Report From Page 70 (Give Or Take)

I'm too lazy to check if I'm on page 70 or 71 or whatever in The Shade Of The Moon. But I'm pretty sure I'm around there somewhere.

I'm taking today and tomorrow off from writing. I visited my mother this morning and I have a meeting of my good deeds organization in about an hour. Originally I planned on doing some writing after the meeting, but I worked last night instead.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, and then we're going to see the movie Footnote (which is not the same as the movie Footloose, although they're probably related on their mothers' side). I can hardly be expected to work on a day where I'm having lunch with a friend and going to a movie.

Because Footnote is about Talmudic scholars (as opposed to Footloose, where there's nary a Talmudic scholar in sight, although it's a well known fact that Talmudic scholars can dance up a storm), I decided to google my grandfather, Rabbi Pfeffer the Talmudic scholar. Rabbi Pfeffer was dead long before I was born, which is why I call him Rabbi Pfeffer (as do some of my cousins, who also didn't know him).

Google was very excited when I googled Rabbi Pfeffer. Indeed, I googled in Alter Saul Pfeffer, and they asked me if I'd prefer Alter Shaul instead. So after I Alter Sauled, I Alter Shauled for a bit.

Oh, this is why he was named Alter Saul. Maybe it was him, or maybe it was an ancestor of his (my father didn't know), but some Saul in the family was very ill, and to fool the Angel Of Death, they added an Alter to his name. As a result, I have quite a number of cousins named Arthur (and one named Arnold), as opposed to cousins named Saul (my brother, Alan, was named for my mother's uncle Abe, in case you were wondering).

Anyway, there were a few Alter Saul Pfeffer entries and a few Alter Shaul Pfeffer entries, including ancestry.com, which claims Rabbi Pfeffer and Mrs. Rabbi Pfeffer (I didn't know her either) had 18 children, which would be enough to get them a reality TV series, except to the best of my knowledge they had 10 (9 of whom lived). Many of those unknown and probably unreal Pfeffer babies, ancestry.com thought were named Private. Not even Alter Private.

The favorite thing I discovered by way of Google was that three of my grandfather's letters were auctioned over the years. This one is my personal favorite because it has his signature. At least I assume that's his signature. Don't ask me what the rest of the letter says, because the only part I understand is the letterhead.

I think it's very cool that my grandfather Rabbi Pfeffer is a collectible.

I've also been following the poll results, over on the right side. I think it's pretty funny none of you think everyone will live. Granted, I don't think everyone will live either (they're all alive on Page 70 give or take, but that doesn't mean they'll stay that way), but a little optimism is always in good taste.

Oh well. Maybe I should change all my characters' names- Alter Miranda and Alter Alex and Alter Mom.

That'll fool the Angel Of Death!