91.7 says “it’s a little breezy in San Francisco today”. At 24 knots WSW I guess so

Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland

On our way up to Grayling to visit family, we stopped in at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Home of everything you never knew you really truly need to decorate your Christmas tree. Here are a few things I greatly desired, but somehow resisted buying:

Hunting Santa (mommy, is Santa going to shoot Rudolph?)

The Cow Tree Yes, a tree completely decorated in cow ornaments!

And a black Christmas Tree. Imagine the possibilities!

Auld Lang what?

Okay, so everyone knows Auld Lang Syne, right? Sing it on New Year’s Eve. But how many know the second and third verses? Practice up! Impress your friends at the stroke of midnight!

(1)
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne

For auld lang syne my dear for auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet for auld lang syne (so far so good, right?)

(2)

We twa hae run a-bout the braes and pu’d the gowans fine (uh…. yeah)
We’ve wandered mony a weary foot sin’auld lang syne (my foot hae been weary, fer sure)

We two hae paidelt in the burn frae mornin-sun till dine
But seas between us braid hae roared sin’auld lang syne (I hate when that happens)

(3)

And here’s a hand my trusty fere and giøs a hand of thine
We’ll take a richt gude willie waught for auld lang syne (bring on the gude willie waught!)

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stoup and surely I’ll be mine (fer surely)
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet for the sake of auld lang syne!

Insomnia with Johannes Brahms

Brahms lull babies to sleep?  Hah!  He keeps me up at night. Here’s the Intermezzo (Andante teneramente) from the Klavierstücke Op. 118, played on my Yamaha keyboard. Glenn Gould has an incredible performance of this piece, so in control and lyrical, and getting those darned long phrasings just right. I’ve been listening to it a lot lately trying to get the gist, but well, he’s a god and I’m a mere mortal.

Edvard Grieg Nocturne Opus 54 Number 4

Edvard Grieg was a Romantic era composer that many know from his spooky piece In the Hall of the Mountain King. He also wrote intensely lyrical pieces, like this one I’m working on. It is a Nocturne, or ‘night song’. I was playing at dusk, and just outside the window behind me, there was a bird singing his heart out. Do you think he could hear the nightingale trills?

I’ve been framed!!

Reclining Figure

Here is a drawing of a reclining figure that I did last semester, that mom really liked and had professionally framed. I liked it well enough before, but now — wow! A high quality frame like this makes a huge difference. Victoriano Gelay, the owner of Neilsen Framing, selected a suede mat in the same color of the paper (this was a tricky choice, because the drawing is very subtle and could easily be overwhelmed). Then he cut the mat in an arch to highlight the shape of the drawing, and lined the edge with sewn piping in a metalic pewter. The relief of the custom cut frame picks up both the shadows, and the highlights.

Thanks mom! I know just where we should hang it (and how to redecorate that room now). 🙂

Scarlatti Sonata K.513 Pastorale

This is the first movement of one of my favorite Scarlatti sonatas — K.513, the Pastorale. I play it on my Yamaha keyboard, which has several sampled instruments, including a grand piano and harpsichord. This is the harpsichord version:

And here is the grand piano version. I take it a bit slower to enjoy the sonorous quality the piano adds — particularly to the second part where the driving left hand lower G is almost like a drone:

My Ultimate Obama Esquire E-ink T-shirt Mashup

In case you haven’t been to the mag rack lately, the October issue of Esquire magazine featured this cover, with…what’s that? Yes, it is e-ink folks. The same as Amazon.com’s Kindle, except this one costs about $5.99 instead of $359 (well, $309 with the Oprah discount).  So ripping apart the electronics in the middle of DTW airport (nervous looks from fellow passengers at the gate), I hatched a plan…yes, I would make THE ULTIMATE POLITICAL T-SHIRT!!!   Here’s how…

Don't blink, you'll miss the E-ink!

 So first, you have to rip out the e-ink guts:

Chips, check...capacitors, check...resistors, check...6 lithium ion batteries, check...

Next, take scissors and snip off the bottom display. Yes, go ahead, snip snip snip. The display is boring and you won’t need it. Then, find some pictures online of our photogenic future president Barack Obama and print them out onto iron-on paper:

Our handsome future president

Then find a t-shirt that you want to mod. You will be adhering the e-ink to the shirt with sticky-backed velcro, so don’t worry — there’s very little sewing here. Figure out your layout of the e-ink display, and the iron on. Iron on the transfer first so you don’t accidently melt the circuit board. Then, put the velcro on the back of both the display and the circuit board (leave the paper backing on for now). Next, you’ll have to cut about a 2 inch line into the shirt so that you can insert the circuit board. The display will then be on the outside of the shirt, and the circuit board will be on the inside. Got it? Then take off the velcro paper backing, and stick the display and circuit board to the shirt. They will still be connected by the thin video output strip, but this will hardly be visible. To be extra neat and tidy, whip stitch the cut opening around the video output strip, otherwise it will gap and your underwear might show — well, your fashion choice there. If done neatly, most people will think you are wearing a flashing pin. The result?

Dieter (pron. “detour”) Goddess of the Highway

This is the third October 31 incarnation of Dieter, Goddess of the Highway. She now rides a bike. Blessings to all of you mortals on Halloween, and may all of your traffic confrontations be benign.

Dieter's Third Incarnation

Detroit Goes All-Out for Halloween 2008

In Detroit, people go crazy for Halloween. (In the case of Devil’s Night, really crazy…) Here is a pic of one house in my mom’s sub that goes totally all-out.

Okay, now Freddie Kruger is creepy…but what about Homer Simpson and Star Trek The Next Generation? Not creepy…but somehow, someone actually putting them all together is creepy. Here’s the homeowner proudly demoing the macabre guillotine to fascinated…er horrified? kids (yes, that’s Barbie):

And hanging here are Sarah Pail-in, Mc-Cane, and the $700 Billion Bailout. The misc. body parts? When asked he says “those are kids who rode their bikes across my lawn”:

More Detroit Halloween pix on flickr…