Up early, at desk working on marketing for DOG and UTM stuff. Started to work on taxes, got to finish these before 10/15.
Lowes delivered the building materials for the office in the barn. neat little forklift with wheels that rotated on all four.
sculpture by Stepan Kubicek
Karen and I went for a walk up Warren and back down State. Stopped at the Columbia County Council on Arts show at the Galvan building, part of the former Van Kleeck Tire complex.
CC Council Arts Arts Walk Exhibition
On our way down State St. we came to the new linear park that runs over to Warren St across from the Hudson Opera House. We had earlier noted how unfriendly this is: “Accessibility in New Linear Park“.
When we reached the ramp system, we found a large array of Facebook comments on 8.5×11 pinned to the fence. Not clear who the author is.
I dug out the flue pipes and removed the debris as far as I couod reach. Then Preston and his boys showed up. At my suggestion they punched a hole thrugh the back of the chimney to gain access to clean out all of the rubble. Clearly, though they may have tossed the final bit on the heap, this had been building up for some time. In a little over two hours they had everything buttoned up. Unfortunately, the boiler would still not fire up. Called Ihlenburg for a Monday visit. Paid Preston $100 though he claimed not to want it.
On looking more closely at the photo of the flue pipe, just now, I noticed what appear to be spider webs. Suggests that in fact the chimney may not have had a draw for quite a while.
close up. Note webs.
Vent pipe completely stuffed with debris
Turns out that the guys who rebuilt the chimney last week knocked debris down the flue completely occluding it. The four year old boiler has a sensor that prevents it from firing when there is no draft up the flue.
As soon as the plumber saw this he said, “Call the mason.” he wouldn’t take a swing at fixing it.
So I called Preston Schrader. He immediately offered to come Saturday morning to fix things.
Met with Marie, Gwen, and Anna Rachminov to discuss next year’s budget.
Woke up at 4:30 am. Decided that today was a good day to tell UTM, David and Seth, that my days with them are over at the end of the year. Got to bring this engagement to an end.
When I signed on formally with UTM in March 2014 you were aware of my involvement as a founder with my brother Ed in a start up medical devices company, Prescient Medical Devices, LLC (PrescientMedicalDevices.com). For a number of reasons we had put the development of the company on pause while we addressed some IP issues. This made it possible to make a commitment to UTM for a year which was the time frame we talked about at that time.
PMD is now restarting. My brother is making presentations to investors and we expect that these will be fruitful. This means that I need to position myself to focus most of my energies on PMD by the latest January 2016.
I suggest that we move the project of finding a sales/marketing person on to the front burner. You may have other priorities. Lets talk about how I can be most helpful.
Thanks,
Felt immediate relief from taking this step despite the deceptive statements about PMD. Nothing new is happening as far as I know on that front.
Controller on boiler
No heat. Waiting on plumber Ihlenburg.
Went to Belvedere Home Healthcare in Albany for UTM meeting. Good meeting gathering requirements. They will conduct a survey of potential users.
Back to Hudson for HAL Exec Comm lunch at Mexican Radio. Followed by mtg with David Murphy, Betsy Miller and T Parsons about upcoming hard hat tours of Armory for high rollers. Then, at 3pm meeting with Ann Rosenthal about her role as Chair of Program Committee. Smart, energetic, engaged…. big plus for library.
While Karen taught her online course I went to Bell’s Pint Nite at The Spotty Dog. After chatting up the regional sales rep for Bells I was given a Bell’s Pint glass. Also had good chat with Sherrie Jo Williams and Pauline DeCarmo and a couple of their friends.
Karen is away in Portland, OR at Fotofest. Gallery had two visitors including Bruce Bergman.
Went with Howard Saunders to Bard. 7 PM pre lecture was quite good. in retrospective the argument for the Janacek having provenance from Russian music hardly seemed beyond a doubt. I imagined Prokofiev borrowing from Janacek just a bit later. The harp concerto was great with numerous effects that were surprising and new to me. The Goetz was only interesting as an example of the fact that lots of very good art is created and either never recognized during its period or lost thereafter.
11 am. Looking South
Busy day with clients. Reviewed materials from Mary Vaughn Williams at 6:30 am; talked with her at 8:30. Hopefully she got her application in to Martha Lane before leaving for her high school reunion.
Spoke with Alan Coon about the UTM website project again. He had a tough conversation with David Ackerman yesterday and is now doing the repair work on his own dime. Then, Matt Almeida. Spent time catching up on diary.More on this1Some company
Great meeting of HAL Marketing Committee at 4pm. Agi Clark presented her ideas and we had a lively discussion and brainstorming session. Left feeling very buoyant about this work. It is clear that we need to organize the messaging around the various classes of users, children, parents, teens, etc.
Umesh talked over but not to this slide. Drives me crazy.
Met Anita Harris at Panera Bread near UAlbany. Her mother is in a nursing home nearby. While waiting Janet Schnitzer, Germantown, former HAL President, appeared. She play majong there regularly. Small world. Continue reading
Met with Schuyler Duffy at Bluestone Roasting coffee house in Saugerties to discuss his plans for aquaponic vegetable growing in shipping containers. Aquaponics combines fish and water for the nutrient system.
Museum of Arts & Design
Buzzed off to NYC. Was very aggravated by situation with UTM’s website. Out of control development work confused by Seth’s bad oversight and excessive emotional reactions to personalities. Stopped at American Folk Art Museum . Couldn’t engage at all due to repeated calls with Seth Lachterman. After lunch at Columbus Circle at a Whole Foods in the basement where I was overwhelmed by the crowds and too many choices, we went to the Museum of Arts and Design. Talked with Alan Coon about his taking the project over and bringing it to a conclusion. He is bringing on Ira Sher to do the work. Looks like a complete redesign at the level of HTML and CSS.
Continue reading
