The Hike

I'm leaving in about five hours, as soon as tisha b'av is over. We're gonna take a bus up north, then start first thing tomorrow morning. We hope to make it to meron by the first shabbos. The whole hike probably isnt more then three hundred miles, since the plan right now is just to get to yerushalayim.(yeah, its sort of a compromise) Yesterday, I went for a walk with ten liters of water on my back, just to see how much it weighs (about 25 pounds) and met a secret service guy who did shvil yisrael before. He gave us all sorts of helpful pointers. Some of it we knew, like how much water we need to carry a day, or to bring along first aid and snakebite kits. Some of it we didnt know, like how it takes a lot longer then we think to do the trail. I hope it doesnt take too long, I have a relatives bar mitzva that I'd like to be at in two weeks on August ninth. We may just stop off on the way at the bar mitzva. I'm sure nobody would mind if a buncha sweaty guys who just walked two weeks,havent eaten, drunk,showered or slept much, pop in for a visit.
I'm gonna try to get to a computer and update sometime in middle of the hike. If I don't and you happen to be checking for an update and you see there isn't yet, instead of your time going to waste you can just click on my ad on the side, at least once. Thanks.
If I do die on this hike, the one thing that I have to say is that I suspect that the secret ingredient in Dougies buffalo wings is pineapple. There, let that be known. I didnt die with my suspicions unsaid.

Finally

After all these years I've finished the Harry Potter series. I will not ruin it for those of you who didn't read it cuz I know I wouldnt appreciate if someone ruined the ending for me. (I will say it was an awesome book, and the ending she chose was an ending that I had thought of as a possibility, after studying the 6th book a couple of times, and thinking how she would want to end it.) I had to download a copy of the book, cuz my book is under the control of my little brother who is reading it now in America, and till it gets to Israel would be way to long to wait.
Clap clap clap. J.k Rowling if you're reading this (I know you are, theres no way you dont read this blog. Everybody does. I hear the president of the U.S has it as him homepage) I'd like to congratulate you on a job well done.

Quality or Quantity

Thats the big debate right now. Even bigger then the snape good/bad dabate, is the debate of quality or quantity. The quality guys say we should take the hike slow, enjoy the scenery, take pics, have fun. Regardless if we don't finish the whole country. The quantity guys say we should finish the whole country, and mega fooey to those who wanna take it slow. I'm not sure yet which one I would rather. Right now we have ten or eleven guys who are coming along. Most of them are planning on just coming along for the first week. If the quality people win the debate we may just end up doing until Jerusalem. Thats only half the country. The truth is whatever we do I'm cool with, cuz its fun whatever it is.

Shvil Yisrael

Today I did some shopping. We still have lots to prepare before we set off on our hike. We still haven't bought maps, or other important stuff. Shvil yisrael is a hike that goes from the northernmost tip of Israel, to the southernmost. Its about 600 miles long, and its supposed to take more then a month. We intend to complete it in a little more then two weeks. The plan is to walk the entire day, and try to cover at least thirty miles a day. Its gonna be fun. Its probably gonna be hard too. Especially in the desert. The entire second half of Israel, all the way to Eilat is desert, and theres only four places to refill water throughout the whole desert.
We were gonna leave a while back, but not all my friends who were coming were able to fit it into their schedule. Therefore we're gonna leave right after Tisha Be'av. Hopefully there won't be any wars this summer. Otherwise we would have to sneak around soldiers and barricades to get around. (not to mention rockets and bombs, cuz then people get nervous). Since I'm gonna be carrying a minimum of ten liters of water a day, I'm not gonna have room for much else. So I'm gonna have to be selective in what I pack. A camera is probably important, as is a tent and sleeping bag.Lets see, Food Ok..... Uh.. Toilet paper.. What else? Maybe a bar of soap. Its pretty useful, for brushing teeth and cleaning everything. Theres got to be more, I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'll have lots of time to get ready, we're not leaving for another nine days. Till then theres plenty to do.

Children Of Destiny

This is Pierre Jr The Termite Hunter And Killer. He's one of the children of the late Pierre. His job is to complete the job his father started, and if he dies doing it, his childrens job, and if they die before they complete the glorious task, their childrens job. (I believe you get the idea by now, so I'm not writing out the next century of Pierre Dynasty now.) The termites are increasing in number and before each shower we have to crunch a bunch off the wall (dont worry I wash my hand after) just to make room to hang a towel.Hopefully his descendants are up to the task and can fill the big web that their father left. Hopefully the termites wont try a coup again. Last night the spider family was disturbed by a giant roach in the bathroom. I wanted to crunch a cockroach with my hand, just to see if I could. I could. Just in case you were wondering. If you werent wondering, you now know some trivia that may help you win a free trip to Alaska, or a new washing machine, on a game show. You know that it is possible, and that its been done. For more interesting trivia that may help you one day, you should be aware that the emperor penguin can live up to 50 years, which is like 3 or 4 times as much as a regular penguin, and weighs between 80-90 pounds.

Revenge Of the Termites

Alas, after a brief but pleasant stay in my bathroom Pierre has died. Although he only lived with us for a couple of weeks, he touched every single one of our hearts. He was a great spider, a noble spider, who didn't only care about himself. He gave us all something to do while in the bathroom, and for that we are eternally grateful. Oh, I already miss him, the way he used to climb around on his web looking innocent, until an insect would happen to bump into it, and then he'd swoop down and suck its innards. The way he would spend hours, motionless, as if to say "what next? For what purpose am I alive? Who will remember me when i die?" Well we all will, Pierre. You left us all with a legacy (and a bunch of your adorable little children)and a web full of decaying termites. May you rest in peace in your watery grave, and bless your children to follow in the termite chomping footsteps of their father. Amen.

Pierre

This is Pierre The French Cardiovascular Spider. Call him Pierre for short. He lives in my bathroom. He eats the termites and ants that used to live in my bathroom. (We were gonna name him pierre the french carnivorous spider, but we decided that cardiovascular has more syllables and sounded a lot more official of a title) The ants and termites were very entertaining to watch, scurrying around on the floor and walls, doing nothing other then scurrying. Now that Pierre has moved in we get to watch him trap them in his web and jump out on them and eat them. We hope Pierre has lots of babies cuz the termites have much more in number and we don't want them to gang up on poor little pierre.
This shabbos I stayed at a hospital. They needed volunteers so I went and had a great time. (even though I became the official wheelchair carrier up and down steps for some reason)It was awesome running up and down the hallway announcing "code blue code blue Dr doodle to emergency room dr doodle to the emergency room".

Soap

Theres all sorts of cleaning products that we use for all different things. Since they all have the same purpose- to clean things, it makes sense to assume that all the different products are interchangeable.(Makes sense means to me. If you feel otherwise feel free to send a RPG toward my front door. Its the red one. Says bruchim habaim on it.Might have some scorch marks from the last RPG) I just tested this with a bar of soap. First I used it as shampoo and it worked pretty well. Then I tried it as toothpaste. It frothed up nicely and didnt taste that bad. (surprise surprise, although it could be the flavors of bars of soap I was using were better then others.) My mouth felt clean and soap scented. Once you get over the fact that its not minty its pretty cool. Then I tried it on clothes and it cleaned my clothes just as good as detergent. For a floor cleaner a bar of soap works also. Basically its all a conspiracy to get you to buy a whole shopping list of different products that you don't really need. (ok maybe toothpaste. I do like the minty taste better.)