Monday night – a question of balance

September 26, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

I had a day thinking of balance.. I’m sorely out of balance these past few days.. and I’m and seeking my way back I made some good choices in that regard today.. I said no to a few things, I relaxed a little when I could have chosen to stress.. I picked up my phone every third call.. I only answered half my email

and I did impromptu balance stunts with my friend steve in the cafeteria..

I can see my way back to more balance.. but never perfect balance..

what fun would that be ?
nite all, nite sam
-me

ps. Max’s timelapse is featured on the Makeblog !!!! I’m such a proud papa !

Sunday night – so much to do

September 25, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Hellllllllllllllllllp .. My good intentions are getting the best of me again ! Between my job and side projects, I’ve run out of hours in the day. .I think I’m working about 18 hours a day now.. most of it on stuff I really liked and volunteered for.. but it’s starting to eat in to stuff I should do for myself.. like spending time with my family.. sleeping.. eating.. etc.

Today started at 7:15 with a run.. then 8AM with a land trust stewardship meeting here at the house..

then.. a coupel of hours of painting in the belltowwer..

Then a quick run into town to meet freind Murali .. who’s in for a day from our lab in India.. we had good meeting and lunch..

I had a ton o do.. but the weateher was so nice I punted on work for a while and went back home to take a ike with Diane and the dogs.My freind Seth from WPI was up for the weekend so he joined us.. Gabe had to stay home for homework..

We went up Honey hollow to check out the damage after the last flood. We wanted to see if it had gotten any worse (or better) during the flooding from Irene…. it was worse !

This culvert was completely ripped out by the surging water.. it was now in a ten foot trench dug by the water.

Turn out it was worse !

I got down at 5.. then headed to homers to see if we could finish the pumpkin robot.. In two hours I managed to get the new remote control interface working while Homer and Ethan re-attached the monsters arms. . I had a scare when nothing worked at first.. but.. I soon realized it was a simple switch settign on the remote control transmitter.. . The F.U.F. strikes again. !

the RC unit is over my right shoulder.. right next to the the spacey wonderful artist genius guy

(that’s you, homer)

OK.. tgotta get to work. this is gonna be a verypacked and exciting week.. I nede ot go charge up for it..

wish me luck this week

nite all, nite sam

-me

Saturday night – the F.U.F.

September 24, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Hi friends.. sitting here in the bathroom.. waiting for the tub to fill. I’m covered with white paint.. a misadventure with the paint sprayer.. but the bell tower is getting close to being painted..!

I had a good day of manual effort… . not much abstract thinking.. just.. how do i DO X’. i LOVE THE CONCRETENESS OF A REAL PROBLEM. NOT A STRATEGY.. NOT A VISION.. JUST.. A SIMPLE QUESTION OF HOW TO DO A complex TASK WITHOUT THE TOOLS, MONEY OR TIME REQUIRED.. NOW THATS A CHALLENGE.

aCTUALLY.. THE MISTAKE HERE WITH CAPS.. REMINDS ME OF THE TOPIC ON MY MIND

i started the day at homers.. I love working with him.. he’s one of the few folks (my brother and my kids .. my friends scott f, mike r and bill p .. probably the only others) that I can work with without having to think too much.. a simple rhythm of combining things to make working machines.. it’s a real joy.. Today Homer and I were working on two projects together.. one was ‘project-x;.. the pumpkin robot and the other is an art project for another friend.. I so enjoy just puttering together in his shop.. designing, drilling, cutting,

Today we talked aout the F.U.F. (the F**k up fairy) .. the malevolent creative spirit that punishes creative thinkers that don’t know when to stop.. i.e. you design a cool new gadget.. but don’t know when to stop refining .. The F.U. F. will come in to get you to stop.. you’re 99% complete.. the last thing you try will destroy the project and put you back to square one.. It’s not just ‘murphys law’ >. ‘Murphy is a blind application of chance. ‘anything that can go wrong ,.. will go wrong:.. while the F.U.F> is more mindful.. it finds the most dreaded logical gap in a design and homes right in.. Homer was telling me about the F.U.F’s intersecting with his new metal landscapes.. causing massive ‘paint failures’

I met the F/U/F on the interactive device I was building.. with sensors that appeared by turns too sensitive.. and not sensitive enough. (fixed now.. I hope !)

The F.U.F was lying in wait for today’s big project, the resurrection of /project x. the giant pumpkin robot for the haunted forest.. It’ had been lying outside in homers yard.. and needed a major rewiring.. it’s now on its 4th year of service…. wwhich hcih is well beyond its designed life..

right in front of it was a rotting skunk homer had found.. lovely

we dragged the beast out of its resting place..

how the heck did this thing work again ? Who designed this ? How did it EVER work ?

oh yeah.. it was us..

well.. despite the F.U.F> we made progress today.. hopefully tomorrow we can re-finsih the design.. I’m installign a radio control option to simplify the rats nest of 20 foot cables.. .

I sure hope it works..

I’lll make an offering to the F.U.F tonight to ensure it goes somoothly..

ok.. I need my beauty rest.. more tomorrow.

nite all nite sam

-me

Friday night – fall

September 23, 2011 johncohn Leave a comment

Happy first day of fall my friends. Hope you had a good summer.. It still feels like summer to me..

I’m driving around enjoying the touches of colors on some of the trees.. I didn’t expect to get colors at work.. A good freind of mine sent me the attached photos.. they are not outdoor shots.. they are pictures through a regular microscope.. they’re a result of a very unexpected interaction between two materials.. as always with work stuff. .. I can’t go into the details of what materials they were.. or what happened to them to make them look like this. .. but.. just viewed as art.. they are pretty spectacular.. no ?