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Vietnamese Jazzy Collection

I just uploaded my Vietnamese jazzy collection on my Multiply for a request from a reader. I haven’t used Multiply for ages. Notice the word “jazzy” being used because these 25 tunes aren’t really jazz. They just have a jazzy feel to them. Enjoy!

Music

The Puppini Sisters at Birchmere

When my wife informed me that The Puppini Sisters will be performing at Birchmere, I was ecstatic. I don’t have to go all the way to Europe to see them; they come to Alexandria. I dig The Puppini Sisters. Who doesn’t like chicks with lovely British accent and a sense of swing? Yes, they can really swing. From Gloria Gaynor’s disco-fever “I Will Survive” to Beyonce’s R&B mega “Crazy In Love,” The Sisters proved it last night that they could make any tune swing. Even Duke Ellington’s classic “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got No Swing)” got hard swing with various tempos and close-harmonic scatting.

Dressed in red, The Sisters entertained the audience not only with their vocal skills, but also with their fresh reinterpretation of old songs and sense of humor. Even their own tunes, including “Jilted” and “I Can’t Believe I am Not a Millionaire,” are a novelty. In addition to the trio accompaniment with Blake Wilner on guitar, Pat Levett on drums and Henrik Jensen on bass, the Sisters played their own instruments on a few performances. With Marcella Puppini on accordion, Stephanie O’Brien on violin and Kate Mullins on melodica, they formed a very playful orchestra.

The Sisters are fantastic, but if I have to pick one, I have to go with the Italian sister who is the smallest in physic but the loudest in voice. Good thing does come in small package. Her solo performance of “You’ve Got The Right Key, But The Wrong Keyhole” is an unforgettable one. With the encore, the Sisters returned with their goofy but great version of “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Not a bad way to end a Monday night.

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On Blogging and Social Network

Today I received an email announcement from a friend who closed her Facebook account and pointed Steve Tuttle’s “You Can’t Friend Me, I Quit” as a reference to her decision. I respect that and I will miss seeing her on Facebook.

Last week, I had a little conversation about social network with some faculty and staffs while waiting to be seated at a restaurant. From what I heard, time is the major reason for not doing it. A staff also made a point that he doesn’t blog because people don’t care what he has to say or that he doesn’t care what people say on their blog. I also respect that.

As for me, I use Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and blogging. I don’t use Facebook too much. My posts in Facebook are usually updates from my Twitter. I use LinkedIn just pretty much for my resume. The blog is where I use the most. Unlike the staff who thinks people don’t care what he writes, I blog what I care about first. I am sure many people don’t give a damn about my house-improvement posts, but I do. I have a small number of readers, but I am sure most of you have been through what I am going through. I was able to get feedback and recommendation from those who had experienced in those areas.

Blogging isn’t just about your audience. You have to care about what you write first, before the readers do. If you don’t care about what you write, why should they care? If I worry about what people care, I would have quit blogging a long time ago. I no longer feel obligated to blog or connect on these social sites. If I don’t have anything to say anymore, I just don’t. I still want all these tools to be available to me when I do want to put down my thoughts.

Maintenance

House Improvement Update

The beautiful weekend has just flown by and I am exhausted from working on the house. We made some progress and I feel less stressed. Last week I was worrying that we won’t get to finish the house before the little guy sees the light. I was talking to a colleague of mine and she gave me the best advice: “Just work on the part were you can move in and continue later on.” If we don’t have enough time, I can still work on the basement later. Why didn’t I think of that?

Again, my sister-in-law and her husband had given us their unconditional support. We are very fortunate to have them around and we can’t thank them enough. Unlike me, my sister-in-law’s husband is a very skillful handyman. He could do pretty much anything around the house, yet he is so humble about it. My father, too, is very good at fixing around the house and he, too, is worrying about us not getting the house ready before his first grandchild comes out. He offers to help us next weekend since he will be off for President Day. I guess that’s family is for.

This weekend we had an electrician came in to hook up some lights for us. We originally was going to hired a friend of a friend, but he charged three times more than this guy who is recommended to us through our real estate agent. He has done a great job at an economical price. He put up all the lights we requested with minimal cut through dry walls and ceilings.

When he was up in the attic, he discovered lots of flies. Why would an attic have lots of flies? Does anyone know? Obviously it’s not a good thing. Could it be that the roof was left opened? We had the roof patched up but the problem already exist? Please let me know if you know any treatment. When he left the door open, the flies got into the bedrooms and these flies aren’t so active. I could just suck them up with a vacuum tube. Even with the loud noise, they couldn’t fly away.

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F & M Redesigned

Franklin & Marshall launched a new design. While the new version isn’t that striking, it sure looks much better than that previous one. The site has also accomplished the unified look and feel across the board, something GW is trying to do.