http://www.chacha.com/

I found a new search engine. Now, I know, you'll ask me "why would you need anything but google?" - well, this engine gives you the chance to chat with a "guide" that helps you find what you where looking for. It sounds weird, so I tried it : I typed "Roy Rubin" and what I got was a chat window. This is the conversation that followed:

JessicaB: Welcome to ChaCha!
JessicaB: Hello!
You: Yeah?
JessicaB: What would you like to know about Roy Rubin?
You: I saw a post about this engine and i wanted to search for something to see what it's all about
You: so i typed my own name
You: are you really getting payed to search with me?
JessicaB: Yes.
You: wow
JessicaB: Are you a famous Roy Rubin?
You: not really, though my mother think i might be some day. where's the money behind all of this?
JessicaB: Do you mean how do we get paid?
JessicaB: Sorry, the system is lagging this morning.
You: no, i mean, what's the business model behind this weird site... only adds? that's it?
JessicaB: Well, I know we are paid through the advertising, but let me send you a link to the owner's site.
JessicaB: The fifth link is for ChaCha's owner.
You: are you all English speakers? or do you have international staff as well?
JessicaB: As you can see, he has many companies.
JessicaB: The requirement right now states you must speak English.
You: yeah but what if i wanted help with something in hebrew?
JessicaB: Hopefully in the future, the will have multilingual guides.
You: cool
JessicaB: Right now we are still in Beta testing.
You: well, i should be going...
JessicaB: The biggest thing right now is to get the system working smoothly and build the database.
You: i guess
JessicaB: Okay, have a great day!
You: you too!
JessicaB: Thanks for using ChaCha! I hope you had a great search experience!

I'm really speechless. Try it yourselves and tell me what you got!
Oh, and by the way, here is the link she gave me to the guy behind this peculiar enterprise.

Update: after spending the last 24 hours trying to think of a good search topic, one I wasn't able to tackle on my own, I can't seem to get anyone to guide me any more! All I get is a laconic message telling me that "all chacha guides are currently searching with others". Deam it.

Shaking clean the residues of older definitions

There's a Douglas Adams quote I ran into a while back that goes: “I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be”. I feel like this quote might just be the theme of this post.

When I decided to jump back on the blog-writing-horse, I was sure I'd delete everything and start from scratch. Now that I'm here though, I can't do it - I love these post, I remember how cathartic it felt writing them, and I just can't see what was the thinking behind the decision to delete them.
So, since I am now NOT going to delete them, this post is going to be split into two main sections: The main purpose of the first section will be giving all those past-posts a nice ending, sort of, and perhaps allowing me to have a certain sense of closure. The second part, as you might already be suspecting, will be about starting anew, giving this blog a fresh new direction, shaking clean the residues of older definitions.

I. My mother died about two months ago. I'm pretty sure I would have mentioned it anyway, but since I've written about her getting sick, I feel obligated to write about it. The whole week leading up to her passing away, was one of the worst weeks I had ever had. We all felt it was coming, she was asleep most of the time, and very hazy (at best) when she was awake. Then there was the funeral, and the shiv'a.
The funeral was beautiful, as much as a funeral could be under those circumstances, and the only thing I can say about what came later is that I had a lot of fun. Enjoying the shiv'a really took me by surprise - I really didn't know what to expect - but it was nice, spending all that time at home, doing nothing most of the day, talking to friends later in the evening. I guess my experience was much different then dad's or Neomi's, and I do feel blessed not to have had to endure what they went through, especially Neomi - she had a continuous stream of people coming in, dozens.
I guess I have to talk about school and the work at the lab too, I've ranted so much about it I should say a few words. It might be just a question of me having a streak of good days, but lately I feel better about all of this: Finishing the degree doesn't seems like such a daunting task any more, and the work at the lab, well - let's just say that the prof. will be here and here during the next two months, so I have some breathing space to unwind and take care of myself and my work, first and foremost.
That's it then.

II. I don't think I'll write personal stuff anymore, not anywhere near what I've written till now. I guess if something major happens I'll drop a line or two, but nothing more then that. The era for all that touchy-feely crap has hereby ended.
What I will write about, is stuff I encounter everyday on the net. Let me explain: I surf a lot, a big bunch of different sites, and I would really like a place where I can just through all those links, and come back to them later on. As it stands, I'm doing this mostly for myself (that much hasn't changed :-)), but I get the feeling if you visit once in a while, you might find something amusing that you've overlooked during your surfing experiences.

P.S. I will also start writing posts that are much MUCH shorter, so don't let that worry you...

Addictions

Wow, a whole month has passed. I don’t know where to begin.

Actually I have an idea on how to begin: the reason I didn’t write for such a long time is because NOT writing is very addictive. First you decide not to write every day, then you somehow reach the idea that you should write only if you have something to say, and even more so, only when you feel like it –what’s the point after all. Then, a whole month passes by – and in my case – I’m not very surprised.

I have a very addictive personality – once I find a good pub, or a great diner, I go there every time, until something disturbs the equilibrium and I don’t like it anymore – either the pub gets too crowded or my favorite bartender quits, or the diner gets new menus and cancels my favorite deep-fried dish.

The thing that’s becoming most troubling is that I think I’ve become addicted to laziness. I’m sure I’m not the first 25-year-old who stills lives with his parents, and I know I have mitigating circumstances on my side, but still, it really bothers me.

I’m also doing badly at school, either because I hate what I’m studying or I’m just lazy and don’t study enough (or at all) – I have a “find a shortcut first” kind of attitude towards it that I can’t shake off. I just want to move on.

And my job! Working in this lab is drilling a hole through my heart inch by inch. I’d give a lung to anyone willing to provide me with a 9-to-5 job which pays well enough for me to start living independently, and I’d throw in a kidney if that job takes me so far away from here I’d have to learn a new language. That actually ties in with me feeling lazy - maybe I should get off my fat butt and find myself that kind of a job. Isn’t that what a sane human being would do?

I just know that, for whatever reason, this isn’t going to happen soon, and that for now I’m stuck.

I didn't even get any cheese!

Well, my last semester is about to begin, and I already know it's gonna be horrible. I have about 3 billion courses, because I have to make up for credits lost on last year's slack-off. For now, I still have to write a paper for a course on the history of basic chemical terms: it was an interesting enough class, but I really have to stretch my bullshiting skills in order to pull this last requirement off...

Monday and Tuesday I spent in Tel-Aviv, visiting the 71st Meeting of the Israeli Chemical Society. Most lectures were, at best, bearable, and on the really boring ones I read a book, hiding behind the meeting's booklet. By the way, "The Kite Runner" is a very engaging book - it might be devastatingly depressing at times, but being so easy to read, I always managed to get to the uplifting parts rather quickly. Anyway, going back to the lectures, the last lecture I attended was one given by Prof. P. Atkins. It was really great, finally witnessing academical greatness, or maybe I was just star – struck by the guy who wrote my second-year textbook on physical chemistry…
After that lecture, I ran out to meet Daniel, a friend of mine from the big city (doesn’t every Jerusalemite have at least one?). To those who don't know, this is what the streets of Tel-Aviv look like:






















I always get lost; I don't think I ever had a positive experience navigating these streets. Well, this time I managed to find my way rather rapidly, thanks to the guiding voice of Daniel, which curiously enough was to blame for getting me lost in the first place.
After 30 minutes of navigating, I had the pleasure of meeting Katia, his Finnish girlfriend, which is a really smart, pleasant and good looking girl. I refuse to let it eat me from the inside out. For now, I’m managing to be happy for him and that’s it. My time will come, won’t it?

I'd rather have an enema

T'is the season of exams and term-papers, here at the Hebrew University. I HATE exams: I'm really bad at studying properly, and so I tend to not do so well in classes that really need you to sit on your ass; like advanced organic chemistry, which I already failed once.
I've spent all of this week, trying to study - I took time off the lab, and I told the other-job people that I won't translate anything this week, but all I was left with is a lot of free time to play basketball and Texas Hold'em with friends. @#%*@%&#. I hate school, I feel 14 again.
At least I have something to look forward too: Thursday in Tel-Aviv, the Israeli basketball league is holding the semi-finals for the cup tournament. My sister and I already have tickets, I'm sooo exited - all there's left is for Hapoel to play well. Oh, and the NBA All-star weekend is only a few days away! I don't think I'll watch the rookies challenge game, cause I might have a date on Friday night, but I sure am going to watch the all-star game on Sunday.

Adidas Stabil 6 Red

I will get to the shoes in a minute...

My D-link router died last night after a week-long struggle, and after about a year and a half of working for us. I have no bones to pick with D-link about the router - I bought it when home-office-small-routers where only starting to appear and were really costly, and it did serve me well, apart from the occasional disconnection. On the other hand, it didn't give me a good enough reason to buy D-link again, so when faced with new competition I decided to invest in a 3Com router, this time around. It took me about 30 minutes to get it working. It would actually have taken me 5 minutes, but I had some problems with the ADSL modem I have. Well, all's well now, and life can go on. Happy ending at last.

On a different subject - It seems my impromptu-second-job I undertook, translating for a tourism site, is not gonna be so easy to ditch. I really want a new video card, but the money this month was invested in the router, and paying back people from last month. I guess I'll do it for at least another month. I should have expected that forgoing a second income would be difficult...

About the shoes - I won a competition on TV! The Israeli sports channel - channel 5 - chooses a lucky winner from all the people who phone in and pick an MVP in the weekly basketball game they choose to air. I phoned in when they showed the Rishon vs. Ramat Gan game (which was really good and ended in overtime), and chose a guy called Omar Snid. Turns out I was picked to recieve 400 NIS to spend on adidas shoes, a sucky MP3 player, and a pair of sunglasses.
I had to add a few shekels to get the adidas shoes I mention but they are really worth it! Aren't they beautiful?