Brain Dump

I know it's been a while. I've been very busy. It's not even that I have nothing to write about. There were a couple of ADD-laced observations that I wanted to share in the mean time:

• Definition of an exercise in futility: taking a Segway on a treadmill
• I have a great sweatshirt (my 2nd favorite, behind my 10-year-old, frayed, green hooded sweatshirt); it's a black hooded sweatshirt which says 'Maryland' in Hebrew characters on the front, and has the UMD terrapin mascot on the back. I was wearing it last night, and an Israeli saw the front: jet black, with the single word 'Maryland' in Hebrew. He thought I was making a political statement. Meshugga velt.
• I had fun with a colleague from an English-speaking non-American country who was ranting about the fact that, for Americans, Thanksgiving Day has become a Yom Tov. I told him that he didn't know the half of it, that I grew up in a relatively right-wing community and that nevertheless we would lain in shul every Thanksgiving Day. He was beside himself. He started foaming at the mouth, until a student 'clued him in'.