Achievements

What's next? The question always remains, I guess, by definition of our inability to predict the future.

Before my future catches back with my past, I managed to get a few things done:

1. Got my driving license for a 500cc motorbike
   
2. Chose and ordered my scooter
3. Installed wireless internet at home
   

Impressive, ain't it?

Number 1 took me only 8 months, an achievement. With number 2 I made all my friends crazy until I went for what I had sworn never to buy: instead of the cute cub-like Honda Innova reminding me of Cambodia, I purchased a manager-style scooter which twice the size. And with number 3 I am now writing to you, so don't laugh :-)

I wrote in the previous post about the Canon G9. And if I tell you I also baught a washing machine you will have a full picture of the exciting life I am leading ;-)

Oh, I almost forgot: I also give a hand, on my free time, to saving the world from global warming. Namely, I run into Visual C++ 6.0 error messages of the type:

error C2784: 'class std::complex<_ty> __cdecl std::sqrt(const class std::complex<_ty> &)' : could not deduce template argument for 'const class std::complex<_ty> &' from 'double' while compiling class-template member function 'double __cdecl vecmath::VmUtil::sqrt(double)'
fatal error C1903: unable to recover from previous error(s); stopping compilation

and I say to myself "Joseph, the world entrusted you with a mission, you need to solve this problem before the sun rises on Jerusalem or humanity will be destroyed by 2100." Being a superhero is not always easy.

Canon G9 and a Poser

Actually, in Lifta I took only a few pictures with the camera you could see me aiming on the picture. I was mostly using a new digital camera I purchased recently: Canon G9.

I'm impressed by the ease of use and the quality of this compact 12 Mpx!

Typical example to show the definition:



And let me offer you a poser by the way: what are these two letters which can be seen everywhere on the walls, bus stops, fences, etc.?


I have started collecting samples of these graffiti. But who paints them? What do these two letters mean? How can hundreds of thousands of people go by them without even noticing them?

Lifta

Tell you a little bit about life in Jerusalem? Today in the evening the skies fell upon the city and water went running to the former valleys now occupied by roads: Emek Refaim (the valley of the ghosts), Emek Hamatsleva (the valley of the Cross), Sderot Begin (not so romantic: a large urban highway...)

Most of the time, though, the weather is really pleasant, even if you live in a house without heating like mine: to my horror, I use an electric radiator an hour or two a day...

A couple of months ago (I know I should write more frequently), a friend who is a professional photographer took me to Lifta (ליפתא) to explore this picturesque place: abandoned houses, a spring, views of the valley

The romantic in me liked it... Here I am pretending to take good pictures (no one will know if they were good, I "forgot" the film somewhere there...)

In front of my new house?

Woaw, it's been ages!

So much happened since my last post... or so little, who knows?

The latest is that I finally got my driving license to drive motorbikes in Israel. Actually, I still have to go to my favorite place in Jerusalem, the licensing authority to get the license itself. I'm now considering which motorbike to buy. I wrote at one point about the model which reminded me so much of Cambodia, the Honda Innova (a.k.a. Wave). It turns out it is now available in Israel but everyone tells me I'm crazy because this model doesn't have any of the comfort of competing ones at the same price...

Many people requested the translation of the messages on the previous post. Here it is: "Olmert, pull education out of the garbage!" This refers to the strike of the middle and high school teachers fighting to have classes of a reasonable size and salaries worth their effort.

More soon, including pictures!

Cheers.