Well first, here’s the stuff that I have in my PC. I built it myself (ta-dah!)

• Intel Pentium 4 3GHz processor with Hyper-Threading
• Intel D915GUX Motherboard
• Western Digital 80GB SATA Hard Disk
• 2 GB of Kingston RAM
• Lite-On DVD Writer
• nVidia GeForce 7200GS graphics card with 256MB RAM
• Windows Vista Ultimate

And this is what I have to keep my computer (and myself) happy:

• Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0.22.349. This firewall is free and doesn’t consume a lot of system resources. During the first week or two after installation, it will bug you about allowing or denying events, but once it’s learnt what goes in and out of your computer, it just keeps a silent watch in the background. If you’re connected to the Internet (and who isn’t nowadays) you need a firewall.
• AVG 8 Free. Again, if you’re connected to the net, you need antivirus protection, period. I’ve used AVG 7.5 in the past, and it does a pretty good job, so does the new version 8. Just remember to keep it updated and scan through your system at least once a week. The new AVG 8 comes with built-in spyware protection as well.
• CCleaner v2.07.575. Everyone needs a program to clean through the junk files that get deposited on our hard disks every time we visit the Internet and do stuff in Windows. CCleaner is free, and does an excellent job in the housekeeping area. You can even set it to run automatically every time Windows starts.
• O & O Defrag 10. Again a defragmenting program is necessary due to the fact that Windows throws and scatters files willy-nilly throughout a hard disk. Defragmentation re-sorts and consolidates files so it’s easier for Windows to find them. Think of Windows as a very untidy teenager throwing stuff around the house; a defragmenting program is the housekeeper that tidies up after him. O & O is not free, but there are plenty of free defragmenting programs around. Defraggler is a good one to use. Defrag your hard disks at least once a week and you’ll be ok. HOT NEWS O & O Defrag 4 is now available for free! Register here to get your free copy, with no limitations.

Now where’s my coffee?

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Don’t know about you, but I positively hate smokers. Having said that, I have friends who smoke, and am almost always tickled whenever they sit near me and ask the famous question: “Do you mind if I smoke?”

Well, what do you expect me to reply? “Yes, I do..get lost!?” So what I normally do would be to grab the nearest newspaper I can find and start fanning away like crazy, or if I can’t find a newspaper, I’ll probably find a good excuse to get up and leave. Anything from “Oh, look at the time! Got to go for work!” or “Man, I need to go to the restroom, fast!”

What is more shocking to me is to find that people are starting this smoking habit as young as their teenage years, and usually it boils down to peer pressure. You see your friends or peers doing it, so you join in (or feel like an outcast). And there’s also the famous excuse for starting this dirty habit: “I feel stressed, so I smoke.” Duh, give me a break!

I’m pleased to say that during my years in England and America, nobody has ever coerced me to smoke. My friends take me for what I am, and that’s it. That’s the way it should be. And some of them are so polite that they will snub out their cigarette when they see me coming!

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I don’t know about you, but I’m not really myself until I’ve had my caffeine fix when I wake up. Not that I’m Mr. Hyde or a zombie or anything like that. It’s just that my brain cells have to be zapped with caffeine before they can fully function, lol.

I used to have Nescafe instant coffee here, where you had to put some coffee, sugar, add hot water and cream, blah blah. Nowadays I’m just lazy and just buy the premixed 3 in 1 packets. In the late afternoon, I have another fix, and that’s it for me, a maximum of two cups a day. I’d be asking for trouble if I had any more coffee after 7 PM; I’d be tossing and turning in bed.

How about you? It’d be interesting to know how many cups of java you guzzle down every day. Also, here’s some interesting trivia about coffee in the Nescafe website. Lastly, this website, called positivelycoffee.org (heh, I like the name) has great information about coffee, all positive, of course

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Yeah, sometimes the blues just keep coming. And the weather didn’t help either. It was hot and humid the past few days, and last night the heavens let go a deluge of rain. Needless to say, I was caught in it, driving my son to his tuition class.

Well, to put it bluntly, I’ve been racking my brains with ideas to make more bread (money, silly). I’ve got this Piano thingy in my Word documents, maybe it’d be a good idea to transform it into an e-book. What’s in it, you may ask? Well hang on, I’ll talk about it in my next post. To be continued.

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On the plus side, my blood pressure and BMI (Body Mass Index) is near-perfect, and so is almost everything else. You can calculate your BMI here. I scored a 19.5–yahoo!

On the minus side my cholesterol levels have gone up slightly (LDL aka the bad cholesterol) and my calcium levels have decreased. So looks like I have to bone up (pun intended) on some calcium supplements. And the good doc told me to do some jogging as well, to increase my bone density. Duh, OK!

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…Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum! Yesterday I went to teach three students who had just moved into their new house. When I arrived, I was gawking at the property. It wasn’t just one house, it was two houses joined together, with four levels! The total combined area must have been in the region of 6,000 sq ft. And to make me even more envious, they had just bought a brand new Yamaha Clavinova CVP-405 Digital Piano for their children to play on.

Somehow or other, I was reminded of Topol singing "If I were a rich man" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Ah, if only I had lots of money! This makes me want to watch FOTR all over again, even though the movie is a whopping 3-hours long.

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In a word: awesome. I still remember walking into a CD shop here in Penang about 13 years ago. There was this wonderful jazz guitar music playing through the speakers, and surprisingly it caught my attention (I say surprisingly because I’m a pianist, and I usually go for music with lots of piano and keyboards). 

I discovered the music I was enthralled with was Pat Metheny’s Still Life (Talking). With its infusion of Brazilian rhythms, wordless vocals, and Pat’s signature jazz guitar sound, it was unlike any other CD I’d ever heard. Needless to say I bought it straight away and have been hooked to Pat’s music ever since. 

If you’re new to Pat Metheny’s music, here are the CDs I would recommend, in chronological order: 

1. As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981) This is like a road trip through middle America (in fact Pat was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri). Backed by Lyle Mays (a brilliant keyboard player) and Nana Vasconcelos on percussion, close your eyes and feast your ears on the journey that is truly memorable.
2. Still Life (Talking) (1987) The album that started my enriching journey with Pat’s music. Brazilian rhythms pervade throughout this CD; just listen to the first track, Minuando (Six Eight).
3. Letter from Home (1989) This CD, to me, feels like a second installment of Still Life (Talking). The playing standards of Pat and his band are all top-notch.
4. Secret Story (1992) If I could take only one Pat Metheny CD to my desert island, this would definitely be THE one. With the superb backing of many talented musicians, members of the London Orchestra, and even the Cambodian Royal Palace Choir, this is a veritable tour de force of over 75 minutes of music. My favourite track is Finding and Believing, a roller-coaster ride through African vocal chants meeting up with Steve Reich and Pat, who does his amazing guitar solos towards the conclusion of the piece. This album has been re-released as a 2-CD set, with five bonus tracks which did not make it to the initial recording.
5. We Live Here (1995) The Pat Metheny Group is in full-swing here, taking us on another trip across the USA, this time perhaps a bit more funkier. The opening track Here to Stay, grabs you by the neck and doesn’t let go. Not that I mind at all.
6. Quartet (1996), Imaginary Day (1997), Speaking of Now (2002), The Way Up (2005) These four albums see Pat delving into experimental jazz rhythms while still letting the music speak. The nice thing is never knowing what he’ll come up with next. The Way Up resembles a four-movement jazz symphony, which suits me just fine because I like classical music anyway.

It probably sounds corny, but Pat’s music always uplifts my spirits. The way he plays his guitar, you know he’s playing from his heart. And what a wonderful composer he is as well.Here’s a video of a concert performance of Finding and Believing (Part 2):

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