I ended up falling asleep before uploading the past entry. I figure I'll upload it together with this one. Although that means I need to write this one.

I should clarify at this point that on the Jewish calendar, days start at night. That is, on the calendar most people use, days start at midnight. On the Jewish calendar, days start between sundown and nightfall. As I type this, it's 10:15 PM Saturday night on the regular calendar, but on the Jewish calendar, it's already Sunday.

Just now, sundown is very early. Yesterday, it was 4:30 PM. We hit the earliest point (4:29) over the past two weeks, and it'll be gradually getting later from here. Candle-lighting, which ushers in Shabbos, is usually done eighteen minutes before sundown, or 4:12 yesterday.

Now, getting from my apartment to my parent's house via mass transit takes about two hours. Which means that I'd have to be out of here about 2:00 PM to make it there just in time.

For the past two weeks, I have planned to go visit the family for Shabbos. For the past two weeks, I have ended up without enough time to make it there. Last week, I realized around 1:30 PM that I'd forgotten to write my column for the student newspaper, after which it was too late; this week, I just plain woke up too late to make it.

Fridays are too bloody short this time of year.

Actually, this was true as of about a week ago. I think they're both working again. But it's hard to tell, as in most cases I have no way of knowing what I'm not getting.

Is a reliable mail account really too much to ask for?

I love a show that can keep things in perspective.

I do find it a bit ironic that the question was first raised by Joy Behar, upon which tinsel was defended by Barbara Walters, with each of them referring to what they were doing with their own trees... and, umm, both are Jewish... but, anyway, should you be wondering, 60% of respondents felt that tinsel was not tacky.