How I got the most powerful Work Station in the world.

Or How Government organisations work.

As many of you will know, I work in the IT department of a large government organization in Israel. Part of my job entails giving support to users. Over the past year I have had an increasing amount of support calls from users using Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS. This being the case, it was not unreasonable for me, about six months ago, to ask my boss for a second machine in order to install Windows 7.

 

I asked for a workstation with a minimum of a 64 bit CPU, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB hard drive and a PC Express Video Card to run my Samsung 22 inch screen which does not like cheap on board screen cards. After all the emails and talks about saving money in the department, this was a carefully thought out request for the minimum of the minimum.

About a month later I received a new Lenovo ThinkCentre m50 workstation. It turned out that my boss had ignored my detailed request and simply ordered me a standard machine that’s used throughout the whole organization.

It had an AMD 64 cpu, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB hard disk and one basic onboard screen card. This was totally unsuitable but after speaking with my dear fearless leader, he told me that he had had no choice but to order the standard machine but I could always order extra parts that I needed in order to bring it up to spec.

So, that day I ordered more RAM and a PC Express Video card. The total retail cost was less than NIS 500 so actual cost to my department would be considerably less.

First of all I thought it would be easy to purchase the parts as acquisitions of less than NIS 500 are considered petty cash and can be ordered without approval from the accounts department. However, when I went to speak to the acquisitions person he informed me that as it was computer equipment, it would have to go through the equipment suppliers which only the accounts department could order from.

So now, in order to order the new equipment I had to fill out an acquisitions form (in the form of a Word file) stating exactly what I wanted and the specific reason I wanted it for. This form was then sent it to my head of department. He then has to send this form with his approval to the department acquisitions person who sends the order to accounts for approval and ordering. I filled out the form and sent it off.

After a few days I happened to ask the acquisitions guy if he had ordered the parts yet. He told me that he hadn’t even received the email from my boss. Then began two weeks of constantly nagging my boss to send the form off. He promised to do it “in a minute” some 20 times. One day I happened to see them both in my boss’s room so I rushed in and asked my boss if he could send the form right now. Again I received the reply “in a minute”. Later that day I checked with the acquisitions guy and yes, you guessed it, he still had not received it. At that point I lost my cool and demanded he send it immediately. He told me to send the form again as he had deleted all his emails more than two weeks old. I went back to my desk and sent the form again and then went back to his room and sat over him whilst he sent to email. Fewww!

Two days later I spoke to the acquisitions guy. Had he ordered the parts I asked? "No" came the reply. The department had run out of money for that month so it would have to wait until next month. I argued with him but to no avail. The next month rolled along and I reminded the acquisitions guy that he had to order my parts. Of course he would do it he told me, that is, once he received a new order form with approval from my boss as there was an expiry date on the order.

At that point I gave up. That was two months ago.

Last Monday morning I was sitting with a colleague working on a problem when he told me about this huge multimillion shekel deal with HP to supply our organisation with new servers, server cabinets and workstations. He was involved in the makeup of the orders. While he was on the HP site he happened to see their top of range super workstation called the HP Z800. As he was struggling with his old computer, he asked our boss if he could include this in the HP order. Within three days, there it was, waiting for him by his desk. I wanted to explode! However my colleague said that it wouldn’t hurt if I simply popped into the boss’s office and asked him to order me another workstation, just like he had. So I got up and went to the boss’s office.

“Order me a computer just like Shimon has!” I told him. He briefly looked up at me and mumbled that he’d have to check. Then he went back to what he was doing, leaving me standing there. Oh well I thought, that was that! I tried hard to convince myself that it was nothing personal and simply a consequence of working for the government.

The next morning I got in to work around 7:20am but left after an hour as I had an appointment to see my dietitian. I got back to the office at about 9:30am to find a massive box waiting for me by my desk. The letters HP emblazoned on the side.

The HP Z800 workstation basic specs are:

Cost: Around NIS 16,000

2 X physical Intel Xeon X5620 2.40 Ghz 128MB cache, 6 Core processors.

(Equivalent to 8 virtual CPUs)

1,110W HP Power supply

12 GB DDR3 1333MHz Ram standard (upgradable to 192GB)

PCI Express PCIe x16 Gen2 Graphics card with 1 GB DDR5 dedicated memory

Capable of running three screens at once.

2 X 500GB RAID mirror system hard disk drives.

1 X 1.5 TB hard drive

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

I had not had to fill out any forms. I had not had to give any reasons justifying the purchase. It had taken less than 24 hours to arrive and it is by far the best workstation I have ever used. Go figure! That's how it works around here.

Chanuka in the streets of Jerusalem 2010



Chanuka in the streets of Yerushalayim, 2010

where Yiddishkite is in the streets, not hidden away behind closed doors...

(Please click on the photos for a larger view)

Outside the Holy Beigel, Yaffa Road




The sign says "Chag Sameiyach!!!,  please don't touch."




Chanukiot in every nook and cranny. Meah Sha'arim



"Migdal Chanuka". Four, one on top of each other, Geula Building

A Insider's view



Chanukiot everywhere you look. Above and also below.



I heard they won that night.



You pause in the street, looking and contemplating the miracle of the oil...



...mesmerised by the flames

Why would anyone use candles when they could use beautiful pure olive oil?

Yemin Orde Youth Village school in urgent need

Last week there was a Youth Village school for orphans called "Yemin Orde" in the Carmel.

That was last week.

The school was named after Major-General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and two bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944), the famous British Army officer who formed and trained the Haggana, which eventually turned into the Israel Defense Forces with the establishment of the State of Israel.

Yemin Orde was founded in 1953 by the British Friends of Youth Aliyah, in order to accommodate Holocaust orphans and immigrant children during the great immigration waves of the fifties. “Yemin Orde” literally means “in the memory of Orde.”



The Beit Knesset (Synagogue) at Yemin Orde

Last week there was a 77-acre campus which was home to more than 500 orphaned children from around the world. The children lived in 20 children’s houses, each named after an historical figure. The campus included a high school offering a complete academic curriculum, an art and music centre a large computer department, a fully-equipped carpentry shop, a central dining room, library and extensive sports facilities.

On December 3rd 2010, despite the best efforts of Israeli and Greek fire fighters, the school was almost completely destroyed in the Carmel Wildfires.

 

Greek Fire plane battling the blaze over Yemin Orde

  

The Fire reaches Yemin Orde



The Aftermath




They are in desperate need of what ever you can donate.

To donate money via credit card:

https://www.yeminorde.org/pages/donateMain.aspx

You can contact the school reperesentative in Israel:

Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village
D.N. Hof Ha Carmel
30895 ISRAEL
Tel: 011-972-04-9840683
Fax - Outreach Department: 011-972-4-15348148219
yeminorde@yeminorde.co.il

You can donate in the United Kingdom by going here: (Thanks Peter for the link!)

http://www.youthaliyah.org/contact/


Friends of Yemin Orde in USA
12230 Wilkins Ave.
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 202-237-0286
Fax: 202-248-0700
Email: info@yeminorde.org

It's raining in Eretz Yisrael, Baruch Hashem!

Hallel, Tehilla 113

Halleluyah! Praise!; Servants of Hashem!, Praise the name of Hashem!

Blessed be the name of Hashem from this time forth and for evermore.

From sunrise to sunset Hashem’s name is praised.

High above all nations is Hashem, beyond the heavens is His glory!

Who is like Hashem our God, who is enthroned on high,

Who looks way down to look upon the things that are in heaven, and on the earth!

He raises up those in need from the dust [ashes], from the rubbish tips, He lifts the destitute.

He seats them next to noblemen, with the gentry of His people.

He gives the barren woman a place [home], and makes her a joyful mother of children. Halleluyah!

I went up to the roof of my office block and took some photos of Yerushalayim in the rain for us all to enjoy and praise Hakodesh Boruch Hu. (Click on any of the photos to get a bigger picture).


Pools of water on the road, rain is falling like white mist



"Chords" Bridge



The bridge disappears into the haze



The Central Bus Station, next to it the hole that will be the new Jerusalem/Tel Aviv Underground Station



Here's a close up of the big deep hole.

Chanuka Sameiyach

JP – Get your priorities right!

On Friday morning I, like hundreds of thousands of other Israelis, was going online to read the latest news from the North about Israel's worst fire in history. My first stop was to The Jerusalem Post. Upon loading up the main page I clicked on the "Breaking News" link in order to get the most up to date information where upon I was met by this full page advertisement banner.

There was no Exit button or any other mechanism I could find to remove the banner. There it stayed for about 15 secs or so before the banner finally magically evaporated. I clicked on another page only to be blocked by the same banner. I tried minimizing the intrusive JPost toolbar but it did not remove the banner.

This kind of intrusive advertising is annoying at the best of times but in a time of national crisis, to actually totally block the ability to read news in order to get a bit of revenue and with no quick Exit option so the reader has to sit there and wait for the banner to disappear, I consider highly immoral.

I left the JPOST and moved onto YNET and Arutz 7.

JP – Get your priorities right!

Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and Chardonnay Reserve

Teperberg vinyard, Ella valley

Teperberg winery is situated just outside Beit Shemesh with vineyards primarily in the Ella valley. The company was founded in 1870 in Meah Shaarim by the family Teperberg under the name "Efrat Wines". For over 100 years it has produced sweet Kiddush wine for the religious market with the highest kosher certification.

But in the early 1990s they decided to experiment with more refined wines. Because of its reputation for cheap Kiddush wines, the family business decided to change its company name to Teperberg 1870 and to market itself as a small boutique vinery despite being actually one of Israel's largest wineries!

Their cheap and cheerful Efrat range is still sold under the Efrat label in Israeli supermarkets. I have already mentioned that their White Zinfandel (around NIS 30) is actually quite good. Served straight from the fridge, it has a beautiful blush colour, floral perfume aroma and deliciously light sweet refreshing taste. Their Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are what you would expect from NIS 30 wine. I'll say no more about them.

"Yayin Ismach"Wine shop on 3 Yaakov Meir Street

Last week I was taking a walk through Geula when I came across this tiny Wine shop called "Yayin Ismach" on 3 Yaakov Meir Street, one of the small turnings off of Malke Yisrael. It's actually half a shop, sharing the other half with a tie shop.

The owner is a young man named Avi who I witnessed was very patient with every customer who walked in. I was impressed that he voiced his opinion on wines that he had tried and even recommended wines that were cheaper than the wine the customer had in mind. For instance, an American was asking him about a NIS 200 bottle of wine from 2004 vintage. Avi told him that the 2005 vintage tasted nicer although this was NIS 60 cheaper! I could see that Avi's main intention was to build up a clientele who would be coming back on a regular basis to hear his latest recommendations.

I explained to Avi that I was very familiar with the Golan winery and wanted to try some other high quality wine from Eretz Yisrael. He directed me to the Teperberg shelf and showed me a Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. I told him that I wanted to say Kiddush over the wine and had not had a good experience with saying Kiddush over Cabernet Sauvignon in the past due to the rough taste of the tannin on an empty stomach. Avi replied that it was true that Cabernet Sauvignon should ideally be drunk with food but this particular wine was exceptionally smooth and would be fine for Kiddush. I decided to buy the Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006 (NIS 110). Next I asked Avi if he could recommend a white wine for Shabbos morning. He directed me to the Teperberg Chardonnay Reserve 2009 (NIS 60). From experience I have found that it is best to buy a Chardonnay that is slightly matured. Being a 2009 I was a bit hesitant but again Avi told me that it tasted mature well beyond its age.

Teperberg Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Tasting the Wine

Before leaving for shul, we took the Cabernet Sauvignon out of the fridge to warm up for a couple of hours before opening. Returning from shul we opened the wine and let it breathe during Shalom Aleichem, Eishes Chayil and the kid's brachos. The label stated that the wine had been matured in French Oak barrels for 15 months.

Indeed, pouring the wine out into glasses brought an immediate and unmistakable sweet whiff of a musky damp wine cask from a winery storehouse. Having recently been to quite a few whisky storehouses as well as the Golan Winery winery, the aroma was very recognisable and familiar to us. The colour was a beautiful deep red berry red with a good body to it.

An Old Winery Warehouse

The musky smell was so overpowering that I was slightly worried that the wine would taste of musky storehouse cask wood, brick and cobwebs in a liquid form. I nonetheless commenced Kiddush with confidence.

Initial tasting was very surprising. A deep smooth fresh taste combined with its strong aroma seemed to transport us to the winery from whence this wine came. It was like we were sitting in the warehouse, surrounded by wine barrels, drinking this wine. It tasted of freshly squashed berries served in a damp wooden bowl. A slight dry hazelnut taste on the palette and a long heavy fruity berry aftertaste.

A very enjoyable wine yet I think the pungent musky smell of the barrel was ever so slightly over done . I wonder if a younger vintage would fair better? I'll have to go back to the shop and buy a 2007 and let you know. Definitely one  to buy again.




Teperberg Chardonnay Reserve

  Shabbos day, coming back from shul on a hot day, we always look forward to a white refreshing wine to quench our thirst after not drinking the whole morning. Out of all the white wines, Chardonnay is our favourite choice so we were really looking forward to this young Teperberg Reserve 2009.

Like all white and blush wines, we took the Teperberg straight out of the fridge just before we said Kiddush. Looking at the label it states that the Chardonnay had been matured in French oak barrels for 10 months. Opening the bottle our noses were immediately hit with the same powerful aroma of musky damp sherry barrels being stored in a winery warehouse mixed with spirit alcohol. This was certainly not what we expected from what we assumed was a young wine. My kids remarked that it smelled remarkably similar to a Glen Moray (Speyside) Single malt whisky.

Our next surprise came as I began pouring the wine. A Chardonnay should be a light yellow colour. Indeed the label states that it has a golden yellow colour. What we observed was a green colour similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

After Kiddush I took my first sip of the wine. The barrel aroma and the heaviness of the wine were quite overpowering. To say that this wine had body was an understatement. I'd say it was well overweight. My family were likewise unimpressed. Whereas we would usually take more wine, this time nobody took seconds.

The wine sat on the table for half an hour or more. I decided to give the Teperberg another try. Now that it had had a chance to warm up to room temperature its flavour came bursting through. It now had a heavy sherry like taste with layers of complexity ranging from cider apples to hazelnuts and a hint of Speyside style whisky (that has a light and sherry like spirit - light for a whisky that is).

Here was a white wine behaving more like a heavy red! At room temperature it was a lot more interesting. However if we had wanted a heavy red wine then we would have bought one. As far as I'm concerned, a white wine ought to be light to medium body with a refreshing fruity taste. A Chardonnay ought to have more body but still retain that fresh fruity taste. The Teperberg reminded us so much of Glen Moray Single malt that we moved on to the actual whisky and forgot the wine.

If you like heavy white wine then I'd suggest you try this but remember to take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you drink it. I'd even suggest you open it and let it breathe for 20 mins. Sounds like I'm talking about a dry red wine? That's exactly my point.