We’re getting prepared for a Sunday science moment with our friends Lucie and victor. Diane harvested some Queen Anne’s lace that she found in the field and did our annual coloration experiment. It’s really simple. He put the cut flowers in colored water and they take the color out. So simple and so cool
What else to report from the day?… Oh… I reconnected with my good friend Dave that I hadn’t talked to in a long time. His wonderful wife Jean had passed away from cancer about three years ago… I knew that was coming but I hadn’t heard. It was important to touch base with him. He’s moved to Washington and is now spending his time and venting. He sounded good. Felt really good to reconnect.
The other big news is that the town installed the road cut to allow people to park in the Bombardier field across from us. It’s hard to believe that I’m in favor of this. But the alternative Was having 25 or so cars parked along the road right in front of our house… It was crazy dangerous and really destroyed the peace of our neighborhood. We’re hoping that the ability to park on the field itself will be safer and more peaceful. My thanks to the Richmond Land Trust Chair and the town for coming up with this cool compromise
I woke today and read my daily word for a day. Today’s day was “ruminating”. When I went downstairs Dianne told me that she had had a restless night sleep with some town land-use questions turning around in her head. I told her she had been “ruminating”… Then I looked up ruminating… I knew that it had to do with. An idea that you were thinking on constantly as well as a cow that was chewing his coat. What I also found out… Is that ruminants like cows and horses have four separate stomachs that are used to help digest their cud. That’s in contrast to camel aids like camels and dromedaries which only have three.… That led me to wonder all day weather we have four layers of our mind… Or ideas go back-and-forth as they are “digested”… I guess I’ve been ruminating on that.
We ended our ruminations today with another walk up Bolton mountain… We’re getting faster each time. It was a beautiful evening with temperatures just about 60.
Fran was another IBM fellow… Actually one of the first ones that I knew. She was the first woman IBM fellow… And the first woman to win the touring award… Which is as close to a Nobel prize as there is in computer science. Her specialty was optimizing compilers… She Was a great mathematician and love thinking about algorithms. She also loved people. We work together quite a bit on programs related to the vitality of our technical community and IBM. She had a great sense of humor. She was a great advocate for folks in our technical community… And always had time to mentor young upstart’s (like me)….… I remembered today that I had run into Fran several years ago and IBM headquarters in Armonk. At that time she already seemed “old” To me… Though I’m sure she was younger than I am now.. She was walking with a cane.… I assumed it was something like arthritis or some other complication of getting older.… I asked her about the cane… And learned that she had twisted her knee helicopter skiing in British Columbia…
I’m tempted to say “they don’t make them like that anymore”… But I actually hope that’s not true. Fran wouldn’t have wanted that
39 yeRs ago today I put on my tweed jacket and skinny tie and showed up at ibm for my first day at work. I was in a group of several other folks who were hired that day .. some are still friends of mine today . the one thing I remember is getting to set of a fire extinguisher …
I can’t say they the 39’years has gone fast or slowly .. maybe a mix of both . It’s been an interesting ride .. over 80 countries , thousand of plane rides and hotels , zillions of conference calls and more friends than I can count . For that I’m really grateful .
