Wishes for a Good Yom Kippur and a Happy New Jewish Year

Celebrations

Yom Kippur 5772
October 8, 2011
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Shanah Tovah 
May Everyone Be
Inscribed in the Book of Life!

Toyota Hosts FREE Danger of Distracted Driving Clinic Auto Safety Program for Teens and Parents

Teens

I'm parenting four teens who will be applying for driving learners permits soon -- triplets plus one more all born within a year -- so I feel very fortunate to learn about this and want to share it with my readers with kids. According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for U.S. teenagers. That translates into more than one in three deaths for this age group. Furthermore, accident rates peak during the first year a teen has a license due to lack of proper training in the classroom and behind the wheel, in addition to inexperience and distraction tendencies among adolescents. To help counter balance those really sad safety trends among young drivers, auto maker Toyota is sponsoring a unique free safe driving program this weekend for teens and their parents to learn from the dangers of distracted driving by actually experiencing unsafe situations.

The Toyota Camry 2012 Worldwide Unveiling
Paramount Studios, Hollywood, CA
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

This teen driving education event takes place in the Los Angeles area, Saturday and Sunday, October 8-9, from 8 am to 7 pm. Session start times both days are at 8 am, 9:30 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm, 3 pm, and 4:30 pm. The public safe driving event takes place at Toyota U.S. Headquarters, 19001 South Western Avenue, Torrance, CA 90501

In this no-cost 2.5 hour hands-on advanced driving skills program newly licensed or permitted teen drivers will have the opportunity to learn from real-world scenarios. Included are both interactive classroom instruction and multiple behind the wheel driving courses. The program is set up for moms and dads to attend together with their teens.

Toyota's Driver Ed Event Highlights
  • Defensive driving skills and avoiding crashes
  • Dangerous driving situations: how to identify and respond to them
  • Tactile experience of distracted driving and understanding the distraction and reaction time equation
  • Basic vehicle safety features and how to engage anti-lock brakes

Watch for MBE's 2012 Camry Review Coming Soon
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Here's your chance to comment with your personal perspective on teen driving safety. Even if you don't have kids that have reached driving age, I hope you'll share the insight you have gained from your own teen driving experience and tell what concerns you most. I highly recommend that you retweet about this post to let others know about it, too.




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Yom Kippur - What Does Jewish Guilt, Making Partner at a Law Firm and G-d Have to Do With It - Video

Celebrations

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year on the Jewish Calendar, starts tonight at sundown and coincides with Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. Jews round the world will be fasting and praying for the next 25 hours until Saturday evening when three stars are visible in the sky. If you're looking for a meaningful Day of Repentance, then watch this video which is from Aish which has released many, many short uplifting multi-media presentations that are spiritual but with a worldly perspective that have gone viral. Hopefully it will inspire you like it has influenced me to atone for all the wrongs I've done this past year and also help you grasp all the ways you can improve upon everything you do and live your life better in the Jewish Year 5772.







Please Comment Below
Would love for you to leave a comment after you watch this and tell how you'll be spending the holiday, in synagogue or creating an observance some other way.

Shanah Tovah & May You All Be Sealed in the Book of Life for the New Year



FTC Disclosure: I did not receive any payment or other compensation associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.

National Halloween Costume Swap Day How to for a Green Frugal Family Holiday Celebration With Kids

Eco Friendly Celebrations


Halloween is still 3+ weeks away, but it's not too early to start planning and assembling kid costumes -- whether store bought or DIY homemade. Besides, it's never too early to talk about how to make the festivities more eco responsible, too. This year there's just the thing to make it happen: an event organized by Green Halloween® called National Costume Swap Day TM that takes place across the U.S. on Saturday, October 8th.
My kids in the Handmade Teletubbies Costumes I Made for Them
Vintage Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

Essentially, this is a costume swap that can involve just some of your neighbors, the kids at school or a small group of friends or it can be a large citywide community event. However you do it, you'll be making a community difference and saving resources and money.
Image by Green Halloween

Green Halloween explains, "Costume swaps not only mean less resources are used to make new product, it also means less packaging, less transportation of the product and less waste from products being trashed as they sadly often are!"

Here's the how tos to participate in this green, eco friendly event this weekend. 

Image by Green Halloween

About Green Halloween
Green Halloween offers creative, inexpensive, and no-cost ideas to entertain and engage kids in a healthier and Earth-friendly Halloween holiday. For more about celebrating by being green year round visit Celebrate Green






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Tribute to the Late Steve Jobs - Insight Into Why the Apple Innovative Tech Dream Will Survive Him

Remembering

Steve Jobs -- arguably, the greatest wunderkind the tech world has ever known. Born of the Baby Boomer generation, now dead at the young age of 56. Though I consciously know that he has passed away, like legions of others, I just don't want to believe it. The visionary who brought us not only iTunes, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad and Pixar, but also an assortment of other advanced technologies that were way before their time when they were first introduced, setting the standard for whole new product categories, is gone. Forever.  

Apple Studio Monitor I use with Apple's Memorial to Steve Jobs On Screen
iPhone Photo by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com 

According to the official announcement from Apple, Steve died October 5, 2011, succumbing to cancer.  His untimely passing was just over a month since stepping down as CEO. His last breath taken just one day after the iPhone 4 GS was rolled out, the first Apple product ever to be introduced by his predecessor Tim Cook.

I am a huge Apple fan and user. Always have been, always will be as long as Apple and I shall live. Back in the 1980s, while lots of others were snapping up the first IBM PC, I acquired my first of many Macs and other Apple branded tech tools. A brand at the time that was thought of as more geeky and un-cool, considered far less cutting edge than today. 

I've also admired Steve's accomplishments, creativity, brilliance, tenacity, and talent since I was in my 20s. In fact, Steve and I go way back as I am just a year younger than he was. Though I never met him, I started my career in technology not long after Apple Computer was created and consider myself to be an early adopter that followed the young neophyte company intensely. As a matter of fact, the first computer I ever bought for home use was not an IBM Personal Computer nor even a PC clone; it was an early Apple model. I've passed that brand loyalty onto my own children. Since they were toddlers, my triplets and their big brother (all born within a year), have been raised with the Apple suite of products and services to inspire their young minds.

My Triplets Started Early Learning With the Macintosh SE
Vintage Photo 1999,  by Janis Brett Elspas, MommyBlogExpert.com

The question among us devout Apple enthusiasts -- is this. Did the Apple dream die with Steve, destined to become mere legend? Or will Jobs vision live on as inspiration for generations that have yet to be born? I'm betting that Apple continues to grow, prosper and inspire us all who admire Steve Jobs and the company, who along with co-founder Steve Wozniak, started it all. 

Read more in memory of the late Steve Jobs in my SocialMoms Tech Column.

How about you? Please leave a comment to share your thoughts and messages of memorial here.





FTC Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation or payment associated with this post. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.