Winter Concert at Dartmouth Middle School

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 by George Vincent

Beginning Band (Alex playing trumpet)

• The Christmas Tee Samba was arranged by Robert E. Foster Jr.
• All Through the Night, by Rob Romeyn
• Hannukkah is Here by Scott Watson

Choir

• Silver Bells by Audrey Snyder
• Winterlight by Amy F. Bernon
• A Very Merry Fa La La by Sally K. Albrecht

Concert Band

• Bobsled Run by Lloyd Conley
• Do You Hear What I Hear? arranged by Jay Bocook
• Christmas at the Movies, arranged by John Moss

Symphonic Band

• Cowboy Christmas, arranged by Jeff Simmons
• Cantique de Noel, set by Robert Longfield
• Deck the Halls! by Roland Barrett

It was a fun concert, well directed by Sam Neipp. 

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Review: Postmodern Jukebox at Warfield

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. When I heard Scott Bradlee's on modern songs, I was excited, as it reminded me of the Jazz greats. I purchased all of PMJ's albums and eagerly anticipated seeing them live.

Today's performance at the Warfield Theater was exciting and uplifting. Although they appeared amateurish at times, I liked the eclectic energy and enthusiasm of the band's musicians.

PMJ started the set with "Fancy" - an Iggy Azalea cover that sounds nothing like Iggy Azalea.

Inna and I liked the concert and the talented singers and musicians.

We especially liked Arianna Savalis singing "No Diggity" and Haley Reinhart singing "Creep." Sara Reich also tap-danced very well through most of the songs!

The only disappointment was that some significant singers were not at the Sunday show. This included Scott Bradlee, Robyn Adele Anderson, Morgan James, and others.

We had a great time and hope to see PMJ again!

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Review: Disgraced at Berkeley Rep

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 by novelist and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar. It premiered in Chicago and has had Off-Broadway and Off West End engagements. The play, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama,^[1] opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater, with previews that began on September 27, 2014.^[2]Disgraced has also been recognized with a 2012 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work – Play or Musical and a 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting. It is Akhtar's first stage play.^[3] The 2014 Broadway transfer earned a Tony Award for Best Play nomination in 2015.^[4]

The play is centered on sociopolitical themes such as Islamophobia and the self-identity of Muslim-American citizens.^[5] It focuses on a dinner party between four people with very different backgrounds. As discussion turns to politics and religion, the mood quickly becomes heated. Described as a "combustible powder keg of identity politics,"^[6] the play depicts racial and ethnic prejudices that "secretly persist in even the most progressive cultural circles."^[7] It is also said to depict the challenge for upwardly mobile Muslim Americans in the post-9/11 America.^[8] 

The play was very well-acted, thought-provoking, and intellectually stimulating.  I was happy to have seen it.

I enjoyed how everyone acted, especially Bernard White, playing the lead character Amir.

Plot:

In the 90-minute,^[9] one-act play, lawyer Amir Kapoor and his wife Emily host an Upper East Side dinner. Amir is an American-born, Muslim-raised Manhattan mergers and acquisitions lawyer, while Emily is an up-and-coming artist who focuses on Islamic themes in her art.^[8][9] Amir has cast aside his Muslim heritage for the sake of his career, but is at times drawn toward it nonetheless. Emily, who has an affinity for Islamic artistic traditions, serves as his muse and an influence on his Islamic connection.^[8] Prior to the dinner, Amir, who is on the partner track, becomes involved in a controversial case. Amir's assimilated nephew, Abe (born Hussein Malik), has concerns regarding the propriety of the arrest of a local imam who is imprisoned on charges that may be trumped-up of financing terrorist-supporting groups,^[8] leading him to question whether it is religious persecution.^[9] Emily encourages the reluctant Amir to appear in court in support of the imam, in an unofficial capacity that gets mentioned in The New York Times.^[9] The case becomes dinner conversation when he hosts Jory, a colleague from work, and her husband, Isaac,^[9] who is Emily's Jewish art dealer.^[8] In all, the dinner table assembly includes an ex-Muslim, an African-American, a Jew and a WASP dining over the topic of religious faith.^[10] The conversation touches upon "Islamic and Judaic tradition, the Quran and the Talmud, racial profiling and September 11 and the Taliban and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Benjamin Netanyahu" as tensions mount

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Taming the Wild Beast

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 I didn't realize was how much additional gear would be needed for this new hobby of mine.

First, I needed to figure out whether or not to get a dual-sport, a green sticker, or a red sticker bike. California has strict emission rules for exhaust, and most off-road motorcycles have one of these three designations.

Dual-sport vehicles can go on or off-road but are not well suited for either. Green sticker motorcycles can be ridden year-round and are usually bikes manufactured before 2002 or newly manufactured but meeting specific California emission standards. The green sticker bikes come with headlights and tail lights (and can be transformed into dual-sport).

Red sticker bikes cannot be ridden from June through September except at specific locations. Lake Tahoe area has no restrictions on "red" sticker bikes; however, popular riding spots like Hollister Hills SRVA and Metcalf do restrict red bikes.

Initially, I wanted to purchase a dual sport - like a Yamaha WR250R. However, it was pretty heavy (300lbs) and tall when I sat on it. It would not be an ideal off-road bike for me. I also looked into the Honda CRF250L, but reviews of the motorcycle were not very encouraging (at least for off-road use). With a dual sport, I could ride from my home to Metcalf without transportation.

I checked with my buddies on South Bay Riders, and most riders were adamantly opposed to dual-sport bikes and instead recommended getting a dirt-only bike (green or red sticker) and a vehicle to tow it. Since I had a Toyota Sienna minivan, I decided to install a trailer hitch. I had my local Foreign Affair independent Toyota shop do the complete install.

Since I did not want to tow a trailer, I purchased a hitch-mounted bike carrier - specifically the aluminum AMC-400. It had excellent reviews, and I found a decent deal for it online at Summit Racing.

Once I received the hitch carrier, I installed it with the accompanying anti-sway module. The anti-sway module would prove to cause me some problems, as the supplied bolts were too long, and during one ride in my Toyota Sienna minivan, two of the four screws bent. I had them replaced with higher-quality bolts.

Now, it was time to settle on the exact motorcycle. I really wanted a "green" sticker bike to ride it year-round, but there were few used "green" bikes. I found one 2007 CRF250x but decided against it after learning about the numerous valve problems.

I finally found a great deal on a 2013 Honda CRF250R and decided to go for it! It was in excellent shape, and I decided that I could live with "red" sticker limitations. I could not ride it from June through September at specific popular locations. It is usually sweltering in the summer anyway, and I would be doing other sports like windsurfing or sailing.

I picked up the motorcycle on Sunday, December 6th, and took it to have it looked at by my local motorcycle mechanic, Jeff Morris. Jeff suggested adding Cycra handguards (to protect the brake and clutch levers), a plastic bash plate (to protect the engine), and a kickstand installed.

While my bike was prepped, I focused on acquiring the best safety gear. 

For the head, I chose the Shoei VFX-W Reputation off-road helmet. I always liked helmets made by Arai and Shoei (having used both when I rode my Honda VFR800 and CBR1000RR). The Shoei fit my head really well.

For knee guards, I chose the Fox Racing Titan Pro. These looked and felt very sturdy and well-made. I got the Fox Titan Sport jacket for body armor, which has lots of armor for both the chest, back, and elbows. I chose the Fox Racing Race pants for off-road jerseys and pants (which have built-in protection).

In addition to all of the riding gear, I needed to purchase a pressure washer - an AR Blue Clean AR383 - to wash the bike after riding, a chain degreaser and a DRC MX stand to service the bike. This hobby sure requires a lot of items!

I look forward to finally riding the wild beast at Metcalf and Hollister Hills.

I picked up my Honda CRF250R from Jeff Morris, which was prepped on Thursday, December 17th. Jeff found a lot of issues with the bike and did the following repairs and enhancements:

• Changed engine oil and filter with Lucas Synthetic Blend 10/40 motor oil (0.69L) engine
• Changed transmission oil with Lucas Synthetic Blend 10/40 motor oil (0.68L)
• Serviced air filter
• Found upper tank strap bracket open (replaced)
• Checked valve clearance (off LI.18, RI.12, LE.23, RE.24mm). Corrected/re-shimmed
• Flushed and bled front and rear brake fluid
• Adjust brake pedal height
• Re-positioned shift lever 
• Installed new Pro Moto Billet kickstand
• Set fork parallel
• Aired tires to 13 psi
• Installed new Hardline hour meter
• Installed new front and rear sprocket set
• Cleaned rear wheel and greased with waterproof grease
• Established new RK-520 Gold HD UW-ring chain
• Lubed hand and foot controls, adjusted clutch
• Installed new Cycra racer pack handguards
• Removed OEM engine guard and installed new Acerbis plastic skid plate

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Review: nVidia Shield TV

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 Roku 3, which, combined with Plex, could do most of the Home Theater duties reasonably well. Roku has some limitations - it cannot play many movies directly and requires Plex to transcode many high-def films into a format it can display. Besides, it does not support speech recognition (the new version does) and is sometimes slow.

My first attempt to replace it came with my dismal attempt at using Amazon's New Fire TV. I could never open the remote's battery compartment and send it back to Amazon.

I decided to try it with a promising Nvidia Shield TV. Although I liked the idea of the new Apple TV, I did not like the fact that Apple's device did not support 4K TV standards, nor specific foreign channels like etvnet.com

During Black Friday, I noticed that Nvidia's Shield TV with remote - generally priced at $249 - was offered at $149. I decided to give it a shot.

The Shield is an Android-powered box with a nice TV remote and a gaming controller.
It had Plex and Netflix already pre-installed. It could even run Kodi (XBMC), which I used on an HTPC for many years.

Although it had fewer channels than Roku, the Shield was very responsive to button presses, and speech recognition even worked with Plex! Searching and navigation were far easier with voice. However, voice search does not work with Netflix.

I have tried a few games on the Shield, but they are not appealing yet. However, as a streaming box, the Shield is great and can replace my HTPC forever.

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Review: Emma at Lucille Packard Theater

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 feelings.

The entire cast was quite splendid, and I enjoyed the show much more than I expected.

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Relaxing at Solage Spa in Calistoga

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 to Calistoga was uneventful, and we especially enjoyed the fall colors. Deciduous trees were turning yellow, red, and all colors in between. After checking in at Solbar's reception (and enjoying some chai tea), we changed and took a short swim in Solage's mineral pool.

After enjoying a relaxing swim in the mineral pool, we split up. I went to the men's steam room and jacuzzi while Inna went to the women's section. The mineral pool is restricted to adults 18 and older, so Alex could not stay there for 30 minutes.

However, we enjoyed time in the pool, then returned to our room to prepare for dinner at Solbar.

Since it was pretty cold outside, we decided to eat inside. I ordered a soup, "Butternut Squash Velouté," to start my dining adventure, followed by "Slow Roasted Engrilled Lamb Shoulder."

Both dishes were simply fabulous. The lamb shoulder was incredibly delicious! I cannot recall eating a better-cooked lamb dish. This dish makes Solbar a Michelin 1-star!

Inna started with a "salad," followed by "Seared Day Boat Diver Scallops."

Both dishes were really fantastic.

For dessert, we decided to share a few dishes. I ordered "Butterscotch Rum Pudding" to share with Inna, and she called it a "Chocolate Marquise."

The butterscotch pudding was divine. I wish I could eat it all over again.

Alex ordered some "Dulce de Leche" ice cream with chocolate syrup on the side.

After dinner, we went back home and played a few games. We played Words with Friends, and I won, with Alex coming in second and Inna coming in third.

Saturday, November 28

In the morning, I decided to work early in Solage's gym. The gym is not very big but has all top-of-the-line exercise equipment (except rowing machines and stair masters). I decided to exercise for 30 minutes on the jogging track and 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I also did a few bench presses. As it was getting late for breakfast, I rushed back, and we returned to Solbar for our delicious breakfast.

Inna ordered "Mt. Washington Eggs". They were exceptional!

I ordered the famous "Lemon Ricotta Pancakes." They are my favorite pancakes, and I always come to Solbar for breakfast!

The pancakes were outstanding, as expected! I really enjoyed them.

After our delicious breakfast, we had many appointments lined up. Inna booked a couples massage and a mud treatment (which I have never tried before).

From 10:30am to 11:30am, we experienced a very nice couples massage. Inna and I shared a room while the two massage therapists applied pressure to relieve stress. I felt fantastic!
After the massage ended, we had another hour before the next treatment, so we went for a short swim in the nearby mineral pool. It was so lovely and refreshing.

At 12:30 pm, we came back for our mud treatment. Each of us was handed a bucket of volcanic mud flavored with perfume (that we selected). We were guided to a private room, where we applied the volcanic mud all over our bodies and waited 20 minutes for it to settle. The volcanic mud is supposed to detoxify one's skin. I felt great afterward, but I can't say I felt any different.

After the beautiful mud treatment, we were guided to a soaker tub, where we relaxed in warm water for 15-20 minutes. After the tub, we headed to another private room, where we took a long nap while listening to relaxing music. We had a wonderful, relaxing time at the spa and would love to return.

After the spa treatment, we returned to our room to check on Ale, then headed to lunch at Sam's Social Club, a new restaurant at the Indian Springs Resort.

Sam's Social Club has attractive interior decor, reminiscent of the quaint olden days of California.

I ordered a "Mushroom Scramble," which was not bad.

Alex ordered a "Margherita Pizza," which he enjoyed a lot.

Inna ordered an "Egg in a Hole." She really liked it.

After lunch, we decided to go for a bike ride in downtown Calistoga. It was a bit late and cold, so we did not bike far.

We returned to Solage in time to rest and play a few board games before heading for dinner at Bouchon Bistro in nearby Yountville.

We have been coming to Bouchon whenever we head for Napa/Sonoma wine country. However, we were not as impressed on this visit (as in previous visits).

I ordered a "Salade de Cresson et d'Endives au Roquefort, Pommes et Noix". While it looked pretty presentable, it was nothing special.

Inna ordered a "Salade Maraîchère au Chèvre Chaud". It was also nothing special.

We did not order wine (because it's usually overpriced in these restaurants).

I ordered lamb (to compare it with the most delicious lamb at Solbar). Unfortunately, Bouchon's lamb was vastly inferior to Solbar's. I don't think Bouchon deserves a Michelin 1-star anymore.

Inna ordered a "Pasta with Lobster" special entree. While it was delicious, she was not ecstatically happy about it.

Alex was not very hungry, so he just ate some French Fries.

I was looking forward to trying a delicious dessert, but I was headed for disappointment again.

While the cake looked inviting, it did not taste exceptional.

Alex ordered some ice cream but was unhappy with the small scoops.

We were not very happy with dinner at Bouchon. I hope Thomas Keller gets his act together because I would rather eat at Solbar (which is vastly better).

Inna was also upset about one other aspect of Bouchon. After returning from the restroom, she commented about the filthy state of the ladies' restroom. A Michelin 1-star restaurant should be better than that.

Sunday, November 28

Morning greeted us with some frost, and we dressed warmly before heading for breakfast.

The steam from the heated swimming pool was rising.

We had another delicious breakfast in Solbar. This time, Inna and Alex ordered the famous "Lemon Ricotta Pancakes"! Everyone loved them!

After breakfast, we decided to enjoy the mineral springs pool some more.

We enjoyed a swim in the pool, followed by some time in the steam room.

We had a very relaxing morning.

After breakfast, we decided to try out the local Foosball machine. Alex and I played three games, and I lost 2 to 1.

It was time for lunch, so we decided to try the local New Orleans-themed Evangeline restaurant.
I ordered the Chicken and Waffle combination. It was perfect, but not as spicy as I had expected (having lived in Houston, Texas, near Louisiana).

Inna ordered the "Rosti" dish.

After lunch, we stopped by the V. Sattui Winery briefly, where we usually buy our wine for the year (since it's not sold in stores). We purchased a case with six bottles of Gamay Rouge and six bottles of Muscat - our favorite wines.

We had a great getaway to Calistoga and hope to be back someday.

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