WaferManeuver

Last night I attended the opening concert of the Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland. The OBF is held in Eugene each year, though evidently in the past they have held concerts in Portland as part of the event - this was the first time they’d had a concert in Portland since 1981. And what a great concert to have!

J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass is probably my favorite piece of music by the composer. I first heard it a couple of years ago when the local classical radio station, All Classical 89.9, played it uninterrupted as part of a weekly program. When I first tuned in (not knowing what I was listening to), I knew it must have been Bach from the style of the music, but I had no idea what the composition was - I just recall thinking that I loved every piece!

The concert at this year’s OBF opening, under the direction of Helmuth, was phenomenal. They performed the piece from start to finish without an intermission, just with a brief pause between the Gloria and Credo sections. Though the soloists and musicians were excellent, the true standout was the choir - the work is primarily a choral piece and the most beautiful moments came from the OBF choir.

My favorite recording of the B Minor Mass is Konrad Junghanel’s recording (cover pictured below). The key feature of this recording is that it applies the one-voice-per-part theory (OVPP), which effectively relies on the technical ability of the singers to sing parts that are otherwise traditionally performed by choir sections. I didn’t realize this until I was at last night’s concert and was confused by the choir singing parts I typically associate with individuals (primarily due to my familiarity with this recording). Regardless, I love the music either way!

Lately my single-speed Peugeot has been giving me some trouble. Earlier this year I’d noticed funny sounds coming from my bottom bracket - clicking, metallic sounds. I attempted a bottom bracket overhaul, only to find out the ball-bearing casing on one side of the spindle had been destroyed. I cleaned out the metal shards, and left the ball bearings there so that the bike would still function. For awhile this was actually much better.

Then, in the past couple weeks, the action had been getting increasingly worse, more metallic clicking sounds and a slight sticking sensation. I was getting fairly frustrated with the whole situation and thought to go in to a bike shop to get some advice on what to do: Can I resolve this by performing another bottom bracket overhaul? Is it even worth it to try?

I ended up going to Cascade Cycling to seek some expert knowledge. After describing the history and current behavior, their response was “Your bike is f#@*ked. And it’s pointless to attempt to fix it.” This was an answer I’d been fearing, though it didn’t come as a big surprise. I’d been thinking about replacing my everyday/commuting bike, as the Peugeot had obviously outlived its usefulness. Fortunately, they actually had a perfect bike solution for me right in the shop, an SE Lager. It’s basically an inexpensive single-speed, but with all brand-new, modern parts. It only costs $540, which is a remarkable deal considering the quality of components and the fact that any decent used bike in Portland usually runs $300. I’d thought of building up my own single-speed again, but at that cost, there’s no way I could make anything as good. So, now I am the extremely happy owner of the “Lager”, pictured below!

I came across this incredible remix of Radiohead’s song “Nude” from In Rainbows, created using the following “instruments”:

• Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Guitars (rhythm & lead)
• Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer - Drums
• HP Scanjet 3c - Bass Guitar
• Hard Drive array - Act as a collection of bad speakers - Vocals & FX

Big Ideas (Don’t get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

One of my favorite albums this year has been the Evangelicals “The Evening Descends”. It’s slightly schizophrenic, as if there are too many personalities trying to fit into each song, but that gives it a certain freshness which I love. I also love the underlying “horrific” theme to several of the songs, best demonstrated by their video for Midnight Vignette:

When I ride my bike to work in the mornings, I occasionally run into this older fellow with an average-looking commuter bike. He always stands out, as his clothes are highly unusual for any cyclist, and his bike has several homemade modifications. I was originally shocked to hear that he rides the entire distance from SE Portland to our work in Hillsboro every day, via Council Crest! (about 20 miles with a steep climb to 1100 ft) When I’m riding the full distance once or twice a week at best, this guy totally puts me to shame, and he’s probably twice my age.

Well, it turns out his name is Mark Allyn and he’s got a website. Check out his custom clothing and accessories.

I also found this profile of him by Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland.

Below is a sampling of his amazing light clothing.

(Photo © J. Maus)

I recently purchased a used piano, and currently I am taking weekly lessons. My concentration is on learning theory, sight-reading, and, of course, technique. Below is a picture of my new piano, as well as an audio recording of the first little piece I’ve been able to play all the way through, “Red River Valley”.

Listen: Red River Valley

This morning I set up a flickr photostream so that it will be easier to publish photos from my iPhone and share. The name of my photostream is, no surprisingly, wafermaneuver. All free photos, all the time!

If you’d like, you can subscribe to my photostream feed, Wafer Photos, so that you’ll know as soon as I’ve uploaded anything new. (If you’re a Safari user, you can drag the link to the bookmarks bar and it will tell you if there’s something new to enjoy)

Yesterday I received a quilt that my Mom kindly created for me. Photos below. Thanks Mom!

Now I just have to figure out exactly where and how I’m going to hang it…

Recently I undertook a project to create kitchen curtains. My kitchen windows face my neighbor’s driveway, and often they pull up in there car, and there I am chopping vegetables or sipping a glass of water, all exposed. Well, I picked out some great material from Cool Cottons on Hawthorne, recommended by the woman working there. Since my kitchen features green walls and red cabinets, the colorful leaves and flowers in the pattern matched up perfectly.

Originally I hadn’t planned on doing the whole project myself, but while at the store one day I saw a sewing machine for under $70, so I figured, why not? The sewing machine came with a DVD with instructions on setting up the machine, what the different features were, and how to actually sew different hems. This DVD was invaluable, as I would sit directly at my computer with my sewing machine right there, then quickly go back and forth between pausing the video, following along, then rewinding to catch something I’d missed. In the end I had it all set up just the way I liked it.

I made the smart move of making a sample curtain using some other material before starting on the real project. This was essential as I made many stupid mistakes which I was able to correct for the actual curtains. I learned the importance of getting exact measurements, pinning everything down, ironing my edges, and carefully watching the material feeding through the machine. I’ve posted some pictures below of the intermediate process, as well as the final product. Who knows what further sewing awaits?

So I was getting all geared up to build a fence. I’d thought through most of the planning, I had a workforce prepared to assist me, I just needed to sit down and start drawing up the plans. Then I noticed that the lot next door to my house was being flagged for construction. Today I came home from work to find an earth-mover and the ground dug up (see photo).

I guess I can’t get started on that fence quite yet - although I’m now hoping whoever is building the skinny house next door will also build a fence, thereby saving me the work!