Eliot celebrated his birthday by baking a cake from scratch and showing off his long hair. He wanted to see if there was much difference from the way he looked in the photo which is just a wee bit over 40 years old, and how he looks now. You be the judge.

Thank you Gary Arlen.

We really appreciate this treat.

These 10 Yiddish Words Will Get You Through Quarantine 

1. Tsedrate

adj. (tsuh-DRATE) All mixed up, confused.

Before the Covid-19 virus, tsedrayte meant we couldn’t remember if we promised to meet a friend for lunch on Thursday or Friday. Now we don’t know what day of the week it is. These days, just getting the mail makes us tsedrayte. Do we leave the letters on the floor for 24 hours? Do we wipe the package before we put it on the floor or wash our hands and then wipe the package? And what do we do after we open it?

2. Shpilkes

(SHPILL-kiss) Impatience, restlessness.

Before Covid-19, when our young kids had “ants in their pants,” we’d tell them to go outside and play. Now, however, we have to mask them up first, and watch them carefully so they stay six feet away from all the other kids who are also trying to get their shpilkes out. We used to go out to a yoga class; now when our little ones have shpilkes, we watch Cosmic Kids Yoga and do downward facing dogs right along with them.

3. Shlub

n. (SHLUB) A slob; some who dresses sloppily.

All this self-quarantining has made shlubs even shlubbier. Sweatpants and torn T-shirts have gone from weekend wear to all day, everyday wear — unless you’re one of those people who dons business casual from the waist up for your Zoom conference calls. If we’ve learned any fashion sense while being self-quarantined, it’s that a bra is optional.

4. Pulkes

pl. n. (PULL-keys) Thighs.

The word usually refers to cute, chubby baby thighs, but it can also mean those belonging to poultry. And with all the freezer diving we’re doing, we’ve discovered and eaten our fair share of pulkes in the last month. We’re counting the days till we can swap out our sweatpants for shorts and attend a summer barbecue, but we’re not certain our pulkes will be ready for public viewing after all we’ve eaten.

5. Sekhel

n. (SEH-khul) Common sense; good judgment.

Advice used to flow downstream. Our parents would nag us: “Have a little sekhel; do you really have to fly when you’re pregnant?” Now the tables have turned and we nag our parents: “Wash your hands. Wear a mask. You’re going to the supermarket? You’re old. Stay home!” And our kids? They have the computer sekhel we need: They’ve taught us how to complete the online school attendance form and how to limit our Facebook posts to “friends only” so we don’t embarrass them in front of “the whole world!” They’ve also taught us that there’s nothing wrong with eating ice cream twice a day.

6. Eyngeshparter

n. (AYN-guh-shpar-ter) A stubborn person; someone who cannot be convinced with logic.

These are the people who are protesting to end the shutdown before it’s safe, ordering “cures” on the Internet, and claiming the pandemic is all a hoax.

7. Bubkes

n. (BUP-kiss) Literally beans, nothing.

Something that’s worthless or that falls short of expectations. In this new normal, we’re getting used to bubkes in the toilet paper aisle, bubkes in our fresh vegetable drawer, and bubkes in our checking account.

8. Ongeblozen

adj. (un-geh-BLUH-zin) Sulky, pouty; a sourpuss.

Our kids used to get ongeblozzen when we said we couldn’t go out for pizza. Now everyone’s ongeblozzen because we spent all afternoon making dough from scratch… and we didn’t have the right kind of cheese. “It tastes funny. It doesn’t taste like Panzone’s pizza. Why can’t we go to Panzone’s?”

9. Tsuris

n. (TSORE-iss) troubles and worries; problems.

We can’t help worrying when our sister tells us she had a suspicious mammogram or our son hints that someone bullied him in school. But these days, instead of worrying about illness or money or school or our family or the future — we’re worried about all of it. Tsuris has gone from personal to universal.

10. Oy

int. (OY)

Perhaps the most popular Yiddish expression, oy conveys dozens of emotions, from surprise, joy, and relief to pain, fear and grief. Bubbe Mitzi used to say that just groaning “a good oy” could make you feel better.

So give a good oy, tie the shmata on your face — be sure to cover your mouth and your nose! — and try not to get tsedrate. Here’s hoping all this tsuris will be over soon

I’m doing my best not to comment on the RNC. This is the best I got.

My friend for many decades, Richie Grand, loves the oldies. We all do. He recently sent me some of his favorite picks which I thought I would share with you.

These selections should provide you with a good walk down memory lane. It will also take you back to the time when life was so different. I wonder how many of us liked it better then, or prefer now?



I read the above story in complete horror. It’s amazing that I felt that way considering I knew the news first hand. Eliot and I, and four friends, went on an expedition through Greenland last September.

We saw the ice melting and witnessed temperatures rising. We really thought at the time that the United States would have taken climate change much more seriously by now. No such luck.

The following documents our journey.

The following photos by Eliot Hess

I joined The Palmer Group online discussions sessions just when we were all forced to stay home because of the pandemic.

The Palmer Group works on digital transformation, marketing, strategy, data science, AI and Machine Learning with Fortune 500 companies.

They recently polled 1,123 remote workers about how they feel about working from home. They got some interesting results. I thought I would share them with you because I’m sure you are wondering if your family is in sync with the rest of the world.

Don’t Do It For Me. Do It For Your Children And Grandchildren. Don’t Give Evil Four More Years

Trump told California this week he wasn’t going to help them fight the wildfires because they didn’t rake enough leaves. Trump turned his back on 40 million Americans. If you vote for him you are an accomplice to the biggest crime of your life.

SHARON STONE ASKED ME TO SHOW YOU HER VIDEO

It’s days like this that I want to take everyone who uttered the words “Lock her up” and make them publicly apologize.

Steve Bannon Is Charged With Fraud in We Build the Wall Campaign

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyregion/steve-bannon-arrested-indicted.html?referringSource=articleShare

I Saved The Best For Last