Oh man.. almost 1 AM again.. so this will be short.. Tonight was an ‘Oud night’.. (note ‘Oud’ rhymes with ‘good’) We began the evening with an hour meeting of our section of Richmond to examine the town zoning restrictions.. about 6 sentences into the converstaion is was lost in legal language.. I spent most of the meeting writing our hostess’ name in red cabbage slices on a cutting board. Diane and I agree that we’re glad that there are folks who can talk through the details of zoning laws.. but we’re very appreciate that it’s not us.
Around 8:15 we moved to ‘On The Rise’ to see my buddy Peter’s band ‘locum;.. (or ‘Turkish delight’.,, if you’re translating)They are amazingly awesome. they capture the eastern Europe/western asia’s mourning twang and crazy rhythms so much that I could swear that I was listening to klezmer music that I love so well.
In addition to seeing Peter and Dana, we were also happy to see so many of our friends working the bakery so late at night. We saw Jaquie, RJ,and Lyz
I love that Jaquie is wearing a Sam shirt !
OK.. gotta sleep now.. GNite All.. Gnite Gabe ! -me
What can I say about my day in less than the 18 minutes of battery I have left on my laptop.. Wasn’t a bad day… actually. Today was the 2nd day that a film crew from corporate was in to make movies about how computers can make the world smarter. I’m the co-star, I guess.. I play an enthusiastic nerd intent on convincing the youth of America that engineering is a good thing. The role’s a stretch for me.. but I did my best… Actually.. it was pretty cool, once again we spent the day crawling around parts of our factory that few folks get to see and live to tell about it.
We started at the high voltage grid connect for the site.. here’s where power enters the site at 115,000 volts.. we are by far the biggest electric draw in the state .. about 65,000,000 watts on a hot day.. that’s a bit more than the whole city of burlington. Now that’s power !
On the movie we talked abotu how IBM is getting smarter abotu using that power.. we know exactly what to shut down and when to help out the new england power grid durign peak demands.. It’s all very cool and sciency.. (sciency.. what a great word !)
I also got us invited to go tour the Green Mountain hydro power facility across the road from our plant.. Here they have 4 2 megaway hydro generators.. These beautiful machines have been in service wince 1917 !.. They were rebuilt in the 50’s.. but most of the moving parts are still original. including the wooden bearings in between the turbines.
Filming in there was a challenge.. even with earplugs it was absolutely deafening .. What’s funny is thta at full capacity.. tat is all four hydro generators running.. and all 4 diesel back up gennies running.. this facility only would supply an eight of IBM’s energy needs on a warm day.. that’s amazing.
We finished the day with some cool demos.. I did some experiments with liquid nitrogen.. and my tesla coil. I hope they come across ok in video
Jack at the plant was kind enough to take to get the LN2.. It was a hoot driving through the place on his electric cart.. Check out this movie I shot as he drove indoors.. weeeeeeeeeee !
We didn’t finish the last of the filing until about 9 PM.. what a long day (first work call was 7 AM.. 14 hour day.. !) It was a real pleasure working wiht the guys on th efilming project.. Iappreciate them lying in to make this work !
OK.. Low battery warnign just hit.. Better finish up.. one last bit abotu the day. I finally got to see the new office I’ll be moving into a week from today.. It’s well located.. but loooking a bit old and shabby (I’m one to talk 🙂 Any ideas on how to decorate this place to liven it up a bit ? Any suggestions welcome !
OK.. Battery is shutting down now.. so.. I will too… Hope everyone’s having a great tuesday.. I am.. nite Sam ! -me
Just came in from a night out.. I sat in the car listening to the rest of Bob Marley’s ‘no woman, no cry’.. “everythign gonna be alright, everythign gonna be alright.”. and somehow I believe it. It was a good day.. Yom Kippur which begins our year 5770 .. As I said last night I shifted my observance, such as it was, to yesterday.> TO day I ended up working.. but it was an interesting days work. I spent the day with a film crew from headquarters doidn a movie showing how ocmputers can lead to a greener, cleaner more sustainable world. I like to think this is the best thing that technology can do to help the planet. I can’t go into the storyline here.. but the days filming took us into the inner sanctum of IBM Burlington.. I got to peer into places that I’d driven by for 28 years without an idea what was going inside.. It was very cool. The whole day gave me a new appreciation for how complex the business we’re in is. I saw Reverse osmosis filters
huge heat exchangers…
giant vats of dangerous chemicals
huge compressors
sophisticated instruments..
miles and miles of plumbing
and giant noisy and dangerous devices
The crew was great and fun to work with.. it felt eerily familiar to be back n camera again.. I still don’t like it.. but it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as before the Colony.
We got to hang out in the control center that makes all of this stuff work.. it was much cooler than it sounds !
what a great group of guys… !.. I loved making these movies because they’re targeted to make folks more interested in technology… especially green technology. it’s all part of my kharmic path..
It was a long day.. we worked from 8 til 6.. then had a meeting over dinner. We have more shooting rto do tomorrow. should be fun..
Speaking of fun.. i just got an email from my new friend Lynda Barry. Shes a writer, cartoonist and amazing person met at the CUSP conference last week She sent me this self portrait.. Is’nt that cooooooool ?!
Yikes.. I’m fighting sleep here.. I need to go to bed.. more tomorrow ! Nite folks ! Nite Sam … -me
Tonight is Erev Yom Kippur.. the night before the Day of Atonement.. tomorrow Jews all over the world stop working., stop eating and think about all the things they did to wrong others, themselves and the world in the past year. It’s not uncommon for folks to call up those they may have hurt in the past year and apologize. ..So in that spirit.. if I did anything to hurt any of you in any way. I am truly sorry..
There are many traditions associated with Yom Kippur.. the most observed is fasting… goign without food or drink for 24 hours.. Well.. due to an unavoidable conflict with work.. I just wasn’t going to be able to fast tomorrow.. so I did it today. and since the Colony.. a day of fasting didn’t feel strange at all. It was fun moving it to today.. The G-d I beleve in couldn’t care less when we did our observations.. in fact, I’m pretty sure he/she/it doesnt’ care what we do at all.. These traditions are for us. … to make us feel connected to our root’s.. Well, I’m definitely feelign connected.. bur I’m not going to go to temple this year.. it just hasn’t felt right the past couple of years.. The funny thing is, the more spiritual i’ve become, the less organized religion speaks to me. But let me speak to all of you and wish you a thoughtful day tomorrow..
In addition to fasting today. I took a great meditative fall walk in the rain with my love.. and the dogs
I also did another meditative thing today.. I cleaned out the bed side table that’s been to crammed ull to open for several years. Emptying that drawer was a good metaphorical way to relive the last year.. or last several years judging by the stuff I found…
ere it was at the start of the exercise…
Inside I found junk and marvels mixed together.. like this old watch that is actually a pager.. I had it on Sep 11, 2001.. I was giving a talk to the math department at uvm when my watch buzzed and flashed the message that a plane had hit the world trade tower.. Everyone in the room crowded around my watch for the next few minutes as we read the unthinkable on it’s tiny screen.
Here are soem rafffle tickets from an early Sam memorial fund raiser.. I just happened to nitice that oen of the tickets was from Kristinn.. and I must not even have known wh she was when we sold her this.
eHere’s a knife that Sam once made for me out of wood… I have knives and swords he made for me stashed all over.
here’s five pieces of 2-3 year old christmas chocolate.
and 2 locks.
These were bathtub toys for all three boys since max was a baby.. they stuck to the tile when they were wet.. we’d use them to tell crazy stories. .
2 bar puzzles (love them)
an earring that Sam made Diane.. we’ve lost the other.
an old bullet
$2.53 plus a bunch of foreign coins.
a plastic rat..
7 stones and shells
a stuffed squid…
and a really cool set of ‘brass knuckles’ that max made for me that stamp ‘squid’ in your opponents face.
three necklaces
35 batteries.. most of them dead
1 pens and pencisl
4 flashlights.. none working..
4 pair of old missing glasses and 6 cases.
and a pile of who-knows-what..
I also refound my ligthening hat that Jen made for me… !
Digging through all that stuff was a combination of archeology. psychology, warm memories, dust, junk and cool re-found pleasusre.. what a great way to reflect on the last years gifts and challenges…
OK friends, I hope you have a good and peacefull new year.. Shana Tova. Shana Tove Sam ! -me
