Well, we made it. We are officially living for two years in Boston. It was not easy part of the time (You can ask Shuki about his time lost in the woods in Virginia to understand my meaning), it was not cheap (MIT, living in Cambridge etc, adds some extra Zeroes to your bills) and sometimes it was really cold (Ice hotel). But, as we look back, we are having great time over here.
It is funny, but the things that I just mentioned earlier as cause of hardship are those we remember the most. Sleeping in a hotel completely made of ice, looking for Shuki (and finding him), living in this multi-cultural multi-age city and having the opportunity to go to MIT was some of the best experiences I had in my life.
To give the event the honor it deserves, we celebrated at lala rokh, which is a Persian restaurant Orit was telling me about for long time. Well, as often time happens, she was right. This is a very good restaurant. I guess their biggest secret is the spices combination (the story tells that the owner goes twice a year to Iran to get some original spices). I got a stew dish of meat in a sweet sauce which was very good due to the balance between sweet and sour.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Columbus Day weekend
We decided to spend the long Columbus Day weekend visiting to leaders of our to-do list – Thousand Islands and Niagara Falls
We took a flight to
BTW: this is the place where the famous thousand island souse was invented…
We got a RED FORD MUSTANG which made it mostly a cool drive. The only uncool part was a flat tire we had to deal with in the middle of nowhere…
In the town of
The highlight (at least for us) was a cruise in the river between the islands. Some of the islands are very very small (just a few SQ feet) 
the other are huge with many houses, stores and even fire department and churches. We also got to visit
Two pieces of advice for the American readers –
- You do not have to pass the border to
- There are other recommended activities we did not do. For example, taking a boat and selling between and onto the
The second highlight of the trip. We decided to focus on the Canadian side which anyone you ask say it’s nicer. Well it basically looks like a downscale Vegas, with a strip of restaurants, stores, shows and whatever you might be thinking of. Too commercial to my taste.
Since I guess most of you been there I will just add a few pictures. If you want to see the rest, please follow the following link (will be added later).
An actress dressed up like Elvis made of Gold. This picture was taken before I started tickling him from behind with a branch – but this is a different story (very funny one).
On the way back we spend a few hours on the American side. I must admit that I liked it better. It was much less crowded, full of peaceful atmosphere. Besides, the views are impressive from both sides.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Weekend update
Three interesting things we did this weekend:
1. Orit's parent’s flight back home was scheduled for early morning on Saturday, so we decided to take the opportunity and watch the sun rise over the Charles. Unfortunately it was raining that morning so the sight and picture were not that great. We are still looking for the next opportunity to do it in a clearer day.
2. Kayaking on the Charles. We went with Tsahala, Tim and... Shuki. You can kayak toward both ways. We Took the Kayak from Charles River Canoe and Kayak toward Newton. We prefer it that way due to less traffic.
3. Orit and I went to see a movie at the old movie theatre at Harvard square. I always wanted to go there since it looks like the old movie theatre you get to see in pictures from the 60ties. Although the archaic outside look, in the inside is very nice. One impressive thing was the angle in the audience area. Unless the person in from of you 1 feet taller you get to see a full screen. The movie we saw was "The Bourne Ultimatum". I would give it 3.5 stars. It is a good action movie, which uses the same formula that worked in the previous two movies. The movie is still faster then it's predecessors it pays heavily with credibility. Funny issues are all over the place. For example it appears to be evening in the same time in Europe and the US! Still, it is good action, so if this is what you are looking for you will not be disappointed.
1. Orit's parent’s flight back home was scheduled for early morning on Saturday, so we decided to take the opportunity and watch the sun rise over the Charles. Unfortunately it was raining that morning so the sight and picture were not that great. We are still looking for the next opportunity to do it in a clearer day.
2. Kayaking on the Charles. We went with Tsahala, Tim and... Shuki. You can kayak toward both ways. We Took the Kayak from Charles River Canoe and Kayak toward Newton. We prefer it that way due to less traffic.
3. Orit and I went to see a movie at the old movie theatre at Harvard square. I always wanted to go there since it looks like the old movie theatre you get to see in pictures from the 60ties. Although the archaic outside look, in the inside is very nice. One impressive thing was the angle in the audience area. Unless the person in from of you 1 feet taller you get to see a full screen. The movie we saw was "The Bourne Ultimatum". I would give it 3.5 stars. It is a good action movie, which uses the same formula that worked in the previous two movies. The movie is still faster then it's predecessors it pays heavily with credibility. Funny issues are all over the place. For example it appears to be evening in the same time in Europe and the US! Still, it is good action, so if this is what you are looking for you will not be disappointed.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
A trip to Nova Scotia
Pictures will follow
Last weekend we went with Orit's parents to Nova Scotia for a long weekend. Actually they went their ahead of us and stayed few more days after we left which is more recommended. The place is huge. A long traveling time should be taken into account (although the things you will probably see is worth the traveling).
To start from the end the trip was wonderful. The place has a unique atmosphere with its tiny villages and somewhat slow rhythm that makes you feel like you've reached the end of the world (in the good sense).
Just to name few of the things I particularly liked:
1. Village named Sherbrooke Village: a live and working village that preserve the way of living from the end of the 19th century. There are the blacksmith, the wood-worker, the local printer. You can enter their homes, examine their tools, watch them as they work and ask questions (which we were very good at).
2. Cape Breton National park. The word to describe it is dramatic. High cliff with strong contrasts of green forests, pink sand and blue ocean. We mainly drove (it takes 3-4 hours just to drive through it) but I recommend stopping for a few days and do some hikes.
3. Hotel called margaree lodge in a tiny town called Margaree Forks (30 minutes drive after the west exit of Cape Breton National park on route 19).The rooms will probably will not take you off your feet but the food.... There is an english Shef (I guess that is not a good start... english shef) that makes wonders. It is a good stop after the Cape Breton National park.
4. Scenic roads. Don't be tempted to drive the highway. Take the longer scenic alternative.
5. B&B on the shore of one of the endless lakes. And don't forget to take a good book with you.
Last weekend we went with Orit's parents to Nova Scotia for a long weekend. Actually they went their ahead of us and stayed few more days after we left which is more recommended. The place is huge. A long traveling time should be taken into account (although the things you will probably see is worth the traveling).
To start from the end the trip was wonderful. The place has a unique atmosphere with its tiny villages and somewhat slow rhythm that makes you feel like you've reached the end of the world (in the good sense).
Just to name few of the things I particularly liked:
1. Village named Sherbrooke Village: a live and working village that preserve the way of living from the end of the 19th century. There are the blacksmith, the wood-worker, the local printer. You can enter their homes, examine their tools, watch them as they work and ask questions (which we were very good at).
2. Cape Breton National park. The word to describe it is dramatic. High cliff with strong contrasts of green forests, pink sand and blue ocean. We mainly drove (it takes 3-4 hours just to drive through it) but I recommend stopping for a few days and do some hikes.
3. Hotel called margaree lodge in a tiny town called Margaree Forks (30 minutes drive after the west exit of Cape Breton National park on route 19).The rooms will probably will not take you off your feet but the food.... There is an english Shef (I guess that is not a good start... english shef) that makes wonders. It is a good stop after the Cape Breton National park.
4. Scenic roads. Don't be tempted to drive the highway. Take the longer scenic alternative.
5. B&B on the shore of one of the endless lakes. And don't forget to take a good book with you.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Great weekend
This weekend we had two very nice events I thought it would be worth while telling about.
The first is a hot-air balloon festival Orit and I went to on Saturday with our friends Hagit and Yossi.
It was a short 70 mile drive to New Hampshire where about 10 teams had there balloons ready for demonstration. Unfortunately, the wind was to strong. That did not stop the teams from showing there spectacular Balloons. 
The second thing was a Kayaking tour we went to with Tim.
We rented a four person kayak and rowed from near Watertown till a bit after BU bridge. It is very recommended since it gives a fresh view of Boston. 
Seeing all the bridges from short distance and city from a different angle was worth the extra effort (not to mention the excellent exercise).Friday, July 13, 2007
We will not forget this vacation for the rest of our lives…
It all stated as a 12 days trip to Montana. It ended only 8 days later coming back from Virginia…
But let us start from the beginning:
All started on the wrong foot. Due to bad weather we missed our connection at the Denver Airport by 5 minutes. Apparently there were literally hundred of people missing their flights so the process of finding us alternative flights took hours. Additionally, United is not that organized so at one point we were notified that the next available flight is only four days away…
Finally we were able to find a flight at the following morning so we missed only half a day of our trip. But this is not the reason out trip was shorter then expected neither the reason why we came back from Virginia…
After getting to Montana we drove directly to the east side. We started with a short hike to Barring Falls (3.5 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW)
But let us start from the beginning:
All started on the wrong foot. Due to bad weather we missed our connection at the Denver Airport by 5 minutes. Apparently there were literally hundred of people missing their flights so the process of finding us alternative flights took hours. Additionally, United is not that organized so at one point we were notified that the next available flight is only four days away…
Finally we were able to find a flight at the following morning so we missed only half a day of our trip. But this is not the reason out trip was shorter then expected neither the reason why we came back from Virginia…
After getting to Montana we drove directly to the east side. We started with a short hike to Barring Falls (3.5 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW)
and went to sleep in the Rising Sun Lodge. It is located within the reservation boundaries and it seems to reserve the old time atmosphere. That means sleeping in a rustic cabin that was not changed much. It is not that I am complaining, but I do not think that kipping the cabin not isolated for example is a good thing to keep from old times. Besides the views are great and they do their best to be environmental friendly (which is a big plus).
Next day we did two tours:
A very short hike near Many Glacier lodge (4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is basically a five minute walk to a watch point over a waterfall near the lodge.
From there we went to the Grinnell Glacier hike. This one got another 4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW. It is a ~4 mile walk each way to Grinnell glacier. The nice thing is the changing views.
It starts at a forest, then it moves to a lake view, a mountain view and finishes on the foothills of a glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a mama Moose (or as we call her Mamoose) with her cub 80 feet away. 
From there we drove back to the west side of the Glacier. We took the long tour since going to the sun road was not yet open. After a good dinner at a Mexican restaurant called we arrived at out hotel for the next two nights called West Glacier Motel. The hotel is run by a lovely couple from New York that where exceptionally helpful. The husband is a hiking enthusiastic so he shared his hiking stories with us which helped us plan our next days.
The following day was devoted to early wake up to watch the sun rise (3 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW), back to bad for a short nap (we officially do not declare morning till there is Breakfast ready in the nearest restaurant). After a decent breakfast we went on two hikes. The first called Sacred Dancing Cascade (3.5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). Is along the river that flows into Lake MacDonald. It is relatively short hike (less then three miles each way) with lovely river and waterfall views. Most of the walk is shaded which makes it nicer (especially for the mosquitoes).
The second hike was along the very popular Avalanche Creek (4 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). The fist part is a mild climb in a forest, some along a river bank. This part is relatively boring. After about 40 minutes you end up on the edge of a beautiful lake. It is worthwhile walking to its other hand before heading back. The views are beautiful both of the lake and of distanced waterfalls.
The following day was supposed to be in the most beautiful part of the park – Logan Pass. It was scheduled to be open that same day so we were the fifth car to reach the pass! We started hiking the highline trail (5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is a walk on a narrow trail above the going to the sun road with great mountain views. Some of the hike was at snow and we hiked for about 3-4 miles till
reaching a point where there was too much snow to continue. On the way back there was a family of mountain goats standing on the narrow trail. Since there was not much room to go around them we had to wait patiently till they finished eating all the grass on the trail and allowed us to pass…
That ended the Glacier National Part of our trip. From there we embarked on a day ride to Yellowstone. There is not much to tell about that beside a nice stop at Polson which has a great location on the Flathead lake shores. After a days ride we got to Bozmann, which is a good stop before entering Yellowstone either from the north or the west. We were very excited with the trip we had ahead of us. We were suppose to o to see the 3-4th of July Rodeo at Ennis (very famous one) the following day and then to go for a four days trip to Yellowstone. Then we planned on a cowboy style stay at Jackson Hole before taking our flight back from Salt Lake City. We were on our way to Bozmann’s hot tubs (after having a meal at the Garage restaurant – very good ribs) when we got the message that radically changed the trip for us.
Apparently our dog’s (Shuki) babysitter got an invitation from a friend at Virginia farm area to join him for the 4th of July party. So he decided (without our consent) to take Shuki on a 10 hours drive to Virginia. There Shuki chewed his leash and ran away (after they played with fire works that frightened him). The babysitter (Tyler) looked for him for two days with the help of all his friends, some on horses before calling us. That phone call changed the trip for us. We decided to fly to Virginia to help look for Shuki. We knew the chances are slim but we figured out we have to do it for Shuki after he put up with us for the last 8 years.
Finding flight from Montana is not an easy task. There are not much cities (not to mention airport) and they are very far apart. Eventually we found a flight from a city 200 miles away to Washington (which is 100 miles away from the Virginia farm) the following day at 6am. It was already 9pm so we drove half of the night and made it. To make story short we arrived at the farm the following afternoon to help look for Shuki. Tyler seems to take the matter seriously. He was already searching for 3 days and seemed to cover almost any spot within 2 miles radius. He had a lot of help from his friends and from 2 horseback rides he knows. Additionally he was distributing hundreds of flyers to people mailbox and posting signs. He even thought of broadcasting on the local radio and putting ad on the newspaper. Just to clear things, this place is huge, dotted with a farm house every few miles. The rest is a lot of forest and cows and some predators (fox, coyote, bears) so with all the good intentions the chance of finding Shuki was low. In order not to gloom the average reader I will skip the joyless part where we became more and more desperate. Four days after running away, due to enormous amount of luck we were able too find Shuki. The story is that he was stuck in the middle of a forest about 3 miles from the farm. He was tangled in his own leash. Orit and I passed in a construction site nearby and yelled Shuki’s name. A local construction worker told us he spotted a dog that looks like Shuki about one mile away so we left the place. By chance the two horse riders that helped us look for Shuki passed nearby a few minutes later and heard a faint barking. They went deep into the forest (it was so dense that they had to leave their horses behind with one of the riders) to find Shuki.
The happiness was unbelievable! All were so happy that we decided to go and have a party at the Barbara and Greg house (the two horse riders).
After the party we had to drive all the way back to Cambridge since we could not put Shuki on an airplane. And this is why the trip ended after 8 days at Virginia…
During the drive we got into a hail storm near Washington where the hail was a gulf size. We were lucky to be in a rural area at the time so we could find shelter.
Next day we did two tours:
A very short hike near Many Glacier lodge (4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is basically a five minute walk to a watch point over a waterfall near the lodge.
From there we went to the Grinnell Glacier hike. This one got another 4 on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW. It is a ~4 mile walk each way to Grinnell glacier. The nice thing is the changing views.
It starts at a forest, then it moves to a lake view, a mountain view and finishes on the foothills of a glacier. We were also fortunate enough to see a mama Moose (or as we call her Mamoose) with her cub 80 feet away. From there we drove back to the west side of the Glacier. We took the long tour since going to the sun road was not yet open. After a good dinner at a Mexican restaurant called we arrived at out hotel for the next two nights called West Glacier Motel. The hotel is run by a lovely couple from New York that where exceptionally helpful. The husband is a hiking enthusiastic so he shared his hiking stories with us which helped us plan our next days.
The following day was devoted to early wake up to watch the sun rise (3 stars on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW), back to bad for a short nap (we officially do not declare morning till there is Breakfast ready in the nearest restaurant). After a decent breakfast we went on two hikes. The first called Sacred Dancing Cascade (3.5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). Is along the river that flows into Lake MacDonald. It is relatively short hike (less then three miles each way) with lovely river and waterfall views. Most of the walk is shaded which makes it nicer (especially for the mosquitoes).
The second hike was along the very popular Avalanche Creek (4 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). The fist part is a mild climb in a forest, some along a river bank. This part is relatively boring. After about 40 minutes you end up on the edge of a beautiful lake. It is worthwhile walking to its other hand before heading back. The views are beautiful both of the lake and of distanced waterfalls.
The following day was supposed to be in the most beautiful part of the park – Logan Pass. It was scheduled to be open that same day so we were the fifth car to reach the pass! We started hiking the highline trail (5 starts on Orit and Ziv’s scale of WOW). It is a walk on a narrow trail above the going to the sun road with great mountain views. Some of the hike was at snow and we hiked for about 3-4 miles till
reaching a point where there was too much snow to continue. On the way back there was a family of mountain goats standing on the narrow trail. Since there was not much room to go around them we had to wait patiently till they finished eating all the grass on the trail and allowed us to pass…That ended the Glacier National Part of our trip. From there we embarked on a day ride to Yellowstone. There is not much to tell about that beside a nice stop at Polson which has a great location on the Flathead lake shores. After a days ride we got to Bozmann, which is a good stop before entering Yellowstone either from the north or the west. We were very excited with the trip we had ahead of us. We were suppose to o to see the 3-4th of July Rodeo at Ennis (very famous one) the following day and then to go for a four days trip to Yellowstone. Then we planned on a cowboy style stay at Jackson Hole before taking our flight back from Salt Lake City. We were on our way to Bozmann’s hot tubs (after having a meal at the Garage restaurant – very good ribs) when we got the message that radically changed the trip for us.
Apparently our dog’s (Shuki) babysitter got an invitation from a friend at Virginia farm area to join him for the 4th of July party. So he decided (without our consent) to take Shuki on a 10 hours drive to Virginia. There Shuki chewed his leash and ran away (after they played with fire works that frightened him). The babysitter (Tyler) looked for him for two days with the help of all his friends, some on horses before calling us. That phone call changed the trip for us. We decided to fly to Virginia to help look for Shuki. We knew the chances are slim but we figured out we have to do it for Shuki after he put up with us for the last 8 years.
Finding flight from Montana is not an easy task. There are not much cities (not to mention airport) and they are very far apart. Eventually we found a flight from a city 200 miles away to Washington (which is 100 miles away from the Virginia farm) the following day at 6am. It was already 9pm so we drove half of the night and made it. To make story short we arrived at the farm the following afternoon to help look for Shuki. Tyler seems to take the matter seriously. He was already searching for 3 days and seemed to cover almost any spot within 2 miles radius. He had a lot of help from his friends and from 2 horseback rides he knows. Additionally he was distributing hundreds of flyers to people mailbox and posting signs. He even thought of broadcasting on the local radio and putting ad on the newspaper. Just to clear things, this place is huge, dotted with a farm house every few miles. The rest is a lot of forest and cows and some predators (fox, coyote, bears) so with all the good intentions the chance of finding Shuki was low. In order not to gloom the average reader I will skip the joyless part where we became more and more desperate. Four days after running away, due to enormous amount of luck we were able too find Shuki. The story is that he was stuck in the middle of a forest about 3 miles from the farm. He was tangled in his own leash. Orit and I passed in a construction site nearby and yelled Shuki’s name. A local construction worker told us he spotted a dog that looks like Shuki about one mile away so we left the place. By chance the two horse riders that helped us look for Shuki passed nearby a few minutes later and heard a faint barking. They went deep into the forest (it was so dense that they had to leave their horses behind with one of the riders) to find Shuki.
The happiness was unbelievable! All were so happy that we decided to go and have a party at the Barbara and Greg house (the two horse riders).
After the party we had to drive all the way back to Cambridge since we could not put Shuki on an airplane. And this is why the trip ended after 8 days at Virginia…
During the drive we got into a hail storm near Washington where the hail was a gulf size. We were lucky to be in a rural area at the time so we could find shelter.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tour to the MIT reactor
Today Orit and I visited the MIT nuclear reactor. Apparently MIT runs a small research reactor since the mid 50’s. One of the researcher even won a Nobel Price in 1994. The tour was very interesting. Unfortunately no photos were allowed. There are some interesting stories:
1. Cure for brain tumor – there is a material that certain tumor cells get attached to. That material can be projected with nuclear energy till dissolving the tumor cell. The interesting thing is that early tests on patients showed that this projection generated a chain reaction that killed many tumor cells that were not projected!
2. Diamonds – there is a certain type (I am not sure but I think Topaz) that is very expensive when it is in a purplish color. Finding it at transparent white is less expensive. Apparently projecting the cheap diamond with nuclear energy turns it purple for the next ten years. The MIT reactor refused to do it for De Biers company but there are reactors that agree to do so. Think of the reaction when your expensive Topaz turns white!
3. The reactor was completely built by students and professors during the 50’s.
4. The reactor is looking for financing thus it engages in different activities like treating silicon rods, purifying fly ashes!!!!!! Etc.
1. Cure for brain tumor – there is a material that certain tumor cells get attached to. That material can be projected with nuclear energy till dissolving the tumor cell. The interesting thing is that early tests on patients showed that this projection generated a chain reaction that killed many tumor cells that were not projected!
2. Diamonds – there is a certain type (I am not sure but I think Topaz) that is very expensive when it is in a purplish color. Finding it at transparent white is less expensive. Apparently projecting the cheap diamond with nuclear energy turns it purple for the next ten years. The MIT reactor refused to do it for De Biers company but there are reactors that agree to do so. Think of the reaction when your expensive Topaz turns white!
3. The reactor was completely built by students and professors during the 50’s.
4. The reactor is looking for financing thus it engages in different activities like treating silicon rods, purifying fly ashes!!!!!! Etc.
Monday, March 26, 2007
David Broza Show
Last Thursday, Following our enthusiasm from Kaveret show, we went to another Israeli performer show, this time of David Broza. To admit the truth, I did not expect too much. I usually don’t like Israeli singers that sing at language other them Hebrew and I was not aware of many songs by David Broza. To my surprise that was an excellent show. David Broza is an extraordinary performer. He got to the stage like a 20 year old, first show performer. To cite the famous line from the movie “grandma operation”, he starts by giving 100% and from that point on he just accelerated.
The show was conducted at the Kennedy School of Government and was planed and executed by the Israeli Caucus. That is a Kennedy school affiliated organization that promoted the awareness to the many faces of Israel, its rich diversity and achievements.
The show was conducted at the Kennedy School of Government and was planed and executed by the Israeli Caucus. That is a Kennedy school affiliated organization that promoted the awareness to the many faces of Israel, its rich diversity and achievements.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
KAVERET's show in Boston
On Sunday we went to see old KAVERET band show. The stars were Gidi Gov, Danni Senderson, Efraim Shamir and Alon Oleartchik. 
To start from the end, we wend out with a big smile on our faces saying "Oh, those were the days…". It was not because of seeing almost all of our Israeli friends at one night reminded us of the Independence day celebrations in Israel. It was due to the great show we got, listening to the hits we grew up with and having Gidi and Danni giggling to the microphone. Even Alon Oleartchic had something (strange) to say. For the Trivia lovers among you: he was a student at the Barkley Academy of Music here at Boston. 
Since each of the singers had a single career after KAVERET we also got to hear some of there own songs like “Shiur Moledet” which is one of my favorite.
It certainly made us wait impatiently to the next show!!!
To start from the end, we wend out with a big smile on our faces saying "Oh, those were the days…". It was not because of seeing almost all of our Israeli friends at one night reminded us of the Independence day celebrations in Israel. It was due to the great show we got, listening to the hits we grew up with and having Gidi and Danni giggling to the microphone. Even Alon Oleartchic had something (strange) to say. For the Trivia lovers among you: he was a student at the Barkley Academy of Music here at Boston. Since each of the singers had a single career after KAVERET we also got to hear some of there own songs like “Shiur Moledet” which is one of my favorite.
It certainly made us wait impatiently to the next show!!!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Skiing with Melissa and Jim
Two weeks ago we went to Vermont with Jim and Melissa. The professor we are both working for allowed us to stay in his house there which is a wonderful place with a view of a nearby frozen river.
Being in Vermont I felt like in another country. First it was snowy. There was a 10” snow at village we stayed in and it was still snowy. In Boston it was hardly raining with only remains of snow and the temperature was much higher. Second the village atmosphere was a big change from the city life and even people seemed to go in a different pace. It is very nice to have that kind of atmosphere change once in a while (especially when it is that close).
The day after arrival we spent at Sugarbush ski resort. The weather was great with fresh snow keep purring all day. The resort is big and we got to use one of the longest lifts I ever used. It was more then 2 miles long, the ride took 14 minutes and there were 3 climbing parts and 2 downhill parts (we crossed 2 mountains on the way).
It is currently one of my top picks for ski resorts North America.
BTW: I added a picture of me doing a ski jump. It is from a different ski resort but I just thought it is a cool picture.
Being in Vermont I felt like in another country. First it was snowy. There was a 10” snow at village we stayed in and it was still snowy. In Boston it was hardly raining with only remains of snow and the temperature was much higher. Second the village atmosphere was a big change from the city life and even people seemed to go in a different pace. It is very nice to have that kind of atmosphere change once in a while (especially when it is that close).The day after arrival we spent at Sugarbush ski resort. The weather was great with fresh snow keep purring all day. The resort is big and we got to use one of the longest lifts I ever used. It was more then 2 miles long, the ride took 14 minutes and there were 3 climbing parts and 2 downhill parts (we crossed 2 mountains on the way).
It is currently one of my top picks for ski resorts North America.BTW: I added a picture of me doing a ski jump. It is from a different ski resort but I just thought it is a cool picture.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Trip to the New England Aquarium
Few weeks ago we went to the New England Aquarium with Orit Nitzan and Ben. It was a package deal with Quincy market at the end. 
I must admit that it was more enjoyable then I anticipated (and I am not writing that because Orit and Nitzan are reading the Blog!). Apparently this is an animal friendly aquarium. They host previously wounded animals and keep them in an environment that mimics their natural habitat. 
It was very funny to watch the penguins stare at you standing on rocks in the middle of an artificial pool, especially when suddenly artificial rain started from hidden sprinklers.
Another interesting show was the one on Jellyfish. Apparently with global worming they become a serious treat to the ocean animal equilibrium. This is the place to recommend watching Al Gore movie – inconvenient truth.
I must admit that it was more enjoyable then I anticipated (and I am not writing that because Orit and Nitzan are reading the Blog!). Apparently this is an animal friendly aquarium. They host previously wounded animals and keep them in an environment that mimics their natural habitat. It was very funny to watch the penguins stare at you standing on rocks in the middle of an artificial pool, especially when suddenly artificial rain started from hidden sprinklers.Another interesting show was the one on Jellyfish. Apparently with global worming they become a serious treat to the ocean animal equilibrium. This is the place to recommend watching Al Gore movie – inconvenient truth.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Presentation at a Knowledge Review at MIT
On Thursday I presented my research at the annual Knowledge Review. Its a 2 days conference where different students from ESD department present their thesis. I think this is the first year that SDM (my program) thesis where presented. I was asked to be one of those presenters and after getting my advisor and sponsoring company approval agreed (although the work required).
My presentation was scheduled for 5:30pm. By that time many people in the audience left. Still I was able to get a lot of good feedback and some enthusiastic remarks.
My presentation was scheduled for 5:30pm. By that time many people in the audience left. Still I was able to get a lot of good feedback and some enthusiastic remarks.
Monday, January 29, 2007
My Birthday Weekend,
What a weekend that was! Orit planed a perfect surprise for my birthday. We started it on Thursday at Montreal and from there .... just keep on reading.
At Montreal we stayed at a very nice hotel. It is a residential building with huge apartments that was modified into a hotel named VIP St-Jacques.
The place is very beautiful, centrally located in down town, not expensive and the owner is very nice. The funny thing was the parking. Since it was very cold (about -20 deg Celsius) we decided not to leave the car outside. The owner directed us (inside the car) into a very small room that was actually a car elevator. How surprised we were when 
the door closed and the floor began to move!
After settling down, admiring the room and taking the required pictures (you know I have a blog to run and that was a very nice hotel) we went for dinner. We followed the hotel owner recommendation and walked to Modavie restaurant. That was a very good selection though a bit expensive. We had a wonderful first course (Feuilleté de brie - Brie puff pastry with a pear and nut sauce) and good main courses. The restaurant has 2 floors. The upper one is a pub that had a live Jazz show that evening and the lower is a restaurant. We sat in the lower floor enjoyed the music, drank an Australian Shiraz and dinned. There is nothing like that combination to lift your Birthday spirit!
The following day, after having a decent+ breakfast and a short (and freezing) tour at down town Montreal, we started on our journey to Quebec. I did not know what to expect till we got to the location.
It was amazing to see a hotel completely made of ice! It looks like a great deal for 
the Canadian. They sell what they have plenty of - ICE for what they think we have plenty of (Money). The result in unbelievable. Everything is made of ice - the floors, walls, ceiling, chairs, tables, bar, glasses and even the beds. 
To make it more amazing the hotel is filled with icy decorations like pictures, statues and even a small slide. 
The only reason for us to stop making photos was that it was freezing having the hand outside the glove for more then a minute. Speaking of freezing, it was freezing. That night
the temperatures went down to -31 deg Celsius. With the wind factor it went to -40. This kind of weather makes you want to go to your warm icy bad (it was only -3 deg Celsius in our room. By the way, the room was also very nice. Apparently Orit reserved the suites (she had to do it 4 months in advance and she got the last one). Each suite is decorated differently according to a specific theme. 
One was about Chess with status of the different players. Another was about Eskimos, so the bad was inside an igloo. Ours was around Aztec. So we had Atzteci status made of ice. Even our bad was decorated accordingly and we had a sitting place shaped like a tent.
Since it is a respectful place, it had to have a bar and a discotheque. They even had a unique interpretation to the term on the rocks. 
They made their glasses of ice which causes every drink to be really cold!
Another cool thing was a spa. A Jacuzzi and a sauna. That was a funny experience. Running fast to enter the Jacuzzi, in -31 deg Celsius. Once we were in, the body was warm but the head that remained outside was cold. The result was hilarious.
Our hair was frozen, so you could break it with your hands. Orit's eyelashes also froze and became white! After having the warming Jacuzzi, we went to sleep. Also a difficult task at -3 deg on a icy bad! We got a special sleeping bag and very fast took off some of our 4 layers of clothing and dived into it. Very good advise that we got was - go to the bathroom before going to bad! Having to go in the middle of the night is a long and painful experience.
For a presentation about the hotel press the link.
What a weekend that was! Orit planed a perfect surprise for my birthday. We started it on Thursday at Montreal and from there .... just keep on reading.
At Montreal we stayed at a very nice hotel. It is a residential building with huge apartments that was modified into a hotel named VIP St-Jacques.
The place is very beautiful, centrally located in down town, not expensive and the owner is very nice. The funny thing was the parking. Since it was very cold (about -20 deg Celsius) we decided not to leave the car outside. The owner directed us (inside the car) into a very small room that was actually a car elevator. How surprised we were when 
the door closed and the floor began to move!After settling down, admiring the room and taking the required pictures (you know I have a blog to run and that was a very nice hotel) we went for dinner. We followed the hotel owner recommendation and walked to Modavie restaurant. That was a very good selection though a bit expensive. We had a wonderful first course (Feuilleté de brie - Brie puff pastry with a pear and nut sauce) and good main courses. The restaurant has 2 floors. The upper one is a pub that had a live Jazz show that evening and the lower is a restaurant. We sat in the lower floor enjoyed the music, drank an Australian Shiraz and dinned. There is nothing like that combination to lift your Birthday spirit!
The following day, after having a decent+ breakfast and a short (and freezing) tour at down town Montreal, we started on our journey to Quebec. I did not know what to expect till we got to the location.
It was amazing to see a hotel completely made of ice! It looks like a great deal for 
the Canadian. They sell what they have plenty of - ICE for what they think we have plenty of (Money). The result in unbelievable. Everything is made of ice - the floors, walls, ceiling, chairs, tables, bar, glasses and even the beds. 
To make it more amazing the hotel is filled with icy decorations like pictures, statues and even a small slide. 
The only reason for us to stop making photos was that it was freezing having the hand outside the glove for more then a minute. Speaking of freezing, it was freezing. That night
the temperatures went down to -31 deg Celsius. With the wind factor it went to -40. This kind of weather makes you want to go to your warm icy bad (it was only -3 deg Celsius in our room. By the way, the room was also very nice. Apparently Orit reserved the suites (she had to do it 4 months in advance and she got the last one). Each suite is decorated differently according to a specific theme. 
One was about Chess with status of the different players. Another was about Eskimos, so the bad was inside an igloo. Ours was around Aztec. So we had Atzteci status made of ice. Even our bad was decorated accordingly and we had a sitting place shaped like a tent.
Since it is a respectful place, it had to have a bar and a discotheque. They even had a unique interpretation to the term on the rocks. 
They made their glasses of ice which causes every drink to be really cold!Another cool thing was a spa. A Jacuzzi and a sauna. That was a funny experience. Running fast to enter the Jacuzzi, in -31 deg Celsius. Once we were in, the body was warm but the head that remained outside was cold. The result was hilarious.
Our hair was frozen, so you could break it with your hands. Orit's eyelashes also froze and became white! After having the warming Jacuzzi, we went to sleep. Also a difficult task at -3 deg on a icy bad! We got a special sleeping bag and very fast took off some of our 4 layers of clothing and dived into it. Very good advise that we got was - go to the bathroom before going to bad! Having to go in the middle of the night is a long and painful experience.
For a presentation about the hotel press the link.
The following day we got up happy and excited about the adventures ahead. I was a bit tired since all night I dreamt of running away from penguins wearing snickers made of ice. The problem was that the shoe laces keep on breaking (remember that they were made of ice).
After good (and worm) breakfast we embarked on the first advantage for that day: a dog sledge.
I was riding a sledge connected to 9 Husky Dogs that ran through the isolated snow fields of that area. It was amazing! I felt like in a movie. It also gave us some ideas how to use our dog Shuki to generate income...The next thing on our list was the ice festival at Quebec. We drove for a bout 20 miles (the thermometer showed outside temperature of -20 deg Fahrenheit when we entered the car!) and got to the old city of Quebec which looks like old European city. As a matter of fact its the only North America old city that has a wall surrounding it. In the festival there were some attractions. For example they build a (small) palace made of ice, conducted a ice statue competition
and dog sledge race. One of the main attractions was a rafting that was done down a snowy hill! One of the strange thing was an event where brave people wearing 
nothing but swimming suits literally jumped into the snow!Having all that experiences we realized it can not be better so we decided to start heading home.
As I mentioned that
was awesome weekend, like most weekends planned by Orit!Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Chocolate Sculpture Workshop
Yesterday we went to a Chocolate Sculpture Workshop. We did not know much about the nature of the workshop but from its name we anticipated it to be an exciting event.
Are you familiar with those events that has very fancy name but in reality do not deliver?
Well it was not the case in that workshop. We had great time (and we both agree on that). Apparently you get three kinds of chocolate (white, milk and black) to play around with, add some interesting stuff (like vanilla, Rom, ginger, pepper, coloring) and shape any way you like.
The place was quite full when we got
there which gave us the opportunity to personally run an oral QA on the different kinds of chocolate (it got the average score of very tasty).
After getting the basic materials we started the tedious work of sculpturing. Getting desperate of creating sculpture of our dog shuki we focused on more practical things like hearts. Orit was exceptionally successful in creating a red heart with our initials and a flower decoration in the corner!
Bon Appetite.
Are you familiar with those events that has very fancy name but in reality do not deliver?
Well it was not the case in that workshop. We had great time (and we both agree on that). Apparently you get three kinds of chocolate (white, milk and black) to play around with, add some interesting stuff (like vanilla, Rom, ginger, pepper, coloring) and shape any way you like.The place was quite full when we got
there which gave us the opportunity to personally run an oral QA on the different kinds of chocolate (it got the average score of very tasty).After getting the basic materials we started the tedious work of sculpturing. Getting desperate of creating sculpture of our dog shuki we focused on more practical things like hearts. Orit was exceptionally successful in creating a red heart with our initials and a flower decoration in the corner!
Bon Appetite.
Monday, January 1, 2007
First night
Yesterday night was the “First Night”. That m
eans the first night of the year. It is a big thing in Boston. Although Orit has a light cold we went out to Boston Common. It was amazing. Something like “Yom Ha’hatzmaut” in Israel. Lots and Lots of people, everybody is happy to the roof (alcohol?) playing toy trumpets in 
your ears and shouting. In short – big party.
There were some ice sculptures of doves, lighthouse and sailors that were amazing and some other sculptures.
A very nice surprise was to discover that the T runs for free that night. I guess it is in order to reduce the
number of drivers and thus the number of accidents (very dangerous day). Anyhow it is a welcome initiative.
eans the first night of the year. It is a big thing in Boston. Although Orit has a light cold we went out to Boston Common. It was amazing. Something like “Yom Ha’hatzmaut” in Israel. Lots and Lots of people, everybody is happy to the roof (alcohol?) playing toy trumpets in 
your ears and shouting. In short – big party.There were some ice sculptures of doves, lighthouse and sailors that were amazing and some other sculptures.
A very nice surprise was to discover that the T runs for free that night. I guess it is in order to reduce the
number of drivers and thus the number of accidents (very dangerous day). Anyhow it is a welcome initiative. We are planning to go north in a few weeks. I do not know where (its a surprise for my birthday) but I know is can reach -10 F so we probably need new clothes for that. We are considering buying some clothes of IceBreaker. That is a New Zealand based company that creates winter clothes out of Marino ship wool. The CEO and founder of the company flew a few months ago from New Zealand to present his company in one of the classes I had in Harvard Business School (entrepreneurial marketing). The story of the company is very interesting. This guy has a background in marketing. When he established his company, he decided to build it around a brand that he created. He invested over half of the initial seed money into marketing! Apparently he was right and was able to grow up to >$50M company in less then 10 years. That is amazing considering that this is a New Zealandic company creating clothes. The case we discussed in class was whether they should go to China or not. It was very interesting to listen to this guy and learn about his motivations and strategy.
Since we were in New Zealand and we are familiar with the marino wool (I actually cut some wool of a marino ship) and especially since we got some good recommendation (thank you Shirley and Gadi) we will probably try some of it ourselves.
Since we were in New Zealand and we are familiar with the marino wool (I actually cut some wool of a marino ship) and especially since we got some good recommendation (thank you Shirley and Gadi) we will probably try some of it ourselves.
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