This shot may or may not be used at work but it is what I envisioned when building the black printer pedestal.  I spent the morning doing more photography for work while Jeanine and Maya had the cracked windshield on the Audi replaced.

I left work a little early to photograph our new Mark Two printer.  The project proved quite challenging because I had to avoid reflections in the plexiglass visor and deal with specular highlights all over the place.  It took several hours but I finally got an image that I liked.

Nicolai was the subject of a post on A Woman’s View, a blog by Lenore Buth, titled Are heroes born or made?

It is a wonderfully written piece and it brings us joy to see that Nico continues to be an inspiration to so many.

The post makes reference to an interview that Nico did with Impressive Magazine.  I was not aware of that article but was able to locate it with a quick search; The Amazing Story of Nico Calabria.

I left work early to buy paint and lay down a first coat on the printer pedestal I am building.  I am starting with a matte black finish but may change to grey or white once I see how it looks with a printer on top.  It is shown here lying on its back.

Later this week I will be taking a “hero” shot of our recently announced Mark Two printer.  I have decided I would like to place it on a slightly undersized pedestal so that it really stands out from its environment.  The pedestal will also be useful at work if it is not commandeered as a base for a permanent display in our lobby. I began construction this evening and it should be ready for painting tomorrow.

Joseph Smedley was a childhood friend of Nicolai’s.  This weekend we learned that he died late last year. A student at Indiana University, his body was discovered floating in Griffy Lake near the Bloomington campus.  The police have ruled his death a suicide but after reviewing the details of the case with his sister and brother-in-law this weekend, I am 100% certain that this was not the case.  A note (image below) was found in the apartment he shared with brothers of the Sigma Pi fraternity. According to his sister, this is not Joseph’s handwriting.  To my way of thinking it reads like an attempt to discourage a search for a missing person rather than a suicide note. Furthermore, Joseph did not have a passport or the financial means to leave the country.  This blog entry would grow quite lengthy if I conveyed all the additional information suggesting that Joseph did not take his own life.  Given the note was likely a forgery and was placed in his apartment it seems obvious to me that his roommates were involved in his disappearance.  Jeanine has introduced Joseph’s sister to several of our contacts in Indianapolis who should be of help in reopening the investigation and solving the mystery of his death.

With no assistance from her mother, Maya did a little baking this afternoon. She prepared galette des rois as part of a french class assignment. My offers to conduct quality control testing were rejected. Instead I got a good workout with my chainsaw. I had to fell a rather large pine tree which had been badly damaged by our recent snow storm. The weight of the wet snow brought down many large limbs and left the trunk of the tree badly compromised.

Other than eating, my day was composed of exactly three activities. I shuttled Maya to and from her 4 hour ACT exam in Belmont, spent a few hours photographing the spectacular snowscapes that can be found everywhere today, and binge watched the entire third season of The Newsroom. It was the most relaxing Saturday I have enjoyed in quite a while. The Newsroom is hands down my favorite TV series of all time. The characters and writing are exceptional. The show holds up a highly polished mirror to the American news media, politics and capitalism as three couples, clearly destined for each other, pursue the most circuitous paths to happiness.

The first serious storm of the winter dumped half a foot of very wet snow over the region. Although it is the most photogenic type of snow, it can also be the most damaging. Jeanine reported a number of very large downed limbs and I left work a little early to survey the damage. The sun had just set as I crossed the Sudbury River leaving the sky tinted with a soft red brush.  My chainsaw is certainly going to get a workout this weekend and one of our larger pine trees will have to come down but fortunately our house was undamaged.

Friends alerted us to the fact that Nico was featured in this week’s issue of the Concord Journal. Neither of us were able to attend his speaking engagement so it was nice to see this image of him in action.

My mother, at 87, can dance circles around women half her age. I hope I am equally active 30 years from now although I doubt I will be able to find an over 80 soccer league to play in. According to my sister, who posted this video on her Facebook page, my mom had already been dancing for three hours when this video was made of her partnering with the class instructor.

Maya’s nordic ski season concluded today with both the CCHS Boys and Girls Varsity teams winning the Mass Bay West Conference. Maya elected to compete even though she was suffering with the flu. She looked very puny but turned in a great performance nonetheless. She finished the 5.4km course in 20:17 shaving an unbelievable 3 minutes off her last race.

As a result of my annual physical exam last week, I was treated to a cardiovascular stress test this morning. I enjoyed the workout but was not so happy about having patches of my chest hair shaved off.