Family Circle

History
The Yamaha Corporation has been going for about 110 years. The founder, Torakusu Yamaha, started liking making instruments when he was told to fix a neighbor’s organ. He soon developed Nippon Gaku Ltd., which made organs. It expanded to Pianos, Harmonicas, then to motorcycles, etc.

Price
Yamahas have a wide range of price. Small, upright, 44” ones may cost about $3,400, while large, grand, and 50” C and S series ones are $12,000. Most of them are about $6,500.

Sound Quality
The tone of sound is moderate. It is soft, and very responsive, so that even if you touch it softly, it will make a nice sound. Unfortunately, Grand pianos might sound “brittle”.

Types
There are many different kinds of pianos, with electric, acoustic, upright, and grand. New kinds allow you to record yourself, and play with yourself. You can also play with a CD. Their technology and time put into the pianos is great.

Durability
Unfortunately, Yamahas’ durability is not so good. The wood that they use is naturally hard and not of top perfection, so a 50 year old Yamaha is not so healthy.

Overall:
On a good tone, it is a pretty good piano, and many people use them. On a harder tone, it is quite less than its reputation.
SCORE: B-

Yamaha Dikslavier Grand

Yamaha P121NT Upright

Yamaha YPG535 Electric Keyboard

History
Steinway was founded by Henry Steinway in 1853, in New York. He already had made 482 pianos before starting the company, which let him make bigger, better ones.

Price
The Steinways are very expensive. Large and luxurious ones might even go up to $168,000!
The lowest average price would be about $19,500 for a 48” upright piano.

Sound Quality
Very deep and rich, and the pedal provides a great smoothing sound instead of ‘mushing’ sound, as the other pianos have. It is truly a great sounding piece of furniture.

Types
There are many types, electric, grand, upright, but also special edition ones from around the world, re-makes of historic ones, and other pianos that no other company has. Yet they all have the unique, full sound of the Steinway.

Durability
Steinway’s durability is very good. They may last up to a lifetime, maybe even two. This definitely compares to the Yamaha, with only about 30 years of beautiful melody.

Overall
Very nice sound, very nice looks, very nice durability. The Steinway is simply the best in pianos and people take pride in playing one. One thing: the price is a bit too high, though.
SCORE: A

“Aspen”

“Ellipse”

“Satin”

那阳光碎裂在熟悉场景好安静，
一个人能背多少的往事真不轻，
这故事好像真实又象虚幻的情境。——by 五月天《时光机》

Some photos about Xiaoxi.

It was July 4th, Independence Day. On this day, but in 1776, 40 signatures appeared on the Declaration, 39 from the members of the Colonial Congress (3 from each of the 13 colonies) and one from the President of the Congress. The thirteen colonies were one that day, united as America. They had to go through a hard and perilous war to come to this point, but it was worth it. They were free of British Rule, red-coated soldiers invading, and taxation without representation.

Now, 232 years later, we still celebrate this heroic day. Parades weave through the town, the stars and stripes waving at almost every house. Little shops sell little souvenirs. I got a little dragon from one of the shops. But the most famous, the most traditional, the biggest, the best part of 7/4 is the Fireworks!

I had seen many fireworks on TV, but this is the first time I remember seeing them live. They were AWESOME! Red, blue, gold, silver, every color in the rainbow was blasted in to the air. In the beginning it was cool, but as luck would have it, the thick SF fog came in hard on Berkeley, where we were, and the fireworks were completely engulfed with the clouds. Then, all you could see was the sky light up with one color, then another, but not really the fireworks. After about 15 of the 30 minutes of fireworks passed, most people were heading for their cars. It ended up being a he traffic jam that kept us sitting in the car not moving at all for about an hour.

Still, I had a wonderful time. My favorite firework was a series of small but loud explosions going off simultaneously. The result? A series of loud car alarms going off simultaneously. It completely cracked me up. This is to be a Fourth of July to remember!

For more info about FIREWORKS, click here.
For more info about INDEPENDENCE DAY (7/4) click here.

David Xie
July 7, 2008

Swimming is such a wonderful sport. Its tips and turns are tricky and many people can be made rich and famous by it. It can also be a relaxing kind of activity, lying on the warm water, feeling the soft little waves rock you side to side. Yes, it is comfortable, and it can also bring good health, as it exercises the whole body, from the tips of your fingers to the points of your toes.

There are four different kinds, or strokes, of swimming: Butterfly, Backstroke (back crawl), Breaststroke, and Freestyle (front crawl). Each one looks different, feels different, and goes a different speed.

Butterfly is tiring, as your arms have to heave over the water and bring your body up as your feet are kicking together rhythmically. But once it has been perfected, it looks a lot like a butterfly on the water.

Backstroke is the only stroke on your back, while your arms enter and exit the water in a circular motion, one at a time. The feet kick separately, so if one foot is kicking up, the other is kicking down. It goes quite fast, and is also relaxing.

Breaststroke is based on a frog, as it looks like. Your arms pull back as your head comes up, then shoot forward as you feet are doing some kind of ‘scissor kick’. It is not as fast as the others.

Freestyle is the fastest stroke of all. It is pretty much backstroke on your belly, with you feet kicking furiously, and your arms are swinging your head. There is always a love for freestyle in everyone, because of is speed and easiness.

Races might occur often if you are on a team. I love them, as they let you show how much you improved during the time between. The heat of the race pushes you on, urging you to go faster. When you finish, you might be surprised at the awesome time you made, or, unfortunately, dismayed. But that is that, and there are many other things to be happy about. The food is great, and my favorite is the Cup of Noodles, which are convenient, fast, and tasty. There might be some other games gong on, and I like a lot to play with my friends. They are always such a lively group!

Practice usually happens daily, for lengthy periods of time without practicing may seriously hurt your performance. It might be tiring at first, but with me, it gets better afterwards. I especially like my coach, Coach Michelle, because she is funny and likes to make jokes a lot. Now that I don’t see her anymore (it is summer break) I feel kind of sad. The Coach is often a big part of the practice.

Swimming in the ocean is very different than swimming in the pool. The colossal waves might splash you away, but it is still very fun. Also, since it is saltwater, it lets you float even higher and easier, so that it would be easier to swim. But you always have to be careful for your mouth. The water is very salty, with various bacteria in it, so you always have to be careful. Still, it is a very fun experience to enjoy.

So, however you like it, competitive or fun, or if you are lazy or active, swimming is certainly just for you! It gives you a full body workout, while you can still relax. With all these wonderful things about it, swimming is sure to come up on your to-do list!

David Xie
7/2/2008

Here are some questions dealing with a normal hen egg.
1. What is the volume of the egg?
…How do you figure it out?
2. What is the surface area of an egg?
…How do you figure it out?

My Dad and I made a program that would help remind people to “Take A Break!” after looking at the computer too long. It helps to notify you to give your eyes a break and rest for a while before returning. We worked for about one week on it, and we hope you like it.

If you want to install this fantastic item…

1. Click here to download the program, and save to your machine.

2. Double click the downloaded .zip file, and extract the whole “MyReminder” directory to “C:\”.

3. Then go to C:\MyReminder directory, and click “runReminder.bat” and in a second, the Reminder program will pop up. You can “snooze” for certain number of seconds and it will remind you again, or “dismiss” to close the program.

4. You can modify the “alarmConfig_en.properties” under “MyReminder” directory, to display different reminder messages. You can put as many messages as you like, and the reminder program will randomly pick one at a time.

Note: If you want to extract “MyReminder” to somewhere other than “C:\”, for example to “C:\temp”, then you need to edit “runReminder.bat” under “C:\temp\MyReminder” directory, and modify “-DINSTALL_DIR=” to new directory, such as “-DINSTALL_DIR=C:\temp\MyReminder”.

You may rate the product in the comments, on a scale from A++ to F- - or 10(0) pts. to 0 pts.

June 13, 2008. David graduated from Murwood Elementary School this morning, with Outstanding Academic Excellence award.

The Xies at David’s graduation party, in front of Murwood school.

We were awakened by the sudden shake of entire house structure last night. Earthquake! Rushed to kid rooms and David and Emily were still in deep sleep. Waited for a while, and it seemed to be over. Just as we went back to sleep, a second wave of shake rattled the window and door.

I stayed up for a while and checked on earthquake.usgs.gov. The earthquakes were in the mountain area between Moraga and Danville, about 8km from our house in Walnut Creek. The first is 3.0, followed by the second one at 3.5. Both a quite shallow at 7.7km depth. That is why we can felt them so strongly.

We need to be more alert as the images of earthquake in China are fresh, and should put earthquake prep kit in a place that we can dash for cover.

就算最终天崩地裂，就算生命如尘埃。隔着这千山万水，所有的尽力而为，倾心相助，会为每一个受难的人在沉没的黑暗中打开他们那扇希望的窗。因为深信不疑，因为有爱，就会有奇迹发生。

所有梦想遇见，会看见流星.

We grieve for the loss of civilians in 5.12 earthquake. May them rest in peace.

In the morning of May 12th, we heard about the news that a large earthquake rattled Sichuan province. We are so sadden when watching the pictures on TV and Internet, knowing that many people were gone instantly, and many people were still holding a little hope in the trap of ruins but rescue missions were hampered by extremely damaged road condition and extremely bad weather.

We pray and hope for miracle in this large scale natural disater. Human life is so fragile, yet you can feel the strength of the trapped survivors longing for life, and the courage of rescurers risking their own lives for saving others. For people are gone, may you find peace in heaven; for people injured, may you recover well and live well for the rest of life; and for all survivors, may you become stronger.

Just read a new poem, and would like share here.
It is being recorded as a song, and will be released very soon. Jacky Chan is the singer.

生死不离 (never separate, live or death)

生死不离，

你的梦落在哪里。

想着生活继续，

天空失去美丽，

你却等待明天站起。

无论你在哪里，

我都要找到你。

血脉能创造奇迹，

你的呼喊就刻在我的血液里。

生死不离，

我数秒等你消息。

相信生命不息，

我看不到你，

你却牵挂在我心里。

无论你在哪里，

我都要找到你。

血脉能创造奇迹，

搭起双手筑成你回家的路基。

生死不离，

痛苦也不哭泣，

爱是你的传奇，

彩虹在风雨后升起。

无论你在哪里，

我都要找到你。

血脉能创造奇迹，

你一丝希望是我全部的动力。