Matthew Supert

I have made it a purpose over this past year to purchase new music every month. Not quite sure why I haven't thought about blogging about it all year, but I figured I might as well start doing it now and perhaps I'll even take a look back at some of the other albums and music I have recently picked up. These recent purchases range from vinyl, to mp3's to even sometimes just some CD's checked out from the library. While most people seem to be going the Spotify route for their music with a subscription, music is one of the few medium I still feel like fall on owning myself. 

My most recent purchase was Phases of the Moon - Traditional Chinese Music from the CBS Masterworks collection. This is a really interesting collection of music. It was assembled as an orchestral collection of Chinese styled music from the 1950's and 60's. The music is quote good, but has a distinct "western" flair to it since the orchestral arrangements future a more traditional orchestra. 

The inner cover of the album has some really nicely done narrative that discusses each song and there are certainly some gems on it. I was hoping for a more traditional Chinese musical arrangement, but I am glad I picked this up. 

I hope I'll be able to find some more foreign music 

I had some good work over this past week with music. A couple of new songs recorded and a couple more ready to be recorded this coming week. I hope you guys enjoy them. 

With the upgrade to OS X El Capitan over the past couple of months my old sound card is unfortunately no longer supported. My M-Audio Fast Track 2 has served me well for years. It really has been a great sound card, but M-Audio has recently changed owners a couple of times over the past couple of years and it now seems that the FastTrack Pro line may not be receiving updates anymore. 

SO I was left with trying to find a new audio interface for my Mac. After asking around on Facebook I was recommended to check out the iConnect Audio4+. I honestly had never even heard of that company, but upon further research it came back with nothing but positive reviews. 

One of the strongest features is that it is a "class compliant" device which means that it does not need any audio drivers on Mac. It also has some wonderful internal bus routing features in the box, which allows me to route the audio input devices to both my monitors through direct bypass as well as my Mac, while still have the audio coming out from the Mac via USB to the monitors. It is a very cool feature actually. 

I miss the digital inputs that I had on the Fast Track Pro, but it is a small sacrifice to make for the new features. I also picked up a second camera for recording my studio work and this weekend I put it to use with a new configuration. Overall I have to say that everything has worked out surprisingly well. 

I had some people ask me about the golf bag that I received.  It is a Jones Golf Bag, which is a simply old school styled carry golf bag. It has some nice leather components on it along with the dark blue nylon so I feel it will last me a long time. 

I had my previous bag for years, since junior high school actually, but it has begun to fall apart. Two years ago I bought myself a new set of golf clubs but I figured it was time I got a new bag as well. 

I can't believe that I forgot to post this. All the way back on October 14th we did our second Cook Book Series recipe. Well, technically Megan did since I wasn't home to do the cooking on this one. The second recipe turned out to be just as big of a success as the first one. It was honestly one of the best beef stews I have ever had. Usually with most beef stews I get hung up on too much potatoes, but this one was really well balanced and also had some really delicious dumplings. Another keeper of a recipe. 

Added bonus was that Megan made Apple Slices to go with dessert which I had never had before. They were such a huge hit that we brought another batch to work for my birthday and they were devoured quickly. 

For my birthday this year Megan bought me a new Kindle Voyage. I have been using my original Kindle 3G (the one with the keyboard) for close to five years now and I have it to thank for getting back into reading. I have been eyeing one of the new Kindles for quite a while now, especially one with the glowlight on it for nighttime reading. I had some major jealousy going on to Megan's Nook which had the glowlight. Problem was that my K3G was in perfect condition. Not a crack on it so it was hard to justify an upgrade. 

Well timing worked out well and Amazon a few weeks back was doing a good trade in credit for the old Kindle and it just so happened that my birthday was around the corner. So I have a fancy new Kindle Voyage, which is really nice. I have people occasionally ask me why I don't just read on a tablet. I do actually read on my iPad on occasion, but the LCD screen really isn't ideal for longer reading sessions. I am a big proponent of single purpose devices, not "do it all" devices so getting the best tool for the job I want is really what I am looking for. For reading, it has to be e-ink. It is just so much easier on the eyes. The new voyage also has a glass screen which really makes the e-ink pop in a great way. 

So Nanowrimo would normally be gearing up right about now and it would be starting on November 1st. I have done it successfully the past two years, largely on jumping in without much preparation. Despite all that success I am taking a pass on participating this year. I am instead going to focus my efforts on putting the same amount of time into recording music through the month of November. I have nearly half a dozen songs sitting that need to be finished and it is just a matter of me getting down to it and finishing it. I really want to get a new album out and published before the end of this year. 

After that is complete, I can then spend the rest of the winter trying to edit the books I have written from past Nanowrimos. 

So I had my first taste of cyclocross this weekend on Saturday. Cyclocross is, lets just call it offroad bike racing. It is apparently very popular in the Chicago area. 

My first race was in the Dan Ryan Woods yesterday. I was placed in the 4/5 Men's Group, which is basically the beginners group for the race. Races last about 30 minutes and the laps are determined by the pace of the top riders. So basically, that means that the race will end right around 30 minutes, not after a set number of laps. 

I was the only rider using a mountain bike for the race. Most people were utilizing cyclocross bikes, which are basically a road bike with a few modifications to allow for some off road wheels. Let me state that cyclocross is hard. I feel like I am in pretty good shape, but this was just brutal. It is full out as fast as you can for 30 minutes straight. The course has significant climbs on it and my lungs were literally burning. I could not get enough oxygen to my body through this race. 

So I finished in basically third to last place. There were a couple of people behind me and then I think three or four who did not finish. I have to say I am proud of myself, because there was a point there where I wasn't sure if I would be able to push forward. I think I'll definitely go out and do some more cross races. They are fun, but I don't see myself going and spending $800+ on a cyclocross bike. There are some people out there with just way to crazy of physical conditioning.

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Last Saturday we did our first Cook Book recipe from our new endeavor to begin cooking more recipes out of all of the cook books that we own. This first recipe came out of the Marshall Fields Cook Book.

Overall results on this one were great. The soup was easy to make in about forty minutes and it was rich and creamy. It was made a bit easier by the use of a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. It saved on some additional cooking time and the rotisserie chicken added some great flavor. 

We did almost have a mishap on this one because we didn't notice that the wild rice package called for the rice to cook on its own for about an hour. We disregarded that and threw the rice into the pot while the soup was simmering. I think it resulted in quite a bit more starch than was anticipated but for the first dishing up of the soup it worked out great. Reheating though wasn't quite as fantastic. Between the cream and the starch the soup reheated a bit too thick and that could in part be because of our mess up with the rice. 

Overall, a great recipe that you could totally make for a group of people for dinner.