Highlights

Once upon a time, before we had Facebook and other social media, some people posted photos and little stories of interest to their own personal web sites. This page contains some of my personal highights from those days (and a few newer ones).

You can find many more recent items on my Facebook page.

I performed with Redwood Symphony and a massive chorus with singers from New York and the San Francisco bay area, playing the Berlioz Requiem and other works, before 1700 people in Davies Symphony Hall on August 5, 2012.
I celebrated my 50th birthday, July 19, 2012, with a six-day vacation in Walt Disney World, visiting all four parks and eating at a number of excellent restaurants. My birthday dinner was at Victoria & Albert’s, inside the Grand Floridian hotel.
Juliet and I were married on August 13, 2010 (Friday the 13th!) at the couty clerk’s office in San Jose. Jay Jordana was our witness and photographer. photos
We moved in to our brand new house in Fremont on June 16, 2010.
I bought an iPad on April 3, 2010, after standing in line for two hours. That’s only half as long as it took to buy the first iPhone. And I got a glimpse of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak as he was leaving the mall on his Segway, presumably carrying his three pre-ordered iPads.
Juliet and I got engaged on her birthday, December 25, 2008! This was during a visit to Juliet’s family in Oregon over the holidays. The low point of the trip was an 80-mile drive from Portland to Corvallis which took seven hours due to severe road conditions resulting from a snow storm. The lower photo, taken a few days later, shows a close-up of the engagement ring.
I conducted Nova Vista Symphony at the graduation ceremonies for Foothill College on June 27, 2008. I led 30 minutes of music before the program — including Cowboys Overture and Raiders’s March by John Williams — in addition to the ceremonial Pomp and Circumstance. Two days later, while attending Peninsula Symphony’s outdoor summer concert, I won the raffle to conduct Sousa’s Stars and Stripes march at the end of the program.
I stood in line for three hours to buy an iPhone on the first day they were released, June 29, 2007. photos
On November 10 and 17, 2006 Juliet and I performed The Swan as a contrabassoon and piano duet at an HP Symphony concert. video
On May 21, 2006 I conducted a very modern aleatoric piece, K’vakarat by Osvaldo Golijov for string quartet and cantor at a Redwood Symphony concert.
I bought a new car on January 11, 2006, a Honda Accord V6 coupe, complete with voice-activated navigation, electronic stability control, warp drive...
I conducted members of Nova Vista Symphony in Peter and the Wolf at Marshall Lane School in Saratoga, California on April 7, 2005. photos
I appeared in costume as guest conductor of Nova Vista Symphony, leading a performance of Star Trek Through the Years on January 8, 2005. photos/video
I attended The Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas on August 2–4, 2002. While there, I got to sit in the captain’s chair on the Enterprise 1701-D bridge at Star Trek: The Experience.
I organized a group of 23 people to see Star Wars: Episode II on May 16, 2002, at the Century 22 theater with a digital projector.
I got a wide-screen TV on February 22, 2002. (Sony KP-51HW40, 51-inch, 16×9) See the window shades I built to darken the room for daytime viewing.
I conducted Poulenc’s Suite Française at Redwood Symphony’s chamber music concert on January 26, 2002.
I conducted Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with Suki Russack, harp, at Redwood Symphony’s chamber music concert on January 21, 2001. video
The latest Redwood Symphony CD is available. (2000)
I spent the New Year’s 2000 holiday with friends in Orlando.
My boss and I flew down to Burbank on July 12, 1999 to watch an all-digital projection of Star Wars: Episode I. The image quality was amazing!
On June 28, 1999, I performed with members of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra on the Elizabethan Stage in Ashland, Oregon. We also performed in Dunsmuir, CA.
The first CD I recorded with Redwood Symphony is available. (1998) audio
On July 19, 1998, I celebrated my 36th birthday by visiting Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas.
On February 22, 1998, I was one of the four conductors in Redwood Symphony’s performance of the Ives Symphony No. 4. This was only a small conducting role, but it was my first conducting performance outside of the Hewlett-Packard Symphony Orchestra. photo
On June 8, 1996, I got to perform with the Redwood Symphony in Davies Hall, San Francisco—yes, where the San Francisco Symphony plays! (We were the guest of the San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus, which needed an orchestra to perform Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.)