The times are getting stranger and stranger. I had an early morning meeting and decided to stop by the grocery store on the way back just to pick up a few things. It seems like The rest of the world had exactly the same idea. The store was more packed than even the day before Thanksgiving. It was remarkable to see how Pik clean some of the essentials were.

Here’s the pasta shelf

Here’s the frozen vegetables

And here’s the toilet paper… No kidding!

It was truly insane.

I went straight home and worked the rest of the day. I had quite a few calls and in the background you could tell everyone had their family around them… Crying babies, kids, spouses… I think it’s going to be normal for a while

Around 5 PM I threw a quick Invite out on our work slack for everyone to meet me for a virtual beer using web conferencing. I was surprised how many of my colleague showed up. We all had to bring our own beer though

Later this evening ‘Kyle and I made spring rolls at that Kyle Hunter and I started watching the Colony again. I guess it was the reference to the scarcity of toilet paper that maybe want to go and watch it. It was really pretty strange to watch it again. I’ve only watched it the first time when it was actually on the air. It was eerily prescient

It too was about a worldwide viral pandemic

It’s so very strange watching this again.… There are many things about it that I loved and many things about it that I hate it. Take a look and see How it makes you feel given the current environment

https://www.amazon.com/Colony-Season-1/dp/B002IEY0LQ/ref=nodl_

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Wow… What to say? The news keeps getting stranger. Moments ago I got a text from the Mit emergency service saying they were immediately shutting down… No classes tomorrow and campus is to be cleared by Sunday for an indeterminate period of time. University of Vermont has also done the same thing… I was on campus today And the place was almost empty

Both Hunter and Kyle are working at home and so was I. I feel like we should get a copier and a water cooler and have our own remote office space.

In someway, I have to say that everyone is adapting to this quickly changing reality very well. So far everyone I know is optimistic and willing to do anything it takes to help keep themselves and their friends and family safe… That’s uplifting

I got more notifications today about things that were Getting canceled including my talk for 200 kindergarten teachers which was scheduled for tomorrow. One thing that does not get canceled was a really great science show at Monkton middle school. I was glad to get to do it because it’s probably the last public gathering I’ll do for sometime. It’s a place I’ve been going for more than 15 years. I think everybody had that feeling of a last time outside for a while.

I was especially happy to see george and his family. George’s late uncle Bob was an organ recipient from sam. It was great to catch up with them

OK… Time to hunker down. Good luck everyone stay healthy and sane…

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Today the world health organization said that were in a pandemic… That’s not a word we use very often. I think the last time I use that word a lot I was on a reality show. It’s so strange how people are reacting. I think it really hit me yesterday when I saw so many things changing. Conference is canceled, travel bands, emergency zones. Just last night Boston was declared an emergency zone because a biogen Conf Eren CE created 15 new cases

The streets of Cambridge were completely empty today… It was so eerie. I left town as soon as I could and drove home. All the way the news was about the coronavirus.

Harvard closed it’s campus, so did Middlebury and UVM… Mit hasn’t done it yet but I think they’re going to. IBM has asked us to all stay away for a while. I don’t even know what that means… Not sure when the next time I go down to Cambridge.

There’s this crazy feeling of uncertainty about what happens Next… When I said goodbye to my few work friends who happen to be on site (most were still at home)… I didn’t know if I was saying goodbye for a week or a month or… Who knows?

There’s enough of an anarchist at me that I Almost like the change. It brings out peoples creative instincts…. At the same time… I don’t like the thought of people getting sick or worse.

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Another surreal day in Cambridge… Work was almost empty. From what I understand Boston is now an emergency zone. Harvard is sending his students home. I’m coming home as soon as I can tomorrow. Not sure when the next time I’ll be able to come down here. This is such a strange feeling… It’s very reminiscent of the colony.

This drain cover I saw on my run this morning was clearly channeling the mood

Despite the lack of people I had a crazy busy day. Lots of meetings… All of them by phone. At 4:30 I had an interesting treat… The “Lego heads”… A first robotics team that I had met in Vermont a few weeks back came to visit me at the Mit-Ibm Center. They were four of them… Two high school kids and their two adult mentors. I told him a little bit about the MIT-IBM Lab… And they told me about this wonderful plan they have for helping Vermont grow their first robotics Lego teams. It was so inspiring!. They had actually reached out to every library in the state of Vermont…. To see if they were interested in helping start a first Lego team. They’ve heard from three of those library and they actually drove up and visited library’s in south Royalton, Plainfield, and near Rutland. They have a fabulous plan for raising money, getting equipment etc. I spent a long time trying to figure out how we could work together to help First in Vermont. I am so grateful That we met the Lego heads.



The team mentor Anupendra had to leave because tonight is holi, An Indian holiday that people celebrate by throwing colored sand each other. I started to tell him about my good friend Gaya who always has great pictures of been covered in colored sand. As soon as I said her name Gaya called me… That’s pretty weird because I talk to her about twice a year. ( queue the Spooky music)

OK… I’m going to try to get some sleep…

More tomorrow

Nite all, nite sam

-me