Yearly Archives: 2014

Tuesday night – colander

Leave a comment

I determined today that I don’t have a calendar… I have a colander. In that some of the stuff sticks and some of   it leaks through just like the thing you use to drain spaghetti.

 

I had three massive Calendar failures today. Not affecting today per se… But about future commitments. I’m getting lots of requests to do speaking  engagements and I always look at my calendar and say yes or no based on what’s there. I never take the time to look at what’s happening the day before or after. Unfortunately I had to decline a really nice opportunity to go to the West Coast to see two events because I had said yes to something closer to home.

 

I also found I had agreed to be in vermont and in ny  next Monday. That involve some clever surgery to be able to allow me to be in two places at once.. But i managed to work it out

My rule is to stick with the thing I say yes to first… Otherwise I would go crazy trying to juggle things.

Things were so much better when i had an organized person helping me figure out what i was doing ( i miss y ou Jleigh !)

 

Now, where am i supposed to be right now ? .. In bed i thunk.. Let me check

Nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Monday night – Know a Vermont Science Teacher ?

1 Comment

OK.. I have  a topic tonight that is near and dear to my heart.

Do you know a great Science teacher teaching in Vermont.. or… maybe you , yourself are a great Science teacher her in the Green Mountains. In either case, we need your help.

I belong to a group called VASE , the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering. Its a group of about 50 senior scientists and engineers from Academia and Industry. Our mission is to help promote science and scientific literacy here in Vermont… In essence, we’re supposed to be science-y. !

Two years ago we created the VASE Science Grant program. Our working title for the project was ‘Science Santa’ .. Our idea is to provide small ($500-$1000) grants to support hands on science in the classroom. Our goal is to make it really easy for teachers to buy science equipment for their classrooms without having to go fight the very tight budgets that all of our schools have.  You can read all about the program here.

 

So far, the program has been very successful. We’ve given away money to help buy 3D Printing maple taps,Knex Motors,classroom  DNA Sequencers, underwater robots.. and a ton of other cool stuff. We’ve had the chance to meet with the teachers and the students from around the state that have used thee grants to put more science.. and more fun.. into their classrooms..

 

,

 

Applying for the grants is really easy. The teacher needs only to fill out a simple form. All we ask for in return is a simple write up of what happened with the equipment.. and a short YouTube length video of the results.

So.. here’s why I’m writing tonight.We still need more applicants for this years grants.. The deadline is October 20th.. we really want to get this money into the right hands.

Please take a minute to send this link (or this post) to your favorite science teacher or principal right now… (yes now !)

again.. here’s the link

 

OK.. now gotta slee

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday night – study break

Leave a comment

Nice quiet day around the house. We got out early afternoon to run a couple errands and to meet up with gabe for a short study break. We brought pho dang take out for him. Since his room is small, we found an empty classroom in one of the academic buildings and laid out our feast.

It was great seeing him. He's working so hard. I'm really proud of them.

We also dropped by My friend Scott's to pick up some chemicals for some demos I have to do next week. I had to drive home carefully consider what I had in the trunk.

Got to go work with those chemicals now…
More tomorrow
Night all, night sam

-me

 

Saturday night – sunrise

Leave a comment

Diane woke me at 5AM.We’d made plans to meet Brit and her friends for a fast walk up Bolton mountain to watch the sun rise. It was just about 40 degrees outside so I grabbed every warm thing I could find in my summer clothes and rolled them around my sleepy body and shuffled to the cars. Diane and the dogs had been up for a good half hour before me.. so they were alert and excited.. as I rubbed my sleepy eyes. .. We didn’t start up the mountain until about a quarter to 6..  It was a beautiful morning as we started our   climb.. It  was in the high thirties.. and the sky was begging to lighten a bit. Brit and her friends ahead with head lights.. we followed along and used the  dawn half  light to see..

We made the top in under 45 minutes.. which is a pretty good pace. We got there just before the sun crested the worcester range..

it was FREEZING up there.. so it felt nice to climb down the rickety ladder to the relative warmth of the woods..  the light was so beautiful

yhe rest of the day was queit and nice.. I worked on a talk I’m giving and some demos we hung curtains.. and all four of us.. diane. me . satori and chai all fell asleep in front of the fireplace…

oh yeah.. the first fire of winter.. and I think it’s still sort of summer..

that’s Vermont.. and I’m really glad

nite all. nite sam

-me