I’m proud of all my deal searching and offer-combining…with purchase of the camera I got an awesome $210 telephoto lens for $60, got a $450 printer for $50 after mail-rebate, and a free UV-filter.

In total:

• Camera (Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18 MP)
• Kit Lens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS)
• Telephoto Lens (Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS)
• Printer (Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet)
• Camera Case (Lowepro Adventura 170)
• Tripod (Dolica ST-500 68-Inch Lightweight)
• Filter (Tiffen 58mm UV Protection)
• Extra SD Card (Transcend 16GB Class 10 SDHC)
• Amazon Prime shipping

All for $6.03 less than One-G…not too bad!

…

And tomorrow I’m going to call Amazon and see if I can squeeze another $82 credit by price matching tigerdirect. Mwahaha…

********

Pics to follow in the upcoming weeks! Can’t wait to try this baby out.

After eating dinner with my family at my grandparents’ house in Sun City, I drove my little sister to UCLA to spend the night with me (so my parents can do their crazy Black Friday shopping without having to worry about her.)

To paraphrase, after eating turkey, I got to bring another little turkey back to school with me. Well, to be fair, I guess there were two turkeys crossing California tonight in that car, since I am her equal at being a crazy goofball.

Once back at UCLA, we deep-cleaned my kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room…pretty much the entire apartment. And no, I didn’t make her clean for me, she just started going at it, partially to pass the time of the early night, and partially because she was a bit disgusted with the mess.

But we had a blast.

As we cleaned and scrubbed, we talked, and we sang, and we shared noodles.  But we mostly talked. Never before have I felt so close to my sister. I feel as if I could tell her anything. And I love to hear about all of her high school adventures. At fifteen years of age, we are surrounded by inputs–teachers, parents, peers–all giving advice. But sometimes, the one thing we lack at that age is a good listener, and I hope to be that to my little sister.

From what she has told me, which is the raw, uncensored tale of her high school experience thus far, all I can say is: wow.

I am so damn proud of my little sister.

She is a terrific student, kicking butt at her new school. She’s smart. She’s gotten into tip-top shape for the cheerleading squad and is one of, if not the, most skilled girl on the team. She’s talented. But that’s not what I am most proud of her for. I am proud because she has something that I, in comparison, lack, and that is a keen social awareness that is beyond her years. She is sensitive to other’s feelings as well as her own, past and present. Moreover, she has the ability to anticipate other’s feelings, and has show me that she can make decisions not based on brash ‘feelings of the moment’, but based on a forward-thinking mentality of both logic and emotion. Sure, I can make predications about a future event based on logic very well, but once emotions are involved, I’m a lost sailor. My sister would be a captain.

So among all the tangibles and intangibles I am thankful for this holiday, today one person stands out in my mind. My confidante. My little fellow goof-ball/turkey. My sister.

Thank you, Marisa.

Nevertheless, here are some more mediocre attempts of musicality. The accompanying music (and song choice) is very very cheesy, and it doesn’t exactly sound…good. I apologize for these shortcomings. But it was a lot of fun to record!

I will post more recordings as my chops improve. I’ll also be experimenting with different setups (different mic locations, sensitivity settings, etc.) in the future to improve the quality of the recordings as well.

Love Shack (Duet)

My Hear Will Go On (Duet)

Reflection (Duet)

Mambo No. 5 (Duet)

As always, I invite constructive criticism. Besides sharing with my family, the reason I am uploading this is because I know I have many very talented musical friends, and I know I can learn A TON from them (cuz some of them are AMAZING!) I’m hoping to improve enough to perform in a Chamber Ensemble next quarter, and that is going to take a lot of work and dedication from here on out to get to that level. Thanks everyone who is reading and listening for supporting me on this little endeavor!

My setup consisted of:
–my laptop
–my Rockband USB microphone, scotch-taped to my music stand, right below the music
–my apartment room, with very little furniture and fun acoustics
–my cheesy, but fun, ”Play Along-CDs” (I have a ton of these, thanks to my Grandma)

It’s hardly a professional apparatus, but I am playing on a professional model Sax, so I guess that makes up for it. For surprisingly few resources and utilizing the free Mac audio mixer program, things didn’t turn out that bad.

Following is an arrangement of Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush On You.” I think this one turned out rather well for being a first attempt, though as a self-critical musician I tend notice all the parts I want to make better. See what you think.

I’ve Got A Crush On You

Here are two more Gershwin songs: “How Long Has This Been Going On” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

How Long Has This Been Going On

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! I’m an intermediately-skilled amateur saxophone player at best, and it’s not often that I play anything other than loud, simple marching band music. I’m particularly aware of my tone when I play higher notes (it becomes very thin…), so any tips for improving that are especially welcome!

More to come. Saxy.

Last week, I visited the Semel Institute at UCLA. The location of my lab was seven stories up, so of course I jumped into the first available elevator.

Bad decision.

The doors of the metal box closed behind me, and I was greeted with the following message:

Yes, that is sharpie. The elevator did not ascend. I was stuck, and despite the comforting message, pushing the button did absolutely nothing. The door remained closed.

At first, I found the situation rather humorous. I immediately took out my phone and snapped the above picture and gave myself a mental pat on the back for the accomplishment of capturing the moment for me to enjoy later.

My blasé contentment quickly turned to worry when I realized I was still trapped inside the elevator. I didn’t exactly panic, but I did frantically run through all my available options for escape. Should I press the emergency button? Call for help? Pound on the door until somebody comes to my rescue?

Luckily, I then noticed an ever-so-slight gap between the door and the frame…just barely enough for me to squeeze a couple fingers through. I pulled once, then again a little harder, and the door slowly slid open. A doctor in a lab coat was standing outside the elevators and gave me a strange look. “That elevator is broken, I think,” I garbled nervously, a little pink with embarrassment.

I walked outside for some quick fresh air before returning to try another one of the 5 remaining elevators. The subsequent experience from floor C to B to A to 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 was notably less eventful.

My new research position has already proven to be an adventure, even before ever stepping foot into the lab.

Tagged: elevator, research, semel ]]> http://altenhofen.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/push-to-get-out/feed/ 1 altenhofen Push to Get Out http://altenhofen.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/introducing-alty/ http://altenhofen.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/introducing-alty/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:59:30 +0000 altenhofen http://altenhofen.wordpress.com/?p=3 ]]> Hello world.

This marks my first foray into the world wide webosphere of blogs. I hope to develop this oft-daily (-weekly, -monthly, -wheneverIfindthetimely) chronicle of my life and musings into an enriching  and entertaining experience for myself and audience alike. As is customary, I shall start with an introduction:

My name is…not important. If you know who I am, that’s wonderful! I fully expect most of my audience to know me personally, as I doubt the quality of my writing will provide the driving force to attract a broader audience, at least not at this early point in time. That said, I have come to the realization that anonymity is fleeting, especially on the internet. Nevertheless, I will attempt to maintain some level of personal discretion. Friends and family that know me already know me; there is no need for me to further identify myself by full name. So for the sake of this and all further discussion, you may call me ‘Alty.’ I realize that this will only hinder even the laziest of internet geeks for only a few minutes from uncovering all but my social security number and what I ate for breakfast three days ago. Actually, with a little effort, you could probably figure that stuff out too. (What’s that? My last name is my blog title. Well, as long as my first name remains…oh, my full name is in my email address? Uhhh…oh well. I don’t care. So much for anonymity. Nevertheless, I like my nickname.)

So here is the nuts and bolts of who I am:

I am currently on scholarship as a 3rd-year undergraduate student at UCLA. I am a neuroscience major, also pursuing a minor in linguistics. Ultimately, I would like to be a physician, and I am currently devoting my entire life towards that goal, but more on that later. I am also a very loud, proud member of the Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Marching Band, marching an alto saxophone as squad number W52. (Go Hardcore Saxes!) I am also a volunteer authorized provider of instruction for the American Red Cross, so I have held my own classes for Adult and Child CPR, First Aid, and AED use. And finally, I am the Corporate RElations Director for the Regents Scholar Society at UCLA. Big title for an even more specific job that is mostly administrative and fundraising, so I’ll leave it at that and perhaps go into detail in a later post. Some of my closest friends (and all three of my roommates) have come from this Scholar society. That is because I am above all a geek, will forever stay a geek, and love other geeks. ‘Geek’ is my term of endearment for those that are smart, friendly, fun, goofy, and sometimes eccentric. People that are like me. Go geek.

I identify myself as an optimist. <insert winking smilie here>

As this blog become more fully developed, I will undoubtably reveal much more about myself, directly through my divulged experiences and endeavors, and indirectly through my prose and its entanglement with emotion. Personal writing is cathartic, which is why I have attempted to keep a journal since high school.  Yet such strenuous levels of introspection can only soothe to a point. Public writing on the other hand is much more revealing in its nature. This is not because there is a greater degree of truth versus falsity in a public account; to the contrary, it is much more tempting to lie to the world than to lie to a diary under lock and key. I state that public writing is revealing because it adds a level of conversation to the musing. This writing, though introspective, is no longer one-way. You, my audience, can write back, comment, share your experience, and provide feedback. This added level of engagement is the fruit of this new world of social media. It is the miracle of Facebook and blogs, of online journalism and twitter. So as you learn more about me through reading, I ask you to please also share by writing and adding comments. I greatly appreciate the interaction.

What this blog is about:

It is difficult to lay out all the topics I may cover from time to time. I may give an anecdote about an especially taxing school project. I may reveal the harrowing experiences of life as a premed and scientist. I might talk about apartment life, friendship, love, loss, or even some cool article I read online. Maybe I’ll venture on an interesting bike path and lay out my route. Maybe I’ll just write a poem. Who knows.

What this blog is NOT:

This will not be a laundry list of my day-to-day activities. The topics of what I had for breakfast or the time I plan to wake up on Sunday–while excellent source material for facebook status updates and random tweets–are about as entertaining to read as they are to write. Not very. Therefore, I plan to keep such idle chatter and food-logging at a minimum. Please post negative feedback if I do not keep that promise. Thank you.

Again…

Hello world.

Alty out.