Dear Leonardo ...

Signore Leornardo da Vinci

c/o Casa de Medici
Florence Italy

Dear Leonardo:

I hope you are keeping well. I had heard through the grapevine that you have been busy with all sorts of crazy art and design projects. I can't wait to see the results.

I've now been in this new job for almost three weeks now and I thought I'd drop you a line and give you my first impressions. Overall, I've been crazy-busy. This is a pretty funky place with weird machines and devices coming out of every corner of the building … not too unlike your workshop I might add!

The work so far has been great. I've been immersed in some pretty lively and creative discussions on how best to present the technology to new customers and how best to help them modernize their teaching. It's a pretty daunting task. You and I had chatted many times about the aging curriculum and how tough it is to motivate students these days to think a bit beyond their textbooks and lectures.

The good news is, I really do think this company has some of the right stuff to make a real difference. A lot of the hardware is freakishly cool. Whether its haptics or autonomous vehicles or just really clever ideas to illustrate a complex control concept, there seems to be real undercurrent of creativity in the products. I also have been very impressed with the people here. Lots of talent and energy in all of the departments. Even the CFO seems like a decent sort!

At some point, we should catch up and chat a bit more about some of the projects I'm engaged in. I know you've been curious about all this new fangled InterWeb stuff. Maybe some of the work we have planned will finally get you off your seat and create a Facebook account LOL. BTW, when you finally do that, search on Tom Q Lee -- that's my company account. Later this year I'll also send you some stuff on the new curriculum work we're doing. That's one of the things that are really cool about products. Someone actually took the time to put some thought into how you teach with the machines. It makes all the difference in the world, I think.

Tomorrow, the family is heading to your neck of the woods. It's our twentieth wedding anniversary and we're going to whoop it up in style in Rome and the Amalfi coast. Too bad it's not closer to Florence. I would have loved to have stopped by. Oh well. We'll have to be satisfied with looking at some of your more recent work at a gallery.

Have a great summer and I'll be sure to write again. All the best,

Tom.

P.S. Jacob says "Hi"