coffeefog

coffeefog2020

May 30th, 2008

You know what I do in my free time? Often times I look at pianos on craigslist. There are a lot of pianos on sale for less than $500 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and they’re frequently free (they’re just a pain in the ass to move, retune, and keep in tune). One day I would like to own one, but not for a while. So I’m just window shopping. Sometimes I read high-end grand piano message boards, and I see things that blow me away. Consider.

Guys - I am totally new to piano. I am buying my first piano for my son. I have a choice among 3 grands (Yeah, I know Mason and Steinway are good, but my budget is about $13000 so here are my choices: 2 Baldwin and a Boston)

I like to imagine that this guy’s soon is 8 years old. However old he is, I hope he enjoys and appreciates the $13,000 piano his father will be buying him. Let’s also hope that the kid wants to play piano at all, and isn’t being forced into it. For real, 13 grand on a kid’s first piano?

In general, people who write books & websites about pianos frequently say inane, smarty-pants things. I’ll try to post some more.

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Benefits

April 7th, 2008

Google’s incredibly lush employee benefits have had an impact on my employer, Apple computer. Apple, and probably many other sili valley companies, have watched dozens of young people migrate across Highway 237 to a campus where you get free food and, as legend has it, a $22 cup of coffee. Not to mention Google’s direct bus service from San Francisco to their Mountain View offices (a 45+ minute drive). Apple has had to pony up the perks to keep their best employees from defecting to Google - now Apple offers their own line of private buses (stopping 3 blocks from my front door) to and from work every day. But I think the most telling Apple corporate upgrade since Google showed up has been new toilet paper. This week, for the first time in my 8 year stint here in Cupertino, we have soft toilet paper in the bathrooms. We’ve been using rough warehouse-grade TP as far back as I can remember. So I thank you google for the insane benefits you offer your employees. I have no doubt that it’s because of you that we have 2-ply quilted toilet paper.

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the rest of the kitchen

March 24th, 2008

It’s been another week or so, and we got some nice finishing touches like paint and knobs since then. We spent like 3 freakin’ hours picking out these $2 knobs from Home Depot. Remodeling is a pain in the ass.

Ella used to spend most of the day in the old kitchen. You’d think she’d be confused by the new kitchen, but it doesn’t seem to phase her. Her brain is small.

The new color is “bluejay,” but let’s just call it “blue” from now on.

Ella could not see the new trim around the doorway, so I helped her.

This is the new bathroom sink - this whole nook is brand new. It was carved out of the kitchen’s square footage (pushing the fridge 10 inches further out into the kitchen). Now we have a tiny sink, big ass chunk of marble, and a mirror. I’m not so sure I like the proportions here, but what can you do?.

We’ve got some beadboard tacked up on the walls, and the paint starts above that.

See the fridge, see more blue. Fantastic.

Moving the fridge out of the way unblocked the left-hand window here, yielding great sunlight & fresh air for all.

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kitchen for president

March 9th, 2008

Here’s a quick set of pictures from this kitchen remodel we’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks. This work took place over the past 2 weeks, and we have about a week left to go. We’ve had a contractor doing most of the work with electrical and plumbing guys as well. Thanks Ricky, of Ricky’s Plumbing and Raymond at Q&Q Electric. Cabinets and lovely kitchen design are from Eric at MTKC. We’ll have pictures of the full remodel in about a week.

Before

Demolition

New gap in bathroom wall

Electrical work is done

Original beadboard beneath drywall

Plumbing for new bathroom wall

Drywall up for bathroom wall

New cabinets

New molding over doorway

New “Bluejay” color for kitchen walls

Giant ass sink

Countertops installed

Ella helped with the drywall. Ha! No, she is a dog.

A glimpse of the new hardwood floors

Compare to existing, slightly redder floors

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Schutzhund!

February 9th, 2008

Hi internet friends! I know I haven’t had a lot to say here on the internet in the past few months. Let’s just say that, once I got married and all the wedding planning and the honeymoon was over in September, we had a lot of Tivo to catch up on. I’m finally back up to speed - I’ve seen every Dexter, Project Runway, and Making the Band, and I’ll never miss another Danity Kane pop culture reference.

So, on to real life, I’ve been meaning to pick up coffeefog again for a while now. But I finally found the right semi-amusing yet educational moment from real life to mention this morning. I volunteer at the SPCA, the local dog shelter, at these public dog training classes (I’m the guy picking up your dog’s crap while you try to teach him to shake your hand, among other more glamorous responsibilities). As such, having sat through around 50 of these six-week long dog training courses over the past 3 years, I’ve liked to think that I know quite a bit about dog training, having helped a couple of hundred dogs & owners make it through these obedience classes. But nay!

After class today, chatting with another SPCA volunteer, she let on that she’s involved in Schutzhund, a German dog training practice from the early 1900’s meant to test whether German Shepherds could “perform in the manner the breed was intended.” As I understand it, the main thrusts of Schutzhund are tracking, obedience, and protection. The tracking portion involves training the dog to follow the smell of a glove or article of clothing across dirt & grass for hundreds of feet. And to follow footprints across dirt & grass. The protection part involves biting and holding onto the padded sleeve of an intruder who gets to close to the owner. More impressively, the dog must be able to let go immediately on command. The obedience part is boring compared to tracking & protection, as it does not involve biting an attacker.

I was stunned to find that this woman, not much different in age than myself, devoted countless hours to training her dog to do all these things. She and her husband play a tracking game in the park with their dog at night. She distracts the dog while he walks far away and hides in bushes, then she sets the dog out to track him by his footsteps (the scent of which is weaker by the minute!), and then they play tug of war when the dog finds him. The whole time she was talking about this, and she had much to say about the various local organizations and trainers and techniques, I wanted to tell her that MY hobby was that I was trying to invent a marketable beer sandwich. But the Ethan who would interrupt someone who was really feeling the Schutzhund love just to tell a beer sandwich joke, that’s the old Ethan.

In short, I have great respect for that level of dedication to her dogs and her training. (And as much as I love dog training in theory, I’ve found that my dedication to it in practice is quite weak.) I also discovered that most police & military working dogs come from Schutzhund trained lines & Schutzhund breeders.

I’m taking piano lessons. Did I mention that? It’s a blast. I’ve been doing 30-45 minutes of Hanon every night for the last 2 weeks and my fingers feel invincibly powerful. It’s like push-ups for your middle finger, and it’s awesome.

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Miniature dog photographs!

November 19th, 2007

Here is a small thumbnail of every picture I had on my cell phone last week when I emptied it out! As usual lots and lots of dogs; even some of Ella and Otto! Hooray!