Our friends Issac, susan and their beautiful daughter Sophia cam e buy to say good bye to us tonight . Isaac has just finished a post doc in mechanical engineering at UVM and thought. he’d found a good job wiht an acoustics analysis company in the mid west. Isaac left his uvm job and they sold all their belongings in preparation to move. . A serious roadblock came up when the hiring company realized that isaac and susan were  Iranian nationals and didn’t have  green cards.. so the company put the job offer on hold. Luckily Isaac was able to write to Senator Leahey’s office and get help facilitating the Green card process… Isaac and Susan  just heard that their green cards came through and they’re back to the plan. They came by to say good bye.. though I think we will always remain in touch. 

We’re so excited for them  !
nite all . nite sam

-me

We live in a big old house.. there was a time when this time of year our house was mobbed by black flies.. over the years.. and perhas due to climate change, the infestation has changed to ladybugs.. or actually ‘ladybird beetles’. They may be more colorfull, but they are even more annoying  than flies. They are EVERYWHERE.. and you get dive bombed when you go outside. 

We had to escape.. so we went and climbed Bolton to see the now past peak foliage.. then out to Sakuras for some mid week sushi !

Ps. the cup says ” Nana korobi, ya oki” which means “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”..  We learned about that message from our friend Sho !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Today I was invited to attend an ECCC event at IBM t. There are only about 275 IBMers left in the state now that the Fab is being operated by Global Foundries. The main IBM site is now Saxon Hill up on Allen Martin road in Essex. Its where we used to do test and burn-in. The ECCC event is about encouraging employees to donate to causes of their choosing .. and volunteer for them where possible. IBM Burlington has always been one of the highest participants. Last year they ranked 2nd of all IBM facilities in the US.     There was a good turnout.. .. helped in part by the wood fired pizza ovens that were cooking outside.. Yum !

Dave R did a great job of interoducing the ECCC event. 
Today at the volunteer fair we had representatives from the United Way The boys and Girls Club, The Council on Temporary Shelter (COTS) , the Boy Scouts, Howard mental health and me. I was there to talk about volunteering for, or donating to,  FIRST robotics. My friend Joe had lent me one of his teems Spike lego robots to use as a prop. It was nice talking to all my old IBM friends.  I also enjoyed getting to know some  of the other presenters. 

It’s a little strange to see how few folks are  around.. but it certainly still felt like home ! 

nite all, nite sam

-me

Fun day at work. I got to host some friends from Onlogic at BETA today. 

OnLogic makes these ultra robust fanless industrial computers that are used in factories and other harsh environments. They gave me a a very great deal on one  of their new and very powerful K800 ultra robt computers which I used to power the lights on Fluffy the burning man  bus.   If it can survive the heat, dust and vibration of burning man.. it can survive anywhere. 

thanks for your help OnLogic !.. I enjoy working with you !

nite all, nite sam

-me