A different ball game

Maccabi won the second game against Partisan today. The game was so different, it's amazing. They started the first game in a fury, and got everything their way at the beginning, with amazing percentages. Then it went downhill starting the second part of the second quarter. This game started even, but Maccabi went to fight and show very strong defense and ran away in the second quarter. The halves of both games ended with a similar difference, but with a completely different momentum. The game ended with Maccabi blowout. Now, it is away to Belgrade.

Elf Killing And Other Hobbies: Drive By Post#links

Elf Killing And Other Hobbies: Drive By Post#links

News, changes and a kitchen sink

Well, ok, there isn't really a sink... per se.
I've slightly updated the blog and created a blogroll, where I will add from time to time blogs I like to read. It isn't comprehensive, and some of the blogs don't have a direct connection to the issues of this blog, but I see it drifting into a more general direction anyway.

I hadn't written about it before, but i applied for an MFA in Writing at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. It looks like a nice program. We'll see. In any case, I needed recommendation letters, and it was a bit of a puzzle for me. The situation is different than the Engineering programs where I have plenty of people who worked with me in the past and would be able to vouch for my abilities. So, thankfully, AbsoluteWrite provided me with the opportunity to ask people I know there. Here are my deepest thanks to Celina Summers (I got a mention on the blog), to Don Platt and to my former team leader Sagi Abramovich for their recommendation letters.

There might be more to come out of my communications with Celina, but I will update if and when it happens.

Yesterday I had a pretty nasty shock in my work. I even felt emotional enough to send Sagi an e-mail on the subject. I translated a document talking about various money laundering schemes by Hamas to fund their operations. In one of the bits it talked about an arrest (several years ago) of a guy who was responsible for the Zerifin Camp hitchhikers' station. For those not familiar with the situation, there are hitchhikers' stations near every military camp in Israel, and Zerifin is one of the largest camps around. It is situated in the middle of Israel, near the town of Rishon-Le-Zion. I lived in that town for several years and served at that camp. It is mostly a training base with the addition of some other non-combat bases. During the Second Intifadah, there was a bombing on the hitchhikers' station near the base. I remember it very well, because I had spent the whole evening trying to reach the soldiers from the base to make sure they were ok. All the guys from my department were on the base at the time, but our unit was a small one, and I knew every soldier personally. This translation brought back those memories, and the two thoughts I had were, "what a small world" and "what a fucked up country we are".

Oy vey!

Maccabi had a 20 point lead in the second quarter and went to lose the first game and the home court advantage to Partisan. At the beginning it looked like a blowout for Maccabi, but ended in the fourth quarter with embarrassing misses under the basket.

The second game is on Thursday and then to Belgrade

Yay! I've got a new toy!

I think I should mention here that I had a birthday at the beginning of March. I know, I know, I am 33. This is so sad. Well, not really. I am pretty pleased with my life so far. I slowed down a little when we moved to Omaha, but that is only for the best.

Anyway, I ordered a Sony eReader The Daily Edition as a present for myself. It arrived a couple of days ago, but I hadn't had the chance to really play with it till today. It is great! I love it. Now, I have even more books on my "to read list".

Amazing!

Maccabi Tel-Aviv had won an amazing games against Real Madrid in Madrid. It was the usual heart attack inducing game Maccabi is so good at providing its fans. It won first place in the top 16 group and now will play Partisan Belgrad in top 8 in a best of 5 series. Maccabi will also have a home court advantage. For most of the game it looked like Maccabi was a no show, but they exploded in the last quarter.

Simply amazing. There is a hex on Real Madrid this week, after the soccer team was ousted out of the Champions' League. Now Real in basketball will play Barcelona (an incredible team), and Barcelona will have home court advantage.

Maccabi has a clear road to final four. They are dependent solely on themselves.

Writing

I've been having a rather productive week in writing. Which is great. I had something of a writers' block for a long while, but, hopefully, this is over now. I am also arranging the submission package for an MFA program at UNO. I am not sure I will end up going, but it looks like an interesting program. So, yesterday I wrote a self assessment letter of my writing. It got me thinking about what my goals really are, what is stopping me etc. It doesn't happen often. Maybe it should. Makes you sharper.

Spring or not

I was about to post how strange it was that most of the snow disappeared within a week. As far as I can remember from my childhood in Ukraine, this usually took much longer. Anyway, this post was foiled by a relatively heavy snow falling since this morning. Go figure.

Final 8

Yay!
Maccabi Tel Aviv had won today against Sienna in a very good game that ended with a much bigger difference that could have been expected based on the game. Since, at the same time Real Madrid had won against Efez Pilsen, Maccabi qualified to final eight today irrespective of the result next week. That doesn't mean there isn't anything to play for next week. If they win their away game in Madrid, they qualify from the top spot, making sure they have the home court advantage at the final eight stage. In any case, Maccabi played very well at this stage with the exception of the game last week in Pilzen. Congrats, and way to go.

Attack of the Giant Spiders -- movie at seven

We've been to a Purim celebration at the Synagogue yesterday. It was actually very nice. It is a bit hysterical how they mix the Hebrew words into English. The day before that, we went to the same synagogue for the reading of the Esther Scroll. It's the first time I actually heard it in full. I again wonder at the irony of me having to move to US to do these things.

Anyway. At the Purim celebration there was an attraction for the kids -- a woman made really cute balloon animals and stuff. I never saw anything on par in Israel. Rather amazing. Giant spiders were all the rage :) Hence the title of the thread.

While driving back home we had a really long debate whether we see the moon or something else. It was completely not of this world. Eerie, like in the werewolf movies. A perfect finish for our "movie" night :)