Ok, so there is this site that is giving away ipods for free. I know what you're thinking -- that there is no way that it is totally free with no catch (and you'd be right). The catch is that you have to accept one of several "free" offers (and get five of your friends to do it, too). One of the offers is 30 days of AOL Broadband for free (with no obligation past that), another is a free eBay Mastercard, and the other few involve free trials of products that require $5 for shipping and handling. It's totally legit, even though it seems like there is no way that it could be. Anyhow, if you wanna do it (and help us both) click here for the referral link.

Anyhow, that link gives me the referral (and then you can start getting your own). You only need five people to do it (plus yourself) to get the ipod, and you can follow the link and sign-up with no obligation or pressure. Also, if you do it, I will totally be your best friend.

Here is a link to an article in wired magazine about this offer (but if you do decide to do it, please use my link!).

So I brought my camera with me to my base today thinking that I would snap a few pics to give you an idea about where I work, when I remembered that literally right across the street from my base are...


the ruins of a 2000 year old Roman aqueduct! Classy! So this is what I am looking at when I get off the bus to go to my base. I enjoy the scenery.


This is the view from the top of it. It's a lot larger than this picture lets on; I could totally climb inside that opening for the water and walk in it. I'm sayin' that this aqueduct is big. Lots of water would fit in there.


So this is generally where I work. They bring all the Armored Personnel Carriers here and we fix 'em up. This pictures aren't pretty or anything, but it's where I spend lots of my time.


...and this is a view inside said garage. What's that? You say you want another view of this garage? You're so greedy! Why couldn't you just be happy with what I gave you? Sometimes I wonder why I do this at all...but if you insist


Here is another view of that same garage. Exciting, eh?


So there are tons of APC's all around my base that are lined up like this, but I didn't carry my camera with my around everywhere today, so this is the one you get. It's right outside of the garage. Enjoy.

So these were the "highlights" of the pictures I took at my base, but just when I thought my day of picture taking was over when I met...


Chani and Naomi! They are two sisters from Toronto who are planning to make aliyah (move to Israel) in the very near future. Things were going smooth in the conversation until I decided I had to get all paparazzi on them, cause Naomi wasn't havin' any of that. Anyhow, they made what is normally a long and boring train ride seem like only 5 minutes, so I'll have to be sure to keep my promise to be in contact in the near future.

I have decided that I need to go to grad school and get my MBA, so after I got home my girlfriend and I went to the bookstore at the Technion so I could buy this book and pay $70 more than what I would pay if I ordered it from amazon! Shit! Normally, I would just get it on amazon and have it sent to my mom, but because I really do need to start with it now and can't really wait I was stuck paying way too much money for this book. It seems ironic that my very first step towards going to business school might have been a very bad business decision.

So the whole reason I am actually on vacation this week is because my good friend Cara Passman came to visit from The States, so we decided to use our single full day together to go to the beach...


So this is the view up the coast from where we decided to set up camp. The nice thing about the beaches in Haifa is that they are nowhere near as crowed as the beaches in Tel Aviv, so you can always find a good place to take it all in without a million other people getting in your way.


We decided to head to the Camel (a popular restaurant on the beach that surely has no corporate sponsorship of any kind) and get some Watermelon and Bulgarian Cheese for lunch. If you haven't tried this combo, you need to. Seriously.

After my day at the beach with Cara, we got back to my place only to discover that we hadn't used appropriate amounts of sunscreen that day. I got a really bad sunburn and am still experiencing a good deal of discomfort. I have photographic evidence of my burn, but my girlfriend told me it was "too painful-looking" to post on my blog, so I'll just link to it: click here if you want to see my sunburn (be prepared to grimace...and oogle my Austin Powers-like chest hair).

Anyhow, being the trooper (and all around good friend) I am, I knew I had to tough it out and take Cara to the beautiful Bahai Gardens before she left, so I got up the next day and tried to ignore my pain and focus on the beauty...


This is a pic I took of Haifa from the Gardens. Anyone who has lived in Haifa will look at this picture and say "What city is that a picture of?" The Hi-Res version of this pic is currently my desktop wallpaper.


So this is a shot of the temple that the gardens are supposed to beautify. The temple is a really big tomb for someone important in their religion called "The Bab." While this looks like it would be pronounced like the singular version of Barbra Streisand's nickname, you actually say it like "Bob" (except a lot faster). Because of the speed thing, it's fun to keep saying his name. Bab. Bab. Bab. Try it -- it's fun! But be careful that you're not saying it too slow!


Random shot from the gardens. Ummm...I don't really have anything witty to say here, so just feast your eyes on this beauty! I command you!


This is a view looking up toward the top of the gardens from the middle. Needless to say, the gardens are not small.


If you are wondering why I am always in my uniform in pics these days (even when on vacation), it's because when I am in uniform I get free use of buses and trains when I show my military ID. That's right: it's because I'm cheap. The ladies seem too like the uniform, too...so that's also a good reason.

Anyhow, now I'm still really sunburned and trying not to move. So I hope you, the reader, are in better condition than myself right now.

..so I should be taking plenty of pics and what not. Stay tuned.

First of all, I'm sorry I've been so lazy about posting lately. I've had lots of people asking about when the next post is...so here we go!

Today the army gave us (the people of my base) what is called a "fun day." This means we get to (actually, we are required to...it is the army, after all) come to our base as usual, but then get taken via buses to whatever they have deemed "fun" for the day. So they decided that it would be fun to go to a water park...and they were effing 100% spot-on right. I took as many pics as I could, but for most of the day I was too busy actually having the fun to take pictures of myself/surroundings. Anyhow, the place we went was a water park called "Luna Wave" (I'm only translating the "wave" part) which is located very close to the lovely Kineret (aka The Sea of Galilee).


Speaking of the Kineret/Sea of Galilee, here is a pic I took of it. Gives you an idea of about how big it is. Not the greatest pic, but I was in a bus at the time.


This is the view at the entrance to the park. It is actually a TON bigger than this, but I didn't bring my camera to every part. I was reduced to being an excited little kid when it came to the water slides. Totally cool.


So we are all in the army (in Golani, even!), so wherever we go, our guns go. The thing is, when you are having a good time at a water park you don't wanna always havta be concerned with your M-16...but what is the solution? As you can see, we put them all in a big-ass pile and just take turns guarding the pile. So when it was my turn to guard the pile I was in my uniform again (I had to leave a bit early, so needed to be in my uniform to travel out of the park) when this nice "mom-aged" lady brings me a cup lemonade and tells me how much respect she has for me and everyone in my unit. A little bit after that two more "mom-aged" ladies came over and asked if they could take their picture with me while I was guarding the pile of guns. After they took turns taking their pics with me they told me what a great thing I'm doing for my country and what not (I also got a discount at the hardware store the other day because I was still in my uniform). Being in Golani rocks.


After I finished guarding the guns (only 10 min. shifts) I knew it was time to eat, so I made my way to the place we were all gonna eat, only to find that it was awards time! They were giving out awards for the best soldiers in each unit in the base. I forget what this girl got her award for, but I figured my male readers would dig it nonetheless. Oh, the joys of the Israeli Army.


So after I ate, we went up to the main road leading out of the park so we could catch a ride back to Haifa. My friend Eliad (pictured) also had to leave early to get back to Haifa, so we went together. When we got to the main road, we found two typically-cute israeli girls wanting to find a ride in the same direction. One of the girls tried flagging down cars with the "I'm a little teapot..." method, while Eliad took a more traditional approach. The girl's bait worked, as she found someone to give her (and her cute friend) a ride, while we waited an extra 20 minutes for the bus. Typical.


After that I came home; did some other stuff; then sat down at the computer and edited the pictures I took for your reading pleasure.

I'll try not to take so much time until my next post!