Hi friends…

It’s about midnight and I’m struggling to stay awake. It’s been a good day here.. THe meeting was really interesting.. and I also managed to get some good day job work done. that’s the advantage of working in two such different timezones..

I am feeling sort of lonely and disconencted here.. Last night I did aomehting I rarley do when I travel.. I acaually went out and ate dinner by myslef. Usually when I travel by myself I only eat when there’s a group f folks goign out.. Last night I was too hingary to sleep.. so I went down to the resturant and ordered a meal.. just liek all the other guys eating by themselves.. I didn’t feel social.. and evindently neaher did they. we all ate in silence.. Actually.. it asn’t to bad. the food was excelelnt.. I even took pictures.. I call them ;Still life with okra’ ..

It was by far the best okra I’ve ever eaten.. My dad loves okra.. but I
wouldn’t touch the stiff as a kid.. now I love it.. Just one of the
many good traits I picked up from my folks..

For dessert I took Pan.. the wierd Indian concoction made of beetle leaf, lm e as in calcium carbonate.. not the citrus fruit), sugar, silver flakes, cardamon and (sometimes tobacoo all wrapped in a beetle leaf.. It’s got to be the weirdest thing eaten on the entire planet.. It tastes a bit like toothpaste mixed with wood chips wrapped in newspaper.. but for some reason I just love it.. ‘sposed to be good for your digestion.. and a billian indians couldn’t all be wrong.. could they ?

I got up at 6:30 this morning.. did some yoga and wentdown staris to have breakfast with einds. My driver Salim met me at 8:30 and we went out to battle our way to teh ibm site.. As we left.. I took a pictue of the most ignored sign in all of Delhi..

I love driving through this place. it looks familiar to me now.. I love the color. the people and the general disorder

THere’s some serous roadwork goign on here (a new metro maybe ?) .. I loved the signs they had plasted on the road works. The english is close, but no tobacoo leaves stuffed inside tobaco leaves.

The took ?!

And my personal favorite for all your crytographers and number theorists out there..

I just realized that it didn’t rain today !.. Though.. the streets are still pretty flooded.

The IBM Researhc lab here is beutiful and gleaming.. a perfect place for a meeting…

We worked from 9 till 6:30 then headed back to the hotel.. these cutre street puppies were foraging ouside the plant.. The mma was there too… they looked pretty helathy

It is pretty hot and steamy here.. I think this picture captured the feel of the late afternoon atmosphere .

We got back to the hotel in time for a 7:30 dinner.. Great conversationn. I partculary enjoyed the conversation tonight . I spoke with Chieko-san.. She’s a blind researcher at IBM Tokyo Lab who works on alternat ecomutere interaction. . Bo from Beijng, Eric from theCongo by way of S. Aftrica, Paul from NY, Nitendra from Delhi, Chalire from Minnesota and several others… I had to break for a half hour in the middle of dinner to take a work call.. but got back in time or the rest of the meal. Dinner was great !

Not muchelse to report here.. I’ve used some of the time here to catch u on the SamStone palcement and findings. I put about 15 new ones on the map today including the following ones..

Hello from JFK Airport. Seems I’m often writing from these sleekly polished hallways. I’m on my way to India for a few days. I better post now.

Today’s been a bit anti-climatic after the iron pour yesterday. That was such an amazing experience. All I’ve done today so far is go for a run with Diane and the dogs, pack and get on a plane. Diane and Ann dropped me off at the airport on their way to the Burlington Garden tour which our friend Gina is helping to organize.. then they all will get together for Tea.. sounds pretty civilized .

The flight down was pretty easy.. I slept the whole way. I saw Trey Anastasio sitting in the front of the plane.. that was pretty cool. I’ve never spoken with him.. but I see him around Richmond sometimes. I’m sure he likes his privacy.

On the AirTrain between JetBlue and AirIndia I saw this guy with a Sam tattoo which made me smile… Thanks goodness for zoom lenses.. I don’t think he thought I was taking a picture of him.

I’m several hours too early to check in… so I found a small corner of floor wit an electrical outlet. I’m in the religious wing of terminal 4. In this corner we have the ‘Multifaith’ chapel (everything inside is written in Arabic)

The Jewish synagogue

The Christ for the World Protestant … uh.. what do Protestants have ? church ? chapels ?

And the wonderfully named ‘Our Lady of the Air’ Roman Catholic church.. I love this statue of the Virgin Mary on a propeller

What made me feel good was that the religouns had a joint social area with snacks. There is hope for the world.. I beleive that where there are snacks.. ther can be peace !

El Al and IsraelAir both use this terminal .. so there are several Kosher restaurants.. My favorite tis the Kosher vending machine !.. I was hungry and curious so I ordered a Kosher (and it turns out luckily Vegan) Potatoe Knish.. It was delicious.. and blessed t boot !

Eeeeek .. an alarm is going off here.with buzzers and flashing lights. I’d better finish. More from India.. Love you all. You too Sam !
-me

ps. Ahh the alarm stopped.. wonder what it was ?!

I accidentally fell asleep at midnight last night. I’d planned to stay up all night and finish my presentations for India.. but… I konked out right after 12.. I woke up well rested but in a panic. I had no idea when I was going to finish these things. Somehow I managed to sit down at around 7AM .. and not stand up until noon.. When I did .. the first passes of 2 ouf the four presnetations I needed to pull together were done. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.. as in… don’t work all night, it’s not worth it.. or sleep makes you more effective.. or soemthign like that.. Whatever it was.. I was so happy to have at least finished a pass.

I worked my @^ off today trying to get ready for traveling next week. I had so many loose endes I needed to track down.. btut somewho.. by about 5:45 .. I had most of the stuff I neded to get done behind me.. I drove to williston and waited for DIane.. While waitng I finished another of my India presentations.

When Diane got there, we drove together down to Pine St. for the last bit of prep before the iron pour tomorrow.. . I got there just as they began the safty walkthrough. We learned all the ways to hurt yourself with a 100 pound ladel of white hot metal.. It’s going to be SO COOL tomorrow…

Here are Yolk ad Jennifer.. the calm before the storm.

Once the safety walkthrough was done, I went in to finish my mold. Elijah helped me crack the molds apart

The back and front seperated nicely.. Both had great images of the SamStones.

It took some el ow grease and patience to nidge the SamStoens to release from the sand,

I really had to work to get the last ones out.

The next step was to paint the molds with graphite paint.. then light it to burn of the alchohol. Here’s Orina burning off hers.

Here’s my mold with all the sprue and vent channels scratches and etched in..

I painted them.. he n Diane took a picture of me setting the graphite on fire..

Then we placed a bead of refractory cement around the whole mold.. It was very weird gluing sand together.. but it works !

Then we eased the back of the mold on to the front.

It was a perfect fit.. then I glued on a filling cup..

And two vent risers,

Et voila !.. It was done ! I glued on some paper barriers.. then we were all done.

We’re supposed to show up at 8:15 tomorrow.. ugh.. but I think I’m ready to go.

Diane and I drove home and fixed a nice light dinner. Gabe called as we were finishing up. He’s having a blast.. I can tell.. Here I am talking to Gabe. Looks like I’m tired.. Tomorrow isgoing to be a long hot day as we pour.. so I’m ending now..

You’re all welcoem to come buy and watch the pour.. Here’s the flyer with info

and here’s an article about last year’s pour..

OK.. that’sall for tonight.. sleep well folks.. Gnite Sam
-me