Greetings from Austin.. Here for some (very interesting) work meetings. As I’ve pulled my suitcase around all day I’ve also been pulling a word.. and the word is ‘bucket’ .. .. its a word that means wobbly or unsteady.. I first learned it in Frank McCourts book Angela’s Ashes..where he talks about a baby carriage with a bad wheel.. The word is on my mind because my poor blue suitcase.. the one that has been around the world more times than I can remember with me is now just that.. Bockety.. Why you ask ?

In decemebr i was trudging aroudn Munich.. Id gone to the wrong hotel.. actually even to the wrong city.. as I tried to get back to where I was supposed to be, the wheel of my suitcase got jammed with rocks.. It was too cold to stop, so I just kept pulling it.. As a result, I wore one of the wheels completely flat in one spot. I was able to clear the rocks.. but now when I pull it.. it goes.. bock-bock-b0ck.. People turn to see me as I walk bast int he airport..all I hear is ‘bod-bock-bock’.. people turn away,  I am shunned.. ‘here comes the guy with the bucket suitcase wheel’..

oh.. the shame,,,,

nite all, note sam

-me

Nice stormy day around home.. with a few ventures out. I took advantage of the bad weather to get some stuff done around the house . First order of business was to repair the wood stove. One of the solution control returner pipes had gotten warped and would not go back into the exhaust manifold.. 

I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel to take about 2 mm off the end of the tube. It was awkward working at that angle.. but cutoff wheels are awesome tools.. its the closest thing we have to a light saber

after the cut I was able to monkey the pipe back into home and bolt it down..

that done, we took a break and went up to brunch at lou and Katy’s.. Lou’s building a new skiff.. it was so cool !

while we were eating there was a huge storm (my weather station recorded 37.5 mph winds..!).. suddenly the sun came out and we all ran to the window to check for rainbow.. We were not disappointed !

we got home to find the wind had done some damage.. The shed over our pizza stove was down.. and in pieces..

i headed in to town on some errands.. and managed to catch yet another beautiful rainbow \\

Checked in with Tim and colin (remotely) to help with code for a on a cool music plus light project they are working  on..

then came back home and picked u the stove project .. A support structure that held up one of the baffles in the stove was badly warped.. so I welded up a replacement.. cgood as new.. almost !

OK.. thats it for now.. I have an early morning flight..

nite all, nite sam

-me

Peaceful day.. Diane the dogs and I took a great hike up in the trails behind the cemetery in Richmond. The trails were slick and steep, we were glad to have our yaktraks.

Spent most of the rest of the day cleaning out my lab.. it had gotten pretty bad

‘only’ 5 hours later it looked like this.. not perfect.. but workable

One thing I did find in all that mess was a Blood Alcohol Meter we have.. I’d never used it..In order to make a test Diane and I went to the Stone Coral brewery in Richmond.. I It was jammed with people.. many of our friends were there..  It was so much fun !

I had one beer then we went home.. According to  the meter my Blood Alcohol was 0.03.. .. In Vermont Impaired is 0.08.   Makes you think.. That means if i had 2 beers I might well be over. Makes you think !

OK.. enough thinking.. time for bed..

nite all, nite sam

-me

I got a great call today from an old friend.. and an old boss.. My friend Pep hired me into IBM in 1981.. I hadn’t seen him in at least 15 years. He had called me month or so ago out of the blue to reconnect. Today he called me to tell me that he had some electronics components for me. Iwe arranged to meet in Williston. After taking the nicely sorted box of transistors and resistors we sat down for a beer and an hour of reminiscing. Man it was so much fun going down memory lane with him.. He is quite a character. He left cuba right as Castro came to power. His family stayed in Cuba because they worked for Castro personally.. Pepe told me the whole story about coming to Florida at age 14 with only a tiny bit of money.. and how he managed to get his way to college…    We talked about work and old friends  from the early 1980s// I remember he always used to say ‘it’s a jungle out there’…. with his thick cuban accent.. he was really fun to work with. now he’s retired and doing pretty well .. his passion is metal detecting.. in the spring he’s going to come here and see what treasures he can find around the old schoolhouse. .. I’m looking forward to that !

ok.. thats all for now. remember .. it’s a jungle out there

nite all, nite sam

-me