Still on the air

Okay, so I was told on November 4 that I was being laid off. But here it is, December 30, and I am still on the air, with no end date determined. In the mean time, I have to finish my doctoral requirements by September 23, 2009, so this whole job debacle is actually a good thing. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and I am looking forward to a fresh start. Yeah for 2009!

We had a magical Christmas, full of Temko/Yang/Mickler/Barnes togetherness. There was gut-busting Chinese hot pot at my parents' on Thursday; an incredible meal at Bacchanalia on Friday night; dim-sum at Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant on Saturday; and Ben's awesomely yummy beef short ribs on Sunday. Yes, our lives revolve around food. Aren't yours?

Not quite the whole story, but it's a start

While I'm trying to digest my experiences at WABE, this article has been written. Catharsis is happening.

On a much lighter note, this is so awesome. That's all I'll say for you Early Music fans out there.

Saying Good-Bye

Last Friday I was told that I was being laid off from my job because they are going to combine the job I am currently doing with another co-worker's, and I am welcome to apply for the new job that will be posted in 2-3, maybe 4 weeks. This "new job" will not include hosting classical music from Noon-3pm. In fact, the machinations behind this decision are gruesome to say the least, and simply unfair. I'll be happy to give you the details privately. Just email me.

In my six-year tenure at WABE, I have produced countless interviews, created an internship program and nurtured three interns, created The Art of Song (which involves script writing and all digital production), masterminded Opera Classics, and so much more. All of this was way above and beyond my simple job description and salary, and my reward for all of this hard work: You're Fired. Not because I am incompetent, but the opposite.

I find it hard to say good-bye because I have loved this job so much, getting to touch people's lives with the beauty of classical music and hopefully helping them to love it as much as I do. Since the age of 6 I have known that I wanted to be a teacher, and my job was the perfect realization of a dream. Now the dream must change, but I'm not ready yet. I will continue to make music, but now will share it with thousands fewer people. It makes me sad. Good-byes are hard.

It has been nearly twenty-nine years

since we landed in Los Angeles as new immigrants in America, and as I voted this morning I was struck by the overwhelming dominance of Republican control in the time we've lived in the United States. Of these 29 years, we've had a Democratic President for only 8 of them, and those were some of the best in the last three decades. We need to turn the tide and work toward real change. While I will always be a Hilary supporter, it's important to not let the other side dominate any longer. The corruption of American work ethic, moral character, and economic policies have brought us to this uncomfortable and unsettling state.

I still remember the pride I felt sitting in Citizenship class in high school, believing that it was my duty to understand how government worked and to participate. While much jadedness has occurred over the years, once again I want to feel more connected to the political process.

After nearly 30 years of being an American, now there are only fleeting moments when I feel like a stranger: for instance, when I meet a listener who pauses for a moment to assess the fact that I am not Caucasian, as they have pictured in their minds. It's going to be a really good thing for people all over the world and here at home to not just picture an old white guy when we talk about the President of the United States. Instead, we'll see an African American male, or even a woman (GO HIL 2012!!!). To deny that external racial differences exist is just as ignorant as being a racist. What I hope to see and feel some day is that the typical image of someone in authority is not that of a white dude, and that maybe this will happen in the next 30 years? Here's to hoping and working for it.

Serious News

I've done a lot of arts interviews during my tenure at the station, so to challenge myself, I became a news reporter for this story. A few weeks later, the national editors at this public media web content management provider decided that my story was noteworthy when it came to plugging local election coverage. See this. This is old news, but I just realized that I never posted this accomplishment. So now I've done it. If I don't pat myself on the back once in a while, who will?

Pandora

As I was typing in the very long post regarding the imminent death of all things disc-related (not the frisbee, tho), I was trying out Pandora Radio, which is based on the Music Genome Project. I started out with Level 42, and the damned thing spat out this list of songs, which I listened to mostly with glee the entire way (I indicate my favor or outrage with + or -, respectively):

1) Level 42 - Running in the Family (+)
2) Duran Duran - The Reflex (+)
3) Hall & Oats - Say It Isn't So (+)
4) Steve Winwood - Higher Love (-)
5) Level42 - World Machine (+)
6) Duran Duran - Rio (+)
7) Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy (+)
8) Kajagoogoo - Too Shy (+)
9) INXS - New Sensation (+)
10) Level 42 - Heaven in My Hands (+)
11) Billy Idol - Eyes Without a Face (+)
12) The Cars - Drive (-)
13) Duran Duran - Come Undone (+)
14) Level 42 - Good Man in a Storm (+)
15) Naked Eyes - Promises, Promises (+)
16) Genesis - Land of Confusion (-)
17) Culture Club - It's Miracle (-)
18) Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor! (+)
19) Howard Jones - Everlasting Love (+)
20) Men At Work - Overkill (+)
21) ABC - The Night You Murdered Love (-)
22) Genesis - In Too Deep (-)
23) Hall & Oates - One On One (+)
24) Simply Red - Sunrise (-)
25) Paul Carrack - Don't Shed A Tear (+)
26) Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You (+)
27) The Human League - Human (-)
28) Duran Duran - The Reflex (+)
29) Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking (+)
30) Phil Collins & Phillip Bailey - Easy Lover (+)
31) Howard Jones - No One Is To Blame (+)
32) Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now (+)
33) Foreigner - Waiting for a Girl Like You (-)
34) David Bowie - Let's Dance (+)
35) Tears for Fears - Change (+)
36) Erasure - Stop (-)
37) Prince - Thieves in the Temple (+)
38) Howard Jones - Dream Into Action (+)

That's an impressive list, going from just one group I gave them. Now I want to try other groups I like to see what it comes up with, maybe even some groups I fuckin' hate, to see if it can pick lots of groups I also fuckin' hate!

Things that spin

It's been a long time sine I posted anything. It's not that nothing is going on - far from it.

Well, not that far from it.

I could bore you all endlessly with posts about my frustrating working situation, but as this is a public blog I can't go into specifics without getting myself fired, a possibility which seems all too realistic in any event, regardless of my own behavior. Suffice it to say that if you come up to me and ask me about work, be prepared for a loud, voluminous tirade filled with expletives and almost certainly requiring beer either before, after, or during, more likely all three.

I could also confuse you thoroughly with detailed descriptions of my various tennis outings, and in fact this is stuff I enjoy writing about, but I also know the target audience for that particular information is, well... let's say the demographic currently resides between my chair and keyboard. I tried it once with my dear friend MM once, and her lack of response was eloquent. I will not subject the rest of you to it.

I wish I had some funny stories to tell, like the one about the remote, but I don't. It's not that funny things aren't happening. Well, actually, they aren't. Two weeks ago I received two corneal abrasions mowing the lawn, and that's not funny, nor is there any funny way to tell that story. It fucking hurt, and I'm glad it's over with. Three weeks ago I tweaked my back playing tennis and haven't been on the court since, and that's REALLY not funny, because it's frustrating the hell out of me. Two days before this happened I had one of the best hitting sessions I've had in about 3 years with my doubles partner Mike, the absolute crest of which was a 27 stroke backhand rally in which we spent about a minute crushing the ball from backhand corner to backhand corner cross-court, each trying to out-angle the other. Mike won the exchange, finally, with an absolutely gorgeous little flip that hugged the net and had so much spin that it hit the ground and shot sideways, dead left - I never had a chance. After sessions like that I really want to get out and hit more just like it. Then I hurt my back. Fucking hell.

One thing about enforced physical inactivity (and pain killers, to be totally honest), is that the brain tends to compensate. That is to say, I've been thinking more than normal, and that's actually a meaningful statement, as I tend towards the introspective, probably a little too much for my own good. Lots of notes on little pieces of paper, some short stories germinating, if only I can form a plot around some really fun ideas, etc.

But one thing that I've concluded, and this I will share now, is the following thought:

The CD/DVD is dead. Or at least, it should be.

I know, blue-ray won the format wars. Now we can all get behind this great new format and watch our videos in beautiful HD. But I'm wondering - why are we supporting any kind of mechanical-based format any more?

Let me explain.

Way back when, there were LPs. LPs were great, analog, and very specifically limited to a known degree as to how much information they'd hold (i.e. roughly 45 minutes of sound). You put the LP on a rotating platter and dropped the needle, and sound came out of the speakers based on the amplified micro-vibrations of this needle. The quality of the final result relied largely on several known factors : the quality of the needle (Moon Rock needle. Sounds like shit.); the quality of the amplifier; the quality and power of the speakers. It was a simple idea carried out with varying degrees of elegance, if the vast available array of these supporting technologies is any indication. I still have LPs, (but no turntable), and will admit that there's some undefined, nostalgiac instinct which is driving me to keep them.

Next came the digital era, with the sound further discretized into 1s and 0s, and essentially glued, again, onto a plastic disc. But still the medium of delivery relied on a mechanical device: a much smaller, much faster turntable. DVDs, both the first generation and the new blue-ray versions, are exactly the same - we just got better at making the bits we glue onto the plastic discs really, really small so we can put more and more bits on the same sized plastic disc. More bits means more data means higher fidelity sound or video, all of which is well and good.

But it's not all that good.

I can tell you for fact that the things-that-spin method of data delivery is no longer either practical or necessary. I can't recall the last CD/DVD drive I bought for a computer which lasted more than 3 years. Hell, even DVD players only last 4-5 years and then the things explode in some fashion. Most last significantly less.

This is horribly inefficient. Not to mention, it creates a lot of extra trash when people buy the $30 DVD player from Wal-Mart every 18 months, including all the packaging (box, styrofoam packing materials, unread manuals, etc), and then throw all of it away and do it again. I'd love to know the percentage of space in a typical landfill is dedicated to the dessicated remains of things-that-spin technologies.

On the other hand, a typical thumb drive (also called flash drive) holds about 8 GB these days. This is nearly identical to the amount of data you get on one dual-layered standard DVD. There are no moving parts required to access this data. The amount of packing for these drives is a fraction of what's required for LPs/CDs/DVDs. There's nothing to break. Imagine buying a thumb drive with Wall-E on it. You pop it into the slot on front of your player, and INSTANTLY your menu screen comes up. No waiting for the drive to spin up, no wondering when the thing is going to break. Neither the player nor media has any moving parts to cause any issues. Drop the thing on the floor all you want, it won't break. You can't scratch it. And storing it takes up a fraction of the space the DVD did.

Even better, this same thumb drive ALSO has the soundtrack on it. You get into your car, pop the drive into the front of your audio player, and listen to the soundtrack as you drive to work (or, if you want to, play the move audio and watch it in your head as you drive). No waiting for anything to slide in and out of any slot. No hoping the thing spits out that old Thompson Twins CD that's been stuck in there since 1994. And no mechanical parts at all, so no skipping.

But what about the new Blue Ray discs, you ask? Aren't those supposed to hold more data?

Indeed they are. A single layer blue ray disc holds about 25 GB, a dual layer 50 GB. You'll recall, the more data I can store on my media, the higher fidelity I achieve, and so the better my listening/viewing experience. As is the general rule with computers, however, the technology is advancing with harrowing speed. You can already buy 32 GB flash drives for $100, enough to hold more data than a single layer blue-ray disc. And while this is too much to spend on a DVD, there are two things I can promise you with absolute certainty:

1) This is a HUGE profit margin. These things cost probably around $5 or so to manufacture en masse no matter how much data they hold. In the same way that you can now buy an 8 GB flash drive for about $15 (which is a little cheaper than the cost of a normal DVD now), in a few months there will be higher capacity flash drives available, and the top-of-the-line drives available now will cost almost nothing.

2) These new drives are already ready to go, the manufacturers are simply waiting for the right time to hit the market with them so that they can maximize their profit margin on the current version before they make them the new old version.

So, the technology exists to make this a reality already. It's nothing more than mule-headedness which keeps us using these idiotic things-that-spin.

However there's even more benefit to solid state media - it can be re-written infinitely. So what, you ask, who cares? Well, if you get tired of the Rocky collection, you can simply buy the Rambo collection and replace the old Rocky movies on the same media. You waste nothing (except the time and brain cells you killed trying to re-enact the wrestling scene between Balboa and Thunderlips from Rocky III), and don't have to be embarrassed while trying to dump your old collection on Craig's List.

But, even better, take the following scenario:

You have an old media style which is permanent. Suddenly, a new technology is available which allows you to store more data on a different kind of media. Now, suddenly, your huge library of old-media entertainment is obsolete. You'll have to buy a new player and host of new media to get the advantages of the new technology. Your old media and player becomes landfill fodder, and you spend tons more money you didn't want to to own something you already own.

Now let's pretend you have re-writable solid state media.

You have a huge collection of 20 GB media iGimmicks (tm). Some of them hold a movie and its soundtrack, others hold a few different versions of your favorite musical. You plug them into your player, which checks out the contents and brings up the appropriate interface for allowing you to experience your data.

Suddenly, it is announced : new compression scheme available, higher fidelity, better sound, available now!

Worst case, you don't have an internet connection. You take your media and iGimmick player to your local iGimmick retailer (you were going to have to go to the store anyway to buy the new player and media, so this isn't actually imposing additionally on you at all). Hand them your player and box full of iGimmicks. One by one, your iGimmicks are plugged into the upgrader. The upgrader looks at the media, sees what you have, and converts or upgrades, as needed. You now have the newest version of your stuff, same media, no garbage generated. While all this is happening, they also install the new version of the player software on your iGimmick player (for the record, called iSprocket). It may be that your storage capacity, in some cases, isn't enough to hold the newest version of the item in question (you are obsessed with Cats, alas, and have every version ever produced on one of your iGimmicks). No problem. You can upgrade that particular iGimmick to the new higher-capacity version, and continue to use the old one for something else. Would you like to check our stock of available media which will fit on that model of iGimmick? We have a lovely selection of Equus home videos...

Or, if you're like us and have high-speed internet in your house, all of this can be done without you even having to leave the house. Your iSprocket is internet ready, and can tell you when new versions are available. It downloads and installs the new player software automatically, and lets you convert your media as you sit there in your own home. Those iGimmicks which can't be converted, take them to the iGimmick store, they'll hook you up.

This scheme works for more than just movies and music. Any data can be handled this way. Software (new version of GTA, anyone?), books (Robert Jordan series coming right up!), you name it. iGimmick can handle it, with all the same advantages.

So let's review.

Solid-state media (thumb drives, and other similar technologies which have no moving parts) is cheap to produce, cheap to buy, generates less waste from packaging, doesn't break under normal circumstances (you still shouldn't put it in the microwave), does entirely away with player-based mechanical failure and hence decreases waste further by not clogging landfills with old broken players, takes up a fraction of the space of traditional disc-based media, is almost infinitely upgradeable without wasting media or delivery systems, and can be implemented immediately with existing technologies.

What the hell are we waiting for?

Change is Good?

With autumn just around the corner and the night air getting a bit of a chill, I've decided that some change is good, and some just have to be endured. I'm actually speaking very specifically about our Cannon for Music, BN, who left us to go to the great St. John the Divine in NYC. This past Sunday I realized something very important: that I truly missed him. Having had serious intimate knowledge about the grieving process, for his departure I was pretty determined to stay detached. I saw him but a few times in the last two months of his tenure with us due to trips to London, Berlin, and Charleston, and I even missed his final going away party. Saying goodbye to him wasn't going to be easy, so I avoided it altogether.

He is a very good man who led us into musical territories that were exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Now that we are on the search for his replacement, it makes his absence that much harder to bear. As with any good and intimate relationship, it wasn't without its fair share of ups and downs, but in the last 7 years I know that my life and musical life have been enriched by having him in it. I enjoyed a level of musical freedom, expression, and fulfillment that I hope can be continued in the years to come. Maybe I should cross all fingers and toes????

Yikes!

When we last updated you about our adoption efforts, we were rather despondent about the exponentially expanding wait time, even for expedited families. Uh...earlier today our adoption agency sent this (no, we are clearly not one of the lucky families):

This month the CCAA included four referrals for expedited families. They were all girls. These families were LID in January 2007 (The last expedited referrals involved LID [Log-in-date] of January 2006, and that was a couple of months ago.).

The CCAA continues to hold to their policy that the referral time frame for expedited families will be about 2 to 3 months less than the standard referral time frame (and currently, regular referrals are taking about 30 months, so this little form letter isn't exactly correct. But I'm not complaining, I'm panicking!!!). This time frame may lengthen in the future as the standard referral time frame also lengthens. Currently the referral time frame for expedited families is 18 months.

Can this really be true? Are there so few Chinese-American couples adopting from China that we could be fast-tracked by this much? Oh, we are sooooo not ready. I've gotta finish my damn D.M.!!!!!!

Why I'm not for BO as President...

Hmmmm, political animal anyone? "I told you so" sounds about right. See this.

Berlin 2008...the rest of the story.

I just finished what Ben began more than 2 months ago. To see it, click here.

Adoption Update : Officiality; et. al.

I apologize for :

a) not keeping up with the Berlin posts in real-time, as we had intended. I blame Dunkel.
b) interrupting the upkeep of Berlin posts, as it destroys continuity, but this is important news:

Today we received word of our official login date (LID)! It was:

April 29, 2008.

This is the day we officially hit the books in China. We're in the system now, and all we can do is cross our fingers and wait. In the meantime, we're going to try to remember what happened the other 2 days in Berlin and post them.

But not now.

Right now we're in Charleston, SC, gearing up for Wanda's performance with the New Trinity Baroque ensemble during Piccolo Spoletto. She's giving two concerts, one on Sunday at 3 PM and one on Monday at 3 PM. If you're in the area, drop by! I got to listen to her practice on the way down to Charleston from Atlanta, and I can tell you, it's going to be a stupendous experience!

the rest of the story...Berlin, two and 1/2 months later...

I had to remove this posting. Send me an e-mail and I'll explain why!

A Magical Day

It's corny sounding, but it's true. We had a good breakfast and went in a herd of 10 or so friends to the Berlin Zoo, located a 10 minute walk from our hotel. I think I've always loved zoos, and the Berlin zoo is just beautiful. We spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon there, after which we went to visit the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, which we actually saw on our first trip to Berlin in 2003, but it made such a powerful impression on us that we had to go back again. It's just as beautiful now as it was then.

From there to capitalistic KaDeWe, shopping Mecca and standard for all things West before (and even after) the Wall came down. We had a lovely lunch on the top level cafeteria, and then straggled back to the hotel to decompress a bit before our opening night concert.

The concert went extremely well. The most difficult thing we've experienced so far in translating our experience with the piece in Atlanta to the new environments (acoustical, positional, orchestral, etc.al) here in Berlin has been getting a group of 200 people to relax into the flow of the music-making going on between our conductor Donald Runnicles (whom we all adore most fervently) and the Berlin Phil (a staggering group of musicians who have welcomed us with open arms twice now), which means not clutching so tightly to the motion of the stick and listening to the interpretation being delivered in real time, and adjusting our own sense of timing and rhythmic precision into that context. In each rehearsal we've learned a little bit more about how to do it, and this was our best effort yet. This isn't to say there weren't issues (the hall is so bright and warm and lively, which is wonderful for us, but it also exposes us to a degree to which we are not accustomed), such as a bit of seam pulling during the rollicking Lacrymosa, or some random intonation lapses (I believe due mostly to fatigue, vocally and otherwise).

In all, however, the energy and expressiveness of the conductor and the intimate responsiveness of the orchestra serves to guide and inspire us to commit to the fullest extent our passion for delivering our own brand of perfection. We are the best chorus in the world, singing with the best orchestra in the world, in one of the best acoustics in the world. What's not to love? And for the most part, we delivered. We sang the demonically difficult a-capella "Quarens Me" movement to perfection. We shook the heavens during the "Dies Irae". The tenor was brilliant during the Sanctus, and our women sang like angels backing him up. When all was said and done, the audience rained applause down on us, and broke into a bedlam of cheering when we stood for our bows. Three times we stood, and each time the cheers were louder. For us, the amateur chorus, there is no other, better payment we could possibly receive. We can be better, however, and we will get better as we settle in even more to the task. I look greatly forward to the next few nights.

The best thing of all is that you can listen to our Saturday night concert live on the web! It starts at 8 PM local time (2 PM EDT). The information (in German) is here:

http://www.kulturradio.de/_/beitrag_jsp/key=1431556.html

I think you listen to the stream here:

http://www.kulturradio.de/_/beitrag_jsp/key=1209227.html

Significant Improvements

Two nights ago found us sitting outside of a nice little Indian restaurant located about 6 blocks from our hotel with a horde of friends, sipping Dunkels (or Pils, or Weiss, as our specific needs dictated) and enjoying some really wonderful food. I, of course, ate Butter Chicken, and it was creamy and savory, everything it was supposed to be. Wanda had Palak Paneer, which was about as good as we've ever had it anywhere. Throw in several varied appetizers and some extremely good company, and it made for a great evening. On the way back we stopped in at what is sure to become our Home Pub for the trip, Ambrosius (located directly across the street from the hotel) for a few more biers and a little bit more nosh, just because.

At some point we will have to document the woman strutting around the corner outside Ambrosius. While jaywalking might be a serious offense in Berlin, apparently prostitution is not. At some point during the evening the entire length of EinenStrasse becomes populated with, at a rate of one about every few hundred feet or so, well... "women of unsavory character". They are wearing the most spectacularly slutty outfits, and they walk around in the middle of their chosen intersection waiting for passers-by possessing specific characteristics, the two most primary being that they are horny, and that they have money. For what I'm certain is a reasonable fee, these women will hop in their cars (parked at their chosen intersection) and follow you to a destination of your choosing for er... well, let's not elucidate. "Our Ho", as we have come to call her, wears a titanium blonde wig, leggings-with-built-in-thong, and regularly changes tops, if the one she's wearing doesn't seem to be doing the trick for her.

So I've spent more time documenting the ho than the rest of the trip. We continue.

Yesterday morning I woke up like a shot at 5:30. There was no possible way I was going back to sleep, so I put on my workout clothes and went for a run. The unusualness of this event is mitigated somewhat by the fact that I was probably still jetlagged - I do not think it will become a habit (gods, I hope not!). By the time I got back, Wanda was stirring, so I got clean and we made our way downstairs to breakfast. For some reason we thought that the bus to rehearsal was leaving at 8:45, but after a schedule check we discovered it was leaving at 8:30. This caused a frantic readjustment of priorities, as Wanda threw a shower on (and off again just as quickly), and we bolted downstairs, just making the bus.

The morning rehearsal was a scratchy affair. We were not, as an ensemble, in particularly good voice (I'm sure this had nothing whatsoever to do with vast quantities of spirits imbibed the evening prior by the Chorus Corpus), and being tired and of low energy is death on this piece (any piece, really, but the Berlioz Requiem in particular requires an enormous and sustained outpouring of energy). We managed to stumble through, knowing that the afternoon's dress would be the proof of the pudding, and fled the premises for lunch.

It was at this point that I hit the wall. The lack of sleep combined with the early morning workout combined with the energy expended just to stay alive during the rehearsal pretty much did me in. I mostly slept-walked through lunch (at a Bier Garden in PostDamer Platz), staggered around a bit with Wanda afterwards and then caught a quick cat-nap in the Philharmonie before our afternoon dress rehearsal.

The rehearsal went well enough that I hold out hope for us uncorking a big performance tonight. We still have a few rough spots to conquer, but we had a major improvement over the mess we made in the morning, and we improve as much again tonight we'll be in fine shape. We closed the evening with dinner at some other BierGarden next to AlexanderPlatz. I ate something called a "fried pig's knuckle", but if that hunk of meat was the knuckle from a german pig, then it had the biggest hands of any pig I ever saw. It reminded me of the huge turkey legs you can at a Ren Fair. This was the George Foreman of pigs. We invited, and were joined by, the tenor soloist for our performances, a delightful young man named Joe. He fit right in with our cast of characters, and everyone had a great time. I turned in at 11, to ensure a good night's sleep for today's activities, which I will relate tomorrow.

You can see pics of everything here:

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=675111792

We'll just keep adding to this set of pictures as we go, so check back for udpates!

I'm starting to get really nervous and excited now, just 20 minutes before we get on the bus to head to the Philharmonie. Will we stink it up or will we dominate? Will we meet our own silly-high standard set in 2003, or will they say "Not as good as they were before"?

We'll know soon.

1st Rehearsal

We just got back to the hotel after our first rehearsal with the Berlin Phil @ the Philharmonie. They are every bit as good as I remember them, and we were nothing like as good as we are capable of being, with lots of sloppiness with entrances and cutoffs. We adapted very quickly to A443, however, and our pitch was very good throughout. We know where we need to improve, and we will.

We got up this morning at 9:15, reluctantly, and made our way down to breakfast. They've a terrific breakfast buffet at the hotel (which normally costs 17 euro, but which is included as part of our tour), which we did our best to demolish. Cold cerals, eggs, bacon, ham, sausages, lots of fruit and juices, everything a growing boy (and girl) needs. Afterwards we hopped on the U Bahn and made our way over to the Berliner Dome. This is the second time we've attempted to visit said Dome. The first time was back in 2003, and it was pissing down rain and really far too cold to be out, so we satisfied ourselves with taking a picture of it from about half a mile away, then bravely turned our tails and fled.

This year we got all the way inside, only we were extremely pressed for time (being as we woke up and ate so leisurely), so we were intending on just zipping in, getting some pictures, and zipping back out again. Only, it turns out, there's a 5 euro charge to get in now, so instead of paying 5 euro for 5 minutes we turned tail and fled again, vowing to extract our revenge later. We have a weekly U Bahn pass, so I feel certain we will make good on this threat. Note to future Berlin travellers - you cannot pay for your 7-day U Bahn pass with a visa or amex. They only take mastercards or cash.

We're now headed out to dinner, and probably a few Biers. We can't go too hot and heavy tonight, since we've an early rehearsal tomorrow and we'll need to fortify heavily first at the breakfast buffet. We'll post pics from today afterwards.

Berlin 2008

Our flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt was a bumpy one, with 10 thousand PA interruptions from the flight attendants, but we landed on time. However, 17 pieces of ASOC luggage did not arrive in Berlin, including my suitcase. Luckily, it was found and 6 hours later arrived at Hotel Berlin. Ben and I walked around a lot and scoped out things we'll do later in the week. Now we are just trying to stay awake long enough to get over jet lag tomorrow. To see photos: click here.

I don't know why, but...

This makes me laugh every single time I see it.

Adoption Update : High Road to China (with apologies to Douglas Adams)

Today we received word from Great Wall that all of our paperwork has been finalized, certified, blessed, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as fire lighters.

It is now on its way to China and will arrive Monday, at which point someone will walk it over to the CCCA and we will receive our official login date. This is a big day - it's the moment at which our wait officially (as far as the Chinese are concerned) begins. We will not find out what day this is for around a month, as they get a crapload of these these things in on a regular basis, and it can take a while for them to get around to sending us official word, but that's OK. The big thing is that next week we're in the hands of the people that matter most.

There's more stuff to come as we transition from the paperwork phase to prepping for our trip phase, and we'll get into all of that as it becomes appropriate. For now we're basking in the relief that the only thing standing between us and the baby(ies) we've so desperately wanted for so very long is time.

I Hate Yello Yushrooms

We just left this eatery no less than 5 minutes ago, and forgot our leftover box of pizza. When we went back to ask for it, they claimed to know nothing about such a box. I say, "they suck, and you must all boycott Yellow Yushrooms!" They suck. Do not go there, for your own safety. Join me in the fight against unfair pizzary.

As the World Turns

Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary, my love!

(ha ha, I win!)

P.S. The traditional 14th wedding anniversary gift is ivory! No way am I getting her ivory, that's just wrong! No gift for you this year sweetie, sorry!

Adoption update : An ending, and a beginning

It's the one you've all been waiting for!

ALL PAPERWORK IS COMPLETED

At the end of last week we finally received our long-awaited I797 form from the government with a status of APPROVED! Since we were due to leave for New York the next day, we didn't have a chance to make the notarized copy of this document required for our last batch of paperwork, and so it had to wait until our (well, my) return from NYC.

Today, I sent the last fedex package I shall have to send to the Great Wall China Adoption Agency for this batch of kid(s). There's literally nothing left to do for us but wait for them to send us pictures of our desperately longed-for baby (or, for which it is fervently to be hoped, babies), and then to go get them.

And now, we wait.

How long? Anywhere from 5 months (wildly optimistic and rare) to 2 years (wildly pessimistic, but certainly possible). I'd get on a plane tomorrow if I thought it would help, but I think we're lucky in that we need some time to prepare the room we've been calling "The Baby's Room" since we moved into this house, and we're likely to get it. Not too much time, I hope. Time's a wasting.

Say it with me : WHEW!!!!

Dear Anonymous Coward:

Wow, this person just posted this very ugly response to our Paris, Day 1 blog entry.

how about wearing something appropriate to jules verne, (even for lunch)gentlman should have a jacket and lady should NOT be wearing jeans. and take that gay earing out man. this is why the rest of the world hates us americans. you have no class! read the dress code before you go someplace.

First of all, this person is a coward, calling us names and then not signing its name. Second, it wrote all in lower case, certainly a tell-tale sign of its lack of attention to detail and class. Third, the wonderful thing about the Jules Verne (in which I'm sure he has never dined, and made this comment because of extreme jealousy) is that they were kind to us even though we were jet-lagged and dressed casually. They did not act like snobs and deny us service. We were made to feel as welcome as the French family all dressed in jeans and casual attire and the business folks having a leisurely meal. This person who wrote the heinous comment is the one without class, and if you know it (or him/her), please slap it for me. COWARD, give me your name and place of origin so that I may respond to you with a clear visual in mind. Right now, my visual of you is a really good one. Anyone else have a visual of this loser?

Still Laughing

I've recently become aware of a show called Robot Chicken, brainchild of Seth Green. It's difficult to describe, but think Laugh-In performed by stop-motion animation. Sometimes it's silly, sometimes it's hysterical beyond belief. Each episode only runs about 15 minutes or so, and my favorite so far is the one during which Steven Tyler gets sent into space on an Armageddon-like mission, but can't stop throwing up all over everything, including the inside of his space-suit's visor.

So, there's a Robot Chicken homage to Star Wars. It contains a scene many of you have probably already seen before, wherein Darth Vader is calling the Emperor (collect) to tell him about the death star's destruction, while the Emperor is meeting with two members of the trade confederation which started all the trouble with Naboo. There is so much more, but I don't want to spoil it for you.

Please, I beg of you, if you love Star Wars at all, you must watch it:

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/robotchicken/stuff/rcsw/ivcp/

PS - still waiting to get the results from our I600-A (typed that first as "I666-a")...

A Brief Rant

I'm at a conference, and just made the connection that a certain host on a semi-competitive station in my city was wooed by WNYC to host their evening program for the reasons that I hated listening to him: casual, non-traditional. Long story made short, WNYC wants to redefine classical music by playing live Bjork and Rufus Wainright concerts during evening "classical hours." People, when you are trying to lure young people to classical music by pandering, it will not build an audience for classical music. You are building an audience for eclecticism, which we already have. I love listening to my 80s New Wave satellite station one minute followed by a CD of another genre, and then turning back to classical. I don't need my classical station to program eclecticism for me. Maybe I just made the wrong assumption about the session given today by WNYC called "Turning News Listeners into Music Listeners." I thought it was going to talk about classical music audience growth. It did not. The session offered some ideas that could be implemented even by my station, but, mostly I just didn't buy it as the way of the future. I know I'm being rather vague, but rants do tend to be irrational.

In short, while I am for the Southeastern Festival of Song incorporating Springsteen songs in their concerts, I am not for airing Bjork on a classical station. I featured Rammstein on an Art of Song show, but will never air Duran Duran on Afternoon Classics, no matter how much I think D2 and Bach rock. While I will giggle with my interview guests, I will not giggle during Afternoon Classics. When we try to bill eclecticism as classical music, we are shortchanging the latter. When we artificially make connections between pop music and classical music, we are setting up new barriers. If WNYC wanted to be really revolutionary, show how Messiaen influenced Bjork by playing the Turangalila Symphony, and not just talk about Messiaen, play a little bit of Messiaen, and then play an entire live concert by Bjork. If you want to do something really radical, play classical music. Enough is enough. Stop the pandering. Just as free concerts develop an audience who expect concerts for free, eclecticism will not build a new audience for classical music.

Web Cameraderie

Wanda and I have entered the murky domain of Skype users. It's one of those things which turn out to be much more useful and entertaining than we ever thought possible, sort of like the DVR for the TV. I would never, ever have chosen a DVR, but it came with the HDTV receiver from the cable company, so we started using it. Now we can't live without it. Hate watching live TV. Can't do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

Turns out, I really like video chatting with my family. It makes me happy to be able to see them when I'm talking to them. I don't get to see them physically often, and so this really is the next best thing, way better than a normal telephone call. The potential future uses are many, what with kids looming on the horizon (still no word back from the gov't regarding out I600-A - we'll update when that's resolved, I promise) and all. And, with Wanda due to take several trips without me this Spring, it will help us to stay connected (we got her a spiffy new little webcam for her laptop that's WAY better than the one that's attached to my desktop). We really need each other for our end-of-working-day post-mortem, and this will help make it seem not quite so far away.

Stealing from my friend Meeeeeeeegan

She's right, this is a fun little quiz, so I'm posting my results here. Everyone play along!

You Are an Orange Rose

You represent desire and enthusiasm Your vibe: Sexy yet familiar Falling in love with you: happens instantly - it's a fast ride

What Color Rose Are You?

Truth in Advertising

Here's a look at a section of screen from my most recent "My Yahoo" page load:



Yep, I'm pretty sure that about sums it up.

Adoption Update : Cheese-It, The Feds!

Today we got fingerprinted as part of the requirements for the I600-A application which we wrote about earlier. The worst part of the experience was glancing up at the board to see "Now serving : 152" and getting handed number 221. Other than that, it was actually fairly painless. The staff were all courteous and very helpful, even going so far as to fix Wanda's name in the system, as we were told they would when we called ahead to double-check our reservation (yes, a fingerprinting reservation).

The coolest part was the fact that fingerprinting has gone high-tech. They essentially scan your fingers, sort of a high-brow equivalent of putting your ass on the scanner and photo-copying it, only done by people with no senses of humor whatsoever (and you'd have to have the world's smallest ass to scan it on these things - they were 4 inches by 3 inches square). They still roll your finger across the pad, just like you see in all the movies, but instead of messy ink all over the place, you get to watch it scan in on a beautiful (and very hygienic) high-res monitor (hygienic-res?). I have a scar on my ring finger (from what I do not know) that looked incredibly cool when scanned in on this system. Far more fascinating than it should have been.

So, now we really have to behave ourselves, because the feds are only a strand of hair away from knowing everything about us that's possible to know. Probably they collect those surreptitiously as you go in the door.

Also, last night as I tried to fall asleep after having had too much caffeine (we've been off caffeine a long time now, so any amount of it really does a number on me) I started looking at Kiva. I do believe I will be making some micro-loans in my near future - the concept is entirely too brilliant and humanity-serving for me to pass up. When I do this I will post here with updates as to my new status as banker-baron.

Studio Re-do 2008

We started on Friday, January 11 at 6:08pm, working for eight hours that first day, and now have a pretty darn cool studio with room to grow. It's all part of our plan to have the house ready to receive, hopefully, two bundles of joy in a year's time. The next room to undergo change is the baby's room, and that will be easier now that our studio has more storage and logic. Wish I had captured the beforeness, but for those of you who have seen our office/studio previously, I think you'll agree that this is a vast improvement. To see the photos, click here. Please note that you DO NOT have to join Facebook to see the photos. It just manages the pictures well.

Adoption Update : Major Milestone #2

Over the weekend we sent in major mailing #2 of 3, this one to the USCIS, and consisting of the I600-A application and a crapload of ancillary paperwork which will, it is fervently to be hoped, result in our obtaining the all-important I-171H form, which we will then send away in Major Mailing #3 to our China Adoption Agency, past which there is nothing to be done but the waiting. It was an odd experience dropping that package off at the fedex drop location - I was extremely reluctant to hand it to the very nice lady at the counter! I had to check and recheck the contents, the signatures, the cover letter, even though I had checked and re-checked all of it at the house ten times already (not an exaggeration). I was terrified that we'd done something wrong somehow, even though the paperwork is fairly straightforward, and our Adoption Assistant with Great Wall looked over everything and told us it looked great. I wonder what the hell that was all about?

The good news is that we're pretty much all set for Major Mailing #3, so as soon as we get that I-171H form back we can turn it back around almost immediately. It seems almost impossible that we've come so far after so many hurdles, but the end of the chase is in sight! For now we can take a break from worrying about it, as there's not a damn thing we can do any more - one less thing to worry about.

For the time being we are going to replace that energy focus with an almost complete makeover of our studio. I say almost complete because we're not going to repaint or anything - but we have another desk and are going to shelve-ize the hell out of it so that there's much more desk space for everyone, and enough shelf space for everything we need to put in this room. One thing living in Bloomington taught us, it's how to make small spaces work to their maximum capacity. We've been getting by in this studio space for a while - now we're going to really make it a nice place to work.