Diane and i had a day to ourselves today befor the family converges so we decided to spend it outdoors . We spent the morning climbing the alpine vista trail near Santa Fe .
Lots of signs of bear !
It started mildly enough.. but an out and a half in the snow for deeper . We didn’t have crampons or snowshoes so it got to be pretty slow growing . About two hours in we hit a patch of wind blown drift . The snow by that point was over our knees .. we had a great view by that point so we decided to head back. Still it was beautiful and pretty high energy hike
We got down happy and sore .. we decided to head to the Japanese hot spa at ten thousand waves .. such a great spot !
Now hanging out with Becky after a wonderful meal that she and diane made
Greetings from Santa Fe . We’re here to visit max and Becky for thanksgiving , gabe and my mom are coming in too ! We’ve rented a really nice Airbnb in the hills just 0.7 miles from max and beckys current place .. that is until Tuesday when they sign on their new house (!)
We only had a couple of houra of daylight but we got to take a walk with Becky and our grand dog violet.
We saw this sign on our walk
And here’s our twilights reflected on the stainless steel obelisk in their back yard .. pretty weird
Then we made a really nice simple dinner with Becky . Max gets in from Denver tomorrow, the. My mom then gabe. Should be fun
Really nice adventure today… Come the new year I’m changing my job up. I’m going to start spending 25% of my time doing outreach work… One of the main things I’m going to focus on is first robotics (http://first inspired.org) I’ve been peripherally involved with first for many years but this is the first time I’m actually going to devote substantial time to it. It’s a fabulous program that introduces students as young as elementary school to the fundamentals of robotics. It’s organized as a team sport with a worldwide network of competitions. Every year there’s a new challenge at three different levels… First level is Lego, the next level is tech challenge which uses erector technique sets, and the final level which is fall out fabrication robotics. In the course of all three students get to develop technical skills like mechanical engineering, electronics, and programming… But it also includes Meta skills like Teamwork, project management, documentation and communications… And what first likes to call “gracious professionalism”
Today was the first… And so far only… First scrimmage In the state of Vermont. Eight teams from Massachusetts came up to Brattleboro Vermont to help us start to increase the skills of our small rural state. There were about 150 people there Today…
I drove down with my friend Doug The assistant engineer in Dean from UVM . He’s currently the state coordinator for first… It was great getting the time to talk to him in the 2 hour drive each way
The event was really great. It was very clear that our Vermont teams have a lot of growing to do. That said I was really impressed with all of the robots and all the teams
I’m really looking forward to helping us Really magnify Vermont’s participation in first period…
Today is the third day that we mark Sam’s passing. This was the day he donated his organs and saved for other peoples lives. It was the best possible thing to do at the worst possible time. You can honor Sam By having a conversation with your loved ones about your feelings around organ donation.
We spent the day working around the house getting ready for Sam’s potluck. We’ve done it every year . It’s always been a pretty fun and upbeat mix of people. Tonight we had a house full of old and new friends. It was really great. Lots of nice people, nice food, and Samstone making
We did the traditional Red Bull toast for Sam
Then we all made Sam stones
James and I even made one out of molten metal
A couple of us set up talking until about 1230…
Now it’s time for bed. We made it through another year.
