Linda Eder is - by far - my favorite singer. I used to see her in concert every year when I was living in New York, for those of you who don't know her:

Not that I pay much heed to horoscopes, I liked the message that this one had to offer, from Yahoo! Astrology:

July 04, 2009:


Today, keep your eyes focused right in front of you. Every step you take matters, so don't get too hung up on reaching the end goal. To broaden your perspective, keep in mind that life isn't about the height of the mountain you're climbing -- it's all about the journey you choose to take to get there. Cutting corners or taking shortcuts certainly isn't against the rules, but getting to the top too fast could keep you from having some amazing experiences.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which theyare accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.

- Preamble to the Decleration of Independence.

Happy Birthday USA.

I had my friend take the emergency set of keys and go into my office and ransack it. My latop is stolen. I spoke with the manager of Chayalim Bodedim on the Kibbutz and as it turns out, another soldier had something of his stolen as well. I'm of course still stuck paying off the bank loan that I used to buy the laptop, and this also probably dicks over my opportunity to pick up a new ipod when I'm in the states...but as they say, this too shall pass.

More later, for now, I'm going to go watch Wall-E with the Kibbutz Family.

He's going to check my office to see if my laptop is in my desk drawer...and if it's not...then I have the confirmation I need to face reality...however, before that, dinner in the Kibbutz dining hall and then Coffee with the Kibbutznicks by the pool, then back to Shulah & Arieh's (My Kibbutz family) to watch Wall-e.

:o)

July:

This month has already been amazing (posts on that forthcoming) but will primarily be remembered as the month in which my entire branch and I are fatigued, tired, and under-caffeinated (despite the gallons of coffee we've been drinking)...and I wouldn't change it or have it any other way. I work with an awesome team of people.

Goals:
- More push-ups, more sit-ups

August:

Getting ready to go to the US. Work as usual.

Goals:
- Prepare homework for all of my students for the entire month I'll be gone.
- Tag all of my LJ Entries/Bribe gryvon.
- More push-ups, more sit-ups.

September:
I turn 25 on September 2nd then head to the states from September 6th until October 5th. Can't wait!

Goals:
- Should already be back into daily writing/blogging
- Finances should be (mostly) in order

October:
My younger brother turns 19! A Very Rocky Horror Halloween!

Goals:
- Push-ups, sit-ups, running.

November:

NaNoWriMo. This (and Thanksgiving) are the only two things that exist this month.

I'm already preparing my office three months in advance. By the time I'm done there will be a stockpile of enough Red Bull, M&Ms, NoDoz, and Pretzels to last an army for YEARS in the field...or for those of us slightly more hardcore than special-ops...a month of NaNoWriMo-ing.

Goals:
- Start, Finish, Win NaNoWriMo

December:

Catch up on the sleep missed in November!

Present

Today I've managed to bring back on-line (with the help of LJ-Sec) almost all of my blog entries (all except for 194 of them which I have to go over in more detail to determine whether they should be friends locked or not). I then have to go through and add (manually) the hundred or so blog entries I've made since moving back to LJ from WordPress, and the fifty or so from my first blog before there was that handy name change token (...or as I recall it, before I knew that a handy name change token existed) and then nomadmatan will be fully back and functional (and spiffy, too). It feels good to be back on LiveJournal :o)

I also have to move over all of my emails to my Yahoo! Mail Plus account (and update the address book so it will be functional, once again) and update my social networking sites (more on that later when I do a technology post, which will also explain the move back to LJ a little more clearly).

This whole "not having real communication tools for the past seven or so months" is getting ridiculously old.

Other things I've been working on this weekend are updating all of my photos and galleries with photos from my recent journeys and my various albums elsewhere on the net (e.g. facebook, etc.) so that they're synced...that should be finished by the end of the weekend, I think hope.

Past

So I came back to the Kibbutz last night and went to my Kibbutz family's house and hung out with them (as I do most nights when back on the Kibbutz). Eventually I hopped onto the computer there and checked my email and did a quick blog update...when I got home I noticed that my laptop was not where I remember having left it.

These past few months, the Kibbutz (through a contractor) has been installing a bomb shelter on my room (my Kibbutz is Kibbutz Zikim, located 1 kilometer from the Gaza Strip, so bomb shelters are a handy thing to have)...this means workers are in and out of my room all day. However, anyone else who really wants to get into my room doesn't have to work very hard. As part of the process for installing the bomb shelter they take the bay window that's at the far end of my room and convert it into a door way. Since it is not yet a doorway, all anyone has to do to get in, is slide the non-lockable window to the side with their hand...since the security bars were removed months ago at the start of the project.

Now, not wanting to be chicken little (or to accuse anyone of stealing anything without having definitive proof) it is entirely possible (okay, so not really) that I was so tired this week, so incredibly fatigued (since I had two rounds of guard duty each lasting twenty four hours with two hours patrol, four hours sleep, two hours patrol, four hours sleep, change to rapid responder, wash rinse repeat) that I somehow forgot that I brought my laptop to base and put it in the desk drawer where I keep it when I'm not using it...if it weren't for the fact that I:

a) distinctly remember not wanting to bring it to base because I had guard duty this week and it wouldn't make much sense since I wouldn't be able to get any work done anyway
b) realized that the DSL modem is also mysteriously missing from my room, with the DSL cord and the Ethernet cord
c) noticed that the laptop sleeve which I always take it in is sitting on my desk and
d) also saw that the CD containing the operating system I wanted to install is still where I left it and the only reason for bringing my laptop in was to use a friends portable CD drive to install it since my laptop is a netbook.

However...I don't want to make any accusations until I'm 100% sure (far be it from me to be a hot head...shut up)...though all signs are pointing to the fact that my laptop was ganavad...and I hope they enjoy the non-functioning, encrypted, English version of Fedora that they'll have to wipe out before they can figure out how to make the thing usable...providing they know how to install an operating system from a thumb drive.

This of course means that I'll still be paying off a bank loan for a laptop that I no longer have...and my communication/technology situation is moving in the opposite direction than I had hoped for.

Future

Dinner in a couple of hours at the Kibbutz dining hall, then some more work, then watching Wall-e with my Kibbutz Family, then going home to sleep. Tomorrow I'm getting my uniform from the Kibbutz Laundry Facility, doing some homework, writing some lesson plans, and cleaning my room (which I think I'll get a head start on tonight, as well, now that I think about it).

Expect a fair amount of updatage soon...and a ton of picture posts. I have a great post about field bags in the works!

Maybe, maybe I have been so tired that I brought my laptop to base, without the power cord, case, forgot I did so, put the laptop in my desk drawer and forgot it was there because of how hectic my week was and then my DSL modem magically vanished from my desk...or they were stolen out of my room on the Kibbutz by the very open hole in my wall where they are preparing my bomb shelter...I haven't been back since sunday night and I don't recall bringing my laptop to base...but I'm hopefull that it's in my office...or for some reason moved somewhere inn room safe...we'll see...

:o)

Finally back at the Kibbutz! It's been a long, wonderful, amazing week. Many entries are in progress, emails are starting to fill my draft box and LiveJournal tweaking is in progress.

I'm really stinky right now. I'm looking forward to getting out of my uniform (and boots which have been on for two days of patrol/guard duty and...let me tell you...they're making the wallpaper peel), showering, and blogging.

This weekend is going to be a rather busy one (I have a ton of stuff I have to finish writing for work). I also have to finish grading papers and writing lesson plans, but all in due time :o) Tomorrow's goal is to sleep in and refresh myself before diving into work.

It feels good to be back on LiveJournal.

Icon Request

I have about 100 places for icons left...any suggestions? Anyone feeling creative? Travel/Nomad/Hiking/RKO/Startrek/IDF/Cow related icons are all welcome :o)

Finished my guard duty shift. Have some time off to myself. Cant wait to be on the Kibbutz this weekend! Time for a sandwich. Peace love and hummus - Matan

This past weekend I went to Ma'agan Michael for fun and relaxation (and to visit my cows), and I figured I'd share what I woke up to...hours before I had to jump back into the fray:



I spent the night on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore...and then to a morning rain shower, followed by dawn...it was awesome...sadly, it's time to come back to the real world (I look forward to when I can be a full time dirty hippy) and put out some roasting embers that were lit for having the audacity to take a half-day off.

Replies to comments, facebook messages, owls, emails and the like later today and throughout the weekend...I can't begin to tell you how hopeful I am (and how happy I'll be) to have my technology shit together and done with this week (please...PLEASE...maybe?).

Also, I'll be moving my other word press entries and unlocking my blog entries here shortly as well...it's a work in progress.

Have a great week everyone!

Peace,

Matan

I'm incredibly excited to be heading up to Ma'agan Michael tomorrow morning.

Ulpan #100 is having our first annual graduation anniversary on the beach this weekend. Best of all, since the beach next to Ma'agan Michael is public space, we're pitching tents and camping out! I'm looking forward to a weekend of quiet relaxation interspersed with raucous partying.

I'll be leaving the Kibbutz at 7:30am and heading to Tel Aviv, running to the shook to grab some oatmeal for the weekend (I have my camping gas burner and my pot all ready to go), heading to the baker to pick up a nice loaf of fresh bread and then running to Shirah's apartment to grab peanut butter on my way to the Bus Station.

From the Central Bus Station, the 921 to 15 Kilometers just South of Haifa for a wonderful weekend of relaxation and camaraderie...followed by half a day off on Sunday as I make my way to Headquarters in Tel Aviv to teach English in the afternoon and then on down to Ashkelon.

And there's tons of writing...it's just all percolating at the moment.

Hey All,

Quick post - a longer one coming later tonight (I'm working on a project with my Kibbutz Family that has to get finished), but I'll be moving my domain back over to livejournal and blogging here again (I just can't afford hosting at the moment, I have a permanent account here, and fiscally it makes the most sense).

My email - matan@nomadmatan.net - remains the same (thank you, yahoo mail plus), and eventually you'll find that nomadmatan.net links over to here...I just need to find a way to backup my current site (which I think host monster will let me do) until such a time as I see fit to get hosting again...slowly but surely, you'll find that things are getting backed up and moved to other services (my travelogue will probably move over to yahoo groups or something).

Anyway, a more coherent entry later.

Peace, love and hummus,

Matan

Get the Code | iamhuman.org

I made this graphic back in 2003 for a design course, but I figured I'd put it out there on the net again after reading a bunch of articles in the newspaper today (the coups in the NYS Senate, which had a lot to do with the Same Sex Marriage bill, apparently)...and Gay Pride is this weekend in Tel Aviv. Anyway, Feel free to download it and spread it as you like, while I do retain the copyright to it, anyone's allowed to use it for pretty much anything (though I ask that you don't make a profit off of it, or if you do, that it goes towards a good cause, like AIDS Research or to fight Prop 8 , or something):

Feel free to put it on your site by snagging the code below:

<!--Start of Code-->
<p style="text-align: center;">
<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.nomadmatan.net/images/iamhuman.gif">
</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nomadmatan.net/iamhuman">Get the Code</a> | <a href="http://www.iamhuman.org">iamhuman.org</a>
</p>
<!--End of Code-->

In other news, for those of you who have been wondering where I've been, I've been syndicating my feed to LiveJournal and blogging at my site though I may also start posting some things to LJ since the army isn't terribly fond of soldiers who keep websites (I'm not allowed to post my travelogues on my blog anymore, at least until after I'm out of the army...I'm only allowed to send them by email according to people who have things on their shoulders and get to give me orders).

I do however use this account (whenever I have regular net access) to follow everyone's blogs and entries and going ons (I think I'll have my USB modem working tomorrow...which will hopefully end my internet woes, I've been seven or so months now without regular internet) so I'm still keeping up on everyone as technology allows me :o)

So how is everyone doing? Please forgive the disjointedness...it's 12:27am, I've been going on two hours of sleep a night for the past week...but it's good to be on-line :o)

Peace all,

~ me

You know, a lot of people throughout my life constantly say something can't be done, and I hate negativity. It takes only one, simple, free act to start a movement. One good deed spreads like wild fire.

Today Hillel had a table in the student union and what students we could convince to come over ("Would you like to make a sandwich for someone who's homeless?" "oh...I don't think so...no" was heard pretty often) we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to bring to the hungry at the City Mission. We made 100 sandwiches...and I got to thinking...and I think our Campus needs some free hugs...

The Original...



...now in Israel



How About China?...



...And now Peru



Amsterdam...



...And don't forget New York City



And Korea!...



...and Venezuela



And Scotland Too!



...Next Week in Buffalo!

...coming soon!

So I have a free, round trip ticket from jetblue to anywhere in the continental U.S.

...so, who wants to play tour guide? It has to be soon and has to be before Israel...it could (feasibly) be next weekend.

Carrie, Stepehen are you guys free in Boston?