This is a picture of the printing press at my office. It's a press that prints books. If I was better at taking pictures with my blackberry, you'd be able to see that right now, the press is printing my book.
It's called God: Jewish Choices for Struggling with the Ultimate. It's a book on theology for teenagers. I edited it and wrote all the educational pieces. A group of 17 other people wrote the rest of it.
And it will be out in a matter of days.
Sara and I went to New Orleans last weekend for Ben and Amanda's wedding. Ben and Amanda used to be my roommates.
Usually, when you go to a wedding, there are a few people there that you know, mostly because they know the bride and/or groom the same way you do. This wedding was no different. Amanda and I went to school together, so a good group of our classmates were there. What made this wedding weird was that I used to live with Ben and Amanda, who had frequent houseguests from all over the country (though mostly from the South). So there were lots of people at the wedding who had slept on my couch on one occasion or another. It was a very surreal experience... all these people coming up to me and saying, "Hey! You used to live with them, right? Remember me?" (There was also the friend of Amanda's who came up to me and was like, "Do you know who I am?", and I had no idea because she had straightened her hair, and I had always remembered her as Amanda's curly-haired friend.)
The highlight of the wedding -- besides all the delicious New Orleans food I at over the course of the weekend -- was the parade that we were in. Apparently, it's some sort of New Orleans custom to have parades in honor of weddings and funerals. So when the wedding and the reception were over, all the guests gathered outside the hotel to meet a brass band and a police escort (!) who led us through the French Quarter. We basically sang and danced and talked and drank the whole way. (I even had my beer refilled by some lady with a pitcher standing outside a bar.) People on the streets cheered for us (well, really for Ben and Amanda), and we waved these white handkerchiefs in the air. It was very very cool. Ben and Amanda led the parade, holding umbrellas (this is apparently part of the tradition).
So that's how I got to be in my first parade.
Also, I love suspenders. They keep your pants up, which is kind of important when you're in a parade.
Two crazy things happened at lunch today.
I was walking through University Village, which is a giant strip-mall with a food court adjacent to the USC campus. They have a bathroom there. I needed to use the bathroom. So I entered.
I'm standing at the urinal, doing my business, and a woman walks out of a stall. Now, I'm sure I was in the right bathroom (it says "Men" on the door and it has urinals). I do a double take.
The woman is holding a bucket, cleaning supplies, and a mop. She is there in order to clean the bathroom
I say, "Excuse me."
She says, "No problem. Do what you gotta do."
She then continues to clean, as if it would not be bothersome to someone that a woman is hanging out in the men's bathroom while he's trying to, you know, do what he went there to do.
Thankfully, I have no problem using the facilities while there's someone in the room. So I went ahead and did what I had to do.
Then...
I went to Subway to get a sandwich for lunch.
I had never been to the Subway at University Village before. This is a giant Subway. It has two counters, arranged perpendicular to each other. One is a normal Subway counter, where you go up and make your sandwich and then watch them make it.
The other counter is magical. It looks like a normal counter, except it has these touch-screen kiosks in front of it, kind of like the self-serve kiosks at the airport.
You order your sandwich from the kiosk. They make your sandwich. Then they call your number, you grab your sandwich, and you leave. The kiosks let you do all the customization -- for any vegetable or condiment you can tell it to put on less or more -- and it even lets you add things like avocado or bacon, or have your sandwich toasted. This is the coolest technology I've ever seen.
According to a press-release from Pro-Tech Kiosks, the company that makes these technological wonders,
The Kiosks provide an intuitive touchscreen interface with large buttons, enticing graphics/photos of the food options; from fresh subs to salads, as well as a full array of toppings and assorted condiments. A pleasant, and encouraging, voiceover assists the customer with the ordering process, each step of the way.
Customers are able to order quicker, minimize order errors from poor communication, choose from a number of upgrade options (value meal, double meat, extra cheese) and to be able to pay at the Kiosk with their credit or debit card. In addition, the software, text and voiceovers are able to switch to a different language, such as Spanish, with the touch of a single button such that Subway can better serve different demographic markets.
So I ordered my sandwich at the kiosk. The voice was pleasant. The interface was easy to use. Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds (I checked) later, my order was ready. Wow.
