Middlesex Fells Reservation, often referred to simply as the Fells, is a 2,575-acre Massachusetts state park located in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester. Today I completed a 4 hour, 8-mile hike with a 30 pound pack on what turned out to be a glorious day.

I principally followed the mountain biking loop trail as it featured the most aggressive ascents and descents. So far this training hike has come the closest to what I can expect in Nepal. When I finished, I was tired and my feet were sore but I felt I could do the whole thing again tomorrow (which I may) a good sign of my readiness for the Annapurna Circuit. Obviously, the AC involves much greater elevation changes and will eventually reach an altitude of 17,769 feet which presents entirely different challenges. Still, I am pleased with my progress and am confident my calf muscle has fully recovered and will not be an issue on the trek. Jeanine and I dined with the former President of Open Table and his wife at 29 Sudbury, a newly opened restaurant featuring modern American food with an Italian influence. The meal was delightful as was the dinner conversation.

A work week abbreviated by the Veteran’s Day holiday came to a tasty end as iRobot employees threw a mini baby shower for one of our colleagues. The cake did little to help my efforts to trim down for Nepal and Jeanine’s homemade risotto dinner only added to the challenge. I am sure to lose a dozen pounds on my trek but it would be so much healthier to lose those pounds before I start. The weekend weather forecast sounds good and I plan to put in some serious training hikes which should offset the caloric damage done this week.

The Concord Police department has begun to use automated license plate scanners mounted on their patrol cars. These devices record the license plate numbers for all parked and moving vehicles that cross their path. The plate numbers are compared to a database for stolen cars and outstanding bench warrants in near real time. On average, these broad and indiscriminate sweeps are said to identify 5 stolen cars for every one million plates scanned. Given that no additional effort is required of the police officers these systems are very popular with law enforcement agencies and have been widely adopted. They are increasingly becoming the source of public controversy and I believe we will soon see a case which makes its way to the Supreme Court, testing the limits of this form of surveillance and the length of time for which the records can be archived. This technology will soon evolve to support facial recognition and the costs will drop allowing fixed systems to be placed in every traffic light.

Meet the Roomba 880, announced by iRobot yesterday. It uses an entirely new cleaning system that is superior to our older products in every way and sports a much more sophisticated industrial design. I am extremely proud of the team that delivered this program which is being viewed as a great success internally and based on early press coverage is being very well received in the market as well. It will be available exclusively from the iRobot online store until we have ramped up production volumes sufficiently to meet the demands of our normal distribution channels. Stay tuned for another new ground breaking robot that will be announced in the near future.

I have had to wait three months for an interview with the Logan Airport TSA to complete my application for the Global Entry program which allows participants to clear US customs through an automated kiosk, presumably in less time. Unfortunately, my appointment overlapped a very interesting training session on negotiating skills that I was attending. Earlier in the day we completed a simulated pricing negotiation exercise with the goal of maximizing profits through a series of 8 pricing actions against a competitor who was also striving to maximize profits. My three person team achieved a perfect profit score, an outcome realized by only 3% of the participants who have ever taken this test. Riding high on this outcome it was tough to pull myself away from the class to drive down to Logan. I was expecting light pre rush hour traffic but got delayed on Storrow Drive where some moron had ignored signs prohibiting truck traffic. Judging by the debris field, someone driving a Penske rental truck sheared off the top of the box truck on not one but two low clearance bridges. It appears as if they just kept driving with a progressively shorter vehicle. Once I arrived at Logan, I had little time to spare and Central Parking was all but full slowing me down even more. I sprinted from the garage to the TSA office arriving just in time for my appointment. It must be said that you probably do not make a good impression by sweating profusely during a security interview. The agent took my picture, scanned my finger prints and asked a few questions which I apparently answered correctly. As I left the airport the sun was setting over the terminal and I paused for a quick photo.

The Veteran’s Day holiday afforded me time for a long training hike today. I walked mostly along the Bay Circuit Trail from the Old North Bridge in Concord to downtown Bedford, a 9.3-mile round trip. I had planned to turn around at the Bedford Depot and pause for a snack and beverage. Unfortunately, I found it closed for the holiday and had to forge on further to find food and drink. I completed the excursion in just over 3 hours averaging 3.2 miles per hour over the essentially flat trail carrying a meager 5 pounds of camera gear. With a half mile to go, I started to feel a few hot spots on the balls of my feet which turned into blisters before I had finished. Fortunately, they are relatively small and will turn into callouses in a day or two. Maya returned from New York City with tales of go-cart racing, water taxis, fine dining, shopping, and an evening out at a comedy improvisation club.

I watched from the sidelines as my soccer team concluded our season with a 0-0 tie, good enough to earn us a fourth-place finish in our Division 1 league. Even though my calf muscle is feeling quite strong now, I did not want to risk re-injuring it this close to my Nepal trek. After the game, we joined the Concord O-30 and O-40 squads for a cookout during which we recruited players who will turn fifty this year to move up to our team. We will be getting at least one lightning-fast forward who will make us much more competitive next season. Our backyard Japanese Maple produces some of the most beautiful fall leaves and this may be the final weekend before their season comes to an end as well.

Jeanine and I had planned to climb Mount Washington today as a tune up for my upcoming Himalaya adventure. A quick check of the weather forecast, however, advised against it. Temperatures ranging from 7F-21F, 1.5 inches of snow and average winds of 50 mph with gusts to 100 mph were forecasted. While I may encounter these conditions on the Thorung La high pass during my trek, the goal of today’s climb is to verify that my calf muscle is up to the task while carrying my fully loaded pack and to test drive my new gear. We opted to climb Mount Monadnock instead with temperatures in the high 30s and no precipitation. We utilized the White Cross trail, a 4.2 mile round trip with a total vertical ascent of 1800 feet on grades up to 30%. It took us 2 hours to reach the 3165 foot summit where we enjoyed crystal clear views and could easily see the Boston skyline some 65 miles away. Windchill temperatures on top were sub freezing so we lingered there for only 15 minutes before starting the 2 hour and 15 minute descent. Going down took longer because of our aging knees and the icy conditions on the steep rocks. My calf held up well under the weight of my 30 pound pack and my new boots were extremely comfortable. I did discover several small gear issues which I will need to address. The bite valve on my hydration bladder does not provide sufficient flow (will replace with a better one), my down hat allows perspiration to drip onto my chest mounted camera bag (need some kind of sweat band or different hat), and I need to provide easier access to my toilet paper when needed for a runny nose. Maya is visiting several of her Farm & Wilderness camp friends in New York City this weekend so Jeanine and I enjoyed a nice date night at Paparazzi to celebrate our climb.

UPDATE: The satellite image below was taken in 2024 as the memorial to this event fades into history.

Jeanine’s lemon tree has produced a bumper crop of lemons this season. The miniature tree has yielded 4 huge, very yellow lemons which I hope to consume soon in the form of a refreshing beverage. The tree occupies a corner in our breakfast nook and receives fairly good sun for half the day. I believe the tree was a gift from Jeanine’s father and I am sure these lemons hold a special meaning for her. When my father passed away, I requested his lambskin slippers. I think of him every day as I slip them on.

Occasionally I still get an opportunity to contribute to product concept ideation. While I am not at liberty to explain my crude prototype, pictured here, I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed participating with members of my organization, wearing my engineer hat in place of my VP hat, to solve an interesting design challenge for a future iRobot product. Work has been incredibly demanding over the past month or so as my team readied two major new products for launch, the first ones to be developed entirely on my watch. I am extremely proud of my engineering team and all that they have accomplished. I can’t wait till these new babies hit the shelves.

Jeanine returned from a two-day visit with my sister who lives near Albany, NY. Whenever Alissa suggests to Jeanine that they first meet up in Lee, MA, I can predict that both will be returning home with bags full of new clothing. Home to 60 premium brand outlet stores, the mall can induce a euphoric buying frenzy in the frugal and value-conscious shopper. As someone who cannot pass up a sale on Arcteryx brand clothing or gear I am in no position to pass judgement on these Lee encounters. Jeanine put her new outfit, modeled here, to immediate use for a work function that she attended today.

After raising two sons I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the gender. Boys are simple creatures driven by simple motives (food, sex, …. actually that is the complete list). Girls on the other hand remain a complete mystery to me. When I returned from work this evening, I walked into the kitchen to find Fiona choking Sarinnagh while Maya was cooking eggs for them. Rather than fighting to get away, Sarinnagh was laughing uncontrollably while Maya seemed oblivious to the whole scene, very focused on her cooking. In the same setting, Kyle and Nico would have been hell-bent on demonstrating total physical superiority and would have stopped only when the eggs were ready to eat. Think dogs.

Later that evening while I was watching TV on the couch, Maya approached nonchalantly, seated herself high on the sofa back without saying a word and promptly placed her freezing cold bare feet directly on top of my bald head where they remained for several minutes. When she absorbed all the heat available at that location she started burrowing her feet under my back and arm pits in search of more. As soon as her toes were warm again she left as casually as she had arrived and without saying a word. Think cat.

Jeanine left this morning to visit my sister in Albany, NY leaving me to supervise Maya and Nala. When she is away it is my responsibility to ensure adequate nutrition for those left under my care. The dog can survive for several days without food so there is much margin for error. Feeding Maya, on the other hand, demands a more consistent and thoughtful approach. Fortunately, Concord has restaurants which serve all three meals of the day affording me an effective outsourced solution. While on one such excursion I encountered a large herd of black cows (only a small fraction shown here) in a field that is normally vacant and I was compelled to stop for a photo. Even though my calf is feeling pretty good, I opted not to play soccer this weekend. I have learned that stressing this particular muscle too early is not a good idea. Sobering to learn that a division 2 player from my league died of a heart attack during his game today. Puts my minor injury into stark perspective.