Jewish Musings, Tuesday 12/19

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.


Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:



Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy


And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Today's topic: Research. What's something you have recently researched, and do you usually do so? How?

For me, Google is my friend. I research many purchases, as well as movies, actors/actresses (especially ones from many years ago), TV shows' schedules, birds and other critters, etc. I feel more comfortable with many situations once I know more about them before making plans on what to do (we'll discuss that tomorrow).

Most recently, I have been doing research about canes. I'm planning on buying a new one to replace my old one, which is several years old. With the help of my local pharmacy, I located a medical supply store not that far away. I checked their website and spoke on the phone with one of the owners to find out more info. There have been a lot of changes in design since I got my last one. I haven't gotten to the store yet, but plan to do so soon.

DH did the research on our new stove, which is supposed to arrive tomorrow for installation. He first looked up info from Consumer Reports, then checked online and found a highly recommended stove, which happened to be on sale for about half price (!!). We're really happy about all this, and hopefully the new stove will work as well as our old one did. We have had it over ten years.

Now I am going to call my endocrinologist to find out if I can change the time of my next appointment in January. I don't want to have to drive on the Beltway during morning rush hour if I can help it.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[hollygail]

Sometimes I think I spend more time researching a topic I'm going to teach than I do teaching the class. And yes, I too use Google as my search engine. I tried DuckDuckGo but having used Google for so many years made it easier for me than learning a new system, so I went back to Google. From time to time, I look something else up on Google (like if I'm telling someone about a movie and can't remember the title or the name of the main characters, I'll check on Google). By doing such searches, I've discovered jewishlearningmatters.com which sometimes even provides me with a full lesson plan! (And there's also jewishlearning.works, which I discovered only recently.) I've also researched a few other things online. Mostly I think I research recipes for certain kinds of dishes (depending on what else is going on in my life).

[lee058]

hollygail, Good morning! I also like looking up Jewish topics (I just checked the holidays for next year and wrote them on my desk calendar), as well as recipes.

[gazelle18]

Google and the internet are great, but it’s important to remember that you have to question the source. Is it an ad? Are the comments from “satisfied customers” for real? Is someone pushing a particular viewpoint? Sometimes it is good to speak to a trusted human with expertise. As just one example, when the Covid vaccines came out, DH encouraged patients to get them. And of course, he came up against resistance from people who had read this or that on the internet.

[peachymom1]

I'm constantly researching things, for personal info and for work. Just this morning, I needed to do something with our expense reporting system that I'd never needed to do before, and I was able to find my answer and then successfully do it. Normally I would have asked another executive assistant, but lots of people are taking this week off, and I figured I'd try to work out the problem myself.

I agree with Lynne that you do have to be mindful of your sources. And I think online reviews can be helpful, but I try to look for ones that might apply to what I'm looking for. For example, I recently found some nice silver sandals from Amazon, and in my size, too, but I wanted to know if they were reasonably comfortable. So I scoured the reviews, and they seemed like a good risk, so I bought them and am happy as a clam. I'll be able to dance at my son's wedding without killing my feet, and they didn't cost a fortune either. Hooray!

[louise]

I agree with Lynn's caution but searching on the internet is invaluable I am a buyer at work and I remember trying to find phone books from different areas etc. trying to find certain products. I can find manufacturing and purchasing resources very easily now. I always read the reviews althou gh I understamd that these are not alwyas "real". I had a good time the other day looking up where I used to live 70 years ago and learned that my old apartment building has been torn down and is now a school