Mitra and I went to New York (and a sidetrip to Boston) earlier this month. I finally uploaded the pictures.
Archive for the 'Life' Category Page 2 of 2
Yesterday, Mitra and I stumbled upon a Cake Show at the La Jolla Village Square shopping center. We later learned that this event is held annually by the San Diego Cake Club. This confirms my new belief that there are clubs for everything.
The cakes were, well, really freakin’ amazing. After walking through the displays, we went back to the car to grab my camera (luckily I had it with me). I’ve posted the pictures on Flickr.
Some of my favorite cakes include Noah’s Ark, the caterpillar sushi roll, and of course the iBook. The cook even baked a mini power adapter cake for the iBook. How sweet is that! (no pun intended).
I posted photos from my birthday dinner at Cafe Coyote in Old Town on March 4.
Thanks to everybody who showed up!
Last night we had our first recording session for “The Survivors of Orange Grove High”. It was more of a pre-recording session really.
Chazz and Nick (who co-wrote the film) want me to do the music. We met yesterday in my parents’ garage in RB, mainly to test-bed the Fast Track Pro. I mic’ed my amp and sent the signal to the fast track, which interfaces to Logic Express.
The beauty of having my Powerbook is that I can record virtually anywhere. I have a portable studio! I used my parents’ garage because I didn’t want to blair the amp in my own apartment. It would probably piss off the neighbors. I may experiment with other recording locations… perhaps a lecture hall at UCSD?
Yesterday we mainly skimmed over musical ideas. I recorded some takes, but probably nothing I’ll want to keep. If anything, yesterday served as a crash course in logic express. I have a lot to learn. I am forcing myself to read through all 500+ pages of the manual.
Once I feel comfortable with the software, I will start recording for real. This may not be for a couple months. I will want to enlist the help of fellow musicians (as my main weapon is guitar), so if anyone is reading this and plays and instrument (and doesn’t suck), either I’ll be in contact with you, or you with me.
Every year, I am usually asked the same question as my birthday approaches:
“What do you want?”
I usually have no definitive answer, partly because I like to be surprised, but also partly because I really don’t know. I tried maintaining a small amazon wish list for a while, but I always had a hard time filling it with other things besides dvd’s and books.
Here is my new wish list (my amazon wish list is linked below):
Apple iSight 
This would be really cool to have. I’ll be able to video chat with others over iChat (and other IMs as well). It may also come in handy for video conferencing for work, especially if I ever decide to work remotely.
Cost: Apple store sells for $149.99, but the UCSD Bookstore might be cheaper (education discount) for $129.99 (i’ll check on this)
UltraPod II Tripod
This is a small portable tripod for my digital camera. This is useful for keeping the camera steady, especially for long-exposure shots.
Cost: REI is selling it for $15.00
Mini Mic Stand
This is a small mic stand that will help me for recording music. I already have a mic (and other hardware/software). With this stand, I can easiliy position the mic in front of my amp for recording instruments, or I can place it on a platform (desktop, etc.) for recording vocals.
Cost: Carvin is selling for $15.99
Studio Headphones
I have a pair of headphones, but they are starting to fall apart. These will be useful for recording.
Cost: Carvin is selling for $49.99
USB 2.0 Powered Hub (at least 4-port)
This would be handy since I only have 2 USB ports on my powerbook. With a hub, I can keep my keyboard/mouse, memory sticks, memory card reader, FastTrackPro, iPod (as alt. to firewire), and anything else connected to my computer w/o swapping in and out cables. I need at least 4 ports, but more is fine.
Cost: Anywhere from $20 to $40
Guitar strap
I used to have a really nice guitar strap. It was blue and fuzzy and very supportive. Sadly, I lost it at the last gig I played (I haven’t performed live since). Now I am using a cheap nylon strap from Carvin. It’s kinda sucky. I need something that looks nice, feels nice, and is well-padded and supportive. No nylon. If someone can find the same strap I used to have, that would be waaaaay awesome! I’d also be happy with anything close to it. Guitar Center is a good place to look (I’m sure that’s where my old strap came from.. it was a very nice gift from a previous birthday).
Cost: Guitar Center sells for around $10 - $20
More pics of my old strap: (pic1) (pic2)
Apple iLife ‘06
Not really a high priority as I’m content with iLife ‘05 for now. I’m sure I will want to upgrade eventually.
Cost: UCSD Bookstore sells for $39.99. (Apple store for $79.99). Gotta love the edu/discount.
I have a couple items (books, dvds) on my Amazon Wish List.
Gift cards, etc. are always nice too. I hope this helps!
In honor of setting up my Flickr Pro account, I’m posting my first ‘real’ photo… that is, my first photo taken with my digital camera, not camera phone.
This photo of Mitra and myself was taken last month downtown at a Japanese restaurant. We were out celebrating a friend’s birthday. Later that night we went to Deco’s, a nightclub in the Gaslamp Quarter. One of Mitra’s friends managed to get us all VIP passes, so we got in with no cover charge. I’m not a big fan of clubs, but this one was okay…. probably because it was free!
I am happy to have the latest version of WordPress installed as I start a new venture into the blogging realm. In addition, I’ve been recommended by Ethan to download the k2 theme which seems to contains lots of enhancements. I’ll trek through the codebase this weekend to get familiar with some of them.
My previous blogs are still online:
My ill-fated blog last year: Blogger 2005
My short-lived Europe blog: Europe 2004
With this blog, I aim to post mainly things related to technical stuff (programming, web development, etc.), musical related (guitar, composing, etc.), and anything else (photos, etc.). Who knows if it will really take off or not. I have a bad track record… we’ll see.
Shaun Haber
