Fall rainy days in Tsfat

One cool thing about working in a lab is that there are other women who appreciate cool bugs. Yes, that's right, one of my XX coworkers pointed out cool bugs and suggested a photo shoot the other day right outside the lab. I couldn't get exactly the focus and macro I wanted, but it was fun.












Same day it looked like this when I was leaving work. Not like that today. Today it rained and rained (I saw it from my window, really), and when I left, it was almost dark. Winter time is coming in.











Another cool bug, actually I hate moths. I was able to disassociate enough from my moth phobia to enjoy photographing this lovely specimen. However, when it flapped around I did have an uncontrollable shuddering fit. There is a reason that Godzilla's prime evil enemy was Mothra.













This is another common site this time of year. The flocks of cranes flying south for the winter. They are really quite lovely and graceful.

Last year they were the harbinger of Avian Flu, however. The outbreaks were considered well contained last year, and none of the strain that is contagious to humans was detected.

Still, it affects how I relate to the flocks of birds flying overhead twice a year.

Workshop at Herzliya Pituach

So I got to go to a workshop yesterday for my job at the Sharon Hotel in Herzliya . It was run by Medicguide, and although not exactly what I had expected (the main presenter was full of himself), it was informative, helpful, and a nice way to get to the sea for a day.

One of the things that was most interesting was meeting people. So many interesting medical devices being developed in Israel, so many bright people. Guy named Asher Zilberstein from SLP brought up particularly interesting problems he's having with a German CE audit, but the guy running the workshop felt most of his questions were "too practical". Hrmph, the title of the workshop was "CE Registration of Medical Devices -- A Hands-on Workshop ". What better hands-on than problem solving?

The hotel site makes it look really luxurious, which isn't totally a lie. The funny thing is, the hotel is really old. The public bathrooms in the wing where we were situated were all tiled in old blue ceramic tiling, with plain old white toilets and Kimberly Clark paper dispensers. Hah, not the lap of luxury, but very clean.

Back in Tsfat today.

Simchas Torah already

You'd think I'd be posting more, but all I do is w*rk, w*rk, w*rk. Finally a really cool perk is in from all that w*rk. I'm typing this from my new laptop (okay, it's not really mine, it belongs to the startup that I work for under the auspices of the hospital, but I'm #1 personnel in that project).

Don't have a lot of data yet, so it's a good thing I'm getting toys! I also don't have any vacation days. This was a major drag during Sukkos vacation for the kids. So I made sure that on the second day of Chol Hamoed I had to travel to Jerusalem on business. Of course, I took the whole family with me. The Old City was packed, and it felt very festive. After davening at the Wall, we had pizza and ice cream, then tried to go to CheaperKol, but it was closed. Then the ride home. Hey, it was my only day off.

Next week I have a whole day workshop at the Sharon Hotel in Herzlia Pituach. I went to see if they have kosher certification, and am wondering if I can sneak away to the sea water pool during a break. Check it out www.sharon.co.il/
Here's a pic of some of the rebuilding that's going on at the building that took a direct hit in the war this summer.