I had a most peculiar sort of day.. Something or someone wanted me to be incommunicado today… First both my blackberry and my laptop failed..actually.. it was the charger for both.. so I had no access to email or cell phone.. I had an early show in Fletcher, VT.. way up near Cambridge.. In desperation. I borrowed Diane’s cell phone to take with me.. I couldn’t be without a phone..   Of course.. there was no cell phone coverage way up there.. so .. I was cut off from the world.. Alone .. in the car.. with just an FM radio.. It was terrifying 🙂

Fletcheris a cute little town.. .. I think I’ve done shows at most of the elementary and middle schools in Chittenden. Addison and Franklin counties.. but I can’t ever remember doing a show here.. though I’m pretty sure I have

The snow was deep.. and it was still pretty cold .. so it was tricky business getting my gear into the school.. my electric go-cart actually got stuck in the snow !

I didn’t realize it.. but I was doing a show for the entire school. It was a great group of kids.. Note I have to blur the faces because it’s illegal in VT to post a picture of a kid in school wiht out a parental release form..

The show was so much fun. I absolutely love doing these shows .   Very few other things give me the sense of kharmic correctness that this type of outreach does.

I was done around 11, packed up and headed back to the real world.. I headed to Mexicali to meet a friend for lunch.. but we ended up getting our wires cross.ed.. he thoughts i was picking him up.. I thought he was meeting him at the restaurant.. and he couldn’t call me .. because my cell was out of commission..
No worries.. I had a great meal by myself.. and I just had to argue with myself over who got the check.   I love Mexicali.. the best salsa north of Texas that I’ve ever had.

From ther… it was back to work … I unloaded my science gear.. then decided that it was high time that I cleaned out my old office. The story is that I got a new office when I was promoted in the winter of 2006. .. I just never got around to cleaning out my old office.. which was packed full of 25 years of whatever it was I was doing.. When Sam died.. I just really couldn’t bring myself to spend much time in that old office.. so I left it full of stuff.   I figured this winter break was the right time to clean it out. it took me nearly 6 hours.. I went through every scrap of paper, every pencil nub. There are so many pictures in there.. happy pictures of our family.. and of Sam.. I broke down several tiems as I went through them.. yet it felt good to be cleaning.

 The biggest job was taking down the hundreds of pictures stapled to the wall. Many of them were from kids who’s classes I’d visited.

And hundreds of books.. most of them technical.. but not all.. Many I hadn’t looked at in years.

And of course my picture of Jerry.

My blackboard still had stuff that Gabe had drawn when he was a baby !

I found soem pretty wierd stuff in there .. like this dried squid from a  trip to china a long time ago..

And this ‘Zatar’.. the stuff that gave me my stage name for my science shows.. and my license plate (DRZATAR).. It’s a mix of sage, sesame and sumac.. yum !

I was very grateful to have several friends helping me clean stuff out.. Here my friend Kevin is pulling out staples… He told me he wanted me to write ‘i will not staple into the wall’ a hundred times in my new office.

My friend Henry helped me with all the magnetic stuff on my door. 

I still had no phone. cell phone of internet.. I was in deep withdrawal. Thanks goodness for my talkative friends.

It was a huge mess to start out with…

But eventually it yielded to sheer force of will.. we managed to get everything out !..

But even so.. I now have a huge pile of cruud in my ‘new’ office that I must deal with ! 

Don’t fear though.. I have some furniture and bookshelves coming to absorb most of it.. Even though I’m not done with the new office.. it’s a tremendous sense of relief to clear out the old one..

OK..the rest of the evening was pretty peaceful.. I got my replacement cell phone.. and a new charger for my PC.. so I’m back ‘on the air’. I have to say I enjoyed my day off-line.. Speaking of off-line.. it’s time for sleep. More tomorrow..

G’nite all.. G’nite Sam

-me