A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
The Dartmouth Middle School Band (where Alex plays trumpet in the Concert Band) presented a Winter Concert on December 15, 2015.. . . . Alex played trumpet in the Jazz Band and then in the Concert Band.. . . . The band played the following compositions:. . Jazz Band. Flat Tire Shuffle by Dean Sorenson. Pollo Rojo, arranged by Les Sabina . Fat Burger, arranged…
Read More: Winter Concert at Dartmouth Middle School
Ever since I discovered Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox on Youtube.com, I have enthusiastically supported his modern song arrangements.. . When I attended Lehigh University, one of my electives was to study Jazz. I enjoyed the music of the '20s and '30s, especially Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday. It was disappointing to see how current Jazz had turned into elevator music, ala Kenny G.…
Read More: Review: Postmodern Jukebox at Warfield
I have been relatively disappointed with the past few productions at Berkeley Rep, so I had reasonably low expectations coming into seeing "Disgraced" - a play I knew very little about. . . . . . Cast. Isaac: J. Anthony Crane. Abe: Behzad Dabu. Emily: Nisi Sturgis. Amir: Bernard White. Jory: Zakiya Young. . Wikipedia describes it as follows:. . Disgraced is a 2012 play…
Read More: Review: Disgraced at Berkeley Rep
Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to ride a dirt bike. For one reason or another, there was never any opportunity to do so. Something always stood in the way of my ambition: money, time, lack of equipment, etc.. . Finally, after doing the Intro to Dirt Two-day riding workshop with Brian Garrahan, I decided to purchase my own dirt bike. What…
Read More: Taming the Wild Beast
Having been an active user of Home Theater Personal Computers for many years (running Windows 7/8.1), I was looking for a front-end device that could replace the cumbersome keyboard and mouse. I prefer to have all my media on a separate NAS, like the Synology DS1815+, instead of a big, noisy PC.. . . . . My first significant replacement came with my adoption of…
Read More: Review: nVidia Shield TV
. Today, we saw a musical version of Jane Austen's Emma in the Lucille Packard Theater. The music and lyrics were written by Paul Gordon. The stage was beautifully designed.. . Miss Emma Woodhouse, played by Lianne Marie Dobbs, acted delightfully as the ingenue matchmaker, whose initial success in matchmaking is overshadowed by her later failures. Although obsessed with romance, Emma is clueless about her…
Read More: Review: Emma at Lucille Packard Theater
We have always enjoyed dining at the fabulous Solbar Restaurant in Calistoga, especially when we spent time at the Indian Springs Resort. We have never stayed at the Solage Spa, but Inna wanted to try it, so we booked the "Just the Two of Us" promotion for the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.. . We arrived on Friday afternoon and checked in. The drive from San Jose…
Read More: Relaxing at Solage Spa in Calistoga
Inna purchased two front-row tickets to Riverdance at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts for my birthday.. . I didn't know what to expect, as I had never seen it before and knew Michael Flatley no longer danced in this show.. . We had a great view of the performance from the front row and enjoyed the dancers' energy. It was well-performed and…
Read More: Review: “Riverdance” at San Jose Center for Performing Arts
I usually don't windsurf in November due to the cold weather and lack of wind.. . However, yesterday, I saw a forecast for 25+ knot winds, and I started to get tempted.. The air temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and I noticed the Pacific water temperature was also about the same (unusually warm).. . I tried it and drove to Coyote Point, my closest windsurfing…
Read More: Windsurfing Coyote Point
As the weather was sunny and mild, I decided to try to mountain bike the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard).. . Initially, I wanted to ride this trail with the South Bay Mountain Bike group on meetup, but there was no space (8 people had already…
Read More: Biking Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek