Cello

Twice in the last two months Jen has asked for a cello. Knowing that this wouldn't be a cheap purchase, I set about to do some research tonight. I found a piece of advice from some Cello Heaven organization that seams to be a marketing front for the Online Shops that they recommend. I also found an article written in 2003 that says the Chinese have quickly come up to speed for manufacturing string instruments and that they do many devious things to obfuscate the fact that their wares are made in China. On snap, I learned that people taller than 5' should plan to buy a "Full Sized" 4/4 cello. The 1/2 cellos are apparently made for little kids. The other thing I learned is that bows range from $300 to $850, which I think is a lot for a stick that's been strung with horse hair. And cases are quite expensive, too. The most inexpensive cases seem to go for $400 and can get as high as $1200 (I'd stick with the cheaper end hard-cases).

Locally, there seems to be two legitimate options. I'm not too keen on that second option (i.e. Craigslist) because I don't trust people who would try to unload extremely expensive gear online. I do like the selection available from Johnson String Instruments and the fact that they make it easy to identify that chinese vendors.

The overall verdict? I think we'll eventually stop by Johnson String Instruments in Newton, MA to see if they can offer a rent-to-own arrangement. Also, we should be able to find a very capable Chinese-made cello in the $2000 to $3000 price-range that Jen can use to learn to play. I guess the hope will be that we can rent it for $50/month for a year and then get a $600 credit at the time of purchase assuming she has it in her to stick with it. Sounds like a plan?

Golf in May

Just finished up week three of my summer golf league. I'm out to a pretty good start, with improvements being made each week. Turns out that it's a 9-hole event (as opposed to 18-holes) each week. Things started out not-so-good during week one when I shot a 67 and then a 63 during week two. But my most recent score was a 53 which is a noticeable improvement. For those keeping track, par is approximately 35 and I averaged a double bogey on each hole during my last turn out. There was one instance where I scored even on a Par 5, though. I reached the green in four shots and then sank my put with one try. I was proud of that accomplishment.

Overall, I've found the course to be quite enjoyable. There are a couple of nice "downhill" shots. I like being able to look out and see the surrounding suburbs of Newton. I suppose the drawback of that is having to walk a ton uphill to get to them. The water hazards were really annoying during week one when I was having trouble getting any loft under the ball, but those issues have seemingly been ironed out. It turns out that a stable, natural stance is one of the keys to hitting the ball well. Who'd have thought?

The only other thing worth noting is my equipment situation. I've stopped carrying my Woods since I never use them. For professional golfers, the Woods are the "Power-hitting" clubs that you use to take your first shot off the tee at the beginning of each hole. For me, they are hard to control. I've now got my own divet-repair tool and golf glove. I'm looking forward to buying a little cart so I can wheel my golf bag around without carrying it. That would be a big help.

Mom-in-Law

My future mother-in-law visited last week to watch my future wife graduate with her Master's Degree. Happy times. Amongst other things, we decided on the location and date for our wedding. It'll be Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 at the Commander's Mansion in Watertown, MA. We had visited this place in March, but now that it's spring it looks very beautiful with all the flowers and colors and smells of nature.

We also reserved Sunday for taking our first ever Duck Tour, which was a lot more exciting than I think any of us were expecting. One of our friends volunteered to drive the Duck while it was in "Boat Mode" when the pilot asked if any children wanted to steer for a little while. After the tour, we hit up the Top of the Hub for a couple drinks and some very yummy food. Let's see... this stuff makes a really distinctive and delicious martini. They also have a really good Brie & Walnut appetizer and a good selection of flatbread pizza creations. Saving the best for last, though, I must recommend the macaroni and cheese. Who doesn't love Mac'n'Cheese?

Signal / Noise

I learned about signal-to-noise ratios during a class called "Signals and Systems" at RPI in 2003. The fundamental properties of digital signals mostly went right over my head. I struggled to complete homework problems requiring us to filter complex equations with Fourier and Laplace transforms. But the general notions have stuck with me years later. That is the "real world" functions to degrade ALL signals with entropy caused by numerous natural effects. The function of electrical engineering is to reduce the amount of noise to the point where the original signals can be reconstituted and represented. My cipher is an example of a "signal" with so much noise that the underlying message is completely incoherent. However, the filter (which Jen understands) is available for turning the (using an industry term) waveform into something coherent.

The point of all this discussion is that the state of social networking "waveforms" is a mess. Facebook's News Feeds, Google's Reader/Wave/Buzz, the Blogosphere's Rolls, and Twitter's Tweets flood the world with lots and lots of noise and very little signal.

The person (or people) who figure out how to filter the signals from the plethora of noise coming from all these services will become very, very rich. Like the electrical engineers who did the initial research to make telecommunications systems (including the internet) tangible, the information engineers who make information systems tangible will win multiple Nobel Prizes and greatly enrich the world.