SF Chamber Orchestra

I've seen their ads, but never managed to get to one of their concerts... until now.

It's more casual than, say, an SF Symphony or SF Opera. The conductor wore bright red socks (this is called out in the survey insert in the program, so it's not like I look for such things). And he turned around and said "you can clap anytime you feel like, but that's why we print the program with the movements".

There's a 30-minute talk before the concert. Not on the scale of the MTT series, but informative and light.

Best piece of the evening: Valerie Coleman: Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra
It's not that I didn't like the others. I've heard them before, and this one was unusual in a good way.

Christmas Remembrance Service

For 14 years, Holy Cross has had a Christmas Remembrance Service. It's not a mass, like their monthly first-saturdays. And for 11 of those 14 years, Fr. Talesfore has been the priest. Last year, Fr. Talesfore's dad joined the ranks of residents at Holy Cross.

So, this is the 3rd time we've listened to his service. He really does seem like a warm person. He has baptized parishioners' kids, then watched them grow up, and presided over their weddings. He doesn't look that old. Last saturday was a zoo, but today there were empty seats. It wasn't like this in previous years, but I guess two saturdays in-a-row takes its toll on attendance.

Fr. always stands back and looks at the tree, decorated with "remembrance ornaments" which are colored paper ornaments, on which you write your own remembrance message, and says "how's the tree looking? Believe it or not, I'm not the shortest person in our family". Ha. Maybe that's why I like him. He's my height...

The first year, I could hardly control myself, and the tissue box was out-of-reach. I still tear up, but it's more peaceful now. I close my eyes. Listen to the music. Breathe deeply.

Urinetown

OMG. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. Just pure enjoyment with laughter, smiling so hard my eyes teared up. I hadn't noticed this musical on the SFCM calendar. As luck would have it, mybart.org did list this as a noteworthy free event.

I'd never heard of this musical, Urinetown. I don't follow the Tony Awards really. To me, they're Broadway plays that I will unlikely ever see. Faraway, or costly if the show is being staged locally in SF, although I did take Murielle to see Phantom of the Opera in London. Like the SF Opera... and now that I've been in the opera house, I'm even less likely to go see an opera there... not only are the tickets expensive, the venue sucks. There is literally no legroom, even for a shorty like me. I've been to The Met in NYC. SF Opera is nothing like it. One company holiday party included Beach Blanket Babylon, which was great fun. I don't like holiday parties where you stand around and socialize with people that you're sick of seeing already.

But, a quick google and I'd decided to go. The only question was Friday or Saturday. Friday I could go after work, and save on my BART expense. But Saturday, I could take mom with me, and get her out of the house for something more fun than going out to eat.

After some questioning, which I won't go into detail on this blog, mom agreed to go... and she loved it! Phew...

It's That Time of the Year. Again.

Mom & I went to the All Souls service at Holy Cross cemetery. Each year we've gone, it's been celebrated by bishop Wang. He reminds me of the Dalai Lama. The way he looks. The way he talks. His sense of humor. Soon, it'll be time for the Christmas remembrance service. I still vividly remember the first one we attended, now approaching 3 years ago.

With each passing year, I have more "ornaments" to hang on the remembrance tree. It's not that this service gets easier, but more like an inner peace, or acceptance, that they're not coming back. And whatever help or guidance you may still need... you have to get it some other way. Maybe even figure it out yourself. Aren't we supposed to be the guides for the next generation? Fortunately, no one listens to me, so I still have time to get my act together. And that's exactly what it is. An act. I'm still clueless...

Dreams

A couple of dreams lately...

In the first one, dad has come with me for lunch, along with my colleagues from work, maybe? In any case, we were a larger group than just 2. Dad asks me for suggestions off the lunch menu, and I say that the fish & chips with beer sounds good. It's $12. He says it's too expensive. But come time to order, the waiter skips over me. Again. This is a recurring theme. I'm left there with menu-in-hand.

I got a parking ticket from a cop. I don't know why. I'm arguing it, and he gives me another ticket! In fact, he gives me a ticket for each slice of meat on my plate. I don't know how this connection came to be. I'm angry. I get up to argue, and the cop shoots me with his gun. I take him to court, and the judge gives me jail time for attempted assault of a police officer. Much later, I'm released from jail. I've invited a friend over for dinner, but I then find out he's a cop. I uninvite him, vowing that all cops abuse their power. They don't enforce the law. They are the law. And then I wake up...

So, what do these mean?

Count Tarantula de Diablo

I have no photos of tarantulas to post :(

Based on this article, I thought I'd see the ground crawling with them, but nooo... was I too late in the season? September and October, right? According to this article...

It was still a nice hike, though. Falls & Middle Trail up, refill water at summit, then Eagle Peak Trail back down. I was thinking... that I have a really good guardian angel watching over me. I do lots of stuff alone, with no back-up people. I figured it's like a collaboration. They're watching over mom, but they need me to do stuff down here, so they're watching over me too. Y'know... kind of like how the mob protects Tom Cruise at the end of The Firm.

Spice of Life

Mom & I took BART to this festival in Berkeley. The main attraction for us is the chef stage, and maybe there will be some food vendor that catches her fancy. We arrived at the chef stage as they were handing out sauteed shrimp, so I walked right up and grabbed a few. Tasty, but... too salty! I think that's true for most non-homecooked food for us now. Certainly for me.

Next up was the blackened ahi. Pretty easy to do... just buy some K-paul blackening seasoning. Oh, and the butter goes on the fish, not in the pan. The pan is hot-hot-hot dry. You can blacken other fish, but you might have to finish it in the oven to be safe. Sushi-grade salmon would be good, too.

We walked around, and came back for the chocolate smoothie. We didn't get a taste, but their booth was handing out samples of their organic ice cream, which was incredibly good. I don't know what % of the current generation of kids can't eat there. They use nuts in everything. The chocolate smoothie has "nut milk" instead of dairy milk.

We tried the flacos.com which was pretty good. And we were nostalgic for the funnel cake, so we had one of that, too. Not as good as we remember it from the Pennsylvanian Dutch folks, but recall memory is known to be faulty.

Fleet Week

I was wishy-washy about going. I was just in SF the previous weekend. Am I up for more crowds? I've seen the Blue Angels several times before, up-close, at Moffett Naval Air Field -- now that was a real experience. Ah, the smell of the after-burners... you don't get that when they're way out over the water, and there's a constant wind.

But I'm glad I went. They come but once-a-year, and in other ways it seemed important for me to get my fat ass out there doing stuff. I started in the usual way - stairs up to Coit Tower. It's a reliable bathroom stop. Then the Canadian Snowbirds were starting, so I rushed down to the waterfront, somewhere behind the restaurants at Fisherman's Wharf. I settled in on the edge of the Herbst Pavillion pier, just outside of the railing. With my vietnamese #6 sandwich in-hand, I was ready to enjoy the airshow.

You know those movies like Top Gun, where the instructor is demonstrating with a model airplane? That's what it was like, watching these stunt pilots. Toy planes that they can make it do anything. It is amazing, like how one can suspend a plane vertically and spin it like a weather vane. All around me were photographers with big glass. I saw a shot, I hear shutters click. I remembered to bring binoculars this time. I always forget...

There were other stuff going on. Open studios at Fort Mason. I had some wine & cheese, because you're supposed to have that with art. And this at Chrissy Field:

I am full of...

anti-oxidants! I saved seeds from last year's meals. Any heirloom tomatoes that were tasty had their seeds saved.

Next season is going to be even more. If mom doesn't get her act together and plant other vegetables, my tomatoes are going to take over the yard!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

I took Dave and Murielle to this one year, when they still lived in the Bay Area. It was smaller then, and you could walk around and get close to the artists, except for the featured stage. It has gotten way bigger now. I heard some estimate of 400k people for sunday. That's a lot of bodies. The banjo stage field was a solid sea of humanity. I managed to find a spot in the "friends & family" section, next to a nice Swedish lady, married to a Brooklyn man, now living in SF near their daughter who plays the cello, and 6-yr old grand-daughter. The arrow stage attendance was not much smaller. The star stage was a younger hippie druggie crowd. The porch stage more folksy. That's my sweeping generalizations for today...

I took BART to civic center, and walked the 4.2 mi (according to google) each way. I figured it'd be good to get some exercise, if I'm going to sit and listen to music for hours. I ate a danish, a croissant, and a box of grapes. That's it. Almost healthy? And water, no soda.

Here's what I saw that I liked (I won't mention what I didn't like, cuz that's not nice) :

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/2008/newschedule.cgi?show=artists&key=ALISON_BROWN_JOE_CRAVEN

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/2008/newschedule.cgi?show=artists&key=BILL_EVANS_STRING_SUMMIT_MEGAN_LYNCH

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/2008/newschedule.cgi?show=artists&key=EARL_SCRUGGS

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/2008/newschedule.cgi?show=artists&key=RICKY_SKAGGS

California Academy of Sciences

NOT. We didn't get in. Mei drove her relatively new Impreza, nephew Wesley, mom and me. They handed out 25,000 timed tickets for the 9:30-9pm opening day and they were gone in a jiffy. So, we braved the traffic, a minor fender-bender, and the crowds..... for nothing. We ended up walking around the Strybing Arboretum for a little bit, then we went home.

One must think carefully about the cost-benefits of such freebies in the future...
Maybe I'll try again one of those wednesdays...
Maybe...

Personality Affects Dementia Risk

Ummm... "One Finnish study reported at the Chicago meeting suggested that single people are more likely to face a future with dementia than those who tie the knot early. A Brazilian study presented data that pre-existing health conditions such as high blood pressure..."

I'm doomed :-P

Mr. Youniverse

This is me?

http://youniverse.com/personality/feedback/db3224f899b6e7787727c6dc093df155

Mt. Diablo

I used to come here regularly, but today was my first visit this summer. During hot summer months, exposed to the heat, sometimes. During the winter months, slogging through the mud on the fire roads sections. This is the highest point in the bay area, and yes, I have seen the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra from here. The views are nice. Even if you have to put up with lots of cars at the summit because there's a road all the way up. Reminds me of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, where you climb through very different weather from the base to the top, and you can get a hot chocolate in the warming hut. One time, I took a California visitor hiking there (I was living in MA) and it was t-shirt sunny weather at the base, and hailing cold wind at the summit.

My usual route is from the Regency Drive entrance. As far as I can tell, the other entrances have a lot of hiking on fire roads. Exposed. Hot or muddy. Just not my idea of a walk in the woods.

Donner Canyon Rd. Herrington Loop Tr. Bruce Lee Tr. Lower Donner Cyn. Wasserman Tr. Cardinet Oaks Rd. Olympia Tr. Olympia Rd. North Peak Tr. North Peak Rd. Summit Tr. Bald Ridge Tr. Back Creek Tr.

Other nice options to make it longer or shorter... Falls Tr and Middle Tr on the ascent. Eagle Peak Tr on the descent.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=b943zvh.66yuvrmt&x=0&y=-j8ttp8&localeid=en_US

Under the Big Tent

If you haven't guess it already, that's my house under that tent. It's not an uncommon sight in these parts... termites are a big problem. The homes are all wood (earthquake).

Despite what I read on the EPA website, this fumigation thing is still a leap of faith, in both directions. It really does evaporate, because it's a gas and not a residue, like the old days. But that's provided you ventilate after treatment. And it's supposed to penetrate wood, etc. I hope the termites really are terminated. But that's all they'd be. Dead. This is just a temporary setback for those little critters. They'll be back. My house is too yummy.

So, after $$ and half the summer, I have an updated bathroom, a new door, a study area in the master bedroom, a well-ventilated crawl-space, new deck beams, a cleaned-up garage, and most of a dumpster's worth of trash hauled away.