Kyle requested a new headshot for his LinkedIn profile and I was happy to create this for him. I think the result was pretty good but we both felt it could be better and will try again.  His hair is quite beautiful and I did not do a very good job of lighting it.

We then spent an embarrassingly large amount of time watching World Cup soccer, sometimes with Jeanine and sometimes with her sister Susan who is visiting us for the weekend with her friend Jean.

Visiting us for the weekend is Jeanine’s sister, Susan, and her friend Jean. Kyle joined the four of us for dinner at El Huipil, a Mexican restaurant in Maynard.  Susan, an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont and Chairperson of the Social Work department in the College of Education and Social Services will be retiring in the coming months.  In lieu of a retirement gift, Susan has requested that a wall within her building be dedicated in her name.  Kyle and I enjoyed brainstorming with her about different ideas for how to memorialize it. 

At my last startup, we were initially located in a windowless machine shop and my desk was 3 feet away from a CNC milling machine that was running more often than not. Superpedestrian is located in the two buildings nearest the camera. The smaller white one is our main office which resembles a bike shop when you walk in the door.  The larger off-yellow one is where the engineering organization resides.  In addition to these two buildings, we also have rented the first floor of an adjacent apartment building where we have located a number of conference rooms. What these buildings lack in elegance they more than make up for in character.  Little by little we have been renovating the interior to create larger labs and more open space.

The Quincy Quarries were first opened in 1825 to supply granite for the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston’s historic Charlestown neighborhood and was actively mined to one degree or another until 1963. Once abandoned, the Quarries slowly flooded and became a popular — if dangerous — site for cliff jumping. A number of people began to die jumping into the flooded pits, so in order to curb the practice, a number of wooden pylons were placed sticking out of the water. However, these eventually sank below the waterline, becoming invisible, and deadly. The death toll went through the roof.

After being closed to the public for a number of years, the site was reopened in the 1980s after dirt from Boston’s “Big Dig” was used to fill in the pits. Now, Quincy Quarries is linked to the Blue Hill Reservation trail system and is open to the public. It has become very popular for its spectacular array of graffiti art, rock climbing, and views of downtown Boston. 
I left the house at 5 am so I could arrive at the quarry before it was overrun with people and so I could still beat the traffic into Boston for work. Unfortunately, this did not leave time for any climbing which would have produced more interesting photos.  I will simply have to make another visit.

I have been without my Mavic Air drone for over a week while it was being repaired.  For some reason, the internal fan stopped working causing the unit to overheat.  Fortunately, the failure was covered under warranty and the manufacturer chose to replace the entire unit.  When I returned from work it was waiting for me so I did a quick flight over the house to test it out before the sun was gone. Props to the drone maker, DJI, for prompt and hassle-free service.

Over the weekend I did a series of Copenhagen Wheel photos for  work.  I enjoyed the assignment but not the results thus far.  Lighting such a highly reflective object is tricky and I do not feel I have quite arrived at the optimal result.  The goal of the image is to celebrate the interface between the hub and spokes, a design element we call a smiley for reasons which should be self explanatory. I think I will make another attempt later in the week when the effects of yesterday’s soccer match have worn off and I am feeling like doing something other than sleeping.
 

I was back on the soccer pitch this morning, my knees having made a partial recovery from my patellar tendinitis. With only one sub remaining by the end of the game, I was pressed into action for over 70 minutes which was quite a strain given my lack of practice over the last 3 weeks. Despite my poor conditioning, I managed to assist on one of our 4 goals. With one game remaining in the regulation season, my team has yet to give up a single goal and has amassed a total of 58. After the game, I attended a cookout at the home of our goalie. His backyard could pass for an arboretum with one of the larger trees serving as a home to a mother and child raccoon.

Jeanine and I enjoyed a visit to Clark Farm where we are now members of their CSA. We then made stops at their farmer stand (including adjacent garden, pictured below) and finally at Kimball Farms for ice cream. 

In response to the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade this week Kyle made the following posting on his Facebook page yesterday.  Jeanine and I found it very moving and with his permission I share it here.

Two beautiful people lost this past week. Both passed on by their own hand. Both reached the pinnacle of success in their respective pursuits.

Mental illness afflicts people from all walks of life. A facade of success sometimes hides a soul in distress. A destitute circumstance sometimes breeds love and connection.

Tell the people in your life, including yourself, that you love them. Sending out love and positive energy today.

When I joined Superpedestrian my only non-negotiable  requirement was a 4 day work week, an attempt to retain a small measure of my early retirement freedom to travel. Given ideal weather today, I decided to use my day off for a road trip. The destination I selected was Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut, a three hour drive from Concord. There I was treated to the waterfall for which the park is named, a series of drops covering 250 feet in total and accessible by a short but steep trail.

Realizing I was only 15 miles away, I decided to also visit Lime Rock Park,  a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue.  My timing could not have been more fortunate.  Tomorrow is eEuroFest, New England’s premier European auto event hosted by eEuroparts.com. Today was an exclusive preview event for VIPs.  I knew none of this when I pulled up to the gate where an older gentleman mumbled something, handed me a waiver form on a clip board for my signature, and then waved me in. I followed the car ahead of me into the infield area where I parked in a queue of cars about a dozen deep.  A few minutes later I realized I was in line to take hot laps on the autocross track, a notion I entertained for a few more glorious moments.  I had borrowed Jeanine’s BMW X1 SUV for the day and it has a very compelling sports mode and option to shift manually.  All the other cars in line, however,  were low slung. fast looking exotics and the idea of sliding through the corners with my camera gear flying all over the place while trying to avoid colliding with the other adrenaline pumped “enthusiast” drivers seemed unwise.  Instead I parked nearby and settled for the pleasure of photographing these cars in action.

I stopped several more times during the remainder of my 340 mile (7.5 hour drive time) road trip and returned with a nice collection of images.

When I started working at Superpedestrian I was given a new bicycle fitted with a Copenhagen Wheel.  Sadly the bike frame was reminiscent of the one used by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, which is to say, not really my cup of tea.  Today I swapped the wheel onto the bike I bought for myself a couple of years ago. I am now prepared to start riding in earnest and may even be able to keep up with Jeanine on her regular bike. Kyle took it for a test spin around the neighborhood and plans to make use of it when I am not.

I decided to focus on the sculptures I encountered during my morning walk today. All were found on the campus of Boston University which is just across the river from Superpedestrian. Trying to select a 2 dimensional slice of a 3 dimensional object is always a challenge and I found myself wondering what perspective the sculptors would have chosen. Perhaps they would have declined to make a choice at all arguing that the only way to appreciate sculpture is by experiencing it from all perspectives and by sampling the texture, characteristics which do not translate to photography at all.

Bunnies are intrinsically pretty cute. Baby bunnies even more so. This little fellow allowed me to get surprisingly close.  Lucky for him, I was not the gardener who planted the flowers on which he was snacking.

Local TV coverage of last weekends amputee soccer tournament.

This morning team USA faced England for a second time. The score at half time was 1-0 in favor of the UK on a penalty kick.  The US played one of their better halves of soccer demonstrating they could hang with one of the best teams in the world. Superior conditioning of the Brits in the second half and the loss of a couple of our players to injury resulted in a 6-0 final score.

All in all, the tournament, the first hosted by the US in more than a decade, was a great success. Team USA continues to show great improvement and promise for the future.  Key to our prospects in the World Cup will be a commitment to better conditioning and more frequent opportunities to practice together as a team.  The latter has always been an issue of funding which we are starting to overcome with recent grants to the AASA.  We are one very generous donation away from developing into a world-class team. Any wealthy followers of this blog or potential team sponsors are encouraged to contact me.

After the closing ceremony Nicolai and I made our way to Space Center Houston where we learned about the history of the NASA space program before heading to the airport for our respective flights home.