The End of Shloshim

It's been really easy for me to remember when the coronavirus became more than just something that impacted people internationally or on cruise ships. My dad's funeral was on Wednesday, March 11th. That evening, the NBA shut down after Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, Tom Hanks announced that he tested positive in Australia, and Sarah Palin was revealed as the Bear on The Masked Singer. It was truly a surreal day. 

On our drive home from Pittsburgh a few days later, we found out that my kids' schools and my office were going to be closed the following week. I went to my synagogue for Shabbat services on Friday night and Saturday and people really didn't know how to react. There were a few elbow bumps but no handshakes or hugs. This was also before people realized that masks helped. On Sunday evening, we hosted some friends for shiva, part of the week-long mourning period in Judaism, and that was really the last time I spent time with people other than those in my home without social distancing. 

Right around that time, many people around the country started to realize that a lot of things needed to happen online instead of in person and that included religious services. While my own synagogue hosted services online each week on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I needed somewhere for the other days of the week.

(Sorry. I've been in the same room as my first grader during his school day for months!)

On that first Monday and Tuesday, I found an online minyan (a quorum of 10 people for a prayer service) in order to say the Mourner's prayer for my dad. I didn't know anyone at that particular synagogue, and it was awkward with everyone trying to figure out how an online service should work. Then, I connected with a friend from college who just happened to be a rabbi. Even though she and her synagogue are several thousand miles and several time zones away, I started joining their minyans. So every day since I got home from the funeral in March, I've attended a minyan between my synagogue and my friend's congregation (with an occasional cameo at my brother's synagogue). While I wrote about much of this way back in June, the period of Shloshim* officially ended for me on Monday. (I also tried to explain what shiva and shloshim are in that post.) Before I get to the thank you portion of this post, I thought I would share some highlights from attending online services every day since March.

- Seeing a guy in his 70s without a shirt while eating breakfast at his kitchen table.

- Witnessing a family perform the Adon Olam prayer/song together to the tune of Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way. (It was truly awesome!)

- Being able to "attend" a Bar Mitzvah in Arizona while in my own home.

- Attending a B'Not Mitzvah and listening to three girls singing almost magically together.

- Wearing pajama pants for the vast majority of these services. 

- Hearing some variation of "you're on mute," "you need to unmute yourself," or "can everyone mute themselves" probably hundreds of times.

- Watching a recognizable TV personality on the computer screen as he attended the same service as me. He appeared to be wearing a Cleveland Browns sweater. 

(It was not one of the guys in this picture.)

It's amazing that my dad passed away 11 months ago in the Hebrew calendar. Being able to attend these services has really been comforting. With everything going on in my life and in the country during this pandemic, this has been the one consistent part of my life each and every day. I now have two separate communities where I feel welcomed. And yes, it's still a little strange knowing many of these people only via Zoom and never really having one-on-one conversations. I'm not trying to do a silver lining thing here, but I wouldn't have done services during the entire 11-month period every day in normal times. It just wouldn't have been realistic with commuting to and from work, kids activities, and even just driving to services. 

I want to thank my family for being supportive in me doing services the entire time. Thanks to both synagogues for having online minyans during the pandemic. And thanks to you for reading this blog post. 

* Update/Correction: Shloshim in Hebrew means 30, so the 30-day mourning period actually ended in April. There does not seem to be a specific name for the 11-month period for a parent, so I'm using the term incorrectly. Since this has already been published, I'll keep the name, especially since The End of the 11-Month Mourning Period isn't as "catchy" of a title.

Vote Against Tom Wilson

I generally don’t write much about politics on this blog. I mean, sure I looked into starting an exploratory committee to run for the President in 2020, criticized Donald Trump for calling Eat ‘N Park by the wrong name, and questioned Sarah Palin’s allegiance to any particular NFL team, but I prefer writing about many other topics. However, I saw these campaign signs driving around Northern Virginia, and, well, let’s see if you have the same reaction as me.

Tom Wilson for school board? TOM WILSON FOR SCHOOL BOARD? Look, I understand that he has name recognition. Being a professional hockey player on the Washington Capitals and winning the Stanley Cup with them is going to garner a lot of positive support in community. But why school board? What experience does he have with American public schools? I mean, he was born in Toronto, didn’t go to college (not a requirement for school board, but it seems like you want someone with some college on their resume in this position) and has only lived in the United States for the last 6 or 7 years. During this time, has he become familiar with the Fairfax County Public School ("FCPS") district, only one of the 15 largest public school systems in the United States? It seems like he’s spent most of the time figuring out the best way to injure his opponents. To be fair, maybe he has spent significant time learning about FCPS and American school systems during all of the time away from ice rinks during suspensions.

Based on his character alone, I will not vote for Tom Wilson. Granted, I don't live in his district, but I will do everything I can to support his opponent, whoever that may be. Go Pens!

So, um, it turns out the Tom Wilson on the Tom Wilson for School Board Facebook page (per the picture above) looks a little different than the hockey player. In addition, he's already on the FCPS school board and is running for reelection. I'm starting to think that maybe it's not the same Tom Wilson. In that case, please disregard what I just wrote.

Chad Smith’s False Hope

Chad Smith is the excellent drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band I saw perform at the Verizon Center in DC last week. Yes, the show was great though I would have preferred that the band play a few less songs from their new album and perform Breaking the Girl and Snow (Hey Oh). I could write much more about the show, but I want to focus on Mr. Smith. At the end of the concert, Chad Smith was the last member of the band on stage. He threw a few of his drumsticks into the crowd, went to the microphone and said, “I hope that Capitals win the [f’n] Cup!” He did not say f’n. Anyway, I wouldn’t have thought much about Smith’s proclamation except that the next day I saw this article and video of Smith by NHL.com:



This text is from the article:

But the longtime Detroit Red Wings fan has also been lucky enough to live out some of his childhood hockey dreams. For the Michigan-born Smith, a lifelong infatuation with the Wings reached a new level in 1997, when he found himself in the locker room at Joe Louis Arena as the Red Wings celebrated their first Stanley Cup in 42 years.

Your favorite team wins the Stanley Cup and you get to celebrate the victory in the locker room. That’s just awesome.

A Los Angeles resident for decades, Smith has adopted the Kings as another NHL favorite. For the drummer, who occasionally attends Kings games when the band isn't touring, their current run to the Western Conference Finals has been exciting.

Essentially, Smith roots for the Kings unless they face the Red Wings. I completely understand this. When I lived in San Diego, I supported Tony Gwynn and the Padres unless they faced the Pirates. I also lived in Columbus during the inaugural season of the Blue Jackets, so I have a connection to that organization from my time working as a beer man at Nationwide Arena. Of course, as much as I want Columbus to do well, the Penguins will always be my favorite team.

Anyway, let’s get back to Chad Smith. Nashville eliminated the Red Wings in the first round of this year’s NHL playoffs. With the Kings advancing to the Western Conference finals, you would think that Smith now wants Los Angeles to win the Stanley Cup. So why the "I hope the Capitals win the Cup" statement?

Let’s go back to the video. If you watched it, you probably noticed the 4:40 mark where Smith states "I think Washington’s going to win tonight (meaning game 6 last Wednesday). I don’t really want them to win…but game 7 is going to the Rangers." He continues by stating that he hopes that the Kings and Rangers meet in the finals. So what the heck, Chad Smith? Why state that you hope the Caps win when you also want the Kings and Rangers to win? Is Smith looking to run for political office? If so, it's a good strategy to pander to the New York and Los Angeles voters. I guess that you don't want to upset the Capitals fans either. This seems like a Sarah Palin situation from 2008 all over again. With the Capitals loss to the Rangers in game seven on Saturday, I guess that Smith's hopes of the Caps winning the Cup this year are over.

For more about the Chili Peppers concert in DC check out the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post reviews.

The Hank Williams Jr. Experience

I know very little about Hank Williams Jr., but I like him for two main reasons. First, the Monday Night Football theme based on his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" is an incredible, pump-you-up song. Second, Williams is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. These may be shallow reasons to like Hank Williams Jr., but that works for me.

However, I’m starting to get a little worried about Williams. He sang the national anthem during the Monday night game this week while wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey. I can’t say that I agree with him wearing a jersey other than a Steelers one, but I guess that he wanted to make a good impression for everyone in Nashville (even though you would think he would already be well received by Tennessee fans based on Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year awards and the Monday Night Football song). Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend for Williams. In the video below, Williams is shown wearing a Denver Broncos jersey and a Washington Redskins jersey. Yes, there is video of him wearing a Steelers’ Joey Porter jersey, but he may be hanging out with Sarah Palin a little too much lately.

On to the video, just after the 3:35 mark, Williams states, "If [Obama’s] elected with his agenda the American restaurant business is over. Just plain and simple, it’s over." Now Williams is referring to a conversation he apparently had with an owner of a large restaurant chain, but, um, what? Neil Cavuto looks rather surprised and questions Williams by asking, "People are not going to eat," but Williams doesn’t hear him. What an odd comment by Williams from an odd interview. Just as a side note, I don’t think that Neil Cavuto will ever be confused with Edward R. Murrow as an interviewer.




h/t Messiah, now part of White Nerdy Wonks

Weekend Links

There are times during the weekend when you’re waiting for the football game to start or looking to kill time before you go out. Well, I try to help by providing links that are informative and/or entertaining (or at the very least, a way to waste a few minutes). Here are some sports and Sarah Palin links:

Former NFL player Ross Tucker writes on Sports Illustrated that Steeler fans are the best in the league. I’m not going to disagree.

Are you looking for something to do this Columbus Day (that's Monday)? Head to the Forbes Field wall in Oakland (a Pittsburgh neighborhood, not the city in California) to celebrate the anniversary of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series championship.

ESPN’s Bill Simmons wrote an excellent piece about the recently fired Los Angeles Clippers General Manager, Elgin Baylor. While I knew that Baylor was a great basketball player, I never knew about his full history.

I’m always amazed by Gilbert Arenas. He is a fascinating and likable individual who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. He may need a filter once in a while like in this interview with Slam.

SLAM: What do you know about Sarah Palin?

Gil: That she’s a female Bush. Retarded. I’m not that into politics, I try to stay away until things get closer. But just from what I can tell she’s a moron. She can’t bullshit yet. As a politician she doesn’t know how to bullshit. She’ll just run around the question. “Who’s better, Kobe or LeBron?” “Well you know D.Wade, he’s been looking nice lately, so those are tough choices.” What the f*ck are you talking about?!

Speaking of Palin, the Alaska legislative probe found that she misused her power. (The comments here are scary and sad on both sides. The election can’t be over soon enough.) In a similar article, Yahoo has some details about Palin’s former brother-in-law who she tried to get fired, Mike Wooten.

Wooten had been in hot water before Palin became governor over allegations that he illegally shot a moose, drank beer in a patrol car and used a Taser on his stepson.

Does Wooten represent the Joe Six-Pack Palin always talks about? (Yes, a bit of a cheap shot here against Palin. My question is this: how was Wooten able to keep his job after these allegations? Did the allegations turn out to be untrue?)

In more Palin news, she is scheduled to drop the puck in Philadelphia on Saturday night for the Flyers-Rangers game. Puck Daddy has some insight from some Philadelphia bloggers. I'm sure this will go well.

Enjoy your weekend!

Friday Links

Here are some outstanding links to get you to the weekend:

If you’re on Facebook, join the Sean’s Ramblings blog network.

In honor of its 10th birthday, Google has brought back its oldest available index from January 2001. As a comparison, a search for Ben Roethlisberger using the old version gets 602 results; a search for Ben Roethlisberger today brings about 1,420,000 results!

I was again honored to be a part of One for the Other Thumb’s weekly Meeting People is Easy.

What was the #1 song on the day you were born or the day you graduated from high school? Check out this website to find out. (h/t Jane Doe)

Inspired by this week’s 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs countdown on VH1 (which I have been watching), Hugging Harold Reynolds took this year’s eight baseball playoff teams in relation to songs on the countdown.

Think you know Pittsburgh. Take the Post-Gazette’s Pittsburgh 250 quiz.

Mystery Man (in writing his first post in 3+ months) thinks that the Pirates should hire Phil Elson, a graduate of Allderdice High School and Point Park College, to replace the retired Lanny Frattare

I received an email from Jocelyn of Rotohog who feels that besides being a Steelers, Eagles and Seahawks fan, Sarah Palin may also be a Redskins fan based on this video:



I’m heading to Jacksonville this afternoon to attend the Steelers-Jaguars game on Sunday night. If you’re at the game, I’ll be the guy wearing a Louis Lipps jersey.

What NFL Team Does Sarah Palin Support

I have a problem with Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and it has nothing to do with her political views.* Perhaps you saw the three second clip of Palin jogging in a Donovan McNabb Philadelphia Eagles jersey. (If not, the video is below at the 3:11 mark and a picture is on the right.) First of all, besides actual football players, who actually jogs wearing a football jersey? Wouldn’t a T-shirt or Under Armor shirt be more comfortable?

Let’s assume that because Pain is wearing a McNabb jersey in the video, she has some type of affinity for the Eagles. Does she only support the Eagles? Well, when I wrote last month that Joe Biden is a Steelers fan, Captain Easychord shared a July 2007 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article which showed that Palin is also a Steelers fan. So is she a Steelers fan, an Eagles fan, or both? This is where things get even more complex. Sarah Palin is also a member of the official Seattle Seahawks official fan club, the Seahawkers.** Super Bowl XL must have been tough for her since two of her favorite teams were playing against each other.

So my question is this: what football team does Sarah Palin support? Get Charlie Gibson or Katie Couric on this immediately. I think this should be part of Thursday’s Vice Presidential debate. Palin must come clean on her favorite NFL team. Having two or three favorite teams is unacceptable and certainly not something I or most if not all Americans want to see in a potential President or Vice President.



The picture and video are courtesy of CBS via The 700 Level.


* Well, actually I do have a problem with some of her political views, but that is not the point of this post. By the way, I like having footnotes at the bottom of my posts. I can see why lacochran does this so often!

** What a terrible name!


Update: After I wrote all of this, I found that Modern Jackass Magasin wrote something similar about Palin’s fandom. This just confirms the need for Governor Palin to show her true colors (black and gold; blue/navy, green and white; green and white; or possibly even something else)!

Sarah Palin And Republican Hypocrisy

I don’t care where you stand politically, although based on the title alone, you may not like this video. However, this is good stuff from Jon Stewart and The Daily Show.

In case you were wondering, based on the 2005 population, Wasilla is Alaska’s fifth biggest city behind Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Sitka.

h/t to Kevin