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.

When & In What Order Should Kids Watch Marvel Movies?

Being home 24 hours a day, my kids have had significantly more screen time than they did pre-quarantine. They watch shows like The Masked Singer, American Ninja Warrior Junior, and Lego Masters (and watch each episode several times) and Luigi (2 & 1/2) still enjoys Paw Patrol and Sesame Street. The Moose (9) and Pedro Tulo (6) will often join him with these "kid" shows, though usually with a tablet in their hands. The older two found a Nickelodeon show called Paradise Run, where three teams of kids around ages 11-14 race all over a Hawaiian resort, but I've found that if you've seen one episode, you've seen every episode. They also discovered Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! which resulted in this brief exchange:

Pedro Tulo: Is that a princess?
Me: No, that's Vanna White.

I mentioned recently that we let the kids watch Spaceballs. While The Moose said that he liked it, he definitely didn't get the jokes.

Anyway, I'm trying to expand what they watch. This got me thinking about the Marvel movies.

I am one of about 27 people who hasn't seen many movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really don't have an explanation why, but my best reasoning is that I haven't been to the movie theater much at all since my kids' births. The movies I've seen are those that are tangential to the main story but seemed to get good reviews (and were available during some free movie channel preview) such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man, Deadpool, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. With more free movie channel previews and just airings on regular cable, I started recording several of the movies. All of this leads to my questions in the title of this post. Are my kids old enough to watch the movies? If so, what order should we watch them and do we need to watch all the films in the series?

Oh, if you have other suggestions of TV shows and movies for my boys, please feel free to leave this in the comments too.

Kangaroos Wanted

I love my community message board. Where else could you see a post like this?

Does anyone know of a petting zoo with kangaroos or a rental service with kangaroos for birthday parties?

I mean, sure, requests for kangaroos probably happen all the time in Australia or on websites for zoos. (That’s a thing right?) Not the type of post you typically see in Northern Virginia though.

As always, the fun is in the comments! There are actually a few legitimate responses. Someone suggested a local animal park while someone else shared a kangaroo website. Yes, there is actually kangaroo facility that serves the Washington DC area. Who knew?

Others were appalled by the suggestion.

1. OH NO! That is so cruel. It does not seem so, but is a terrible thing to do to an animal. I can’t believe folks do this sort of things. This must be so traumatic for these guys. All of the noise at parties, travel and handling. There must be something else that would be fun for the kids, but not at the expense of the kangaroo. Just think about it a minute.

2. WHAT? Rental kangaroos is a really, really bad idea

My favorite response, though, was this:

I have a kangaroo, but he’s not for rent.

Does this guy really have a kangaroo or is just messing around? I was able to figure out that he works as an Environmental Scientist, so maybe he does have a kangaroo. Maybe?

What the original poster really should do is contact the executives of The Masked Singer to see if the kangaroo is available.

Another option is to have Anthony Anderson and Jerry O'Connell attend!

Friday Video: Hall & Oates

There is a Hall & Oates revival going on. Want proof? My two older kids really liked the song “Maneater” as performed by the Rottweiler on The Masked Singer. (Try to explain this sentence to somewhat ten years ago...or ten years from now.)



Then, a friend recently went to Nashville and saw John Oates perform at the Grand Old Opry. As I wrote, a Hall & Oates revival!

Therefore, I’m sharing arguably the group’s best song “You Make My Dreams Come True" today. Enjoy the elaborate, state of the art, and cutting edge video.



It’s amazing how the filmmakers had Daryl Hall move out of the shot and then he came right back. (For example at the :50 & :58 second marks). Oates' shoulder shake around the 1:23 mark is also outstanding. Again, state of the art!

I also came across this video of the same song with Hall and Kenny Loggins. Sadly, no Oates.

Sean On Pittsburgh Sports

The biggest story in Pittsburgh sports clearly involves the son of now former Riverhounds assistant coach Mark Pulisic. If you haven’t heard, Chelsea signed his son Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund for approximately $73 million. Not too shabby.

(I'll miss seeing Pulisic in black and gold though.)

Oh, did something else happen in Pittsburgh sports? Perhaps you want to read all about the Penguins scoring 7 goals (chili goal! chili goal! chili goal! chili goal! chili goal!) in a 7-2 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday, extending the team's winning streak to 7 games.

Oh, not what you're looking for? Fine. The Steelers finished 9-6-1 and failed to reach the playoffs. The team had a turnover differential of -11, good for 28th out of 32 NFL teams. If the team had an awful but slightly better turnover differential, they would have reached the playoffs, and Pittsburgh sports fans would be talking about a playoff match-up this weekend instead of this mess.

I don't really want to get into this, but I will. Ben Roethlisberger is the best QB in franchise history, but he also tends to call out teammates on his radio show and threw way too many interceptions this season. He is a good teammate or not a good teammate. Mike Tomlin is still in the top tier of NFL coaches or his team lacks discipline and his players have tuned him out. The defense was inconsistent and gave up too many second half touchdowns. Chris Boswell had an awful season. Unfair penalties. The Le'Veon Bell saga. Ugh, make this all stop. Again, if the team made the playoffs, most of this stuff would have gone away. Winning hides a lot of things.

Now, to top it all off, there's Antonio Brown. Basically, Antonio Brown may or may not have had an injured knee, but he failed to show up to his MRI. He may have been unable to play on Sunday due to an injury or he was suspended. Regardless, he didn't play and now it sounds like he's asked to be traded. Except that Coach Mike Tomlin says that he hasn't asked for a trade.

Here's my two cents. Brown can be difficult and he's a diva. He also remains one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Brown had 104 catches for nearly 1,300 yards, and an amazing 15 touchdowns in 15 games. He's probably a bad teammate, yet, he's so productive. The Steelers would be worse without him. Plus, you can't discount the money. As ESPN's Bill Barnwell tweeted, "If you’re reading that the cap isn’t an issue with an Antonio Brown trade, just ask this: has a team ever eaten 10% of the cap in dead money to trade a Pro Bowl player in the prime of his career?"

While I may dispute the prime of his career part of this Tweet, the rest is accurate. You can't give up 10% of your salary cap to one player not on your roster. Brown isn't going anywhere. With the season over, let's let cooler heads prevail. Brown and the Steelers organization will take some time away from each other and realize that they both need each other.

Again, just make this all stop!

In the meantime, can we have a little joy in our lives? Antonio Brown was (spoiler) good on The Masked Singer, FOX's new show Wednesday night. Yes, really!







By the way, Robin Thicke was an excellent judge on the show. I may need to have a separate blog post just about The Masked Singer. (The terrific Emily Yahr wrote a terrific piece about it.)


The Christian Pulisic picture is from Sports Illustrated.