I’m sitting in the Albany Airport waiting for my 7:30 AM flight to Reno by way of Chicago.The flight from Albany was the only one I could find that was affordable and got me out in time to meet up with my posse in Reno for the drive to Burning Man. I drove down last night and slept in my car… It sounded like a better idea than leaving home at 2AM this morning.. It worked out well.

I took advantage of the drive down to stop in and visit Homer . He’d rigged up the other arm on our Project-X.. and he wanted me to see it. I was so glad I stopped. It is truly scary and amazing.. even without it’s clothes on… 12 feet tall without it’s head.. and able to reach out and menace people.. What a great project !

We had a crowd of would be victims there too.. Including our buddy Lee S.

I got here at around 1 AM.. parked in the airport long term parking spot V.. (Remind me if I ask)

Friends.. I apologize.. It’s late (1 AMish) and I really have to get some sleep. I’m heading off to burning man tomorrow evening after dinner.. and … as jerry garcia always said… “i like to get some sleep before I travel….”

My day was long and exhausting.. I have some many things going on right now.. I’m trying to get a bunch of stuff done before taking off the rest of the week. I feel kinda guilty for taking these days off.. but the fact that Max is goign with me makes it feel allright..

I spent last night reading all about the dos and donts of goign to the burn.. It’s got more rules than you can imagine.. check out this burning man survival guide to see what I mean

I am so psyched to be going…

I did most of my packing tonight.. 2 sleeping bags, sleeping pads and a tent to share.. and abotu 100 pounds of SamStones to give out. There’s a culture of ‘gifting’ there where you give stuff to others.. no trading or selling.. just give.. I think SamStones are perfect for that.. now if the airline will just let me ship them !

OK.. it’s really late.. I have a cricket at my feet telling me to go to sleep. And who am I to ignore a cricket ?

Noght folks.. Night Sam.. be with me at the Burn
-me

Hi friends,
It’s 5ish on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m blogging now because Diane and I are heading to the Fair to see Prairie Home Companion . I wanted to blog now while the following story was fresh in my mind

I’ve had a pretty low key day which is just what I needed.. Diane went walking with Kathy so I took the dogs on a run up Honey Hollow. When I got back I was thinking of all the things I to do .. and feeling kind of weighted down by that.. So I asked myself what I wanted to do. I felt like doing something Sam related.. so I wandered into my lab. There on my work surface was the tree of iron SamStones that I’d cast at the iron pour back in July. When you cast something there are lots of extra bits of iron that represent the channels where the hot metal poured in and flowed through.. (Think about the plastic models you may have built as a kid..) these chases need to be cut apart and ground down to make a finished piece.. ..

I figured that would be good project to fit my mood.. so.. I started to cut the thing apart. Easier said than done.. I tried a hack saw.. that would have taken a day !.. I tried a cut off wheel.. even that was slow going..

so I broke out my Uzi.. ie. my diomnd bladed cut off tool.. That did it.. it went through the hard metal like butter. In a few minutes I’d cut all the cast iron SamStones apart.

The next step was to grind off the remains of the chaces and sprue..
and remove the ‘flashing’ that sometimes sticks out where the two
halves of the mold come together. I was about to move my stuff up to the grinder when the follwoing small miracle occured. I gatherd up all the rough iron ‘stones’ into my right gloved hands.. they were still hot from the cutting.. then I decided that I needed a picture of this step.. (everthing in my life is blog fodder).. I dropped the pile of stones where I was as I stood up..I didn’t even look at them . went to my work table.. picked up my camera and put in the battery that was charging. I turned on the camer and walked the 3 feed back to where I’d been cutting the stones apart. As iframed the shot.. I notices it looked funny.. This is what I saw through the viewfinder

I swear… it happened exactly like that.. I was stunned for a second.. then said the only thing I could think of.. “Hi Sam”… Then I ran and got Dianea and Gabe.. We took a few more pictures…

Then I picked the stones up and did the final cutting and grinding. As I worked I was thinking of Sam.. and how little we really know about how the unverse is put together..

That boy has a powerful spirit..

THat’s all for now.. We love you Sam.
-me

We left Ruchir and Rashi this morning at about 5:30AM . We were sad to leave without seeing those guys some more, but we both had stuff we needed to do around noon back here in Vermont. It wasgreat seeign them as always. Diane really enjoyed getting to visit them, too.

It was nice watching the sun come up.. it used to be the only way I saw that was when I’d stayed up working all night. I don’t do that much anymore.

The drive back was nice and uneventful.. Diane and I enjoyed the quite time talking.. I only saw one good bumper sticker.

We got home to find Gabe mischuef in full swing. He’d booby-ttrapped the doors to the bathroom and the room that Jessie was sleeping in . He’d taped party poppers to the door and riggeged them with pull strings.

When Trevor came out of the bathroom .. ‘BOOM’.. it was pretty cool and funny.. (not sure Trevor thought so, though )

Jessie had been here with Gabe last night. She showed us the weapons she had to confiscate,.. a stapler ?!>!

My 12:30 meeting was with Julie C… she’s been helpign me with time management for the last few years. She’s really helped me over the last few years.. Today she had some cool news. She and her husband Kevin just adopted month old twins.. a boy and a girl.. (Xander and Neliah (I think)…) They now have 4 kids under 4 ! She’ was so happy.. !

Here is a picture of the newborns. So cute !

I had to leave work a little early to get home by 5:L30.. our friends Anne Marie, Steve, Jen. Tim K, Tim F, Vivien and Deb were coming over for a quick potluck before our big night at the opera.

Tonight, our good friend Wendy was singing the role of Musetta in the Middlebury Opera Company’s production of ‘La Boheme’ .We all carpooled the hour drive down to Middlebury.. The show was in the newly redone Mibblebury Town Hall Theatre.. it was a beutiful venue.. and it was completely packed !

The production was really wonderful.. As good as I’ve seen anywhere.. and in such a cool small venue.. !

Wendy was great !.. She has an amazng voice and a great stage presense. It was so cool watching her perform. The entire cast and the musicaians were all wonderful..

The company got a standing ovation. It was really, really good..

We drove Anne Marie and Steve back to their car in Hinesburg.. then Diane drove us home. I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.. 2 nights of 4 hours sleep hasn’t been enough.. I’m fallign asleep now.. so that’s all for tonight.. Good night friends.. Good nigt Sam

-me

ps. y firend Paul and his family just got back from a 3 week vacation in Europe. Paul put a SamStone on Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris.. How cool is that !?! Sam would dig it.