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I composed a new music piece last week which i’ve tentatively titled, “Prelude”. It’s inspired by J.S. Bach’s Preludes and Fugues.

Here’s the audio file. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thx.

Our unemployment rate is now at 9.7%, which is the highest since 1983. Yet the rate of layoffs have slowed. Usually this would mean that while employers are not laying off workers as quickly as in previous months, they’re also not hiring. But according to the article, “The rise in unemployment, after dipping to 9.4% in July, came as more Americans returned to the work force. Teenage unemployment hit 25.5%, the highest since the government began keeping records in 1948.” Hmm. So who qualifies as being “unemployed”? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, it’s rather complicated. Apparently, a 16 year old who flipped burgers at McDonald’s during the summer and quit her summer job last month because of school, would be considered “unemployed”. I’m curious what fraction of the unemployed are cases similar to this, in which unemployment is voluntary. In other words, perhaps some month’s unemployment rate would be of greater concern than another month’s. For example, we may be more concerned about the unemployment rate around or during the Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping season than we’d be for August, since summer is typically slower for sales in many industries, and students are going back to school. What do you think?

Today’s article in the Wall Street Journal on the Oracle-Sun Deals mainly talks about how a lot of businesses are skeptical of the Oracle-Sun deal. They view the deal as a sign that Sun’s hardware business will suffer and so they are open to considering alternatives. Rivals such as IBM, HP, and Dell are ‘feeding off’ of this uncertainty by offering discounts and other incentives to switch. The success of the rivals’ poaching efforts are manifesting in Sun’s declining revenue and market share (37% decline compared to 30% experienced by overall industry). I’m not sure what this means for Sun’s hardware business in the long-term though. It seems that Oracle will bundle their database and Sun hardware as package deals to customers where one can’t buy Sun hardware without purchasing their database? How will Oracle reduce fears of vendor lock-in and convince buyers that they will further invest in the hardware business, although Oracle has always been primarily a software company?

(that’s me grilling a turkey patty on my new George Foreman grill)

A couple weeks ago, I bought a new George Foreman GRP72CTTS G-Broil Grill Supreme Electric Nonstick Countertop Grill with Digital Timer, Silver. As a grad student who’s also working, I don’t have much time to cook during the weekdays, and plus I figured I needed to start eating healthier–at least that’s my rationalization for spending $75 to get this. The nice thing about this particular Foreman grill is that it has a digital timer and auto-shutoff feature when the timer hits zero. Actually, it’s not auto-shutoff, but it switches to “ON”, which just keeps the grill warm.

I’ve not actually used a Foreman Grill before this. Since I started using it though, I’ve been grilling mostly turkey breast cutlets, turkey patties, salmon, shrimp, and veggies. Yes, that’s right. Grilled VEGGIES! Zucchinis and yellow squash with some pepper, garlic powder, and seasoned light are actually quite tasty. Someday when I’m in better shape, I’ll grill up some paninis, brats, grilled cheese melts, even kalbi and bulgogi. Mmm.

Cleanup is pretty easy, as long as you clean the grilling plates not long after you’re done grilling. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my latest purchase (and will be even more satisfied if I can see results).

Some friends and I went hiking yesterday at Winter Creek - Mount Zion near Los Angeles, CA. This marked only the second time hiking I’ve hiked around L.A. The pic on the right is me posing as a bear running out of the cave.

The hike will be memorable for a number of things: 1) It was a great hike with friends as we saw parts of California that we hadn’t seen before and the majority of our hike was in the shade, and 2) we had a close brush with death afterwards, while driving down the mountain.

The road up the mountain to the hiking trail was two-way, but one lane each way (separated by two solid yellow lines). This was a winding road with guard rails overlooking the cliff on one side and the mountain forming the other side. There were various points where the road was winding up the mountain that you couldn’t see ahead. It was presumed that as long as you were going slow enough (< 25 mph) and staying in your lane, then everything should be fine. Usually, when I have people in the car, I drive slower than usual to offset the attention deficit that can occur while driving and talking/listening at the same time. Well, this genius of a driver in an early 90’s Mustang GT somehow thought it was good idea to take up part of our lane while the road was winding. When we saw him, he was maybe a foot in our lane and we had just missed a head-on collision by perhaps a foot. I’m not sure if I was able to brake as there likely was not enough time to react. The stunned silence in the car afterwards couldn’t do justice to what we had just experienced.

Last night when I reflected back on the hiking trip and the close encounter, I wondered what would’ve happened if certain things had been different. We were driving 20-25 mph and he had to be driving 35-40 mph. If there had a been a head-on collision (55-65 mph impact), the impact would’ve flipped at least one of the cars over and down the cliff (the term “guard rails” is a misnomer). Although I’m no expert, I’d put the odds of no fatalities in that situation at probably less than 20%. You start playing the “what-if” game: What if I had been driving 1 mph faster (or he had been driving faster)? What if he had been more than 1 foot in our lane? It was a stark reminder that so many things are out of our control. And our habit of marking successes and disappointments as landmarks–in hopes of deriving meaning–is folly.

It boggles my mind why some people are willing to shell out $40 plus shipping to get a horizontal stand for the iPhone. When you can make a stand yourself with materials you already have. Some have made a stand out of pencils, others have used paper clips. While those are nice considerations, those have pointed edges that would make a $40 purchase seem like a brilliant move, if you were to puncture yourself somehow with it (e.g., it’s not hard to imagine stepping on the paperclip stand…) and land yourself in the ER. The stand that I made is pretty safe and is probably easier to make. You just need about 10 index cards and a couple strips of tape. Here’s how to make it:

1. Get 5 index cards and make two small creases on one horizontal edge. Then tape that edge and also tape the top horizontal edge, using separate strips of tape.

2. Take another 5 index cards and fold it in three equal parts, vertically. You an then make a triangle/pyramid pattern and tape the ends together. Next, tape one side of the pyramid to the back of the 5 index cards so that it props the original 5 cards to make a stand. Here’s a side view of the stand in case i’m not making any sense.

You can also thread your iPhone USB cable through the hole that we’ve created with the pyramid prop. Another plus of this stand is that it’s very portable. In fact, it’s foldable! Save yourself some cash and unnecessary injuries. This has replaced my hacked 1st gen iPhone dock (to fit the 3G S iPhone).

A new Yogurtland just opened up next door to my gym. Talk about great timing. Just when I’m about to start exercising regularly again. So now the purpose of my exercising is so that I don’t feel too guilty about eating at Yogurtland and other places afterwards, instead of trying to get more fit and eating right.

What makes Yogurtland different from the other FroYo places out here is that everything is self-serve. You start out getting whichever flavors of yogurt you want and you decide the quantities. Today, I got Pomegranate Raspberry tart, Pineapple Tart, Pistachio, Taro, Toasted Coconut. Too bad they didn’t have Lychee tart, which is my favorite. Once you fill up your paper bowl with yogurt, you then get to add fruit toppings. They have chopped kiwi, watermelon, mango, strawberries, blackberries, canned lychees, etc. You can also get coconut flakes, walnuts, almonds, chopped peanuts, chocolate chips, granola, etc. Then they weigh what you’ve collected on a scale and you pay by the ounce (or pounds, if that applies to you).

I’m trying to eat healthier and reduce my consumption of meat, especially red meat. So most of my home-cooked meals now will have little to no meat in it. A couple weeks ago, I visited an Indonesian grocery store nearby and picked up some Indonesian spices. One of the spices was called opor white curry. Supposedly, this curry’s good for chicken dishes. I didn’t have any chicken, but had some firm tofu that I was supposed to use to make mapo tofu (but ran out of spices). So I decided to try creating a tofu opor white curry dish with no meat, but with sauteed onions, thai chili (chopped), and instead of coconut milk, used soy milk (i can barely taste the difference, but soy milk is a lot of cheaper and not as fattening).

The opor spices have a really nice aroma. I believe it’s got some coriandor, cumin, galangal in it, and maybe lemongrass. It’s a quick dish to prepare and tastes pretty good (did i mention that it’s healthy too!).

I think opor white curry is one of those spices that I’ll always have in the kitchen somewhere, since you can probably add it to a lot of different things and it’ll taste so much better. I may try adding it to mapo tofu to see how that tastes.

new update: piano journal

I went to the DMV on Wednesday to pick up my vehicle tag. Guess how long that took? Over two hours. The place was packed and had to stand and wait for most of it. It would’ve been nice had they told me a few weeks back, when I applied for a new driver’s license and vehicle tag, that I would need an appointment to pick up my vehicle tag and avoid the long lines. I now know why going to the DMV is such an ordeal for many (I haven’t been to the DMV since I was 16) and I look around and everyone there just looks pissed at the world for being there. Even though I reserved an appointment online for a new driver’ license, taking a written driving test, applying for a new vehicle tag/registration, these took around three to four hours to complete a few weeks back. And then picking up my vehicle tag took another two hours for a total of 6 hours.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the DMV had an express checkout line for people who don’t have much paperwork to fill out or to pick up their tags? Perhaps that’s wishful thinking, given that it’s not a for-profit business that would see the benefit of providing better customer service. Hopefully, it’ll be awhile before I need to make another trip to the DMV…by then, everything can be completed online?

I eat out way too often. So far this year, I might cook once a week, if I’m lucky. So I’m trying out recipes that are healthier, easy to cook, and that of course, taste good hopefully. Tom yum soup fits the bill.

Here’s the recipe:

4 14oz cans of chicken broth
2 stalks fresh lemongrass (cut in 2 inch pieces)
5 kaffir lime leaves
1-inch piece of ginger, sliced
2 red chiles, sliced or 1-2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 can straw mushrooms, rinsed and halved
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled with tails on
2 limes, juiced
2 green onions, sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

This makes four servings. First, you heat the chicken broth (medium heat) and add the lemongrass and ginger and lime leaves. Cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the straw mushrooms, sugar, and chiles or crushed red pepper, and fish sauce. After a few more minutes, add the shrimp and cook for another 10 minutes. Then add the lime juice, cilantro, and green peppers. There should be a good balance of saltiness, spiciness, and sourness. If it doesn’t taste sour enough, then add some rice vinegar. Total time for preparation and cooking: 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Last Friday, I got to see one of my favorite pianists, Martha Argerich, perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It’s a concert that I’ve been anticipating for some time now considering that Martha Argerich rarely gives public performances and is sixty-seven years old and has been known to cancel concerts.

Ms. Argerich’s interpretation of the Ravel Piano Concerto was spot-on. Her playing was very crisp as she didn’t overindulge in pedaling. The piano was a newer Steinway and sounded bright, which I thought was perfect for an Impressionist piece such as this one. The second movement (Adagio assai) was particularly satisfying. At some point during the concert, I came to realize that Ravel really suits Ms. Argerich as she is widely known for her agility (see octave passsage in Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto-third movement, or listen to her Liszt Sonata in B minor from her debut recital CD) without sounding the least bit tense. She made playing the fast and difficult third movement seem so effortless. The audience gave her a standing ovation and she performed two encores (one’s a four-hand arrangement of Ravel’s “Mother Goose” and another one’s a solo piece that I believe is a Schumann piece?). All in all, it was an awesome concert.

One thing I can take away from this: Really work on finger legato instead of relying heavily on the pedal. The way to do that is to relax, pay attention to breathing (lack of oxygen causes fingers to be tense) and just play loose.

i hope I get the chance to hear Ms. Argerich perform again.

testing @paylessparking

testing http://is.gd/RMQ

Just watched (listened) to Martha Argerich perform Ravel Piano Concerto and two encore pieces. I’m speechless.