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The needle on the Melancholy gauge is somewhere in the light-blue colored "high" range today as I get ready for my last day at my current job. My experience has been that is far better to leave a job on your own terms than not (I've left many on both) but this one definitely comes with some...feelings. I really enjoyed my time at ThingMagic and while the position ultimately did not go where I was headed I felt that I got a lot of good work done there. I like my co-workers and will miss the blend of humor and deep thinking at the lunch table. In a little under two weeks I start anew at First Act. Change is good they say and this one sure will be good but not without a side of sad.

After attending the MIT forum last night the stars all finally aligned properly and I had an opportunity to see and hear my friend DavidK's Guitar Circle New England. They were the live music at the Thirsty Ear on the MIT campus and since I was already there I had no excuses. The music was really nice. The five-piece band consists of all hollow-body, 6-string, steel-string guitars and the players follow the methodology of Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft using New Standard Tuning. This makes for wonderful arrangements with relatively wide dynamic range for guitar-only pieces. I particularly liked the arrangements of traditional "Morning Has Broken" that used some of the guitar melodies found in Cat Stevens' famous version and the slow melodious "Love Is Green" from Jeff Beck's seminal Wired album. I don't know any of the other pieces played but they ranged from contemporary classical to traditional classical to some serious King Crimson/ Robert Fripp sounding material. If you are a fan of guitar music and have never heard a Guitar Craft group play then definitely seek out Guitar Circle New England.

I went to an interesting MIT Enterprise Forum tonight focusing on portable power technologies. The panel comprised two moderators, one from Mass High Tech newspaper and the other from the VC community, and four industry representatives from Honda, Battelle, Argonne and a startup called Lilliputian. The discussions varied from the technologies themselves (Li-Ion batteries, Hydro-carbon-based fuel cells, etc.) as well as the challenges in growing the manufacturing industries for these technologies in the United States. The main thread was on how companies can possibly take advantage of the $2B of the latest stimulus bill earmarked for this sector. Given my recent growing interest in global sustainability issues and the needs of developing communities around the world (including the "third world" communities we can find in our own back yard) I couldn't help thinking that there must be a way for corporations to both take this government money and give back to the communities that need infusion so desperately. I think about this sort of thing a lot...any other thoughts out there on this are greatly received.

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by request, here is my 25 cryptic things about me reposted from facebook with a couple clues cleaned up...enjoy

1) First off grass and mowing every Saturday is my favorite hobby (5)
2) Paul Franzosa initially holds writing and the middle of the insurance agency from London represents a great rock band I like. (4,5)
3) What would a human do, Linus, holding an instrument I play? (8)
4) If Mr. Skelton owned Paul Bunyan's pet, it would be my favorite team. (3,3)
5) A third of a dollar with a follower is my latest favorite card game (8)
6) An infant with Mr. Chaney V gives my favorite show (7, 4)
7) Something magical is holding the place where I work (10)
8) Confused, harried, describes my spouse's locks (3,4)
9) My political philosophy is a wound coil amiss (9)
10) A tree license lingering around my bachelors degree (10,11)
11) My belief is coasting crazily (8)
12) A near blunder around my favorite film (5,6)
13) Second best without the color of most of my clothes (5)
14) What you see on the Mac screen - a rodent goes back with my main musical instrument (6)
15) Danger man, yes it has a place I've been many times (7)
16) Darling, tonight has a hold on my home town (9)
17) Mosaic visas, a confused author I love (5,6)
18) Something I like to listen to is a twisted evil crazy math result with an electronic component (4,6)
19) I love to read confusing scenic cite info (7,7)
20) Junior, a cooking vessel is another place I've visited (5)
21) Aw, I mill around to find my older son (7)
22) Dean, relax around my younger son (9)
23) Left two parts of every painting going back to something I like to do (6)
24) Awful hope in electronic gadget I use (6)
25) My favorite crossword type contains the result of sliced onions, physical therapy, and most of the hockey surface (7)