Hot, hot , hot…. This must have been the hottest day of the summer. Usually I stop functioning when the temperature gets above 72 degrees.. I simply shut down. For some reason I can’t explain, I actually loved this hot sticky day.. maybe it reminded me of growing up in Houston.. no, wait…. I always hated the weather there Not sure why.. but it felt different.. and I guess feeling things .. anything strongly right now feels somehow good.

 This morning I worked from home trying to beat the heat by wearing as little as telephone conference call etiquette would  allow .. (use your imagination).. After  a day full of calls I took off for two face to face  meetings downtown.. I took some weird pleasure watching the temperature rise as I drove into town.. Yow !

 

My first meeting was with my friend Dom at UVM.. Dom is the Dean of Engineering at UVM and an amazing guy. He came in 2.5 years ago with a really good vision for the engineering department at UVM..  His big vision is to turn out more ‘Holistic’ engineering students; Students who have good grounding in multiple engineering disciplines as well as a good grasp  of communications, critical thinking, business and other disciplines needed in the real world. He’s taken some heat for his views, but I think he’s right on. It’s been fun watching him start to change the culture of the Engineering at UVM.. I’d like to find a way to help him execute on his vision..

 

Next stop was Champlain College.. where I met with my friend Ann who runs the Emergent Media program there’s. Ann and her colleagues have built up a very well respected computer games and new media program at Champlain. Her program focus’s on how to use games and gaming technology for ‘serious’ purposes like teaching  kids about conservation. This is getting to be a big topic inside of IBM so I am trying to get her hooked up with the games folks in IBM.  She’s got so many cool  ideas and so much energy that I’m committed to finding a way to work with her on this games idea.

 

When I left Champlain it was 5:30 and it was 102 degrees by my car’s thermometer.. absolutely amazing..

 

On my way home I stopped briefly to check out some of  the South Side Art Hop. I tracked down my buddy Homer to see the installation he worked on.

I really liked his piece.. I also liked the cool mechanism he built to spin and lift the wax figures.

The cool thing is that homer and I talked last night about how to use a linear motor drive he had to lift two wax heads  at different rates and at different times. Between then and this evening, Homer manufactured the design we discussed , got it working and installed It in Burlington.

He’s one of the best “maker’s” I’ve ever met.

 

I also took some looks around the rest of the Flynn Dog space and loved the artwork and people I saw.. I ran into so many friends down there…

 

Here’s our friend Jude the ‘Milliner’

From there I came home to pick up Diane and Gabe… Pucket, Nick and Brad were  was there at the house when I got there.. Pucket  was showing off the new custom Sam Cohn shirt he’d designed and ordered.. it was really so cool that he did that,.. He wore it over to surprise us..

 

At that point we had to go pick up the Prius at the show, So we piled back in the car with Jack B and Alex L. in tow. We picked up the car and went to Mexecali’s for a quick bite.. There we ran into my buddy Mike .. He and I had just had lunch at Mexecali’s a week or so ago…

 

 

We finished just in time to make it to our 9:30 movie at the Majestic.. We saw ‘Balls of Fury”.. really stupid and really funny. When we came outside at 11:30 it was still 87 degrees !!!!!  That’s got to be a record.

 

On the way home Gabe was playing tunes from his IPOD. He played Guns and Roses ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ which I’ve only heard inside Guitar Hero.. This is the first time I ever tried listening to the words…  Everything still reminds me…

 (he’s) got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see (his)  face
(he) takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I’d probably break down and cry

Sweet child o’ mine
Sweet love of mine

 

G’nite sweet children of mine…

-me