My luck continues to rise.  When I walked home from work today I
found a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer with 61-key keyboard lying against a
trash can to be thrown out.  I snagged it and left a note behind
in case the person didn’t mean to throw it out.

However, the state of the keyboard suggests it was ready to be thrown out.  For example, the power cable has come loose.

I am an electrical engineer, so this does not faze me in the
slightest.  Soon I will grab a soldering iron and make it work to
the best of my abilities.

The Yamaha DX7 was a popular synthesizer of the 1980s, and make a lot
of the defining sounds of eighties music.  Its quality isn’t
wonderful, from what I’ve heard, but it’s a synthesizer nonetheless and
I’m sure I can find good uses for it, especially as a keyboard
controller for my computer music setup.

After I had spent hours waiting in the rain to get tickets to the
Shakespeare in the Park show in Central Park, and after the rain fully
cleared up, they cancelled the show.  However, before I got in
line for standby tickets, I did manage to snap some pictures of a
completely burnt car on the side of the road.

The flames completely destroyed the interior, leaving a metallic shell.

Today I ate dinner outside on patio seating at Max SoHa, a most
wonderful Italian restaurant less than a block from my apartment.

The food is excellent and the atmosphere very comfortable and familial.

“SoHa” stands for “South of Harlem,” and we’ve similary named our startup synthesizer software company SoHa Sound Design,
in reference to where the development actually took place.  We’re
hoping to finish up a release candidate of the final synthesizer by the
time I leave New York on August 11, and have a final 1.0 version ready
for sale a few weeks thereafter.

Cagle and her friend come up to visit me for a few days on Wednesday
and Dan comes up on Saturday, so my week should be filled with plenty
of excitement.