On the road again… I’m writing from the passenger seat as we drive down very scenic I 87 in the Adirondacksof NY.
The four of us (+ Chai) are heading down to Diane’s folks in EndicottNY. Maria and Gabe’s 50th anniversary is in a week or so.. my folks 50th was in May.. big milestones !Last time we were down there was the weekend before Sam’s passing. Max hasn’t been there sinceone of our college visiting trips in 2005.. It turns out that this weekend is the only weekend that the four of us are able to get away together this summer between camps, Max’s movie filming and my work travel. It’s remarkable to me how busy we are this summer given our emotional state. On that front, last night and today have been pretty hard for me. The Fourth of July was always one of Sam’s favorite holidays… Actually, Sam loved all holidays.. Diane and I were talking about it last night.. he really lived every day like it was some sort of big holiday.. Last night, the rain let up enough for us to go down to Richmond to watch the fireworks…I was feeling a little low.. but the intensity of my reaction to the fireworkssurprised me.broke down after the first couple of bursts .I lost it again during the finale. I’ve always had the tradition of hugging each member of my family at that point of the show.… It’s so strange how hard it is to predict my own reactions to things..
I woke today in the same sensitive state…It’s a familiar pattern to me now.. kind of a backlash after any sort of celebration.. . Diane, Chai and I went for a run, then I got to sit in on Diane’s morning yoga class. Which was just what I needed… I broke down again during meditation… my emotions have been stronger these last two days then anytime since Sam’s birthday.I think I’m a little worried about this visit to NY.. I know that I’ll be reliving many memories on this trip…
The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully… We did some house cleaning after the busy 4th.. and packed for our trip. Gabe and I hung out for a few hoursand just goofed off. We spent some time playing on the trampoline which is really fun and a major workout.. I tried to see how high I could double bounce Gabe.. He’strying to help me get to a good back flip.. so far I’m too chicken to try.When we got too hot we went and hung out in the pool.I had theweird idea to try and take some pictures underwater.. I put my camera in a couple of zip lock bags andtook it in the pool.. Iyt was pretty cool.. Here are some murky shots we got…
Now we’re about an hour north of Albany.. We’re going to drop Max’s college friend Emma (aka Lydia, aka Mary, aka Otto) at the Albany bus station for her ride to NYC.Emma’s been hanging out with us since Sunday.. it’s been good getting to know her.. It’s very cool to see how quickly she dropped into the the rest of Max’s friends. The kids are in the back of the car playing Guitar Hero on the Van’s TV.. it’s fun to listen too.. They just tried some tongue tattoo’s .. wierd !
OK.. I think I can get enough bandwidth to post on this stretch of highway.. Let me try..More tomorrow.. Gnit’e all.. Sam.. we’ll be thinking of you ant Grandma and Grandpa’s
We had another pretty quiet day. My day began with a massage from Marci.. Diane had scheduled it for me a few weeks back after seeing some of my travel plans. She knew what all that airplane sitting does to me.. and decided to take the preemptive step of scheduling this massage for me. She’s such asweetie.
On the way to Marci’s,I had the opportunity to escort the mouse from 2 days ago blog posting outof our house/ We’d caught the little guy I our have-a-hart trap. I wanted to make sure I released him across the river so he wasn’t likely to follow us back home. I released him at Marci’s with a small supply of food. He appeared grateful.. and toldme with his eyes that he had no plans to return to our house.
After my massage/Reiki session (which was very wonderful) .. I went home and started in on assembling Gabe’s trampoline. He was due in around 5 today and we wanted the tramp set up fro Gabe to get the first bounce when he got home. As withall things setting up the trampoline took lots longer than expected. There were tons of conflicting instructions, lots of extra strange shaped parts and an odd assortment of miss-sized components.. All you could ever hope forin a days entertainment. In the end, Tim K and Max finished the last tie down just as we were picking Gabe up at the Airport.
max made a necklace out of blueberries here.
Diane and I met at the airport around 5:15 to pick Gabe up, He’s been in Oregon since a week ago Monday. I missed him so, so, so much. He called at least once a day which helped. It was great seeing him walk out of the gate back in Burlington.He seemed to have had a great time. We’ve been getting stories all night. It sounds like it was really wonderfulfor him.It was fun/sad hearing him describe some of the things that Sam saw there last year.
As soon as he got off the plane, he wanted to go home and bounce.. He didn’t even go inside first.. up he went on thetrampoline.. It’s going to be really fun to have this thing. We all spent time getting the feel of it today.
Max left late afternoon to go in and watch the fireworks with his friends. Around 8PM, Diane, Gabe and I decided to go in as well. We drove in through Rt. 7 and parked in a skanky old parking lot near down town. It was an easy walk.There were 10’s of thousands of folks down by the waterfront waiting on the fireworks.. We saw so many folks we knew. including Homer and Mary.
Eric and Shawn hitched a ride downtown with us
I even ran into Homre and Mary !
Eventually we found Deb. Hannah and Jen and we settled in to watch the show. The fireworks were really great.. Of course, they made me think of Sam…
After the show, we dawdled to let the traffic clear out then headed for home with a few overnight kid guests. Now its abut 1:30 and I can hardly keep my eyes open.. So Il’ll end here…Happy Fourth everyone.. Happy birthday Sam… my firecracker …
I set my goals low today and had another day of blissful ‘not doing’.Diane and I began the day with a run.. I should say.. I began my day with a run. Diane had already been up for about 3 hours 🙂 .
My first goal for the day was to find a way to back up this blog. I was getting a little worried with all of the technical problems that MySpace is having that they could lose chunksof my blog . Unfortunately. MySpace has no provisions for backing up or exporting a blog.. Luckily,I found a service called SpaceWrapper (SpaceWrapper.com) that provides an archiving function for MySpace.It created an archive of all the posts I’ve made to date. I plan to use them as backup and as a way of creating a printed copy. One of the byproducts of the process is a listing of the blog titles from the first day I started writing. I found it interesting just looking at the progression of titles.. somehow they capture where my head has been since the day after Sam’s passing. It’s a little hard for me to look at.Because it gets me to relive some very tough days.. but here’s the list in reverse chronological order.
Sunday night – wild life
Sat night – Billys
Friday Night – memory lane
Thursday night – bats !
Wednesday night – late posting
Tuesday night – Joysee shore
Monday night – New Joysee
Sunday night – G-d bless the child
Saturday night – high summer
Friday morning – back from the U.S.S.R.
Thursday morning – spiel balaika
June 20th – red square (pictures later.. again !)
Tuesday – From Russia with Love (Pictures later tonight)
No time to post
Sunday night – Happy Father’s Day ad Max’s Birthday
Saturday night – not quite father’s day
Friday night – Deer leap
Thursday night – SamStoens at school
Wednesday Night – Open Mike Night
Tuesday night – will spring ever come ?
Monday night – a Peace of the Rock
Sunday night – end of birthday weekend
Sat night – gabe’s 12th brithday !
Friday night – night at the Opera
Tursday night – connections
Wednesday night – books
Tuesday Night – handwriting
Monday night -hasty post after busy night
SUnday night – the dog whisperer
Saturday night – Tree’s down !
Friday night. – Musical Soul
Thursday night – 12th night
Wednesday night – warped
Tuesday night – grafitti
Monday Night – Happy Birthday Sam
Sunday night – Duality
Staurday night – Never a dull moment
Friday Night – Jolts and Volts
Thursday night.. home again, home again
Sam’s Birthday Ultimate Frisbee Party – May 28, Noon Volunteers Green !
Wednesday night – fishkill
Tuesday night – million times better
Monday night – six months
Sunday night – home at last.
Saturday night – Middle america
Friday night – Kansas
Wednesday Night – last day of CTRE
Thursday night – surf’s up
Tuesday nigth – you can do whatever you want until someone tells you that you can’t
Monday night – cold water
Sunday night – Mother’s day
Saturday Night – Mather’s day eve
Friday night – taking it easy
Thursday night – rathole
Wednesday eveing – how arghhhh ya ?
Tuesday night. – meeting fun
Monday night – number 10
Sunday afternoon – transitions
Saturday night – Cinco del mayo
Friday night – Max’s home
Thursday night – Albany again
Wednesday Night – Samstock
Tuesday Night – May Day
Monday night – my souls in good hands
Sunday night – Arggggghhh mateys..
Saturday Night – Skanky Green
Friday night – day off
Thursday night – window pain
Wednesday night – Wrong place at the wrong time
Tuesday night – TYKTWD
Monday night – Johnism
Sunday Evening – Parents, Skateboarding and Peace
Saturday – Five months today
Friday night – at my folks – 420
Tursday night – home again
Wednesday night – Ode to Joy</o:p>
Tueday night – Disneyland
Monday Night – analytics
Sunday night – Anaheim
Saturday night – snow again !
Friday night – dog days
Thursday night – socks
Wednesday night – 3D printing
Tuesday night – men’s yoga
Monday night – Sam;s font
Sunday Evening – Easter – Walking on water
Saturday night – Looking for Sam Stories
Friday night – SamStones
Thursday night – peaceful evening
Wednesday night – Seder
Tuesday night – Gylphs and tones
Monday night – Happy first night of Passover
Sunday Night – Diane’s Birthday
Saturday – sleepy afternoon
Friday Night – At a party
Thursday night – writing about writing
Wednesday Evening – I smell Spring
Tuesday night – the forest people
Monday night – on the mend
Sunday night – still with the flu
Saturday Evening – Sick as a dog
Friday evening – in route
Friday morning – ready for home
Thrusday Afternoon – Last full day in Sydney
Wednesday Night – four months
Tuesday night – wicked hot
Monday Night – Beautiful city
Sunday–evening, catching up from yesterday
Sat night – short post before long flight
Friday night – Goodbye Shanghai
Thursday Evening – The Ides of March
One more thing
Wednesday night – The Circle of life: Welcome baby Liddicoat !
Tuesday Evening – The lights went out in Shanghai.
Monday evening – Shanghai time
Sunday Morning – In Chicago
Sat Night – Packing
Friday Night – Karl Marx + SamStones Potluck Sat Night
Thursday Night – Geek Grief
Wedneday night – cold !
Late Tuesday – Steez
Monday afternoon – red/blue auras
Sunday PM – in Killington
Saturday night – Gabe’s tough night
Late Friday Night – back flip
More later
Thursday night – my inner slacker
Late Wednesday – Where are you now ?
More later
Tuesday night.. – PB and A1
Monday – yoga night
Sunday evening – shoveling snow
Saturday night – friends’ birthdays
Friday evening – On the way home
Thursday eveining – Uncle HoHo
Wednesday night – three months today
uesday night . .In the midwest
Monday Evening – Snow angel
Sunday evening – not the dali lama
Satuday – peace again
Friday night – peace at the end of the day
Tursday night – snow day
Valentines day
Tuesday Evening – valentine’s eve
Monday night – Dream visions
Sunday night – Nice 3 day weekend
Saturday evening- feeling younger
Friday night – my birthday
Thursday Night – my birthday eve
Wednesday night – pretty spacey
Tuesday Night – LaGuardiaAirport
Monday Night – beat
Sunday evening – Welding Day
Saturday – off color day
Friday night – Mad Science
Thursday evening – Back from Boston
Wednesday Evening – The Sam Rail
Tuesday Night
Late Monday
Sunday evening – queit again
Saturday Evening – calm before the storm
<i style=””>Late Friday night – back home again
Thursday eveing- back at the hotel
Thursday morning – in the back of the room
Late Wednesday = Greenwich ,Connecticut
Tuesday Night
Monday night
Sunday evening
Saturday evening – at Jen and TIm’s
Potluck and Samstones tonight (1/20) at Jen and Tim’s
Friday eveing
Thursday night
Wednesday evening
Tuesday evening..
Monday Evening – MLK day
Sunday evening
Late Saturday
Picture of Sam and Ivy’s dog Stella
Friday evening
Thrusday evening – Home again.
Wednesday mid-day – still in Tucson
Tuesday afternoon – Tucson time
Monday evening – posted from a parking lot in Tucson
Music
Sunday evening
Saturday evening
Friday evening
Thursday evening
Wednesday Evening.
Picture from Brittany
Tuesday Evening
Monday Evening – New Years Day
Monday – early, early morning
Sunday Evening – New Years Eve
Saturday evening
Friday morning – PS
Friday morning
Pictures from this week
Thursday afternoon
Wednesday morning
Tuesday morning
Monday afternoon – Christmas Day
Sunday Evening.. Christmas Eve
Saturday evening
Friday evening
Friday morning – Solstice
Thursday morning
Thursday morning
Wednesday afternoon (repost from memory)
Tuesday evening
Sam Cohns everywhere
Monday morning
Sunday morning
Saturday afternoon
Friday afternoon
Friday afternoon
Thursday morning
Wednesday evening
PS… Skateboard beneifit
Tuesday morning
Tuesday Evening / Wednesday morning
Monday morning – three weeks
Light a candle tonight at 7PM.
Please light a candle for Sam tonight at 7PM.
Music from Sam’s memorial service – check it out !
Sunday morning
Another wierd Red Bull story
Saturday midday
Friday morning
This just in….
Thursday morning
Wednesday morning
Tuesday morning
Zimbawe
Monday morning
Bull….. ?
Monday morning (again)
Same old s**t
Sunday morning
Saturday
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday morning
My beautiful son Sam
There you have it: 249 of the hardest days of my life..Someday I’ll print them all and make a book for me to keep.
My only othergoal for the day was to head to Homer’s and work on getting one of the images of Sam machined into a block of something to make sure the tool could do it. I’d like to use the shopbot to help make plaques for the Guitar award as well as the programs at Rock Camp and at CampAbenaki.
Ooops.. we accidently called 911 when trying to dial another number.. the plice came out to chacek on us
A wooden prototype for a scuplture idea for Sam. It a wind powered snowboarder who does board graps.
It took a large amount of fiddling but I was able to take the image from the latest Sam shirt and load it into the machine. I chose to do it in inverse to see hoe that would look. Here are some pictures of the machine processing the image.
Machineing the image
I took the final result and sprayed it with silver paint, to better highlight the details.. it still looked a little funny.
Late tonight I was at the counter doodling, when I laid a piece ofprinter paper over the machined surface and rubbed it with a crayon.. I was amazed at the results.It’s quite a good likeness..
Crayon rubbings of the machined image
My one other outing for the day was an Electricity show I did for this year’s Governor’s Institute for Engineering. The Gov Institutes are week long summer programs for kids interested in math, science and technology. I had been scheduled to do my show on Saturday as the program ended. We’ve decided to go see Diane’s parents then instead.. so The folks at the camp graciously allowed me to move my talk to this evening. It was a bunch of fun.. here are some images form tonight’s show.
A dem on piezoelectricity
Pontificating
Jayela loves batteries. yuck
Illustratng that the heart is an electric muscle
I got home around 11.. My buddy Pete came over then to have a beer and talk about work and life.. we sat around and talked for a while as I shoveled through a mound of dishes.. We have lots of folks starting to show up at the house. Some folks are here for the beginning of the Voices movie project, other’s are just here visiting. When I got home tonight we had Max, Jessie, Emma, Meredith and Cody nearly asleep in a pile in the guest room, and Raye and Travis asleep somewhere else in the house. I think we’re going to have between 6 and 8 folks here full time for the next 6 weeks. It should be a riot.
A pile of sleepy kids
Merideth from the Voices project
Travis and Raye
Gabe comes home tomorrow from Camp in Oregon.. I can’t wait to see him. I’ve missed him so much !
OK.. gotta sleep now. More tomorrow !I love you all. Love you too Sam !
My intention for the day was to do as little as possible.. and to avoid doing anything I had to do… I succeeded beautifully. I did absolutely nothing.. and I loved it.
Today is the first day of a week of for me, and I can never recall being so relaxed at the start of a vacation. The changes in my life since Sam’s passing are so deep and interesting to me. .. I find that I’m hardly every stressed anymore. . When I am, I find I decompress almost instantly when I go home.. I’m not sure why it’s like that.. it sort of seems counterintuitive to me sometimes.
I spent the entire morning puttering in my lab.. which Max and Scott cleaned for me as a Father’s day present. It was so much fun hacking around in there with all the tools hung up neatly. I almost didn’t want to get anything out and spoil the effect. My mission for the day was to start building a small microcontroller based weather sensor that might someday become part of the sculpture we’re building for Sam. Homer has a great set of ideas for an animated wind-powered snowboarder.. we talked about having some of the motion and/or lighting respond to the weather in some way. I was working on a chip interface to read light. Temperature and humidity.. I got pretty far.. I got side tracked a bit when I discovered that I could download ringtones to these little 99 cent microcontrollers. I used this to create a very practical home accessory: a can of refried beans that plays Pacahelel’s canon in our refrigerator. Every home should have one. I left it in there until Max found it..OK.. so it was a dumb idea.
I’m proud to say I can’t remember anything else I did for the rest of the day. .. but I was blissfully happy for most of the day. I remember missing Gabe.. who’s still out at Snowboard camp in Oregon.. I remember helping Diane finish mulching one of her gardens.. and I played chase with Chai.I also though a bunch about Sam. That happens whenever I’m working with my hands.. actually.. that just happens, whenever.
Around six, Diane invited Chai and me out for a walk.. we did the upper loop behind the house.. it was beautiful and cool out. I think it never got about the 50’s all day.. a far cry from last week when it hit 100 here..On the way down, I caught sight of a fox running across th field in the high pasture. He/she turned around just before ducking into the woods.. I go this grainy picture.. still.. it’s fun to see a fox.. they’re usually hard to spot.
The wildlife spotting was a bit easier inside tonight. As we were eating dinner, a tiny mouse ran across the floor. I was able to corner him/her under one of the cabinets. Cute.. but it doesn’t belong in my house. I put out a live capture trap tonight. I’ll let you now how that goes.
Tomorrow, I have even more nothing planned. I think I’m up to it ! Gnite all, Gnite Sam !
