Life
What to Bring on a Camping Trip: A Camping Checklist
Aug 30th
I always get asked what to bring camping.
Well, I’ve finally put together a list! The list is pretty comprehensive: you don’t need to bring anything. Still, the list will help remind you of something you might have otherwise:
Shelter and Bedding ChecklistEssentials:
Optionals:
Cooking and Dining ChecklistEssentials:
Optionals:
MenuBreakfast
Snacks
Dinner
Beverages
|
First Aid Kit
Personal Hygiene
Cleaning Items
Clothes
Miscellaneous Items
Dog Items
|
R.I.P. Lala. We loved you while you lasted.
Jun 1st
Lala, the play-any-track-once-for-free-then-pay-$0.10-per-track music service is no gone as of today (6/1/10).
From my perspective it was easily the best online music site. I love exploring new music, but I don’t want to commit until I absolutely love the track. Because I could listen to any track once 100% free, Lala introduced me to new bands and genres of music. While it was only a streaming music service (i.e. you had to be online to listen), it was sonically outstanding, organized well, and very fast.
One of the best features was its Music Mover that allowed you to upload, literally, you existing collection and play it online. This, alone, was huge. No longer did I not need to drag my entire collection with me, I could access it anywhere: home, work, office, friend’s computer, etc.
There was even an iPhone app/service in the works. With such an app, it meant that you never had to load your music onto your device. As long as you had Internet access, you could listen to your entire collection. Incredible, industry shaking stuff.
To be fair, Lala was struggling – they were losing money perhaps showing that the model wasn’t working. They were purchased Apple a few months ago. While it was sad, it has been expected that Apple will incorporate Lala’s technology into itunes somehow. We’ll just have to see.
Still, R.I.P. Lala. We loved you while you lasted.
JZapin.com 3.0: Start a Conversation with Me
May 15th
I just updated JZapin.com.
Cleaner Design
With the help of the Mystique WordPress theme, I have significantly upgraded the look of my website. The site now boasts:
- Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- A cleaner, more vibrant layout
- Mobile device compatibility (check me out on an iPhone)
- Linkages to twitter with my latest tweets up front and center.
- Embedded ways to share content with popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In.
New Logo: Conversation Bubbles
You’ll also notice a new logo too:
That are they? They are talk bubbles or, what I’d rather call them, conversation bubbles. While a blog is usually a collection of its owner’s thoughts, my intention is to make JZapin.com a collection of conversations. I don’t want it to be me spewing stuff, but a multi-diectional way communication between me, you and everyone else.
In the coming days, I will be putting in some new functionality to enable the conversation.
So, let me know what you think. Post a comment below, retweet it, post it to facebook.
Goodbye Grandma Sylvia
May 7th
My grandmother, Sylvia Kaufman, passed away on May 5th. She was 97 years old. Today, we put her to rest at a cemetery in South Florida. While melancholy, the whole experience was a celebration of a very rich and long life. We will miss her. I said a few words about Grandma Sylvia today. Here it is in all its glory.
I always had this vision of Willard Scott calling Grandma on her 100th birthday.
You remember Willard Scott. He was the former weatherman/first ever Ronald McDonald/bubbly nice guy that used to announce centenarians on NBC’s Today Show. The fact that Willard Scott was into old people was kind of charming and creepy at the same time
But, in my vision, Willard’s call wouldn’t have been creepy at all. I mean, most of the time, when Willard would call these 100-year old folks, they always seemed so out of it that barely conscious of the world. But when he called Grandma, it wouldn’t be creepy. Because, when he called her, he would have found out that she reads voraciously, stays up on current events, and goes out for Wendy’s after shuttling around in her walker at the local Publix faster than most people can push their carts. Willard would have found that Grandma was so sharp that she knew that George W Bush was one of the worst presidents ever. She and Willard would of course chuckle about it and somehow it would come out in a way that even Republicans would love her too.
Most importantly, Willard Scott would have been most shocked that Grandma just didn’t look 100. Grandma never, ever look her age and at 100, it was no different. What would probably floor Willard would have been that hair. Oh that bright Red hair! But it wasn’t that Granma looked like a Red head, Grandma was a Red head. Even at 100 years old Willard would have found out that Grandma was always a typical red head – tenacious and cunning with an adventurous streak that just never stopped. He would have learned how she met a man in Cuba who wanted to marry her and raised a daughter all by herself in a time when doing something like was taboo. He probably would have also learned that she was stubborn (like most red heads) but because he was Willard Scott, the nicest person in the universe, he would have focused on the good part of being stubborn. Like the fact that she knew what she wanted and went for it, always. Like she remarried and moved to Florida when she was 60, traveled to far reaching places like Israel when people of her generation just didn’t travel and that, even at 100, she lived alone.
That would have floored Willard. But, because, he was Willard Scott, he’d probe in that nice-guy way and,” Why don’t you live in one of those Sr. Living Centers. Aren’t those places really posh and fun?”
And she’d reply matter of factly, “Because those places are for old people who want to die.” Willard would not know what to say.
But, sadly, shockingly, Willard Scott didn’t get his chance to meet Grandma at 100. I mean, I think we all thought she’d outlive all of us and was going to be the oldest person ever or at least the oldest person with Red hair.
Still, we got to be with her for a really long time. And with that time, we got a lot of kindness, tenacity, her stubbornness, her generosity, and most importantly love (and she loved us all).
And that will last forever.
The Six-Page Passover Haggadah
Mar 27th
For those Jews who want don’t want to do the full Passover Haggadah and want to do more than “They tried to kill us; we survived; let’s eat” I offer the Quick Passover Haggadah. Compiled by my wife’s close childhood friend, Lori Reiss, it is 6 pages (single spaced) and takes about 1/2 hour to do. It has all the major highlights of the seder and gets the gist of Passover.
Now, I don’t recommend that you use the format for every Seder until the end of time. But if, like me, you have pre-schoolers that need to get to bed no later than 8:30, it might just be the perfect balance.

