All posts by johncohn

Saturday night – Snow day !

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At last.. snow.. we spent the day watching the snow come down.. not heavily.. but by about 10PM we must have 4-5 inches. It’s only the first or maybe second real snowfall this winter.. that’s pretty darn strange. We knew soemthing was up when we realized we didn’t even have a snow brush in the new Subaru.. because we’ve never needed it !

It was pretty warm though..  i did catch some birds like this cardinal and a blue jay hanging round the feeder. ..they’re winter birds, but we’re already seeing robins !

We managed to get outside for a hike.. I was hoping to use snowshoes.. but the snow was only about 2 inches deep at that point.. still.. it was so nice getting outside. We hiked up to where we’d decorated the xmas tree outside… We wanted to find itso we could collect the strings we’d used to hang the bagels and bread

After the hike I ended up sleeping on te couch for an hour or so.. I didn’t realize just how tired I was.. I woke up eager to work on soemthing. My buddy John came over and we worked on a musical project we’re collaborating on.. made some really good progress today.. It’s really fun working with him..

Around 6L30 Jen and Tim came buy and picked us up. A freind of Jen’s was playing in a makeshift folks club in Shelboure called the Silo Sessions at the ‘Bread and Butter Farm” . What a treat !! The farm served fresh home made bread, cheese and apples.. and we got to watch two great cats. The first was Jen’s freind Maryese Smith.. great, rgeat songwriter with a powerful voice. (Here she is with her dad)

Then we got to watch a fantastic performance by Seth Glier and freind and backup guitar play Ryan M. These guys were nominated for a Grammy this year. They had amazing music in them.. . I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of his stuff . Check it out !

Hmm…. not much else happened today.. Oh.. Jim P. found these three great pictures of Sam somewhere.. I love seeing Sam in the air.. Diane and I were wondering alound when we’ll have seen all the pictures of Sam that there are… I have to say I hope they never stop……

OK.. time for sleep..

more manana

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

ps. took this picture around 6AM on thursday as I left the boat..   I always feel at home there..

Friday night – thinktank

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Midnight and just back from a thinktank night. 3 friends and I had made plans to get together and brainstorm on a project we are all collectively working on. The only ground rule was that anything is possible.

anyway…..

Last nights brainstorming was really was my favorite kind. 4 folks with very different skills, backgrounds and ideas co
Ing T the same problem. We were at it for 5 hours but the time just flew by. At one point we even got some material out and started experimenting with them at the table . We took turns walking across the crowded restaurant to see the effect from across the room I even asked some other diners to offer opinions. I hope we weren’t obnoxious !
By the time dessert came around we’d come up with a few cool themes and discarded a few others. It definitely had been a worthwhile discussion… And a really awesome meal (Vermont cheese plate, oysters, sheep cheese dumplings , polenta, homemade ice cream and flourless chocolate cake and dirty martinis from Vermont made vodka) yummy and rich….I think I’m going to eat light today !

Ok time to get up… Again sorry for the late post
More later in the day … Hope to go play in the snow that’s finally here !

G’morning all, g’morning Sam
-me

Thursday night – too late to blog

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Midnight at the airport and just got back to Burlington after a whirlwind trip to see clients in dc and ny. I’m really liking that aspect of my new role. It’s so cool hearing different smart folks talking about their view of our (or their) industry. Ran into my friend mike on the plane and enjoyed catching up with him. We had fun comparing new jobs
Gotta finish up as Diane’s about to pick me up. Ah one note about the day. It was three years ago today that I stepped off a plane and was blindfolded and put in a van… And so started my time on The Colony. Great memories
Ok. Time for bed
Nite all , nite sam
-me

Wednesday night – Lent

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Greetings from Dulles airport.. I’m down in DC today at a client meeting.. Lots of smart people.. interesting topics.. I’m loving my job now.. and happy for that..

At  lunch today I heard someone talking about Ash Wednesday .. I have to  confess, even though my family is half Catholic.. I really don’t understand the rituals  of Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday., Maunday Thursday. but I find them fascinating. I really approve of the Mardi Gras idea of partying before periods of self denial.. Not sure I get the self denial part .. I do know that a part of Ash Wednesday is deciding what you’re going to give up to .. I’ve been thinking about that all day..>  A couple of months go I remember writing on a radio piece I’d heard on the ‘Wisdom of Quitting’ .  In that spirit.. I’ve been thinking about what I would quit for Lent if I were going to quit something. I know you’re supposed to give up soemthing you like.. but you can go without. Things like chocolate or sushi come to mind.. but those are too easy. Actually, my two real thoughts here are giving up 1) worry and/or 2) saying yes. ,, Now you might say that neither of those meet the criteria “…soemthing you like.. but you can go without” .. but I’d argue they do.. I am addicted to both…..

  1. On Worry.. when there’s nothing to worry about.. I make stuff up.. it fills some deep need in me to occupy my mind with all the bad things that can happen. It’s wired into my chromosomes.,, maybe wandering the desert for 50 years.. and the trials my tribe has faced since.. have  gave all my kindred a deep need to worry about something.    Maybe I can just shut that off for a month and see what happens. I have tired this before.. with some success.. so why not ?
  2. On ‘saying yes’.. I’m totally hooked on ‘new’.. I love new problems and new people.. so much so that I often pt more effort into ‘new’ than into nurturing the relationships I already have.. or finishing the projects I’ve always taken on. T  It’s like an emotional Ponze scheme.I use  the promise of the next new thing to get me through  the hard work of managing what I have on my plate. That leads to worry (see number 1)  I’ve been at this so long that the world has found a way to keep presenting me with fresh new opportunities for ‘Yes’ ..    What would happen if I said.. ‘no’ .. or even ‘maybe’ just for a month…. Or maybe even just waited 24 hours before saying ‘yes’.    I’ve promised myself I’d try to do this in the past.. But somehow.. I’ve always lost my resolve..

Ooops.. plane is boarding.. guess I’d better decide.. Hmmmm

I think I’m going for numeber 2 for my fantasy give it up for Lent pattern.. Limited ‘Yes’  for the next 30 days.. Who knows.. maybe thta will help with worry too..

 

OK.. more later..

nite all, nite sam

-me

ps. Check out these geat pictures of Gabe on the MMU website..