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<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><atom:link rel="hub" href="http://tumblr.superfeedr.com/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"/><description>Aspiring entrepreneur, with a passion for startups, technology, music and pop culture. 
Yes sir, I’m a regular Sears and Roebuck.</description><title>alicht's musings</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @alicht)</generator><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/</link><item><title>IFTTT = The Glue of the Internet</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/9f220737638093b7afda9e482d83d477/tumblr_inline_mg44v3Fs5K1qiefpg.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Every so often there are companies that emerge on the scene at the perfect time. When Twitter rose to prominence, it was the perfect time due to the rapid emergence of smartphones. Dropbox was also perfectly positioned for its time since as devices multiplied, people needed to access their files from anywhere and on anything. Another new product which has come on the scene at a perfect time is IFTTT.&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;What is IFTTT? IFTTT (rhymes with “Rift”) is a service which allows you to put the internet to work for you by creating “recipes.” &lt;/span&gt;Simply put, IFTTT allows the user to control the flow of information and automate tasks. What that means is that anyone can customize their own personal internet. Want a text message anytime a stock you’re following hits a certain number? An email anytime the weather hits a certain degree? Use IFTTT! IFTTT has thousands of different channels and one can create as many as they like. It’s brilliant. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;For example; through IFTTT, this tumblr post was tweeted, posted to Facebook, and emailed to some friends. All I had to do was direct where the data should go and IFTTT did the rest.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Much like Siri, IFTTT is ushering in a new era of the internet; where you put the internet at work for you. The internet has grown so robust and there are so many facets of our lives that rely on it that there is a definite need for a service like IFTTT. IFTTT can serve as the glue to connect everything and can ultimately revolutionize how we interact with the internet.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;But the thing that impresses me most about IFTTT is that it’s not “the next _____” or “Facebook for houses” type of company. Rather it’s such a unique idea without precedence that sometimes people don’t know exactly how to describe it [1]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;. I think those types of companies are the ones that end up being the most revolutionary. For example, Twitter used to be described the exact same way. Now, however, people use Twitter in hundreds of ways. In fact Jack Dorsey recently stated [2]; “ask 100 different people what Twitter is, and you’ll get 100 different answers&lt;/span&gt;.” What this means is that instead of filling 1 or 2 needs, Twitter fills 100. IFTTT is positioned similarly and I’m betting if you ask 100 IFTTT users how they use IFTTT you’ll probably get 100 different answers. This versatility is why I think IFTTT is such a remarkable company and excited to see what they have in store for 2013.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;&amp;#8212;-&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;[1] This same type of analogy can be applied to the 2007 NBA draft. In that draft the 2 top prospects were Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. Oden was a powerful center who was most similarly compared to Shaq and Patrick Ewing. Nobody, however, could compare Durant to any previous player. The NBA simply had never seen a player of his kind before. The same goes for LeBron James when he entered the league; there was no previous player to compare him to. It’s no wonder that these 2 best players are the best in the NBA and have completely revolutionized how their positions are played&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;[2] &lt;span class="s2"&gt; &lt;a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/17/jack-dorsey-future-of-twitter-anything-everything/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span class="s3"&gt;&lt;a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/17/jack-dorsey-future-of-twitter-anything-everything/" target="_blank"&gt;http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/17/jack-dorsey-future-of-twitter-anything-everything/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39668750117</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39668750117</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:12:00 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>I'm at Madison Square Garden!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4sq.com/2xxGTE"&gt;I'm at Madison Square Garden!&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39348385796</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39348385796</guid><pubDate>Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:32:09 -0500</pubDate><category>IFTTT</category><category>Foursquare</category></item><item><title>I'm at Madison Square Garden!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4sq.com/2xxGTE"&gt;I'm at Madison Square Garden!&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39170447084</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/39170447084</guid><pubDate>Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:46:41 -0500</pubDate><category>IFTTT</category><category>Foursquare</category></item><item><title>Arrested Development was so ahead of it’s time. Proof? The...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_memdnwjBey1qk82cqo1_500.png"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Arrested Development was so ahead of it’s time. Proof? The Nashville Instagram filter is in the opening credits 7 yrs before it was created.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/37339723774</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/37339723774</guid><pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:23:56 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>I'm at AMC Loews Ridgefield Park 12!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4sq.com/cLidV4"&gt;I'm at AMC Loews Ridgefield Park 12!&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;Lincoln with my kid brosef&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/36479225763</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/36479225763</guid><pubDate>Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:10:51 -0500</pubDate><category>IFTTT</category><category>Foursquare</category></item><item><title>perry chen: at firsti remember standing in my kitchen talking to my roommate,...</title><description>&lt;a href="http://8east4west.tumblr.com/post/22004376536/at-first-i-remember-standing-in-my-kitchen-talking"&gt;perry chen: at firsti remember standing in my kitchen talking to my roommate,...&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://8east4west.tumblr.com/post/22004376536/at-first-i-remember-standing-in-my-kitchen-talking" target="_blank"&gt;8east4west&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;

&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;at first&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;i remember standing in my kitchen talking to my roommate, earl scioneaux, about this idea i just had for a website. it was late 2001 or early 2002, and i had been frustrated by my experience trying to put together a concert. the show never happened, but the idea for kickstarter was…&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/22028387775</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/22028387775</guid><pubDate>Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:18:17 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>How I ended up at Square...</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2wl9oy9KL1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;It all began with a Phish concert on December 29&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, 2011. I was planning on seeing my favorite band that night. Before the Phish concert I was interested in getting a copy of a recently released book from my favorite Phish author &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/mrminer" target="_blank"&gt;Mr. Miner&lt;/a&gt;, and then planned on going to the show. The book was a bit pricy ($50) and I didn’t want to carry that much cash on me so &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/mrminer/status/152478639110373376" target="_blank"&gt;I tweeted at him and asked if he would be accepting credit cards&lt;/a&gt;. Mr. Miner&amp;#8217;s response was yes and I thought nothing of it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;When I arrived to buy the book and went to pay, I immediately saw Mr. Miner take out this small white device and plug in into the headphone jack. What is that?” I inquired. “Oh it’s this thing called Square.” I was completely floored. This innovative gadget was literally the coolest thing I had ever seen. A device which had the ability to transform a phone to accept credit cards?! I went back to go see the Phish concert and enjoyed the rest of my night (phenomenal “&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgQad6ynGvY" title="Sloth" target="_blank"&gt;Sloth&lt;/a&gt;” &amp;gt; “&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efcKk6wf8ps" title="You Enjoy Myself" target="_blank"&gt;You Enjoy Myself&lt;/a&gt;” 1-2 punch to open the show! … but that’s for another time), but this Square contraption was still on the back of my mind.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;That next Monday, I read up on Square and was very excited about their product and what they had to offer. I looked online for a position that would be a good fit and sent out my resume for a “Risk Analyst” position. Much to my happiness I was immediately asked to submit a writing sample. I did and was asked for a phone interview scheduled for that Friday. I was very excited and thoroughly prepared for the interview and I thought it went well. I was on pins and needles the entire weekend waiting to hear back from them and finally when I did on Monday… I was rejected. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I was crushed. So much so that I decided to &lt;a href="http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/15599323823/no-gain-no-pain" target="_blank"&gt;write my first blog post&lt;/a&gt; about being rejected. At time I didn’t mention the company that I was referring to, but it was Square (admittedly, I have to start blogging more).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I really, really had wanted to work for Square. Originally, I was merely interesting in entering “the start up” world. But after researching Square and it’s mission, it immediately struck a chord in me. Their revolutionary approach to the payment industry to make transactions quicker, smoother and friendlier was exciting and looked like the way of the future. Square seemed prime to not only disrupt the entire payment industry but to literally change the world- and I wanted to be a part of such an amazing revolution. I applied to other places but the company I really wanted to work for was Square.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This was further enforced when I saw Square co- founder &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/2000f" target="_blank"&gt;Jim McKelvey&lt;/a&gt; demoing Square &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cavHNSZTyAg" target="_blank"&gt;during a commercial in this year’s Super Bowl&lt;/a&gt;. I was thrilled that Square had reached an audience of 111 Million people, and it reinforced my desire to work for them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Re: getting a job, some people say “it’s not about &lt;strong&gt;what&lt;/strong&gt; you know; it’s &lt;strong&gt;who&lt;/strong&gt; you know” so I opted to go this route but to no avail. I tried contacting a few people with &amp;#8220;connections&amp;#8221; but they unfortunately weren’t able to help. As I was looking into and researching new jobs I was interested by a few, but I always had Square on the back of my mind. It was around this time that I got advice from &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ariteman" target="_blank"&gt;Ari Teman&lt;/a&gt; (and my good friend &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/levitejester" title="Benjy Epstein" target="_blank"&gt;Benjy Epstein&lt;/a&gt;) who advised me that I should show Square that I could be an asset and to create value for the company, which I took to heart and set off to do.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I decided that I would try and further grow Square&amp;#8217;s presence in the NYC area- free of charge. I was inspired to take this initiative from &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/tristanwalker" target="_blank"&gt;Tristan Walker&lt;/a&gt;, Biz Dev at foursquare, who wrote a famous blog post about &lt;a href="http://justtristan.com/post/7696394458/two-years-ago-today" target="_blank"&gt;how he landed his job at foursquare&lt;/a&gt;. Tristan offers excellent advice, noting that when people ask him how he’s able to secure such cool spots at awesome companies he responds:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;“&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;be so enamored with the product that you would work for the company even if they didnt hire you….more importantly find where the needs are within the organization and be willing to do whatever it takes to help them fill the need (&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;work for free even!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; ”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I decided to follow Tristan’s advice and shoot for the stars. I determined that I would give myself about 3 weeks to further build up Square in the NYC area and show the results to Square. What did I have to lose? If they weren’t interested I’d obviously be disappointed- but would understand and move on. So that’s what I decided to do and the 3 weeks began.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I went around the city into stores and different merchants and told them about the value of Square and why it would be the right move for them- I was completely honest and never lied to anyone, I answered all their questions to the best of my ability (I had researched and read up a lot about Square online) and if asked I told them I didn’t work for Square but was a big enthusiast. Furthermore, I even spent my own money to buy card readers to hand out to people on the street and at trade shows so they could benefit from using Square.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;After realizing the incredible potential that existed in NYC (after one day alone I was able to sign up roughly 10 merchants with many more expressing interest!) I did research online and tried to figure out who would be the right person to contact. I reached out to several people in the company about opportunities that might exist in NYC (among them &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/msquinn/status/172599675579416576" target="_blank"&gt;Director of Product Development Megan Quinn&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/#!/jack/status/172557535549722624" target="_blank"&gt;CEO Jack Dorsey&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;My big break came from one of Square’s co-founder’s &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/tristan" target="_blank"&gt;Tristan O’Tierney&lt;/a&gt; who I was in correspondence with, and we engaged in conversation back and forth. First I asked Tristan if there were any jobs available in NYC. Tristan responded that unfortunately there were not, but told me that there was a college program called Square U (essentially a program for college students or recent grads). Technically since I was still a student (I was enrolled in a double Master’s program in Yeshiva University) I thought that this was an opportunity that I thought could be a great fit. I asked Tristan about this and he told me that he would look into it and get back to me. I did some research online and reached out to &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/thedelk" target="_blank"&gt;Ryan Delk&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/heyjoelponce" target="_blank"&gt;Joel Ponce&lt;/a&gt; both of whom were enrolled in the Square U program, and they both were extemely helpful and described what it was like to work for Square (short answer: it&amp;#8217;s awesome). I really have to thank both Ryan and Joel for their time and kindness, and they both saw that I was eager about Square and put in a referral for me. I also was in touch with Tristan and touched base with him as things progressed- and was happy to hear when he told me &amp;#8220;someone will be contacting you in a couple of days.&amp;#8221;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;On February 29&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; I was contacted by Square. They asked me why I wanted to work there and were impressed by the fact that I had truly made an effort to get noticed and be a part of the team, and in the midst of our conversation they offered me a job! I was thrilled! I officially started working for Square on March 9&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, 2012 and feel tremendously fortunate to be a part of the team (an added bonus is that the Square U program that I’m in is full of awesome people and that both of my bosses are very cool).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I absolutely love working for Square- so much so that it doesn’t even feel like work (and I can honestly say I know what that feels like since I was technically “working” for Square before I was even hired!)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The moral of this story is that I always heard people say “connections, connections it’s all about connections and who you know etc.” &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;The &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span&gt;only purpose&lt;/span&gt; of me writing this blog post is to debunk that myth and show that this is 100% not true&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Sure connections help, but as Walter Sopchak (quoting Theodore Herzl) in the “The Big Lebowski” put it; “If you will it, it is no dream.” I definitely had guidance along the way during my job search but at the end of the day no “connection” helped me get my job. Thank you to everyone who helped me and of course Square for presenting me with such an incredible opportunity! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;______________________________________________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;there are many people who’d I have to thank but I specifically have to single out:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;my uncle &lt;u&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;biw=1019&amp;amp;bih=475&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;tbnid=8AOrr-jJYfbTkM:&amp;amp;imgrefurl=http://www.ebay.com/itm/WORLDS-BEST-UNCLE-Vinyl-Decal-Car-Truck-Sticker-Gift-/170411169613&amp;amp;docid=F15-dM8dj_woyM&amp;amp;imgurl=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/dutchaustin84/worlds_best_uncle.jpg&amp;amp;w=400&amp;amp;h=400&amp;amp;ei=V8SYT8PhLKnn0QGFuI39CQ&amp;amp;zoom=1&amp;amp;iact=hc&amp;amp;vpx=480&amp;amp;vpy=24&amp;amp;dur=1773&amp;amp;hovh=225&amp;amp;hovw=225&amp;amp;tx=113&amp;amp;ty=116&amp;amp;sig=104796199220004292660&amp;amp;page=1&amp;amp;tbnh=80&amp;amp;tbnw=94&amp;amp;start=0&amp;amp;ndsp=16&amp;amp;ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:82" title="Michael van Bemmelen" target="_blank"&gt;Michael van Bemmelen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/u&gt;- words wouldn’t do justice to all the thanks I owe him&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/ajt" target="_blank"&gt;Alex Taub&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/slpollack" target="_blank"&gt;Scott Pollack&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;u&gt;Aviva Grossman&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/dsarna" target="_blank"&gt;David Sarna&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://twitter.com/ariteman" target="_blank"&gt;Ari Teman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;James Savas- who’s store, &lt;a href="http://twitter.com/yoboysfroyo" target="_blank"&gt;YoBoys Ice Cream&lt;/a&gt; was the 1&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; Square merchant who I signed up!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/21608146020</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/21608146020</guid><pubDate>Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:06:00 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>just tristan.: two years ago, today....</title><description>&lt;a href="http://justtristan.com/post/7696394458/two-years-ago-today"&gt;just tristan.: two years ago, today....&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="tumblr_blog" href="http://justtristan.com/post/7696394458/two-years-ago-today" target="_blank"&gt;tristanwalker&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;today marks two years since i sent my very first email to dennis and naveen (wow i was such a nerd! ha). naveen sent a reminder to team foursquare today and i thought i’d share it on my blog. Man, how times have changed:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Hey Dennis and Naveen&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;How’s it going? Hope all is well!&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;My name is…&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/18120487819</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/18120487819</guid><pubDate>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:01:38 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>How To Take Control of Your Next Job Interview</title><description>&lt;a href="http://mashable.com/2011/11/20/job-interview-tips/"&gt;How To Take Control of Your Next Job Interview&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="How To Take Control of Your Next Job Interview" src="http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/125,Interview-Process.jpg" width="125"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;At the end of every job interview, you’ll encounter the inevitable question, “Do you have any questions for me?” While it’s an oh-so-predictable event, many job candidates aren’t prepared to shine when they reach this final test in the interview. Failing to ask any questions or asking the wron…&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/17938802960</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/17938802960</guid><pubDate>Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:46:31 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>#WillWeTweetForever?</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzmtookHBD1qiefpg.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although this innocuos Tweet was presumably a tongue-in-cheek joke by Seth MacFarlane, I think it poses an outstanding question.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Will we Tweet forever?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The answer in my mind is an unquestionable YES. I&amp;#8217;m not sure if Twitter per se will be around 50 years from now, but I believe &lt;span&gt;the concept and service&lt;/span&gt; that Twitter provides (namely the idea of sending short, real-time messages) has incredible staying power, and will be here forever*. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Much like the concept of Email has evolved from the dial-up AOL days to GMail and Outlook, and just as Email will always be around, I think the concept of &amp;#8220;Tweets&amp;#8221; will also always be around.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#8217;m interested to hear what your thoughts about Seth&amp;#8217;s Tweet; do you believe that we&amp;#8217;re &amp;#8220;all going to Tweet for the rest of our lives?&amp;#8221; #giggity&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;______________________________________________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;p&gt;*much more on Twitter in future posts&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/17886685902</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/17886685902</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:17:50 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>Because we're all in this together...</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxl4ylwBwo1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The week before I played in the Hockey championship in 2003*, I was told a great story by my coach, whose message still resonates with me to this day.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;There was a platoon of Israeli Soldiers who were in basic training, and one of the  last drills of the day was running a lap around the entire base. In an effort to  ensure that the soldiers would all try their hardest, the commander declared that  whoever came in last would lose their day off. The soldiers began to sprint and try  to win the race. Entering the last stretch, the soldier in the lead quickly fell down in  pain. The person directly behind him did not want him to be last so he put his  arm around him and started walking with him to the finish line. All of a sudden  (and completely unplanned) as each soldier passes these 2, they all joined this  growing line and linked arms. They crossed the line in unison with their arms all linked, and the  commander was so taken aback that no one was penalized the day off. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Moral of the story; don&amp;#8217;t run. But also, these are the kinds of people that you want to surround yourself with. Of course no one is a bad person, but the friends you want are the ones who will link arms with you and aren&amp;#8217;t  &lt;a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/107509/saturday-night-live-penelope" target="_blank"&gt;&amp;#8220;racing&amp;#8221; &lt;/a&gt; you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;______________________________________________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;*we ended up getting destroyed by HAFTR 7-3. I had 2 penalties, I accidentally separated a kids shoulder, and then I was benched for the rest of the game. Good times.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/15629515485</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/15629515485</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:58:00 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>No Gain = No Pain</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxk8w3cZWX1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I just got rejected from my &amp;#8220;dream job,&amp;#8221; and it stings. It&amp;#8217;s not important what the job was, or the exact details, but I had my heart set on working there. The past couple of days I was on pins and needles and when I received the email 2 hours ago, I was crestfallen. I felt that I really had a chance and that it would&amp;#8217;ve been a great fit. But rather than just be down about it, I decided to write my inaugural blog post on rejection.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone is aware that rejection hurts. Be it a job, girl, or something else, absolutely everyone has been there and it stings.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After the initial shock, I tried to think about what I could learn from being rejected. I think an important lesson that one can learn from rejection is a positive one. Namely, that you successfully put yourself in the right position- you just happened to get rejected. Look how far you came! Sure you can be upset that the girl you really wanted to go out with wasn&amp;#8217;t interested, but kudos for having the guts to ask her! You got rejected from the job you wanted? That&amp;#8217;s unfortunate, but look- they considered you!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hence instead of being down about it, all me being rejected means is that I put myself in the right place- I&amp;#8217;ll continue to do so, and hopefully it&amp;#8217;ll work out elsewhere and for the best. &lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/15599323823</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/15599323823</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:38:00 -0500</pubDate></item><item><title>The Unforgettable #ShabbatTent @SuperBallIX</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyaolzUOL1qiefpg.png"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;As one can imagine, as pretty sizable Phish fan, I was extremely excited to hear that Phish would be having a festival over the July 4th weekend. The reason for this was I reckoned that since July 4th weekend would be July 2nd-4th, that would mean I would only have to miss the first day of the festival which would be Shabbos. This was great because I was excited to attending a Phish Festival; an integral part of Phishtory and something I’d never done before (haven’t gone to a New Years show either, but that will I”H change this year). I was crushed, however, when I learned that in fact it would be over Shabbos. As much as I love Phish, I unfortunately &lt;a title="don't roll on Shabbos" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.neverlosethehat.com/wp-content/gallery/sidekicks/walter-sobchak.jpg&amp;amp;imgrefurl=http://www.neverlosethehat.com/2011/06/top-tv-and-movie-sidekicks-of-all-time/&amp;amp;usg=__xk-MjUxKHFyifTJlSYqle0PODCA=&amp;amp;h=332&amp;amp;w=332&amp;amp;sz=24&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;start=0&amp;amp;sig2=vYc0xGLl4N_311GPXFeK0g&amp;amp;zoom=1&amp;amp;tbnid=GehIU1NndPZ3KM:&amp;amp;tbnh=157&amp;amp;tbnw=157&amp;amp;ei=NWMZTru7IdHOgAe2nOAS&amp;amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwalter%2Bsobchak%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D513%26tbm%3Disch&amp;amp;um=1&amp;amp;itbs=1&amp;amp;iact=rc&amp;amp;dur=251&amp;amp;page=1&amp;amp;ndsp=8&amp;amp;ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&amp;amp;tx=78&amp;amp;ty=55&amp;amp;biw=1024&amp;amp;bih=513" target="_blank"&gt;dont roll Shabbos&lt;/a&gt;. Oh well, I thought- looks like I won’t be able to make it. (nothing really new here- I missed the last Festival because it was on Shabbos, and the New Years show this year as well due to Shabbos, as well as a multitude of other shows). I figured I would just see them before and that would be that.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyaqm1NUG1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;But all this changed when I saw a retweet by the acclaimed Dean of Student Life at the University of Purim. My Friend, my friend (also known as @UofPurim) tweeted that there was this project called “The Shabbat Tent” which was making a concerted effort to be at the festival. After looking on the website, I decided to contact Rabbi Yonah Bookstein who ran the Shabbat Tent. I was immediately stoked* and inquired in the comment section as to how I could help. After not hearing back for about a week, I tweeted at Rabbi Yonah, and we scheduled a time to talk and discussed over the details of what, who, how, etc., The Shabbat Tent would function.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Over the next few months I was in touch with Rabbi Yonah quite frequently and we explored all avenues as to how we could logistically have the tent. Funding would be the main issue as it cost approximately $11,000 to run the tent; hence we immediately started brainstorming as to how to raise the requisite amount of money. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;I first contacted a few people and one of them was overjoyed to help; the Ba’al Habayis of the Bais Frollel. This special yid was ecstatic to help us, and made a large donation supporting our cause. Other ideas began to emerge as to how we could raise money. My favorite was setting up a Shabbat Tent stand in the venue during the concert of my friend&amp;#8217;s band,  a band called “Moose Convention” (they are totally sick by the way- &lt;a title="check them out" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixDWhLpGTK4" target="_blank"&gt;check them out&lt;/a&gt;!) This along with donations from other people helped us to furthur reach our goal. All appeared to be set, and we were on the way to having the Shabbat Tent at Phish’s SuperBall IX!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;However, as the date drew nearer, we were struck with some inconvenient news; after planning out this entire project it turned out that Rabbi Yonah would be unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict which would happen that Sunday. This was truly a blow as I didnt want it to undermind all the hard work we had put into it. Although it appeared as if Rabbi Yonah would be unable to attend, I was luckily introduced to Adam Weinberg who would help run the tent with me. A couple of weeks before the festival Adam and I of us spoke in great length about all the planning we would need; food, drinks, updog**, plates, tables, guyute, tents.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Around this time I contacted Gary Rosenblatt, Editor-In-Chief at “The Jewish Week” and told him to perhaps write an article about this upcoming noteworthy event. Gary Indeed expressed interest, and my friend Josh Fleet (Assistant religions editor at The Huffington post and author of &lt;a title="this outstanding blog" href="http://joshfleet.com/thejewinthephish/2010/04/05/growing-pains/" target="_blank"&gt;this outstanding blog&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; happily agreed to write the piece about the Shabbat Tent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Writing this article would be beneficial because &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;a) it would attract more people to the tent because the profile of the tent would be raised&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;b) it would perhaps note people to the cause because there is currently a Sefer Torah project underway&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;The article was written- and it was excellent!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;a title="link to the article" href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/shabbat_tent_phish_concert" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/shabbat_tent_phish_concert" target="_blank"&gt;http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/shabbat_tent_phish_concert&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Yet, as this article proliferated on Facebook and the Twittersphere, I was a little worried. Would people perhaps get the wrong impression of me and assume that I was going to the concert on Shabbos? (I wasn’t)  I wasn’t certain whether this was a valid concern, but spoke it over with 2 of my illustrious Rabbeim @JudahMischel and @LeviteJester, as well as my #TwitterBestFriend @DoniJoszef. These people confirmed that there was no need to care about what other people think, and helped confirm in me a sense of be who you are and take pride in this memorable cause. Hence I decided to go. Additionally, Rabbi Yonah found out that he was in fact able to make it, and 2 incredible Jews Tuli and Ruthie Skaist also decided to attend and participate in the Shabbat Tent.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;With all these new developments in place- Adam, Tuli, Ruthie, Rabbi Yonah and I- planned all the practicalities as to how the Shabbos would run. We decided to meet up outside the venue the Friday before, and decided to travel as a caravan into the festival. We were a little bit apprehensive upon entering the gates because they would search the car and confiscate any glass and certain “paraphernalia”. While we obviously didn’t have any “paraphernalia” had a large portion of glass so we were debating what we should do with it. Luckily Rabbi Yonah told them we were having a Shabbat Tent and they allowed us to bring in.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Upon arrival we were directed to our campsites. The camping grounds were divided into 7 different parts, named after the 7 states that Phish has never played a concert in (Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota and South Dakota)  However, we were directed into Overload Lot 2. We were all right next to each other and decided to set up shop, and started to build the tents.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;We put all the coolers near the car and filled them up with (it’s) ice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Additionally, the area in which we were situated in was enclosed so we didn’t have to worry about the Eruv.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;After constructing the tents and unloading all the food we walked around the large campgrounds where all the willies were selling their wares- I shuffled by alert to all the glances and the glares. I was able to rendezvous with a couple of friends that were there, and told them about our Shabbat Tent and they seemed very excited about it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyaxv3Mkt1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb0qAGfW1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;I made my way back to the campgrounds and started to get ready for the holy day of rest, not entirely sure what to expect. We had a minyan for Kabbalat Shabbos led by Tuli Skaist and it was very nice with everyone dancing and singing loudly. Then we started to eat and everyone was just shmoozing and conversing until we heard the unmistakable piano crescendo which meant  “Possum.” Hearing this, a large contingency headed off to hear the concert while we stayed back in the campgrounds.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;We just relaxed in the tent and had soda and actually met with this dude who in lurid detail was telling us about his professional field; a high ranking senior official at a cable company.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;After the first set concluded a large amount of people came back for more food, and we chilled with them. They headed off for the second set while some of us went to sleep, hung out, gotta jibbo&amp;#8217;d, etc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;The next day we awoke to stifling heat, and channelled our inner Chabad as Shacharis began at 11, including Hallel which was a truly incredible experience.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Then was the highlight of the weekend for me and one moment I will never forget. &lt;strong&gt;Shabbos lunch&lt;/strong&gt;. We set up table cloths on the ground and we had approximately 40-60 people there ranging from Stern/ YU israel Neveih Reishit Eretz HaTzvi and everyone was just sitting and relaxing. Ruthie Skaist provided us with wonderful salad that was a smash hit, and there was tons of Challah to go around. There were incredible vibes. The Heilige @Yakamoishe graced us with a wonderful Dvar Torah comparing the sense of community and trekking to a phish festival and everyone was rapt by it. I loved it because I went from speaking to someone about the previous night’s simple (a very peaceful and melodic 21 minute escapade) which then segued into a discussion of Bava Basra (about Chezkas Mara Kamma and Chezkat Gimmel Shanim- the machlokes between R’ Akiva and R’ Yishmael and the logic behind it)- unfortunately we didn&amp;#8217;t have a gemara to wade any further into the (velvet) sea of the Talmud.***&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Then people headed off to hear the afternoon set. Rabbi Yonah, Ruthie and Tuli and I just sat there and we were blown away at what we had just witnessed. It was just so incredible and everyone had just come to enjoy Shabbos- it didn’t matter who you were where you were coming from, your level of observance; we were just glad, glad, glad that they arrived. Everyone was just Jewish and come in and enjoying Shabbos- I wouldn’t even say Kiruv (that connotes kind of a elitist thing which implies that you’re better than other people). Giving mean to the age old addendum that “Religion is a private matter.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;I decided to take a nap after lunch but couldn’t help having a huge grin on my face when I heard Phish playing “Divided Sky” widely known as my all-time least favorite song.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;Later on we had Minchah, followed by Shalosh Seudos, then Ma’ariv and a musical Havdalah- (pics below)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb578PUu1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb81Btam1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb33S2fh1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb47puWi1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb6on3jL1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnyb9hKs6J1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;After Havdallah, I immediately went to the concert venue and had what I would like to call a “Golden Age Revelation.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Why do I call it that? Because I stayed later in campground hanging out after Shabbos and missed this song &amp;#8220;Golden Age&amp;#8221;(a relatively new cover song by a great band called TV on the Radio). Had I only come 15 minutes earlier I would have heard it; I was (figuratively) kicking myself for having missed it. But the lesson/ revelation I learned from this was a good consolation- because it put things in perspective. Of course I had missed 4 sets of music but I was only annoyed to have missed this song which I could have caught, this confirmed in my mind that going on Shabbos was never a thought of mine, and I was only annoyed when I could’ve heard something that was in my control.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Luckily I arrived in time to hear “Prince Caspian” a song which I had never heard live, it was incredible. Then came a ripping set featuring an incredible Tweezer (not to be confused with @DoniJoszef’s wedding video). I went back to the campsite but there were rumors abound that there would be a secret set. I decided to go back and talked with the others to try and figure out what this would be … &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;I arrived back and was waiting on a guard rail and saw Trey and the crew go into this lounge which went up to reveal a silhouette where they were making all sorts of different jamming and synthesizer noises, and we were treated to a ambient jam with incredibly unique but weird noise. It was definitely very special and a treat, and afterwards we sojourned back to our campgrounds.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;The next day we decided to pack up and hang out for the rest of the day house of livephish- this was awesome. It was stifling hot outside, yet there was this humble abode which featured entire rows of macs where you could download selected Phish tracks to your iPod. I personally just enjoyed relaxing in the air conditioned tent watch DVD clips of my favorite band. I was in a very good place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo40cauLf71qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;After this I went to the show and with some suave manuevering, was able to get a spot in the front row.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt; (notice Trey and Mike in the Background)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo40fzJvDN1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt; I met an Israeli Dati Jewish guy next to me and we discussed the army, Gilad Shalit and of course Phish.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;I was so excited to hear them cover Soul Shakedown party, followed by Ac/Dc bag but then they played Colonel Forbin’s; a true rarity which I always wanted to hear! Phish followed this up by playing Destiny Unbound another rarity and classic which I also was chasing. Phish continued their musical onslaught by playing Mound and Wilson, both featuring abnormally long jams and then played Reba with whistling into- the first time since coventry.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;The second set was great but not as good as the first set. The highlight was the jam and a First Tube encore with fireworks.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo40j7rl6R1qiefpg.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;All in all besides from the obvious Phish experience which is always great, what made this weekend truly memorable was the stunning success and reception of the Shabbat Tent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;The moral of this story (at least to me)- totally cool to be who you are, and you can incorporate your hobbies into your service of God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;Now onto Achva West&amp;#8230;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p2"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;*shout out to the Brigade Shlita and Rebbetzin @ChavieLieber who were unable to attend&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;**what’s “up dog?” Did I get you? Too proud to admit it?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&lt;span class="s1"&gt;***cheesy and cliche but I had to weave in a reference to my Rebbe’s favorite phish song (ayin the niggun sung before eating the fish at the Rosh Hashanah dinner at Reishit)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/7335265665</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/7335265665</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:03:00 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Photo</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Welcome to SuperBall IX!&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo2_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo3_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo5_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; The Shabbat Tent Crew&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo6_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Shabbat Shalom!&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo7_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Gefilte Fish flag Flying in the Sky&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo8_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Havdalah featuring @Yakamoishe on guitar&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo9_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lntfr5nEN51qk82cqo10_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;br/&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/7229604780</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/7229604780</guid><pubDate>Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:44:00 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Father’s Day.
6/19/11 in Portsmouth, VA</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; The lot scene in Portsmouth, VA&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo2_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; minutes until showtime...&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo3_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Trey's Dad&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo6_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Carl Gerhard of Giant Country Horns&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo7_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; showtime #Oom #Papa #Oom #Papa...&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo8_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; "Jimmy, your cat's dead" -Phish's Dads&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo9_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; The Dads of Phish Shepping Nachas&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnfhsgUoSC1qk82cqo10_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Yep&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; &lt;p&gt;Father’s Day.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;6/19/11 in Portsmouth, VA&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/6961148949</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/6961148949</guid><pubDate>Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:02:00 -0400</pubDate></item><item><title>Coming Soon…</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmu9uf0PNV1qk82cqo1_400.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;Coming Soon…&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/6556048483</link><guid>http://alicht.tumblr.com/post/6556048483</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:01:28 -0400</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
