The renaming

 I woke up around noon. I turned on the radio and there's old El Dumpo whining about something, and he also re-named the Republican Party. It's now the "Trump Republican Party". It seems like a minor thing but it's not. It's like the change when the German Worker's Party changed over from loyalty to the party and Germany to loyalty to Adolf Hitler personally. 

Dumpie likes to put his name on things, it's true, but Hitler was that way too. Hitler Youth. Hitler this 'n' that. The Dump floated the idea of "Trump Scouts" or maybe it was actually "Trump Youth" and if he seizes power again that'll be the least of things he'll certainly do.

Tashlich

 I'd packed one large thing last night and woke up in time to pack another large thing and take them over to FedEx. 

Then I cleaned myself up and took off around 2? 3? Not sure. Anyway I went to Whole Foods and  bought more water and picnic type stuff, meaning a couple of cucumbers, some olives and stuff from the olive bar, a package of little bottles of wine, a couple cans of seltzer, and some feta cheese. The containers they're using now for the olive bar are awful, so I spent the $12 to get a really nice Oxo container. 

I had a couple of beef sticks and a tall can of Trumer Pils beer because damn it was hot.  I had a nice little talk with a couple, German (him) and Swiss (her) who are riding their bikes from Seattle to Los Angeles. Apparently they fly over here, buy bikes and stuff, then sell or donate the bikes when they're done.

I had to ride down to "Oak Park" which is next to "Vasona Park" in Los Gatos. The ride was OK just very long. I got there a little bit late but they were off to a late start. Unfortunately, the ba'al tekiah "was given the day off" so, no shofar service. I piped up and said I could do it but the rabbi was like, Nah. 

We did this thing where we dropped pebbled into the "rushing rapids" of the Los Gatos stream, and I had some I'd picked up at an intersection. After dropping one by mistake, I dropped one for cussing, one for talking smack about Ha'aretz, one for being misled by online influence-peddlers, and one more for cussing. 

Then we got out our picnic foods but after all the riding I only ate a little. Everyone schmoozed around a lot and that was nice. At one point I was telling a couple of ladies about the "keto" diet and they both said enthusiastically that they're following that, then one offered the other apple cobbler and they shared cookies back and forth. That's not how it works, ladies! 

The ride home was super long. It didn't help things that I forgot to turn off of Blossom Hill road and went pretty far before I realized it. then turned around and got back to ... the campground. It turns out Bascom Road is Los Gatos Road down there.

I stopped at an office supply place and got a lot of page protectors, and at a Nob Hill for some roast beef for tomorrow night, and at an Indian market for sesame seeds which were super cheap, like $6 for two 14 oz. bags. 

I stopped at Whole Foods to use the loo and look around, but anything I wanted to get, I can get tomorrow. 

Head of the year 5785

 It's, or it was, Rosh HaShana, literally the head of the year 5785. 

I was so overworked I didn't go to bed until around 6AM then woke up at 2PM of course. Oh. Shit. 

I loaded up the bike with a change of clothes, some toiletries, and a load of packages on the trailer to go to the post office. I was able to get out of here at a quarter to 4. 

I rode to the downtown post office and dropped off the packages. Then, of course, I went to Whole Foods. I got 4 1-liter tetra-paks of water, 4 beef sticks, two packages of those little wine bottles, and a cucumber. 

Then I rode to the Diridon light rail and the green train came by moments later. Yes, the green train is less crowded from Diridon south, but it still had a bunch of other guys on bikes and most of them had a thing or two to say about taking one's bike trailer on the train. It's awkward. I had a guy jump in and help me maneuver my rig both getting in and getting out. 

I hung out a bit at one of the bus benches there are the Winchester transit hub, having a beef stick and half the cucumber, and a little bottle of wine. I also put a few Nuun tablets in one of the bottles of water and shook that around. It tasted OK but the bottle had a leak at the neck so I could drink from it but would give up maybe 10% of it. 

I rode to this big old historic theater in Campbell and I got there well ahead of time. I befriended a homeless guy named Jeff, who kind of lives by the public restrooms there. I gave him 2 liters of water and a few small bottles of wine. I tried to tell him about Adult Protective Services and such things, and I'm not sure he's competent to look out for himself which is exactly what Adult Protective Service. I even suggested he commit a crime to get hooked up to services because long ago a guy I talked to on the VTA said the best thing that ever happened to him was going to jail, because then he got hooked up with services. 

I went into the public restroom which, surprisingly, was fairly clean for a public loo, and had TP and everything. I got out this "Shower In A Bag" think I'd bought at Upshift Bicycles a while back. It turned out to be a nice scrubby terry towel and a little bag of liquid that smells a little like essential oils. The towel was just big enough for me to scrub my back, and I was able to get myself pretty clean, and also change into the clean clothes I'd brought. 

I came out and a lady was handing Jeff a bottle of fruit juice, and I asked her if she was local, which she was. I said I only come there maybe once a year, and if she's local she might be able to help Jeff get connected with Adult Protective Services. I said this is tikkun olam, right here. 

I went inside and indeed my high holidays tickets, in the form of a sort of badge to wear around my neck like tech workers wear, were in will call. The theater was great. To think my mother and my aunt used to perform in theaters like that. 

The service was pretty good and the rabbi gave what I'd actually call a fiery sermon. I got plenty of singing in, which I do because I feel it might help me be a better trumpet player. 

It was 10 to 9 when it was all over. I figured, I'm right by Winchester Boulevard, I'll just ride on it North until I see some cross street I know. It turned out to not be all that long a ride until I was at Santana Row. That means I could have ridden down there easily. 

Then it was just a matter of Stevens Creek to Shasta to The Alameda. I stopped in at the Five Guys and ordered a single patty, mayo and onion, as a lettuce wrap. It was pretty good although there was no detectable onion. That cost me $12 because I tipped $2. 

As  I got closer to the ship, Ken called me and asked me if I wanted a burger. I said, sure. 

I got back here, put things away, got out another pair of the "sports" shorts I'd bought at Goodwill because the pair I was wearing had disappeared, vacuumed the office and cleaned the bathroom. If I don't do these things in the 20 minutes allotted on Wednesday, they don't get done until the next Wednesday. 

Ken came by, I got my check, we talked about things, I explained my fishing analogy, and I said the situation is, to me Christmas and Easter and all those are normal work days, but the first 10 days of October are my Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving and all that, and I'll be extra busy. 

When I'm in Tel Aviv I can breathe easy

 AQI in San Jose as I type, almost 100. In Tel Aviv? About 20. 

I woke up at noon - Needed the sleep! I took the things I'd packed that were small and needed to go to the post office, and took those to the post office downtown. Then I swung by Good Karma Bikes and dropped off a couple of 23c-25c 700c tubes I had that I'll never use. I had a shopping list with me too, and they had two of the things on it: a couple of 20 inch and a couple of 16 inch tubes. So I got those for $35 or so. 

Then I went to Whole Foods to get something to eat, and of course some wine. The stuff I got, some kind of baked chicken, was over-salted which is unusual for them. I really couldn't eat much of it. At least I'd gotten broccoli with it and could use that to sop up the chicken grease. 

Next was O'Reilley's. They don't sell valve cores but they well whole valves I can take the cores out of and they came with neat caps too. And some hose clamps. And hand cleaner - GOOP isn't a thing any more but this stuff appears to be the same sort of thing. 

Then over to Upshift Cycles. They had *one* 16-inch tire. Hm. So I rode over to Bike Express and they had two, sort of mountain bike type but at least they're the same. One was marked $20 and one was marked $15 so I got them both for $15 each. 

I'd stopped at Nijiya for a can of cold coffee on my way downtown, and I stopped there again for another can of cold coffee. It was hot out there! 

I got back here and put things away, then it was time to be a bike mechanic. Changing out the tires and tubes on the trailer went fairly well except I wasn't careful with the levers and pinch-flatted one tube so I got out one of my backups and installed that and will fix the one I damaged. This is why I like to keep lots of tubes around. 

I loaded up the things that go to FedEx since it was too late for the post office, took them there, found packing stuff on the way back, and came back here for another unload. 

I rested a little and then went back to H mart to lock the bike, and walked over to Ross and picked out a long-sleeved shirt. And got a few things at Sprouts. I came back here and dug out things to pack and ship, and eventually realized I was very hungry (it feels a bit different on the keto diet) and made keto sushi rolls using cream cheese and smoked salmon from Sprouts and seaweed I've got here. They were pretty good. 

I pre-packed all the things except one large thing, and picked out 10 things to list tomorrow. 

While out riding I thought of an excellent way to think about Ebay. It's like fishing. You put lines out when you list things. Something selling is like getting a fish into the boat. If you don't clean the fish you get into the boat and get 'em on ice, they spoil. A fish in the boat is a thing that's sold and needs to be shipped out. So, sometimes, when a lot of fish are coming in, you have to pay attention to that rather than putting out more lines. 

I don't think Ebay cares how many things you list, but once you've sold something, there are real repercussions for not getting that thing shipped out fast. And that's why I didn't list anything yesterday or today.