LEGO--Not just for kids

Aimee Dion Crisanti '89 is a production engineer with LEGO Systems Inc. in Enfield, Conn. She describes her job as typical industrial engineering, "but because it's LEGOs, it's more fun." Actually, Crisanti, who lives in Windsor, didn't realize that LEGO was in her backyard until a layoff from Digital prompted a generalized job search.

"When I got the interview, I called Steve Delfino and begged him to tell me everything about LEGOs. I knew the job end of it, but he knows LEGOs inside out."

"Yes, I played with LEGOs as a child," Crisanti laughs, "but I put them away. That's the difference between Steve and me." She does get down on the floor to build with DUPLOs, the large preschool blocks, with her 2 1/2-year old son, Samuel. This lucky child attends the company's day-care center, which is nicely stocked with a variety of toys and decorated in LEGO's trademark primary colors. "It's really beautiful," Crisanti reports. "Everything else pales in comparison."

Websmith Patrick Delahanty '95 developed the LEGO Maniac's Guide, home to a Web search engine that quickly pinpoints information on more than 13,000 LEGO-related pages. It's the second most popular of Delahanty's ADEQUATE.com sites (24,000 hits in a recent two-week period), and Delahanty proudly points out that his is one of the few external sites to have a link from the LEGO Group's official home page. Delahanty's site (http://www.adequate.com/lego/) also features reviews of 138 LEGO sets, a message forum, and samples of his own creations, in still images and Quicktime video.

Half of the visitors to the site are under 15, says Delahanty, and the other half check "18 and over" on the feedback form. Their responses indicate that most are looking for project ideas and instructions. Delahanty admits that maintenance of his various Web sites and his full-time job as a Internet developer for The Monster Board keep him too busy to play with his own LEGO collection.