Hot day today.. It was 93 degrees when I got home htis afternoon.. that’s abotu 65 degrees warmer than it was on monday night.. Not many places you can live with that sort of temperature range !

I had a busy day with phone meetings.. still trying to find the best ways to add value at work. I did take my lunch time to go see a talk by Van Jones, Obama’s ‘Green Jobs Czar’.   Jones is the founder of Green for All, an orginization that helps put people back to work helping the country go green.

Jones was in town to speak at the VT Expo… a trade show set up by the

Vermont Chamber of Commerce. I met up with some of my fellow board

members from the Echo Center.  Jones gave a really great talk aboout this administrations intention to  rebuild america by investing in green technology. He talked about a program that puts jobless folks to work weatherproofing homes. He described how doing that takes folks off of public assistance, lowers homeowners heating expenses, increases home value and reducces the amond of electricity generation required… It’s good all around.  His story was really compellign and entertaining.. He talked abotu the need to get more kids interested in engineering and sceince.. a topic very near to my heart. It made me proud to be a geek !  He finshed by sayign that 100 years from now..(if we’re still here.. he added)  that Barack Obama will not be remembered as the first black president.. Jones said he’d be remembered a the frist green president.. cute !

After the talk I got the chance to meet Jones and tlak to him for s short bit. I asked about specific ideas he had for getting kids more interested in engineering and science.. He didn’t have specific ideas.. but he was fun to talk to.

The rest of the day was phoen calls and email… but the inspiration from Jones’s tlak kept me jazzed for the rest of the day..

OK.. gotta run now.. more tomorrow.    Gnite all.. gnite Sam
-me

Our dog friend Strider died last night. He’d been a constant friend to us as we ran by his house several times a week for the past 13 years; Diane and I went running this morning down by the rivershore. As we turned into the trail the dogs across Cochran road .. Coco and the two Doberman’s at  Deb’s house.. started barking like crazy. Not just their normal barking.. but an insescent wail.. almost a question. Chai and Satori couldn’t make out the sound either They stayed with me while Diane went to check what was up with all the dogs. She came back a few minutes later to tell me that that Strider had died yesterday night..   I knew it was coming.. but still it brought me to tears.   I knew he had not been doing well.. he was in clearly in pain. so I said my private good bye to him yesterday morning.   He would always be standing outside of his house watching me and the dogs run by.. The dogs and I would always walk over to him to say hi. I’d scratch under his chin and he’d smile.. He really did smile.. he had this funny way of curling his lips like he was going to growl   which meant he was happy.   I’m really going to miss him.. Good bye my friend . .. I wish you peace..

As I’m writing this I just found a note from Strider’s owner in tonight’s Richmond Front Page Forum .. Here’s the note

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE BONES
By Molly D
Wed, 20 May 2009

Hi Neighbors – I’m not going to be making my morning rounds around Dugway, Cochran  Road and Wheeler Lane to visit you any longer.  I wanted to thank you  all for taking such good care of me.  You fed me bones and treats, you petted me and called me a good dog.  You gave me rides home when you thought I was lost or had wandered too far.   I loved riding in cars and I especially loved getting treats on my rounds.  You can still give your treats to Cocoa – she a really good dog and has been a best friend to me lately.   A big shout out to Max & Elcie across the road – keep howling – AWOOOO!  Chai & Sartori – thanks for the bones!  To the mailman, I hope you enjoy delivering the mail in peace and quiet.  I’ve got a resting place where I can watch Cochran Road and Wheeler Lane – so drive slow.  Thanks to Virginia Clarke for making an extra trip out to see me in the end.  I’m off to a place where my hips don’t hurt, I can run up and down hills, chew sticks into little toothpicks !
 and swim all day long!
Take Care,
Strider

I thought of Strider all through my day..   This evening I had a show down in Monkton. I was feeling a bit sad.. but the prospect of doing the mad science thing cheered me up. I always enjoy visiting the kids in Monkton. Tonight it was cub scouts from monkton, New Haven and Hinesburgh.   The show was noisy and fun.. a great group of kids..   After the show, the scout masters of both packs each handed me  very generous checks Sam’s fund.. I didn’ t even know they knew.. Once again  today I was moved to tears.. 

I love people….   and dogs..

Gnite Sam
-me

Wow.. I just relaized that I thought last night was Tuesday night… I think I’m still stuck in a timelss space…which isn’t at all bad. I just came back from an early dinner with two freinds… Crag and Aparna who are collegues in an engineering and science outreach project called Global Challenge.  B It was a great meeting and very inspiring both technically and personally. The Global Challenge is a program that engages high school stundents around the world in collaborative problem solving around world issues. Ive been peripherally involved with GC for several years.. I was actully on their board several years ago.. then dissengaged after Sam’s passing. The orginization has trsformed considerably in the past 2 years. They currently engage hundereds of kids worldwide.. mostly in the US, India and China. Most of the GC projects result in team written student reports that are judged on impact, science background and novelty. The winning teams get scholrships and other prizes.  Our conversation tonight was about how the orginizatiion could incorporate a more ‘hands on’ component in their projects.. and how the teams could better use collaboration and gaming technology..   The conversation was interesting in its own right.. but more interesting to me was the personal path that both Craig and Aparna had taken. Both of them made mid career choices to devote their time and energy to soemthing they felt passionate about..   it’s got me thinking abotu my own path…
  Hey.. Diane and Gabe are home. more on this tomorrow.. I gotta go hug my family  ! I love you all.. love you Sam
-me

I heard a great quote this morning on Garrison Keilor’s “the writer’s alminac’. It was from Bertrand Russell the 19th centrury matematician and philospher who’s birthday falls today. Rsussell said that ‘time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time’ .. I thought about that all day..  In fact I wasted a good deal of time thinking of that quote which I can say I very much enjoyed doing.
    Not much noteworthy to report today other than I drifted around in a pretty dreamy state.. I did manage to get hoem in time for Diane’s 6PM yoga class… This is the first Mondayn night yoga class I’ve been in for nearly 3 months !.. In fact.. I realized mid class that this is the first time I’d been upstairs in the yoga studio in nearly 3 months. I stll get major time warps liek that since returnign from the Colony.
   Speakign of the Colony.. I had a peculiar dream last night  that mixed The Colony, our new friend

from Cambodia andSam. I dreamed that I was in 

the small town in Cambodia  that our new freind Khem came from. My freinds and I were trying to help them get a water purification 

system working.. (See my blog post from yesterday to see what that’s

about) .

Soem of our friends wanted us to just make it look like it would work.. but that

made me really mad.. We all worked to make something that really worked..

but of course it took time..At the same time, the kids 

from the village were climbing all over the water structure (.some long ‘Y’ 

shaped conduits made of wood ?)   Then.. we  heard music.. It was Sam 

playing guitar and all the kids went over and sat around him while he

played. He sounded great… I really miss his playing so much. We kept 

working and got the project finished.. then I went over to talk to Sam. he 

looked great and said he was fine…   Then I woke up. smiling..   

T
  he strange thing is when I woke it was 2AM.. My sciatic nerve told me that it wanted me to be awake at that point. I got up and went into the bathroom o look for some  advil. I turned on the light, looked around and couldn’t find any.. oso I turned off the light  and walked back into my room.. I was abotu 10 feet back towrads my bed when the light in the bathroom turned back on…  pretty strange and amazing. Not sure what it meant.. but that made me happy too. I wlaked back in turned the light off again.. and went down stairs and walked around for an hour until I felt like goign back to sleep..
   It’s a strange world we live in.. isn’t it Sam ?
-me