I woke early and took a quick walk aroudn the armonk grounds.. I forgot to bring my runnign stuff.. but it still felt good to explore these grounds I used to knwo so well. I walked over to IBM HQ.. and even stopped to out a smastone ofn the very rock where I built 3 stiny   sowmen.. one for Max, one for sam  and one for gabe on the freezing february morning that I knew woudl eb the day my Fellow nomination would be considered..  The rock was in site of our CEO’s office window.. so I think it mus have helped 🙂

I got in to the site about 8L30 and set up a whole room of hands on sxeicne demos.. I normally do this as a(soemwhat)  linear  show with a theme.. I had no idea how it would work wiht a crowd that was coming and going

but it did !>. it went super well. 

I got to see many close firendsa.. like here Susan,  and Jack.  and many others througnh the day 

It was 4 solid hours of hooking wires up to kids.. who doesnt love that ?!?!?

at 2 I switched gears and gave a feel good (I hope) talk to about 300 IBM interns workdwide.. abotu 150 were in the room here. 

the talk went really well i think..

as asoon as it was doen i headed for my car.. i had a longggggg drive home.. (5.5 hours)  t was super hot so i cranked the ac the whole way I

I got hoem around 10.. and the weather station there told a story abotu the last couple of hot days.

. it’ll be cooler tomorrow||one science show down ,
3 to go this week !

nite all , nite sam
-me

After work from hoem this morning, , I headed down Armonk NY for my next science show. I was doding a show for the IBM take your kids to work day.. somethign I always love doing. .. 

The drive down was nice..  listened to a busienss book.. which is not my speed.. but its called the Geek Way.. basically lookign in to the practices that have helped fast growing  tech companies that suceed : THe author Andrew McAffey  idetified the 4 priciples as : Science, Ownership, Speed, and Openness.. ..   all things that BETA practices every dayl.. I enjoyed it.. even if it was a busienss booke 🙂

since I was down in Westchester I went and had dinner with my good freinds Chandu and Patti . I hevent seen them in several year.s Itwwas great catching up with them  we talekd abot old firends and old times.. . Chandus mom died a few months back ansd we talked about hsi family.. we had the chance to visit them all in Bangalore once.. it was a memorable day !

Chandu and Patti are both retired now.. tey’ve started a non profit to promote m,akign good energy choices.. they create chapters in citeis and towns and hve a program for celibrating and amplifyiong the choices that the town and its inhabitants make..

Theire hoem town of Croton has een a good testbed fo rthe concepts. Patti showed me the quilt they make that artistically captuires the choices that the town and town folk have made.. there’s a lot of info backed int this bright and beutiful tapestry !

aftyer dinner I heade back up to the IBM  learnign center  (now the Ihe Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Center for Learning).. Iits one of my favorite hotels.. its only open to IBMers and their clients.. I’msort of a perminant family memeber as a fellow emerits.. a situation I deeply appreciate. THis company.. including this hotel.. are a big part of who I am. 

I used to stay here all the time.. so much so that the wpman at the bar always new what I would have (it wanst a drink.. it was a cup of olives.. because I usually got in late and was hungary). the front deask and returant staff new me by name .. it was a good feeling.. 

one tiem I was here on Dec 21 for a mandatory meeting during a tough business moment.. I was the only person in one of the buildings.. Gabe suggested I make a movie hter.. so I took of (most of) my clothes. put a sheet over my head and ran around banging on doors as I filmed myself.. I knew there was know one there..   you can read about it here.. 
For years, the  staff had this picture behind the check in desk 

it was nive to be in this place.. it felt a little like a former home.

nite all. nite  sam
-me

Today was soooooo hot.. it hit 100 degrees on my way home from work. I was supposed to have a Science show for the Governors Institute of Vermont  Engineering  down in Norwich this evening .. but my friend Mike  calldwe from down there as asked me to postpone.. because it was too hot down there for the students to be inside. 

Since I didn’t have a science show.. we took another  bike ride.. along the way we saw this unfortunate snake,. one we’ve never seen .  Google tells us he was an eastern milk snake.. .. I’m sorry this happened. 

later on.. I was up in the tower and found this guy. THe heat is bringing out lots of creatures. 

Hope the heat breaks soon .. 

nite all, nite sam
-me

THis morning Elizabeth and her family headed home . It had been a great visit !  we look forward to gettign them back here . 

After they left we got our bikes out and went for a ride down river road.. we have my parents old bikes.. not fancy.. but fun !.. the  wind from riding kept us cool. We ae so lucky to have these beautiful rides just outside our house !

Tonight I started to check out my science gear. this coming week is a major nerd fest. I have 4 science shows and one fluffy show .. it’s going to be crazy !.. I love doing these shows.. though I dont do them as often as I used to.. so I decided to check out my gear.. as fate would have it.. lots of my gear was not workigng and needed repair … my insultinator wont insult, my van de graaf wasnt sparking very well, my small tesla was acting up.. and even my trusty  pickelometer wouldnt turn.. I had to rebuild most of the stuff.. including making a new pickeolemter on the base of my old one . I just happen to have a spare variac siting around.. It was fun and important rebuilding this stuff. 

Looking forward to thsi week. 

as we were headign to bed, dinae got an aurora alert.. there was a high chance of seeign the northern lights ! It was cloudy.. so I didnt think I saw anythign..  but I took some pictures anyway…

I dint see it till just now.. but I think I got a blury picture  of them !

nite all, nite sam 
-me