@$^ #&$^*&#$ ! $&#&)#$_)(@ !!!!!!!
There are many indignities of middle ages.. I’ve face most of them with grace and dignity.. but the one thing I absolutely HATE is wearing glasses. 3 times this week I’ve tried to solder some small connections on a project I’ve been working on.. and three times I’ve failed to make the connection. I can take creaky joints in the morning.. I revel in the moments of forgetfulness that come on my more often now.. I even embrace my crazy thinning gray hair..  but I hate, hate., hate not being able to see well enough to solder..
    grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Anyway.. all evening we’ve  been prepping for the Halloween party tomorrow night. If you’re local to Vermont.. please try to stop by tomorrow around 7.

OK.. back to soldering…… that is.. if I can find y !@^&^#$ glasses.
nite guys.. nite sam
-me

So.. worked at home today.. caught up on huge email backlog, and took calls while I helped move furniture in prep for our party Saturday night (are you coming ? )
FInally sitting down at around 8:30 to relax.. I picked up one of our old acoustic guitars.. It’s been missing a G string for years.. I’v ebeen playing it anyway.. I got up and started looking for a new string.. I found the bag… in it.. classical guitar strings .. Sams, .. electric Bass strings.. probably Sam’s.. electric guitar strings.. likely Sam’s.. a few bags of light gauge bronze  martins.. with the G string already poached.. sam.. no doubt.. I held the bag like it was a wierd sort of talisman .. I almost held it up to my ears on the chance there were a few more strands of sam’s music left in there.. but it didn’t.. it felt funny to do that.    I found an odd matched  G string and went over to the guitar.. it was missing the peg I needed to replace the missing string. That actually made me kinda glad.. I’m not sure.. but the current set on this old washburn might still have been sams.. can’ be sure.. but they’re getting crusty and grimy in only the way they can get after many years.

   Should I resting the whole guitar ? What do i do with  the old strings ? Throw them away ? Burn them ? bury them ? melt them down.. ? Maybe there shoudl be special lanfills for things that are near relics..

all I do know is that when I restring that guitar it will be my clumsy picking.. not sam’s smooth blues and classical..    where do I get a spare for that ?

note folks.. nite sam
-me

Just back from a very cool meeting in albany. learned lots.. met several folks I thought I knew, but actually never had met face to face. No matter what anyone says.. you really can’t work with people effectively until you’ve met them face to face, brainstormed with them and drank a beer (or wine or soda or coffee) with them.
   Since I can’t go into work here.. not much more of the last day and a half that I can relate here..
   Looking forward to the next few days of being home We’re getting ready for our Halloween party this Saturday.. If you’re local to us.. and haven’t gotten and invite.. please let me know on this blog.. or on facebook and I’ll get you one. We are looking for help in set up and clean up if you have the time..

speaking of time.. it’s late.. time for bed.. more later ..

night all, night sam
-me
 

I’m down in Albany at a work thingy.. on the way down here I gave two talks at union college.. The first bombed.. the second was fantastic. What makes one talk go poorly.. and the next one go splendidly (I like the word splendidly) . ?  I was passionate about both topics.. I knew my material cold  for both.. I did fund demos and told funny stories in oth .. . Perhaps I misjudged my audience in the first.. I was talking to kids about getting other kids interested in science.. Maybe they were too close ?
  I don’t know.. all that I know is that really empty feeling of being half way through a talk .. all eyes on you.. and you just know that you’re sucking big time..   You can’t gracefully just stop.. thogh perhaps that would be better than continuing.. maybe the est thing to do in a circumstance like that is to reach for the fire alarm and jump out a window.
   Whatever the cause of the first fiasco the second could not have gone better.. for which I’m grateful. it seems there’s some karmic scale somewhere only allowing me to suck as much as I win..
   Oh well.. we live and learn..
now time for sleep.. tomorrow’s a usy day..

nite all, note sam !
-me