Technology has not been our friend for the past couple of days. Soon after we awoke yesterday, our alarm system started going “Ping!” every minute or so. Fortunately, the panel display made the problem clear – one of the sensors had a low battery, and I had exactly one battery of the right kind (123) in hand.

Soon after we woke today, one of the smoke detectors began croaking at us every minute – it, too, had a low battery. And I had a replacement in hand (a standard 9V battery). I decided to change all of the smoke detector batteries at the same time and discovered that I didn’t have enough, so it was off to Ace Hardware to pick up a few.

I changed the offending battery, but when I went to the next smoke detector, I discovered it had expired (they have a 10-year life). So it was back to Ace to buy three new smoke detectors, complete with 10-year batteries that I can’t change; I think I’ll keep the receipt in case the batteries don’t live up to their promise.

And in the meantime, one of our window sensors decided not to tell the alarm that the window was properly closed; I took out its battery for a few hours, then put it back in and the sensor worked. The window is open now – it’ll be interesting to find out if it tells the truth when we next close it.

I posted yesterday’s entry before hearing about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing. May her memory be for a blessing and an inspiration and a call to action. We’ve been giving to Senate candidates, both through the Get Mitch multi-candidate fund and directly to MJ Hagar in Texas, and there will be more to come.

We attended both halves of the Shir Hadash Rosh Hashanah service this morning. The Torah and Haftorah readings were live on Zoom at 9:30am; the rest of the service had been recorded earlier, mostly in and around the sanctuary (although the choir members recorded their parts at home and someone brought them together into a synchronized performance). Having the service out-of-order was yet another way in which 2020 has been an unusual year – but I was very glad to be able to see and hear it.

And beyond that, it’s mostly been a quiet day of reflection and thought.

Shana Tova.

Normal commentary will resume after the holiday.

Shana Tova!

I was Toastmaster of the Day at my Toastmasters’ club this morning and chose “We, the People” as the theme in honor of Constitution Day. I also worked in the founding of San Francisco and Emperor Norton’s proclamation of his empire, since those both happened on September 17th, too.

Lunch today was a new recipe (Zucchini with Rotini plus a Caprese salad) from an old cookbook, Marian Burros’ Keep It Simple. We’ve had the book for more than 30 years (it was published in 1981) but there are still quite a few recipes we haven’t tried – this was one of them. The book starts with a long chapter on the politics of food (including a caution about high fructose corn syrup!), partially to convince the reader that it’s healthier to make your own food from fresh or minimally-processed ingredients than to buy packaged foods. It was amusing reading the recipe and being told that “if you can’t find fresh basil, pick a different recipe” and that “some supermarkets are beginning to carry fresh herbs” – I guess some things have changed for the better in the last 40 years!

The air was so much better yesterday that the JCC was able to plan to reopen this morning; our trainer texted us last night to offer us an 8am spot, which we took. On our short drive to the JCC, Diane asked if what she was seeing on the windshield was rain – and it was! We got hit by occasional droplets while we were working out, too. I didn’t know how to react!

The rain didn’t last, but the breathable air did, for which I am grateful.

I finished 2009’s photos today; it feels like quite an accomplishment! Only 11 years to go!

And because I’m a very careful and thoughtful person, I’ve already installed iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 on my iPhone and iPad, and I’ll install WatchOS 7 overnight.

I moved all the apps I don’t actively access daily to the App Library (and even got rid of a few apps that I just don’t use), but I haven’t yet figured out how to take advantage of the widgets that are now available on the iPhone.

I’m down to one Home Screen for the first time since the App Store opened; I’m sure it won’t last, but it looks good for now.