I facilitated my first all-hands meeting of the Engineering team at work today. I challenged participants to design an award-winning new product in one hour.  They rose to the challenge and I was pleased to see such good collaborative and engineering skills at play.

This distinctive bit of artwork can be found on the facade of the Cambridge Public Library, located a 5-minute walk from the Superpedestrian office. Had I taken a wide-angle photo you would have seen two homeless individuals sleeping on the concrete sidewalk below.

Motivated by a 30% discount on custom holiday cards, I completed this year’s design before the promotion ended at midnight.  For someone who takes so many photos, I was amazed at how few of the family I had from this past year and resolved to take more. Here is one of Kyle preparing dinner. He trains at the gym every morning before working on his programming course and is looking mighty strong these days.

Jeanine and I went out for lunch today and caught owner Steve Verrill cooking up a massive pan of beef stew at Verrill Farm.  Jeanine gets very excited any time she sees large cooking utensils being put to good use. She will take a break from her Executive Director role at Open Table next week to be head chef for one of their community dinners.

Nala is aging gracefully and has now surpassed Jeanine and me in relative age. It is somewhat disconcerting to see changes in her that are just around the corner for us. She remains as dumb and cute as ever but has now developed an acute aversion to being photographed.

I received a new lens in the mail today and through sheer laziness did all of my testing while sacked out on the couch. From that vantage point, our entry foyer is the most interesting subject.  I am in the middle of transitioning camera systems and have been buying one new lens for each one I sell.

The commute to Cambridge is almost tolerable if I leave at 6:30 AM as was the case this morning with a door-to-door time of 42 minutes. The breakfast options within walking distance of the office are impressive and the walk invariably presents new photo ops. You simply don’t see dumpsters decorated in this manner anywhere in Concord.

Couldn’t resist this shot of my bonsai as I was headed out the door this morning. The sun had just risen and was bathing our Japanese maple in golden light. Wish I had spent a few more minutes to set up some foreground lighting but beating the crush of commuter traffic was a higher priority.

The only aspect of my new job that I do not like is the commute. Last week it averaged 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Today I left the house at 6:30AM and used a couple of back road detours and was able to reach the office in 44 minutes; wahoo!! Having skipped breakfast I walked a half mile down Brookline Ave to Central Square where I found a great place to eat.  I can tell this is going to become a routine.  The breakfast sandwich I had was out of this world and the walk, featuring great urban art scenes along the way, is a wonderful way to kick off my work day.

My Division 1 over-56 soccer team closed the fall season this morning with a come-from-behind 2-2 tie securing us a 3rd-place finish in the league. I managed 60 minutes of play before re-tweaking the hamstring that has been plaguing me all season. With 6 goals in the four matches I played healthy, it is one of my better seasons in some time. I think I am going to skip the indoor season and let my various injuries heal thoroughly.

Our Japanese maple is always the last to turn color and a beautiful focal point in our backyard. We planted this tree shortly after moving here some 14 years ago and it has grown to be quite large. Also in full color are the two massive burning bushes that frame our front yard (only one pictured below). I took advantage of the nice weather to winterize our irrigation system and outdoor water faucets, relocate our snowblower from the shed to our garage, and spend some time working on the tiny house.

I am loving everything about my new job except the commute. Each day I try a different route in an attempt to avoid the traffic pinch points. This experimentation sometimes leads to interesting discoveries as was the case this morning when I encountered a block-long row of scarecrows.

The Superpedestian office is what you would expect of a startup on a tight budget. The pair of buildings we occupy are rather nondescript and look more like a bike shop than anything else.  We are rapidly running out of space and have to share what little remains with dozens and dozens of bikes. I believe we have more bikes than employees at this point and they are even used for wall art (which I find very cool).

I received this photo from Jeanine in a text but was too busy at work to figure out what she was up to.