Let's Make that 41

I didn't realize that I was going to read another book before the new year, but The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker came into the library for me yesterday. It's short, and once I started, I was swept into it. I found out about this book from reading this review in the New York Times. If I told you that it is a treatise on rhythm and rhyme in poetry told in a novel where not much happens, that may not grab you, but I have actually found it charming. I wonder if it would be a good book to discuss at a book club meeting?

LA Superior Court

I finished jury duty today without appearing in court all week. Apparently the courts aren't quite so busy during the week between Christmas and New Year. Now I just have to fill in the jury summons and return it to the court by mail.

40 Books in 2009

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery has been on the bestseller list and piqued my interest. Several months ago at book club, Jan brought it along wanting to know if anyone wanted to read it. She just couldn't get into it. I took it, but it sat around for awhile. Then another friend told me that it was actually good, once you got past the first third of the book. With nothing else lying around, I picked it up on Sunday and finished it today.

It's the kind of book that gets better as it goes along, which I find unusual. Many start out strong and flounder in the middle.

That being said, as I look over my list for 2009, I think my favorite reads were: Hallelujah Junction by John Adams (the composer, not the president), Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow, and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Wall.

A Happy Last

Today I put the last college tuition payment in the mail! The seven years (between two children) worth of tuition went by very fast, though.

Wilderness Park

Hal and I took the loop at the Claremont Wilderness Park this morning. We saw a number of people we know (Rebecca, Gaby, Louisa, Eric, Margaret and Matt), dogs, horses, bike riders, families pushing strollers, people with canes, and pregnant women. The sky was overcast and the recent rains have left much green growth. I need to remember to take this hike more often.

Christmas 2009

• Christmas Eve trip to Fry's
• Seeing the house in Hacienda Heights where Chris' mom grew up
• Christmas Eve menu: Tokyo Express for Lunch, Hal's Thai food for dinner
• 5:00 Christmas Eve service at church
• Homemade bagels for Christmas breakfast
• Hanging out all day at home (one exception: Claire went out taking care of cats)
• All food vegan except for the free-range, no-antibiotic turkey
• Watching the Monty Python DVD we got for Christmas
• Hal and Liesl soldering the Frank Lloyd Wright window they started last Christmas
• Eating apple pie (made by Liesl) and gingerbread (made by Claire) for dinner
• Playing Settlers of Catan which Liesl and Chris gave us for Christmas

Magic Castle

Here we are, ready to take on Hollywood! First stop, parking near Madame Tussauds so we could walk by the Chinese Theater and down the Hollywood Walk of Fame until we reached La Loteria. Excellent, excellent food. I had vegetable enchiladas with a pumpkin seed sauce.

In order to reach our final destination, we walked back the way we came, admiring all the people dressed in costume - from Michael Jackson, to Darth Vader, to Barney and a transformer.

Walking up the hill, we came to the Magic Castle. We know someone who is a member of this exclusive club. He performs about twice a year and can invite people to come. You have to be 21 to go, so we've been waiting until Claire reached that milestone. We saw the mathemagic show by Art Benjamin. You can actually watch his show here. The castle was so crowded last night that we did not have a chance to see the big show, but we did get to see Latimer, an up and coming magician.

We have a pretty good concept of how this whole place works. Everybody drinks, bars and waitresses everywhere, everybody has a great time and thoroughly enjoys the shows. They don't seem to mind the wait for the shows, either. We thought that people-watching was fun.

Family Togetherness

Liesl and Chris came bearing games to Claremont. First thing Monday morning they hooked up the Wii to our tv, and we have been playing tennis, bowling, Mario Kart and a few others. Also, they made us open our gift early so we could have more time to play it. It's Settlers of Catan, which we played in Oregon with them this summer.

A 99-Cent Tradition

A number of years ago we started a tradition. Just before Christmas we all go to the 99-cent store to buy each other stocking stuffers. We all wander around the store by ourselves, trying to avoid each other as we choose silly gifts for each other.

So, today, the electricity went out at 4:15, so we drove to the store and found what we needed. We came back in the dark to a dark street - no electricity yet. Hal found the camping lamp which sits fully charged in the closet, and by the time we got the gas log lit in the fireplace, the electricity came back on. Good thing, since we wanted to eat dinner and heat the house.

Hooray, again!

Liesl and Chris made it to Claremont early this morning - 12:40 after a marathon day of driving from Eugene with a little side trip to the Bay Area. Now the holidays are really here!

Journey to Bethlehem

Here are the adorable angels in our church's Journey to Bethlehem this morning. They were so good, we don't have any stories to tell about them. The shepherds were equally well-behaved. The baby Jesus watched the entire pageant with great interest, "no crying he makes."

Annual Newsletter

Click on photo for larger, more readable version.

Ishiguro

I have really enjoyed the other three Kazuo Ishiguro works I've read, so I was excited to get his latest book - Nocturnes. This is a collection of 5 stories of which some are loosely related, each about relationships falling apart, music and the night. I am surprised to say that I did not really find anything compelling about any of the stories. I always read a book wondering if it might be a good pick for book club, but I will not be choosing this one.

Winter Sing

Another year, another Winter Sing over! Here are my string students who did a lovely job. The beginners played Jingle Bells, and the orchestra played Simple Gifts and Sing We Now of Christmas. I teach one private lesson tomorrow, after which I am done teaching until January!

Hooray!

Claire came home tonight!

Study Break!

Tonight was the annual chemistry dept study break at HMC where students have a cookie-decorating contest. Faculty bring eats, students work very hard on their entries to win a chance at a prize. This year the possible choices were gift cards from Starbucks or In-n-Out. The categories this year were: Best Chemical Theme, Best Use of Frosting, Best Story across Two or More Cookies, Judge's Choice, and Best Overall. This cookie won for Best Use of Frosting.

Night Before Christmas

Here is a picture of my childhood version of The Night Before Christmas. It was published in 1960 and illustrated by Catherine Barnes, published by Golden Books. My own copy probably disappeared in our family's move from Chicago to Kansas when I was 9. A number of years ago, I decided to start searching for some of my favorite books. I wanted this one, but had no idea how to search for it, not knowing the illustrator. Do you know how many versions there are of this famous poem? After looking all over the internet, I finally found the information, only to discover that copies of this book sell for $70-150. Well, I managed to find a copy on eBay about 4-5 years ago with a "buy it now" price of $35, and you can be sure I "bought it now."

Getting Ready for Christmas

My daughters will be relieved to know that we put up the tree today - before they get here! However, we will still leave some of the decorating up to them.

I also pulled out my favorite Nativity. My grandfather, a Mennonite minister, was also a woodworker, and he made many of these sets. I love the simplicity of the lines.

Blue Christmas

Last night our trio played in our church's first ever Blue Christmas. This service is for people who have a hard time during the holidays, for whatever reason. Even though I am not blue at Christmas, and I was part of the service as a musician, I found it beautiful and meaningful. People were invited to light candles, and by the end, a tableful of candles was blazing.

Waiting for Snow . . .

I'm not actually waiting for snow. There's plenty right now on Mt. Baldy. More to come tomorrow. Good time to stay warm and read.

I just finished our book for book club which we will discuss on Sunday. It's a memoir by Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana. Eire grew up in the 50s in Havana, and most of the book is about his wild childhood, the son of a judge. Throughout the book he talks about how his parents sent him and his brother to the US after Fidel Castro came to power.

WINTER!

Rain and snow yesterday, blue skies and great views today! It is pretty darn cold (for Claremont). (Disclaimer: I stole this photo from Facebook since I didn't get outside with my camera today.)

Winter Workout

The rain has started today, for which we are thankful. However, I didn't exactly feel like riding my bike to the gym, so I decided that I could stream a workout video from Netflix and start the day in my living room. I tried the Cardio Sculpt which is cardio mixed with weights and reminds me very much of my body shaping class I took while in Chicago. However, this workout was a little bit beyond me. If I worked at it, I could get it. Next time I'll find something easier, and probably do some yoga, too.

Winter in Claremont

Continuing the prep for winter, Hal cleaned out the gutters today in anticipation of the rain moving in tonight.

I wore a sweater for the first time today. Brrr. I am such a So. Cal. wimp!

Winter Gardening II

December in Claremont means:

Raking leaves with more still to fall

Waiting for the promised rain to start soon

Adding to the vegetable garden (planted broccoli, onions and green beans today)

Picking the remaining the persimmons

Fridays at Noon

One of many things I like about my Life in Claremont is that I have Fridays off this year. (Well, I have one private student for a 1/2 hour in the afternoon, but that's more like fun.) Another thing is that the Claremont Colleges offer a rich variety of opportunities for concerts, plays, talks, etc. Today I went to the Friday Noon Concert Series at Scripps to hear the Quartet Euphoria play the Brahms Quartet Op. 51 #1. Balch Auditorium was nearly full.

RIP iPod

On Monday, my 3 1/2-year-old iPod died. It was not a natural death. It was an accident. It took a 3-foot fall without its protective case and smashed onto a tile floor. Hal did all he could, but he pronounced it unrevivable.

Since I rely heavily on my iPod for teaching, I will need to replace it, and I have my eye on a new nano. The questions I have to answer first are 1) what color 2) what to have engraved on it. Also, should I wait until Christmas so Santa can bring it to me?

El Roble and CHS Orchestras

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the winter concert for the El Roble and CHS Orchestras. It is especially gratifying to see students of mine from elementary school still playing their instruments, and doing so well. I have to admit that string students are the very best!

Monitoring the 'Ole Heart

So, today I got my Holter monitor to follow my heart for 24 hours. Since I am feeling so much better, nearly normal, I'm sure it won't find anything. I am left wondering, though, what if I really needed it? Here is the timeline: saw my regular doctor on a Monday, saw the cardiologist on Thursday, took a week to get approval from my health care, then another week to schedule the wearing of the monitor.

Winter Gardening

Over Thanksgiving weekend, Hal built two raised vegetable beds in the only place in our yard that gets full sun. It's not a big spot, but it should do nicely. Today I went to the nursery and bought some instant gratification of lettuces, spinach and snap peas. I also transplanted the eggplant from the shady garden to see what it might do this time of year in the sun.

Now, if I can find the packets of seeds.....

An Afternoon with Gustavo

The day finally arrived when I used my birthday money! I bought tickets to the LA Philharmonic to see Gustavo Dudamel conduct. We started the afternoon with lunch at Philippe's, home of the French Dip Sandwich.

We caught the end of the pre-performance talk given by John Adams, the creative chair of the LA Phil and the composer of City Noir, the final piece of the concert today. Preceding the Adams was LA Variations by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Lou Harrison's Piano Concerto. The orchestra was in full complement with more percussion than you could shake a stick at, two harps, piano, celesta and saxophone. The music was exciting and worth the price of admission.

Here is a photo from atop the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The Housekeeper and the Professor

I found this book, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa to be poignant and charming. The professor taught mathematics until an accident took away his short term memory. He can remember anything before 1975 and only what has happened in the past 80 minutes. The housekeeper and her son come into his life and develop a friendship with him, strange as it is when they have to reintroduce themselves to him every day.

Google Wave

A few weeks ago, Liesl told me about Google Wave. It's an email/IM/conferencing hybrid that is still under development. As with the early days of gmail, one needs an invitation to get an account. Hal was given an invite a few days ago, and he passed one along to me. Liesl, Chris and Claire are all on, so we've all had one wave just to see some of the basic things we can do on this.

No ideas of what this all means? Watch this short video on youtube for an introduction to the future.

Thanksgiving 2009

Last year Dick and Kathy came to our house for Thanksgiving. This year we went to their house where they were brave enough to invite 10 people over. We had a delightful time with all the guests - so many interesting conversations taking place all at once. It was hard to know which ones to listen to (especially since I placed myself right in the middle of the table).

Happy Birthday, Hal!

Because we both had a full day of teaching today, we had to celebrate Hal's birthday this evening. We started out with a dance class where we learned some salsa. For dinner we tried out a new Italian cafe called Charlie's Cafe Bistro in LaVerne which has a nice ambiance and good pasta. The portions were huge, so we have some leftovers in the frig. At home Hal opened some gifts, including this little toy from Liesl with the amusing name of Mxykikker. It looks like a grasshopper is going across our floor.

Hal's birthday will continue tomorrow morning when we get to sleep in!

Sweet Children

Today I went over to one of the upper grade classrooms at school to look at the projects that the students are working on. They are doing small reports on the composers that I have been teaching them about. Not only was I impressed with their work, but I was extremely touched that four of the students had made me Get Well Cards and they rushed to hand them to me. Inside their notes were sweet thoughts about how they missed having me teach music for the days I was gone.

So, yeah, I'll keep teaching!

Honnold Cafe

Yesterday we ventured over to the library of the Claremont Colleges - Honnold. I'd heard that there was a cafe there, recently opened. I was amazed at the space and the offerings. The plentiful seating options were filled with students studying, chatting, working on computers, reading magazines, etc.

Trying out iMovie

Today I made peppernut dough, an annual event celebrating my Mennonite culinary roots. Last November I chronicled the three-day progress in this blog. This year I decided to make a little movie about making the dough, mostly because I wanted to try out a newer version of iMovie. Here's my endeavor. And yes, I realize I spelled Karo wrong. I'm not going to spend 20 minutes fixing it this time.

New Blog to Follow

My friend, Pat, has started a blog which I have added to my "Blogs I Follow" list on the left side of this page. Check it out!

Gamelan Concert

This afternoon the Harvey Mudd College American Gamelan performed at Cal Poly Pomona. We performed six pieces, two with viola, one with clarinet, one with video. For one of the pieces, I sat in the wings because it did not require my instrument (kenong), so I was able to take this shot of the group.

It is quite a big deal to move the gamelan from one location to another and then back! I didn't help getting it out there, but I did help load and unload it on its way back home. Makes me appreciate just putting my violin or viola into its case and slinging it over my shoulder!

Time to Read

Although I have been feeling much better this week, mornings are still tiring for me (which seems backwards). I have only taught music in the afternoons, giving me time to rest. That means that I've had some time to read.

Today I finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls of Glass Castle fame. This is novelized version of the oral history of Walls' maternal grandmother, a Texas/Arizona ranch girl. It segues into the childhood and marriage of Walls' mother and gives us more of an understanding of where this crazy family comes from.

Claremont in the News

Claremont made the LA Times A section today with an article about the failed Claremont trolley. I never rode the trolley, mostly because I live within walking distance of the Village and rarely park there. I also didn't ride it because it had so few stopping places. Now, if I was a senior citizen or had difficulty in getting around, I might have felt differently about the venture.

How Many Photos?

Yesterday I decided that I should bring over copies of all my digital photos from my desktop to my laptop. Since we have a network at home, it was pretty easy to do. As I dragged my photo folder to the laptop desktop, it started counting how many items it was preparing to transfer.

Now, several years ago I started scanning many of my older photos, then many of my parents' and grandmothers' photos. And, of course, having had a digital camera since 2001....well, they add up. However, I didn't realize how many, and was surprised to see that I have around 17,000 photos! It took almost two hours to complete the copying.

Maybe I should look at some of those photos once in a while!

Foreign Films

While staying in bed so much lately, I have been so glad to have my laptop to not only keep me connected to friends and family by email and Facebook, but I can also stream movies from Netflix. In the past few days I have watched three foreign films - none outstanding, but interesting to varying degrees. The funniest, for sure, is the Russian sex comedy (imagine that one!) called Absurdistan. Ushpizin is about an Orthodox Jewish couple who entertain unexpected visitors during Sukkot, and the Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, is a series of short stories about man's relationship with the environment, but I didn't find them "enchanting" as the blurb suggested - merely strange.

Sunday Afternoon On the Road - At Home

Today is my last day to recuperate before I start teaching tomorrow. I spent most of the morning in bed with the NY Times, coffee, and my laptop, and now this afternoon I have finished Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I think I actually feel good enough to go to book club tonight where we will discuss this book. I can see where it might have been wild in it's day, but by today's culture, it's pretty tame. I remember when Catcher in the Rye was scandalous to me in 7th grade....

Some very kind soul left a bunch of flowers on my front porch today with no note. Thank you, whoever you are!

Venturing Out

Today I decided I could keep one of my plans, so I interviewed a prospective student for Carleton. We have an alumni admissions network which allows high school seniors to have interviews closer to their homes with alumni. A group of alums met in downtown Claremont in an office building and students came in with their parents. Although it went on for most of the day, I came for a bit in the afternoon and chatted with one student. High school seniors look younger all the time! These guys are 4 years younger than Claire!

Autumn?

One pleasant thing today, while staying mostly in bed (and feeling as though I might actually get well), was listening to the rain. This was our second bit of moisture this year so far, and I hope that we get more.

Cardiology

I finally got to see Dr. Thumati, the cardiologist, this afternoon. After hearing my story and listening to my heart and seeing my past few EKGs, he thought that perhaps I had an episode of arrhythmia last Friday, but that perhaps the other symptoms don't have anything to do with my heart. He gave me a stress test, and my heart looked fine, so he told me that I shouldn't worry about my heart. Generally arrhythmia is benign, and should I have another episode, I should just run down the street to Dr. Sharma's to have the nurse give me an EKG while it happens. Perhaps I won't need to do that.

So, we think that maybe, perhaps, my other symptoms have to do with a virus which will run its course. And, of course, now that I have been told that my heart is great, I am already starting to feel better. I should be back to my regularly scheduled life next week!

Further Adventures in Medicine

At this very moment, I am feeling better, but during the night last night I was having a pain in my chest - right in the middle. I slept a little, and this morning felt shaky and woozy. Decided to return to the ER.

Note to self - going to the ER on a Wednesday morning is way better than a Monday night. Lot less people. Also, if you say "chest pain" they take immediate care of you. I have to say that the staff at the ER are all very kind.

Same diagnosis as Monday night. EKG, x-rays, blood work all look excellent. I almost wanted to ask them if I could just stay in that little bed for the rest of the day, but decided that Hal could bring me home. Now I'm in my bigger bed with wi-fi, tv, phone and bathroom close at hand.

I have an appointment with the cardiologist tomorrow (it's Dr. Thumati, my dad's dr.), and I hope that I either feel better, or that he can tell me what is going on.

Adventures in Medicine

Though we had a good time at Saddlerock this weekend, I wasn't feeling up to snuff. On Friday night my heart started racing and stayed at a high level for 2-3 hours. I thought I might be having a panic attack, even though I was under no stress whatsoever. All weekend I felt a little weird with some trouble getting a breath, and discomfort in my chest. Monday I started feeling worse and went to the doctor who did an ekg and found nothing wrong there and gave me a referral to a cardiologist. I cancelled my string classes and stayed on the couch most of the day. As evening rolled around, I felt that it became harder and harder to catch my breath, so I called Hal who took me to the ER.

We spent 4 1/2 hours there with each staff member (about 10-12) apologizing for how busy it was and how long each wait was. Another ekg, blood work and a chest x-ray. The upshot was that they found nothing wrong with me at all. Our best guess is that I am running through a virus.

This morning I woke up being able to breathe much better, like normal, but feeling wiped out, so I cancelled all classes today and am going to rest, rest, rest. Tomorrow is a holiday at school, so I am going to be good to go by Thursday, I'm sure.

Saddlerock 2009

This weekend Hal attended the annual HMC trustees retreat called Saddlerock. I tagged along, enjoying the surroundings at Smoke Tree Ranch in Palm Springs. While Hal was in meetings, I got to read, work on some music, chat with friends (old and new), and watch a little HGTV. Yesterday Hal and I took a nature walk with a docent from the Living Desert in Palm Desert. After dinner we got a chance to dance to a band, and since we've had some dance lessons this semester, we knew a few moves.

Our '98 Camry

In 2001 we bought a '98 Toyota Camry with less than 30,000 miles on it. Yesterday as we drove down Monte Vista Ave. it turned over 100,000 miles.

Just to be clear, Hal was driving when I took this photo.

Olive Kitteridge

In two weeks my book club is discussing Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. These thirteen stories weave the main character, Olive, throughout, sometimes as a fleeting character (the scary, retired middle school math teacher), sometimes front and center. The writing is beautiful, the subject matter full of small daily tragedies.

Holiday Banners

Claremont, why must we have Christmas banners up already? Can't we have Thanksgiving first?

Recorder Karate

Today was the day to begin Recorder Karate at school. Every year I teach the 3rd graders how to play the recorder, and to help motivate them to practice, I give them tests. The first test is the easiest one, or the white belt. They come in at recess one day a week and if they pass the test, I give them a piece of embroidery floss to tie to the bottom of the recorder. By the end of the year, some children have a rainbow of colors to show off.

First Tuesday in November

I took the time today to vote for three candidates for school board. I think voter turnout was low today, but I always vote!

Lab Work

As I was waiting in a full room this morning to have blood drawn for my yearly tests, I wondered why the people who staff the lab have to be so darn impatient with the older crowd. We sit there, and if they need something from someone, the name gets called out, and if the poor older person is slowly making their way, not fast enough, they yell out the name again, not looking to see that the person is actually coming their way. I also didn't really appreciate the way the clipboard was shoved at me when I arrived. These people need training to be people!

Changing Clocks

I think we have about 10-12 clocks - or things with clocks (like the coffee maker) to change when we go on or off Daylight Savings Time. We went around changing all timepieces last night before we went to bed, only to have our electricity cut out for a minute this morning. That required resetting time on at least 5 of these clocks again.

Halloween '09

This is the first time I've spent Halloween with my parents since 1977, and it was unlike any other. Since today is Saturday, we've had college football on the telly, waiting for the big Oregon/USC game playing during the trick-or-treat time. After watching the first quarter, we decided to watch more of the game on the tvs at Pizza 'n Such.

The Oregon Ducks did not disappoint us! They are playing amazingly well this year.

Numb3rs

My folks have arrived for a visit, and tonight for entertainment we took them to a math lecture at Harvey Mudd. The speaker was Gary Lorden, a retired Cal Tech math professor who has been a consultant on the tv show Numb3rs. Although some of the math was above our heads, we got some of the broad strokes and ideas. Of course, we enjoyed the cookies and conversations afterwards.

Almost made it to November

My rule of thumb for when to turn on the furnace - Nov. 1. When the house was 63 degrees this morning, I thought maybe I ought to warm it up a bit for bookclub, so I turned on the furnace for a few hours this afternoon. October 28 is pretty close to Nov, right?

Playing with Eggshells

This is the third week of string instruction in the Claremont schools. We have a record high enrollment this year, and the excitement is always high at the beginning of the year. The beginning strings are working on holding the bow correctly, and to work on the bow holds in a non-boring way, I put plastic Easter Egg halves on the tips of the bows. They get to pass the eggshells around in a circle, and this game is always a crowd pleaser.

Say what you will about Facebook. . .

Today I got in contact with a college roommate through Facebook. I had followed her a bit through the Alumni publications and knew that she had moved to France, but that's all I knew about her. She has been in France for nearly half her life now, and she and her husband run a champagne vineyard. Now I have a link to her blog about running the enterprise!

Suburban Wildlife

Last night while walking to my concert (we played Finlandia, Mathis der Maler by Hindemith, and Haydn's Harmonie Mass), I heard a great horned owl in one of the eucalyptus trees along College Ave. Then I heard another one answer back. We used to hear owls around here, but I hadn't heard any in quite a while, so it was good to hear them again.

BC Cafe?

On a concert weekend, we usually go out to dinner, or lunch. Tonight as we drove to Sanamluang for some tasty Thai food, I looked at the building where BC Cafe stands, and the name on the top was Kick Back Jack's. When did that happen?

Falling Leaves

It's the time of year when the ash trees on our street start losing their leaves. Lots and lots of little leaves turned yellow. Yesterday morning I raked and filled our green waste dumpster nearly full. Of course, today it hardly looks as though I did anything yesterday. There are enough leaves in the street that when cars drive by, it sounds as though it's raining.

I will be raking leaves now for at least another month, maybe 6 weeks.

When Liesl was 11, we sat on the front porch and watched these leaves falling on a sunny day, and she wrote this poem:

Journey

I am a leaf.

I am falling.

Twisting and turning,

As I drift downward.

I seek

A nice spot,

A spot to land.

Right here.

Safe and sound.

In a child's hand.

A Night on the Town (with some Gown)

We took advantage of the CMC Atheneum tonight and heard Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics, speak. We weren't actually in the same room since there was an overflow crowd, but we saw the live feed in the next building. Levitt is an entertaining speaker with some interesting and some odd ideas. Maybe I should read the book.

After the talk, we rode our bikes to Village West to try out Yogurtland - yet another tart yogurt sold by the ounce. I recommend the pomegranate raspberry tart flavor. The addition of mini m 'n ms and raspberries is also recommended.

Moving On

If LA is sad over the Dodgers losing the pennant, we can put our hopes and dreams into the newest LA phenom. Tonight I am watching the Gustavo Dudamel inaugural concert with the LA Philharmonic on PBS. We didn't make the actual concert, but are very happy to be watching it in HD. This guy is GOOD.

MLB on the Web

Last month I was bemoaning the fact that some Dodger games were not on network tv, and since we don't have cable, I couldn't watch, and therefore be a good luck charm for them. Now while the ALCS is on Fox, the NLCS is on TBS (cable). We decided to take the big splurge of $10 for postseason, and buy internet coverage. We've watched four games on my laptop (bringing the price down all the way to $2.50/game!), but this last game was a heartbreaker anyway.

Facts about watching baseball this way:

1) you get to choose up to four camera angles at once (we choose two)

2) no commercials (cameras stay on during breaks, but there is no sound)

3) no scoreboard keeping track of innings, strikes/balls, score, runners

If it's a Yankees/Phillies World Series, I probably won't watch it.

Book Club

Last night was book club, and we discussed Kim's brother's book, Primitive. It's an ecological thriller that takes place at the border of Canada and the US.

One thing I'm enjoying more and more in book club is the quality of the food at the potluck. Kim made a fabulous pot roast and apple pie, and some of the salads were absolutely delicious! Oh, yeah, and the discussions are pretty lively, too.