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.