March 31 - Serendipity Encore Maybe

Sometimes it all works out.



Had there not been keyboard-solfege lingering after the Sergei Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf dictation /piano / singing / board harmony with Manuela and William, there would not have been encountering of that hero-once-again Steve Sage, who bears the gift of an Encore upgrade (5.0.5).



Rushing



homeward after



errands, it's good... it's very good, although not perfect (one crash thus far, as opposed to often, several), including

fast start
cool running temp (the fan does not kick on as in old version)
unlimited shortcuts on a toolbar that is not prone to "disappear" (as previously)
more sophisticated layout, and ability to magnify and reduce (the former will perhaps reduce typos due to semi-blindness)

Well, maybe yes and maybe no. While writing this, new program suddenly crashes multiple times opening up Song of Solomon: II. I Am the Rose of Sharon. Managed to write a new page (9, beginning a B section in C Mixolydian) previously, however (although not much good, if file doesn't open for more than a moment before crashing -- so we shall see). Also, finish Psalm 14 before this occurs (5 pages total).

March 30 - The Importance of Shoving It In

As with life, the universe, and everything -- although particularly life, in its so-called higher forms -- following through and thoroughness count: a lesson that will be re-emphasized today, beginning with a tool down



I-80 to



680



past



Long Barn, the



Chinese Wall, and


Mt. Diablo to



Walnut Creek's



relatively recently remodeled Apple Store (first there since the revamp, having purchased laptop 2 last August in Sacramento because of it), where musician-technician-Blue-Devils-percussionist Jason and I set up the computer and printer and everything works smoothly (he gets a test page to print out, something that did not occur yesterday). With time to spare, also touch base with him on why renamed pictures insistently retain their .jpg suffix, even when erased -- and like the proverbial individual at the automobile repair shop, cannot get the incorrect situation to re-occur on premises. Ah well, at least solve the non-ringing iPhone problem (there's a little mute button on the side that was inadvertently shifted), get the scoop on tax programs (HR Block's Tax Cut for Mac is perhaps only online), and buy a second backup hard drive to use with Time Machine (first is storing old stuff).



Off to grade Composition 2's, where the sun shines, the



wind blows (all the way at least from the Briones Ridge), and Theoreticians



William and Mike serendipitously gather. Mid-day class is a continuation of the Kurt Weill Threepenny Opera: Ballad of Mac the Knife, with video of Sammy Davis Jr. in same (not the greatest version, but at least at hand), and yet more impressive Student Composition 2's that have somehow not been played previously.



Late lunch and




evening-class paper grading at Elephant Bar with DVC veterans both



waitressing and



bartending. Back to DVC, set up printer (which has been carted here and there all day), and it doesn't work. Again. What is this plot? Works for everyone but me. Am more than a bit concerned, but Doug comes to the rescue again. Checking the connections, he finds that the usb cable has not been "shoved all the way in." Which explains everything. While I was in charge of the cable both at home and school, Jason actually did the plugging at the Apple Store. So the problem is finally solved. We hope.... But why-oh-why did the error message simply read the obtuse "Printer Offline" rather than something a little more Douglian visceral like, "Hey, you need to shove the usb cable all the way in."



Music



Literature



takes



in



Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5: 1 full score now as an embedded pdf thanks to Scribd on the markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com site, then topics from here through Hector Berlioz Symphony Fantastique:V (also a new pdf on the blog), Frederic Chopin selected Piano Preludes, and bits of Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung: The Ride of the Valkyries and Tristan and Isolde: Prelude -- also operatic video madness with excepts from Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (Women Are Fickle through the murder), La Traviata (the drinking song), and Il Trovatore (reinterpreted by the Marx Brothers in A Night at the Opera); Georges Bizet's Carmen: Habanera; and Giocomo Puccini's La Boheme (end of Act I).



Celebratory bout thereafter with



Doug and Owen, and is it reasonable to assume that another page each of Psalm 14 "The Fool Has Said in his Heart" (4) and Song of Solomon: II. I Am the Rose of Sharon (9) are done?

March 29 - Pictures of Jobian Gray

Page 3 of score preparation for Psalm 14 -- a dark, drizzly day (with no pictures on the blogs in an interval) for the beginning of The Ballad of Mac the Knife from Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera as dictation and harmony for the Theoreticians, followed by... C#, G#, and D# Minors; B Major; I-IV-V in C and Eb Majors (doing former as 12-bar blues mass piano exercise); finishing up notable student compositions for round 2 (8 bars, at least one simultaneity of 2 pitches at some point); and presenting Job: I. Introduction - "What You Been Doing" and II. Dirge - "We Were Plowing" to positive effect. Lingering thereafter with Max and Chris, eventually it's coffee-and-coke-and-lab time with Doug and company, recording

Psalm 13 - "How Long"

and lengthening it at the last minute by repeating the B section, partially thanks to Mr. Michaels's ears (who, with Owen -- who's adjacent photoshopping an invite for his 50th -- likes the metrics and Tritone Orchestra tweaks), in corroboration.



Pleasant Hill for petrol, Walnut Creek Apple Store for a new printer, back to DVC to set it up, with Doug keyly assisting, and through-a--lookinglass-darkly of



Long Barn, the Chinese Wall, and Dinosaur Ridge;



Fairfield Pyramids;



Poverty Hills; and the


South,



Central, and



North Lagoons -- the printer fails to work upon return (consistenly registers "offline" and wants multiple test pages printing out, often failing to detect scanner), so set up a One-To-One tutorial online for tomorrow at 8am in person at the Walnut Creek Apple Store -- and can there be another page (8) composed for Song of Solomon: II. I Am The Rose of Sharon before retiring?

March 28 - Going Through the Notions

Harriet and Tony head off to Napa, while I remain to finish the publication-preparation of Psalm 14, page 2 (seems for the best as he's in a pickup, and figure they have brother-sister catching up to do, even beyond the c. hour in which he as regaled us re his new life with Maria in her native Quito, Ecuador). But then, well, the general idea of The Valley is too tempting, and I'm out the door, as well -- been a long time since I've taken a personal-Bay-Area-Ridge-Trail-string-'em-together hike (last one was on December 23 -- duly chronicled at markalburger2009.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-23-temple-of-world.html)



So, call H to let her know the plan, and it turns out they've gone to Calistoga via Lake Berryessa and Route 128.



Intrigued, I drive beyond the Oak Grade turn north of Stag's Leap, continuing past



Robert Mondavi and through



St. Helena beyond



Berringer to see if I can track them down.



Alas, when re-calling, since I can't recall the restaurant's name, just get the recorded message.



Still, seems like I'm approximately experiencing their day in the environs of



Sam Brannan's Store (the enterprising Mormon of "Gold! Gold from the American River!" fame) and



Indian



Springs.



Heading south through the tree-arbored late afternoon, retracing to



Mondavi, it is now time to take the Grade to make the grade of the walk from when last we



trod, with its



mostly-scrimmed views of the



East Mayacamas



Ridge, doing some



self-reflection among the



S-curves and



redwoods to



near the Napa-Sonoma border.



Again backtracking, down (there's a coyote at bottom left of the pole and



at extreme left amongst the vineyards), and



up canyon, the hour is auspicious for this one to head home on a questionable c. quarter-tank of gas through the wildlands of



128 south of Lake



Hennessy, into



Sage



Canyon (through which, a notable increase of digger pine, at the expense of live oaks),



revealing



Chiles and



Capell Valleys



(including



Raney Rock),



back into the



Spanish-mossed



oaked,



rocky



Wragg,



Cherry, and



Markley Canyons,



debouching towards



Lake



Beryessa's



Blue



Mountains at



Devil's



Gate, downslope into temporarilly



Solano



County,



looking up at



Monticello Dam (named after a drowned town) and



Thompson Canyon



Ridge.



Across Putah Creek, we're in



Yolo through a



declivity



widening out



into a northern



highlands of



pasture and



moonlight.



South, back over the Creek, the view is west toward the Vaca Mountains's Blue Ridge and



east to the English Hills and



more and



more



moon.



Orchards and



Schoolhouse



Junctions,



barns and



bovines, and



home late with still an eighth of a tank,



returning to finally re-encounter Harriet and Tony, bidding the latter farewell (we decide we must hike the northern Napa Valley Palisades someday), and composing page 7 of Song of Solomon: II. I Am the Rose of Sharon.