cce blog

taxes

Just finished my taxes, and it looks like I'll be getting a refund perfectly sized to buy the used Yamaha S90 I've had my eyes on. Lately I've been jamming on the guitar with roomate B on bass. It's been rocking, but I'm dying for a keyboard, so now the IRS will buy me one. I'm finally turning attention to collecting my various instruments and plugging them all in to my TASCAM US-428. (It's fun to speak in model numbers -- try it.)

Many inches of snow fell on Wednesday, and now snowplowed piles of detritus dominate the streets of my neighborhood where I park. (With the freezing cold, I've recently been driving my commute -- something about getting into a car and finally getting the heat on prevents me from wanting to get out again and go sit on a train platform.) Even today, two days on from the storm, people were still finally getting around to digging their cars out of three-foot deep snowbanks. Finding a parking spot was absolute madness, but finally I saw my opportunity when an SUV rolled out of a spot. Hopefully I'll be able to get my car out of the spot tomorrow.

Last week Cornell buddy Justin flew over from Cali to start working in the city and crashed here for a few days while buying furniture for his new Brooklyn apt. We rocked it at the magical IKEA Elizabeth store (I'd never been before!), and Justin tried to make his apartment look like a catalog. I sampled some comfy couches.

Scarily, I discovered that IKEA was stocking exactly the magnetic board I'd been dreaming about for months. I'd googled for many similar products but never found exactly it. I'd even contemplated going to Home Depot and buying sheet metal to build one. Thank god IKEA did it for me, and only for $6.99. Now I just need some Tiny Mighties dot magnets and I will finally have the elegant photo-displaying and bulletin board solution for which I've been searching.

Hrm, so this blog entry seems to be pretty much about stuff I want to buy. That's not so good. I'll try not to buck the trend, though, and finish with these giant chess pieces I've been irrationally coveting. I once played giant chess, and it was much better than regular chess -- the movements and strategies seemed much more, erm, visceral. Plus they would go great on the giant checkerboard we already have laid out on the dining room lazy susan.

Okay, in future blog entries I will try not to sound like such a consumer.

Hapa panel discussion

I'm participating in a panel discussion tomorrow at Columbia U. on the topic of "The Emerging Mixed Race Community." It's part of the Fusion Series of discussions and co-hosted by Columbia Hapa.

The topic is generally "Where is the mixed race movement going?" and I'm still not exactly sure what I think about all that. Broadly, I don't really think there's a real "mixed race community" -- certainly not in the same way would refer to the "Jewish community" or the "African-American community." I guess I'll find out what else I think tomorrow!

i want to get this cuckoo clock

As found on craigslist. Roommates B and M say it's too weird and doesn't match the decor.

Decor be damned, I say! Pros: measuring time has never been so much fun! It's a a great hit at parties! Cons: cartoon cats may try to eat bird! Annoying chirping on the hour! I still think it's a great timepiece, though I haven't actually HEARD this chirping yet. Thoughts?

Oh, btw, a very belated happy new year. High on my list of resolutions is to be a better blogger (or quit altogether, since my life is much less interesting now that I'm not based in exotic locales), stop procrastinating, write a "new year" blog entry and clean up this whole site, especially the portfolio bit that potential grad admissions committees may be checking out. To be done this weekend, I suppose (oops, already violating the "stop procrastinating" resolution).