Baked, Not Fried

Friday:
1. Today, I became a local celebrity. With Yoni out of town, I was the official Jew at Hillel. As such, I was recruited by both UF's WUFT and TV20 local news (after waking up and thinking, "Casual Friday? I'm not going to see anyone." Obviously.) It went ok - clips will be up as soon as they're online.

2. Cute kids. After hearing from WUFT that Chabad had cute kids available to be interviewed, I took advantage of the adorable family picking up a free chanukiyah and candles. I asked the dad if we could film his kids lighting the menorah, instead of little ol' me. They were so excited! (Though a woman at shul today told me that for some unknown reason, they aired not only the kids lighting the menorah, but me - off-camera - blowing the candles out. Oops.)

3. Kosher wine. I had all but given up hope on being able to make kiddush at home - and then I found a lone bottle of Bartenura at the liquor store. Huzzah.

4. The jelly donut debacle. A student who works in the Hillel kitchen announced to the Friday night minyan that they were getting "real" sufganiyot, rather than "fake" jelly donuts...and then I walked in with trays of Dunkin' Donuts. There was a bit of a revolt - two particular students took up the charge, especially when they realized I had purchased several varieties of filled donuts, and not just strawberry jam - but I eventually prevailed.

5. Volleyball! UF hosted the Division I NCAA Women's Regional Championship. I made it for the second match - UF vs. #1 Penn State. Penn State took the Gators down, but it was a great game (they also beat Berkeley today, to advance to the Final Four). I had forgotten how much I love volleyball - made me want to rush the court and play.

6. One of the coolest parts of the game was thanks to Emily, the student who joined me. She's from Orlando, and actually played with two of the students currently on the UF team while in high school. One of those students was Callie Rivers, whose father, Doc, is head coach of the Boston Celtics. It was a lot of fun to help Emily cheer on her old teammates.

7. Going to bed at 8:30 pm. Don't judge me. It was heavenly.