What She Smoking?

Is looks like a cigarette but it has red and blue wires hanging out the front of it. 

So is it a smoke or a ticking time bomb? 

Or maybe she’s just trying to look cool.

Nope~Kaboom! 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shabbat Shalom + Shana Tova

A peaceful, healthy, prosperous, sweet, and happy Shabbat Shalom and Jewish New Year! 

Please G-d let it all be great!  😉

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Israel Is Tops

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Israel Is Tops.”

In just 73 years, with G-d’s miraculous help, we have a Jewish State that is top-ranked in the entire world: Israel is ranked overall #30 in Best Countries in the World.

In our 4,000 year history as a people, we suffered long and painful exile at the hands of the Babylonian and Roman Empire, but then in 1948, we were given another miraculous chance for the Jewish State of Israel. So far, we are doing great by all measures; now we have to make sure to keep it up for good.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Staying Centered

So important to keep the mind centered.

I tried something new in the pool to tread water using the minimum energy.

At first, my body resisted and I started to flail with my arms and legs.

But then, I centered my mind and started to control my breathing.

My deep focused breaths raised my body above the water almost by itself.

My arms and legs relaxed and just was there for support.

It felt so good to be in a better state of self-control and mindfulness.

Always need to try and keep the mind still, centered, and in control of the body.

Focus, focus, focus!  😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Stretching Cat

This cat crawled between 2 pillars and up to this tree. 

The cat extended its paws and started to stretch. 

Reminded me of fitness guru, Richard Simmons, but with a far better hairdo!  😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Sniffer Isn’t Working

Someone really had a premonition posting this sign before Covid!

The sign says simply:

Smell Me!!

The response to this now-a-days would be the person with Covid yelling back:

I can’t smell (or taste) anything!

Now frustrated, the other person replies:

But please, please smell me. 

Second person, tries and tries again:

Sniff, sniff–darn, the sniffer just isn’t working. 

Get out the smelling salts!

Six months later, I still can’t smell a skunk in the same room. 

What type of crazy pandemic is this!  😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Covid May Be Over When Pigs Can Fly

Don’t be fooled by the Covid vaccines. 

Aside from the very disappointing and dysfunctional rollout so far (less than 3 millions first doses in the time that they promised 20 million), the virus is mutating!

Hence the new yet more contagious Covid virus now going around. 

I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high on the results of the vaccine quite yet. 

Hype is the opioid of the masses. 

Like the flu, Covid may be over when pigs can fly.  😉

(Credit Photo:  Andy Blumenthal) 

Horrors in U.S. Healthcare

So I have been sick the last 9 days, and don’t really know what it is (bad cold, flu, or Covid). 

But I am hearing that Covid is spiraling around just about every family that I know now. 

The new most contagious Covid variant is in at least 3 states, but I would suspect it’s in all of them by now.  We’ll find that out way after the fact. 

G-d only knows whether the Covid vaccines will work on the mutated Coronavirus and how this will impact the runaway pandemic.  Will it be back to the Vaccine drawing board?

While many healthcare workers have been extraordinary during these difficult times, I’ve been appalled at some recent cases of horrible care. 

Example 1:

Went to CVS Minute Clinic, they gave me some antibiotics, but said go this afternoon for a Covid test, which I had already booked prior at another CVS location that does the tests.  

I drive 10 miles sick to go there, and when I arrive they tell me, they don’t have my appointment anymore even though I show them “black and white” my confirmation!  “The system must’ve kicked you out because you were at another CVS earlier in the day.” I said, I need to be tested, and they were adamant that there was nothing they could do.  Their completely incompetent store manager told me to call and make another appointment for another day.  I said, I waited two days for this appointment, drove ten miles, and waited a long time on line.  He said, that’s too bad and I should call the 800 number if I wasn’t happy. I said, it’s your mistake, so you call the 800 number.  I told him I wasn’t leaving the line until they resolved this. The manager was a rude SOB, but finally one of the pharmacists said the nurse can put me back in the system and they would in fact see me. 

Well, lo and behold, a day passes, and I get a call the test didn’t work.  Make another appointment.  Ok, now I really have no choice.  I go to another CVS, this one was actually much better and gave comprehensive instructions on how to take the Covid test. So much for good CVS and bad CVS!  

Example 2:

Someone else in my family was sick and also goes to the CVS Minute Clinic.  They give her not much more than Tylenol.  But tell her to make another appointment to take care of her ear.  She makes an appointment, and I take her to yet another CVS location the next day.  Well guess what, the Physician’s Assistant refuses to treat her ear.  He sits us down and tells us that he has a wife and kids at home and doesn’t want to possibly get Covid since she was at the Minute Clinic the day before.  I explain that all they gave her was Tylenol.  He says, “Anything can be Covid!  And I’m not going to go in the room to clean out the ear for maybe 20 to 30 minutes.”  Well then why in the hell did this guy go into the medical profession?

Example 3:

I contact another pharmaceutical outlook (not CVS) for a prescription.  They quote me $2,500 dollars.  I say “That’s 10 tens what they usually charge me so there must be a typo.”  Oh no, that’s the price for the branded drug.  Maybe you meant the generic which is only $250!  Same drug but ten times the price!

I’m sorry folks our healthcare system in the U.S. is very broken indeed.  By calling attention to these things, I hope to bring positive change for all our sakes. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Spuds and Suds

Potatoes and trash, not a tasty combination. 

At least if you’re gonna do this, don’t show your customers! 

Maybe there’s a rational explanation (as in “Lucy, splain dat to me!”):

The potatoes fell on the floor, and the broom and pan where there to clean them up.

Hey, once you peel them, what difference does it make anyway! 

Yeah, sure that works. 😉

Vaccine Fears

So I was talking with someone about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines coming out to protect again Coronavirus. 

They tell me that the news is reporting 95% effectiveness and then they pull out their smartphone and show me a cartoon of someone taking the vaccine and their face is all deformed (I won’t go into the details). 

So I ask him:

Are you going to talk the vaccine?

He says:

“No!”

I ask:

Do you take the flu vaccine?

Again he says :

No, it’s poison!

He thinks some more and says (jokingly, I believe):

And if some big burly guys try to hold me down and make me take it, I’ll tell them I’m gonna go out and get a gun and come back tomorrow and shoot them. 

Bottom line: there is some real fear and apprehension out there about these vaccines. 

And surely, some people do have negative effects–whatever that percentage is. 

Personally, I will take the vaccine. I would rather try and fail (hopefully not), than never try at all!  

How long the vaccine is effective for–that’s another matter all together. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)