May 3, 2011; 6:41 A.M. - My room at my parents' suburban house just before I left for the airport, tidied up for my departure – those aren't my beddings and there are no guitars in sight. The thing I found that I miss most is my stereo system (pretty much unseen on the right; Bang & Olufsen turntable covered by a towel) which was put together in the days before digital files became the dominant aural medium. Back then, you picked and chose components to comprise a stereo system. The key components of my system is a kick-ass 100 watt Yamaha amplifier that I inherited from my brother – it's so old that it doesn't even have a remote control – and 20 year old Bose AM-5 speakers, which my cousin told me are still rated better than later versions and other 5.1 Bose systems. Seriously, CD sound quality through an audio system like this will always be better than any kind of digital file media played through a digital player.

May 14, 2011; 2:37 P.M. – My room in Taiwan. The bathroom is on the other side of that opaque glass = this is not a place to entertain guests. No stereo system, but I must say, I'm pretty happy with the Ozaki computer speakers that I found here. If I go back to the States, one of the few things I would want to take with me are those speakers.