Yesterday we set a temperature record of 78°F (26°C) and I decided to work on my composting project. I had two nice piles of compost from last year that I had turned in early summer. One of the piles I had inoculated with mycorrhizal fungus to see if that has any benefit for the compost. […]
Rest in Peace, Madiba. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this […]
Last Friday we invited some friends over for our Black Friday Party, and, as usual, good times were had by all. When the whole world goes mad and shoppers storm the malls and discount stores, I like to gather some good friends down by the pond, where we light some fires to keep us warm […]
Last week, Laura and I returned to Paris for the first time in 20 years. Laura flew out during the previous week for work and I followed her on Saturday for a few days of fun in the City of Light. After exploring the city over the weekend (see here), Monday’s primary focus was the […]
Last week, Laura and I returned to Paris for the first time in 20 years. Laura flew out during the previous week for work and I followed her on Saturday for a few days of fun in the City of Light. Saturday evening, we met with several folks from her work for a dinner cruise […]
On this Day Of The Lord 11/12/13, I present to you, dear reader Bohemian Gravity – an a Capella explanation of string theory to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody by Tim Blais: Notice the Einstein sock puppet at 2:39 And yes, I know that to most of the world it is in fact 12.11.13
Sunday morning at 7:30 we loaded the horses and headed out to Quail Roost Farm for Laura’s and Julia’s first hunter pace event, organized by a local fox hunt club, the Red Mountain Hounds. Since the farm is only a 15 Minute drive away, we were there quite early and had plenty of time to […]
I have always loved the classical piano, perhaps because Beethoven’s Piano Concertos and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition were my introduction to classical music. Now that both my kids play strings instruments, chamber music has become more of a focus for our classical music enjoyment. However when I saw a few weeks ago, that Kirill […]
Happy Friday :) CARAVAN PALACE at the Karlstor Bahnhof Heidelberg Would love to see these guys live one day …
Today I left the house at 6:30 and headed to downtown Durham to for a run, together with 5800 other runners. It was the Bull City Race Fest and I had signed up for the half-marathon – 13.1 miles/21 KM. I knew it was going to be a difficult run for me because last weekend […]
Last night, we went out to a strings concert by the Mallarme Chamber Players with the fantastic violinist Jennifer Curtis and … Dex Romweber (lead guitarist of the Flat Duo Jets). A bit like the Ciompi Quartett, this was another concert that broke down musical barriers and tied a variety of musical traditions together. Complex […]
First installment of “trivia that blows my mind” … yeah, Groucho Marx and Alice Cooper were buddies. Look at them having breakfast … Here is what Alice said recently about his friendship with Groucho: Well Groucho Marx – I grew up on Groucho Marx. The Marx Brothers, every time they were on, I would sit […]
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit!
A month ago, I signed up for a half marathon run at the Durham Race Fest. I started training, mostly by going on long runs Sunday mornings, to see if I can actually cover that distance (21.1 KM). Sunday morning, I ran 21.5 KM (13m) along Guess Road and I really feel like I am […]
Yesterday, the entire family plus my dad went out to a nice, classical concert with Duke’s Ciompi Quartett at the newly renovated Baldwin Auditorium. The featured guests of the evening were the Krüger Brothers, a folk trio from Switzerland, based in North Carolina, that plays bluegrass and roots music. So the concert started out with […]
Germany has lost a feisty, thoughtful voice today. Marcel Reich Ranicki was the most respected literature critic in Germany and a fearless and honest voice for the survivors of the Holocaust. His love for literature and poetry inspired generations of readers and he relentlessly challenged German authors to advance their craft and create great works […]
(Nerd Alert!) Over the last couple of weeks I finally built my new machine. I ripped out all the Intel crap from my nice Antec Fusion case (DP39DP and a Core2Duo) and rebuilt it with an AMD A10 6800 APU on an ASUS F2A85M MB with 2 sticks of 4GB G.Skill Ares DDR3 1866 SDRAM. […]
Is mayonnaise an instrument?? Oh barnacles …
It has been over a week since we last saw our 18-year-old old Maine Coon Sodabe. He was on his last leg last time we saw him. His kidney s were failing and he could hardly eat any more. Sadly, we think he wandered off to die somewhere in the woods. He was a good […]
Phew … brutal weekend – I am hurting all over! Saturday morning Jacob and I did our usual 2 hours of Karate with Sensei Kevin. That’s usually pretty intense, but Saturday evening we also went bowling for 3 hours with 6 of Julia’s friends, to celebrate Julia’s 16th Birthday last week. Thank god they had […]
