Fall Pictures

Sarah and I went hiking in upstate NY and took a few pictures. I put up a full album at picasa and you can see a sample below. It was a fun day and about all the exercise I've gotten this fall.



In case you are out of the loop, I'm applying for jobs this fall. It is a bit stressful, but not horribly so. It just means I'm much more busy than usual. I've already applied for three and I have a bunch due around the first of December.

My choir RCCNY has two concerts in December. These are our usual Christmas concerts which focus mostly on Russian music, or at least Slavic music. This is a good program: we are exploring the history of this music starting with the earliest written chants to contemporary composers. Check out the poster.


I think it turned out nice, and captures a wintery holiday feel.

Now the title of this blog entry is Fall Pictures, so I'll end with a picture of the trees in the playground viewed from my balcony. I just took this picture a few days ago, so we still have plenty of nice fall colors around.



Have a good Thanksgiving, and good turkey.

Erin

Nevsky at Carnegie Hall

My choir performed Prokofiev's Alexander Nevksy in Carnegie Hall on the 1st of November. It was really fun. This was the first time I had sung on the stage at Carnegie (our last time there we sang from off stage). I was amazed at how good it felt to sing there. Something about the acoustic just made everything that came of of my mouth feel right.

This makes me understand, I think, the real appeal of this hall to performers. From the audience the sound is quite good I think, but not exceptional. But on stage it is amazing. The appeal of Carnegie is just the feel of the place. I see why people feel they have arrived when they have sung there. It isn't because it's famous and you are great if you are invited to sing there, it's because it feels great to sing there.

Erin

Lightning

We had a thunderstorm here last night, the best I've seen in NY. Sarah and I took some pictures from my balcony. We didn't use a tripod so some of them look doubled from hand movement. Here are a few good ones:





You can see the whole album here:

Lightning

Inaugural Speeches

This is not a political blog, I'm not trying to make a political statement here, but I think these two inaugural speeches are interesting. A comparison illuminates far more than just the relative political climates.

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
G.W. Bush's Second Inaugural Address

Erin

Brian May is an astrophysicist?

I'm linking a post I just put up on my research blog.
Erin

iPhone and new number

I bought an iPhone. It is the 8Gb model. Yeah, it's really expensive, but the way I look at it I bought myself a little miniature computer, which it is (it runs OS X). To me that is justification. And since my iPod broke and my contract with Sprint is up, it made sense to me.

I had to get a new number because you can't transfer numbers when you no longer live in the same area code as you bought your old phone (yes it makes no sense).

I'll send a mass email with my new number, but if you don't make it on the list please send me an email.

Erin

Germany trip

Germany was really nice. I keep saying that since I got back; it was just really nice.

I stayed with Dorothea and Hartmut Samtleben, friends from my days in Hyde Park, Chicago. They have two beautiful and rambunctious children, Armin and Iris, and live in a quiet neighborhood in the outskirts of Bonn.

I decided not to spend a lot of time exploring famous big cities. Instead, I tried to see some of the countryside around Bonn and neighboring cities. I even took a couple of days just to rest and read a book.

On the first weekend, the five of us took a train to Limburg, which is what Hartmut called a "preserved city", meaning there are lots of preserved old houses and other structures. From there we biked (with the little ones in bike seats on the back) along the Lahn river toward the Rhine (Rhein). This was my favorite part of the vacation. It was beautiful and the river and forest air was pure (The cities and riverways are very friendly to bikers which I really appreciated. There are bike paths everywhere).

I spent one day in Cologne (Köln), mainly to see the famous Cathedral. The cathedral is the most impressive man made structure I've ever seen. I took no pictures, but there is a nice virtual tour here. I was impressed by many things, but my attention was drawn the the floor mosaics. These are hand made mosaics of little pieces of stone arranged into pictures. They are quite robust as a floor and beautiful to see.

I also took a 50k bike ride South along the Rhein starting in Bonn. This was less nice because the Rhein is heavily populated, but still enjoyable and I saw a number of beautiful things such as an ancient Roman Church, many castles, and the remains of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.

I think the people in Germany are friendly and warm but quite reserved. Overall I felt quite welcome there.

I didn't take that many pictures on this trip. I took no pictures at all of things for which one can Google to find many excellent representations. Here are some highlights of my own pictures from the trip:

2007 Germany Highlights