Not so easy....

Don’t get me wrong, I do not miss the good old days of standing in line to buy tickets to concerts. But the way we do it now can be so frustrating! We were actually able to get on Ticketmaster before the supposed on-sale time of 10 am, which made me quite suspicious. Was there a pre-sale before the pre-sale? We were on two separate computers, with Barry searching for fully wheelchair accessible seats and me looking for a seat that allows the person to transfer out of the wheelchair. I prefer the latter but either is fine: I need the wheelchair to get from the car to the seat but I have no trouble transferring once I am there. Barry was able to get seats while I was not. How can that be? How can every single such seat have been gone by the start of the pre-sale? This will forever remain a mystery.

So, I guess we will mostly be seeing the Eagles on the screen or through binoculars, but at least we will be there.

We are planning a simple and quiet Sabbath this week. We thought about inviting company but decided to allow some down time. Simmie and Ronen and the girls are in Israel, visiting relatives and friends and sightseeing. Dina and the children will be coming to New York first thing Sunday. Unfortunately the weather forecast does not sound great for next week, and we were planning to enjoy some amount of outdoor activities. We do hope to find a nice half-day for the Botanical Gardens, and we also hope to make it to the Bronx Zoo. We have a list of other fun things to do but we will have to see how the weather develops. 

On Wednesday, Dina and Ella will be spending the afternoon and having dinner at the American Girl Doll Store in Manhattan while Joshua, Barry, and I are going to a Mets game. You might be wondering how in the world it happened that I am going to the Mets game rather than the American Girl Doll Store. Well, the Mets tickets had been purchased a while ago, and we had ordered handicap accessible seating since I was planning to go. Ella did not want to go to the baseball game, so it made sense to book her visit to American Girl on the same day. So I find myself in the somewhat amusing position of having to go to a ball game and missing American Girl. Next Friday we plan to drive up to Sharon, and if the weather is good we will visit Mystic Seaport on the way.

Have a nice weekend!

Love,

Rebecca

Take it easy....and I CAN tell you why!

Look what I found in my inbox today: tickets on sale tomorrow for The Eagles at Madison Square Garden, Friday and Saturday, November 9^th and 10^th. So you know what we will be doing tomorrow morning at 10 am! Wish us luck - these will go very quickly!

Love,

Rebecca

Joshua Disney Trip 2013

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A simple question?

Over the past few months Barry and I have been working on organizing our finances. Both of us have had numerous employers over the years, which have generated a large number of retirement savings accounts that are difficult to track and manage. A friend recommended a financial advisor and we decided to work with him. This exercise was largely motivated by wanting to make things easier for the one(s) left behind, but looking at it more optimistically, it has been an opportunity to assess where we stand for the coming years. Transferring all the accounts that could be transferred (since Barry is still employed by Mount Sinai, some of his have to stay put for now) has been a tedious process. But finally we are just about all set, having moved everything we could into one main account, and our advisor sent us a quick note with a seemingly simple question:

Would either of you have any objection to owning tobacco-related companies in your portfolios?

I am reminded of the Arlo Guthrie saga, “Alice’s Restaurant,” in which Officer Opie asks Arlo whether he has “rehabilitated himself” after having illegally disposed of a truckload of garbage. I think I need to be singing a few bars of Alice’s Restaurant in order to answer this question. The song was not really about waste removal, and this tale is not really about our financial accounts.

As all of you reading this know, although I never smoked cigarettes, I have struggled with pulmonary disease for over twenty years, and have been on full-time supplemental oxygen for the past five or so. To say that I do not wish to support tobacco companies would be an understatement. And yet, it is likely that there are other companies that are part of the potential investment portfolio that may be equally distasteful to me. Is it hypocritical to single out the tobacco industry? They are surely not the only ones who are potentially harming our health and environment. I struggle with fragrances but I don’t think I would object to cosmetic companies being included in the portfolio. Oh, but wait, are they testing those cosmetics on animals? I am, after all, a vegetarian, so maybe I should steer (no pun intended) clear of them as well. Where does it end?

Perhaps the bottom line is that there is no perfect answer. Here is how I responded to the question:

We would prefer not to include tobacco-related companies in our portfolio. We recognize that this one small act will not have a major impact on the world, but as someone who struggles with pulmonary disease (not related to tobacco, as I have never smoked a cigarette in my life), I am hard pressed to think about reaping financial benefit from the tobacco industry.  

So much to ponder….meanwhile, stay cool. It is as hot here in New York as it was last week in Florida!

  

Love,

Rebecca

Fun in the back yard!

Just received this terrific video from Dina and had to share. All this fun, literally in their own back yard! 

Love,

Rebecca

An amazing five days

I barely know where to begin….what an amazing five days we had!

With a couple of exceptions, the logistical details all went pretty well. We stayed in a two-bedroom two-bathroom unit at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort, which is surrounded by Disney on three sides so a quick drive to the parks. There were a few glitches on the first day. First, as we left the airport in our rental car, the engine was making a terrible noise, and we decided to take the car back and exchange it. This turned out to be fortuitous because, for reasons we were never able to solve, our own GPS was not working, and the second car had built-in GPS.  Second, the local oxygen supplier seemed unable to provide the entire five days’ worth of supplies, so I found myself having to call every morning to arrange for more cylinders to be delivered. It came as no surprise when they delivered the whole weeks’ worth on the last day! Third, we arrived at Cohen’s Delicatessen only to discover that it had gone out of business. Note to self: never assume that restaurants you have patronized are still in business. Fortunately, there is a second kosher restaurant, Lower East Side Deli, and we were able to find our way there to pick up food. Joshua loved their fried chicken nuggets, and their chummus was really delicious.

Here is the list of the rides/shows we did. We are still working on our ratings, but I have put in bold the ones that were the biggest hits. Joshua doesn’t feel that he can pick an overall #1 – there are just too many contenders!

Monday 17 June – EPCOT

1.    Soarin’

2.    Living with the Land

3.    Captain E-O

4.    Canada

5.    France

6.    Innoventions East and West

7.    Spaceship Earth

Tuesday 18 June – Hollywood Studios

1.    The Great Movie Ride

2.    Muppet Vision 3D

3.    Studio Backlot Tour

4.    Indiana Jones

5.    Toy Story Midway Mania (Fast Pass)

Wednesday 19 June – Magic Kingdom

1.    Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

2.    Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (Fast Pass)

3.    It’s a Small World

4.    Peter Pan’s Flight

5.    Mickey Philharmagic

6.    Enchanted Tiki Room

Wednesday 19 June (Evening) - Hollywood Studios

1.    Fantasmic!

Thursday 20 June – Animal Kingdom

1.    Kilamanjaro Safari

2.    Kali River Rapids

3.    Flights of Wonder

4.    Maha Raja Jungle Trek

5.    Finding Nemo

6.    Festival of the Lion King

The weather was a challenge. It was brutally hot, and by late afternoon the thunderstorms began. In some ways this was just as well, because we were exhausted. But it meant that we only went back for the fireworks the one time. And that show was incredible!

But the true highlight of this trip, with all due respect to the Disney folks, was Joshua. This trip was a unique and priceless opportunity to really get to know our grandson independent of the distractions of his parents, his sister, and his friends. We could see glimmers of a really terrific young man ahead of us. He was the best travel companion ever! He was a good sport about everything, was helpful and funny and flexible - everything you want a travel companion to be! When our return flight was delayed by a couple of hours, he was the one who said “let’s play cards!” and managed to pass the 2+ hours delay keeping us in good spirits. We were so proud of him!

We arrived home in the wee hours of Friday morning, exhausted but already talking about the lessons learned for the next trip. #1: need to go during a less oppressively hot time of year!

Somehow, on the first day, spent at EPCOT, we did not find any of the Disney World photographers, so we were not able to get a picture of the three of us in front of Spaceship Earth. But I took a picture of Barry and Joshua, and we do have the professional pictures from the three other parks, which I have posted here.

To say I am exhausted is an understatement. But I would do it again in a flash, and I pray I will have the strength and good health to realize that dream.

Love,

Rebecca

A Magical Week

There is so much to tell about our amazing five days, but sheer exhaustion prevents me from doing it justice. So for the moment, I will just share an image that captures the spirit far better than any words I can pen, and save the details for later.

Have an enjoyable first weekend of summer!

Love,

Rebecca