"Breaking up" with the SF Giants

This has nothing to do with their players and the recent slump, and of course not the management (which could do no wrong because they did a great job building a team that won 2 world series in 3 years) I just don't want to be associated with this fanbase and deal with the greedy bloodsucking businesses near the ball park (or I should say remotely close to) I have been driving to SF to work for years. My office building is ~1 mile from the ballpark and in the past the parking lots here do not charge extra on game day. I guess most people went to the games chose to park closer to the ball park. Well, things started to get crazy last season. The parking lots and garages near the ball park started to charge >$50 and it has a ripple effect: the not-so-close-by parking lots were jacking up the price to ~$30 as well, including the ones near work. Only 1 parking lot sticks with the regular $15 and of course that one got full quite fast (I arrived at 9:45 the other day and almost couldn't get in. They still need to reserve a few spaces for the monthly parker, which I am not)  And it's not just parking. The traffic near the park got busy at that time already but the game wasn't started until 12:30 (or later?) My co-worker who took CalTrain to the city told me the train was jam packed when he was getting to work! That's why I still glad that I drove instead. It would have been crowded on the train back home too. Some riders who left the games were drunk, high or loud (or all of the above) and I wanted to avoid them at all cost. Still, driving away from the city at 3pm could only help so much: the streets outside the ball park was already filled with people leaving the game, less than 3 hours after the game started, in the 7th inning with a 1-1 tie! No way I would call these people true supporters of the team. Why do they even bother to come to the game? Just stay home next time, OK? BTW, it was a really exciting game: the Giants fell behind soon but came back in the bottom of the 9th. Too bad they couldn't win in the end. More home fan support might have helped. Who knows? 

Free Your Mind!

"Free Your Mind" is the title of a series of lectures about improvisation presented by the Institute for Diversity in the Arts and The Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. It includes a wide variety of topics such as food, comedy, dance, visual art and of course music(jazz) which I'm most interested in. The lectures are actually open to public (also streaming online) and I attended the one with jazz pianist Vijay Iyer as the guest.

Dr. Iyer has a very interesting background. Check out this well-written article on him. His parents were immigrated from India. He double-majored in Math and Physics at Yale and then got accepted to the PhD program at UC Berkeley. He also started learning violin at 3. So, that sounds like your typical Asian American kid, right? Wrong! He studied violin 'til he entered college, when he realized he did not have enough time for the highly demanding classical violin training. (The amount of time high-level violinists put into practicing was incredible!) After he came to Berkeley, he got involved in the big musician community in the Bay Area but playing jazz piano (which he taught himself mostly) instead. At the same time, his research focus had also switched from physic to music and technology and eventually earned a PhD in such an interdisciplinary program.

Enough about his background, there were quite a few things they pointed out during the lecture: they talked about improvising during a performance as taking risk, which makes a lot of sense. As a performer, you could always "play it safe" but then if you played something different (e.g. musical or comedy ideas) that worked for the audiences, it would be even more rewarding. Of course it might not work so that's the element of risk.

They also talked about improvisation occurs more often then we think. In fact people improvise all the time during daily routine instead of planning/thinking ahead. Again, it makes sense. Just that most people won't think of that.

They pointed out music is highly related to motions of human. Musical beats mimic human movement (our pulses, our walking paces) In face, the same area in our brain is activated when we hear music or when we move. Finally, they mentioned empathy when hearing music, i.e., the player and listeners would fire similar nerves in the brain. When it comes to our brain and music, there are still a whole lot of unknowns (see the books "This is Your Brain on Music" and "Guitar Zero")

Spring Break 2013

Seems like writing about Spring Break has become my annual tradition (see 11, 12) even though I'm not a college kid anymore (And Berklee has no break between Winter and Spring!) I took only 2 days off work but did a lot during the weekends and weeknights.

It began with my sister's visit 3 weeks ago. I took her to the newly opened SFJAZZ center for a concert by the SFJAZZ Collective, the "house" band of the 20+ year and running festival. It was the first time I've been there too even though I've been curious (or I should say skeptical) about the concept of a building dedicated to jazz (well, I'm not the only one. Even a SFJAZZ collective member said he thought it could not have happened) I should have been to one of legendary jazz bassist Dave Holland's concert earlier in the year but I missed it. Anyway, the theme of the concert was playing music inspired by pianist Chick Corea and rearrangement of his works. Chick Corea was a name I learned when I was a kid listening to HK's Jazz Radio Programme (yes, such thing existed back then. The DJ was all excited when Miles Davis and Pat Metheny visited HK. RTHK3 still has a jazz programme these days) To be honest, for some unknown reason, I am not familiar with Chick Corea's work at all even after all these years listening to jazz. Almost each member of SFJAZZ collective (there were 8 of them, which made them somewhere between a small combo and bigband, an interesting lineup to me) contributed a piece (new composition or arrangement) that night. The Chick Corea piece I like the most that night was "Crystal Silence", a ballad. It has been a refreshing musical experience for my sister, an aspiring pianist herself. In fact, she was so inspired that she went to Hiromi trio's concert after she went back (Hiromi played at SFJAZZ before flying there! What a coincidence :) She's definitely one of the most exciting young talent (and pianist) today.)

Also worthy to mention was the dinner before the concert: we had it at "Off the Grid," a food truck event at Fort Mason. We had pork puns from Koja (a truck that fused Korean and Japanese food) and The Chairman (I wrote about this truck before) And a Kalifornia Kölsch (beer) Pretty good food and even better atmosphere!

Another fun thing we did was hitting all these different coffee shops in the Peninsula 'coz my sis was also an aspiring coffee connoisseur. Check out her journal of her coffee experience during this visit!

Then we did something really healthy: playing badminton together. We haven't done it for maybe 30 years! Still remember the wooden rackets we used in those days.

Almost every time she visited, we would go to wineries. No exception this time and we picked a great day (Monday) to go to Napa. First we stopped in downtown for a lunch at Morimoto. She saw the restaurant and took a picture of it last time so it's a natural choice this time around. The famous bone marrow justified its fame. The other dishes we got were good too, including a wagyu beef wrap. The wrapper was edible rice paper which made it even more interesting. Another place we missed last time was Bouchon Bakery 'coz the line was so long but it's surprisingly short on a Monday. So we all got macarons (actually I shared an eclair too) which are very reasonably priced because of their huge sizes. Enough about eateries, the wineries we visited included Chandon (a pretty surrounding), Opus One (classy looking. Can't believe my sis hasn't been there before), Groth (interesting architecture - Mission style), Paraduxx (we did a tasting here and was very impressed by the high quality), and last but not least, Alpha Omega (our good friend is a member and made an appointment for outdoor tasting for us there. Awesome wine and view!) We were back to the City after a relatively smooth drive. Still, we barely made it to the happy hour at Hog Island at the Ferry Building (yes, long line there. Lots of people went after work I suppose) We had a few dozen of oysters, their unique clam chowder soup that was served with real clams still in the shells, and of course good beer (Racer 5 IPA)

On the last day of her trip, we're back to SF again. No luck with the Golden Gate Bakery of egg tart fame which has been in a loooong vacation. The main thing I wanna took her to was the noon time concerts that occurs every Tuesday at the cozy Old St. Mary's Cathedral. Coincidentally, a warhorse of the violin repertoire, Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, was performed that day. It was a superb performance.

Then we headed to the shopping area and visited her type of store: the trendy UNIQLO clothing store, and my type of stores: the artsy Lomography store and the smelly Rasputin music store. The other Lomography store I've been to before was the one in the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna and fittingly the Lomography movement was started there (the society that promotes event for the community is headquartered in Vienna and the camera distributor/trademark owner is also in Austria) So, what is Lomography all about? Basically it's a community of photographers that advocate creative and experimental film photography. To me, the most important and interesting aspect is spontaneity and de-emphasizing traditional techniques. A few of my friends have done a lot of that on FB, not with film though. I definitely enjoy looking at the photo displayed in the stores. In fact, I read a travel guide to HK using Lomographic photo and the photo fitted very nicely in the book. Well, as far as actually doing it, it's not really for a lazy guy like me as the films needed to be developed. I didn't actually shoot much pic before the digital era. I did spend some money at Rasputin, $6 on vinyl including Crystal Silence by Chick Corea/Gary Burton (inspired by the SFJAZZ performance obviously) and a Bach album by renowned classical guitarist Christopher Parkening.

The fun was not over (though a bit less :( ) after my sis left town. I had a weekend all to myself. First stop on that Friday was Nickie sports bar on Haight street. The Giants game (a really close win) was just over when I arrived and people were all in celebration mode. All TV was still showing the same Giants channel and no one bothered to switch to other games (I expect facility to show multiple games from multiple sports to be qualified as a sports bar) I did got my request fulfilled: the A's game. (I know nobody cares about the A's in the city) I never like parking in SF but that area is especially bad. The street parking is only for 2 hour. I have no choice but to leave early, way before I needed to but I did squeeze in a few min to drop by Metro Caffe for its cheesesteak sandwich that got a pretty good rave on Yelp as dinner.

The main event of that night was Pharoah Sanders Quartet playing at Yoshi's SF. I have seen his group performed Yoshi's Oakland many years before and enjoyed his music a lot. Even though he was often promoted as a collaborator of Coltrane and you could easily hear Coltrane's influence (well, everybody was influenced by Coltrane!), nowadays Sanders play fairly accessible yet refreshing sounding jazz. The amount of energy from this senior musician was unbelievable.

Saturday was reserved for an all-day bike ride (well, not quite, only on the saddle for 6+ hours) at Mt. Diablo (from Danville to the summit, and down north to Walnut Creek, through Clayton and Morgan Territory and loop back to Danville) 65 miles in total. It's kinda scary (steep downhill and the no man's land) but I'm also proud of riding it all by myself!

It was admission-free day at the Asian Art Museum the next day. Of course I won't miss it! The line was much longer than expected though: it was 3 block long when I arrived 20 minutes after the museum was opened. The museum was heavily promoting the Qin terracotta warrior exhibition which was NOT free but fortunately I wasn't too interested (In fact, I found it amusing that stores sell real-life size statue for garden decoration. Don't people know they were for accompanying the dead?) There were plenty to keep me busy anyway, including the South Asian part (mainly Buddhism and Hinduism from India, which I never had time to explore much of them) I always get something different from the art after reading more Buddhism and religion-related literature. As usual, I spent some time on Chinese painting. This time I paid more attention to the works from the Lingnan school (some Lingnan masters lived in HK after the war) And there was another exhibit dedicated to Chinese painters near our time. Those were artists/teachers immigrated to the States in the last century. They have not only used Western technique but also Western subjects (like the family of then US president)

I wish I had more time to spend at the museum but there was an interesting concert from the San Francisco Symphony's Chamber Series, which featured musicians from the orchestra and a program of unfamiliar works from familiar composers (Bruch, Amy Beach and Hindemith) As a violist myself, I especially enjoyed the appearance of the usually under-represented/appreciated instrument. In fact, Hindemith himself was a violist and he wrote the Octet featuring 2 violists in which he intended to play and showed off a little bit. The yet more unusual moment happened during the Bruch's trio pieces: the clarinetist couldn't flip his sheet music to the right page and the trio had to stop and started over. I was really puzzled and thanks to this review by San Francisco Classical Voice, I found out the confusion was likely caused by not all 8 pieces written by Bruch was performed. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable performance.

Finally, the "break" was over after attending jazz pianist Vijay Iyer's talk at Stanford, which I'll write in a separate post. (Yes, this has been a loooong post, which explained why my blog was not updated for over a week!)

Steinway dealer

I received a mail regarding the local Steinway store going out of business (actually, it's promoting the store-closing sale. Like I could afford one!) I'm really surprised 'coz people seem to be spending at will as if there's no recession in the area. I googled immediately and found a few posts about Steinway dealers closing in other cities (e.g. Chicago, Phoenix and Cincinatti) Does it have to do with the brand or the instrument in general? It's hard for me to tell as an outside. Mercury News painted a very gloomy picture by describing this as a retailer to surrender to the piano industry's collapse. Well, it turns out while the Santa Clara store will be closed, the SF and Walnut Creek stores currently owned by Sherman Clay are being sold to Steinway themselves. Personally I feel kinda sad 'coz the Santa Clara store looks really nice and have a good room for recital (my kid played there once)

迷幻 唐人街

星期二中午我的慣常節目是到聖瑪利教堂欣賞免費的古典音樂會，不過今週是choral music, 我改為逛逛唐人街。第一站到書店瀏覽一下八卦雜誌封面，不少都和迷幻飯局或家族有關。第二站到金門餅店，再度失望，皆因仍在休假；唯有看看電子產品店，只見一名中女推銷員力推一個中文互聯網電視機頂盒(心水清的你知我講那一部吧),好處包括無月費，營光幕播放的則是KaraokeTV,然後該女士就以別有韻味的唱腔唱起來，我不禁發出會心微笑。此時竟然傳來一陣大麻氣味，仿如置身迷幻樂隊演唱會，真是一個奇妙的中午啊。

Sports highlight: Golden Oak climb, rugby weekend

I ride up Alpine Road quite often, either to Portola Valley or to Joaquin Road (one of the steepest climb in the area, max 19%!) I just learned about an interesting "detour" on Alpine called Golden Oak. The entrance to Golden Oak is near the intersection of Alpine and Arastradero. It's 0.8 miles long with quite a steep climb (not as bad as Joaquin but still challenging when I did it) and lead you back to Alpine 0.3 miles further up hill. 

More on sports that I don't play: it's time for Hong Kong Rugby 7 again! Time really flies. I still remember watching it on TV in HK a few Spring Breaks ago. I watch quite a bit of rugby during this break between football and baseball season. The last-minute try scored in the London Wasp vs Northhampton Saints match was really something. A bit off-topic here: as a frequent rugby watcher, scrum means physical confrontation between strong men who fight for control of the ball. It's funny to hear the term also being used to describe meetings for software projects which definitely disallowed any physical contact and hopefully not much confrontation. Another term I learned recently is even worse: daily huddle, obviously borrowed from the sports but simply means a quick daily meeting to provide updates to the management. Whoever invented the term must have fancied himself being an elite athlete which he's unlikely to be. It probably explained why the management type likes to use the term :P

Sports highlight: World Baseball Classic

Not sure if we are one of the very few families in the States that are following this tournament, even after USA was out! Baseball is on the top (tied with several others) of my long long list of favorite sports and I actually paid attention to this "World Cup" for baseball that is played every 4 years. I checked the ticket price when I found out the final 4 will be here in SF but decided $75 was too much (It has been dropped to single digit, reflecting the fact that a lot of American fans simply don't care) We followed both of the last 2 games of USA (in which they just needed to win one and advance to semi) hoping they got some of Giants vibe from last WS (in which they won every elimination game) Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong actually started and lost in the final game that eliminated Team USA. I agree with some writers that the team didn't show enough determination to win like their opponents. Playing baseball for national pride is not in our culture, yet. Oh well, now I'm rooting for a Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic final. These teams do have some big MLB names on their rosters: Yadier Molina, Alex Rios, Angel Pagan, Robinson Cano, Alejandro De Aza and Jose Reyes. (Pagan is from the Giants while Rios and De Aza are from the White Sox)

My weekend

One of my friend has bought a new road bike. Of course we gotta went for a ride together. Now that I have been riding in the bay area for a few years, I could recommend an interesting route close to most of my friends, in this case, it's the 37-mile Fremont-Sunol-Calaveras loop. We had a good time riding together. Another interesting fact about the ride was that we went through Bradley St and Evans Rd. If you're a fan of the sports, you would notice these are the names of the two most recent Tour De France winners.

And I am finally back to the world of vinyl after my first stint ~15 years ago, during which I collected a whole bunch of classics on LP. I didn't even listen to LP before the digital era began but spinning a record on a turntable simply sounds and feels great. It's a more engaging experience than streaming and more natural sounding than CD. Many are surprised that brand new vinyls are still being manufactured (just bought a copy of jazz organist Larry Young's 1966 album, Unity) I did some research before I made my purchase this time around (my old $1500+ setup consisted of a VPI HW-19 Jr with Audioquest PT-6 tonearm, Benz-Micro MC Silver cartridge and a Creek OBH-8 phono stage) To keep things inexpensive and simple, I opted for a piece of critically-acclaimed "budget" equipment: the USB version of Pro-ject Debut Carbon, which has a "built-in" phono stage that could output both analog and digital signal (via USB) I checked with the distributor for a local dealer and then contacted the local dealer but too bad they don't have any in stock and they are not expecting another shipment soon. So, I have no choice but to buy online. And because of this, I have to partially assemble a turntable for the first time ever! The task sounded intimidating with all those loose parts that I needed to put together, including the counterweight and anti-skating weight for the tonearm/cartridge. After installing the counterweight, I still needed to adjust the tracking force. Well, it's not that complicated after all. Next, I wasn't too sure if the analog output is properly amplified (i.e, to line-level and adjusted with the RIAA curve) because the manual didn't say so (the manual is really for the "regular" instead of the USB version) I tried the USB output first with the recording software I most familiar with, Audacity, but it's not clear to me how to simply playback the audio signal (more on this later) Still uncertain about the level of the signal, I decided to try it with my tube headphone amp, a Qinpu A3 (also capable of powering my speakers but they are shelved, which was another story.) I started with an album by jazz pianist George Shearing. Well, the audio is strong enough and balanced but his playing seemed extremely fast. I'm not too familiar with that album anyway so I put on Sgt Pepper. And Paul McCartney sounded funny. I had a feeling that the speed is wrong: to switch from 45rpm to 33, I needed to manually "pulled" the belt from one pulley to another. Finally it sounded right, actually, fantastic!

BTW, to playback through the computer using Audacity, one simply needed to enable 'software playthrough' under the 'Transport' menu. (Found the instructions here) The sound might be distorted (this is called clipping) before the level of the recording device (i.e., the USB input) is adjusted. This could be checked in Audacity by starting monitoring and making sure the level is not exceeding max. I don't plan to use this often but it comes in handy (e.g., sending the audio from the turntable to the computer then to TV via HDMI)

It has been a rather awful week overall but at least I have something positive to write about.

The iTunes-less way

I prefer not to install iTunes on my PC because Apple is acting more like Real Network these days: it wants you to install Safari, QuickTime and so on. And it has background process unnecessarily running too! My mission is to transfer a few tracks to my daughter's ipod (a hand-me-down) Free ware CopyTrans manager saves the day. Make sure you're downloading and running the right piece of software though because there's another from the same folks simply named CopyTrans (without the word manager) It also needed iPhone/iPad/iPod drivers already installed to work and they kindly provided a CopyTransDriversInstaller for such purpose.

周慧敏Journey of Love

Reno的Peppermill賭場繼去年容祖兒後，今年再接再厲請來另一位我（少有）喜歡的香港女歌手，就是上次我也提過的周慧敏。去年開車用了八個小時才到Peppermill，錯過了一個小時的容祖兒演唱會；今年戰戰兢兢，帶定雪鍊，上午十點就由三藩市啟程，幸好天公造美，陽光普照，全無積雪阻道，三小時左右就到，餘下不少時間賭幾手，再在Silver Legacy酒店內的Sterling扒房吃個豐富的晚餐後才施施然過Peppermill。

當晚Vivian唱了多首她的首本名曲，包括「如果你知我苦衷」、「天荒愛未老」、「愛你多過愛她」、「最愛」，當然還有熱切期待的「美少女戰士」，雖然她沒有穿水手裝或Deep V晚裝，但幾套衫充份展示她性感及高貴的一面，相信fans都會滿意。令人驚喜的是翻唱了梅姐的「壞女孩」及陳潔儀的「等了又等」；作為半退休的歌手，水準縱使未及至高境界，但也勇於挑戰及嘗試，值得一讚！(相link)美中不足的是似乎頗多觀眾拿免費票入場，不是真正fans，只顧飲酒大聲談話，有點破壞氣氛。

演唱會過後才十時多，決定回酒店再玩一會。Silver Legacy和Circus Circus及Eldorado相連，方便在三個賭場游走，玩心水的遊戲。下午已在Circus Circus玩了和賭場對賭的德州樸克，比正常版易玩一點；晚上改改口味，有史以來第一次玩了花旗骰，只作基本投注，倒也不如以往般花多眼亂。後來又玩了最低$15一注的百家樂，總計贏了半個自助餐，當然吃得份外高興！Silver Legacy的Sunday Brunch的確不錯，有champagne (侍應pronounce為jumpin, 聽了一會才搞個明白)

題外話：周慧敏演唱會當晚，在Silver Legacy竟然同時舉行殿堂級Art Rock樂隊Yes的演唱會；我不禁想起周慧敏老公倪震以前搞的Yes雜誌，認真巧合。其實Yes是一隊技術超凡令我十分推崇的樂隊，不過自從車上沒有cassette機之後我也沒有再聽他們兩張傑作：Close to the Edge及Fragile. 回程半途中在Rhapsody找到他們最新live專輯In the Present-Live from Lyon, 竟然一直聽到三藩市。寶刀未老的Yes絕無令我失望，後來才知該碟長兩小時另九分鐘，成員也不是Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe的經典陣容，不過彈keyboard的倒是Rick的兒子Oliver Wakeman, 而主音則是模仿得Ian Anderson極似的前Yes tribute band歌手Benoit David(說不定有朝一日我的舊band也找我兒子頂替我呢！)

The week of new jazz

Listened to a few new albums (to me) on Rhapsody and the radio and would like to recommend them.

Mimi Fox, one of the most well-known bay area jazz guitarist and teacher, has a new album out, called "Standards, Old & New," in which she played all by herself, in the great solo guitar tradition of Joe Pass. The funny thing is my daughter saw me listening to this on my phone and got curious and listened to one of the track, "This Land is Your Land" but she doesn't think it sounded like the original at all. Well, if it's too much like the original, it's not jazz :)

Hiromi, another critically acclaimed female jazz musician (pianist), also has just release a new album "Move." I was really impressed by her previous two albums "Place to be" (solo piano) and "Voice" (which ironically featured no vocal) The compositions don't seem as strong on this latest one but the playing is exciting as usual.

I have listened to part of a track by Nate Najar many times ("Remembering Charlie Byrd") because it was used as the theme on No Idle Frets, a podcast dedicated to jazz guitar, which obviously is my favorite but sadly it was no longer updated since the end of last year. The track could be found on his latest album, "Blues for Night People." It caught my attention when the DJ played "Concierto De Aranjuez" from the album. That tune is adapted from one of the most famous classical guitar pieces.

Transferring Android Apps

This is one thing I like about Android: sometimes you have multiple devices but each of them has access to a different App store so you could get some Apps from one device but not the other. In this case you could still transfer your app from one device to another. Found this guide. ES File Manager is especially useful.

學者論學生

培正校友最推崇的數學家丘成桐近日上報，據報導，他在受訪時慨嘆，部分積極學運的大學生只重爭取權利，卻忽略讀書、做研究的本分，想法本末倒置。他同時警告，歐美青年對知識的追求遠勝本港大學生，若本港大學生繼續視抗爭為首要任務，根本無助社會進步，只會令本港人才質素漸走下坡，最終淪為二等城市。

如此批評當今的大學生，被網民攻擊是意料中事；事實上他這個論調的確有為建制護航之嫌，即使我推崇他的學術成就，也有這個感覺。


但想深一層，他不愧為擅長邏輯的數學家，如果大學生視抗爭為首要任務，學習則為其次，當然影響香港新一代畢業生的水平，這一點毋庸置疑，可謂立於不敗之地。

另一位學術界人士，中大講師邵力競撰文為丘成桐平反，也頗為值得討論。邵力競一方面為搞抗爭的學生說點好話：「香港會關心時事、獨立抗爭的青年應該還是比較會讀書的」，似乎不如丘成桐般擔心搞抗爭的學生荒廢學業；另一方面，他指出更嚴重的是學生態度之懶散：「完全不讀書的，恐怕更多，而丘老的話，就正正點出了這個現象，傷害了年輕人的感情。現實是，目前受納稅人資助的大學裏最盛行的風氣，是hea （無所用心）。」他比丘成桐更不客氣，批評的對象亦比後者廣泛！我相信多機會接觸學生的他，說的會是事實。

我雖然反對打擊學運，支持學生批判社會不公現象；但也認為大學生不能讓任何其他活動凌駕學習之上，一切都應在不影響求學問的情況下進行。

Sports highlight: Daytona 500

Haven't really watched much sports on TV after we cancelled cable. Fortunately, the biggest NASCAR race is on FOX, which I could barely receive over the air with my cheapo antenna. This was the first time I watch NASCAR with my son. Seems like he's getting it. Wish Danica would have done better but she did lead a lap and finished higher than any other women in history (No. 8) Better than Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin! Too bad Toyota had a bad day: engine and drive train problems left Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth out of the race. Toyota made a really bad impression to one future car buyer, my son.

十年

上週女兒十歲生日，才驚覺自己已為人父十年。自問本身性格陽光氣息不重，唯有讓子女早點接觸人性的負面。雖則如此，我相信這十年女兒總曾從我那裡得到一點有用的教誨，我問她有甚麼她特別記得，她告訴我：1）要放鬆，2）要有儀態，3）要嘗試做到最好；看來我的教導也不錯！總結十年，我跟她說：Be open minded and listen to others. However, don't listen blindly. For example, if people tell you something is difficult, still try to find out on your own and think independently. That's how you could tell right from wrong.

Gojira, Pharaoh

Had another long drive (to work in SF) today and blasted my car stereo with metal as usual. Last time Rhapsody recommended Dark Tranquillity's "We are the Void" from 2010. Today it recommended a newer album: Gojira's "L'Enfant Sauvage" from 2012 and it didn't disappoint. I like the Mastodon-esque prog/death metal sound. I've also listened to two other bands/albums: Pharaoh's "Bury the Light" and Grand Magus' "The Hunt." Both are on Rhapsody's 2012 Top Metal album list while the former is also on NPR's list. "Bury the Light" has the type of sound that punches you in the face right off the bat, which is kinda like the best power metal stuff by Iron Maiden yet more progressive. Grand Magus' song "Storm King" and few others from "The Hunt" also had similar feel. The long ballad "Son of the Last Breath" from the same album is not my cup of tea though.

Ingrid Laubrock's Anti-House

The title of this post is the name of a jazz musician and her group. A very interesting name and even more interesting is their brand of avant garde jazz. Check out this review of their latest, Strong Place, which features up-and-coming guitarist Mary Halvorson.

A Song From The East

I am listening to the Trio for Violin, Viola and Guitar, Op. 33 by Sándor Jemnitz, performed by David Starobin (Guitar), Benjamin Hudson (Violin), Kim Kashkashian (Viola) on the titled album. From Wikipedia:

Sándor Jemnitz, also known as Alexander Jemnitz (9 August 1890 in Budapest – 8 August 1963 in Balatonföldvár), was a Hungarian composer, conductor, music critic and author. Jemnitz's musical style is heavily influenced by Reger and Schoenberg.

It was a very unusual chamber music instrument combination but yielding interesting result. The reason I'm listening to it is that I am also reading an interview of violist Kim Kashkashian (whose name reminds me of you-know-who) from the Strings magazine. Sometimes I wonder why I still subscribe to the magazine since I have enough free interesting articles of it to read on the web already. Oh well, the magazine's website needs paid subscriber to survive I suppose.

Something Left Unsaid

This is the name of one of the bands playing at a concert (GATHERING: The new movement for Bay Area heavy metal. Feb 23rd at Oakland Metro) promoted by a flyer I got the other day. The sound of this Pacifica band reminded me of Killswitch Engage, which is a compliment. And the guitar work is good on their 2011 EP Deconstructionism.

香港遊：景點篇

作為土生土長的香港人回港探親，像個遊客般參觀香港的景點，其實也未嘗不可。沒有帶同小朋友，當然不會去海洋公園（他們頗期望看看那對金絲猴）今次首個景點是尖沙咀，今日的TST已不是以前逛得熟得不得了的老尖。上次到過新的大廈The One飲茶，新的美麗華商場之前也去過；iSquare及K11卻是第一次去。每次見到新的建築或店舖，總會問問自己那裡以前是甚麼。老尖雖逛得多，這些建築的前身卻也要在Wiki找找才知到。iSquare以前是舊凱悅酒店（報紙相關文章），以前經過無數次，入面卻印象全無，最記得的算是某套電影一個女配角名為Hyatt :P K11這個名字有點奇怪，原來奇得有道理：那是市區重建局重建項目的編號，代表九龍區第11個項目！因重建被拆的舊樓照片可在維基及這帖找到。名牌店舖林立，本來充滿銅臭，難得發展商特地加入一點藝術元素來平衡一下：商場內外均展出不少現代作品，例如用烘麵包砌出來的仿蒙羅麗沙「廣告」畫，體現Pop art精神。

出國參觀藝術館，是指定動作；不過香港也有一個我差不多次次都去的，就是位於香港公園的茶具文物館，今次看過茶馬古道的展覽方知，原來這條又稱南方絲綢之路的古道，是中國最古老的國際通道之一，在戰國時期就已開發，是中原對馬的需求，和西藏對茶的愛好（幫助消化），所形成的跨越青藏高原的貿易路線。

茶具文物館旁的羅桂祥茶藝館上次去的時候在裝修，現時展覽名為「石語刀痕」(圖片)，好明顯主角是印章，其實同場加映還有羅桂祥博士捐出的古代名窯出產的瓷器。中學時代跟麥老師學過少許篆刻，所以對印章特別有感情。一件印章體積雖小，卻可從三方面欣賞：石本身的色澤花紋，印紐的雕刻，以及印文的書法構圖。

看完兩個「分館」順理成章地到尖沙咀的「主館」香港藝術館，位於海濱的現址在91年落成，那是我出國留學之後的事了。今期的Andy Warhol展固然有趣，想不到香港官方收藏的中國書畫實在不乏珍品，文徵明及沈周等等的山水畫均極具吸引力。另有介紹中國古今瓷器製作及彩繪技術的展覽，十分詳細。我覺得最特別的則是外銷畫展覽，所謂外銷畫是指由中國畫師採用西方媒介及參考西方技法繪製，大量出口的作品，這些畫以中國的民風習俗、地形風貌為主題，滿足了西方對中國的好奇心，深獲歐美人士欣賞。展品包括早期尚在摸索階段以至後期技巧已趨成熟的作品，值得一看。

維多利亞公園絕對是香港一大景點，君不見國內遊客特地到此參加遊行嗎？當然，他們也特地到此處舉行的工展會掃貨。我們去維園也是為了後者（遊行在數天前）記憶中第一次去工展會是2001年，那時還在中環添馬艦舉行，對我來說懷舊味道甚重，皆因懂事之後工展會已停辦，聽老一輩說當年工展會頗受重視，工展小姐選舉是香港最早的選美會呢，去評頭品足一番也是樂事，真正重頭戲卻是看看各種產品的demo。那次買了一種名為「賽鋼」可用作填補裂縫的化學產品。今次在維園，媽媽極力推薦，由於爸爸對維園附近的停車場並不熟悉，我事先搜索一下，發現07年就有人問過同樣問題並已被解答，結果我們泊在興發街維園對面的住宅大廈收費停車場二個半小時，盛惠$65，也不算超貴。很多貨品是睇得過癮但買就非必要（最怕坐飛機多帶行李），例如開酒器暖水瓶等等，結果我買了皮帶，姐姐就買了菜刀，還吃了不少小食如羊架、糖蔥餅、楊枝金露等等，這樣就渡過一個愉快的下午。

最後想提的「景點」是個人「認識香港」計劃的一站：我打算每次訪港都去一個以前未去過的地方。以前我就識得港島朋友從未到過大埔，香港雖小，我未去過的地方卻不少，受之前「無街之城」的討論影響，今次選了將軍澳。其實驟眼看起來也和沙田及馬鞍山等有點相似，記得以前行沙田的店舖車站圖書館也常常倚賴商場的通道，避過日曬雨淋，而沙田新城市及相連廣場本身就沒有幾多好逛的對街地舖。將軍澳對我來說有三個出名地方：一、無線電視城，二、壹傳媒，三、首都。前兩者的環境我覺得和大埔工業村也沒多大分別；後者則是外表「正常」的屋苑，只是名字夠霸氣：香港開埠過百年才首次「定都」！首都每座分左翼及右翼，各設獨立電梯大堂，合共十個部份，稱為「十閣」，各有獨立名稱，以全球知名城市分別命名：（第一座起）班芙、佛羅倫斯、琉森、馬德里、米蘭、蒙特利爾、奧斯陸、威尼斯、維也納及威士拿。諷刺的是，十個之中只有三個是本國的首都！和樓盤名稱同樣騎呢。

「認識香港」的下一站應選那裡好呢？也是時候計劃一下了。

Cyndi Lauper: Memphis Blues

When I thought of Cyndi Lauper, songs like 'Time After Time' and 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' came to my mind immediately. She sang some of the most memorable pop songs ever. I had no idea she did a blues album, actually quite recently (2010. What have I been listening to!?), until I searched for the great blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite on Rhapsody (who has a new album with Ben Harper on Concord, from which I received newsletter) Cyndi Lauper's song that featured Musselwhite came up as the 'Top Matching Track' there. I probably won't listen to the album if it didn't have Cyndi Lauper's name on it, which was not to say that her voice did not match the genre. After all, it's the blues. Everybody has the blues sometime, right? I especially enjoy the track "Down Don't Bother Me." The strange thing is that listening to her, even though by accident, was the continuation of the theme from last week: 80's star revisited. Similar to those bands, I didn't pay attention to any of her music after the 80's even though she kept releasing new albums (3 in the 90s, 4 in the 00s) Her 2008 album actually featured decent dance pop.

星期日音樂檔案

今晚在家吃印度菜，播了些Norah Jones的名曲，實在「應景」。Jones是印度音樂大師Ravi Shankar的女兒；之後又播了Shankar另一個女兒Anoushka的作品，一首Solea揉合Flamenco及印度風情，十分夠味道。

下午去了SF Civic Symphony這個西岸最老牌的社區樂團，在SF Union Square古色古香的Sir Francis Drake Hotel內，舉行的免費音樂會，第一首是小史特勞斯這個我不甚欣賞的作曲家的作品，玩得熱熱鬧鬧，氣氛甚佳；第二首則是學小提琴的朋友不會感到陌生的巴哈Double Concerto。壓軸作品是Cesar Franck的唯一一首交響曲，指揮很用心講解曲中幾個多次出現的主題，我們一家都覺得最後一個movement比頭二個出色。

今早要做柴可夫，週日九時甚少聽古典台KDFC，原來在該時段有Baroque by the Bay專播（理所當然的）Baroque，其實我雖然甚為喜歡該時期風格的音樂，但除了巴哈及韋瓦弟之外卻聽得不多；打頭陣的是Alessandro Marcello的雙簧管協奏曲，現在重温一下。

今日聽左乜？

通常獨自開長途車（包括上SF返工）都會炸機，今早揀了Rhapsody推薦的Dark Tranquillity 2010作品We are the void。DT保持一貫的高水準，正宗melodic death metal。接著把時間推前十年，聽了Miranda Sex Garden最後作品Carnival of Souls，記得九十年代行唱片舖，老闆見我喜歡Dead can Dance同Cocteau Twins向我推薦94年MSG的Fairytales of Slavery，那時反而沒有現在覺得MSG啱聽，十幾年來可能開過一兩次來聽而矣。其實女聲、電子音樂加點弦樂，相當好feel（可能因為早幾年才開始拉小提琴吧）此碟相信還在香港家中唱片架上被塵封。

回到公司，新編排座位附近的同事原來是那位常常要講電話的大忙人，我基本上很怕聽別人用電話傾公事（比自己在電話傾公事更厭惡），講私事又作別論；特登在公司放了一個廉價但隔聲的大headphone，今早再回去十年，播了另一張Rhapsody推薦的八十年代唱片，那是我當年從二手店執到的寶物但後來失蹤的Depeche Mode演唱會現場錄音101。來加州早年，坐車行101，都會想起該碟呢。聽到Strange Love，就會想起沙田新城市廣場以前的賓士滾軸溜冰場，差不多次次去DJ都會播！當然還有Winnie幫我從黑膠dub落cassette的精選；那時幫她錄不少軟硬，真是禮尚往來。

晚上繼續八十年代，播了好些New Order的精選作品，當然包括大學時代去ball必播的Bizarre Love Triangle啦。原來New Order在05年還有新作Waiting for the Siren's call，基本上貫徹樂隊風格，可以一聽。

突然想起，很多以前聽開的樂隊踏入廿一世紀仍有新作（又例如另一隊今天找過的And Also the Trees）不過除了Depeche Mode及The Cure之外，已經沒有再follow了。究竟過去十年我聽甚麼？其實倒也不難查證。看看HD入面自己rip的CD，05年之後推出甚至購入的已沒有幾張，從我在此帖所寫可證實。被ripped的CD以爵士佔大多數，由已作古的殿堂級人馬至當今樂手均有；其次是古典，浪漫派至廿世紀現代作品等等，少數rock band如Testament, Death, Oasis及Tool。而我從04年開始使用Blogger，所發的帖也是圍繞以上genre。

再一次印證，年紀大了，口味會變得固定，現在聽synth pop及goth可能是懷舊成份居多。雖然如此，我很有心地追上時代，未必會捧所有當時得令流行作品，但間中也有心水歌手如Katy Perry或歌曲如Ellie Goulding的Light，連Gangnam Style也覺有可取之處呢；堅持作為音樂人不能活在過去。

口琴五重奏

上文講到在香港聽音樂，想提一提今次回港首天去飲茶，在停車場找車位，我一如既往把爸爸聽開的新聞台轉到香港電台第四台這個音樂台，那時正開始介紹即將播出的一個音樂會，演出的是香港本地的英皇口琴五重奏。我從小就對口琴頗有感情，我媽教過我如何吹音階；以五重奏的形式演奏改編的古典作品，我實在十分好奇，不過演奏未開始就有位飲茶，離開時再上車，節目剛好結束！好在香港電台第四台有節目重温，這是英皇口琴五重奏官網的資料，也可用這連結（用Windows Media Player，試過用VLC但窒窒地）

HMV，你要活下去！

從新聞得知英國老牌唱片連鎖零售店HMV宣佈破產，員工面臨失業，認真傷感。由十幾歲開始，逛唱片舖已成為我最大樂趣之一，旺角到沙田大大小小唱片舖我都逛過不少，記得當年兩個名字有荷李活的商場有多家唱片舖，競爭激烈，卻均門庭若市。我一直有看樂評然後找碟來聽的興趣，很多選擇頗為冷門，在這些唱片舖找到的機會一半半；雖然如此，也常常在那裡花光零用錢。之後第一次去美國，老校友熱情招待，更帶了我們去他至愛的Tower Records，那次經驗對我頗為震撼：皆因一生從未到過面積如此大，選擇如此齊全的店！想來對我選擇留學美國影響不少。如果當年去的是英國和HMV，可能我一生從此改寫也說不定:P

其實後來HMV登陸香港，我每次回港也逛得不少，雖然睇和買不成正比，基本上在其他店舖找得到的都比它便宜，但HMV選擇實在優勝，我喜歡的爵士古典唱片有時只它一家才有，還可試聽，所以也幫襯不少，好些都是因為HMV介紹而認識及購買呢。最近一次，就買了「國寶薈萃」這一張精彩的中樂CD，雖然只是「雜錦」精選碟，選曲頗有心思，小冊子製作亦甚為精美。

可惜時不與唱片舖，今日的HMV，只是比當日倒下的Tower Records慢了幾步吧。連我這樣發燒的樂迷，一年也買不到五隻CD，Rhapsody等網上服務實在太便宜又方便了。新一代更只會上YouTube找歌聽，然後到iTunes買在iPhone播；行唱片舖對他們而言，就像賣飛機欖對我們一代同樣陌生！

今天才知原來Beatles因為HMV介紹才認識George Martin，HMV立此大功，音樂之神應保佑它一百年不倒吧。希望HMV找到白武士打救，不致倒閉。

觀塘故事

雖然十歲以前家在觀塘，不過對其印象反而不及之後的沙田清晰。記得小巴的牌會寫「官塘」，一如香港其他已改名的地方（大尾篤->大美督）上期壹週刊有篇訪問個五十歲一樓一，提到觀塘歷史：

據香港開埠前歷史的文獻《新安縣志》記載，觀塘原名「官富場」或「官塘」，是個官方曬鹽場，早在宋朝已經出現，但繁榮地段不是裕民坊，而是現時的茶果嶺、牛頭角一帶。
觀塘在上世紀五十年代開始發展，當年觀塘道是海邊，裕民坊是小山丘，人煙不多，只有少數木屋，港英政府選了該址為第一個衞星城市，希望把觀塘建成一座花園城市。
當年的設計中，今日的仁愛圍是觀塘大會堂，小販市場是休憩用地，仁愛圍巴士站是庭園，但隨着偷渡潮，原本規劃的藍圖沒有出現，反而隨着人口增加，觀塘市中心出現大量加建及僭建，在雞寮（今翠屏邨）更加建了徙置區。
被安置到觀塘的居民，成為工業發展的重要動力，大量廉價勞工，為該區廠家提供豐富人力資源。觀塘於一九五七年完成填海後，漸漸變成一條大型工業邨，工人宿舍就在徙置區和木屋附近，高層宿舍則位於半山上的月華街。
三年前展開的《觀塘市中心重建項目》，以裕民坊為中心，重建佔地五點三公頃，是香港歷來最大一次。
當年「紅」極一時的左派陣地，六七暴動遭防暴隊衝入查封的「銀都戲院」三年前第一間拉閘，同齡的「寶聲戲院」則暫改裝成卡拉 OK和食肆。仁愛圍雞記麻雀館，明年初便要清拆。
裕民坊亦將在二○一三年展開正式拆卸，現時九成九店鋪和住宅已被市建局收購，街道上到處都見到市建局封條，整個裕民坊，人去樓空，如一座孤城。
凌記書店老闆陳伯在輔仁街經營書店幾十年，拆卸在即，他仍舊如廿年前一樣，坐在摺櫈上守着他的書。附近牛腩麵店已全部結業，「牛腩巷」獨獨只剩下凌記死守經營。陳伯八十幾歲了，打烊時間，等候六十多歲的兒子前來幫手才夠力拉閘關門。

香港遊：影視篇

記得有一段日子我很喜歡電影，喜歡程度高到可以一個人去戲院看戲。不知何故，此情不再！可能身在SF灣區太多其他選擇：戶外活動或音樂會，再加上網上實在太多東西可看。事實上，早年收藏的很多好戲，例如Black Swan, Frida等等，還未看呢。近年每年只看幾套，差不多一半是在飛機上為解悶而看！今次兩程都睡得極少，所以共看了四套電影:

- Searching for Sugar Man 一套關於folk rock樂手Sixto Rodriguez的紀錄片。他的故事甚具傳奇性，雖然曾推出水準十分高的作品，在他生活的美國，他鮮為人認識；反而遠在種族隔離政策時代的南非，有不少fans，欣賞他反建制的精神。 [Update:Rolling Stones雜誌有一篇文章關於十件這位音樂人鮮為人知的事。]

- Total Recall 翻拍大隻佬阿諾舒華辛力加以前的賣座作品。我最好奇的是有幾成相似。

- Ted 中文譯名賤熊30，可想而知是一套有點不文的笑片，事實也是如此。

- 大武當 背景是武當山比武，時代卻是民初，實在令我意外。編劇似乎對道家思想有點認識，雖然難免眼高手低，總算為本片帶來一點深度。兩個主角，一是打得的趙文卓，一是睇得的楊冪；對要求不高的我來說，不能不滿意。不看影評不知片中有道長救老婦的情節，飾演兩角的是現實的夫婦：方平及鮑起靜！ 

提起鮑姐，自然想起她忠心打工多年的亞視，今時今日的亞視，水準及收視均不堪入目，淪為笑柄，連鮑姐亦棄之他投。吊詭的是，今次在香港看得最多的竟然是亞視！皆因除夕夜亞視的新數碼電視頻道「歲月留聲」啟播，該台專播亞視當年的經典節目，例如驟雨中的陽光，萬家燈火，甜甜廿四味，浣花洗劍錄，變色龍等等，我們一於大懷舊，以慶祝家中新添置的高清電視。不少網民都預料該頻道的收視有機會超越主台呢！

Anything Goes

寒假開始了兩天半，天氣一直麻麻，雨好像下過不停；星期天連外出的心情都沒有！倒不如做做「功課」：聽聽網上不同版本的Anything Goes，那是我們想練練的一首曲子。這個演出實在出色:


無獨有偶，以該曲作為主題曲的音樂劇會在明年1/8在SF上演，我們算是及時湊興吧！
今天又給我發現了一位出色的音樂劇女演員：Sutton Foster，很喜歡她唱的My Romance。

世界文化展

不是指Epcot Center那種規模的，而是家中小朋友所讀小學二年班的功課，上一次做的是和我家淵源甚深的馬來西亞；今次做的則是關係也不淺的意大利，因為常吃薄餅及意粉之故！看看其他小朋友的展品，其實也頗有趣：
1）越拙劣的越顯得屬小朋友自己手筆；有一個做了立體可動的吊車放在版上，很難相信父母沒有幫大忙。
2）小朋友介紹該國知名人士，政治人物固然正路，但也有一些介紹流行偶像。最搞笑那個介紹美國知名人士三位：Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez及Justin Bieber，並註明Bieber雖本是加拿大人，但現居美國。還有一位日本知名人士只得圖不見名字，可能我孤陋寡聞，在我心目中的日本名人是小澤......征爾（名指揮家）

Splitting a stereo MP3

This is not something one needs to do often but I'm still surprised not many tools and forum posts are about this operation. I could have imported the file into a recording software which would manage the left and right channels as two tracks and pick one to export. However, I found a better solution: the open source software SoX (Sound Exchange) thanks to this post which contains the command to do so.

免費電視

鑑於有線電視收費越來越貴，我家決定停用，其實也不是第一次。雖然我常常看電視，不過也支持這決定；反正我最愛看的NASCAR，本季已經結束。令我好奇的是，數碼電視天線在我家接收力有多强？可以看到那些免費台？記得多年前試過用Analog天線，效果奇差；今天試用數碼天線，簡直是意外驚喜！四大美國台: FOX (2.1), ABC, NBC, CBS (5.1)收到兩個；我家主要新聞來源的本地中文台(26.1)也無問題。此外又有以下新發現:

• 宏星電視(1.9):台灣節目
• KAXT-R1（1.13）：音樂
• KQED World（9.3）
• KBS World （26.3）：韓國
• ICN 26.4：中文
• 華語電視38.2：中文
• NHK World 38.4：日本英文
• KQED Life 54.3

水氹

連續幾天都下雨，陽光乍現，即把握機會出車，出得半小時也總好過無！沿途見一個五歲左右的小朋友穿著雨靴，拖著大人在街上走，小朋友一路踩水氹，十分過癮；我心想為何大人沒有阻止他呢？也許覺得反正穿了雨靴，派上用場吧。連帶想起午飯時和老友吹水，提到擔心小朋友在青春期反叛，可能到時也應該讓他們自己在成長路上穿雨靴踩水氹？

Deception of travel photos

I came across this interesting article while traveling last Summer. Ironically, it's about photos taken at trips usually only showed the good sides of them but not the bad ones and thus unfairly "beautified" them. Even terrible trips resulted in great photos as you could see in the linked article. One of the photos was from one family vacation to Europe. Everyone from that family fell sick during the trip. I felt bad for them. Nevertheless, the pictures said nothing about it. The submitter actually appreciated the talks and times spent with family members together. More power to her.

NASCAR drivers and college education

Not that it matters but I'm just curious who went where. Well, it turns out there is only one active full-time driver with a bachelor's degree in the Sprint Cup, Ryan Newman. He earned his engineering degree at Purdue University and credits his degree in vehicle structure engineering with helping him succeed on the track. He graduated from college in 2001 and was named NASCAR's Rookie of the Year in 2002. It's a little bit surprising to me at first but then I realized most drivers got started young and the season is loooong. They just don't have time to go to college.

Sports highlights: a special weekend for auto-racing fans

First of all, may the 2 drivers (including past winner from HK, 丘永材) passed away at Macau Grand Prix last weekend rest in peace. Formula 1 returned to US after a few years of hiatus and it was extra special to me because this race was in Austin, Texas. Tons of controversies surrounded this brand-new race track in the past few years. Some doubted it would ever been built, let alone having a race in 2012! Also glad to see the final result, which was a pleasant surprise to me: usually it's a boring race when Vettel won the pole and then led wire-to-wire (i.e, led every lap except during pit cycle maybe) but he couldn't do it and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, one of the most aggressive and fun-to-watch F1 driver IMO. Now the championship will be decided at the next race with only 13 points separating Vettel and Alonso. Well, championships at all 3 levels of NASCAR have been decided last weekend already. All 3 championship leaders had ~20 point leads entering the last race but nothing was easy. Jimmie Johnson almost pulled it off to win his 6th championship by saving fuel better than the championship leading Brad Keselowski. However, mechanical problem ultimately doomed his quest. Oh well, it proves once again luck averages out. He got some breaks during his championship winning seasons in addition to his superior skills (and that of his crew) Same goes for legendary race team owner Roger Penske. He saw his IndyCar driver Will Power entering the last race with a decent lead in the championship and then gave it away. It's hard to predict then his other driver, Brad Keselowski of NASCAR, was the one winning him the championship this year! Congrat to Mr. Penske for winning his first NASCAR Spring Cup championship after competing in it all these years.

SF下午

感冒未清，今早有點掙扎是否到SF上班，想想之前已休息了一天，還是出出去吧。公司樓下保安跟我打招呼，問我怎麼沒帶pinky，做他們這一行的觀察力真强；當然不是指我的手指而是摺車，我告訴了他因由，重出江湖快矣。同事們去Boulevard慶祝沒有被迫遷到東灣，我為了不把病菌散播推掉了，轉而去foodcourt吃兼聽聽鋼琴獨奏，他彈了Beatles的Norwegian Wood（那個版本編曲不錯），一首Lady Gaga舊作，還有我們的「飲歌」：「六個餐飽」(Tramerai by Schumann)下一站是Embarcadero的商場，買了一些禮物，還有自用的Godiva無糖朱古力；其實一早已買了一堆給媽媽，不過想親自試試味，再買多一點，原來和一般有糖的味道差不多，難怪她喜歡。雖然無糖，但卡路里也不低，而且代替糖的甜味物質多吃會致瀉，所以還是適可而止吧。

Sports highlights: college football upset, CFL playoff and wrecks at Phoenix

The memories of SF Giant's world series victory and celebrations still linger with me (so was that of Sydney Sixers winning the Twenty20 wicket champions league) but the fast-paced world of sports have completely left them behind. The young NBA season has already provided big headlines like the firing of Laker's coach only 5 games into the season. I watched part of the "Upset of the season" in college football: Texas A&M beating the then No.1 Alabama. 'Bama looked so strong all season that current headcoach of fellow SEC conference-mate South Carolina, Steve Spurrier, even claimed that 'Bama could beat the worst NFL teams, which most people including experts like current and former NFL/College coaches and laymen like myself disagreed (unless he referred to the poorly coached 2002 Washington Redskin by him :P.) Still, I thought if they were to be beaten, it would be a traditional power house in SEC, instead, it's the SEC newcomer Texas A&M. As a loyal fan of Texas, of course I dislike both A&M (long time conference rival) and 'Bama (with whom we fought for the college football supremacy decades ago and most recently in 2009) Earlier in the season A&M played a good game against Florida and almost beat them. I was in a big dilemma: on one hand, I don't want to see A&M to be that successful right after leaving the Big 12 conference and proved they made the right decision. On the other hand, A&M needs to be competitive enough to prove that the level of playing at Big 12 is not way below SEC. Oh well, since I dislike both of them, I might as well root for an upset and it happened. I was so glad that A&M's star QB Johnny Manziel didn't emerge last season or he might have ruined the perfect ending to the long time UT vs A&M rivalry.

And I was able to watch more football on Sunday, thanks to ESPN and Firehouse Brewery. ESPN streamed both CFL first-round playoff games (or Conference Semi if you will) My favorite team Saskatchewan Roughriders was an underdog and almost pulled off an upset by scoring a TD in the last 2 minutes and took the lead over Calgary but fell short. The Sunday night NFL game between the Texans and da Bears was a snooze-fest but Firehouse had good beer. 

The great sports weekend ended with the replay of the penultimate race of the NASCAR season (9th of the chase) with 3 drivers still in contention and it certainly didn't disappoint: championship leader (and 5-time former champ) Jimmie Johnson wrecked, on his own, which was a rare mistake made by him and young Brad Keselowski became the new leader again. Clint Bowyer wrecked Jeff Gordon and the latter retaliated and turned into fights between pit crews. Danica Patrick crashed, stalled on the track and turned into a big wreck during the final lap. Auto racing fans shouldn't root for wrecks. However, we certainly won't mind a few fights :P This immediately brought back memories of another Jeff Gordon related fight. I thought it was last season but it turned out to be Nov 2010 when I looked it up (against Jeff Burton) Seems like NASCAR wants Gordon to fight to pump up the TV ratings every now and then but with tight races like this I don't think that's necessary! I did feel bad for Kevin Harvick who won the race but all people could remember and talk about were the ones I mentioned above.

Deleting an area to transparency in GIMP

I played with GIMP a bit to edit some pictures for a photo project. For one picture, I have created a layer with the desired background and needed to remove some unwanted areas on the picture in the upper layer to transparency so that the background would be exposed. Here is how to do it (found the instructions from this post)

If you imported the image or layer from a JPeG (.jpg) file, it will not have an alpha property for that layer.
Use menu: Layer / Transparency / Add alpha channel
Delete will then (by default) make the deleted section transparent.
When you save back to a JPeG, GIMP will paint the background (of the saved image only) white.
Save into an XCF file to retain all of the layers, transparency, etc.

反歧視

諗過帖呢個上FB，不過實會得罪好多朋友，都係低調d算。
有人話香港唔存在歧視同性戀所以無需立法；另一方面，亦有人（有d係同一批人）認為同性戀係不道德。除非係好虛偽既人，否則一定會蔑視佢認為不道德既人喎。

It's deja vu all over again!

Sports fan would know the title was one of the famous quotes by 金句大師 former Yankee great Yogi Berra. I read some of my old posts and found this from 2010:
1) University of Texas football team lost to Oklahoma that year. Same thing happened in 2012.
2) University of Wisconsin lost to Michigan State. Same in 2012.
3) Will Power couldn't win the IndyCar championship in spite of a good chance entering the final race. Same in 2012.
4) US lost to Europe in Ryder Cup. The 2012 version was worse: US had a huge lead before the final day and blew it.
5) Tiequan Zhang will fight again next week, this time with UFC in Macau. Hope he will win again!
6) Last but not least, SF Giants won NL West (and went on to win the World Series)

[Update:  Turned out Tiequan Zhang didn't win in Macau. Too bad, but at least he was competitive in that fight.]

Belle

Talking about the main character from Beauty and the Beast. My daughter used to watch it all the time (of course she has outgrown it already) It's also a tune performed by Gilad Hekselman on the album Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to be a cat.

I came across this album from his discography. I was impressed by his playing when I saw him performed live with Melissa Aldana at the Small's in NYC back in August. BTW, so glad to see the club being recommended by Alex Skolnick (the great metal and jazz guitarist) in his Tweet recently. 

Sports highlight: the Giants did it again

I posted this two years ago when the SF Giants won the world series and I linked to an insightful article written by Peter Gammons. Of course I am linking to his writeup for the 2012 victory here again. Similar to last time, the Giants' great pitching was a key. With Tim Lincecum struggling as starter in the regular season, his move to the bullpen during the postseason by the management was a brilliant one. There were quite a few key hits from unexpected players in 2010, like Cody Ross and Edgar Renteria. In 2012 they have Marco Scutaro and Ryan Theriot. I guess more things change, more things stay the same. The management has proven they know how to run the organization the right way. Even the big contract offered to Barry Zito was vindicated!

中國式過馬路

早一陣子好友分享其中國經驗，提到過馬路如何混亂；無獨有偶，最近有中國網民在微博發表：“中國式過馬路，就是凑够一撮人就可以走了，和紅綠燈無關。”成為中國網絡大熱話題，皆因大家均有同感。

Texas shootout

Four former Southwest Conference-mates from Texas played against each other on Saturday: Baylor vs Texas, Texas Tech vs TCU. All teams scored 50 points or more. All offense. No defense!

Memories of Yoshi's

Read an article on the Downbeat magazine about the 40th anniversary of Yoshi's. I still remember going to its old location on Claremont Ave in Oakland. And that's where it got started! I guess I qualified as old-timer these days. The most interesting quote came from musician John Santos:

In 2010, we played a show on my birthday at the San Francisco location. That also happened to be the same day the San Francisco Giants won the World Series. The win came just before we went on, so I had the pleasure of announcing that the Giants has won. The crowd went berserk, and we had a party all night. To throw a little numerology in: I was born in 1955, I was turning 55, and my favorite Giants player, Tim Lincecum, was number 55. That night was in the stars. 

香港太太的生活

我係男人都好enjoy睇佢d名貴野。不過,要睇快手！主角丈夫已入稟控告未經授權發布機密資料，向法庭申請禁制令。 條片d配樂有少少批判銅臭，不過單憑內容，呢兩公婆唔似暴發戶，都係百手興家果種，唔會俾人負面印象。

Game 5: Giants vs Reds

I didn't start watching baseball until the heydays of the Cincinatti Reds were over. I like some of their players. I also thanked their current manager Dusty Bakers for the success he brought to the Giants when he managed them. However, when it comes to playoff time and playing against the Giants, my loyalty is obvious. This game got me a bit worried, especially with Mat Latos on the mount for the Reds. This pitcher has a long history disliking the Giants. I still remember he practically accused the 2012 Giants for buying the championship when his own team at the time, Padres, did some upgrades mid-season too. Glad to see him appears in the loser column today!

Parents Television Council's complaint

This sounds familiar: conservative groups in US complained about the more liberal creative people in the showbiz. I still remember many years ago a group led by Al Core's wife targeted the music industry and certain pop/rock musicians for performing indecent/violent lyrics. Of course I was not a parent back then and totally opposed to their campaign. This latest complaint is about the TV show 'American Dad.' The season premiere episode made fun of a Hummer-ish big SUV advertised as a 'C.O.K. Guzzler' (see the caption in this link) As if it's not obvious enough, one of the character suggested added a C to it.

Do I find this funny? No. Will I watch this with my kids? Nope. However, I won't be mad if they watched it. The PTC has made too big a deal of this, IMO.

Interestingly, FOX News also reported this but without the above details. And ironically, the show was shown on FOX. So, did it help defending Seth MacFarlane by omitting the details or not?

He is no less boring even with the help of Citi card

...... that's why I don't like this commercial:

Apparently I'm not the only one who criticized it.

Sports video games

As a guy who is really into sports and somewhat into video games, sports video game is of course something I play (once in a while) Turns out lots of sports stars enjoy them too. Check out this article:

Between games, practices, travel and promotional appearances, you'd think that the NBA's multimillionaire stars would be too busy. But most NBA players say they find time to play video games every day. In fact, the NBA claims that 85 percent of its players are gamers. "I would say I play about three or four hours every night," says Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard. "I'm a night owl, so after games I'm up till about 4 or 5 a.m. playing video games." "That's all I do," says Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant. "If I'm not on the court, I got the controller in my hand." "With the schedule we have this year, I don't get to play as much as I want to," says LeBron James of the Miami Heat. "But whenever I get some down time I play some Xbox." As the NBA playoffs get under way, half the league's players are done for the season, giving them more free hours to fire up their video game consoles. The other half will have extra time off between playoff games, thanks to the league's stretched-out postseason schedule. "I play a little bit, but I played more during the summer," says Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics. "This season is so crammed, it's tough." The league's rising young stars aren't immune from the thrills of gaming, either. Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) and John Wall (Washington Wizards), made a pit stop while in Orlando for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game to check out the new "NBA Live 13" game at Electronic Arts' Tiburon studio -- the developer behind sports franchises like "Madden NFL 12," "NCAA Football 12" and the new "Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 13." NBA fans will have a choice of simulation games next season when "NBA Live 13" tips off against "NBA 2K13." It's been a few years now that gamers, and NBA players, have had no choice in pro-hoops games (outside of the arcade game, EA Sports NBA Jam). "I'm excited they brought 'NBA Live' back," says Durant. "I haven't talked to anybody yet (about the cover). I'm sure I'll get a call here in a few hours or a few days or so. I haven't heard about it, this is my first time. I'm excited." Durant was the cover athlete for "NBA Elite 11," a rebranding of EA Sports' basketball franchise that was canceled because of horrible community reaction to the glitchy gameplay. But he's still up for being on the cover of the new game. "I'm a '2K' person now," says Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers. "I might give 'NBA Live 13' a try, but '2K' has taken over the basketball scene." Although a knee injury to New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin knocked him out for the season, he's still playable in "NBA 2K12" -- and his gameplay has improved thanks to not one, but two player rating upgrades by developer Visual Concepts. "I actually don't know the exact numbers, but I know for a while I was in the 50s, I believe," Lin says. "I think ESPN had me as the 467th best player out of 500 or something like that coming into the season." Now that Lin has earned a 75 in the game, up from 56 when he was a bench player, he's not focusing on how high his player rating can go. "I'm not really too worried about that," he says. "I don't have a set number or goal, but it's cool to be able to hear about progressing. That's the important thing, is that me and my team continue to improve. As long as we're headed up, I think we're good to go." New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony is happy for his teammate's player rating upgrade. "It's getting up there," he says. "It should be in the 90s. If I have a chance to play '2K12,' he's definitely in my starting lineup." But not everyone is crazy about their NBA 2K12 player ratings. And yes, they do check out their in-game attributes. "I like some of the ratings, but I feel like some of them could be increased a little bit," says Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward. "Defensively, I think they've got my grade a little low. I think they had one of my teammates, Al Jefferson, a better perimeter defender than me. I was like, 'Come on now, that can't happen.' With time, they'll probably increase them, so I'm not too worried about it." Utah Jazz teammate Jeremy Evans, winner of the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, would also like to see his player ratings in NBA '2K12' improved. "When I play '2K12,' and sometimes I play as myself, I get mad," he says. "It's like, 'I would have dunked that in the NBA.' It's a great game, but sometimes they don't actually make you like you want to be made." Evans grew up on sports games like "Double Dribble" and "NBA Live" on the Nintendo 64 and now plays "FIFA 12" and the "Call of Duty" series. When it comes to video games, some NBA players will try anything. "I played everything...football games, basketball games, baseball games, Donkey Kong, and all of that," says Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin. "Actually, probably my favorite game to play is 'Tiger Woods Golf.' It's always been fun. I've played it for a long time." So the next time you're on Xbox Live, it may just be an NBA All-Star in that game world with you.

American Comics

一直覺得我的童年過得和其他朋友的很不一樣：我沒有去公園和鄰居小朋友玩；沒有看過幾集IQ博士；「公仔書」除了老夫子、加菲貓之外，如龍虎門、中華英雄等等名作完全未睇過，直至大學時代才首次接觸天下畫集，並感受到公仔書的吸引力。出來工作後我還曾在唐人街訂閱天下及龍虎五世好幾年呢。

不過身在美國多年，卻從未接觸美國本地赫赫有名的Marvel及DC公仔書；對於各位superhero(e.g. Superman, Spiderman, Batman)的事跡，皆從電視電影認識。隨著兒子開始接近看漫畫的年齡，作為一個盡責的父親，我認為是時候事先了解下美國流行的漫畫是甚麼一回事。從香港連環圖得來的經驗，知道中途開始follow一套漫畫殊非易事，皆因人物來龍去脈經歷多期發展必定變得錯綜複雜，死過番生幾次不足為奇；美國的漫畫在這方面尤其遭讀者詬病（請看這個攪笑帖）

由於喜愛的女明星Cobie Smulders有份參演The Avenger（飾團隊統籌員Maria Hill一角），我愛屋及烏決定看看The Avenger，在Amazon收加州稅前買入The Avenger Vol.1合訂本，以為可以從頭開始follow，誰知所謂Vol.1也有多本，我仔細查閱維基百科，才發現買的其實是2010開始畫的故事，提到不少Avenger之間過去的情仇，和歹角Kane的恩怨，均不知詳情；總算勉強明白，看完全本。暴力程度和香港的相若，血腥程度則更低，我想讓年青人看看也可以接受吧。繼後的Vol.2不打算追了，反而找到一個給電影迷寫的Avenger指南，下一本可能會看看該指南介紹的The Ultimates。

紐約+華盛頓：音樂篇

在紐約生活的日子一星期去三四場live jazz shows是等閒事，十二年前離開之後此情不再，今次當然要舊夢重温！出發前預先查了各著名jazz club(Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Iridium, Jazz Standard, Birdland)的節目，老實說只有Larry Coryell及Earl Klugh兩位結他手名氣較大特別想看，不過作為全世界爵士樂之都，我深信只要在我以前住的Greenwich Village走走，一定有好jazz。

我們星期日抵達NYC，Larry Coryell及兒子Murali Coryell一連兩晚在 Iridium演出，第一晚rhythm section由Victor Bailey(bass)及Lenny White負責，一看就知勁fusion；就如以下video：


第二晚則和Les Paul Trio的結他手Lou Pallo及bassist/vocalist Nicki Parrott合作。明顯我是去了第二晚，雖然很想很想見識「神級」bassist Victor Bailey，換上一個彈得唱得的靚女也是好事。大部份時間Larry Coryell彈他那支Ken Parker Archtop，比較多傳統jazz jam。正如Larry Coryell說，大家欣賞他們jam野吧：

Watch live streaming video from iridiumlive at livestream.com

還想一提的是，從Broadway進Iridium大門行落樓梯入地庫坐在開揚的大廳，感覺反而怪怪，因為隱約記得以前是上樓梯，場地長型多視線受阻位。上網查查，原來Iridium在2001年（我離開NYC之後）才搬到現址！表演結束後我買點紀念品，是介紹Sunburst款Les Paul結他的書／圖集，找來Lou Pallo為我簽名，他還送我一塊guitar pick。Iridium和結他設計及演奏大師Les Paul有不解之緣，96年至09年Les去世，他逢星期一都和他的三重奏在那裡演出，可說是該地揚名立萬的功臣。我以前一直想找個星期一看Les Paul Trio演出，可惜在他去世後才有此機會。

星期三再出動，目標是位於Village的jazz club Smalls，名符其實小得可以，也甚具傳奇性。記得十幾年前該club沒有酒牌，大家都是自備飲品。收入只靠cover charge，不知是不是這個原因，我走之後幾年便結業。而我知它從新營業是因為爵士結他大師（及老師）Jimmy Bruno早幾年在那裡演出，我們這班學生兼fans都上網看webcast。和以往不同的，現在的Smalls有酒賣；不變的是，午夜過後還有演出，而且之後還有open jam。當年就是我（和很多知音人）常常徹夜不歸的蒲點，今次自然非去不可。色士風手Patrick Cornelius的樂隊演出之後，「午夜場」是女色士風手Melissa Aldana的樂隊，玩modern jazz的女色士風手固然令人矚目，但我更留意的是結他界聲望日隆的Gilad Hekselman（我的老師十分欣賞的校友Kurt Rosenwinkel當年也常在Smalls打躉）整體上演出火花十足。（作為結他友的我對Hekselman彈那支Victor Baker度身訂造的細版archtop亦極感興趣，類似這一支)這場結束後，輪到一眾參與open jam的樂手陸續上場，整晚坐在我隔鄰那位仁兄也是一份子，原來是色士風高手。這十幾年來我的演奏技術進步不大，對這班open jam友造詣的欣賞卻是與日俱增，皆因open jam並無事先訂出曲目，參與的樂手要背熟一大set經常演出的standard，包括head melody及chord changes，有人問我幾時去open jam，我實在不敢想像。(寫這段之時看到一篇相關Q＆A，獲益良多)直到2:45am，知道明早還有節目才依依不捨回酒店。

星期五離開NYC，之前一晚當然「搏老命」也要出多一次。先到Village Vanguard 11點場看新進Vibraphonist Warren Wolf的Quartet演出，無獨有偶，其中幾位樂手都是來自我們之後那天去的DC！鋼琴及bass手似曾相識，認得之前一晚在Smalls的open jam中見過他們上場，這個四重奏組合玩live聽起來比有色士風手的唱片要精采。

散場後再到離我舊居(Sullivan St)不遠的The Zinc Bar，當晚有著名鼓手Jeff "Tain" Watts領軍的樂隊，成員還包括另一位當打色士風手Marcus Strickland。總括來說，NYC四個場地大牌音樂人看了不多，但this and next gen的强手卻看得不少，實在是心滿意足。

有圖有真相

Sports highlights: IndyCar championship, NFL

This was what I wrote about IndyCar last year around the same time: Will Power had the point lead with hopes to win the championship. We all knew the final race of last season was the sad one in which Dan Wheldon lost his life. Will Power was also involved in the same accident and the title went to Dario Franchitti. In the same article I also wrote about 5-time champ Jimmie Johnson not winning that NASCAR race and ended up failing to defend his title. Similarly, this year 4-time champ Dario Franchitti has a down year, who was the major rival of Power. Looks like it's finally the year that Will Power could win it all. On the other hand, his track record on oval, especially for the last race of the season, didn't look good. He crashed 2 years in a row. So, with a point lead going to the final race of the season at Fontana California on 9/15, I was still quite unsure about his chance. Unfortunately, what all Will Power fan worried about, namely, another crash, indeed happened, while he and the eventual champion Ryan Hunter-Reay raced for position. Will Power's car lost control during the turn. Fortunately he didn't get hurt and no other car was involved so basically he lost the championship on his own. The only "saving grace" for IndyCar fan like me was that Hunter-Reay is an American (I also wrote about American not doing well in the sport.) He was the first American winning the championship since Sam Hornish Jr did it in 2006! (Apparently IndyCar was too comfortable for Hornish and he had to moved to NASCAR and endured some hard times there.) Ryan Hunter-Reay really deserved to win. He fought hard after the 2 poor performances late in the season. Even with Will Power crashed, Hunter-Reay still had to move up positions to gain enough points over Power and he did just that. Congratulations to the new champ.

It's September and it also means another new NFL season has started. I have not been a happy NFL fan for a while. However, I still enjoy watching the highlights as most games were still exciting (close games, spectacular plays, etc) It has been a good weekend because:
1) All those talks about 49ers going 16-0 has stopped after they got beaten up by the Vikings.
2) The Cowboys barely defeated the Bucs.
3) On the day former Raider Marcus Allen lighted the ceremonial flame that honored legendary (and controversial) owner Al Davis, the team won one for Al again, beating the mighty Steelers with a last minute field goal. Most people disagree with Davis picking kicker Sebastian Janikowski in the first round but Janikowski has indeed helped the team winning quite a few games. So Al may be right after all.
4) A few other games were also decided by last minute FG, including the Ravens beating the Patriots, the Jets beating the Dolphins (Reggie Bush is not going to be the RB with most yards this season, BTW), the Titans beating the Lions, the Chiefs beating the Saints (I was laughing so hard when the Saint's players cried "Justice! Fairness!" after the suspension of those involved in the bounty-gate was overturned. Going 0-3 is real justice and real karma, man!)

Last but not least, so happy to see the Giants winning another NL West title. They did it with chemistry and without ego.

The unpopular topic in media: poverty

Just read this article about media coverage of poverty when I googled "Almost non-existent" One of the explanation is that

advertisers want to think they are reaching wealthy people, people who will buy the products. They don't want really depressing articles about misery and hardship near their ads.

That's sad. Media is all about advertising $. Not good journalism. 

紐約+華盛頓：購物篇

對兩位女士來說，相信此旅程最重要的商店是American Girl Place，媽媽一早就為女兒預約tea time。如此鼎鼎大名的洋娃娃品牌我是年初才認識，我們特地為女兒（免費）訂閱其目錄，又在奧運宣傳見到那個玩體操的洋娃娃的故事。數層高的店內除了各種洋娃娃及服飾等等商品，還有餐廳、洋娃娃「理髮店」及「醫院」，收費高不在話下。看到這裡生意不俗，對全球經濟信心增強不少。

兩個小朋友另一間至愛商店非"App Store"莫屬，對我兒子而言，紐約這間別具特色地面用玻璃但空間在地庫的旗艦Apple Store和在iOS購App的Store是同一回事。當然有大批Apple fans來朝聖，照片拍個不停。

有Nintendo DS及Wii玩的Nintendo World，對小朋友吸引力比"App Store"僅遜一籌。那裡展示了各年代的Nintendo遊戲機，古老的紅白機至近代的N64一應俱全，讓我們這一代懷下舊。

老牌電視台NBC總部就在附近，專門店賣的包括歷年受歡迎電視節目相關紀念品，例如Friends, Seinfeld, 30 Rock, The Office, Tonight Show, The Voice等等；還有「應節」的Olympics紀念品，我也忍不住手買了一個cycling (road race) 章。

另一個忍不住手的是位於紐約棒球Yankee Stadium的Hardrock Cafe，皆因平日常見的Hardrock Cafe均以城市為名，以球場為名的我第一次見。我們購物之餘還在那裡食午餐，女帶位見我們無法入場內參觀，還幫我們拿相機入內拍了幾張照片，相當有心。下次有機會去睇波，我們會再光顧。

有圖有真相

那些年，我們一起踩的冰

中學時代學年終「大考」考完最後一科，某幾位女同學最喜歡的活動我記得是踩roller（沙田賓士）或踩冰（太古城），順理成章也成為我們兄弟的節目。溜冰在那些年是溝女不可或缺的招數，皆因拉龍時間是拖手良機；被稱為體育白癡的在下，前者能力和後者成功率的correlation相當高，結果自不言而喻；值得欣慰的是兄弟中那幾位溜冰高手也不見得比我成功得多。廿幾年後想不到要為子女「重出江湖」，今天是我女兒第二次踩（上次已是好幾年前），兒子則是第一次。他們當然不知那些年我那個外號，還以為爸爸游水打波無所不能，其實是硬著頭皮戰戰兢兢拖著他們的手來踩，竟然沒有一齊跌倒！這樣踩了一小時總算令他們膽子壯大一點，臨離開前已不用捉緊圍欄，自己試溜。巧合的是，我兒子也碰到「那些年」幼兒班的女同學！記得我小時候父親從未傳授半式溝女招數（游泳不算），他認為不用出招，係獨孤求敗真傳；這一代真是幸福。

紐約+華盛頓：住宿篇

以前在曼克頓Midtown工作，鼎鼎大名歷史悠久氣派不凡的Waldorf Astoria Hotel僅隔兩條街，記得姐姐來探望時就住在那裡，十分羨慕，希望有朝一日也去住住 。可惜Waldorf Astoria「好睇唔好住」，悠久的歷史換來失修的房間，空調窗簾浴缸去水都有不少問題。無論如何，今次總算一償夙願！就地點而言亦的確「無得彈」，subway E train站只隔兩個街口，Grand Central, 5th ave, Rockefeller Center, Time Square, United Nation等等都是走一段路就到。

相比之下，在華盛頓住的Embassy Suite (at Convention Center)可謂意外驚喜，這間中價位酒店我們在其他城市住過幾次，都是一房一廳，這間也不例外，單是房已和Waldorf Astoria面積相若，再加上廳，不但大而且新淨，插頭又多，叉電方便。地點亦是一流，步行廿分鐘可到唐人街及Museum of American Art。不過大家最喜歡的還是每天黃昏5:30-7:30的Manager's Reception:小食任吃酒任飲！以後再去DC，這間酒店必屬首選。

紐約+華盛頓：交通篇

和我的朋友不同，我甚少出外公幹及旅遊，「新」航空公司Virgin America在2007年啟航，今個月我才第一次乘坐，印象十分不錯。雖然有點刻意營造和傳統不同的casual and young feel，但她的飛機內籠及設備的確夠新，自選衞星電視我就未曾在其他航空公司用過；回SF時看了現場直播美國對墨西哥的足球友誼賽（美國隊有史以來首次在該地贏墨西哥！），及德州騎兵對紐約洋基的棒球賽，過足睇波癮！

我在十幾年前數次來往SFO<->JFK機場，在JFK坐過地鐵(Subway)的A Train去midtown，今次下榻位於midtown的Waldorf=Astoria，已計劃好同樣坐A Train。原來2003年JFK建成AirTrain，不只接駁A Train站，還有E J Z Train可選擇。從subway圖可見，E Train應該更快，事實上亦然。美中不足的是AirTrain收費每位五大元，雖然如此，一家人總花費還是比Limo或的士便宜很多。

另一樣差不多廿年前坐過的，是由紐約Penn Station開往華盛頓DC的Amtrak火車。記得那時Penn Station三教九流人士出出入入，今次印象改善不少，雖然警覺性不減。我們預早兩天在網上買票，十分昂貴：三個小時車程成人單程收$150，比德國及奧地利的火車都貴得多了。由大堂到月台，自動電梯欠奉，拖著又大又重的行李，真是一大挑戰。車票無劃位，要四個相連的坐位是Mission Impossible，幸好好心人甚多，肯讓坐換位，我們總算可以一個大人照料一個小朋友。坐定之後倒是頗為舒適，DC的總站Union Station更是極具氣派，離我們在市中心的酒店亦近，坐的士也很划算；雖然坐地鐵(Metro)也甚方便。

第二天一個人去參觀火車站旁的郵政博物館，原本打算坐Metro，卻在站外看見bikeshare站(即歐美逐漸普及的自動租還單車系統），以前從未用過，這次有機會當然一試，縱使比我坐Metro貴一點（單日租車「底價」$7無限次租還，每程租及還時間多於三十分鐘額外收費；我踩兩程都無超時所以只付「底價」$7；而兩程Metro應是$5樓下）總括而言，這個bikeshare系統算易用（有手機app幫忙找車及計劃路線），單車condition也可以接受。

去DC Dulles機場時「臨別秋波」坐的也是的士，皆因問過其他途徑如Shuttle或call車都要$60-$75不等，的士司機說價錢差不多（按跳錶計，結果總共付了$80，比預算多花了點，雖然換來flexibility，始終有點介懷）不過這個的士司機甚為獨特兼有品味，沿途為我們介紹所經景點（如五角大廈）又把收音機轉台至古典WETA，這程的士我整首Pictures at an Exhibition由頭聽到尾，也算難忘經歷。

有圖有真相

紐約+華盛頓：地標篇

美國最多地標的大城市，紐約和首都華盛頓(DC)可算數一數二。我們一到紐約放低行李就直闖聯合國(United Nation)大厦。個人認為聯合國本身看頭不大，只是不到不可；入面不能不做的倒是從聯合國郵局買聯合國郵票寄明信片回家，我在十五年前寄的現在還好好保存著呢。（聯合國郵票只能在聯合國郵局而不能在美國郵局使用）

下一站是帝國大厦(Empire State Building)，它是80年前全球最高的建築物（紀錄保持了40年），911世貿倒下之後，帝國大厦再次成為全市最高。無論如何，它都是充滿傳奇色彩，值得排隊上一上頂眺望紐約市景。

第一天到紐約怎能不去時代廣場(Time Square)呢？黃昏時候我們由酒店行過去，微雨時下時停，在陽光普照的西岸坐慣車的我們要適應一下；不過時代廣場商店林立，找幾家避避雨倒不成問題。

第二天的目的地是自由神像，我們在家預先買了十時由碼頭啟航的船票，以為八時起床時間綽綽有餘，全錯！船票寫著Battery park，我從地下鐵地圖看到Battery park city，找到最接近的車站: 世貿(World Trade Center)，九時四十分出站向那邊走，行了三十分鐘終於見到碼頭狀物體，行去一問，原來自由神像島(Liberty Island)的船不在該處出發而在South Ferry，只怪我們準備功夫不足，我在那裡居住已是十年前的事，而且少去遊客區。South Ferry的名字依稀有點印象，行到那裡剛好夠鐘上十一點的船，幸好我們買了的十點船票依然有效。航程雖短風景卻極佳，下船後可免費使用資訊豐富的audio guide，介紹了興建神像的歷史、挑戰及意義。回航時停Ellis Island，我們下船參觀位於該處的移民歷史博物館，以前坐船移民美國的會先在Ellis Island經過移民局審查（包括體檢），不合格者會被遣返，該地見證了不少悲歡離合。我們再上船，下一站回到曼克頓，5分鐘路程即到Bowling Green，那是股市大好友的「吉祥獸」Charging Bull的所在地；再走上幾條街，就是掌握全球經濟命脈的華爾街(Wall Street)， 之後理所當然到唐人街吃晚餐！

第三天主打Central Park，自稱十幾年前去過，其實只是在溜冰場踩過冰而已，這個跨越幾十條街的中央公園，景點甚多；我們有如劉姥姥入大觀園，連忙上網找推介路線，決定先行"The Mall"，在Bethesda Terrace看那噴水池及湖，美景透心涼。Belvedere Castle不算大，但那窄窄的樓梯也頗有特色；再走一會就是Metropolitan Museum of Art. 不如讓山地車好手Chris Clark帶大家遊遊Central park（有趣的是我們在旅程結束回到灣區那個週末去Oakland看Pedalfest才認識來自新澤西的車手Clark。）

MY BACKYARD CENTRAL PARK: with Chris Clark from Matthew Benjamin Canada on Vimeo.

第四天我們「遠征」Yankee Stadium，早知那天沒有開放接待遊客，皆因當晚上演重量級足球戲碼：皇家馬德里大戰AC米蘭，即使只能在外面逛逛也算是到此一遊吧。這是新落成的建築，外觀相當有氣派；不過外面具歷史性及紀念性的只有Babe Ruth銅像，這方面遠比不上SF巨人隊的球場了。

首都華盛頓的「首席」地標應屬紀念開國總統的Washington Monument，和其他總統紀念碑不同的是，它是唯一的方尖碑(Obelisk)，方尖碑歷史可追溯至古埃及和古西亞亞述(Assyria)。雖然現正在維修中不開放參觀，倒也不太重要，從外看已足夠。

還有兩個值得一提的紀念總統的地標：一是林肯的，另一則是Thomas Jefferson的。前者是傳統希臘神殿式；後者乃模仿羅馬式圓拱形頂建築。

餘下的地標就是第二次世界大戰紀念碑：由56條柱組成，包括了戰後1945年美國48個洲及其他領土（菲律賓當時也是）原來2004年才建成，難怪我全無印象！

有圖有真相

Vacated wins vs forfeits

What's the difference? The reason I'm looking into this is of course related to Penn State's recent penalty for the scandal. I wonder if Wisconsin will get a few more wins in their records because of this. Well, no. Vacating a win of one team does not award the opponent the win. It is as if the game has never been played. The penalty that award the opponent the win is forfeit.

書山學海

個幾月沒有去過SF唐人街，不變的是金門餅家依然在放假，不知是否過了勞動節才放完呢？相信有不少人等買月餅呀！

而那個五毛老祖長駐的街角，諷刺地成了其老板對頭宗教打手出沒的地點。

City College Of SF那副韓愈的對聯好像是新的：

書山有路勤為徑
學海無涯苦作舟

略嫌不夠含蓄，但勝在人人看得懂。

走過Transamerica Tower那個小公園，這邊廂是live blues，那邊廂是太極。

紐約+華盛頓：博物館篇

在我心目中，紐約Metropolitan Museum of Art可算是全美頭號美術館，規模及展品名氣皆無出其右。我們精選觀看最有興趣的樂器收藏部（包括古今歐亞非吹打拉弦樂器）、古希臘羅馬雕塑、印象派油畫、美國藝術（例如Tiffany創辦人的兒子設計的擺設及Frank Lloyd Wright設計的客廳），僅有的兩小時過得十分充實。

兩個孩子都對建築頗有興趣，所以不能不帶他們去去Guggenheim藝術館（那是我們紐約之旅最後一站！）該館主攻現代藝術，大量抽象作品，也有一些印象派油畫；當然，建築物本身就是一件藝術品。

在DC Union Station一下車，就見到郵政博物館(Postal Museum)，我到達DC第二天早上便去了參觀。可算是頗為冷門之選，遊人甚少。該館主要介紹美國郵政服務由殖民地時代至今的發展史；美國地廣民居分散，原來多年前民眾及商業郵購刺激郵政服務發展，其中一種重要商品竟然是種子。另外還展出世界各地的郵票，我就看了香港1862年的郵票。該館商店可供購買的相關郵政產品卻很少，只提供目錄作郵購之用！

DC眾多博物館的「龍頭」要算是Museum of Natural History，小朋友對大蛇昆蟲等等展覽都看得津津有味。我們一同看了一套IMAX 3D電影，主題是北極生態危機：冰川不斷融化減少，改變了當地動物的生活；相當煽情。中學時代訪美印象最深刻的DC博物館卻是Air and Space Museum，那是穿梭機一飛衝天去的年代，今次去最吸引我的反而是Wright Brothers在發明飛機前製造的單車！這些博物館同屬Smithsonian Institution旗下（全部免費入場），SI的informational center形如古堡，也是一大景點。它們位處的幾條街合稱為National Mall，還包括Museum of American History（展品林林總總，總之就和美國歷史有關，例如歷代總統及第一夫人的服裝餐具等等用品，又如美國海陸交通網的發展，還有幾支名電結他，和早年測試重要商業電腦程式語言COBOL的部件-一部把程式由打字鍵盤錄到磁帶及另一部大如雪櫃播放磁帶把程式傳到電腦的器材）還展出一支曾在Baltimore飄揚的大型美國旗及相關史事，據聞是美國歌The Spangled Banner的靈感來源。

展品其實不限於館內，National Mall有幾個館外的雕塑花園(Sculpture Garden)，例如展出現代藝術的Hirshhorn museum外就有艾未未（他在美國似乎頗有市場）創作的現代派十二獸首（題材當然源自圓明園那十二個）至於古代雕塑，可在National Gallery of Art之內看到。作為國家畫廊，當然亦有大量歷代名畫。可惜Gallery東館正在裝修，它和西館的古典式建築相反，充滿現代感，是貝聿銘備受讚賞的作品。

在National Mall以外的Smithsonian博物館就有Museum of American Art and Portrait Gallery，美國藝術部顧名思義，全為美國藝術家作品，部份出自黑人藝術家手筆。總的來說，歐洲藝術界的影響固然明顯，遼闊草原山谷風景畫卻顯美國獨有的特色；最特別的是從藝術角度欣賞電子遊戲的展覽。肖像部則包括美國歷任總統以至體壇樂壇巨星。雖然因為關門時間甚晚而參觀，卻比想像中有看頭，算是意外收獲。

另一極具美國歷史學習價值的地方是林肯總統遇刺身亡的Ford's Theater，該館提供導賞團（免費門票須預先索取）解釋事件詳情。和罪案有關的還有間諜博物館(International Spy Museum)，各種竊聽偷錄喬裝暗殺器材及技術層出不窮，小朋友極感興趣；至於間諜界的名人佚事，大人也看得入神。

不過成人世界最受歡迎的應是印銀紙廠(Bureau of Engraving and Printing)該廠同樣提供導賞團（免費門票亦須預先索取，我們八時半到，還拿到九時半的票，實在不錯）展示印刷、剪開紙幣的詳過程。

DC內部裝修最華麗的建築物則是國會圖書館(Library of Congress)，由志願人士帶隊的導賞團詳細解釋每一處裝飾的意義（例如壁畫展示文明由口述到筆錄至印刷的發展過程），館內的國寶級展品包括一本顧驣堡印刷術製成的完整聖經。

國會圖書館收藏了大量書籍錄像照片等等，不過和美國歷史息息相關的重要文稿原本卻是收藏於National Archive，包括美國獨立宣言、憲法及Bill of Rights；還有英國人要求國王改革的大憲章(Magna Carta)

為DC之旅作結的則是新聞博物館(Newseum)，介紹新聞出版的歷史及相關技術的發展，世界各地新聞自由度，還有展出位於世貿911被炸毀的一截廣播發射天線，以及一段被拆下的柏林圍牆。最好玩的莫過於女兒扮新聞主播，我用$5買下錄像留念。

有圖有真相

Replace split with explode

It has nothing to do with relationship. I'm writting this because I found out the PHP function split has been deprecated (actually for a long time) I didn't know until I saw my browser default page hosted by GoDaddy errored out. I guess GoDaddy just upgraded to a newer version of PHP for everyone last week. Well, for an IT guy like me, I can't leave my page broken, can I? So just like work, I googled for a solution: replace split with explode (I dunno why the developer picked that name. Seems violent to me) which could do the same thing (splitting a string using a given delimiter) Then I found there are other deprecated calls in the code I didn't write (the feed2js library used by my page) and upgraded feed2js to the latest. Problem solved.

紐約+華盛頓：飲食篇

既不是食家也無甚食神，不過出外旅行總會比較放縱，食得好一點。隨著年紀漸大兼有家室，倒會吃得比較小心，避免太過刺激的，反正SF或香港差不多要吃甚麼 有甚麼；更重要的是啱小朋友口味，總不成餓壞他們！所以今次之旅晚餐差不多一半是他們吃慣的中餐及日本菜： 

NY 鹿鳴春: 這是當年我在曼克頓生活年代逢親友探訪必去的酒家，例牌要等位。想到這裡，不是因為馳名的蟹粉小籠包，卻是之前一晚吃pizza，兒子沒有幾多到肚，夾硬逼不是辦法，如此旅行也太掃自己的興，唯有找家稍為接近他平日口味的，果然奏效；而我們在星期一未夠六時去到，尚有枱（但要搭枱）$33埋單，更重要的是人人吃飽。

NY Cafe Zaiya: 這其實是一個時代廣場附近41街與日式minimarket相連的餐飲部，日式飯及烏冬便宜得來又啱口味。

DC 台山酒家：我們光顧了兩次，外賣炒河炒飯，味道尚可，闊闊的河粉賣相有點怪，而且價錢不菲，大概比SF貴三四成。為了照顧兒子口味，不能太計較。其實我寧可吃對面Fuddrucker's（唐人街及附近店舖建築全有中文招牌，它的是「全世界最好吃漢堡」）拿外賣回酒店，職員以為我是外賣仔，「好心」地教我叫住客到大堂取貨好了，我說我住在此，反而教她尷尬。

DC 中國拉麵店：被門口師傅表演拉麵吸引，點了炒麵、小籠包和窩貼；炒麵不錯，後兩者味道和味全急凍版差不多。

DC Hooter's：當然吃它的雞翼，女兒則點了mini-burger。女侍應都穿著其著名制服，不過SF那間的漂亮一點。

其餘多餐都在博物館或景點的昂貴food court解決，乏善足陳。反而有兩餐從supermarket (NYC's Morton Williams)買Roast beef sandwiches，相當不俗。

最正的一餐在Theater District的意大利餐廳Becco，頭盤是炸魷魚，多得可作兩個孩子的正餐有餘，另外點了（一人）三款任吃pasta，一個檸檬雞，位於紐約黃金地段，該餐價錢不算貴。

有圖有真相。

籃球低手

廿幾年未掂過籃球，事實上當年培正體育堂教各種運動，我都興趣不大，尤以籃球為甚！不過舊年返培正晶社加冕見校友對老師的比賽，想想我們禮社三年後不知何人出賽，可能我現在練定到時可當個大後備呢？想還想卻無實際行動，直至今日。因為要兒子增高，加上他的大哥哥好朋友又是籃球好手，成功推動他打籃球，但我這個籃球低手就要出動陪太子打波，唯有把以前阿Sir傳授我僅餘的記憶盡力施展。打了半小時，不知有否耗掉剛才吃那杯雪糕新地的一半呢？

Samsung Galaxy Note Ice Cream Sandwich update

This is ironic: I have been waited for the official ICS release for G-Note since the beginning of the year, months before I bought the phone. I couldn't wait longer and pulled the trigger 2 months ago. Finally, AT&T and Samsung release the update last month. Yet, I'm still on the old version of Android. Why? As usual, OS upgrade almost always resulted in complaints about worsen battery life, for any smartphone I know of! Check out this post. It's scary but not TOO bad. I guess I'm going to take the plunge soon.

Musician of the day: Michael Pedicin

Normally my morning commute ended ~9am but it got pushed to 9:45-ish recently because of the start of the new school year. So I got to listen to the part of KCSM (local jazz station) broadcast that features guest interviews. Today's guest is a really interesting one: jazz saxophonist Michael Pedicin. First of all, he grew up in a musical family with his father Mike Pedicin, being an early pioneer/sax player/bandleader in a different genre, rock'n roll. (Think Bill Haley) In his mind, they are not really related musically. He discovered the jazz greats like Cannonball and Coltrane on his own (yeah, same for me) Second, he went to Med School (and quit because he needed to gig with the likes of Maynard Ferguson. Who wouldn't anyway?) and eventually got a degree in clinical psychology. So he's not only talented in music but also in academics! The few tracks of his band played by the DJ were quite interesting. All of those tunes were played by Coltrane before and I could hear the influences. (Well, Coltrane has played many tunes and who isn't influnced by him?) Michael Pedicin will be playing at Yoshi's SF tonight. I think it will be a great show.

Who is the longest-tenured player on the A's current 25-man roster?

If you follow A's talk on the radio like I do, it's a well-known fact that Kurt Suzuki was the one, well, before he got traded at the beginning of the month. After I watched another A's victory on TV last night, I'm curious to find out who the current one is and found the answer here. As the article mentioned, he is better than most people (including me) think.

Nostalgic Greenwich Village

During my recent trip back to NYC, I tried looking for all those places I used to hang out often in the village. Found a few of them. Also learned that many have been closed, including one of my favorite coffee house/bar with live music: Kavehaz. It seems that it moved from SOHO to Chelsea after I left and the Chelsea location has also been closed. Here is an article about Kavehaz (scroll to the bottom).

冷飯重温: 1998 Euro 豬仔團 trip

Because of my recent trip, I dug out what I wrote for my first trip to Europe (10/8/1998 - 10/16/1998) It was hosted on Geocities which was taken out of service by its parent Yahoo.

Day 1 - London
This is actually day 2 on my itinerary 'coz I spent a day on the flight from SF-NY-London. I arrived in the morning and faced my first problem: finding a place to have lunch. Fortunately there's a train station nearby. I went to the food court and ate at the only fastfood joint where I couldn't find in the States: (McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King had invaded most of the places I visited) I had a sandwich made of French bread (i.e. the really hard bread) and I had this kind of sandwich for lunch most of the time during this trip.

I visited the Tower of London in the afternoon. These towers were built by various emperor of England to defend against foreign invasion. The oldest one were 900 years old. They have witnessed many historical events, including the rise and fall of dynasties, kings and queens during the long history of England. The jewels of the royal family, including the crown jewel of the queen, were displayed there. And the famous London bridge is right next to the towers.

I took subway (called tubes by the local people) to Leicester Square, which claimed to be the hippest place in London, in the evening. It was very crowded, and surrounded by places like Odeon Theatre (where I witnessed the premiere of the movie "Mulan" in London), Fashion Cafe, Capital Radio Cafe (where I had dinner. They have a in-house DJ and DJ booth. Pretty cool) After dinner, I walked to the famous Soho area, which was full of bars and restaurant. It's a cool hangout place.

Day 2 - London
I took a city sightseeing tour and visited St. Paul Cathedral (where Prince Charles and Princess Diana was married. Many famous historical figures, like Winston Churchill and Duke Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, were buried there), St. James Palace (the official residence of Prince Charles), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana's funeral was held) and most importantly, Big Ben!

I visited Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the world, in the afternoon. It was also 900 years old. It was magnificent both outside and inside. The interior was luxurious: decorated with paintings, tapestries, furnitures, chinas. I went to Soho again this evening to attend a jazz show. That was a cool jazz club with good atmosphere.

Day 3 - London, Dover, Calais, Brussels
I left London for Dover, a port at South England and took a cruise ship across the English Channel to Calais, France. The ship was big and comfortable. The scenes along the cruise was beautiful. It was an enjoyable experience. The "dummy" tour (i.e. the guided tour) officially begun in Calais. The tour bus took us across the border to Brussels, Belgium.

Day 4 - Brussels, The Hague, Amsterdam
I had a brief city sightseeing tour around Brussels, the capital of Belgium as well as European Union, in the morning. There were not much interesting places, except the Atomium, which is a building that looks like an enlarged molecule: with interconnected balls representing atom and containing restaurants inside. It was built for World Expos in the past.

I left Brussels for the Hague, Netherlands in the afternoon. It's the city where the Netherlands government resides (it's not the capital though) The Peace Palace, i.e. the international court, is in Hague. Then I went on to Amsterdam.

Day 5 - Amsterdam
The tour guide brought us to the first tourist trap of this tour this morning: a diamond "center." Amsterdam is supposed to be famous of diamond. We were shown a little bit of the diamond polishing process.Then we were brought to a room with sales trying to sell us diamonds after educated us with knowledge of diamond sizes and cuttings. They locked the door of the room for about 15 minutes. So we were literally trapped! I wonder who'd buy things that require careful examination and consideration like diamonds under such circumstances. Well, there are always people fall to these traps otherwise these places wouldn't survive.

Then I visited Rijkmuseum, which showed a lot of paintings of Dutch artists, including the famous Rembrandt's. Too bad the Van Gogh museum was under renovation at that time. I had a cruise on the canals of Amsterdam and it is one of the highlights of this trip. Netherlands is a country built on top of water. A third of the country is actually under sea level. Dutch reclaim the land by extracting water from the land using windmills. So water is an integral part of Dutch life. Most of the canals in the city of Amsterdam are constructed, only a few of them are natural. People uses the canals for transportation. The canals also provide spaces for living: there are house boats every where along the canals. Some of these house boats actually seem to be pretty comfortable to live in. There are lots of classic looking buildings, some dated back to 18th century, along both sides of the canals. It's a beautiful scene. A interesting note: some of these old buildings are tilted because wood posts were used to support the building when they were built in the old days and they become rotten by water as times goes by. People living inside need to deal with sloped table surfaces as well as floors. I enjoyed this cruise a lot because of the beautiful scenes as well as the knowledge I gained about the life of people living in Amsterdam.

Day 6 - Amsterdam, Cologne, Coblenz
The tour left Amsterdam for Germany in the morning and began the journey into the area along the river Rhine. The first city I visited is Cologne. One of the most famous thing about Cologne is, of course, Cologne the man's "perfume." The name of the famous brand 4711 actually came from the house number of the place where it was first manufactured. However, what impressed me the most about this city was the Dom, a old Gothic style catholic church. It looked magnificent. The next stop is the German Corner. It is the place where the river Rhine and Moselle meet. I stayed at a small and old yet beautiful country side motel on the river bank near the city Coblenz that night.

Day 7 - Coblenz, Trier
The Rhine journey continued on Day 7. I had a cruise on the river: there were lots of old castles along the river. I was told that the interior of most of these castles were not preserved as they were converted to hotels or prisons! What a pity. One of the landmark I saw during the cruise was the Lorelei rock, which was associated to a legend of mermaid. It was not really special. Then I arrived at the city Trier in the afternoon. Trier has a very long history. It was established by the Roman emperor Constantine as the capital of the western part of the Empire about 1900 years ago. I visited Basilika, the palace built by Constantine. It's a huge hall now became a church. There were also other remaining of buildings from the Roman era, e.g. a bath place, where the Roman people took bath (people did not have private bathroom those days) and an amphitheater, where the Roman watched the cruel games of man fighting against animals and each other. It is also famous for being the birthplace of Karl Marx, the father of communism.

Day 8 - Trier, Paris
I left Germany for France this morning. On the way to Paris the tour took us to visit a winery, specialized in champagne. I was surprised by the large amount of money and effort the winery put into the guided tour (which feature a Disney like train ride around the cave) as well as the decoration of the cave where the wine was manufactured. I wonder how much of these costs were added to the price of the champagne. I arrived at Paris in the evening. Then I went to a cabaret show, which Paris is really famous for. The girls at the show were pretty. The music was good. It was very entertaining.

Day 9 - Paris
I took a city sightseeing tour this morning. I saw the landmarks like Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre and the glass pyramid, the Renaissance style City Hall, Concorde Square, the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe, and lots of other classical style old buildings. I was simply stunned by the beauty of these buildings. It is difficult to describe the beauty using words.

I visited another palace this afternoon: Versailles. It was built in the 17th century and modified many times since and it was the residence of French Emperor Louis XIV, XV, XVI. I was amazed by the luxurious look outside. I was even more amazed when I saw the luxurious decoration inside! Like Windsor Castle, it is heavily decorated with painting, tapestry, furniture, gold painted ceilings. It also has lots of sculptures of emperors including Napoleon and other famous people (e.g. the scientist Laplace) The most magnificent sight in my opinion is the hall of mirror with the chandeliers. It was fantastic.

I went to a jazz club, Duc Des Lombards, and saw the performance of the Ricardo Del Fra Sextet. They played great hard bop jazz. I was glad to see that the place was packed with fans. The atmosphere was great. I guess the jazz scene in Paris must be alive and kicking.

This is the end of my Europe trip. It was a great experience.

Bonus coverage: Day 10+ - New York
I stopped by New York City on my way back home from Europe. I've been attracted to New York City for a long time because of its sports and music scene. I went to an ice hockey game, New York Rangers vs. Edmonton Oilers, at Madison Square Garden, which claims to be the most famous arena in the world. The arena and the crowd was not really special but the game was exciting (Rangers 3, Oilers 2.)

One of the must-see thing in New York is of course the famous Broadway musicals. I saw Jekyll and Hyde at Plymouth Theater. The songs are beautiful. Another thing that New York is famous for and what I'm most interested in is jazz. New York is THE capital of jazz. Lots of jazz musicians are working and living there. Most of the famous jazz musicians choose New York City as one of their tour stop. I think you can find one or more big name jazz musicians playing in NYC every night! Many legendary and prestigious jazz clubs, like Birdland, Village Vanguard, Blue Note, are in NYC. Many jazz masters, including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans have played and recorded live sessions at these clubs. I went to Village Vanguard to see the Lou Donaldson Quartet. I also went to a newer jazz club (any place is new compared to those legendary clubs) called Iridium, which books many big name musicians as well, to see the Pat Martino Quintet. The clubs were typical. The music was great. I visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown in upstate New York. It has exhibits about baseball history and it also displays lots of memorabilia items like gloves, bats, jersey...... from legendary players. It was a wonderful experience for a baseball fan like myself. This is the end of my vacation.

2012 Euro Cycling and Art Trip

I have been back from this trip for 4 days already and spent most of my free time blogging it. It's finally finished and published:

Prologue
Munich
Salzburg
Wachau
Vienna
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2

Hope you enjoy reading it. I certainly will in a few years when I forgot everything :P

Squeaky disc brake on a mountain bike

I have been biking for many years but I can't say I'm familiar with bike maintenance (I'm as lazy as you could imagine when it comes to maintenance.) Mountain bike and disc brake are especially new to me. My 2 month old bike started squeaking when I squeeze the brake. It sounded really scary and I worry about not having braking power when I need it the most: going downhill on narrow trails. I wonder if I did something wrong with brakes (misaligned it by accident?) but it turns out disc brakes just need more cleaning than the V-brake and C-brake that I'm used to. Thanks to this article. I didn't even use rubbing alcohol but plain water and it worked like a charm.