The above is just part of a schematic for a piece of equipment Andy designed in February 1983. The fellows at the lab have been using the equipment all these years, but their needs have changed so they’re now going to redesign it. As luck would have it, one of the youngsters (only in his 50s?) involved saw Andy in the supermarket the other day and said they could use Andy’s advice. Andy was happy to oblige, so yesterday the youngster brought over a copy of the schematic so Andy could look at it and refresh his memory. Andy went in for about an hour and a half this morning to give his suggestions. How cool is that after almost 22 years of retirement? Pretty good memory, I would say.
While Andy was gone our department store phoned to say the love seat has arrived. So when Andy came home he went down to finish paying for it and to arrange for them to deliver it tomorrow morning. “Delivery” means to put it in the right spot in the living room up there.
His floor lamp has already arrived and we went up yesterday afternoon/evening to bring up the shade and enjoy the last bit of glorious weather we’ve been having. Today Andy will be moving the folding bed out of the way to make room for the love seat. Things are definitely moving right along.
Later I’ll talk more about last night.
October 16, 2015
How wonderful for Andy. Please congratulate him for me. There are some people who leave their footprints in their workplace which do not get erased for long and Andy surely must be one of them.
I will let him know what you said. 🙂
One of my sons-in-law has a masters in software development (or management?) from Carnegie Mellon, and he is now a V.P. for a company that works with telecoms. I was laughing with him the other day about the last computer language I learned eons ago. He said that, actually, people who are proficient in those older-style software design are much needed now. (I’m not proficient.) So much infrastructure was built out two decades ago and now needs to be updated. The younger employees aren’t familiar with it, he said, and they often have to look up someone who has been around for a while or has retired to consult on a project. I wonder if that’s not true of much of the technology developed twenty years ago. I know that when I was an active trader and a writer for a market-related website, a brokerage many active traders used was bought by another, larger and older one. The two platforms needed to merge or marry their programs. Wow! That did not go well! I wonder if the hotshots–they really were good–who had been developing programs for the newer brokerage didn’t fully understand the programs of the older, staid brokerage without as much usability for active traders or vice versa. Congratulations to Andy for finding out he’s definitely needed. That’s always a good feeling.
You would think that I would do a better job of editing what I write. I think so, too, but I’m trying to learn to be at peace with mistakes that crop up more often as I deal with the brain fog that sometimes goes along with RA. I’ll borrow the outlook of another who frequently comments here: LOLOL.
Don’t worry about mistakes, it’s a complete waste of time. I just appreciate it when you and others take the time to write, to connect. 🙂
What computer languages did you use? I loved FORTRAN, but it was designed for scientific programming. I missed it for a long time after I retired.
that kind of knowledge just blows me away.
i look at it as if it came from another planet!
i’m so proud of andy.
talk about ‘staying sharp!’
and i’m trying to figure out what that green thing is on the cot! LOLOL!
and that makes me think of linda p’s comment above…
i believe i’m the culprit she’s talking about.
and dearest linda p… i just have to say… come on in the water’s fine!
i don’t mean i laugh like a maniac all the time… but it’s truly the best way to get through this life of land mines!!! i admire you very much.
and monk…
can’t wait to see the love seat in place! isn’t this fun!
xoxo
It’s an artificial Christmas tree that Beate and Tim bought for Andy. They bought it as a present because he wants to put one on the roof, with colored lights. We started experimenting with some when we went up Thursday afternoon/evening. 🙂
I love reading this.
So many times arrogant young people think they know it all.
They are too quick to dismiss the great wealth of knowledge and intelligence someone older might have.
Andy is one of those fabulous treasures!
I’m always in awe of people with a brain like his.
Mine just doesn’t work like that. LOL!
I need to find some time to go back and read more of your blog!
I’m piecing things together.
So you have a house up on the mountain that Andy is going to live in?
Is that right? A place to stay while he works on the land?
Or is it going to some day be a permanent home for you both?
You probably already talked about this…
Sorry, maybe you could just supply me with a couple of post links to get me up to speed.
🙂
xoxo
We’re not going to live in the house, but I come up to visit once in a while and Andy goes up almost every day to enjoy it and to work on his projects. We originally had a bigger partially-finished house up there, but it burned down in a fire in June, 2011. Andy rightly said he wanted to build something a lot smaller but complete, with solar electricity, running water, a shower, bathroom, etc. We got the certificate of occupancy in November, 2012, as I recall, so he’s already had a few years to enjoy it. Kaitlin and Torben and the pups stay up there when they come.
I’ll try to send you some links of the building process later.
congrats Andy – although on saying that – I have no idea what that diagram even represents – don’t worry I don’t need to “know”
good about your new furnishings for Andy’s bolt hole errrrrrrr “blokes shed”
what’s happening in my textile/craft world a lot lately is new “terminology” often because the old is apparently not PC! Also happening is people telling us that a certain type invention is xyz – and get a surprise to find we were doing it a few decades ago – of course “new trendy name” now 🙂
I don’t understand the schematic either. 🙂
I love the terms “bolt hole” and “bloke’s shed”. Here we call it a “man’s cave”. Although the rest of the family enjoys it too once in a while. 🙂
women have bloketts shed