Marcus Simon

One of the coolest things about Buzznet is being able to see the world through the eyes of so many different people.  When Buzznet added the buzzwords feature I got really excited because I thought it might be a cool way to be able to see the exact same sight as photographed by dozens of different people.  For instance, Sydney's Harbour Bridge.  The cool thing about the Journal and the associated picture feature is you can put them all on one page.  This is a demonstration.  If it works out, I may do it with some of my other favorite buzzwords.

I only wish when you were adding photos you could search by buzzword and not just keywords in the title or body of the post.

I'll keep adding to this post when I have time, or get bored.  Pretty cool though, don't you think?

If the rest of you all are anything like me, the first think you thought to yourselves when you heard Mom & Dad were having a 159 Party was . . .  what’s 159?

What does that mean?   Oh, I see, they added their two 60th birthdays and decided to celebrate them on their 39th Anniversary.  That’s 159 years -  60+60+39 – it’s a numerical pun, a play on numbers.  I’ll have to find a way to work that in to my toast.  That was about a year ago . . . and in that time I had a couple of different ideas.  It probably would have made a better toast, a short, sweet, succinct one, if I had chosen just one . .. but I didn’t, so you will have to suffer through them all . . .

After about a year of thinking about it,  I finally sat down at my computer to write out a toast last night. I starte with my first idea . . . If we all counted time like mom & dad, what have they been doing for the last 159 years?  And since I’m already sitting at my computer, I get on the Internet, and decide to do some research.

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, if Mom & Dad are like the average American, they have spent 57 of those 159 years sleeping.

Don’t feel too badly for them though, they also spent 31.8 years Shopping, eating and drinking out.

Ok, that was fun, but I can’t really make that into a toast . . . on to plan B -

What else could the 159 be?  Pretend for a second that it is not the sum of their two birthdays and their anniversary.  What else adds up to 159?  Why else could they have picked that number

 

It could be that now that you are both grandparents with 39 years of marriage and 120 years of life experience between you, you have recently acquired to new wisdom and insight that allows you to answer questions that heretofore had seemed unanswerable.   For instance,

 

You now realize that 159 is . . . .

 

The number of time you have to tell me.

 

So, help me out here folks,

 

Mom:  How many time do I have to tell you to put your dirty socks in the hamper?  

 

A:  159

 

Dad:  How many times do I have to tell you not to leave my tools in the middle of the yard in the rain?

 

A:  159

 

No, I thought to myself, that can’t be it.  As my wife Rachel already knows, you can tell me to pick up my socks 159 times or 10,000 times and it still won’t do you any good.

 

 

On to plan C

 

I remembered a talk that Rabbi Schwartzman gave around the time of her very recent 40th birthday.  At 40, she explained, it is deemed healthy for Jews to begin to study Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.  One of the really cool things about Jewish mysticism is the study of Gematria, or mystical numerology. 

 

I started to think; maybe it’s no accident that mom and dad came up with 159 as the number to celebrate tonight.  Maybe 159 has some mystical significance that Mom & dad didn’t even realize when they chose this number for the theme of their party

 

Now in the old days, as I said, you had to be 40 years old and have a belly full of Talmud before you could study Kabbala.  Thank goodness, in 2005, we have the internet.  Remember, I am still sitting down at the computer. 

 

W-W-W- Dot Mysticalinternet dot COM

 

You can now type a number into the internet and find out what words have that mystical value.  Now Gemartria was invented for Hebrew, but I don’t really speak Hebrew.  .

 

but on the Internet some clever people have also created an English system of Gematiria. 

 

So I type in 159 and it comes up with a list of words that includes

 

A GIFT FROM GOD

 

Benefactor

 

But then it got  little spooky

 

Someone has calculated that 159 is the mystical value of “The Simpsons” which is a Sitcom created by  . . . Sam Simon

 

Intresting, spooky, but not really good toast material . . . and besides this English Gematria is just something some internet geeks made up anyway.  So I decided even with my limited Hebrew skills, to try the Hebrew version of the site

 

First you type in the number, then it gives you the Hebrew word and  -- what do you know,  the English translation

 

In the Hebrew system 159 was the value of the Hebrew word the computer told me means Point.  Hmmm, point  . . . still not helping me 

 

But then I started to think, maybe I wasn’t doing it right . . . sometimes you have to read the number right

 

For instance, 159 could also  be Fifteen (1 +5+9) which means Overflowing, abounding

 

Now we were getting somewhere- overflowing and abounding could work in an anniversary speech . . . we could be describing the love they have for one another and the joy they have brought to each other’s  life

 

Then it got spooky again . . .

You see, I kept playing with the numbers, and I wondered, what would we get if we combined Toast A with Toast C and subtracted the 57 years spent sleeping from 159.  That would leave is with 102 – so I plugged it in

 

First came the English translation of a Hebrew word with the value of 102 --  trust, truth, and Faith – the building blocks of any solid marriage.  Hmmm . .  . Faith

 

 so maybe I had to stretch it a little to find a connection to The Simpsons, after all, we all know Matt Groening really created the Simpsons, Sam Simon is just one of three names in the credits. 

 

But when I looked at the Hebrew word that came up and started to sound it out I realized it said = Emunah – which is their Grandaughter’s Hebrew Name

 

 

159 is the value of the Hebrew word for point

 

At first I thought that I had come up empty . . .point . . . what did that have to do with this wonderful party that we are having.

 

And then I thought  . . . point –what an interesting word.  It could be that we are all celebrating having reached this point in time – we mark the various points in our lives by counting years and we tend to get excited about the round numbers . . .numbers with zero on the end. 

 

But maybe it’s better that we not wait around for the perfectly round number to celebrate.  Maybe we should celebrate on numbers like 6 or 2 or 17 . . .or some number that we just made up, like 159. 

 

I can’t think of any better reason to through a party than to celebrate the fact that we are all able to be together today . . . at this point, this moment in time, this physical place, this wonderful confluence of mitzvot – birthdays and anniversaries. 

Praised are you Lord our G-d king of the universe for granting us life for sustaining us and enabling us to reach this moment

 

 

I wise man once said:

Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry

Another said:

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

I’ve been privileged to be able in a home where I was able to witness my mom and dad falling in love with each other over and over again.

And what would a good toast be without a little rhyming . . .

So let’s all lift our glasses and toast with me . . .

Here's to you both,
a beautiful pair,
On the birthday,
Of your love affair. 

 

To keep your marriage brimming,

With love in the loving cup,

Whenever you're wrong admit it;

Whenever you're right shut up.

 

 

L’chaim

I am toasting my parents at their 60th birthday/39th wedding anniversary party.  Anyone want to share a good rhyme, quote, or old age joke for me?

For the first time in probably 8 months Rachel and I got out to the Movies last night.  My sister baby sat for us.  I handled settlement on her new house earlier this week, so she owed me.

Anyway, we loved it. 

At first we thought, why see this movie in the theater when it will probably be just as funny at home when it comes out on video.  Then we looked at what else was out there, and realized it was the only movie worth seeing.

I am glad we did.  I am a huge fan of Old School, and I enjoyed Anchorman, so you kinda know what my sense of humor is.  I am about the same age as the characters in these movies, so I feel like I can relate.

For instance, I am a Real Estate attorney, just like Luke Wilson in Old School.  I have a good friend who still lives at home with his mom, like the surprise character near the end of this movie.  I have Vince Vaughn's hair and I like to think his sense of humor.

This movie wasn't exactly what you thought it would be from the trailers. It actually had an almost Rocky Horror Picture show like quality for much of the middle of the movie, but it worked.  I laughed out loud almost throughout. 

They probably could have cut the last 40 minutes of hte movie in half, but I am not going to complain, as I was sad when it was over, but only because I wanted more.

This is probably the most poorly written movie review ever, and possibly the worst Journal entery on the Web.  Anyway, jump in with your own observations and let's chat about our favorite scenese.