Tel Aviv Diary - March 18-22, 2009 Karen Alkalay-Gut
March 18, 2009
Here's a little promo for Tel Aviv Stories.
Here's a little update on the repair of my computer. Ezi called Newpan this morning since it's been two weeks from the moment we brought it to the shop which sends it to Newpan. "It takes 10 work days," the secretary said impatiently, "and Cynthia from the lab isn't in yet." Cowed, Ezi said goodby, but tried again an hour later. "Didn't you call before?" the secretary asked. "Why are you calling again?" Newpan is one of the places I would erase from the planet - after my continuing experience with them. My computer has visited that place at least six times in the past 15 months. I'll bet they fix them so they'll break down and then they take whatever I've written in the mean time and sell the stuff for large amounts of money. In any case Newpan is one of the reasons you should never buy Dell in Israel.
Of course no one could be in a good mood around here after the Shalit deal fell through. I don't want to get started on how many things we did wrong along the way - but i do want to suggest who might be initially responsible for the kidnapping...
I've been a member ofThe Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel for years and years. In the past few years they've been reporting about the diminishing of migratory birds. This is now the migratory season and we're on their route, but fewer birds are going north than ever. Could the economic situation have anything to do with it? Oh dear,
March 19, 2009
Came home to rest my poor knee and my tired body for an hour. But the phone keeps ringing. More often than not it's some charitable organization that wants money. We don't keep records of what we give - if we knew we'd be scared and stop giving. But when someone calls for 'hot meals' or 'food for the poor' how can we not reach into our pockets? I look up their status on the web, see they've got approval from the government, and pay up. It's not their fault we've got a terrible government. They've got to eat.
We got a call today to pick up the computer. Ezi drove to Ramat Gan on his way home from work in great excitement. But it turned out that it hadn't beenv repaired. There was no screen. So now we probably have to wait two more weeks before we get it back again. I would already have bought a computer, but my knee is awful, hard to walk.
Now the Labor party has finally split - the rebels stay outside the government - I would have gone with the rebels.
March 20, 2009
Marianna wrote me asking why I'm complaining so much about the service on my Dell. "It gives Israel a bad name!" she said. Marianna dear, I don't complain about anything else - that's because 99% of the service I get in Israel is wonderful. Today I went for a shot of cortizone - no waiting, but by the time I left the office the waiting room was full and I wasn't limping. "I can walk!" - From there we went to the vet where the whole room was full of scared dogs and happy people, and we got a prescription for cough medicine. At the pharmacy the pharmacist's assistant turned out to be an old student of mine, introduced me to the pharmacist, and invited me to a recital she's giving. And so the Friday morning went - as it usually does for me - with a feeling of joy and anticipation.
I know this next thing isn't about Tel Aviv, but Austria, but I can't get it out of my mind. We have our share of sex crimes and murders, but there seems to be a semblance of social responsibility some people interpret as nosiness that would make the secrecy of Fritzel impossible. There have always been sociopaths, and they're not curable, but behavior can to some extent be controlled by society. I believe in nosiness, and that's why i'm happy that we're at least beginning to examine the behavior of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
March 21, 2009
Still limping, and wheezing just a little, i dragged myself to 'il makiage' today to get some stage make-up. it doesn't help, but it makes me feel a little better under the hot lights. But just below the make-up store was a computer store, and there - I bought a toshiba. How are all the stores open on the sabbath, you ask? Shabbas Arabs. Wonderful guys who know how to sell and have a sense of humor too. I think the whole operation took 15 minutes and I have a feeling that maybe my 16 month nightmare with Dell may be over. Maybe they'll even give me my money back, or a least a Dell that works but it won't be a matter of life or death as it has been for so long. I won't have the experience of my husband's tests results disappearing from the screen before i can read them and being replaced by a checkered pattern. I won't have all my students' papers with my comments on them evaporate before i can back them up. I won't have whole articles wasted. i won't have Ezi spend days and nights reloading all the programs, cursing all the time. and my head might be a little less confused about where things are.
The salesmen asked why i was buying a toshiba when i had just bought a dell a little while ago and i said, "because its CHARA," (shit - in Arabic). "Anything else?" he asked as he stood by the dell counter and wrapped up the toshiba. "BASS" Ezi said. (enough - in Arabic) and we all had a good laugh.
So maybe i can go back to some more important topics. First, let's get that toshiba up.
March 21, 2009
First day of spring, 1001 days of Shalit's imprisonment, enough explosives found in a failed terrorist attack in Haifa to have 20 suicide bombers explode... i've got to stop counting things like that - except maybe positive things - like 8 days till my birthday. Or 19 days till Passover. or how many centimeters of rain will fill the sea of Galilee this week.
Couldn't get hold of anyone at Dell to see how my bum computer is doing. My heart would have been broken had I not bought the Toshiba. Sometimes these extra expenses seem enormous but save you from having a heart attack.
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