My mother is such a worrier that it's rediculous. Today my sister was in reserve duty, and she didn't answer her cellphone. So my mother dragged my father to where my sister was to see if everything is okay. They saw she's just in a meeting, so they left.

Oy, ima polania (Polish mother in Hebrew, which is pretty much the equivilant Israeli stereotype of Jewish and Italian mothers in America).

It seems like Ariel Sharon might decide to move up the election (which is supposed to take place in November 2006 or 2007) if his disengagement plan isn't approved by the government. I have mixed feelings about this - for one thing, I think his plan isn't good enough. But I'd be happy to get rid of him when election time comes. The problem is that there's nobody who'll be much better. Whoever it is, I don't want him to be an ex-general (like Shaul Mofaz or Ehud Barak), a hawk (like Bibi Netanyahu) or an extreme peacenik (like Yossi Beilin). I want a moderate leftist (in peace and security issues) and a moderate center-rightist (in economic issues). Maybe Avrum Burg (the former Knesset Speaker) would be best of all the current politicians, though he has his share of flaws as well.

I have the same problem with the US election. I think Bush is doing a terrible job, and I think he should be voted out. I'm not that crazy about Kerry either, though, despite the fact that he was, and still is, my favorite among the Democratic primary candidates. I'd be happy to vote for McCain (for president, not VP).

Here's a silly SAT question I just thought up. Wisconsin : US States, as is Shavuot : Jewish holidays. Why? WI is the dairy state, and Shavuot (or Shavous as Americans call it) is when we eat a lot of dairy products. I have no idea how milk and cheese have anything to do with getting the Torah from Mount Sinai or with the end of the 7 weeks of the Omer (which starts the first day of Passover), but hey, I'm enjoying all the blintzes (rolled up pancakes with a cheese filling) and cheese cake.

I'm also feeling a bit under the weather, but why put a damper on things...

Something is wrong with Blogger's post counter. It says I have 77 posts and 7 recent posts. I've written 2 or 3 posts since then and it still has the same number. The profile also quotes up to the last post before the counter froze. I should check the help forums to see if they know about this problem.

Dana has a new boyfriend. I'm very disappointed. Maybe if I would have had guts last week or even before that, it wouldn't have been too late. Then again, it could be that she never thought of me as boyfriend material anyway so it would have just been awkward. Who knows.

Anyway, time to look for someone else. Maybe the fact that I'm actively looking for someone but without going out much prevents me from actually finding a girlfriend. The only girl who seems interested in me is not too bright, doesn't look good and smokes. I'm not deperate enough to go out with her, since that won't just be a compromise on some little issues - that's totally giving up on finding someone who has anything I look for in a girl, who is worth anything, someone at least on my level. I'm a great guy, dammit! Maybe a bit geeky, but still a great guy!

My sister wants to write a book about our experiences with her son and autism. She has written some stuff over the last few months and she wants us to write too. I think I'll use all I've written about my nephew here, I'll just translate it into Hebrew. Though I'll have to explain that I've already written about him for quite a while without revealing the fact I have a blog.

The peace rally seems to have been a success. The media is reporting between 120 and 250 thousand participants. It's good to see the left is finally waking up, even if I don't entirely agree with all the people that were there (which isn't suprising - different groups with different views took part in this rally). It was apparently such a success, that there were people that wanted to go but there wasn't enough room for them on the bus.

Now testing the new Comments option.

It's been a horrible week. 11 dead soldiers in Gaza. There's a big peace rally in Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square tomorrow, calling for a withdrawal from Gaza and resuming peace talks. Despite the fact that I'm swamped with papers to prepare, I've considered going (maybe because Dana said she'll be there), but I probably won't go. I've got mixed feelings - I don't think we should stay in Gaza, but I'm not sure if a one-sided retreat is a good idea. Who knows - it worked in Lebanon, so maybe it'll work here too. Anyway, I'm against Sharon's seperation plan, because it's partial and won't be effective enough. We should start talking to someone on the other side. Not Arafat himself, but even people who are his yesmen can be partners - a treachurous counterpart treated cautiously while keeping in mind that he's treachurous is better than what we have now.

Nothing much is new with Dana. We've started working on the paper together. So far I haven't detected any signals from her (positive or negative), so there's nothing much to discuss at this point. I'll just keep on trying, and maybe soon enough I'll have the nerve to be more direct.

This week I saw my nephew's regular kindergarten for the first time. There was a class and he didn't seem to do what others were doing. It was a bit depressing, but I hope he was just distracted by us being there.