an adult is supposed to say that prayer and a kid is supposed to drink the wine/grape juice

It's probably a custom, not a rule, because the way we do it, both on the evening and on the day one, everybody gets to drink. Only on the "havdala" (the blessing on the wine which separates the shabbat from the rest-of-the-week), just the person who pronounced the blessing drinks.

They use white wine, so you can tell the difference

Here we have a kind of grape juice that's light in color. Not exactly the color of white wine, but only a slightly darker, so you could still get confused.

Impressive! Or scary, I'm not sure which.

My thoughts exactly. Especially since I've known him since the day he was born.

There was one time at a seder that my sister insisted that she could have all four glasses of wine. My uncle said that she could do it if she could prove her mettle by downing a shot of Slivovitz first. (It's this REALLY disgusting plum vodka that's pretty much pure alcohol.) She was 18 or so at the time, and trying to prove that she was a grown-up college woman, not a kid like the rest of use. (The "rest of us" were both 15 at the time.) She got down half the shot in one gulp, then said it tasted so horrible that she couldn't drink the rest of it.

You know what would make my day a little better? If stuff would stop breaking. All at once.

It's probably a custom, not a rule, because the way we do it, both on the evening and on the day one, everybody gets to drink.

I remembered what it is. It's because, in the Ashkenazic custom, we say kiddush both at synagogue and at home, and so, at the synagogue one, a kid drinks it so it won't count as an adult saying it twice. Or something like that.

But perhaps even cooler is the steampunk laptop: Closed. Open.

That's AMAZING. I really, really, REALLY want it.

My synagogue always had white whine and white grape juice. They were slightly different shades, but since the wine was Manichevitz anyway, you really had to ask the person holding the tray to know which one you were getting.

trying to prove that she was a grown-up college woman, not a kid like the rest of use.

It's like the basic I'm-an-adult, the religious-Jewish version: "I drink all four cups of wine on Passover", and "I fast all the way through on Yom Kippur".

Jess! I finally get to congratulate you on your new human in person, or, well, in screen! So very happy for you, and how are all of you feeling, and sleeping, and a million other questions you're probably already tired of reading?

It seems I wore the wrong dress to work today. People keep staring at me like it's my move. The guy who came into the elevator as I was standing there with my cup of tea and lunchbox even grunted.

Speaking of stuff made with rice instead of wheat - I just got a slice of angelfood cake at a nearby cafe. It was made with rice flour instead of wheat. Nummy. I'm not sure if it was as good as the regular kind, but it definitely had a different texture, so maybe it's a matter of taste which one people would prefer....

We had some musical friends over to jam on a a bunch of Beatle's songs on Saturday night, which was what the DH wanted for his birthday. It was MUCH fun. The highlight was our friend Mader playing the Billy Preston piano solo form "Get Back" on accordian.

Sunday we went house-hunting with our way-cool realtor chick. We are going to make offers on two houses. Both are bank foreclosures, so they are under-valued. One is the Nicest House Ever in a gorgeous neighborhood, but it is out of our price range. We are making a low-ball offer on it, but I suspect they won't accept it. The second is a cool house with a lovely layout, but in a more working-class area. Three bedrooms, two baths, a garage, a POOL! and we are offering $475.000. If you know LA, you know that's actually CHEAP. We figure out the monthly mortgage payment will be less than renting a place that size, so it isn't a bad deal. Still, that's a LOT of money.