Yearly Archives: 2013

Sunday night – Projector

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It was nice waking to the snow.. Got lots done today.. but not all I was supposed to.   The most fun thing I did was to finish fixing this weird old Christmas scene projector for our friends Tammy and Gary.    Every family has their share of crazy Christmas traditions.. and this is one of theirs.   It’s a device that projects a Christmas scene on the side of a house.. There’s  a stationary part of the scene , then a part that moves. Unfortunately the low voltage transformer that ran the lamp had burned out. Yesterday i found just the thing to replace it at Home depot.. it was a transformer for low voltage garden lighting.. complete with photocell magic turn on and timer. I wired the new transformer in and took it back over to give it a try. Tammy’s kids helped me install it outside in a bale of hay 

 

While I was there Gary’s sisters came over. One of them brought a beautiful sketch that one of her friends had made of Tammy and Gary”s son Elijah who died this past Summer…  It was a great likeness… They brought down a picture of Elijah’s grandfather to show t the resemblance..

It was good being over there..   There was a steady stream of folks coming and going while I was there…   There’s a lot of love around that family…  I know that everyone is keeping them in their hearts for the holidays..

nite all, nite sam

-me

Saturday night – noreaster

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Sitting Trying to stay warm as I listen to the wind blow outside. They say expect gusts of up to 20 miles an hour but I know this old house and that sounds more like 30. Now it's above zero but it supposed to go to -3 tonight with win chill going who knows how low. We're expecting up to 14 inches of snow. And I love it

I love this part of the world for its weather. You know you're just on the other side of survival Inside the walls of your house. Tomorrow we will wake up and everything will be quiet and slow moving. And then we will dig out. But not too soon. I like it this way

Night all, night Sam
– Me

 

Friday night – Janets tree

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Was just looking at Christmas cards this we been getting and Diane pointed out this beautiful one.

At first glance it looks like any other pretty Christmas card. Then Diane pointed out a couple of things in it. The particular tree, the angel, the background. This is our dear friend Janet's Christmas tree in her backyard. I can see it from my window now.

Janet died this past summer and we miss her very much. Her daughter Barbara is an artist and drew this tree in memory of her mom.

It's beautiful and amazing… We miss you Janet

Night all, night Sam
– Me

 

Thursday night – Mr Cohn goes to Washington

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What a day.. I spent the whole day at a workshop on the white house campus in the Eisenhower office building. We had to get there by 7:30 to begin security screening.. I walked over from my hotel in the beautiful pre dawn .. i came across a familiar-sh landmark.. which made me feel at somehow at  home.

 

Here’s the Eisenhower building its in the White house compound.. and the security showed..

 

It took more than 30 minutes of waiting in the cold to get screened three times for entry.. brrrrrrr

 

The workshop was fascinating, chaotic and satisfying.. i met so many cool people and made soem really good work connections..

I even got to try on google glass…  that this guy Charles I knew from MIT brought.. here’s Justayna wearing them..

here’s me.. man are they strange to wear !.. hey.. whose that behind me ?

Well.. know sign of the pres or any cronies.. but plenty of pictures.. the highest brass we met was th acting under sec’y of Commerce (brilliant guy) ,, and the assistant director of the Nat’l Institute for Science and Technology

but it didn’t keep us from pretending 🙂

 

Again .. the meeting was amazing and confusing all at the same time.. i’m still just taking it in.. After the meeting ended i had about an hours wirht of follow on conversations.. now to write it all up … (ugh)..

 

I had a work call immediately after the meeting, so i wandered up a few stairways in the very beautiful old building until i found a quiet place ot use my phone.. It was so cool walking the halls of the place..

 

by the time i was done, the building was almost completely empty.. and i do mean empty…    i did find a big party on the 4th floor (Federal Trade Commission).. which I crashed… I walked around a bit.. but didn’t eat any of their food.. that would have been creepy i think.. still.. know one asked me who i was or why i was there 🙂

 

uh-oh.. soemone was coming towards me.. better run !

from there I just wanted to find a way out.. but i swear.. i could not find a door.. or even a person to ask.. i came across soem pretty weird signs….

 

And then realized.. I probably.. no…  I defintely…  was not in a place i was not supposed to be…. could this really be happening ?   no security.. no  locked doors… or if there were, id’ found a way around them… I almost knocked.. but hey.. he couldn’t be as fun as Al Gore  was. 🙂

i wandered around for another 15 minutes looking for an door that was unlocked and would let me out.. i did manage to find JFK’s rocking chair in the basement…

at last i found another person.. a woman who was lost like me.. we walked through a door and ended up in an alley.. but that alley lead out to a gate.. I was free !.. I’d succeeded in braking out of the white house office building !

i turned the corner and there were a bunch of folks making selfies in front of the real white house.. i guess since the pres can do it.. they can too..

 

and so can I !

i walked back to my hotel, dodging limos.. hapy, confused and tired

as I climbed down into the subway.. i found the perfect close to my visit.. a connection i suppose..

 

now.. to write my notes for the day.. where to start ?

-nite all, nite sam

-me