Bad outcomes do occur on the roadway. Several weeks ago as I was driving to the airport on I-95 around 3:30am, a white Infiniti I20 whizzed past me on the left lane. The roads were slick from a constant torrent that had been ongoing from the night before. I was cruising around 55mph–I’d say the guy in the Infiniti was speeding closer to 80mph. About 15 minutes later, I approached a police and ambulance barricade. The Infiniti was upside down, with its front hood smashed in the concrete barrier on the left lane. A Cutlass station wagon was adjacent, with its driver’s side door crumpled.

I could hear the siren of an ambulance wailing off in the distance. I wondered if the driver was dead, but I supposed the ambulance would have kept kept its siren off if the patient were definitively dead.

While I don’t who is at fault, this is yet another reason why you shouldn’t drive 80mph in foggy, rainy weather with 50ft visibility ahead.

misc life, rant

I whipped up another dry run on the first variation of Schubert’s Impromptu Op. 142, No. 3. It’s amazing how many subtle imperfections you can notice from a recording. It makes me appreciate the professionals so much more, seeing how difficult it is to perfect even the simplest pieces.

misc hobbies

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I am in the process of reorganizing and moving. Please stay tuned!

misc

Occasionally I dabble on the piano. One of my ambitions is to advance my limited piano abilities, although over the past few years (and next decade) it’s become difficult to fit the piano in my schedule. Those of you who are musicians will probably agree that after a certain level, the time commitment required to improve becomes exponential (unless you’re a wunderkind). Today I recorded the theme to Schubert’s Impromptu in Bb, Opus 142, No. 3. The work is written in a theme and variation format. It is a melodic piece with limited/no virtuoso runs, suitable for my digital piano. Recorded on a Casio CDP-100 using a pass-through cable to my IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop. Software recording with Audacity, and mp3 encoded using LAME. No editing involved.

misc hobbies, life

I went to the local botanical gardens over the weekend. Overall, it was an impressive array of plant and animal life. I did see a rustic feeding pond populated with ugly catfish:

As all catfish are, these were ravenous. I remember that Bear Grylls once caught a 50 lb catfish in the Everglades by simply putting his arm in the water (The catfish tried to eat him). These fish, however, were not nearly as big but similarly intimidating in the algae-infested pond. Some kids were feeding them Goldfish crackers. Oh the irony…

misc humor, life