TOnight was a good time. It was the Fall meetign of the Vermont Academy of Sceince and Engineering (VASE).  I’m a board member of VASE .

The meeting tonight began with a really great talk by my friend Prof Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux, the Climatologist for the State of VT. She gave a fun and inspiring talk about the evolution of climate here in our state I was glad to see the lecture hall was packed for her talk

VASE members then all moved down the road to the Koch SPorts center for the rest of the meeting. Iw was really fun.. Board members were asked to mingle and sit at tables that had new members and other non board memebers. Diane and I sat down ar a  dubn table.. Our freind Michael and Denise were at that same table. . After dinner, we began the offficial part of the program. Our Pres. Prof Grace introduced the board.. then my freind Micahel gave a really great talk on the state of VASE.. he did a a very nice job outlining what we’ve been doing in Outreach.. in particualr our VASE Small Equipment Grants, Hands on Science Grants and Mentoring grants.. Its an inspiring story that I’d never seen described.. and I’ve been running the program for nearly 9 years.s. I’m  stepping down from that role  in line with reducing the amount of Board work I’ve signed myself up for..  Luckily I’ve found a great successor in my good friend Silvie !

 After Michael, we began  the induction ceremony. This year we welcomed 8 new members, including our first set of brothers !

We then had a great talk by our VASE Teacher of the year.. which is one of our other big awards. THis years recipient was Mark Pendergrass of Mater Christi.. He talked about his teachign philosophy .. and things he did to kindle a love of sceince in his students. One thing he talked about was giving a talk on amino protiens totally in the style of Julia CHilds. If you dont know what that would look like.. CHeck this out !

I was eager to meet Mark and congratulate him.. it turns out that he was eager to meet me as well.. he’d been using some of my videos in his class for a couple of years.. I goota find a way to work with this guy !

Super fun evening. 
I love being part pf VASE 

nite all, nite Sam
_me

This morning on our run we the first sines of snow in Jonesville.. It’s actually a bit late .. glad to see it. though 

Our gardens are saying goodbye.. the season has turned.. remimminds me of my favorite johny mitchel song. “Urge for Going”  .. this is a recording from 1966.. check out the cheesy intro to the show

Later.. after work, Rebar came over for soem help on his project for Ben.. Clay was there helping me with the Beta project.. so he got a chance to demonstrate his telescoping actuator

I have to note here that this ‘in between time”.. or ‘stick season’ .. can get pretty dark and sad for us.. We have the urge for goign.. so we’re planning a trip out west for the worst pats of Novemenr.. 

You do what you can 

nite all, nite sam

-me

It’s been really nice having David, Linda and Willow  here ..  especially during this time of year.   

Its been  nice having a dog in the house again.  We miss our girls so much.. but were not ready yet for more dogs.. we’re traveling so much to see the boys. 

Aroudn10 we all drove down to Yates orchard in Monkton. Its on the way home for Linda and David.. and today is the last day that Yates is open. We had to have one more dreamy .. a hot cider donut covered with maple softserve. Yume

Today Yates  had  cans of a softdrink made here in VT. Its Carrot Silk Chilli..   It tastes like its name.. and I’m not so sure thats a good thing 🙂 

We said goodbye to david, linda and willow… they drove south.. and we headed to north ferrisurgh to try out a enw trail.   I dont remember the name of the trail.. but it starts with a long boardwalk over a amarsh.. THen does a really beautiful loop around a tall hill. on ann otherwise flat plane THere are soem great views there.. and theres a cool rock formation called the Oven.

THen we headed back hoe. I had a ton of work to do on a BETA project. 
We noticed when we got home that last nights hard frost fina;;y got the better of the giant elephant plants..   It was their   time.

Nite all, nite sam
-me

Woke today and walked down to a quiet house. Thinking of the great gathering last night for Sam.. The Samstones are drying to get ready for Diane to apply the iron oxide in teh Sam imprint

I got dressed and headed out to TechJam at Hulu . TechJam is put on by my freinds Cathy and Paua at 7Days. Its the best collection of startups and Stem activities in the State. I was there with two groups. FIRST robotics had a fantastic booth right bey the entrance. It’s been one of the best ways we have about gettign the word out about FIRST’s great STEAM progrrams. I was also there to support BETA. We were there with our Mobildome simulator and several of our study hall demo (I’d been trying really hard to complete another demo to bring.. but didnt get it done in time 🙁 ..) 

THe keynote was from Matty Benedetto , the creator of Unnecessary Inventions 
If you dont know Matty’s work., check him out.. He creates solutions for problems that dont exist !. He’s a great speaker.. funny and a very able maker He’s built an amazing brand by creating things that no one needs,. He was the perfect keynote speaker for techjam !


here are some images from this year’s  techjam

Huge thanks to Cathy and 7Days for all they do to put on this event !

I got home from Techjam in time for a short sunset hike to the Rivershore..  

It’s  been a long and beautiful fall !

Nite all, nite sam

-me