19th Street Bayit

1/4/08 meeting notes

2009-01-04T17:37:00.000-08:00

Elissa is a smurf, and is facilitating the meeting. Sam is scribing. Josh is stacking. Jaclyn is timing. Vivi is still on her way home.

(1) Chores:
SO while some people were gone on Thursday we had this monumental cleaning effort during which everyone spent 45 minutes cleaning the house together. The moral of the story is that everyone should do their chores.

(2) Compost:
We have a new compost bin. It is a red popcorn container.

(3) Food money:
We are now spending $152/week in food money. Irina and Jaclyn do not participate in the communal food, and Sasha is not participating this month to see how it works for her.

(4) Room-Switching
There's going to be a meeting at 8:00 on Sunday Jan. 11 to talk about the room-switching.

(6) TV
Please, please, please, please don't spend all of your time watching TV downstairs -- Sam and Josh can't escape it and it's super unfair. Think before you watch TV for six hours straight. Lots of people very kindly and generously offered to let Sam use their rooms when he is bothered by the TV.

(7) Whole Avodah Retreat
If you have any ideas for what we can lead as a group during the whole Avodah retreat, tell Emily.

(8) Tell Emily if you are going to be at the community night. Be there at 6:15. We are probably going to use some community money to buy pizza for us and for the facilitator.

(9) We're going to try leaving the thermostat on 65 degrees all the time to see what happens. DON'T MOVE IT

2008-12-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

"turn it to the left"

2008-12-15T07:00:00.001-08:00

be kind to your ears!!!

the american academy of audiology starts a new campaign called "turn it to the left"

i know you all like to listen to your ipizzle on the way to work...but you could be damaging your hearing!

12/7/08 Minutes

2008-12-07T17:41:00.001-08:00

ABSENT: Emily, Elissa, Ari, Briana

(1) Don't lock the top lock on the main door! A guest may have done this once, and someone was locked out.

(2) Josh wants to know if anyone knows where we can buy shovel.s Sasha suggested that we have one shovel already. We're going to look at Value Depot.

(3) Food issues: Jaclyn and Irina have both opted out of the group food. Jaclyn doesn't want to do the communal food chores, either. One proposal is that Jaclyn would never be on food, and Joanna would always be on food.

Also, Jaclyn now has a ton of food in the personal fridge. A proposal is that Jaclyn and Irina would have their own spots in the personal fridge.

A reminder: if it isn't yours and it's in the personal fridge, don't touch it! Don't move it to the other fridge! This is true even if it isn't labeled.

Jaclyn says that she is leaving the communal food for two reasons: (1) she is unhappy with the "politics" surrounding the shopping and cooking, and (2) her food preferences do not match up well with the food preferences of the collective, and so she think she'll eat better this way.

It was decided that Jaclyn's food group should sit down and have a conversation about the aforementioned food politics.

(4) Food issue: Sasha is going to be out of town for two weeks, and she doesn't want to pay for the food for those two weeks. Most people seem to think that this is reasonable. Josh is also going to be gone for about two weeks, and he wants the same deal. Same thing for Vivi. For the days that they will be gone, see the Google Calendar.

(5) Jaclyn gave me $20. Joanna gave me $50 (though she spent 10 already). Erica gave me $80. Irina gave me nothing. I gave $75. Josh gave me $75. Sasha will give $35. Vivi hasn't paid yet, and I think Emily and Elissa haven't either.

What can Sam do to make things easier? Maybe bring the cash to the first programming of the month. Maybe send an e-mail around the 1st of the month reminding people that money is due. Or maybe send such an e-mail a week in advance. Sam should make a check-off sheet so you check your name off when you give Sam money. The sheet could go on the fridge.

(6) Proposal: Maybe there should be one full week where we don't do new shopping w/community money. The week in question is Dec. 21-27. Four people will be gone for most of the week. December is our "leap month," which has five weeks. So either we're not going to have enough food each week, or we're going to have plenty of food for most of the weeks and we'll starve at the end of the month.

Vivi suggests that we should spend thriftily, and if we run out of money at the end of the month then so be it, and we can buy food with community money if necessary. We'll try to spend ~$160/week, and see how it goes.

11/2 House Meeting

2008-11-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

10/2 House Meeting

Joanna leading

Ground Rules: Sam
Fun
Use a positive tone,
Assume good will1
Policy proposals- or at least already have the proposal formulated in advance
One mic

*Speak to Sasha about better ways to keep the house clean and ensure chores get done

Meeting Frequency: Josh
Skip one meeting a month, possibly on holiday weekends; Josh will come up with a colander to make this possible.
Speak about food and shopping the meeting before to ensure there is food for the week following a holiday, use e-mail to discuss food.
Begin Josh’s plan for November and then revisit having meeting every week or every other week,

Do next house meeting at the retreat and skip a meeting the weekend of the 9th, as well as Thanksgiving weekend.

Screen Door: Josh
Does not close by itself, please close it behind you. We can take it off…Irina and Erica
Put Bubby cart on the left side of the pantry so door closes.
Please find soup Tupperware’s

Give Brianna a dollar if you went to the Schecters

Jaclyn bought cleaning supplies

Food Money: Give it to Sam by Wednesday

Find Irina’s brother a nice Jewish girl!!!

Election night possibly at Sasha’s friends or in union square as a group, possible party at Arielle’s house
Come back to Midwood house for Slipper party between 9 and 9:30- be sure to invite the other house

PROPOSED MEETING GROUND RULES

2008-10-26T18:52:00.001-07:00

1. EVERY MEETING MUST BE FUN.
2. All nagging must be in the form of song.
3. All policy proposals must be written up ahead of time.
4. Always assume good will.
5. Only one person can speak at a time (even though we’re Jewish).
6. Clothing optional.

House Meeting Notes 10/19/08

2008-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Midwood House Weekly Meeting Notes – 10/19/08

Agenda Items

Lights – Please turn off the lights when you go to bed, especially in the bathroom and in the second floor hallway. Save electricity when we can!

Food Shopping – Jaclyn : May be unnecessary to shop every week. We could buy groceries for two weeks, but we need to ration our food. We may need to separate some food and keep them in the personal fridge and then move them over to the communal fridge.

Suggestion: Could buy stock items in bulk and then produce from fruit stands weekly.

Suggestion: Shopping seems like a huge task and we may need to go to Costco or buy in bulk every two weeks and every week supplement with produce.

Suggestion: Dairy products should be bought weekly, but other shelf stable items could be bought in bulk every two weeks.

Elissa: If we move the furniture out of the carpark and use communal money to pay for gas to and from the grocery store and pitch in to take care of Erica’s car, especially in the winter, then we could possible keep it around for the rest of the year.

Elissa: Need to determine how much money we would be willing to spend at Costco and how that is affected by the weekly grocery money.

Decision – Start Costco bulk shopping in November and we can fine tune how we will do this in the next two weeks.

Landlord – Erica couldn’t get in contact with the landlord for a couple of weeks, but spoke to one of the brothers this morning. They plan to move the garbage from the backyard this week, hopes to figure out regulation of heat in the house, and the door on second floor can be taken off or fixed if we prefer.

Laundry Detergent – Emily: If anyone wants some detergent they can buy the small tide container on the “tower of chaos” or later on if we want to we can use communal money to have house detergent.

Bathroom Hair – Please be diligent when cleaning up your hair from the shower drains and sinks.

Trash – If the kitchen trash is full please empty it and the weekly trash people will be more diligent with emptying the trash in the kitchen. We also need to buy more trash bags!

Compost – Sasha: Whenever food is put into compost bin we need to add dry leaves to the bin. We also need to buy a new inside compost can so that it doesn’t fill up so fast. Then emptying the inside compost bin can be part of the trash chore.

Kitchen Sink – Sam and Joanna: We haven’t been doing a very good job of washing our dishes. Please dry large pots and pans instead of leaving them in the drying rack. Please don’t leave the sponges wet in the sink. If you’d like to disinfect the sponge you can put it into the microwave for 10 seconds.

Have a great week everyone!

Respectfully submitted by ESaltz

House Meeting Minutes - 10/13/08

2008-10-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Sukkah

-We will make paper-chains and decorations during the meeting
-Josh, Ari, and Briana made part of the sukkah (some walls); we need a ceiling/covering and more walls, so that there’s only one open side
-Anyone willing to be in charge of the rest of it?
-Joanna will be somewhat in-charge
-If you can help, be here at 7pm tomorrow
-Can just hang a shower curtain, extra flat sheets for wall hangings
-Can we use Community Shabbat money or other AVODAH money for decorations?

Community Shabbat (Friday)

-Dessert: cookies and dried fruit
-Appoint 2 or so people to be in charge of singing
-Games as well – Taboo or Catchphrase?
-Sam in charge of organizing games
-We should have a songbook
-Briana and Josh will coordinate singing; people can make requests
-Westminster house in charge of Saturday events, should let us know

Mouse Found

-Do not keep food in your room – keep it in the kitchen
-Put anything not wrapped/canned in plastic bins
-Could we get more plastic bins? Like, one for 2-3 people? And just put all of our dry food in bins?
-Need to tell Erica to talk to Sue to get money to buy more bins – need to sell it as a rodent thing
-Maybe kitchen person can work with people
-May need to use traps and poison
-Poison may be more effective; let’s use both traps and poison
-Need to announce where the traps are placed, so no one gets hurt – usually put them behind doors, in shadows, corners

Chores

-Two people on trash doesn’t make sense
-Could one person be on trash and one on house laundry?

Miscellaneous

-Party at the Neibergs on Saturday at 8 – info on fridge
-Need to go to our non-Schechter neighbors’ house at some point – they’ve invited us many times
-Some people still owe Irina money for Wine & Cheese – she is short $6
-Briana spent $11 on dessert for the Schechters – drop some money into the envelope on her door if you can contribute

2008-10-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

shana tova
here's to a SWEET new year!

House Meeting Minutes 10/5

2008-10-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

1. The Kitchen Situation

Ari brought up that the kitchen takes forever (at least an hour) to clean. This seems like too much.

Erica suggested that, whereas the first and third floor bathrooms don't take very long to clean, the person in charge of that job might be the best person to help out the kitchen cleaner. That person could be "on call" to help the kitchen cleaner.

Jaclyn suggested that we need some more cleaning supplies.

Sam suggested that that we should ALL be on call to help cleaning the kitchen. Anyone should be ready to help out the kitchen-cleaner if necessary. Elissa thinks that it's unrealistic to expect people to help out.

Vivi red-lighted the proposed plan to have the 1st/3rd person be "on call." She thinks it's arbitrary and weird. On her view we should suck it up. Irina seconds this, saying that she thinks it doesn't make sense because the two people will be doing their chores at different times.

Jaclyn echoed everything.

We decided to move on: everyone will try to be clean and to help out, and there are no policy changes.

2. Bathroom Locks and Knocks

Elissa said that there have been a few instances of people walking in on other people in the bathroom. Make sure that you close the door and lock it when you use the bathroom! If you are showering and you don't care if people come in, leave the door open and it's fine.

3. Erev Yom Kippur

Briana asked what is the plan re: Yom Kippur? Erica said that everyone is welcome at her home in upstate for Yom Kippur. It's a super easy train ride, and she's driving up on Wednesday. Contact her if you want to go up.

Elissa raised the point that we won't have a communal meal erev Yom Kippur because we won't be here. Is there another communal meal time other people would like? No one wanted one.

Sam says that anyone who is in Manhattan on Wednesday night should get together and have a cheap meal out before we start fasting. Ari and Jaclyn said that they might be interested in this.

Elissa is doing soup on Sunday. It sounds like it's going to be minestrone next Sunday.

4. More Questions for the Landlord

Erica is calling the landlord. What issues should be brought up? Joanna says the screen door. Erica also talked to the landlord about the heat. He said that they're going to come and check out the heat situation, and also take away all the trash from the back yard.

5. Locking the Back Door

Joanna says that she got home last week and the door was not only unlocked but also ajar. LOCK THE DOOR WHENEVER YOU LEAVE.

6. Wine + Cheese + Cocktails

People want to have a dance party or cheese/cocktails party at some point. Columbus Day weekend is one option. Sasha has friends coming that weekend, and Erica is psyched because they are cute, straight, single men.

The party will be either this Friday or this Saturday. It will be Friday. It will be classy. Friends need to bring wine or cheese.

The party will be this coming Friday, it will start at 9:00, and everyone needs to bring $2 and bring a bottle of wine.

The next house meeting will be 9:00 on Monday. The positions are:

Leader: Erica
Scribe: Jaclyn
Stacker: Irina
Time: Emily

2008-10-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

TRADER JOES IN BROOKLYN!!

2008-09-24T13:54:00.001-07:00

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=5&id=23198

Minutes for 9/14/08

2008-09-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Rosh Hashanah

interested in meal: Erica, Elissa, Emily, Sam, Ari, Irina, Joanna (maybe)
Sam – interested in going with people to reconstructionist synagogue (Society for the Advancement of Judaism)

Compost 101

cooked = bad
raw = good, especially egg shells, banana peals, veggie leftovers
when put compost material in the compost outside need to mix with dry stuff (leaves, twigs). Will have bag, when empty compost put in bag and put in dry stuff. Need mix compost regularly, looking for rake.
Proposed getting garbage bin with top for kitchen

Recycling

Plastic: only #one or #two
need to rinse or wash out first
no plastic bags
talked about printing and posting state recycling rules

Shoes in House

discussed removing shoes in house
some people thought it would be good idea to take off shoes, others wanted to keep on shoes
decided to revisit issue in winter
discussed shoe rack, didn’t really come to a decision

Kitchen Hygiene

concerns raised about glasses/plates laying around
concerns raised about dirty kitchen
some people proposed everyone getting one glass and putting their name on it.Decided to wait a week to resort to this.
Concern raided over dirty dishes left in sink
kitchen duty chore: emptying dish drainer (daily), counter top (daily), weeping floor (weekly), cleaning stove (weekly), clean toaster over (weekly), clean microwave (weekly)
people wash their own plates, try to do right after dinner
A team: wash everything associated with communal meal except for individual plates
Proposed petitioning AVODAH / landlord for new countertops (and maybe new sink). Erica will look into

Costco

Erica said that person she baby-sits for is willing to take us to Costco
Ari said that Westminsiter house is going to do a Costco run as well, we might be able to coordinate
Erica is going to post a proposed Costco shopping list

Food / Midweek shopping

some people want to do just breakfast / lunch communaly, some people want to do just dinner
opposition raised to communal cooked meal,
decided to table discussion till next week, people will come with specific proposals

Agenda for next time

talking about communal food
talking about what each chore entails

Jobs for next week

Erica – stacker
Joanna – scribe
Sasha – time
Vivi - leader

minutes from 9/7

2008-09-14T17:56:00.001-07:00

People Present: Sam, Josh, Erica, Sasha, Irina, Emily, Jaclyn, Brianna, Joanna, Vivi, Ariel, and Elissa

Special People:

Scribe: Erica

Leader: Sasha

Timer: Sam

Stacker: Vivi

Meeting Began: 9:10

End Time: 10pm

I. Food

a. Emily and Sam went to Keys on Nostrand

b. $75 Good so far on target with food as of now

c. Going to brighten beach for produce

d. Sam looking into bank account for the house

e. Pizza, Ratatouille, tuna something is dinners for this week

II. Chores

a. Pocket board with plastic spoons to put names on and put together in some kind of rotation

b. Bathroom, living room, dinning room, extra for kitchen, garbage different tasks will be done by room. Trash person can be responsible for watering the garden.

c. Jobs: done by rooms: Dinning room/living room- vacuum once a week, this week only two people to do the second floor bathroom, kitchen needs to be mopped, counters cleaned, dishes put away,

d. Pledge to make more of an effort to keep all rooms clean in the house

e. A team is also on dishes

f. Making the accountant a rotation

g. Adding cleaning out refrigerators and pantry

Bathrooms

Kitchen

Garden

Trash

Living room/dinning room

House laundry-towels, bath mats, dish towels,

1st and 3rd floor bathrooms will be grouped

Combine living room and dinning room

2 people taking out trash/garden/laundry

Kitchen

2nd floor bathroom

House Laundry

Food Duties

Jobs must be done by time of Sunday’s house meeting

Spoons will be rotated to the next job at the time of the house meeting

Putting 6 people on cooking and shopping jobs

-Will check in within a month to re-look at food shopping

Descriptions: Everyone pay attention to everything that each job entails to be adequately done, right down on the paper’s what you need, and will discuss at next meeting what was needed for each job.

III. House Warming Party:

Open house party on a Sunday outdoor party in backyard

People can invite as many people as they want

2-6-potluck party

Social committee will be planning the party-Emily, Elissa, and Joanna

$5 budget per person-Joanna will be collecting by Wednesday

Net Flix speak to Joanna

Talk to Sam about New York Times

Meeting over 10:08

Guests: Emily possibly this coming weekend

Next Meeting’s special people

Leader: Emily

Timer: Ari

Stacker: Josh

Scribe: Brianna

9pm house meeting

Monday night and Thursday night

2008-09-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

house meeting notes

2008-09-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

19th Street Bayit House Meeting Minutes
August 31st, 2008, Big Indian
People present: Sam, Josh, Joanna, Brianna, Elissa, Jaclyn, Vivi, Irena, Ariel, Emily, Erica, Sasha
Special People:
• Time- Irena
• Leader- Elissa
• Stacker- Jaclyn
• Scribe- Ari
Meeting began: 12:45 pm
I. Announcement—Jaclyn
a. Joanna and Jaclyn are switching bedrooms
b. All decided that we will reconvene about rooms b/c Joanna wants a single eventually
c. Let’s all be flexible about our rooms!
II. Guests
a. How long can they stay?
i. 3 consecutive nights, longer is possible if discussed w/ the group
b. other issues brought up:
i. having guests during the work week could be hard
ii. Josh concerned about using common area late at night→can be resolved by making a work space in the entry area or the ‘boom boom room’ , Sasha will look into this
iii. Sasha open to giving people her room for a couple of nights
iv. Brianna offered her floor for guests as well
III. Next Meeting
a. Will have a meeting every week for the next 4 weeks (at least)
b. This Sunday will start at 8:30 pm
IV. Kashrut
a. How can we make the other house feel comfortable eating with us?
i. Put aside some pots/pans/utensils/plates to keep kosher for them
ii. Stephanie and David don’t need separate dishes
b. All decided to spend time thinking about having pork/shellfish in kitchen
V. Communal Food for the Week
a. Communal dinner on Tuesday and Friday
i. Friday cookers: Ari and Vivi
ii. Friday cleaners: Briana, Irena
b. All pitched in $13 for dinners and lunches
c. Proposal for communal food: make a list on the wall, check if you agree with what is listed and “x” if disagree
d. Fridge breakdown: old=communal, new=individual label your food!!
VI. Tabled Items
a. What food is offered to guests
b. Last minute guest policy (i.e. out w/ friends and ppl need to crash)
c. Kashrut standards for our kitchen
VII. Responsibilities
a. Sasha: exploring the guest room options
b. Emily: establish guest sign-up protocol on the whiteboard, social committee?
c. Joanna: collecting $ for communal food this week

NEXT MEETING
• Food
• House rules
• Chores
• House calendar
• Social committee (Emily)
• Netflix/NY Times

Special People (for next meeting):
• Leader: Sasha
• Timer: Sam
• Stacker: Vivi
• Scribe: Erica

Good Eats

2008-08-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Check out this piece on local schnitzel places:

http://events.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/dining/reviews/20unde.html?ref=dining

Groundswell

2008-08-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

The Groundswell Mural that everyone is talking about...

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/anti-recruiting-mural-comes-into-view/

check out the comments, indeed.

woooooo

2008-08-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

2008-08-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

we are this happy to be in ny :)

Peace, Shalom, Salaam

2008-08-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here are the directions from our house to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, for tomorrow.