Just plain mayhem?

You're not alone out there.

Work, work, work...

I know, I know, this is the sort of thing you'd expect to see on a Monday, not during the weekend.

But here in Israel, Sunday is Monday. The working week's Sunday thru Thursday, with Friday and Saturday (Sabbath) off.

And by way of both introduction and warning, I've been somewhat depressed this weekend. So apologies in advance for all the whining.

Work.

How are you supposed to break into that 'first' job that really kick-starts your career? You know, the one you can either climb the ladder in, or build on, or (f' cryin' out loud!) at least live with going into the place every day of every week?

Is it supposed to be luck, or a good training school, or connections? If so, I'm fresh out of all three. Because my first serious job was under a total [words deleted] of an incompetant boss, for which I believe I currently hold the record for dealing with (by means of a little forewarning, a stubborn streak a mile wide and a fair amount of indifference, I think). I'm considering calling the company again today to see if things have changed there...and if they'll hire me again.

Yeah.

Rock bottom? Probably pretty close. But there's been no bites on any of the CVs I've sent out recently (and not-so-recently, too). The only thing remotely resembling Actual Work I've had recently is a freelance project that I'm more-or-less at the tail end of.

Which is teaching me quite a bit more than I knew previously, I'll admit. And all stuff that you can't really learn in a classroom, unless the teacher is quite practical-minded.

Technical styles and formatting. Dealing with the programmers. (No offense intended to any of said who I know. I'm sure you all get on famously with your in-house technical writer.) QA. Indexing (which I'm still working on).

But all this still leaves me hanging in a foreign country with No Visible Means of Support (non-wealthy parents don't count, of course), somewhere in the vincinity of US$700 in savings that I really do need to spend on a laptop for work, and another approximate US$450 in income for the freelance project. About thirty days after it gets completed, anyway.

And Jack Didley after that. I don't really wonder why I've got insomnia and am typing this at 3:40am on Sunday morning anymore.

Cats

What would the human race do without them?

Probably get a great deal more peace. But then, there'd be no kitties to stroke when they deigned to accept such affection ;)

So here's a few one-liners I found about these furry felines:

Managing senior programmers is like herding cats.

There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.

One cat just leads to another.

Dogs come when they're called; cats take a message and get back to you later.

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia.

Quantas, the Australian way to fly!

Here's a few good ones a friend of mine sent to me, which show two things: not only does this airline keep on top of their 'plane problems, but they also have a lot of fun doing it ;)

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.)

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Lions and tigers and devils, oh my!

Isn't it interesting how fast the unusual becomes commonplace?

AD&D and the Forgotten Realms have more than a few strange characters, classes and overall ideas. And the Hall often gets more than its fair share of the weird and wacky.

Last Monday was the first regular Hall meet after the invading orcs had been evicted. My character Aeryn walked into the Hall, his usual punctual self, only to have to pick his jaw up off the floor on seeing what looked like every dish in the place playing games and dancing on every flat surface.
(Apparently the enchanted dishes hadn't been allowed out during the occupation of the city and were celebrating, so he'd never seen them before...)

This week, not only did he take a visit to Zoya's Tower, where uncommon/unusual is the watchword and nothing stays constant (she's a wild mage and priestess of the God of wild magic, as I understand it), but he also stepped into the Hall on Monday to find the local Goddess (although he didn't know that) back in town along with her very-devil-looking toddler of a son.

Zoya's Tower is almost bad enough on its own. I mean, when Aeryn was a little hesitant about touching a stone wall, Summer said jokingly, "It's OK, it won't bite you." Then she hesitated a moment and added, "Well, it might. But not usually." Needless to say, Aeryn didn't touch anything else until he got diverted by the library ;)

But if someone would have told me that my character would walk into a bar in the Forgotten Realms and end up bouncing (and tickling) a toddling little devil on his knee a week ago, I would have told them they were nuts. Totally nuts.

As it was, I still don't know how close he came to getting bitten...

Pics!

I've been on Neopets for more than a year, and on the Hall for a good couple of months. Surely there's more than a few of you out there curious as to how Stam really looks...

Well, as usual that's somewhat complicated. There's two of me! ;)

Yes, I can hear people going for the straitjackets. No, I'm not schizo or anything like that. Just that my 'net persona tends to be more than a little different from my real, sometimes-rabbinical self. Hence:

This here is me all dressed up for what is closest on the Jewish calendar to Halloween. It's called Purim, and I'll explain that (again, to some) if you ask ;) Kids--and not a few adults--dress up, although the theme is usually not scary-based like Halloween. And this is me looking all rabbinical and stuff. Although that's only a rabbinical DressCon 2. The full deal for formal occasions or looking spiffy would be a darker suit (usually black, although mine is a dark navy with green and blue pinstripes) and a white shirt. Hat still stays, though ;)

This one's for friends...

Heh. I have more than a few programmers for friends, and happened across these...

I found 'em on a joke site that titled them Programs and the Nerds Who Write 'Em. One-liners, basically :D

Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life.

Real programmers are those that can sleep in front of terminals with their eyes opened.

Real programmers don't work from 9 to 5. If any real programmers are around at 9am it's because they were up all night.

There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.

So what's in a name?

Well, only two votes so far, but that'll do to be going on with ^_^

Some of you were probably thinking, 'Where'd he come up with a nick like that from?' It's not connected with his initials, and for a guy who likes fantasy stories and D&D (and whose character likes to wear black) you'd probably expect something more like 'Shadowwalker' or something, right?

Well, pull up a seat and make yourself comfortable. This might take a bit to explain...

See, it's not English, for a start. 'Stam' is a word in Hebrew (well, it can also be an abbreviation in Hebrew, but that's not the one my nick's based on).

So how did I end up with a Hebrew word as a nick, and (yes, I heard that whispered comment down the back) what does it mean?

When I first came to Israel and the place here where I study, I was slightly late to my first class (jet lag from Australia is a Really Unpleasant Experience). So, one of my fellow students notified the teacher that there was to be a new student. Of course, the teacher wanted to know what my name was.

"So what's his name?"

"Adam."

"And his surname?"

"Um..." The guy didn't know. "Adam, stam."

Now, a word of explanation for the Hebrew-limited. Stam in Hebrew means something like 'just' or 'simply'. At least in this context. So what the student has said was, in effect, 'just Adam' or 'simply adam'.

The teacher thought he was serious. When I finally arrived, he greeted me as Adam Stam.

And in the time-honored manner of nicknames, the more I tried to fix the mistake the more it stuck. So here I am, six years down the track, and to those students who had been there for that year, I'm still Adam Stam, or sometimes just plain Stam.

Well, here I am!

Well, I finally went and caved in. My 'net persona finally has its own diary space--which is more than I can say for me in Real Life! I just got this yesterday, so I hope you'll all bear with me while I learn to tweak the system some...
Anyway, most of the people who are going to read this are likely to be Hallers, so most of you know me, but for those that don't (or just want a refresher course)...

My name's Adam, although on the 'net I usually go by the 'netname Stam on the various sites to which I hold membership. The reason and explanation behind that little handle is a little complicated, and involves two different languages, so I'll leave that for another day and/or a sizable number of requests ;)

I'm Australian, and Jewish, and currently studying/working in Israel. I've already received the first (yes, there's more than one!) level of Rabbinical Ordination. Yeah, you can call me Rabbi Stam ::winks:: If you insist, anyway. Because I won't.

I have 'net accounts on two major time-consuming hobbies, Neopets (best seen and/or played to understand) and the Meade Hall, an online RolePlaying site I got pointed at by one of my fellow Neopets guild members (although I can never quite figure if it's supposed to be one word or two).

Hmm. I think that's enough for my first post, don't you?