A New Term.. Every Day is New.. Yud Shevat

Today is the first day of the second term of the new college that I work at and I'm so excited!! It's a beginning, it's going full circle and starting over again for the first time. Years from now a new term may just seem like a "new term" or Spring Semester but this year it's a first and it's exciting to see the college students come back and realize we have reached such a big milestone.

The first term started under the threat of Hurricane Ernesto which was passing through back in August. Our second term starts as an artic cold front has our students in Miami actually wearing boots and sweaters and although we have sunny skies we have a taste of winter.

I'm wearing my boots today... my brown high heeled boots and the brown outfit I wore to New York to go to the Ohel when my son Shuky became engaged a month or so ago. I decided it would be a good outfit to wear on Yud Shevat :) Maybe it would remind me of the things I davened for at the Ohel and am trying to accomplish in my life.

So, hard to explain Yud Shevat to people as you are celebrating both an end and a new beginning.

On one hand it's the anniversary of the Frierdiker (Previous) Rebbe's death. The completeness of his life and all he did both in the Soviet Union and in here in America. As students in Bais Rivkah in Crown Heights we would sing songs about how the "Frierdiker Rebbe built schools and yeshivas" but he did more than that. He laid a groundwork in Russia that lay dormant in the winter of Communism and bloomed after Glasnost... the schools, the underground institutions that lay like bulbs quietly waiting under the frozen earth and which bloomed through the melting snow as the Iron Curtain came down and Chabad exploded in Russia to be there for Jews in a new political environment. Buildings that once housed communist offices now house Jewish schools and Jewish Centers. That is the Frierdiker's legacy, a legacy that the Rebbe (Menechem Mendel Schneersohn) continued to work with as he enlarged and encouraged the growth of Soviet Judiasm after decades when it was illegal for a Jew to lead his life as a Jew in the non-religous unfriendly world of yesterday.

Time passes, each day is new and each day has it's own opportunities. Sometimes we grow quietly and other times we want to burst forth like flowers in the Spring time. Each season has it's own beauty. Today I wear boots, tomorrow I might wear flip flops.. so fast do the seasons change in Miami.

Yud Shevat is the anniversary of the previous Rebbe's death but it is also the anniversary of The Rebbe becoming the Rebbe.

An end, a beginning.

An old term is finished, the new term begins.

Every morning, each day we have the chance to start over. Yesterday is gone and it no longer exists except in distant memories which get shoved around in our minds as new memories crowd in.

Last night I went to Frumma's chasena and danced with friends I have not seen in a good 20 years if not 30. My friend Melinda reminded me how we used to dance all the time in LA at simchas and how she always remembers that. And, I remember the first time I met Frumma in Long Beach at some school dinner and we danced. We are still dancing all these years later. We have had good times, we have had some bad times and we keep on dancing.

Life is not about giving up and to quote some bumper sticker somewhere...
G-d Allows U Turns. The act of Tshuvah, which is poorly translated as repentence but is really re-connecting yourself to your source turns the world over 180 degrees. To quote an old Gloria Estefan song.. "turn the world around."

That is the beauty in these hand off sort of holidays... when we remember an ending and a beginning.

It gives us a chance to look at our life and think who we are and who we want to be tomorrow. And, if we can dream it... we can see it in our mind's eye the life we would like to live... all we have to do is do it.

As my good friend Zahava said to me last night, it is only when we let in the seed of doubt that we allow in negativity and we are afraid and we give up thinking we can't succeed.

So... sitting here in Miami Beach staring out at the sunny blue skies but feeling a little bite of an Artic Cold front that bit us just a little bit this week... I want to close by saying, do not let the seeds of doubt in to your life but instead remember that when the snow melts those really cute "up north flowers" called tulips and crocus and daffodils burst through the white snow with color and brightness and the promise of Spring.

As another old friend in life always said.. Keep the Faith..

Winter is but a season and tomorrow is a new day but today is Yud Shevat so make the most of today, it's a special day!

http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=110174

www.chabad.org




Smiles from Sunny but chilly Miami!

Cold Front Makes It Through Into South Florida...

I just walked out of my office into the nice little palm filled garden and realized "someone put the AC on outside!"

I mean sitting here working on something and had no idea that front flew through so early in the day. Heard it was coming but well.... this winter we don't believe in fronts until we sees em :)

My mother called last night. She was worried because she heard on the news it was going to get cold down here. Down here being south of up in Northern Florida. She told me to stay home Friday morning and not go to work because I'm still gettin over a cold and it's gonna be down into the 50s Friday morning!!!

Cute... sweet... nice of her to call ..

I told her I would see how I felt Friday morning and if it was too cold I'd stay home bundled up under the warm covers and drink my chamomille tea. I didn't have the heart to tell her that about ten days ago I was in Iowa and it about zero degrees when you figured in the wind chill after that front went through that Friday night. Brrrr... Course I also didn't tell her I walked up the hill and down the road by the cemetary and around the park and was wearing my black tights with pink Victoria Secrets long pink underwear with my black PJ bottoms over the pink and .... on top of all those layers was my pretty brown skirt and my brown suede boots and the L L Bean wool lined coat and well.... we'll just let her worry on this cold front down here in South Florida.

Amazingly even though I was in such cold weather in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesotta ... it is cold here today. Feels colder than the 60 degrees that Weather Underground says it is.. Maybe it will go down as low as the weather radio said the other day when they were talking 40s. But, if it's 60 degrees at 5pm on Miami Beach I think we might break the 50 degree mark by daybreak tomorrow.

Go figure.. weather.. don't you just love it.

Enjoy the link here... saw this in the airport in Minnesotta and had no clue they had a whole coffee company. Thought they just made coffee flavored granola bars that needed to get kosher certification.

I bought a cute big Purple Mug that said something like "Life is Short, Stay Awake For it!" :) was on sale... didn't need Kosher Certification lol.

Looking forward to Shabbos this week. Seems Levi is coming in and making Zalmy Stuffed Peppers and I'll figure it out later. Going home, getting in bed under the covers and gonna drink some Starbuck's Tea in my Caribou Coffee mug

http://www.cariboucoffee.com/shop/detail.asp?c=4&p=209
Wondering what a winter mug is?

Still happily on hiatus or "hold" maybe. You know like when a spaceship was going to launch in the olde days and they would call a built in "hold" and say T-Minus _ _ minutes ..

Life is sort of like that.

So here I am in Miami in the absence of any real weather today other than warm and getting warmer...

Here are some questions to ponder in my absence.

Who are you?

Are you the person that you want to be deep inside?

Do you know who you want to be?

If so and you aren't.. what is stopping you from being that person?

Could you paint a picture of who you want to be or write a story describing yourself?

Now..picture that person. What is stopping you from being that person?

Who is holding you back or what and more so... are you the one holding yourself back the most?

Who or what is stopping you from being the person you want to be and leading the life you want to lead?

And, if it is YOU that is stopping you then get out of your way and be the person you want to be.

Sort of like "no excuses" and "no complaining" just as the younger generation .. a few generations back used to say "Just Do It!"

Turn the page and don't look back.

Postville Iowa... looks a lot like Smallville :)

Very, very nice here. Can't wait til the sun comes up to see what it really looks like as we drove in at night but so far... saw Main Street and houses and hills (bet they are going to be a pain come Shabbos) and everyone seems so nice.

Here for a L'Chaim (engagement party) for my son and meeting the 'in-laws" and it's nice.

Flew into Minneapolis airport which I haven't been to in...well... since the summer of 76 when I was here hanging out, teaching a little and boy was that a long time ago. Looks the same though, drove past old Fort Snelling and I was like "wow there's Ft. Snelling" (took the campers there a lot on daytrips). So funky to be back in Minnesota, like some time warp. Like Sharon would say time folding back in on itself... drove down through Rochester (which we used to do on Tish B'Av in the afternoon to visit sick people in the hospital there from S. Paul) and on to Iowa. Of course have only been here in the summer before and there were corn fields and things vs empty wintery fields.

So.... here in the land of corn and butcher places and hills and views and big old northern trees with a slight chance for snow tonight and more tomorrow.

Big world, small world. I'm wondering how different this area is from Kansas and from Minnesotta and things like that. Almost in Minnesotta. Drove past Harmony which has Amish people out and about.

It's nice to be away from the traffic, to be on roads where cars move and hoping if the clouds go away at night to see stars. Like to see that comet if you can from here... not sure. And, looking forward here.. like in Miami to Shabbos, especially one where I can relax, think and not worry on how many eggplants to buy for babaganush and wondering how many people are going to show up or not as you never know in my house.

For once... on a real vacation ... in Iowa.

Fun with my baby brother :) who thinks he is my big brother these days and watching not tropical weather for a change. And, very wonderful seeing my son happy and knowing where he is going to be living up close and personal.

Flew into Minnesotta and there were these low strips of winter clouds and I knew I wasn't in South Beach anymore.

Watching winter and relaxing...so... good shabbos to whoever you know who you all are from Iowa.

Bobbi :)

Postville Iowa... looks a lot like Smallville :)

Very, very nice here. Can't wait til the sun comes up to see what it really looks like as we drove in at night but so far... saw Main Street and houses and hills (bet they are going to be a pain come Shabbos) and everyone seems so nice.

Here for a L'Chaim (engagement party) for my son and meeting the 'in-laws" and it's nice.

Flew into Minneapolis airport which I haven't been to in...well... since the summer of 76 when I was here hanging out, teaching a little and boy was that a long time ago. Looks the same though, drove past old Fort Snelling and I was like "wow there's Ft. Snelling" (took the campers there a lot on daytrips). So funky to be back in Minnesota, like some time warp. Like Sharon would say time folding back in on itself... drove down through Rochester (which we used to do on Tish B'Av in the afternoon to visit sick people in the hospital there from S. Paul) and on to Iowa. Of course have only been here in the summer before and there were corn fields and things vs empty wintery fields.

So.... here in the land of corn and butcher places and hills and views and big old northern trees with a slight chance for snow tonight and more tomorrow.

Big world, small world. I'm wondering how different this area is from Kansas and from Minnesotta and things like that. Almost in Minnesotta. Drove past Harmony which has Amish people out and about.

It's nice to be away from the traffic, to be on roads where cars move and hoping if the clouds go away at night to see stars. Like to see that comet if you can from here... not sure. And, looking forward here.. like in Miami to Shabbos, especially one where I can relax, think and not worry on how many eggplants to buy for babaganush and wondering how many people are going to show up or not as you never know in my house.

For once... on a real vacation ... in Iowa.

Fun with my baby brother :) who thinks he is my big brother these days and watching not tropical weather for a change. And, very wonderful seeing my son happy and knowing where he is going to be living up close and personal.

Flew into Minnesotta and there were these low strips of winter clouds and I knew I wasn't in South Beach anymore.

Watching winter and relaxing...so... good shabbos to whoever you know who you all are from Iowa.

Bobbi :)

Fly Saban Fly... Congratulations and Enjoy Alabama

Woke up this morning and read all the reports about Saban leaving the Fins behind as he took the job and flew off to Alabama and decided to repost here my letter to my brother Jay in Greece... so you can read my thoughts as I know there are a few people who enjoy reading my thoughts. I've been quiet and I owe you so... here goes.


Dear Jay,

In response to your letter regarding Saban walking away from the Fins...

Nah, I'm thrilled. I loved Saban. Absolutely loved him, one of my favorite coaches and if he didn't take that job he would have been an idiot and he's not. He's one smart, gorgeous cookie and it was one of the most amazing offers ever. Not only is he not dumb or stupid ... he is one good provider for his family. And, lastly Huzeinga wanted him to go... he did this whole fish mouth sort of "well we'll see what he does" press conferences where you could see in his eyes he could care less.. come-go who cares attitude. Probably something you didn't get to see on CNN abroad.

Huzeinga is (fill in the blank for your choice bad word of the week), he made his fortune in garbage. He totally dismantled a winning world series baseball team immediatly after winning like you would sell your mother's jewels before the funeral.He cared not for the people of this City or how his fans would feel; he broke kid's hearts across South Florida who gave up baseball for soccer and hockey and never looked back. He is cheap with money for the Fins and most coaches don't want to work for him. He has a bad organization, a very bad organization that goes way beyond coaching and the coach position in Miami is totally hog tied behind his "machine" that is doing a lousy job with the team. See Jimmy Johnson's exit talk on the futility of doing work for the Dolphin organization; another smart man who knew when to leave a losing situation.

Coaching the Fins is an exercise in abuse by a boss and you basically stay take your check and go home at the end of the game and hope like hell that somehow you can win next week. I'm not sure the team isn't cursed since leaving the Orange Bowl by some Seminole Chief somewhere... maybe JRS stadium or whichever brand of underwear it is named after this week wasn't built on Seminole Burial Mounds... it is up the canal here from me and there are mounds down at my end.

Seriously, you don't see all the press conferences in Europe. You couldn't help but sit there and plead with him "Saban take the money, this isn't worth it"

It is one of the crappiest teams around and I mean that as a cesspool for bad talent and a few good guys who are stuck there trying to make a difference who shine. And it hurts to say that but it's true and sometimes you have to face the truth.

Teams are built in the upper rank and file and at the bottom line where money talks. They do bad trades, they do bad draft picks and there is no "heart" in the team and hasn't been in years.

And, Huzienga is like some Batman villain, so one dimensional that Lex Luthor would cringe just for being put in the same category as him.

I love Saban, liked him... came to love him... and am very glad he took the money. I think if he had been single and didn't have kids and a family he might have honestly stayed and kept banging his head against the wall.

In College you get new cards every year... it's a constant reshuffling and what you do has some effect 3 or 4 years later on recruits.. In PRO if you have a bad bad organization you have sold your soul to the devil.

Barely watched the fins this year, I did but not with the intensity I used to and watched Saban a lot and you had to feel sorry for him. More so... the bulk of the NY fan base would have been SCREAMING for him to be booted next year if we didn't win the playoffs and you know that much is true. Even heard talk this year.. "well maybe we need a new coach" so more so .. this isn't some man walking away from winning the Super Bowl to retire and leaving a team high and dry... he's taking the best offer of his life so far and running with it for the end zone. One cause he is a provider for his family and two.... cause he likes to win and winning in Miami with the gang in charge at the main office is impossible.

Yeah, he denied he would. Coaches always do that. They also always say they are planning on staying publically when they know they are being fired at the end of the season like Coker. My only regret is that Saban wasn't being hired by the University of Miami. Denial is a river in
Africa.. remember..

Ps... did you know in a spell checker it asks you if you meant "wheezing" for Huizenga? Go figure...

Old joke... can't spray strawberry spray in an elevator where someone is farting and make the smell go away, you just end up having strawberry scented stink.

Love you... man if he didn't take that offer I don't know if I could have watched next season.

Batter up, life goes on... garbage man is probably trying to figure out how he can get Shula's son to be coach for a good discount figuring it will sell some season tickets.

love me...

2007

Well, it's 2007! Finally...

I'm not sure if I have posted that as I am really sort of on hiatus until the season starts... if it does. We could have another slow season and then what? How is El Nino? I wonder. Can you believe I have hardly looked at a weather link? Really.. believe it!

Been very cloudy here as some frontal boundary has been draped across South Florida for more days than I can remember.

I am almost close enough to next weekend to check out a 10 day forecast on Iowa and Minnesotta as I will be heading north then and hoping it's a quiet weekend meteorology. Then again.. I would LOVE to see snow falling. And, I am looking forward to this getaway more than words can say. How cool is that? In a million years I never would have thought I'd be traveling up north this winter so many times. You see.. you just never know what's up or down the pike do you?

So...that's it for now. Going to go out to lunch on Lincoln Road and check out the After New Year Sales.

I'll post another time about the retirement of Max Mayfield. Just saying now...

Dear Max,

You did an incredible, amazing job and we will miss you so much,

BobbiStorm
:(



Change... wow, can't you feel it coming at ya?