Beautiful snow today so diane and I went up one of our favorite ‘nontrails’./ we hiked up the hills around honey hollow . The snow wasn’t deep enough yet for snowshoes (hasn’t been all winter !.). but glad we had spikes on !

 

Later that afternoon I headed over to South Burlington high school for one of the FIRST TECH Challenge Scrimages.. The championship is only about 3 weeks away.. so the teams were super excited to test out their robots. This year we’ve already had 2 scrimmages like this which is Huge progress for us !

 

nite all. nite sam

-me

Diane and I took the afternoon to travel up to Fairfax with our friend Jimmy to see Runamuk Male. Jimmy is in investor in Runamok and wanted me to take a look. It’s a very cool setup.. the owner Erich and his team make specialty maple products which they sell all over the world. In edition to shipping high grade syrup they have about a zillion flavored syrups.. We got to tour the facility to see how they do their small batch runs.. then we got to taste some of the most exotic ones.. Our favorites were the sparkly syrup with edible mica flakes and the black licorice maple (.. we also tried cinnamon, lemongrass, berry flavors and many others.. it was really delicious and fun !

 

Later in the afternoon we headed to generator to work with the first FRC robotics team. The team  is working  hard to get their robot ready for to show the younger kids at the upcoming FLL event . 

I’m amazed at how much progress they’re making !

 

After that , we went and met my friend Lapo and his GF Change for dinner downtown. Lapo is a really great CS phd student  friend of mine. He taught me the wonders gf P5.js.  which I use all the time now. Chenge is also working on her Phd . She’s an evolutionary biologist.. Lapo calls her the Evo Diva (as in Eco-Devo.. or evolutionary development) . Super nice hanging out with them !

 

On the way home we spontaneously decided to drop in to Barnes and Noble to check for travel books We hadn’t been in there for at least 10 years.. maybe more.. iIt was both comforting and creepy to see that  t’s exactly as it was a decade ago.. same folks having out on a Friday night. 

Some things never change !

nite all. nite sam

-me

Quick hike up Duxbury window to start the day

 

Busy and fun day.. highpoint was doing some filming for the BETA movie “Put my Tools Back” that my friends E and Ryan just made.. I got a short dance sene in

 

Just saw the finished movie.. pretty funny.. !. What do you think ? 

 

I love where I work !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Busy day out in the world. We woke to this pic

 

From there I heard down to Shelburne for lunch with my friend Zach. Zach is an amazing guy… when he was 18 he started an organization called Hack Club  

which helps kids set up software development clubs all over the world. About 3 years ago Zach moved his org to Vermont..  and he’s been building it up ever since. I always love talking to him.. he has such a clear and wonderful vision 

From there I headed to to meet Jamie at the Make-a-wish foundation. Make a wish is a wonderful organize it that grants wishes for kids were dealing with serious illnesses and their families. Example of a kid going through chemo might get a chance to take his family to Disney World to swim with dolphins…. I didn’t realize it but it is a nationwide organization. Vermont has one of the smallest chapters and jamie is the leader of it. The Make-A-Wish foundation is in the teddy bear factory building. They have a corner of the building that is very cool staircase where they grant the wish… And a really nice facility upstairs where the kid in the family can hang out and find out the details of their trip. Call decisions are often heartbreaking… The hope and joy that these wishes can give kids need so much.… I was there to take a look at some lighting possibilities for the entrance staircase. Evidently Jamie’s talk to a couple of people who referred him to me. I need to figure out what I can do with the space… And most importantly what I can do with my own time given that I’ve got several other projects going. This is just such a great thing to put energy into. I’ve still gotta figure it out

 

So many cool things to work on.. gotta make some more time 🙂 

nite all, nite sam

-me