So Norman told me he was given the honor of blowing the shofar at Beth David, and I alerted my fellow gentlemen text group and tuned in, to use the old term. Sure enough, he walked to the Bima like the cool, jazzy man he is, and summoning his best Miles Davis, belted out the holy sounds.
Of course, politically incorrect chatter followed on our chat group -- but we were proud of him. My very orthodox friend Yossi tells me that of all the requirements there are about RH, hearing the shofar is at the top of the list -- it means you take notice of the changing of the year. D1 and Joey heard it in their hood -- one of their neighbors did his, oh, I guess Kenny G. And D2 and Wifey and Jonathan heard Norman, so I figure my duty as head of the household was fulfilled.
And then came the call I was waiting for -- the refrigerator guys were on their way. There was a wrinkle -- they had the small truck, and so couldn't haul away the big built in, but they would put it out front, remove the doors lest a trapped child tragedy occur, and Miami Dade Solid Waste would fetch it for me. Fine.
Two not large fellows showed up. I was crestfallen -- I had been told the removal of the 48 cubic job needed 4 guys. Nope -- the leader of the group said it was all about experience. And he and his friend, working like surgeons, but with a better command of physics, wrestled the monster out to the front. They popped in the new unit, and we were cool, literally.
The job took well over an hour. "That'll be $125." I had been quoted $700 by the Home Depot crew, if they came after hours. I replied that what they had done was NOT a $125 job -- it was a $185 job, at least. And I paid them and they were happy. Sure enough, within a few hours the happy sound of ice being made was heard throughout the kitchen, and the thing got cold. Now, for all I care, the new stuff can wait until our grandson starts kindergarten.
And it got better. I had set up a dispute with HD on Amex -- wanting, at least, a credit for having to pay for the install they had promised. A letter came -- Amex was crediting me the entire $1800! I knew what happened -- they probably reached out to HD, and got nowhere, as I did during the entire weekend I tried to work things out with them. Eventually HD might indeed reply, and then I'll tell AMEX I'll be happy with a few hundred dollar credit -- the cost of having to get my own crew to do what HD should have done. Or -- HD will just blow it off, and the interim fridge will be their gift to me for all the annoyance they caused. The answer will come by November -- if HD doesn't respond by then...caso cerrado!
And then we had visitors -- Patricia and Paul. They had schlepped to Yossi and Nechama for RH lunch, and came for a visit. I warned them about the possible Covid exposure, but they chose to come anyway. I opened a bottle of Stag's Leap, and then a second. We toasted the New Year, and days to come. It was a lovely afternoon, and then they left for home, in Aventura.
So it was literally and figuratively a cool RH. And I'll tune in later for Norman -- hopefully his shofar blasts will end the holiday -- to begin the time where the Big Man decides to review the Book of Life, and decide who will live, and who will die by fire, water, ice, Covid, or lack of proper refrigeration.
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