diane and I are down in cambridge for HackMIT . this is my 4the year doing it and it’s one of my favorite outreach activities . last toe it was 100% virtual due to covid .. i’m now at the point that I really do not enjoy virtual events . they are 100% of the work and 0% of the fun. this year it’s hybrid with about 500 mit students local (all vaccinated and masked) And about 1500 people from all around the world virtually. It’s about 75% of the time I guess… Very fun interacting with the local MIT students.Very hard to figure out what’s going on with the folks that we cannot see… Maybe it’s just an age and stage thing for me…

It has been fun working with the local team… My friend Travis came in and then local friends like armen, ayush, jay Chris… So we’ve had a good time

We decorated our booth with pictures of all of our mentors including the ones who are out helping virtually. it was so great having travis and diane helping out with the set up ‘

The opening ceremony started around 10… And I had a 92nd speaking part… I was nervous but it was fun. I told the students that I had started my Mit career in that very same room about 44 years and two weeks before

It was a great a cappella group called scopasian Made up of Asian students from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and other countries. They were great

There are a couple of great speakers… Which I enjoyed listening to… I was nervous about my part

my part came and went… And it felt good to be off stage. I guess it’s my last event Of the first part of my Ibm career .It went well… They did it up in full tie-dye and bling.One funny thing right before it the ceremony started I had double equipment failure… My led glasses Broken wire as did my LED headband.… Dan was able to give me some emergency supplies and I was able to repair the headband… But I retired the glasses and relied on my light up mask… Understated as always. I was proud to have not freaked out… And it all went fine. A nice part of a new beginning

I took a selfie with the audience

From there We had it in and the hacking

began !

late afternoon diane and I met back up

and walked to our friends elsa

and cyrils for a party they were having . they’ve been married a year and it was so great to see them !!!

cyril had these weird single hot tortilla chips

. they are supposed to be a really spicy dare . I was able

to eat it no problem.. hot but good .. but judging from the othe folks I guess they were pretty

hot !

diane and I ubered back to mit armed with one of those chips

several of the

hackmit organizers tried the chips .. it was pretty

funny !

we wrapped up

about midnight

more tomorrow

nite all, nite sam

-me

diane and I woke, ran and packed and headed down to cambridge. though my job is there , I haven’t been in town since march 17 2020 ! 18 months !

it felt good to be back down here . we checked into our hotel in kendall square. and walked over to our new office . it’s not done yet .. but our lab will be moving in there as soon as the pandemic allows . y friend like gave us a tour of the place .. still under the last bits of construction.. it’s on the 13rh floor of a brand new building with views info the charles , boston and mot . it’s truly spectacular!!! it almost makes me regret retiring .. almost :-). inwolll try to be down here often though

from there we headed to aeronaut in somerville to meet up

with some of my team.. I hadn’t seen any of them for at least 18 months . some i’d never actually met face to face ‘ it was SO great catching up !!!

we walked home and stopped in our friend tyler just to give him a hug from vermont

it’s nice to be back in the city !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Thursday was yom kippur. the most solemn day in the jewish year . again this year I didn’t feel the pull to go to shul. it doesn’t call to many anymore .. but I fasted all day as is my practice . I had some meetings during the day which I took .. but spent the day thinking about the last year .. the last 40 years acutely .. and the coming years . I had food long talk with my good friend aaron Tikkun Olam. the jewish philosophy of always working o improve ones self and the world . we were wondering if we were both putting enough of our hearts in to improving ourselves and the stuff around us . I know I can do more . I “enjoy” (wrong word .. but I don’t have a better one) yom kippur because it gives me an opportunity to face my short comings and aim bette in the coming year . this year is bringing big changes . it always doe 🙂

I do want to say that to anyone out ther family , friend or stranger i’ve hurt or offended any of my way this year .. wether I knew it or not. I am truly sorry,

. let’s work to make this a bette world . we need that more than ever !

shana tova all

nite all, nite sam

-me

busy day with a spectacular ending . after work diane and I met ben and Tati for dinner . we were aiming for vietnamese, but when that placed proved to be packed we went across the street to a Moroccanplace that none of us had ever known was there . it was fun and delicious . super fun catching up with out friends .

from there we headed to higher ground to see one of my favorite bands : gogol bordello. I first ran in to them at a bar in austin about 10 years ago and have been hooked ever since . turns out their lead guy eugene was from vermont .. we’ll from Ukraine actually.. but his dad worked at ibm. we ran into each other at the airport one time and we’ve been friends since we’ve ever .

one glitch with the night . they were requiring proof of vaccination at the door . nem and I had our cards , but diane and tati didn’t . diane was able to get kyle to seems a picture but tati had to head back home in hinesburg to get hers .. bummer !

that handled ,

this show was as awesome as ever . amazing energy.

ran into lots of friends including gabe’s chem

prof Eric, deb and brit, andy and jen, dr rick and Danica

great show

my ears were ringing even more than ever the next morning !

night all, night sam

-me