What crappy timing for a war. This has got to be the most stressful period I’ve had since starting this job last fall. I’ve got so much work to plow through that it’s actually making me nauseous, and when all is said and done, this will probably have been a 60-hour week, at least. I’m literally going through hundreds of pages of poorly written and formatted documentation, and I actually think that the court will find in my favor when I’m brought up on charges of inflicting bodily harm on the individual who began all lines of content in his document with dashes, and peppered it with refreshing terms like “nearlest” and “cetner”. My eyelids are heavy, and I fantasize about sleeping through the weekend (like that will ever happen!). I haven’t seen my son awake in nearly two days, and called him this morning just to hear his voice say “I love you Mommy”. I’m guessing that by the time I get home tonight, he will be asleep once again.

All of this is happening when I should be watching/reading/listening to the news and blogging, and I’m not sure if I should be blaming the politicians, the terrorists or the business partners abroad for this major time crunch that I’ve got going on. Concentrating on work is difficult at best, as I am constantly drawn to the news sites and the blogs to find out the latest events. If you’re looking for other blogs to check out, I’d take a look at this one, this one, and this one. If you’re looking for some first-hand accounts of events in the north, check out this one or this one. There are many others, to be sure, but these are the ones that I’m following the most, in the limited time that I have.

The train schedules are crazier than ever, and I’ve been scooting out of the office every night this week to make the 9:08pm train, as the next one isn’t until 10:42. Mornings aren’t much better. Express trains are a thing of the peaceful past, and each journey is now a painful 45 minutes or more (usually more), and unfortunately, they never seem to arrive on time. The plus side is that since there are no trains in the north, my stop in the morning is always the first stop, so despite the fact that by the time it leaves my station there are already people standing, I always manage to find a seat.

We have taken in my sister-in-law and her three children who live in Haifa, as the situation was becoming unbearable for them. When I arrived home last night, I saw a look of weariness on her face that I’ve never seen before, and it was quite unsettling. I hope their stay with us will provide them with some semblance of normalcy, despite the fact that they’ve left the man of the house in Haifa with the dog of the house.

I’ve received two offers from friends abroad to come stay with them, should we need to “get away” so to speak – one from my dear friend NRG in Oslo and the other from friends in London, who tried to tempt me with their high-quality wireless connection, clearly knowing just what buttons to push. I believe we’ll stay put for now, but it’s nice to know that so many people are concerned for our welfare, including all those of you who have expressed similar sentiments in the comments here.

In any event, I am still swamped, but just wanted to check in and let you all know what’s been going on in my neck of the desert. I’ll blog when I can, and next week should be much easier for me. I know that I owe some of you emails and comments, and I promise that I will get to it as soon as the load is off, otherwise, I won’t be able to devote the proper amount of time and thought that you deserve. Thanks for your patience!

Oh, and when I’m not reading the Israeli blogs, I can often be found having a good laugh over here, a blog written by an American expat living in Ireland. Definitely worth checking out, unless, of course, you don’t have a sense of humor…

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