Meat

For those of you who don't know, I consider myself to be a very religious and observant Jew. I grew up Conservative, and I identify with the Conservative Movement (not politically; religiously). Growing up, I was one of the most observant Jews I knew. I kept Kosher, went to synagogue as often as possible, and knew surprisingly more about Judaism than my peers.

That all changed upon my arrival at GW.

Meeting Modern Orthodox Jews and really getting to know them for the first time definitely changed my views on Judaism, especially my own perceptions of the religion. Even meeting other Conservative Jews changed my opinions. It was bizarre to me that I actually knew people who wouldn't eat meat our (or even dairy) if they were not 100% positive it was Kosher. And I'm not talking about pork vs. beef. I'm talking Kosher butcher, a hechsher (certification), the whole shabang.

To give a little background, I had always thought of myself as Conservadox (a combination of Conservative and Orthodox), having very little knowledge of the typical Orthodox lifestyle. That is, until I arrived at college (sensing a theme?), when I realized that I'm really, really, staunchly Conservative.

Now, over the last two years, I have been grappling with my level of observance of kashrut, Jewish dietary laws. And for some reason, over the last two weeks, I have gradually decided that I will not eat meat out anymore. I will only eat meat that has a hechsher.

Because that's how I do things. If you know one thing about me, it's that I'm extremely indecisive. I will spend hours, days, weeks, even months making the most minute of decisions. Just like everything else, it took me a while to officially decide I was not going to eat meat out.

I couldn't tell you why I suddenly made this decision, but for some reason, it just feels right. At least for now. I like to think I'm on a little ride and I'm seeing where it will take me. For now, things are all right. I will certainly keep you updated.

Peace, love, and happiness.

NYC!

After sleeping for approximately three hours Sunday night, I prepared for the four-hour bus ride from DC to New York. The ride went smoothly and we arrived in NYC shortly after 11 AM Monday morning. I killed some time in the Borders at Penn Station before walking up to Grand Central to catch my train to New Rochelle. On the way to Grand Central, I walked through Bryant Park, a cute little grassy area with food and lots of people. I eventually made it to New Rochelle where Leah picked me up in her soccer mom Toyota minivan. I definitely mad fun of her for that!

Given that I had been up since 5 AM, I was a little bit tired, but Leah took me back to her house where we hung out and she made me food, as a good Jewish Mother in Training would :-D. In some ways, Westchester County was exactly as I thought it would be. Charming, suburban, tree-lined streets sport huge houses (mansions), sidewalks don't really exist as everybody either bikes or drives, and the streets all zig-zag around so as to confuse foreigners.

Leah's family took us out to Sal's for some great New York style pizza. The fan favorite: salad pizza. A strange combination of lettuce, tomatoes and vinaigrette on New York style crust builds this unusual pizza. Strange as it sounds, it was pretty tasty. I would definitely eat it again and recommend it to a friend.

After dinner, we returned to the Morse home where Leah, her sister, and I put on our game faces for a Settlers of Catan match. I played pretty terribly, but we had fun nonetheless. Leah and I then watched a few clips of Whose Line is it Anyway? and laughed hysterically, a good way to prepare for bedtime.

In the morning, everybody went to work while I slept in. Leah came back from work, and we trekked down to New York City. We walked around a little, had some lunch, met up with my friend Hayley, and made our way back to Penn Station where I picked up my bus back to Washington, DC.

While the trip was not the most exciting I've taken, it was good to see Leah before she goes to Israel for five months, and I enjoyed getting away from DC for a little while. I am now back in the District and ready to go out and enjoy the city. Wish me luck!

Peace, love, and happiness.

Weekend Recap

***Disclaimer* **

Since I already discussed the excessive heat and humidity from this weekend, I will refrain from mentioning it in this post.

The weekend officially started at Friday night services at the DC JCC (Jewish Community Center) with DC Minyan. This marked my second appearance at DC Minyan services, and both have been very enjoyable. Despite the relative strangeness that is DC Minyan (separate seating without a Mechitza), I was glad to be back in a religious/spiritual environment. For those of you who don't know, I try to attend weekly Shabbat services as often as possible to reinforce my connections to Judaism, prayer, spirituality, and God. Having not been at services for at least three weeks now, I was in need of some spiritualism in my life, so I dragged my friend Rachel to Dupont Circle to join me. The service itself was incredible. The acoustics of the room were such that the sound filled the area, wrapping around every person. I was surrounded by what I had been missing for so long, and it couldn't have felt better.

Saturday (the hottest day...ever?) came and I had plans to go with Alexis to Virginia. Moving slowly and running late (as usual), I sprinted to the Metro in an attempt to catch the bus that would take us toward Dulles Airport where we would be picked up by Alexis' family. Sweating profusely and having difficulty breathing upon my late arrival at the Metro, Alexis was not a happy camper. Two Virginia-bound trains had come and gone while she waited for me, and the next one wasn't scheduled to arrive for nine minutes. The only problem: our bus was supposed to arrive at Rosslyn station at the SAME TIME our train was supposed to arrive at Foggy Bottom. How were we ever going to make it on time? After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, our train came. We arrived at Rosslyn a few moments later and ran up the never-ending escalator. I continued out to the street to find our bus just pulling in to the station. With my sweat everywhere (it wasn't much cooler in Virginia) and Alexis experiencing heat/athletic-induced asthma, we made it onto the bus (somehow in one piece) and even found seats. Within a half-hour, we arrived at the bus station where Alexis' mom, brother, sister, and dog picked us up. Fortunately, the rest of the evening ran smoothly.

Today, Alexis and I woke up bright and early in preparation for our three-hour drive to Philadelphia. The impetus for the trip: Phillies vs. Rockies (Alexis' baseball team) at beautiful Citizens Bank Park. Even though rain interrupted the game and forced us to drive home earlier than we had hoped, we had a great time in the car and at the stadium (unfortunately the Rockies lost). It may be a little shameful that I have been on the East Coast for almost a week and a half now and I've seen a baseball game in Philadelphia but not in DC; however, I plan to change this disturbing fact ASAP.

Anyway, I must be getting to bed now as I have a 7 AM bus to catch in the morning. That's right: I'm headed to New York City for 30 hours! I'll be busing there in the morning, and returning Tuesday afternoon/evening. The whole reason behind the short journey: my friend Leah will be leaving for Israel on Sunday, and I won't see her until January, so I thought I would pay her a visit in Westchester :)

Peace, love, and happiness.

Sweltering Summer

All that stuff I said in my recent post Savoring Summer could have been thrown right out the window yesterday. Saturday, July 24 marked the hottest day I have lived through, as far as I can remember. Heat indices (heat + humidity or more simply "how hot it feels") reached 110 degrees, people tried to fry eggs (albeit unsuccessfully) on the sidewalk, and the intense humidity gave the entire city of Washington, DC a drenched, underwater feeling. Breathing became difficult and running to the Metro resulted in unforeseen disgustingness. Nobody I know felt comfortable in this weather, and I wisely stayed inside for the majority of the day. Fortunately, the hot weather has cooled off slightly and The Weather Channel forecasts cooler temperatures over the next week. Hopefully I will be able to get out and explore DC without experiencing breathing problems.

Savoring Summer

After spending all day trying to figure out what I would write tonight, I came across two articles from the Washington Post, both of which have to do with savoring summer (one more specifically the monuments at night: a GW classic!). While I might consider the heat and humidity to be a debilitating one-two punch at times, there are still plenty of activities I can pursue here, like baseball! On Sunday, I will be driving up to Philadelphia with Alexis to see the Phillies take on her Colorado Rockies! I just hope Phillies fans don't kill us in the process. Anyway, the articles did not give me so many specific ideas of things to do here, but they made me realize that summer is not time to be wasted, or time to be spent waiting for the weather to cool down. It's time for us to get out there and enjoy the heat while we can! Hopefully I will practice what I preach and get out there to explore the world (maybe we'll just start with DC!).

Peace, love, and happiness.

Quote of the Day

"Some observers might describe this three-hour, 16-minute tussle as wild. That's redundant. It was a Giants-Dodgers game." - Chris Haft, MLB.com reporter. You can find the full article here.

I love Giants baseball :-D

Jon Miller: A Legend

I read an impressive article today from the San Francisco Chronicle about Jon Miller, a brilliant Giants' broadcaster. Fortunately for me, when I am not in the Bay Area, I can listen to Mr. Miller every week on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball. I most enjoy listening to Jon when he and his partner Dave Flemming get bored and start acting like five-year-olds :) They come up with these crazy stories and Jon Miller makes some incredible noises. If you've never heard the two in action, you must try to find them on KNBR 680. If that's not an option for you, try tuning in to one of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts. He and Joe Morgan also make a great team!

Peace, love, and happiness.

BlackBerry

Today, July 19, 2010, marked a momentous day in the life of Samuel Chaim Bernstein. After six years of "conventional" phones, i.e. phones that serve just that purpose: phone calls, text messaging, and the occasional game playing binge, I gave in to the BlackBerry craze. I know, I know. Please don't judge me. But I will only use my BlackBerry under two conditions: no Facebook and no AIM. Alexis will try to break me, but I will not allow myself to use either of those two applications. Other than the two restrictions, I like to think I'm free to do whatever I want :-D I've already started using BBM, which is pretty incredible. I don't get it, but I prefer to BBM than to text. I also am in my first game of BrickBreaker. I think I'm going to enjoy this device.

Giants

Starting tonight, the Giants take on the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine for a three-game series. This stint in LA begins a stretch of 12 out of 16 games against division opponents. If the Giants stand a chance of making the playoffs, they need to perform against their NL West foes. Starting the season 9-20 against these teams does not say "playoff caliber." These next 16 games can make or break the Giants playoff chances. Play well and win the series against the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Rockies, and the Giants could very well find themselves nose to nose with the Padres for the division lead. Play poorly and they could all of a sudden fall to the NL West cellar. This weekend against the Mets, Giants starters did what they couldn't the first two weeks of July: go deep into starts. Lincecum, Zito, Cain, and Sanchez racked up 31 innings in 4 games for a combined ERA of 1.16. If Giants starters can continue to hold opponents, and key players including Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Aubrey Huff, and Freddy Sanchez produce at the plate, the Giants could compete with any team in the Big Leagues. Let the fun begin!

Things I Don't Like

Call me crazy, but I really don't granny carts. Most of my friends seem to adore them and use them whenever they have the opportunity. In my experience, they don't steer well, they don't always fit on escalators, and they are usually too small to fit anything worthwhile. I would much rather carry my groceries (or whatever I have) than deal with the stress of a granny cart.

Home at Last

Since my return to DC, I have managed surprisingly little productivity. While today was not entirely different, I managed to make it to Good Stuff, Eastern Market, and Kramer's all in a day's work. I officially feel like a Washingtonian. However, as my friend pointed out to me today, I don't get out enough, so I'm setting a goal for myself RIGHT NOW: over the course of the summer (once I get a job, that is), I will go out to the wide range of neighborhoods DC has to offer and try more local cuisines. If there is one thing I don't have the opportunity to do during the course of the school year, it is exactly that. While I don't intend to go broke in this endeavor, I hope to experience all that DC has to offer its resident's stomachs. More on that one later.

Peace, love, and happiness.

Back in DC/Summer Recap

For most students, the end of their sophomore year signals a turning point. The house(s) in which they grew up no longer have the same feeling of home. While the same is true for me, I had a rough spring semester and was ready to return home to my parents.

The first week home was wonderful. I brought a friend home with me, and we had a great time exploring San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Lake Tahoe. We even found our future home on the Embarcadero in San Francisco! After my friend went back to Virginia, it was time for me to start my job hunt.

Having spent all of last summer working in a warehouse, I was looking for something a little different. I applied for a few communications/PR-type internships in the area, but nothing came together. A few weeks in, my mother suggested I get registered with a local temp agency. As it turned out, the day I interviewed, there was a job waiting for me! I didn't know it at the time, but I enjoy administrative jobs (I'm really good at filing!).

So I went out on my assignment at a local school in Alameda for three days. Upon finishing the assignment, I drove to Los Angeles for the second time this summer to drop off my sister (she's interning at the LA Times for the summer). A couple days later, she and I met the rest of our family in Santa Barbara for my other sister's college graduation!

After a great weekend in Southern California, I returned to the Bay in anticipation of my next assignment. The day I got back, I received a call from the temp agency telling me there was a full-time receptionist job available for as long as I could work. "Working full-time?" I thought. It sounded a little overwhelming, but I needed the job, and I felt qualified to be a receptionist, so I accepted the offer.

In just my second week at the auto repair shop, they began interviewing for my position. Unfortunately, I was unaware that one of these ladies would become the new "me." The following Monday, I was officially replaced. Without a job, with a strong desire to return to DC, and a job possibility with the Redskins, I decided to make the trek eastward.

After a week-long stop in Chicago to see some family members, I have returned to DC, where I am experiencing a combination of HOT HOT HEAT (and humidity), college friends, interns, and tourists. DC is a very different place in the summer than it is during the school year. More on that later.

For now, it's definitely bed time.

Peace, love, and happiness.

Introductions

First things first.

Who: My name is Sam Bernstein.

What: I am a rising junior in the class of 2012.

Where: I attend The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I hail from the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area of California. I grew up in the small town of Piedmont.

When: Why, now, of course! "If not now, when?" - Hillel

Why: Well, in all honestly, it's partially a bandwagon situation. Most of my friends have blogs, and I like to think my life is interesting enough to the average college student and other worldly beings that it's worth reading about.

How: The beautiful parallel universe we call the internet.

Moving on.

College Stuff

Studying: Believe it or not, after two years of rigorous course work, I have yet to decide on a major. It appears at this point that I will major in Liberal Arts, with minors in Judaic Studies, Music, and Journalism and Mass Communications, just to give you a sense of my wide array of academic interests.

A little more: This past semester, I took my first Journalism course, which was a great experience for me! I hope to incorporate the skills I learned into this blog. Currently, the dream is to be a sportscaster. I love sports and everything about them. In elementary school, I played baseball, soccer, basketball, and football. While football and basketball were short-lived endeavors, I continued to play baseball through my freshman year of high school and soccer until my senior year. I occasionally search for the men's club soccer team here at GW, but have found that classes and student organizations take up too much of my time to play soccer.

Teams: While I no longer play sports the way I used to, I still watch them with the same intensity. I grew up a San Francisco sports fan: Giants (baseball), 49ers (football), Sharks (hockey), and Stanford (all college sports). I continue to support all these teams while living in Washington, DC; however, I have adopted the Nationals (baseball), Redskins (football), Capitals (hockey), and of course my very own GW Colonials (all college sports). Fortunately, no sports rivalries exist between any of these teams.

Organizations: As previously mentioned, I am VERY involved in student organizations. This past year, I was President of Koach, the Conservative Jewish movement at GW. Through Koach, I am a leader at Hillel, the center for Jewish life at GW. I attend services almost every week and participate in various Hillel programs. I also belong to two professional fraternities: Alpha Chi Sigma, the Chemistry fraternity, and Eta Beta Rho, the Hebrew Honor Society. I am a Student Admissions Representative (STAR), which is just fancy talk for a tour guide. I was also a founding member of Shir Madness, the new Jewish a cappella group at GW. Shir in Hebrew means "song." We like to think we're clever. Between all of these organizations and my hefty class schedules, I never had a dull moment during my sophomore year.

More to come.

Peace, love, and happiness.