I woke today in the bell tower and didn’t know where I was at first.. It took me a few moments to realize that I was still in my house.. just on a different foor.

I made may way downstairs through Diane and my  room where my folks were sleeping and came down stairs. It was pretty peaceful. Eleven folks in the house.. and no one was awake at 9:30 AM.. I love it.    People started to wake up around ten..

 First order of business was to help Gabe clean the duct tape sticky off his feet.. He’d been trying to make a trampoline board for a day and was working out how to attach the board to his feet (Note to inventers:.. don’t put duct tape on your bare skin. ) I eventually had to resort to getting it off with Acetone… yuck..

   My mom and I went into town to pick up some stuff at the bakery as well as a some wire to string up Diane’s raspberry bushes.. I also got some Velcro for Gabe and Jack B. to use as improved footstraps for his tramp board. It worked great !!..  I had fun bouncing with them. 

New velcro bindings

Inside testing

We came back and got ready to take a hike. Mom, Dad and I drove with Chai up to the Safford preserve.. we took the steep brambly path up to the cliffs overlooking west white hill. It’s such a beautiful walk.. It was a beautiful day to be up there.

Our friend the garden snake

CHai takes a drink

Me and dad

Dad and mom

Me and mom

Mom and dad

Me and dad

   I  spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around the house and talking with my folks . They are struggling as we are with Sam’s passing.. It’s nice to have them up here and It’s good that they are up here to see how we’re doing.  I love them very much.

   Around 8 I went up to MMU for a short meeting about the Voices movie, then met my folks and Gabe at the park and ride on the way to Williston. We all went in to Mexicali  to grab a late dinner. Just as we ordered Max showed up which was a nice surprise. We had a really nice dinner outside..

    We came home and Gabe did a bit of last minute packing in prep for his trip to camp Abenaki tomorrow.

I’m excited for him.. and I’m going o miss him like crazy.. On of the things I did to help him get ready was to empty out his digital camera.. he had  some really great shots on his camera including some from his snowboarding trip to Oregon 2 weeks ago. I’m posting them here for folks to see.

 

Right now it’s time for bed… Diane comes home tomorrow, Gabe leaves, my folks leave.. it is going to a busy day. Gnite everyone.. gnite Sam

 

-me

 

 

 

I’m still out in California.  I’m taking a red eye tonight back to NYC then on to Burlington tomorrow morning. I’m really beat. Right now I’m at my good friend Rafe’s house near Stanford. Rafe is one of the very few folks I’ve managed to keep in touch with rom college. He’s a math professor at Stanford.. actually he’s becoming the department head. His friend Ted, a math prof from U of GA  is here visiting too.. I knew Ted when he taught at MIT. We were just realizing that the three of us have each stayed in the same job for more than 30 years .. I don’t think we’re the norm. It’s fun to reconnect with old friend like this.. Reminded me of Dylan’s ‘Tangled up in Blues.’

So now i'm goin' back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me i'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in blue.  

 
Today was pretty chill.. I had a phone meeting from 7-8, a run from 8-9ish.. I ran again with my buddy Modest (long O as in mow-dest) .. Turns out that he’s camera shy and does not want his face shown on this blog. I aim to please.. so here are some pictures from this morning’s run.

Ok.. so her’s Modest.. he says we look like Santa and his elf.. what’s with this ‘Santa’ thing ?

  We got back in time for the stat of our 3 hour meeting at the hotel.. fun but hard.. then another phone meeting..

After that.. I checked out of the hotel and went up to Palo Alto to see Rafe. It was a a perfect day.. sunny and dry.. we went out to a park on the bay and took a beautiful walk.. We talked mostly about our families. I really needed the time with him after the weeks busy meetings.  I found I was bale to put words around lots of things I’d been trying to work out for several weeks about relating to Max and Gage.. why I write this blog.. what I’m going to do with my life.. etc.. There’s such great value in talking to old friends who know you well.

I now read memorial plaques wherever I go.. they’re everywhere, really.. This one really struck me.

Rafe looking professorial

   After that we came back, met Ted and cooked a great dinner.

Rafe’s scary sideboard

I’m just about to head back to airport for my flight back I wanted to get this posted before I go.. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone.. I’ll only get to see Diane for a half hour before she heads off to Omega.. My folks are coming up this weekend which should be fun…

   OK.. time to go..  Wish me safe travels Sam…

Love to  all..

-me

 

I’m still out in California. Being here means meeting lots of new people.. and seeing old friends again. This brings me face to face with the ‘how have you been ?’ question.. what do I say ? Several folks on this trip have asked me about my Sam button. I’ve been asked by 3 folks if it’s a picture of me when I was young.. (no chance.. I was never that good looking. ).. Whatever they say it’s an invitation to  retell Sam’s story. I like talking about him.. even so, I’m never sure what I should say. Many people respond to the story so strongly that I sometimes feel the need to apologize for telling them. Is it better to keep it to myself ? Am I wrong for being so in peoples face about Sam’s story ? I can say that it sure feels right to keep wearing his picture.

   I’ve done a bunch of talking about Sam and our family on this trip.. The folks I’m traveling with are good listeners.. and that helps me. This morning I had a great run with my friend Modest. We talked about this blog.. and why I keep it.  And about the whole use of MySpace / blogs/ social networking as part of  healing. It’s not so much the substance of what I  record every day, e.g. what I eat, who I see.. what I do… as much as it is taking the time at the end of each day to reflect. It’s really addicting…

    To that end, my day here was ….. pretty unexciting.. I sat through a day long very meeting that was very interesting.. though somewhat inconclusive. One high point is that the company we were visiting ordered pizza and they got a cheese-less veggie because one of their engineers is also vegan.. I totally lucked out there. 

After work I made a quick pass through my favorite electronic surplus store which was fun.. Then I  had a very nice dinner with my friends at a Vietnamese place in downtown san jose.

   I’m now back in my hotel room struggling to stay awake..   I’m heading home tomorrow night.. very much missing my family now. I think I’ll end here before I fall asleep on my keyboard as I did last night. Gnite all

 

 

-jc

ps. two new SamStone placements this week.. one at the little mermaid stature in copenhagen. and one on the great wall of china.. we’re spreading Sam’s spirit all over the world !

 

      

Why would anyone put skin  lotion in a tube that looks like toothpaste ? I’m wondering this as I try to rinse the taste of lotion out of my mouth.. This nice hotel has provided some sort of sun blocking lotion in the shape of toothpaste and put it right by the sink.. Yuck !

 
 I’m in San Jose CA at the moment; I came out for a meeting that came up suddenly. I just had dinner with a few of my colleagues to prep for the meeting.. it’s all people e I like hanging out with.. so it’s fine. I do miss Diane and the kids very much while I’m traveling.. I’m  still feeling pretty sensitive. Sam’s been on my mind even more intensely than usual over the last few days. Traveling gives me the uninterrupted quiet time that my soul needs to ‘be’ with Sam. Sometimes that’s comforting and healing.. sometimes it’s very.. very hard. I feel like I need to bring Diane or one of the boys long with me each time I travel. Te high point of the trip today was when a little boy saw me get on the plane and whisper to his mother.. “Hey/. Look. That guy is Santa Claus !  Here I am in the last unreclinable seat.

   Beyond that,. not much in the way of particulars to report for today.. We left our house at 5:30 AM after I went to bed around 3.. The flight out was uneventful.. or at least I was  unconscious enough that it seemed uneventful.   I got into town and slowly made my way to my friend Uwe’s . I’d never met Uwe’s family:  Anna, Laura and Finn. They are such a beautiful family.. and they live in the coolest place. 

 

Uwe and Finn

Anna and Laura

Laura

Uwe and Finn (they look alike to me !)

I hung out there for a few hours while Uwe and I talked work.. and  3 year old Laura and I talked kids books. Uwe was very helpful to me in brainstorming on some of the science outreach ideas I’ve been tossing around.   He’s a good, clear thinker..

   From there I came back to the hotel for a late dinner.. Luckily they had a good vegan choice with lots of vegetables…   I’m finding that vegan is much harder than my normal vegetarian diet.. hope I can keep on it !

My veggie thing for dinner

Great neon next to the resturant.. I collect” Max sitings

The tie rack where I baught my only tie I still own.. a garcia brand Tie

I’m still here !

   Ooops.. just fell asleep writing.. time for bed. I’ll post now. Gnite all. Gnite Sam !

-me