This evening Jeanine and I joined three other couples for dinner in downtown Boston at Sibling Rivalry. This restaurant featuring modern American cuisine is run by two brothers from a family of ten. The menu offers competing selections designed by each sibling. The result of this competition is inspired culinary innovation. I cannot remember when I last enjoyed a meal so thoroughly.

Like the two before it, this has been a very long work week. On average I have been spending 12 hours a day in the office and another couple of hours at home on e-mail. I expect this level of intensity to last another few weeks and then return to more normal levels. With my recent promotion came the responsibility for integrating two largely dissimilar divisions into a single cohesive team. I like managing complex transitions and despite the long hours, I am genuinely enjoying the opportunity to innovate at the organizational design level. My energy is buoyed by the strong support from my new leadership team and the positive feedback that I have received from all corners of the organization. Even as I left the office at 8 pm there were several other cars in the parking lot which speaks volumes about the work ethic present at iRobot.

I left for the office before sunup and returned after sundown. I am still working in my home office, so no picture for today.

Temperatures are steadily climbing and it will not be too long before our field is green again. Work is occupying all of my time right now but I really enjoy the process of organizational transformation making the time commitment worth every minute.

UPDATE: This photo is taken 5 years in the future. The one originally posted here was lost due to an archiving problem, which impacted many photos in the 2011-2012 time period.

Before visiting with us last weekend, my brother visited our childhood home in Schenectady where he gathered various items of sentimental value as we prepared the house for sale. The wood jewelry box pictured here is something I made for my mother many many years ago. Seeing it again brought back fond memories and it was as if I had reunited with an old friend. It has withstood the test of time well and I will pass it down to Maya when she is a little older.

I could not resist adding one more photo of Rose from this weekend. It is hard to decide whether she is cuter when she is happy or when she is not. Both of Mark’s girls are at that magical age when everything they do is adorable. I remember when Maya was this age and how much I enjoyed playing with her. By contrast, she now seems very mature. Even so, I still see through to the little girl inside of her and I am pretty sure I always will.

We were relieved to learn that Kyle’s ankle injury is not as severe as it initially appeared. The doctor feels he can make a full recovery in time with physical therapy. Kyle’s absence was somehow amplified with all of his cousins visiting and we are looking forward anxiously for his return during spring break.

Nicolai, Mario and Rory joined me this morning for my regular soccer practice/scrimmage. Four Calabria men all on the same team made for a powerful combination and one extremely proud father and uncle. The beauty of soccer is that even men of a certain age can give a bunch of young bucks a run for their money. Minuteman Park and the Old North Bridge were the afternoon destinations for the adults where we combined exercise with a walk through history. Later in the day, I secured a group photo using the promise of an ice cream outing as an incentive and upon our return, photographed my brother who requested an individual portrait.

Shortly after lunch my brother Mark and I set out for a little kayaking. We put in at the South boat house and paddled up to the Sudbury bridge. Mark used the kayak that Maya built and found it to be to his liking, both roomy and stable.

Maya looked elegant in a new dress, hand tailored by her Aunt Marie, as she readied herself to attend a bar mitzva for a school mate.

Rose may be the smallest of the cousins but she commands more than her fair share of attention. She can switch from being coy to pouting to unbridled exuberance in the course of a minute.

The morning meal was prepared by Nicolai who cooked eggs to order for our expanded household of eleven. For dinner, Mark expertly sauteed scallops to complement a magnificent salad prepared by Jeanine and Marie.

Bringing to five the number of visiting cousins, John William Quinn, my sister Alissa’s son, joined us for dinner and spent the night. We like the fact that he is attending Babson which is a relatively short distance from our home. Kyle was very much missed from our gathering which did not seem quite the same without him. A recent ankle injury does not appear to be healing very well making his life more difficult than need be and we are all wishing him a speedy recovery.

When I returned from work this evening I was treated to a great surprise. My brother Mark was able to join the rest of his family for a weekend visit from Minnesota. Pictured here are my niece Sophia and her sister Rose. When I finished our basement, I built a kids-sized room with a tiny door and window underneath the stairs. I was pleased to see it occupied again as my children have long since outgrown it.

Heavy winds today produced this unfortunate outcome which I came across on my work commute. Fortunately, the car was unoccupied when the limb fell according to the owner who was also photographing the scene for his insurance company.

This evening we celebrated the CCHS Wrestling team at a banquet in their honor. Naturally, Jeanine played a major role in providing food the event (pulled pork with barbecued ribs and chicken) and always seems happiest to me when dishing up a meal for a hungry crowd. Nicolai, decked out in tie and coat, delivered one of the captain’s speeches nicely summing up the challenges and rewards of being a wrestler and the importance of working hard to reach your full potential. I provided a slide show of 300 images from the season which played in the background all evening.

I took the red-eye from California to New York’s JFK and then flew on to Raleigh Durham, NC for meetings with iRobot’s maritime design facility. This team is responsible for our Seaglider, a deep-diving unmanned underwater vehicle capable of missions lasting several months and covering thousands of miles. It can be fitted with various sensor packages that collect data on temperature, salinity, ocean currents, contaminants, etc. When it surfaces, this data is transmitted via satellite to scientists on shore and they can send back new diving missions. I spent the day in meetings before flying back to Boston completing an exhausting 2-day, coast-to-coast-to-coast journey.

I arrived in San Luis Obispo, CA early this morning (3:30am body clock) after a flight delay resulted in a missed connection. I am here for 18 hours to visit with one of iRobot’s development teams which is now part of the organization I am managing. Arriving as late as I did the car rental agencies were closed so I took a taxi to my hotel. This morning I decided to walk to the office (2 miles) and passed the Madonna Inn along the way. This local landmark includes the inn, a restaurant and bakery and the property is adorned with a pseudo-Swiss-Alps exterior and lavish common rooms accented by pink roses, Western murals, and hammered copper. Each of the 109 guest rooms and suites is uniquely designed and themed, though some tourists (myself included) stop just to peek at the famous rock waterfall urinal located in the men’s washroom, a feature designed by Hollywood set designer Harvey Allen Warren.

I managed to coerce Maya into letting me measure her height this morning, something I have not done since last August. I have used a long 3/4 x 3/4 inch piece of wood to record the growth of all three children since we moved here nine years ago. With Kyle out of the house and Nico probably nearing his maximum height, Maya is the only one left to measure. She has grown 2 1/4 inches in the last 6 months. Quite pleased with her enhanced stature she requested that I tuck her in so she could sleep on the couch. Why do I get the feeling that a butterfly will soon emerge from this cocoon?

Later today I leave for San Luis Obispo, CA and then catch a red-eye to Raleigh Durham, NC where I will meet the remaining members of iRobot’s newly merged engineering team.