Those who know me are aware that the only radio station I listen to is NPR. It is also my habit to send Jeanine a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day and to support the station’s fundraising in so doing. This year, I decided to also give Jeanine a Meyer lemon tree. The one that was passed down to her by her father did not survive an attempt to re-pot it last year and I know its loss has left an empty spot in her heart. She was as thrilled to receive it as I was to give it.

Today I consulted at Formlabs. I had a total of 17scheduled meetings and a working lunch with my prior engineering leadership team. Although I was exhausted by the end, it was also a very satisfying day. I enjoy mentoring and coaching and on this occasion feel I made a positive difference for many I met with. I returned home to a lovingly prepared Valentine’s Day dinner with Jeanine and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I outdid myself with a gift for her which I will cover in tomorrow’s post.

There was a lot of excitement at work today as parts for a new printer arrived. Everyone chipped in with the build effort. Unlike the high volume products I have worked on in the recent past, we build our products in house. The base and gantry pictured here weigh over a thousand pounds which necessitates some pretty interesting construction techniques.

Winter thus far has been rather mild. I suspect we still have at least one big storm in front of us but would be just as happy if today’s light snow is the last of the season.

The last time I was in Amsterdam was with Nicolai in 2007. We had a layover there while en route to Tanzania. We had just enough time for a bus tour of the city before heading back to the airport. Nicolai has terrorized pigeons on 4 continents.

Maya shared a photograph of her breakfast taken in Amsterdam where she is studying abroad. I am counting on her for more pictures to help sustain my daily posting need for relevant photos.

Jeanine and I spent the night at the Elm Street Inn, a delightful bed and breakfast directly across the street from Smith College. After a fantastic breakfast, we went for a walk on campus passing by the President’s house, strolling through a small Japanese garden and visiting, at length, the Botanic Garden pictured below.

Jeanine and I traveled to Northampton, MA today to meet up with my cousin Heather and her husband Burton. They treated us to a wonderful dinner followed by a modern dance recital featuring the choreography of their daughter, Toni. The performance, which we enjoyed thoroughly, was her final project towards a Master of Fine Arts degree from Smith College.

A storm this evening left vegetation covered in thick ice at higher elevations.

At work, our 3D metal printers require an inert atmosphere in order to prevent oxidation. This is achieved by filling our hermetically sealed printing chamber with argon gas. We use so much of it that we have a large tank behind our facility which is replenished every time it runs low. This evening, I had a chance to watch as the “argon man” refilled the tank within the foggy mist created by the process.

I recently depleted my supply of epoxy hardener and resin while completing a project for work. The replacements I ordered online arrived in a partially crushed condition. Needless to say, I was not too pleased with this situation and have contacted the company which shipped them to me. Based on these photos, they have agreed to a partial refund.

Also discovered in my mother’s photography collection is this picture of my aunt Barbara, the second wife of my father’s brother, Ernie. The two also enjoyed a professional relationship as Barbara and Ernie, a musical duet who produced an album of the same name. My uncle was a childhood friend of and occasional guitarist for Tony Bennett who sang at his funeral. He played on numerous albums, most notably for Harry Belafonte.

My grandmother on my mother’s side was a shrewd businesswoman. Born in Ecuador, she started a transportation business with a single bus and eventually grew it into a small fleet. She then sold the buses to invest in real estate, starting with one apartment building and eventually purchased more. She then sold these to finance the move of the family to the United States where she started again with a single apartment building. There is little doubt that my business sense comes from my Abuelita. I found this picture of her in my mother’s collection.

Two is my favorite number, no doubt in part due to my training in logic design whose language of expression is binary numbers. Today, therefore, represents an unusually pleasing date for me. I assisted Jeanine on her mission to clean out the freezer by eating long ago purchased frozen pancakes for breakfast. This pushed my standard weekend fried eggs to the lunch slot and the day ended with chili, a SuperBowl Sunday standard. I spent the rest of the day organizing my shop and office with a small excursion to get my car washed and find a remotely interesting photo given the dreary grey sky.