Party Down

First of all, "Zehava" and "Rena," aka "Friends of Leezy" - I know you're out there and you're reading! So let's make it official! Come join the Loyal Readers' Club! YOU can become LR's 28 and 29!

Second of all, I apologize to anyone, especially Cheryl, who might have actually had to work yesterday because I did not write a new blog.

Now, a few updates. Ariella's last day of gan was on Tuesday, and they celebrated in high-style, with inflatable water slides, hot dogs, and cotton candy. Today she started kaytanah, and went off happily to join her friends without so much as a backwards glance toward Mommy. I am happy about this; since camp is only 3 weeks, I'm glad we're not spending one of those weeks "adjusting" and "crying." This afternoon, we went to - gasp! - beit sefer! This was very exciting. Each incoming first grader had a ten-minute slot. We met with one of the first grade morot, who asked Ariella some questions. It was very cute. I wasn't quite sure what the point was, but Ariella had a great time just being in beit sefer. She cannot wait for homework. (I am not kidding.)

And now, the reason for no blog last night: Donny and I were out with the hep cats of Microsoft, celebrating the Release of Beta-3! Yay! Whoo-hoo! What does this mean? I have no idea! But the food was GREAT!

Apparently, in geek-world, "releases" are very exciting things, the way "April 16th" is to an accountant (well, except for Dadz, who immediately starts worrying about the "June 15" deadline) and the handing in of the final anecdotal is for SAR teachers. However, the geeks know how to PAR-TAY! I mean, us SAR teachers celebrate by sucking down two Nips from Milly (now, I do love a good Nip, but it does not compare to free drinks and meat.)

This party for the Release of Beta-3! was held on the beach, near Zichron Yaakov (some of you super-Loyal Readers may recall ZY was the site of our original aliyah, Aliyah on Purpose.) The weather was perfect, and there were lots of drinks - alcoholic, caffeinated, and otherwise - and good food - grilled meat things, salads, roasted potatoes, drinks.... It was a big improvement over the last MS party I had been to in Long Island. There, the Jews were squished at a table together, so that the rest of the normal people didn't have to gaze their eyes upon our rubbery airline dinner (complete with plastic utensils! Classy!). Our one concession at the time was having a bottle of kosher wine and hoarding it jealously lest it come in contact with someone Not of the Tribe. (That one bit of archaic Jewish law is always particularly difficult to explain to the non-Tribies.) So last night's party was a big improvement. The Israel R&D Center rocks! Did I mentioned there were drinks?

As we drove up to the party, however, Donny realized that he had forgotten his Microsoft ID card at home. Apparently, the employees were supposed to bring their cards in order to gain entrance to the party. There were two sets of security gates we needed to pass. At the first entrance, Donny offered to drive the car over so they could see our MS logo on the side. However, they took one look at Donny and decided he definitely worked for Microsoft, and let us in without any trouble. At the second entrance, the one betwixt us and the drinks, they were not as lax with the security. There were women and men with those Secret Service ear buds and walkie-talkies running around; phone calls had to be made and lists checked before we were allowed in.

This begs the question: Who, exactly is trying to crash the Microsoft party? I mean the food and drink were definitely good, but really? People are making a concerted effort to drive to this remote area of the world and party with people who speak solely in acronymns ("The UAG from the TMG was a definite clash with the spec from the EIEIO.")? People who, when treated to a rockin' concert featuring one of Israel's most famous singers, mill around on the stage, occasionally throwing vaguely troubled glances in the direction of the singing, while telling geek jokes ("So this guy walked into a PowerPoint....and boy, did it hurt!") and waiting for someone to give a Presentation? ("Program Managers: Do They Do Anything Besides Make Fancy-Looking Presentations and Tell Other People to Work on Stuff?") By the way, that one is actually given by Donny. It's a short one. The answer is, "No."