Hungry for Change: The Bake Sale

I got up early this morning. After all, Dawn was due at 8:30 am. She showed up early, and Ruth and I had already consolidated the cookies and muffins. It was so hot last night that I placed them in the 'fridge so that the chocolate chips wouldn't melt. They could wait for that for Saturday -- it was forecast to be another hot one.

We picked a spot outside of Safeway, in the shade, of course, and hoped that Safeway management wouldn't mind if we camped there temporarily, for about four hours or so. Safeway at Washington Square in San Leandro, I thought, was a perfect spot because of the walk-by traffic, the fact that cold drinks were inside, and there was a restroom (albeit not marked) inside. As we found out throughout our day, their employees were very friendly, a fact that really added to our day.

We spent about half an hour setting up the two tables, wiping them clean, then loading them up with the goodies. We pasted the colorful red-white-and-blue MoveOn.org signs around the tables. It was about 9:15 when we were set-up, and people began to cluster immediately. In fact, we sold about $5 worth of goods within 5 minutes. I was beginning to be encouraged!


Ruth took off after that, and Leslie and her friends (Monica and Chanda) helped her set up. Her Mom, Bonnie, even came by later and chatted with some of the people passing by. I really liked the fact that they had starkly different things than we had, including: macadamia nut tart, toffee blonde brownies, lemon basil shortbread (sorry I didn't get a chance to try that!), and slices of cake. Leslie reported that she had also dropped by the Farmer's Market that morning and bought bouquets of flowers. She put out about 10 of those for sale. She also had bottles of water for sale.


Our tables had the items Dawn and I (and her friend Beth) had baked -- cookies (molasses, peanut butter, sugar, oatmeal, chocolate chip), plus some non-fat muffins donated by Rosemary. Our volunteers showed up one by one to bring their donated baked goods -- lots and lots! Susan, Kathleen, Casey and Sam, Brenda, Julia, Danyele, Barbara, Joanie, and Neusa. Plus Laurel and Reisa came by to help out.

Here's the bottom line: We completely sold out of baked goods!! (Thanks to Leslie and her friends for taking what was left over at 3 pm and taking it to a new site, where they stayed until it was gone.) I will be recounting the money when I receive the additional from Leslie, but the unofficial total right now is $610. Wow ! Oh, plus 4 cents. I have no idea where that came from.

The people we met were interesting, to be sure, including:


Several Republican men, usually older. One said, over his shoulder as he passed by, "How did they let you radicals sit there?" Another wanted to talk about how he was once a Democrat in Boston some 50 years ago, but times have changed. One told us that if Obama won, we'd be speaking, "Arab." (I don't really know if he was a Republican, but I can come to no other conclusion.)

One woman, African-American, came up cautiously and spat at us, "You'll be sorry!" and muttered something about not being able to trust Obama. That one I can't explain at all.

And we had one woman come up to the table to have a lengthy conversation (well, mostly she just talked), about how she supported Hillary Clinton but now she's going to vote for McCain. And she thought there had been a conspiracy to remove her from the primary race.

There were also a couple of people who seemed friendly to the cause but who said "he has enough money." I think that perception is something our candidate will face in the future.

None of the above donated...oh, wait...one of the Republicans relented and bought some goods! I think he liked Leslie and how she listened to him.

Most of the people we met, however, were charged by seeing our signs regarding Barack Obama, and wanted to wish us well. Many, many people gave us an extra dollar, and extra five dollars, an extra 25 dollars, just as a donation. There were at least two women who told me they were diabetics and couldn't eat sugar but, here, take a couple of dollars as a donation.



And, of course, there were those -- many of them -- who like cookies and wanted to buy fresh, homemade muffins or cake.

We got to know some of the friendly Safeway clerks on their way to collect the stray carts, or those just looking for a spot to sit and enjoy their break. I think they even sent some people our way. One of them said hello to me as I went into Safeway in search of air conditioning.

We had a wonderful time. I am so thankful to those who helped out. Everyone put in their hard effort to bake on what was probably the hottest day of the year in the Bay Area. And then to come down and deliver the goods and/or their time. I really appreciate all the help.

It was an amazing day. Just meeting all those incredible people -- helpers and visitors and customers -- I would say it's a special day. But we raised over $600 for the fight to put Barack Obama in the White House. That just raised the bar on amazing days. Wow.

Cookies for Obama

My hands are filthy, all from handling money. I'm cleaning out an old tea jar that I use to collect coins. I'm separating out silver from copper so that I can provide change. I'm getting ready for Cookies for Obama.

I'd like to say that I am jumping in wholeheartedly to the We-Must-Elect-a-Democrat-this-Time! issue by going door-to-door, working on phone banks, etc., but that's just not me. Instead, I'm organizing a bake sale for MoveOn.org, who will use the money to help Barack Obama in his quest for the White House.

MoveOn.org has made it pretty simple. They sent out a request, and 8 people have signed on to help us. We have never heard of these people before, but their enthusiasm seems boundless. I think we're going to need it.

I've been emailing furiously over the past 2 days, answering questions, figuring how much everybody is going to bring, who's coming, etc. I limited the group to 8 people (plus Dawn and me) in order to make it manageable. I didn't picture, however, that some people would come to help at the table but not bring anything, some would bring something but not help, all kinds of permutations. I actually think it's all going to work out just fine.


I have to take with me on Saturday morning:
Signs
Tape
Table
Change
Forms to sign if someone gives more than $50
Clipboard with tablet
Jar
and, last but not least, cookies.

Dawn and I will have a bake-in this Friday. And then Saturday morning, June 21st, we'll descend upon Washington Square in San Leandro, pick a desirable spot (in the shade), and set up.

And, hopefully, we'll have people bringing us cookies, brownies, cupcakes and coffee cakes so that we can sell them for Obama.

It should be exciting!

Venturing into Giants Territory

The man held both his hands up as I approached my seat, saying, "Stop! You can't come here!" I knew he was kidding.

He was wearing a black Giants hat and a black sweatshirt, and so were his buddies, except... "Hey..." I said to him. "That guy over there has a green sweatshirt on." I knew he had spotted my green jacket, my green hat with the "A" emblazoned on both.

"Yeah," the guy replied, "he's with us, but we don't like him." He laughed. And so did I. And I sat down.

The Giants fans are pretty friendly. I didn't want to test that theory by clapping too enthusiastically when the A's spurted ahead on Jack Cust's double RBI.

Before the game started, I watched a little of the game between the Giants' wives and the A's wives. The Giants won, but it was pretty much a laugher on both ends. They could hit but couldn't field. Raquel Aurilia, however, looked pretty able at first and with the bat.

It's such a beautiful stadium, and sold out. I saw a lot of green, but mostly orange and black. Maybe 70-30. There was a guy and his girlfriend on my right side, and two behind me. But that was it for my section.

In the 4th inning, the guy in back of me offered me a 2008 Oakland A's magnetic schedule. Nice!

And the game? I watched every pitch from my 2nd deck Club level advantage point: A great pitching duel between Rich Harden and Matt Cain. King Harden had 9 strikeouts, Cain had 11. The difference between the two pitchers was that Harden only allowed 1 hit in his 6 innings. The A's won out, mostly by playing "small ball" and taking advantage of Giants' miscues, 4 - 0.

I had a great time until the wind came in, ushering the fog, and took my ears and nose hostage. It was time to say goodbye.

I appreciate the friendliness of the fans. And it was really nice that the security people said goodbye as we exited, regardless of our colors. Of course, it dawned on me, I wasn't wearing Dodger Blue. Who knows at that point what the hell would have happened.

The Annual Wasp Hunt

It took a small ladder, two of us women trying, and finally, a son over 6 feet to do the trick: hang the two wasp traps.

I had gone to Piedmont Grocery earlier in the week, and they very kindly gave me a hunk of hamburger, gratis. I put half the chunk in each trap, along with its own scent.

We hung them at 5:30 pm yesterday, and by 9 am, they contained:

5 wasps in the front trap;
4 wasps in the back trap.

I have watered the lawn in both places since then, and, I swear, the numbers have grown a bit.

I love what the directions say: "You should remove the wasp bodies every two weeks and replace the bait. Make sure the wasps are dead." No kidding.

This is my 3rd year of wasp traps. (And the first year I've read the directions.)

I'm for Edwardsamaton

I went for my haircut today. I had no idea that the owner of the shop, who wielded scissors above my gray hair today, was Vietnamese. Not until she told me that she had to stop sending money to her family in VietNam because she's having such a hard time herself in these uncertain economic times.

Which led her to talk about the war and the huge expense of it all -- Iraq, Afghanistan. Which led her to ask me if I paid attention to the primaries. "Yes, of course," I replied, but couldn't answer her question about who was ahead. Did Obama win enough? Will Clinton concede? "I like her a lot, but she must." She felt strongly that Hillary had to give up so that we could all concentrate on defeating the Republicans, an act that might somehow equate to saving her store, and somewhere in there the troops would be brought home.

I went from there to the UPS Store to pick up the mail and to pick up dry cleaning. I went into Mrs. Hong's shop and found her in a discussion with a customer. Obviously it was about Obama vs. Hillary. "These are very exciting times," she told me, almost with a glare. "But I am so sad. I like her very much." She wanted Hillary to concede. Two more customers came in, and they were still discussing the inevitability when I left. (Just an aside here: both these women own their own businesses. Neither was born in the U.S. I have no idea if they're both U.S. citizens, but they certainly have the passion I wish most citizens had. I admire them both.)

It is an historic time. We are seeing history made. I thought last week was awesome, with the California State Supreme Court giving me the right to marry. (Thank you, Justices.) And on a day where that very decision is being contested by petition, it seems that Senator Obama is likely to sew up the primary as the candidate of the Democratic Party.

The primaries have been the subject of more than just discussion at our house. Bordering on rancor.

I have been for Hillary ever since I figured out some 15 years ago that she was a woman with an opinion, someone who wanted to change health care and offer it to all citizens. And then I found out that most Americans wanted to dictate to her what her role was, even what hair style to wear, and I got angry. Today I am still angry, and am a Hillary Clinton supporter.

My partner, however, was a staunch John Edwards supporter, and has admired him over the last 10 years or so. She even has an "Edwards" sticker on her Hybrid bumper, cool in color but peeling in reality. She saw him at a rally in Los Angeles, and, although wary of crowds, dove in and befriended many. She fell in love.

So when Edwards gave his gracious speech in which he recognized the math and the supposed will of the people, she felt her heart break. She started looking around for a candidate to back.

But she had difficulty breaking away from Edwards. So, for awhile, she became an EdwaHillary fan. I was very pleased with that. And then, suddenly, for a brief moment in time, a Hillary fan....

but then it was gone. Poof! She began to believe that Obama had the momentum, that Hillary just had too many things going against her (like all those men). And she became an EdwaHillama fan... moving to an Edama, and then, became an Obamards fan. (Because, let's face it: when you fall in love, it's hard to break free.)

It's been difficult here at home. My Clinton buttons have been put away. Even the one in Hebrew.

And tomorrow when Obama declares victory, and when his latest salvos at McCain will actually mean something in the rearview mirror....THAT's when both of us will buy our OBAMA sign for the front lawn, shake hands and share a kiss, and declare that THIS is our cause. Bring Obama to the Oval Office, and throw the Republicans out of their whitewashed house.

Finally, we can agree on a three-syllable name. And then wonder who he'll pick as a vice-presidential candidate. Could it be...?

The Military March to Ordination

It was like a military operation.

The planning had already been done. We sent out evites. We had three events to plan: (1) The Supper/Havdalah, held on Pam's house on Saturday night, May 17th. The menu, strictly vegetarian, was catered. And the small service where we give Ruth our blessings had to be planned...in Ruth's head. (2) The ordination itself. Not so much planning here for the ordination, but how to get 30+ people to it, and then to the next event. The result was the minibus. (3) The ordination celebration, right after the ordination meet-and-greet, to take place at Temple Israel in Hollywood. As it turned out, Ruth's classmate Ann would take charge and plan everything, which we really appreciated.

So, we all flew in or caravanned into Westchester. There were about 15 of us staying at the Custom Hotel, and I wanted to get down there on Friday afternoon so that I could grab all the room keys (before somebody else did), and check to see if there were any problems. Those who booked on their own registered at the front desk on their own, but we had 6 rooms because we had all those single boys arriving, and I wanted control over how I paired them. We're talking about: James, Aaron, Ehren, Josh, Zach, Chris, Josh, Andrew, Rick (and maybe Joel), Evan (and girlfriend).

In the meantime, we had some logistical "issues" as to how some of them arrived. One was flying into Ontario, an airport on the other side of Palm Springs. One was flying into Long Beach airport, a good hour away from our hotel near LAX. One was taking the Amtrak train to downtown L.A. We got a car service for Ontario, and paid up front; we talked Long Beach into taking a shuttle directly to the hotel; and Mr. Amtrak figured out how to take the bus to LAX, then the hotel shuttle to the hotel. Needless to say, I had a spreadhsheet with all of this data on it, along with the arrival times for those flying into LAX. I had given the latter info to the Custom Hotel so that they could have the shuttle ready.

I must say that the Custom Hotel did a splendid job on the day of arrival as well as the day of departure. We had had some problems with them before in setting up the reservations, problems I ascribe to (1) it being a new hotel, and (2) the agent we dealt with disappeared early due to a family emergency. Still, even though some of the events were irritating (e.g., those wishing a reservation couldn't call the 1-800 number, but had to make a long-distance call and speak directly with one of the sales reps), they were surmountable.

I spent a lot of time on Friday afternoon giving them info about the group, sitting down in the lobby and writing out who was in which room for the single guys, and this paid off when Ehren arrived late Saturday night. Ehren was Mr. Ontario, and was flying in from London, all jet-lagged and bleary-eyed. When he couldn't find us (no cell phone), he went to the front desk, and they gave him a key to his room. In addition, when Ehren had to stay an extra night, they didn't screw that up as other hotels have (ask Rick about that).

I had called Joe, the USA Bus Charter guy, four days prior, making sure we had a bus ready. Joe was the guy who, when I said I already had a bus chartered, called me back to tell me that that other company was quite unreliable, and told me some horror stories. Since I hadn't actually booked with them, I went with Joe's company, because the one thing I was worried about was reliability. If the bus doesn't show up at the Custom Hotel at 8:30 on Sunday morning, we're screwed. There is no other way to transport over 30 people to the Wilshire synagogue. He assured me my bus was reserved, and even gave me the phone number of the dispatcher.

I had too much to do on Sunday morning. Go out to breakfast (early: 6:30) at the bowling alley, get dressed in my suit, take all the luggage down to the car, check out of 6 rooms after I made sure everyone was out of them, and make sure the bus was coming.

I called the dispatcher, named Abraham, at 8 am, in time, I thought, to make sure the bus was there by 8:30. He sleepily answered the phone and said that, yes, he was Abraham, but he didn't have anything to do with me. Call Jimmy. Jimmy was our driver, he said, and gave me Jimmy's phone number.

This is when I thought, like Indiana Jones, I have a bad feeling about this. I called Jimmy, woke him up, and Jimmy told me he wasn't working today.

Panic started to set in. I took all the luggage downstairs with Rick's help, checked out of the rooms, dialing the USA Bus general phone number as I went. Finally, I got a choice that said, "in case of emergency.."

This was my emergency.

I got someone in the flesh, who told me, "Hold on, please..." and put me on hold for 5 minutes. Then she came back on, announced that she was the answering service, but took my name, phone number, and contact (Joe) info and told me someone would call me back. Five minutes later Joe called. It was 8:15.

He listened to all my information in my increasingly urgent voice, and said quickly that he'd call me back. He called me back 5 minutes later to tell me he was working on it and would again call me back. At 8:40 he called me back to say, "Ken is there at the hotel."

Well, if he was, he wasn't in the lobby or the valet parking driveway, or even out front near the Ralph's store. But finally we found him and he pulled his minivan around into the alleyway so that everyone could get on it. It was Ken's day off, or at least it was.

At that point I found out that about seven of our people had decided not to take the minibus after all, preferring to drive in either their own car or someone else's.

So the minibus was half-full. That was okay. However, when Ken asked me, "Do you know where we're going?", I began to have that sinking stomach feeling again.

But in my notebook were mapquest pages of where we were to go each step of the way. I tore the first one out and handed it to him after saying, "No. That's why we hired a driver."

He got us there in plenty of time, and parked around the corner from Wilshire temple in the "3-minute Parking" zone. Don't you know he was there when we got back. Thank God.

At the end of the rather lengthy ordination ceremony, a couple of us stepped over the throng to get into the side garden to greet the new rabbi. Most of our people stayed out in the Wilshire synagogue parking lot, where there were shade trees. Some of the men were losing some of their clothing.

After a little while, the happy new rabbi and our bus people climbed back onboard and went to the next synagogue for the party. Ken found the way through surface streets, parked, and we went inside. We were so early we had to wait for it to open at 2 pm, but in the meantime, took lots of photos of everyone, including Rabbi Chester and Dr. Adler, both of whom stopped by.

By the time we returned to the Custom Hotel, I could breathe a sigh of relief. I thanked Ken for his service, and then changed clothes. We made sure Ehren got his extra night in the hotel, said goodbye to those who were flying or driving out that night, and the remaining 11 of us got together to discuss the plan for Sunday night.

After all, this wasn't the end. There was one more piece to this operation: the trip to Disneyland! We all climbed into three cars (belonging to me, Jamie, and Andrew), threw our luggage in Andrew's truck (thank you, Andrew!), and caravanned to Anaheim, the place where I could relax after this monumental day. Let the fun begin!

(Thanks to those who took photos: Cynthia Asprodites, Rick Burnett)

Becoming Jewish

Dawn and I are putting together a new website for the curious and/or those who want to convert. Resources cited are mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. And, in truth, Dawn has done 90% of the work. I would hate to be responsible for the veracity of such a site!

www.becomingjewish.net

This is probably a temporary site until we can get a dot com. But it's already very cool.

I'm responsible for adding content as people submit it (e.g., a paragraph on their rabbi), and for checking the email address for the site: becomingjewish1@yahoo.com. We got our first legitimate email today.