Pictured above is an aerial view of “The Wave.” It is centered on the two puddles which can be seen in the image. Look even closer and you will find a couple of photographers (of the twenty permitted per day). I suspect they may not be all that happy because of those puddles. They aren’t big enough to use for a reflection pool but they are large enough that they will detract from an otherwise uniform image. When I was last there on foot, I had to deal with fresh snow. The upper puddle in the image above is the same one that can be seen in my photo below.

Here is a reverse angle taken on an earlier sortie. Notice the shadow that is no longer present in the image at the top.

I am always hesitant to post panoramas on this blog as they can only be appreciated at full resolution. Click on the image for a better view. This was taken just off the highway as I was approaching Page, AZ.

While hiking off trail just outside of Canyonlands NP I came across a bleached white skeleton of what I assume was a cow. The contents of its stomach remained undisturbed between its ribs. The scene left me wondering how this bovine met its demise.

This week will feature a number of photos from my recent visit to the South West. It is a busy time at work and I have a lot to catch up on and little time for additional photography. In total I took more than 2000 photographs and drove 1398 miles over the course of three days. Today I find myself thoroughly exhausted and very happy.

I slept in this morning and spent a few hours backing up and culling photos before heading south to Las Vegas for my mid-afternoon return flight to Boston. On the way I took a slight detour through the Valley of Fire State Park which is a must visit destination for anyone with kids who like to climb on things. Despite the loss of my drone, this has been a most enjoyable and photographically satisfying vacation. It is amazing what a few days in the beauty of nature does to restore my soul.

Despite the fact that Arches NP was overrun with tourists for the Memorial Day weekend, I had Landscape Arch all to myself as the sun rose. I had plenty of time to get exactly the composition and lighting I wanted. I was surprised by how many cars I encountered when entering the park at 5AM and relieved when every single one of them took the early turn for Delicate Arch. I suspect none knew that it would be in deep shadow all morning. I slowly worked my way out of the park as thousands flocked in.

It was about 10am before I made my way to Canyonlands NP only to find a two hour wait at the entrance gate. I immediately turned around and set out for Capitol Reef NP where I stopped briefly while en route to St. George.

I slept like a rock but had no trouble rising well before dawn. I was intent on taking the perfect aerial sunrise photo of the entire Monument Valley. The light was perfect and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. As I was flying my drone to the optimal vantage point, about two miles out, I lost radio contact. This is not uncommon during a distant sortie and the drone is programmed to return to home in this circumstance. Communications are generally restored after a minute or two and I generally climb to a higher altitude to increase range. On this flight, however, with every passing minute, it became apparent that my drone was not going to return. I will never know if it crashed, was attacked by a raptor, or experienced some kind of malfunction. At the time I lost signal, it was positioned over terrain that would have made recovery impossible. Adding insult to financial injury ($1,500), I had planned my entire weekend around interesting destinations for aerial photography, forcing me to change plans in real time. I decided to head to Moab by way of Mexican Hat, Valley of the Gods, Goosenecks State Park, and Natural Bridges National Monument arriving at Arches National Park in time for evening golden light.

I rose at the crack of dawn and drove to the Coyote Buttes which span the Utah – Arizona border. Pictured above are the South Buttes and below the North Buttes. I spent the morning exploring both areas with my drone and if not for my ambitious plans could have spent my entire weekend here.

At midday, I hiked the Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch. There are two lovely slot canyons along the trail.

After completing the round trip hike, I set out for Monument Valley but not before a brief stop just outside of Page, AZ to revisit my old friend, the Horseshoe Bend.

I arrived at Monument Valley just in time for sunset and put the light to good work. As soon as the sun was down, I made a beeline for the nearest campground, pitched my tent and immediately fell asleep.

I arrived in Las Vegas late this afternoon where I promptly rented a Jeep and headed off to Kanab, UT. Along the way I stopped for a canister of butane for my camping stove and a supply of water.

This lovely scene courtesy of Jeanine who is riding through the French countryside with my cousin, her husband, and his brother and wife. I can picture them all having coffee and croissants under that umbrella. Jeanine is part French and speaks the language fluently (she will claim she is rusty). I have no doubt she is chatting up all the locals at every turn and will return with her proficiency restored.

Meanwhile, I have decided to take a long holiday weekend and will leave for Utah and Arizona tomorrow. I plan to revisit some of my favorite places and also to explore some new ones (see my recent Geo Detective post for one example). This weekend being the only one of the spring without a scheduled soccer match and weather forecasts showing three dry days at my destination, I decided not to squander the opportunity.

I had lunch today at the CambridgeSide Galleria. A few more blocks of walking took me to the banks of the Charles where I launched my drone and flew down to the Hatch Memorial Shell for a nice cityscape. From the back, the shell looks like a full dome and I must remember to photograph it again from an angle which reveals its true nature.

Kyle requested some update portraits this weekend and I was happy to oblige him. If I can find some time (not likely) I would love to add a voting option to this post to see which picture people prefer. For family members, feel free to register your opinion directly with Kyle by e-mail.

The only soccer match my team has failed to win this season was against Wayland. We played them to a tie in our first contest. This morning we sent them home with a 6-0 defeat to make up for our initial lackluster showing. After the match I took a team photo which I will need to retake because a few guys couldn’t manage to stand still and smile for 10 seconds. I also made this image of the team surrounding our hard core fans. Pictured to the right of our goalie (in red) are his parents who come out to every match, rain or shine, to cheer us on. Also joining us today was the wife and daughter of one of our field players, sitting to the right of them.

Kyle, Maya and I joined my sister Alissa and her husband John to witness the graduation of my niece, Rachel, from Babson College. She graduated cum laude and already has a job at Vision Government Solutions in Hudson, MA. Founder and CEO of AOL, Steve Case, gave the commencement address which was essentially an appeal to reinvent capitalism. He compared America to a startup and talked about the importance of continuing to lead the world in innovation. All speakers spoke about the importance of being an inclusive society and how we are moving further away from that ideal.

Nicolai left early for NYC where he has organized an amputee soccer practice for an East coast team he is trying to put together.

Jeanine left for a much needed 10-day vacation in France today. She is joining my cousin Heather and her husband Burton for a guided cycling tour. She flew into Bordeaux and will be be biking in and around the towns of Les Eyzies, Cadouin, and St. Cybanet. Regrettably, work obligations prevented me from joining her. My team is putting the final touches on our recently announced next generation 3D printer and there is much work remaining to ensure a smooth launch. I hope to receive and post many photos from Jeanine’s adventure over the coming days.

This group of kids are either very inept paddlers or practicing how to right a capsized canoe. Although spring has arrived, I do not doubt that the water in the Sudbury River is still way too chilly for this type of activity.

This seemed like a rather creative approach for a basketball goal backboard. Probably best not to over run the baseline, however.

I tried a new route for my morning commute only to discover a missing bridge that was a rather important element of the plan. I swear it was there on Google Maps when I checked this morning. I will have to remember to check progress on construction. I would love to get a picture of a crane suspended steel beam being lowered into place while a train is passing below.

It is hard for me to believe that I have been posting daily to this blog for the last fourteen years, a total of 7236 “journal” entires (higher than 365×14=5110 because my early hosting software required separate entries for every photo). It started with the image below of Maya holding something in her hand. I thought it fitting to include another image of Maya holding something for today’s entry. Jeanine and I visited her this morning for Olin Expo where students displayed their recent engineering projects. After having breakfast on campus with her, Maya showed us three of her projects, a phase shift keyed optical transmission channel, a discrete transistor operational amplifier circuit, and a user centered design project for the roller derby.

Assuming an average of 100 words per post and an average of 250 words per page of a book (per google search) this blog is the equivalent of a 2900 page book. I estimate the blog now contains roughly 10,000 photos. If these were placed four to a page that would require an addition 2500 pages. There was a time when I was considering turning this blog into a printed family history book for each of the kids. Doing so at this point would require a 400 page book for each of the fourteen years. I think a big PDF file might make more sense at this stage.

My mom was and still is a beauty. While I am thankful for all of the characteristics my father passed along to me, there is no doubt that I am more genetically similar to my mother. She has the mind of an engineer, the eye of an artist, and a head for business. At 90 years old she goes ballroom dancing regularly (the Tango being her favorite) and can out preform women half her age. It is said that you can pick your friends but not your parents. I feel like I won the lottery when I was born and am thankful for all the gifts I received from my mother.

I invited Jeanine on a mystery date this afternoon. Last week I learned about the opening of the American Heritage Museum in Stow, MA while listening to NPR. Billed as one of the most extraordinary museums of military history in the world it was created after the massive collection of tanks, armored vehicles and military artifacts from the family of Jacques M. Littlefield were donated to the Collings Foundation. The non-profit foundation was created to organize and support “living history” events and the presentation of historical artifacts and content that enable Americans to learn more about their heritage through direct participation. When we arrived at the museum, Jeanine was less than enthusiastic about spending a beautiful spring afternoon looking at tanks and such. Instead we opted for lunch in nearby Hudson and then a short hike in the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. Pictured above is the wood fired oven at the restaurant.

Jeanine and I dined with former colleagues and friends from my iRobot days this evening. Oscar, on the left, heads up manufacturing and supply chain while Christian, on the right, is the COO. We have good friend Rob Shurtleff to thank for the wonderful evening. He sent me a nice note about a positive interaction he had with iRobot Customer Service. I forwarded his note to the CEO who passed it on to Christian which caused him to reach back and suggest the gathering. It took a couple of months to coordinate busy schedules but was well worth the wait.

I managed a brief tour of our gardens this evening. Brilliant colors can be found everywhere and would have been even more potent had the sun not been obscured by clouds.

With the sun setting later and later each day, I had time after work to travel to Stow, a nearby town, for some fresh landscapes. Pictured above is the Assabet Reservoir. Below is Elizabeth Brook located next to the Butternut Farm golf course.

For the last several years, Formlabs has presented Digital Factory, a conference for business leaders interested in the future of manufacturing. It was held in the Seaport District at the Raymond L. Flynn Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. Jeff Immelt (on the right below), former CEO and Chairman of General Electric, current Executive Chairman of AthenaHealth, and a member of Formlabs Board of Directors led the conference which included presentations by a veritable Who’s Who of executives in the field of advanced manufacturing. I attended for the entire day listening to various presentations and it was a nice departure from my daily routine at the office.

I arrived home just a few minutes late to get a picture of our house in golden light. Over the coming days I hope to get a nice “spring in bloom” photo of the house to use in our marketing materials when we list the house for sale later this year or early next.

About 80% of the area covered by water in the picture above is normally dry land. Extensive rains over the past several weeks have swollen all of our local rivers. The river is normally about three times the width of the small archway of the bridge.

In soccer action this morning my team beat Hopkinton by a margin of 6:1. My injured hamstring had sufficiently recovered to allow me to play at 90% intensity. Unfortunately I missed a shot I should have made which in the tradition of our team will cost me beer duty for a future game. The win moved us into first place in our leagues standings with roughly half the season completed. We have scored 21 goals in the last five games and given up only one.

For the first time ever, Nicolai competed in a rock climbing competition today placing first in the Adaptive Adult Male classification. He got a perfect score on each of his three climbs. He is pictured above on his second climb which looked to be the most challenging for him. Kyle and I were there to support him and we had a chance to talk a little more about the McGraw-Hill / Cengage merger of equals which was announced earlier this week. It certainly sounds like this integration, which will be led by Cengage’s current CEO, will bode well for Kyle. It makes me very proud that he would spend part of his weekend after an exhausting work week to show up for his brother.

Yesterday members of my team and I presented at the annual Formlabs Partners Forum. Resellers of our products from around the world came to downtown Boston to learn more about our new products and to meet with us. Our guys did a fantastic job and I was proud to share the stage with them. Later we gave tours to the normally off-limit areas of our engineering labs.

Spring has definitely arrived in New England. Our briefest and perhaps most intense season, everywhere you look flowers and trees are blooming. Frequent rain has made for an unusually lush landscape this year.

This evening I invited one of the program teams at Formlabs to an indoor electric go cart racing event to celebrate the one year anniversary since shipping our first industrial 3D printing system, the Form Cell. This team has consistently installed systems on schedule and provided exceptional customer service. I have done carting events in the past but never in an electric cart. Mirroring my experience with my own car, once you go electric you can never go back. Everyone enjoyed the celebration event immensely and I sat out the final race to capture my teammates in action.