I received this set of photos from one of our partners in China after my recent visit. Does this person remind you of anyone you know?

When I look back on my life, it is hard to imagine where the 61 years have gone since my birth. With each passing year, it feels like time is accelerating and I feel more compelled to suck every bit of marrow from the bone. As is my habit on my birthday, I like to take stock in how closely I am living to the standard of my Constancy of Purpose credo. This year with letter grades.

Achieve Balance:

• Remain Healthy (B-)
• Spend Time with Family (C)
• Work Passionately (A)

Strive for Excellence:

• Improve Everything I Touch (A)
• Learn Something New Every Day (A-)
• Create Innovative Works of Enduring Value (A)

Enjoy Life:

• Seize the Day (A)
• Remain Curious (A-)
• Dare to be Great (B)

I spent the morning on the soccer pitch; a more perfect fall day you could not ask for. I got about 40 minutes of playing time which was just the right amount and managed one very nice shot on goal that just missed wide. We secured a 6-1 win. I spent the rest of the day with Jeanine and the boys. We watched the Patriots game together, played an epic match of bocce (with Maya observing via FaceTime), and then enjoyed a birthday meal including one of my childhood favorite foods; corn fritters. Kyle, while manning the grill, spotted the coyote pictured above. I managed to get my telephoto lens mounted just in time to capture his purposeful traverse of the field behind our house.

My travel over the last 10 days has taken me around the globe once from west to east. My final stop was in Seoul where I had a 15 hour layover. Rather than try to sleep at the airport, I took a train into the city and rented a micro hotel room (exactly enough space for a bed and bathroom, 10ft x 10ft). Before going to sleep, I walked from my hotelette to the base of Namsan Mountain and then climbed one mile of stairs to reach the base of the Seoul Tower (774ft tall). An elevator took me to the top of the tower which offers a spectacular 360 degree view of the city. My laptop does not have sufficient memory to stitch together the huge panoramic photo I made and it will have to wait till I get back home.

I have visited Hong Kong many times over the years. This time I choose a hotel close to both Kowloon Park and the Xiqu Cultural Center, areas that I have not had a chance to see before. I had a couple of hours to look around before boarding my return flight which heads to Boston by way of Seoul.

The optical modules used in Formlab printers must be fabricated in clean rooms to prevent the introduction of potential contaminants. The outfits above were required before entering to keep dust from our clothing and hair from getting in. Because our lasers are calibrated in this area special safety glasses are also required. After touring the factory and meeting with the management team here I departed for Hong Kong where my flight home departs tomorrow.

I had an opportunity today to visit our main contract manufacturer as well as one of our injection mounded plastic suppliers. During lunch with our factory partners, one of the dishes served was sweet potato wedges covered in warm honey. Ten minutes after it arrived at the table, it became very difficult to pick up a single potato wedge because they all had become stuck together. I inquired if there was some trick to separating them with chopsticks. The answer was no, it was just a very sticky problem that either took fingers or multiple people. This provoked a conversation on chopstick dexterity during which I mentioned that on my last trip to China I had managed to pick up three peanuts at once. To my great surprise and the amusement of all gathered, a bowl of peanuts arrived at the table two minutes later. With the pressure on, I was able to duplicate the feat on my first attempt. Future visitors from Formlabs may be encouraged to challenge my record. For your effort to count, you must produce photographic evidence and an affidavit from a present witness that no cheating occurred.

After a total of 20 hours of elapsed travel time (11h flying, 4h driving, 5h waiting in airports), I arrived at the Aloft hotel in Huanggekeng by mid-afternoon. I have stayed in better and I have stayed in worse. Within a couple of blocks you can find the Guanjingtou Reservoir, the Yitan Holiday World shopping area, some decent restaurants, and the ugly high rise apartments that dominate the landscape of most modern cities in China. It never ceases to amaze me how much China has changed since I first visited some two decades ago.

After a weekend of travel, hiking and photography, it was back to work today. My next stop is China where I will visit two of the factories responsible for manufacturing Formlabs printers. My flight is out of Zagreb through Moscow and on to Hong Kong before finishing the trip into China by car. I will be staying just north and west of Shenzhen.

I left my weekend bungalow just outside Plitvice early enough to give myself about an hour in Zagreb while en route to the airport. The Cathedral of Zagreb is one of the cities most prominent landmarks and as is often my luck, parts of it are under going repairs which detracts from the photo somewhat. Still I could have spent hours there if not for my departure deadline.

While walking around the cathedral I came upon a farmers market the likes of which I have never seen. I regret not having stopped for a while to partake of the luscious fruit but I had little enough time as it was.

I should like to return to Zagreb in the future. It is a beautiful city with a great deal of beauty around every corner.

I spent the better part of the day in Rastoke, a lovely little town built atop the Slunjčica River (enters top right) just before it falls into the Korana River (on the left). Houses and restaurants are nestled on little islands on micro-sized lakes connected by waterfalls, small and large. The sound of babbling waters can be heard everywhere and everything is connected by tiny foot bridges.

The water is so clean that you can see right to the bottom and in photos it is easy to mistake it for the dirt and rocks at the bottom.

While walking around, I wandered into a fairy garden where I found dozens of tiny ones and a trio of big ones in addition to beautiful butterflies.

Usually I only make one posting per day. Today I am making an exception to cover my afternoon excursion into Bosnia Herzegovina. Crossing the border by car could not have been easier. The same cannot be said of the last 7km of my two hour drive to the Una National Park. I think the 1-1/4 lane, two-way dirt road is kept that way to keep visitors to an absolute minimum. The challenging drive was well worth the effort. Pictured above are the Štrbački buk falls which are as pretty as any I have ever seen.

On my drive back to Croatia I stopped for a number of photos. Many buildings are still riddled with bullet damage from the war. I stopped to photograph the remnants of a church that appeared to be destroyed by an artillery shell. At the exact instant I was thinking that thought, a MASSIVE explosion occurred right behind the church. I practically had a heart attack as I dove for cover. When I gathered my wits, I figured out that there was a rock quarry behind the church being mined with explosives.

The town of Bihać is quite lovely with a tamer version of River Una running through it. As the sun was setting, I spotted a beautiful hilltop mosque and stopped there for my last photo of the day. Having skipped breakfast and lunch, food was now my main priority. I had a wonderful black truffle risotto for diner making up for all the depravation of the day.

Yesterday after my last meeting I took a bus from Budapest to Zagreb (4.5h) and then rented a car and drove to Plitvice Lake National Park (2h). I arrived at the bungalow I am renting after midnight and was fortunate the owner was kind enough to wait up for me or I might have spent the night in the car. I was at the park entrance bright and early, well in advance of the hoards that descend here later in the day. Drones are not permitted in the park so I had to do a good bit of hiking to get the shot above. Click to enlarge to fully appreciate these magnificent water falls. By 11am the crowds were intolerable so I set off for Bosnia Herzegovina and a much less popular national park there.

Originally scheduled to arrive Budapest at midnight last night, my flight was delayed and I did not land until 1am. By the time I made it to the apartment room I rented it was 2am and I was asleep by 3am after a 2-mile walk to stretch my legs. I arrived at the Formlabs office here an hour ahead of my first scheduled meeting and used the time for a very quick walk down to the river front for some photos. After meeting the entire team in a series of meetings, we all had lunch together and finished off with an ice cream social. This is something I had promised the team if we achieved a high enough participation rate in a recent employee engagement survey.

Budapest is an absolutely beautiful city and one I hope to visit again (for more than 40m).

I was greeted at London Gatwick Airport early this morning after an all night flight by Queen Elizabeth. A pleasant way to start the day after a very turbulent flight and sleepless night.

I then traveled by car for 1.5h before arriving at one of Formlabs key manufacturers. Located well outside London in the most improbable setting, nestled into farmland, this very high tech company is doing great work for us and I had highly productive meetings which ended by late afternoon. While waiting for my taxi to the airport, I put up the drone for an aerial view of the bucolic setting.

Pictured below is Rose, one of the highly skilled artisans who help make our product.

This evening I leave for Europe and Asia on a ten day business trip. To avoid the expense of airport parking, I took the commuter rail to North Station and walked from there to work. Nicolai dropped me off at the Concord train station on his way to work and also took the above image of me with my full travel kit (45L pack plus camera). I will try and document my travels from the road.