For the last twelve years, our family has attended the Metzold’s Fourth of July party. Tom Metzold was my high school wrestling partner and we have remained great friends ever since. After 15 years, however, Karen announced that this would be the last one. Tom seemed less committed to that decision and I for one will show up next year regardless. As usual, the food was fantastic and the company entertaining (I ran into the referee from my match last week and was shocked to learn he had 9 children). Also true to form, Jeanine’s desert was the first to disappear, this year a No-bake Strawberry Ice-Box Cake.

Last night for the first time in a very long time I stayed up all night. I had an idea for a new printer head design and once I started the 3D model for it I could not stop. Finally, at 7 am I went to bed. I was up again at 10 am and spent most of the day continuing with the work. I paused only for food and a nap and finally took a break to watch some tennis with Nicolai who is still taking it easy after having his wisdom teeth extracted earlier this week. The photo is of the Sudbury River which I took last night shortly after sunset on my return commute.

Thus far in my career, I have had minimal exposure to material science. At MarkForged we are into this in a big way. Every day the team is cooking up and testing new materials to improve the strength and utility of the parts we print. Pictured here are some of the guys, including founder and CEO, Greg Mark (on the left), after a successful experiment with an exciting new material.

Maya left today for a three week vacation in the French Alps near the border with Italy. There, she and her best friends Sarinnagh and Emma, will spend time with Emma’s  family helping to restore an old French chalet. They took advantage of a brief layover in Dublin for a quick tour of the city before heading on to Barcelona to visit family.