Sports highlights: F1, Tour of California, baseballs

I have been rooting for both Bay Area baseball teams: Giants and A's, for years. The A's have the "Money Ball" genius Billy Beane as its GM and was able to discover talents at great bargain which translated to lots of success for a few years in the last decade. Compared to the A's, the Giants seem much less capable of good acquisitions. They had signed quite a few over-the-hill and over-valued players in recent years. However, with a bigger budget and a fanbase that is willing to pay and fill up the ball park often, the blunders didn't hurt them as much as one would think. If I remember correctly, the Giants have more good seasons than the A's recently, not to mention that magical 2010 season that they win it all.

During the past offseason, the Giants seemed to have addressed their weaknesses and acquired a few good players. On the contrary, the A's have traded away a bunch of their stars for unproven players. Critics thought that Billy Beane has lost "it" and they seem to have given up on this season just to wait for relocation and a new ball park. That's what I thought too. I had high hopes for the Giants while not expecting much from the A's. Man, we're so wrong. Billy Beane was right again! The star closer he traded away is currently on DL and had zero contribution to his new team. On the other hand, the newcomers like Josh Reddick and Ryan Cook have performed admirably. I still remember looking up who the A's got from the Andrew Bailey trade and found a completely unfamiliar name: Josh Reddick. Well, he has hit 9 HR so far. Much better than I expected!

It's always a dilemma when they play against each other. I tended to root for the underdog in the series. However, since the Giants underachieved and the A's overachieved, both have nearly identical records entering the series. In this case, all I can root for are good games!

It has been a busy week for me as evident by the low volume of posts I wrote. I took a day off to follow the riders of Tour of California, the top bicycle race in US, at its Stage 3, between San Jose and Livermore. Even though the riders just zoomed by us in no time, it's really not about watching the race in the strict sense 'coz the atmosphere was awesome.

Another race that definitely worth watching was Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, won by the underdog driver with the underdog team, Paster Maldonado from the Williams, beating out 6 other former champs (Alonzo, Raikkonen, Button, Vettel, Hamilton and Schumacher) Also worth mentioning was that Lewis Hamilton started from the last place (24th) and finished 8th, which was another amazing feat. He was the original polesitter instead of Maldonado but he was penalized for breaking the rule for fuel level (too few) in his car.

The Williams team winning it was specially a feel-good story. The telecast mentioned the last F1 winner from this team was current NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya, whose F1 days seems ages ago. From this NYTimes article:

Williams is the third most successful team in Formula One, behind Ferrari and McLaren. But it has not won a championship since 1997, and had not even made it to the podium — the top three finishers — since the Singapore Grand Prix in Sept. 2008.

4 letter symbols in NASDAQ

When every news media started talking about Facebook's IPO and the symbol rumored to be FB or LIKE, I thought it has to be the latter, not the former, because I thought NASDAQ had a rule that all symbols have to be 4 letters. I am a lazy investor and have been a big fan of NASDAQ 100 ETF (which was a bad idea) I still remember its name went from QQQ to QQQQ when it started being traded at NASDAQ itself. This post from WSJ confirmed it happened in Nov 2004. However, just found another article from 2007 that NASDAQ has dropped this restriction!

Happy B-day my friend!

Here was the song list:
- Schumann: Traumerei  (Excuse Trio)
- Bach: Gavotte in G minor (Maddy)
- Beyond: 真的愛你 (鄭老柴)
- Beyond: 海闊天空 (鄭老柴)
- Happy Birthday (Excuse Quartet)

 

N無作家：戇居咪戇居囉

What a coincidence! This is a nice follow-up to the post about Mr. Sendak earlier today

From 爽報:

「背棄了理想，誰人都可以……」在香港講理想，與賺錢無關即歸類為「不切實際」，但80後青年張培基（Allen）偏愛發文字綺夢，每月埋首寫3,000 多字小說，再自資出版單張紙的《特寫》小說月刊，然後企街逐張派。一人公司仍自封「市場拓展經理」，別人笑他嘥錢兼戇居，但Allen心頭海闊天空：「戇居無罪呀，我發展到渠道可以輕鬆自由寫作，有理想，比起買樓買車更開心。」

He might not succeed but he has dreams and no one could take them away from him.

RIP Mr. "Where the Wild Things Are"

From CNN:

Maurice Sendak, author of the classic children's book "Where the Wild Things Are," has died at 83. Former President Bill Clinton called him the "king of dreams." Sendak grew up to take a few night classes but largely taught himself as an artist. He is best known for "Where the Wild Things Are." It tells the story of a boy named Max who dresses in a white wolf costume and escapes his life at home by sailing to a remote land, where he discovers wild things who roar their terrible roars and gnash their terrible teeth. The book stirred controversy when it was first published in 1963. Many librarians initially feared it would disturb children, but it has become a timeless classic well-stocked in bookstores and libraries around the world. It was in the news again when President Obama read the story to children at this year's White House Easter egg roll.

Formal education (especially the forced fed type) alone wouldn't produce greatness. It's the ability to think outside of the box. Don't be afraid to break out of the norm. I thought his book was weird too but he had my respect. Mr. Sendak is indeed the king of dreams.

The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant

睇緊呢套講Costco既紀錄片，介紹佢地co-founder/CEO，原來係一個七十幾歲老人家，成日巡舖，業界封佢零售橋王，認真掂。 同其他公司相反，佢地舖頭一類產品特登賣少d牌子型號，等顧客唔駛左諗右諗變左唔買，我去到Fry's，就成日都係左諗右諗變左唔買。 又特登唔掛貨品指示牌，等顧客盲頭烏蠅亂走，睇多d結果買多d唔等駛野。 仲有，佢地markup特別低，因為賺每個會員每年幾十蚊會費都賺到笑。

久違了的士德頓街

今天沒有帶午餐，考慮過去吧睇歐霸，不過美國主流有線台都沒有直播；於是決定去行街覓食，想試試的印度truck不知所踪，一路行上唐人街，以為會頗熱，卻寒風撲面，只穿T恤的我顯得單薄。誰知唐人街金門又放假，再去很久沒光顧過的小巴黎（越南包馳名），原來成個block已經為建鐵路站而清拆！想想已有大半年未行過士德頓街，連豐澤在這裡開了「分店」（或總店？）也不知。

總算在書局望了一些雜誌連環圖封面，在影碟店看了一會免費電影（李連杰主演的，Google了一會影碟封面才知寫甚麼戲名: 「龍門飛甲」是也），最後在橫街Waverley的餅店買了雞批+蛋撻+老婆餅，今餐合共$2.35。那個蛋撻才$.65，比金門的便宜三成有多，味道當然有段距離，不過今天想幫襯後者亦無「門」呢（未到七月，金門未放悠長假期吧？）可能看武俠片看得熱血沸騰，回程時已不覺涼。

同場加映：一對癡情白人中（或老）年情侶旁若無人親熱。

單車安全日

學校今日單車安全日，其實不是所有小朋友都可以騎單車往返學校及屋企（例如住得遠或下課後要坐保母車到after school）一眾家長開車把子女單車搬出搬入，運動量可能超過踩車了！當然，對環保是零幫助。

出師不利 後遇貴人

I went biking with my buddy on Sunday. This was the 2nd time we decided to ride up King's Mountain Road. Last time he couldn't make it because he stayed up too late the night before and I had an uneventful solo ride. I wasn't optimistic that he'd show up this time but he did and it turned out much more eventful than I wished for :P He actually rode past the intersection we were supposed to meet so he made a U-turn and he dropped his bike. Not a good sign :( Indeed, his chain fell off when we shifted gears for the steep King's Mountain. His bike has been having shifting problem for a while and that drop probably worsened it. We saw that the front derailleur was jammed into the front cogs and the chain itself was bent. We tried fixing it and the best we could do was making it barely ride-able (with horrifying metal grinding noise.) Obviously we had to turn back. After a while, a car got passed us. The driver slowed down and talked to us. He told us he's a bike mechanic and offered to help. We're more than happy to accept! He took his screwdriver from his trunk and was able to pull out the jammed derailleur and thus stopped the chain from grinding with it. Next, he wanted to fix the chain but he didn't have the chain tool. Fortunately I have it with my bike all the time (thanks to advices I got from other experienced riders) He took the few bent links off the chain (and I got to learn how to use that tool!) Now the bike was in a much better shape even though it's far from 100%: only the middle cog is useable so most of the lower gears weren't available. We were really thankful to this fellow and asked where his shop was so that we could spread good words. Turned out he didn't even do this for a living. He just lived nearby and he's an enthusiast who like to help friends and neighbors fixing their bikes. Now we're pretty sure we could at least got back to my buddy's car. However, he got ambitious and wanted to finish what we started: riding up King's Mountain. I was very skeptical 'coz it's challenging even with all the gears intact. I offered to switch bike with him but he refused and I understood. After all, bike is like GF for some. You get intimate with it. To show my support, I decided not to use the smallest cog as well. And we made it up King's Mountain like that!
Congrat my friend! It's your first Cat-1 climb. :D

Lucky vs Unlucky

MLB Network just showed stats of 2 pitchers (probable starters in tmw's matchup):
CC Sabathia (NYY), ERA = 4.58
Bruce Chen (KC), ERA = 4.23

Difference between their W-L record = 6 games!

Yes, CC is 3-0 while Chen is 0-3.

World Trade Complex

This name is "grand" and reminded me of the World Trade Center in NYC and Hong Kong, all landmark buildings. Well, this was a pic of World Trade Complex in San Francisco. 


It was just demolished last month as one of the construction projects along the Embarcadero water front. The projects were off and on. They were originally part of the plan for America's Cup (the top yacht race in the world) hosted by San Francisco in 2013 but not anymore. Another related project was the closure and rebuilding of the nearby lot I park every day I go to work. That's why I followed the development closely. It is the cheapest parking lot in the area. It will be missed when this happens. The latest rumor is that the Golden State Warriors want to built their new stadium on it! Here is the irony: all these plans (or abandoned ones) are related to Oracle and Larry Ellison. Oracle has a team participating in the America's Cup. And currently the Warriors play in a stadium that Oracle has the naming right.

Musician of the day: Norah Jones

I have listened to Norah Jones' music (who hasn't?) and I have of course listened to the great Sitarist Ravi Shankar. And I just found out Jones is Shankar's daughter. I guess musicianship does run in the family.

伸張正義&消費主義

今日國際勞動節連續做了兩件有點矛盾及諷刺性的事。Lunch break踩車去到Justin Herman plaza看看有無示威抗議活動，見到一班單車友整裝待發，並邀我加入聲援大遊行，支持弱勢社群，應當義不容辭，於是跟大隊浩浩蕩蕩踩到Westfield購物中心，有一大班該處員工支持工會活動，支持99%。

加入行列踩回Montgomery街，又有另一活動抗議1%：

 有人在馬路塗鴉；

有人大合奏國際歌。

那裡有個熱狗檔，都是99%份子，生意好像特別好。

雖然我自稱良心份子，一樣不能免俗，對部份奢侈品及活動趨之若鶩，例如遊船河。本來就喜歡船的我，每當有郵輪停泊本市，都會特地去觀摩一番。今天就有一首相信是駛往Alaska的埋岸（也霸佔了一半我平日泊的廉價停車場，我被迫幫襯另一個較貴的）

Why Did Obama Ever Win (the 2012 election) in the First Place?

Here were some opinions gathered by a journalist from 8 people in the Southern states. (Yeah, they didn't like Mr. Obama)

Cupertino公共圖書館

今天有一小時要打發，決定走路由Daiso去奇華，只花了十分鐘!幸好途經Cupertino city hall 暨圖書館，入去逛逛，原來相當有氣派:樓高二層，電腦顯示屏全是新貨色，中間一個大如水族館的熱帶魚缸，多個擺滿中文書籍雜誌的書架。有點詫異的是，部份新竹市送贈的舊雜誌竟然是honor system (任人帶回家)我看了一會，再到英文雜誌區，結他以至模型火車雜誌一應俱全，難怪書局要關門大吉。

Home Style

Boston Market招牌寫住Home Style Meal，尋日經過，我個仔好質疑：佢點知我屋企乜style?我嘗試用average home, typical style既概念黎解釋，我諗佢唔明。

Music of the day: Brandenburg Concerto

Got an e-mail titled "J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos: The True Story‏" Sounds like reality TV, huh? Well, I've been reading about "The True Story" behind Bach's Six Cello Suites so naturally I find this interesting too.

永遠站在雞蛋的那方

作為一個村上春樹的擁躉，竟然在他說了這番話三年後，才從《蘋果日報》專欄文章間接認識。該文指出：

村上春樹在獲頒耶路撒冷文學獎時說「在高大堅硬的牆和雞蛋之間，無論高牆是多麼正確，雞蛋是多麼地錯誤，我永遠站在雞蛋這邊」，這幾句往後成了扶助弱勢對抗強權時常被引用的金句。 

可能有點難解，還是看看他說話的背景及上文下理才行，以下節錄自台灣《天下雜誌》418期09年03號:

村上春樹於耶路撒冷的英語演講辭「永遠站在雞蛋的那方」，道出個人應有的道德勇氣、與對體制霸權的深刻反省，隨即被國際媒體競相轉載，更超越文壇，在國際政治、人權組織間引起廣大迴響。 [他說:]誰是誰非，自有他人、時間、歷史來定論。但若小說家無論何種原因，寫出站在高牆這方的作品，這作品豈有任何價值可言？這代表什麼意思呢？轟炸機、戰車、火箭和白磷彈就是那堵高牆；而被它們壓碎、燒焦和射殺的平民則是雞蛋。這是這個比喻的其中一層涵義。更深一層的看，我們每個人，也或多或少都是一枚雞蛋。我們都是獨一無二，裝在脆弱外殼中的靈魂。 你我也或多或少，都必須面對一堵名為「體制」的高牆。體制照理應該保護我們，但有時它卻殘殺我們，或迫使我們冷酷、有效率、系統化地殘殺別人，是我們創造了體制 。 我寫小說只有一個原因，就是給予每個靈魂尊嚴，讓它們得以沐浴在陽光之下。故事的目的在於提醒世人，在於檢視體制，避免它馴化我們的靈魂、剝奪靈魂的意義。

的確，這是一個有風骨的文人，和只懂奉承當權者的哈巴狗不可同日而語。我對他的敬意又深了一重。

Musicians of the day: Turtle Island Quartet

Just found out two members left and have been replaced. I'm not too familiar with their music but as a jazz and string quartet fan/player, I'm interested in the story.

Here's an interesting quote from the founding member David Balakrishnan:

...The premise of the group requires string players with professional level ability in both jazz and classical music traditions. Such players are still in short supply, even in today’s world with so much more awareness and interest in alternative string styles, 27 years after the formation of the quartet. Those that do possess this extraordinary combination of skills tend to be mavericks, not necessarily well suited to the unique demands of life in a string quartet, where everyone basically plays the same instrument.

It’s hard to stand out, and why else have the audaciousness to leave the classical tradition, usually in your early teens, and venture into the relatively uncharted waters for string players getting off the page if you don’t have a chance to really strut your stuff, make a name for yourself as an individual?

Almost impossible to do in the context of being in a string quartet.

Fortunately our quartet doesn't have the same problem :P

Violinist Mads Tolling was one of the member that left. I've actually been to his show with his own group (not string quartet) at Yoshi's before and enjoyed his own music a lot. I've also listened to two of his CDs. He The two incoming players both have impressive resumes though. I've listened to violinist Mateusz Smoczynski on Last.fm before and liked his style of jazz. The new violist Benjamin von Gutzeit has performed with another famous jazz violinist Mark Feldman so he gotta be good. I'm curious to hear what the new group sounds like. Also made me want to listen to their old recordings too.

Grammy Criticism

I started this post two months ago right before the award show and really wanted to finish it soon or it will be so outdated and irrelevant. I read a few articles back then about the jazz category. Basically, the criticism was that the choices were too conservative. It seems like only big names won, for example, Chick Corea this year. This article mentioned a few non-big-name jazz musicians that should have been nominated. (BTW, here is an interesting discussion of this article among trumpeters) As a jazz fan that'd love to see diversity and new artists to grow in this genre, I had to disagree with them though. I felt that these writers sounded like they have to write some alternative opinions to distinguish themselves. Music appreciation is subjective and personal, even more so for jazz. I found most of the music mentioned very good and award-deserving, whether the artists are big names or not. Does the award committee have to favor the lesser known ones? Furthermore, the non-big-names mentioned included Donny McCaslin, Matthew Shipp and David S. Ware. All are actually quite famous among serious jazz listeners.

Grammy's classical awards don't seem to suffer from the same conservative problem though. Look at the list of winners: it is full of modern (more avant-garde and less well-known) composers and piece.