Day began with a quick run up to Libbys.. 

I don’t usually work Fridays.. but today I went in for my coworker and good friends Shannon and Crawfords ‘happy last day’.. Shannon Is heading to the MAKE

Master of Arts in Design Engineering .. which is a program between Brown and RISD.. We’re all really excited for her

Crawford is finishing a gap year between High School and College as a BETA intern.. It’s easy to forget he’s just graduated high school.. and even harder to believe he’s an intern. He’s an amazingly smart, organized and self motivated guy. He’s starting at the University of Rhode Island  as an Engineering student and sailing instructor (he’s good at everything, I think  🙂 

We’re going to miss them both very much.. and at the same time we’re all very excited to see what they do in their next adventure !

Ed had brought cake, cookies and ice cream for the going away party.. (What a guy !).. We had a nice crown.. Lots of hugs and handshakes.. 

After all the hugs were given and all the ice cream eaten, Shannon whent back to her workbench one more time to finish up the awesome ‘mega demo’ she’s been working on..

It won’t be the same without her. It’s a new chapter for our work group. 
I’m excited about that too !

Good luck my friends.. go make amazing things !

nite all, nite sam
-me

Busy day at work.. really enjoying what I’m doing now.. Caught a rainbow on my way home

My friend Liz is in town.. se\o we made a plan to meet up with our mutual good friend Doug at his new job.   Doug used to be the Asst. Dean of the School of Engineering and a Statistics Prof (what are the chances of that ?!) at UVM.. He retired and now he tends bar at the Shelburne Farms Inn.. one of the most beautiful and serene  places on the planet.  Not a bad gig !

As I drove up I found Doug and Liz contemplating life out on the back yard. 

We talked about life, robots, people, travel.. 

My friend Ed and wife Angela from work were there by coincidence.. which was a nice surprise.. 

What a cool place.. I want to bring Diane back here when our friends Paul and Paul are playing here on the weekend

nite all, nite sam

-me

Flying back home..  and you know what that means… !

Another chance to watch the Big Lebowski,.. ! (Maybe for the 30th time)

nite all, nite sam
-me

Excellent day visiting friends at Cadence. Cadence is the largest Electronic Design Automation (EDA)  company  .. I  was there  at my friend Anirudh’s invitation giving a company wide talk on the importance of Play and how we can use play to get more students interested in electronics. I was really honored to be asked.. as I’ve been working with Cadence  for nearly 30 years.. .. They bought the company Neolinear that was based on my PhD  thesis.. and I/we used their tools for all of our big processor chips in IBM..  

I got there around 10 and had soem time to catch up with Anirudh.. we did our PhD’s together at CMU.. and then he worked at IBM for many years. Now he’s the CEO of an $87B company. ! He’s such a great guy for that job.. super smart and super approachable. He’s set a great vision for  Cadence and made it a fantastic place to work. In fact it was named as the #9 Best Places to work on the  Forbes Top 100 places to work  and is quickly climbing the WSJ’s 100 Best managed Companies list 

That ‘best place to work’ vibe was evident with every person I met and conversation I had through the day.. starting with my hosts Yuki and Emma who got me to the auditorium for my talk.. Anirudh gave a very kind intro then I started talking.. I did my main speil on the importance of Play in engineering (and every) job.. and doubled down on how we can use play to get more students to fall in love with electronics.. Its a topic I beleive in deeply. as often happens, I was ‘in the zone’.. and next thing I know, I was done.. I think it went well.. ..   

After the talk I got a chance to talk to several old freinds in the audience. Here are Vinod and Mehmet.

I had a great lunch meeting with the Cadence outreach folks. Nicole and Ben.  

After lunch we had a treat.  We heard a great talk from my  old friend Jason  Cong  who is a Distinguished Prof   at UCLA (and an all around wonderful person) . It was great getting to see him if only for a few minutes. 

After the talks of the day were over, we all went to the HQ building for a really fun ‘casino night’.. there was great food, casino gambing for pros.. and a great opportunity to soak up more to eh ‘Best Places too Work’ vibe. I met so man great people !!!!

Got a pic with my two wonderful Hosts.. Yuki and Emma. 

After the party I headed back tot he hotel… and was just about to order dinner when all the lights went out.. I’d thought it was just a problem with the hotel restaurant.. then I realized it  was the whole hotel.. no wait.. it was the whole block.. Actually it was a big chunk of the city !>> I walked around the neighborhood .. it was fun and kind of spooky !

That also mean no power for elevators, no power for AC (It was 97 today).. and no lights in the room…

no problem there.. I have been working on some led bling for our burning man crew… I reprogrammed them to be mood lighting which let me pack.. 

Great day.. Thank you cadence !

night all, night sam
-me