Random Thoughts (not procrastinating)

I'm not procrastinating this time -- I'm just relaxing, or chill-axing, as my daughter Emily says.

I think I have one, maybe two actual people out there who read this blog so it's almost a private exercise like writing in a journal. Who can explain the inclination to publicize our thoughts or to eat in restaurants with total strangers or sit in movie theaters with hundreds of people we've never met, laughing and, sometimes, crying together? I can't, except to say that we definitely like being part of a pack, no matter how much we value our individuality (and I certainly value mine.)

So many random thoughts recently with so little time to flesh them out for blog entries.

Full Body Scan vs Intimate Pat Down: Is this really necessary? We all accept a certain amount of risk when we fly, or when we drive down the street, or when we step out the front door. I would be more at ease knowing that they are using El Al interrogation techniques on suspicious individuals than knowing that everyone on the flight has been seen naked or felt out. Neither method will detect items hidden internally. There is no fool-proof method.

When you cross nto the United States from Canada, the border agent asks a series of questions like: What was the purpose of your visit? Did you purchase anything while you were in Canada? etc. On our recent trip, the agent also asked what time our ship was scheduled to depart -- not because he wanted to know, but because he wanted to see if we were really on that ship. He wanted to catch us in a lie, if we were doing anything criminal. Maybe TSA agents could be similarly trained. That's how they do it in Israel, and they've been dealing with jihadists a lot longer than we have. El Al is the world's most secure airline because of its security protocols.

Snow:
Last weekend we had 15 inches of snow overnight with no media fanfare. For the past 24 hours we've been anticipating a major blizzard, which materialized on cue at 5pm and fizzled out (at least temporarily) about midnight after eight inches of accumulation. Now some of the windows in our house have oval frames of snow on them like fake flocking. This is the perfect kind of weather to have just before Thanksgiving because it makes you grateful for basic things like shelter and family and warm socks.

Hair color and the hijab:
I was shopping at Walmart recently and got in line behind a small Muslim family in the express lane. I noticed that the woman was wearing a simple hijab, or hair covering scarf. I could not see even a strand of her hair, so when I noticed what they were buying I was surprised: three boxes of hair coloring product. WOuld I color my hair if no one would ever see it outside of my own household? Probably not, but I admire her for it.

Happy Thanksgiving!