Busy day here in NYC.. I had a very interesting set of work  meetings this morning at our 590 Madison Ave building. I spent the rest of the day doing my normal stuff from the guest offices here..  Very productive.. but I just can’t hack cubicle life.. I’m too loud…

I’m staying comfortably with my friend David. he has a great place just down the street from IBM. He’s graciously letting me stay here. It’s really fun hanging out with him.. We’re off to a Greek restaurant in a few minutes..   sounds good.. i look forward to navigating the city to get there.

One of the cool things about traveling is the opportunity to ‘dip my toe in the onrushing stream of culture ‘ (as friend Rob would always say). That means things like seeing billoards, riding on trains, eating on the street, people watching, etc..It also means watching TV>. which is something I never get to do in VT.. we don’t have it at home.   .. On the way down I saw a show about the Amish.. on National Geographic channel. .. The first segment was on Amish weddings. The show portrayed their lifestyle as simple and appealing. It was followed by a segment on the Amish practice of Rundspringen.. Amish is a bit like low German.. so I’d make that to be something like ‘jumping around’   The idea is the Amish youth are encouraged to go out in the world and look around and then consciously decide to rejoin the faith forever. From what I gathered.. this generally happens around age 16.. some kids head off to cities.. they try drugs alcohol.. maybe sex (the show sidestepped that).. some decide to stay in the ‘English’ world (as they call it ). Most decide to come back to the simpler lifestyle they’ve always known. The camera followed a bunch of Amish kids on their  Rundspringen.. Or some reason the scenes of chaos, noise, temptation, fun, stress delight  and sensory overload are exactly what it feels like for me to walk around Manhattan..   (well.. except none of it looks too tempting to me)

Maybe those of us lucky enough to live in the soft green Oz of Vermont need to send our kids on a Rundspringen of their own.. Go try and lieve elsewhere and decide..  I wonder if they would come back..    Would I want them all  too ?

I guess Max is my test case 🙂

nite all, nite sam

-me