took mom to the eye doctor this morning.. then hightailed it to albany fr a 1 pm meeting. made it there almost on time. After the meeting had  the pleasure of strolling around GE’s global research facility.. beautiful place with a very prooud legacy. Everywhere were pictures and artifacts of their history.  I came across one of Edison’s desks.. there was a big ‘do not touch’ sign on  it…

but I just had to…..

nite all, nite sam

-me

Greetings from the guestroom at my moms house. I'm down here helping mom with her first cataract operation. I say helping… So she needed a little help. We drove there around two in around five I picked her up better than new.

She's a real trooper… Aside from a very small amount of pain mom made this look like a pretty easy thing. She gets her other eye done in a couple weeks.

We had a really nice night hanging out and talking… I made a light dinner and talked until I can keep my eyes open anymore. That's what three hours of sleep will do to you.

I'm struggling to stay awake now so I'll end it here… Let me just say that I'm feeling closer to Pluto that I've ever felt before. Anyone else feeling that too?

Night all, night sam

-me

Rejoice ! There is now a great bar in Richmond ! A new place, Hatchets , just opened in the place where Bridge Street Cafe use dto be. That was always our goto good eats place when we wanted to hang with our local friends .

Hatchets opened today .. So we headed there around 8 pm.. The place was packed. Totally new decor, new menu.. Same old folks !.. Love it ! ( we had dinner with our old roomate tom.. Also saw jackie, rj, tom, lincoln, oliver, jack, kristen, mike. Victor, patti, paulo, will, austin..l and various gfs/bfs)

Got to go to sleep now. Taking gabe to the airport at 3 AM.

Night All, night sam

-me

Big day today. My buddy Scott did a first integration of the Solid State Tesla coil that he’s been rebuilding for me. I had a pseudo-kit SStC that i’d built several years back which Id used for several years for my shows. I’d even added a musical interface to the interrupter.. Problem was I kept blowing out expensive  ($40) Insullated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT’s). I have a coffee can of them. Scott vowed to rebuild the coil so it was ‘john proof’

Scott’s rebuild included new primary and secondary.. a new full bridge (my old one was a half bridge) and a very cool new  modulator . He created many of the mechanical pieces using the Generators laser cutter which he’s now deeply in love with.

he did some testing today.. but I wasn’t there to see.. today he cranked it up.. 28″ sparks and it’s note yet even tuned.. It looks like it still needs soe adjustment to get a hotter and bigger spark.. but.. hey.. 28″ and under 20 pounds.. i can live with that..

Thank you SO much Scott. you are a true genius.. and a tesla chill whisperer.

-nite all. nite sam

-jc