In a fit of "productivity" I've just compiled as many of my graduate school compositions as I could find (plus one or two from undergraduate years) and put them on a web page. It's called "Pillsbug Music" because back in the day: 1) "pillsbug" was my email address at UCR; 2) Pillsbug Music was the name I used as an engraver, back when I was doing that semi-professionally and much more regularly than now. So now you know. Anyway, here's the LINK. 

An exciting package arrived yesterday: the long-awaited OS X version of the Finale music notation software, Finale 2004. Standing as one of the last major software application to be made OS X compatible, Finale's arrival not only means I now have absolutely no reason to launch Classic but the new version also holds some nice things, I think, for you all.

One of the new features in F2K4 (all the cool kids refer to it that way...) is the ability to save a music score as a sound file. Moreover, because Finale knows about MIDI, you can actually get some reasonably good sounding instruments assigned to the instruments in your score, and that sound data is exported as part of the sound file. All this led me to rediscover some very long-lost compositions from my undergrad and early grad school days at UC Riverside. Some are sweetly earnest, some are bombastic and aggressive, and some are just plain weird. And I thought it might be fun to put them online. While I'm still putting together the design, I'll at least give you a peak at the header graphic:
 

 

I expect the page to be up in a few days. Stay tuned... 

I'm up in Stockton this weekend, and Rhonelle's apartment complex features a lot of little "canals" populated by many ducks (it is a feature at many of the large complexes up here). Periodically the ducks will make a walking migration from one part of the complex to another (for reasons I don't know), and as I was standing outside this morning I was quickly surrounded by about thirty ducks. They were quite passive and seemed to think I had food. So, I was checking out the ducks and was struck with the question: why are ducks' feet orange?

If you ever wondered the same thing, some answers can be found at this web site. 

Updated 1/14/04
Jasmin tagged along for the conclusion of the trek down the length of the Los Angeles River today. We visited Compton Creek as well. A new album of pictures is on the PeteOfTheStreet Pics page. Enjoy.

1/11/04
I spent all day yesterday driving as much of the length of the Los Angeles River as daylight would permit and I've put up a gallery of images on the PeteOfTheStreet Pics page. The pictures have more in-depth comments than you'll find here.

The impetus for the trip was reading Blake Gumprecht's The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth, a book that's apparently on everyone's list of important books about the political and ecological history of the river. Moreover, as a "forcibly" transplanted Angeleno I have traditionally had little interest in the history of Los Angeles. I don't know why that has been the case, but there you have it. However, the discovery of the mystery neighborhood near LAX began to change things. Maybe it's all the free time I have on my hands, but I really enjoyed traipsing about to learn about that neighborhood (ideal next step: find original residents and talk to them about the area and the exodus). And thus it was with the Los Angeles River yesterday. I suppose it's simply a way to personally experience the history I'd been reading about. I'm certainly not the first to photograph the river (in fact, I've since found that us river photographers like to shoot from the same spots and have similar aesthetic attractions!), but I didn't set out to be. As you'll see, what interested me the most was the same sort of lived detail that I found in the neighborhood.

Update: I've put together an iPhoto/QuickTime slideshow of the images if you'd rather see that. The music is "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin (1971) and, through a bit of serendipity, is exactly the length of the image slideshow. Download the .zip file (7.7 MB)

For those of you wanting more information about the river and the issues, I suggest the following sites:

Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR):
• The most visible river advocacy group.
The Los Angeles River: Past, Present, and Possibilities
• A web exhibit with lots of maps and rather out-of-the-box ideas for restoring the river's floodplain
Los Angeles River Connection
• Built by students at Jefferson High School. Contains a lot of material and more links

Each of those sites has extensive links to everything associated with the river.  

So as not to be left out of the fun, I'll join Jasmin and Lisa in the Great Top Three Lists of Nothing Significantly Consequential But Entertaining Nonetheless Exercise of 2004. :)

Small Kitchen Appliances:
• Microwave oven
• Microwave oven
• Umm....

Convenience Foods:
• Cheese quesadillas
• Frozen burritos
• Diet Coke

At-Home Breakfasts:
• Product 19 cereal
• Other boring-yet-somewhat-healthy cereals
• Perhaps bacon and eggs (scrambled)

Flowers:
• Umm...
• Umm...
• Umm...

TV Shows:
• CSI (Las Vegas, not that rip-off Miami thing)
• West Wing (because it's the only outlet we lefties have on network television)
• Angel

Seasonings: (I have no idea what my favorites would be, so I will simply try to *name* some seasonings)
• Parsley
• Sage
• Rosemary and thyme and cumin and pepper and pesto(?)

Book Series for Children/Young Adults:
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• David & Leah Eddings' The Belgariad and The Mallorean series (10 books in total. Complete rip-offs of LOTR, but then again just about anything fantasy is)
• Those Ramona and Beezus novels by Beverly Cleary

Newspaper Comic Strips:
• Used to read Calvin and Hobbes
• Used to read The Far Side

Guilty Food Pleasures:
• Pizza Hut
• Jack In the Box
• One of those huge Carls Jr. sloppy $6 burgers

Movies That Sounded Really Dumb But I Enjoyed, to My Own Great Surprise:
• The Original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie
• The Wedding Planner
• Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion

Favorite Fonts / Typefaces:
• Hoefler Text is my primary font. I used to hate it because the numbers dropped so low, but now I think it looks elegant. And the capitalized italic Q is to die for.
• Patrick. Not sure how official that name is, but it's a semi "medieval" looking typeface (not gothic though)
• True Golden. Another semi-olde looking font. Lacks some characters though...

Things I Will Not Eat (if I can possibly help it, and I'd try very hard):
• Fondue sauce
• Hard boiled eggs
• Popcorn-flavored lollipops

Favorite Beers:
• Sierra Nevada
• Bass Ale
• Westwood Brewery's Smoked Scottish

Books I Keep Re-reading:
• Rob Walser's Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (you should see how battered and bruised my copy is)
• Not much for rereading things (I also rarely see a movie more than once) 

Just a quick note to wish you and yours and me and mine and them and their's and those who I've overlooked a Happy New Year! Spent the big ol' Eve with Cecilia and Gordon and Janet and Emma. Shabu-shabu for dinner followed by another of Emma's stellar "performances."