Chinese food is everywhere, even in Peru

We were discussing whether my son could survive traveling and I brought up the fact that everywhere in the world has Chinese restaurants (It's because you could find Chinese immigrants everywhere in the world as evident by the TV series 尋找他鄉的故事. And Chinese are good at opening restaurants.) Our boss will move to Peru and he told me Peru has a localized version of Chinese food called Chifa. This style came from Chinese (Guangzhou) immigrants moved there in late 19th and early 20th century. I'm curious what it's like as I actually enjoy Americanized Chinese food.

2015 Class of MLB Hall of Fame

I found out I wrote about the same topic on the 1st week last year and couldn't resist to write the same this year because it's special: 4 players were inducted in 2015, which hasn't happened for a long time. And one of them played for the Giants (and finished the career with them!) That is, of course, the "Big Unit" Randy Johnson. The rest are Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio (I was rooting for him to get in last year! Hopefully Piazza will make it next year) All excellent choices.

I came across an interesting article that listed the stats of matchups between these Hall of Famers. It's hard to get decent results against great players! Biggio actually hit over .300 against Pedro. The surprising fact is that considering the length of their careers -- Johnson never played against Martinez and only faced Smoltz once!

Another interesting topic is what caps they will wear at the hall. I'm especially curious about Big Unit's choice (which is unlikely to be the Giants :P) I remember he rose to stardom as a Mariner but found out he actually had his best years with the D-Backs so I bet he will be wearing that cap.

Traveling with Musical Instruments

My general rule is: don't, because the airlines like to pick on you when you do. Well, not in US anymore after the Department of Transportation ruled on this. The DOT has decided that musical instruments, such as violins and guitars, are considered a carry-on item the same as other luggage. These instruments can be stored in overhead storage and under seats as long as they meet requirements for commercial passenger flights. (Billboard's article has a nice pic of 2 Fender Jazzmasters) Kinda wish I brought my Jaguar back to HK to play at the school reunion dinner last year but then international flights are not regulated by DOT.

Calendar Event Custom alert time

I have been a detractor of iOS products for years with mixed (more negative than positive) experiences on early generations of iPod, iPhone and iPad. Gotta admit I became more mellow these days and actually think it might be possible to live in an iWorld without other OS. I mean, there are enough things to do on an iPad to occupy all 24 hours of a day in your life (if you have an electrical outlet nearby or an external battery :P) But then there are moments that reminded me I still need a non-iOS device to achieve some very simple goals, like setting a "3 week before" reminder of an event on the calendar (You can't do that with the builtin Calendar app of iOS8) which I had to perform with my Android phone.

Christmas jazz

I went to two jazz shows last December and (surprise surprise!) both played quite a bit of X'mas music. The first one was the great organist Joey DeFrancesco and his trio playing at Cafe Stritch right in the heart of downtown San Jose. He also played the night before at the Yoshi's (Oakland) and I missed it so I was glad that he played another show in the Bay Area (and it's even closer!) Joey DeFrancesco carried the great tradition of funky and soulful organ jazz (think Jimmy Smith and Dr. Lonnie Smith) Even though the venue is kinda small (compared to the big SFJAZZ center where I saw him play with Bobby Hutcherson and David Sanborn last time) and still have a few empty spaces (I got a table on the balcony all by myself), he definitely brought his A-game. Nothing beats catching a performance by a player like Joey D in his prime. This show is actually part of a regular Hammond B3 organ series organized by local jazz radio DJ Pete Fallico at Cafe Stritch. I also saw a performance by the great Tammy Hall (I consider her the first lady in jazz organ in the area) earlier.

And I finally went to Yoshi's to see smooth jazz guitarist Peter White's show (featuring guest saxophonist Mindi Abair and trumpeter Rick Braun) All three are arguably the biggest name in the smooth jazz scene this year (check out the 2014 Smooth jazz charts and you will see their current albums respectively) Even though I normally prefer performances with more artistic than entertainment value, I gotta say I enjoyed the show and had lots of fun watching them playing familiar holiday tunes (Abair was a decent vocalist as well) and their own pieces. You could hear great techniques and creativity "under the cover" so to speak.

Before ending this post I just wanna mention one more piece of (sad) news regarding Yoshi's: I wouldn't need to qualify the venue with the city where it is located anymore because there's only one Yoshi's left, the one in Oakland. Yoshi's SF has officially changed hands in November and it's called the Addition now. I felt quite disappointed as a jazz fan since THE premiere SF jazz club is gone (the Addition is said to be focused on world music and more. Here is another detailed analysis by SFWeekly.) I had fond memories of great performances by Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, Pharoah Sanders, Mads Tolling... etc at Yoshi's SF. It seems that the "new" ownership group (which was formed by formerly minority owners) blamed the financial failure on low attendance (because of the music genre?) and the menu with high-priced Japanese food. In addition to different styles of music, the Addition will feature a different type of cuisine and a different seating model (assigned seat vs first-come-first-serve) The new system sounds like an improvement (to be honest I don't miss the old way of getting my seat.) And I hope the new menu works out for them. (even though I thought the pricey Japanese food on the old menu actually deserved it because of the quality and the location. Hey, it's SF after all) The writing was kinda on the wall about its demise though since it filed bankruptcy a few years ago and also SFJAZZ opening its door. RIP Yoshi's SF. You will be missed alongside other formerly awesome SF jazz clubs like Jazz At Pearl's.