Featured in this photo, taken in my office, is the product development leadership team that I have the pleasure of working with every day. I make a pretty big deal about hiring only the best people (“A players”). Assembled here is the Olympic gold medal team for mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, systems engineering, quality, and program management.

Finally, it was my turn to be included in an iRobot photograph. Pictured here is the SLT (Senior Leadership Team) including my peers and boss (seated left). I have taken all photos in this series from the top of a ladder to create a more balanced perspective of everyone in the picture. Using the ten-second timer on my camera I would trip the shutter, descend the ladder, and take my place. As much as I have enjoyed taking these images, I am looking forward to completing this project. Each photo takes 30 minutes out of my day (set up lighting, get the ladder, balance exposure, pose the group, take the photo, tear down the lighting, return the ladder, and process the images) which is starting to eat into the demands of my day job.

Jeanine and I teamed up today at our church where we are volunteering in the 3-4 year old nursery. I really enjoy being around kids of this age. They see the world in such simple and pure terms. I take a lot of joy in finding a way to relate with each child on their level. Most adults want to teach children how to be more like them. I believe kids have far more to teach us. After completing the activities in our lesson plan we enjoyed some unstructured time. Jeanine read aloud to some while I assisted these two with the construction of a lake which was eventually spanned by three bridges.

Nicolai faced his toughest competition of the season in the finals of the Dual County League Wrestling Tournament held today at Waltham High School. He breezed to the finals securing two first period pins bringing his streak to 10 in a row. There he faced Ben Defranzo, a former wrestling club teammate and sparing partner, who is currently ranked sixth in the state of Massachusetts. The match was extremely close and hard fought. Defranzo secured a lead in the second period after a scoreless first. He remained ahead by one point late into the third period when Nicolai with 2 seconds remaining on the clock scored a takedown to win the match 4-3. The crowd roared with approval for the come from behind, never say die effort. Nicolai was moved with emotion and I predict he will remember this match for the rest of his life. I could not have been more proud, less so for the win than for the heart of a lion that Nico displayed. Several of Nico’s close friends came to watch him in the finals and I credit them with providing the incremental motivation to win that was unquestionably a factor in a match this close. A dejected Defranzo leaves the mat and will no doubt be working out that much harder to defeat Nico the next time they meet. Nicolai will need to match and surpass that effort if he wants to compete at the state level this season.

My nephew John William, who is a freshman at Babson, celebrated his 19th birthday with us this evening. Jeanine cooked up a Mexican dinner which John seemed to enjoy immensely. For dessert, she prepared a chocolate pecan pie instead of a birthday cake. As skinny as a rail, it is not entirely clear where all the food goes into this recently minted adult.

Nicolai joined us at the table but was unable to eat anything as he is cutting weight for a major wrestling tournament tomorrow. He enters seeded second and is feeling very strong. Maya was joined by her friend Sarrinagh who made the fourth in the after-meal Euchre card game.

Nicolai invited several friends over this evening for an impromptu gathering/party. Jeanine and I really enjoy this group of kids and are happy they feel comfortable hanging out chez Calabria. They are preparing a batch of popcorn as I type explaining the brevity of this entry.

The largest group in my department is the Mechanical Engineering team. It was a tight squeeze but everyone managed to fit in our machine shop for the next group portrait in the series I have been shooting over the past week. See if you can tell which vacationing employee was PhotoShopped into the image after the fact.

This evening Maya’s indoor soccer team secured a first-place finish in their league. The final match was a come-from-behind draw that was settled with a penalty kick shoot-out. Maya took turns playing on defense, offense, and in the goal where she turned away all attempts on net.

I spent more than 20 hours this weekend organizing and streamlining my photography collection. I was able to cull 5000 images bringing the total to just over 80,000. Every photo I take is named according to the time of capture (YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS ###) and a 3-digit sequential count (some of my cameras can take 5 pictures per second). To remain agnostic to the various picture database programs that come and go I use keyword metadata contained within the files to describe search characteristics (who, what, when, where, rating, etc) to facilitate searching. For a little break from the monotony of keyword tagging, I redeveloped some of my favorite photos. Software has improved dramatically in the last several years allowing me to reprocess my original files into far superior prints. I took this photo in 2007 while hiking in northern Arizona.

Our first winter weather since the freak early storm we got last year led to the cancellation of Nicolai’s wrestling quad meet which I was looking forward to. Instead, I spent the entire day indoors working at my computer breaking only long enough to clear three inches of snow from the driveway. Nico benefited from an extra day to prepare for midterms and capped the day by hosting a dinner for a half dozen friends. He shopped for and prepared the meal which featured a Caprese salad followed by pasta with a choice of marinara or oil and garlic sauce.

After a strenuous work week, it is a great winter pleasure to just sit and relax in front of a nice fire. My father knew how to truly appreciate such moments and he would be pleased with how well I learned from him.

Meet the software development team that works in my department at iRobot. I have been methodically photographing each department for use on a new company intranet site. Unlike group portraits of my family, these folks are extremely cooperative and do not complain when I take ten minutes to pose everyone for the shot.

Nicolai scored his eighth straight pin and has now surpassed his father’s best-ever string. While winning by fall is the goal for which every wrestler strives, the downside is that Nico has yet to wrestle a full 6 minutes match. This may conspire against him later in the season when he faces the toughest competition. He will need to work that much harder in practice if he wants the brass ring.

Every once in a blue moon, I get a request from a family member for a specific blog photo. These are most welcomed as they alleviate the constant pressure to come up with my own ideas each day. Jeanine has been nurturing this flower for some time and today it was blooming in all its glory. I was so excited to have a subject for the day that I neglected to remember the name of this plant.

After joining me for a 6v6 soccer game this morning Nico invited a half dozen friends over to the house for a noon time brunch. Inspired, I believe, by our recent visit to the Paramount, Nico was taking individual orders and cooking all manner of eggs, bacon and pancakes with all the style (see photo of eggs being flipped) and speed of a seasoned short order cook. I was one of the beneficiaries of his efforts and could not have been more happy with my eggs over medium, bacon, and sour dough toast. Jeanine is to be credited with raising three children who all know how to and enjoy cooking.

Jeanine and I spent the night alone at my childhood home in Schenectady while Maya enjoyed a visit with her cousins. My top priority on this visit is to remove as many electrical wiring code violations as possible. A second objective is to do a room by room, wall by wall, photographic inventory of the homes contents for the benefit of my mother who continues to recuperate nicely in North Carolina where she is currently living with my sister Mayela. As we ready the home for sale she has been gifting her artwork and the other emotionally significant items to family and friends. The photographs will help her identify which items are still uncommitted and to create something of an inventory to help the rest of us track everything. We were joined by my brother-in-law Stephen who is in town for the weekend and will drive my mother’s Honda back to NC filled to the brim with items for his family. Pictured here is a portion of my father’s library from which hundreds of books have already been gifted.

Nicolai participated in a quad meet today with Acton Boxborough, the Latin School, and host Wayland. He wrestled at 106 pounds for the first time this season and looked positively dominant as he pinned all three of his opponents. For the remainder of the season there is a 2 pound growth allowance which should make this weight class just right for him. After the match Jeanine in her car and Maya with me in mine drove to Schenectady. I focused on bringing the electrical wiring up to code while the girls carefully packed a set of China that will be Maya’s one day.

iRobot recently launched a new internal website for the benefit of employees. I have been asked to create portraits for each group and department within the Home Robots divisions which will be used on the landing page for each organization. Today I photographed the smallest group within Product Development, our Systems Engineering team. This version of the photo is cropped differently from the one that will be used at iRobot because it includes a new design which we have not shown in its current form outside the company.

For only the second time this winter season we had snow this morning. On my way into work I made a 5 minute detour to Great Meadows and climbed the observatory in search of an interesting snowscape. Nothing appealed to me until I turned around to descend and decided to capture the virgin automotive and human tracks in the parking lot. After a half inch of accumulation the snow gave way to rain and our white pristine blanket has disappeared as quickly as it came.

The CCHS wrestling team faced Newton South this evening scoring a decisive victory. Nicolai pinned his opponent in the second period but not before reopening the mat burn under his right eye. Although he views it as something of a badge of honor now, such wounds can persist for the entire season if not aggressively managed. Worse yet they can become badly infected and leave lasting scars. Needless to say we are insisting Nicolai take extreme measures to protect it from further exposure by bandaging it before wrestling.

In the photo below, taken by another parent and stylized by me, you can see the shooting position I use when photographing wrestling. The low angle makes for a much more dramatic photo but also exacts a heavy toll on my neck and lower back muscles. In theory this is probably good exercise but after an hour and a half I feel like I have wrestled a couple of matches myself.

Maya started a new round of dance classes this evening and is taking back-to-back ballet and modern with a new teacher. When she returned home this evening she was still full of energy and could be seen leaping across the living room floor.

When I was in Schenectady with my mother last month I collected all the family photos I could locate as we began preparing the house for sale. It will take years before I am able to scan them all but it is said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. This photo is of my father (lower left), his parents (Ernesto and Rose), his uncle and namesake Frank, and his siblings Ernie and Jacqueline. I may try and add one scanned photo per week to the blog to help sustain momentum on this project.

For all the discipline and rules involved in the sport of wrestling it is, at the end of the day, a brawl in which combatants often walk away with painful reminders of their battle. Nicolai did not appear the least bit phased by a nasty abrasion above his cheekbone suffered during practice today. His parents, however, could not help wincing at the sight of it.

Our month long visit with Kyle has come to an end all too quickly. Winter break is over and he returns to Santa Clara, minus four wisdom teeth, for a new term which begins tomorrow. He spent a good deal of time with Hannah, on her break from Emory, who we have missed as well. He also spent a good bit of time working on setting up his business for the summer. During the fall term he completed the acquisition of a company called Cheap Summer Help and is using much of what he learned from its prior owner to refine his own business model. It is fun to see him applying what he is learning in college to the real world so soon and I believe his experience with Yard Dogs has increased his appreciation for the value of what he is learning. Carrying on a long family tradition, Maya, Nico and I ran after the car waving goodbye as Jeanine drove him to the airport. We are already looking forward to visiting him in February for parents weekend.

Later in the day Jeanine assisted me as I cut a larger opening in our granite kitchen island counter top to accommodate a new gas range. She tented me with a sheet to help contain the fine dust produced by the stone saw and recharged a sponge with cold water which I used repeatedly to cool the blade. The fit was perfect and the rest of the installation went quickly. The same cannot be said for the cleanup which fell largely to Jeanine and will continue for several more days as we continue to locate more dusty surfaces.

Nicolai saw his first wrestling action of the season in a tournament at Belmont High School. He won all three of his matches by pin (each pictured here) and more importantly did not suffer any stingers. He is wrestling at the 112 pounds and looks totally ripped at this weight class. I spent more than eight hours at the tournament photographing the CCHS team for a total of 82 keepers which can be found at THIS SITE which I maintain for the club. Wrestling is an extremely challenging sport to photograph. In addition to the technical challenges of shooting fast action in low light it is physically taxing as the most interesting shots are taken from a very low angle (laying flat on your belly).

I had to miss the end of the tournament and rush home to get ready for the iRobot holiday party which was held this evening at the House of Blues adjacent to Fenway Park. Jeanine and I enjoyed dancing to the live music which was exceptionally good if a bit too loud. Jeanine also had an opportunity to finally meet my boss which she has been looking forward to for some time.

For Christmas, I received this bonsai tree from Kyle and Nicolai. It now graces the window sill in my office where I photographed it this evening as the sun was setting.

Maya is creating a board game for a school project about Greek mythology. The layout is less impressive than the rules of the game which essentially help students learn by rewarding them for remembering at the end of the game key facts they heard during the beginning and middle.

When I built the media center for the living room I imagined some of the sections would eventually be filled with artwork. This copper sculpture by my mother is now featured in one of the prominent locations.

I noticed this photo in the massive pile I retrieved from my mother’s home. Although the memory of the event has long since faded, my memory of this photo of me with my brother burns strong.

Nala’s legal address until today has been a rather unattractive crate located in the kitchen. Today she moved into a new Chinese style home in the living room. Maya, utilizing skills acquired from watching the Dog Whisperer, acclimatized Nala to her new residence in short order. It is unlikely that she will give up her preferred napping spot on the new couch but it is nice to finally be rid of the ugly crate.

Our family started the new year with a visit to the Public Garden in Boston after a late breakfast at the Paramount. The unusually mild weather made for a pleasant stroll and the tranquil setting for a good place to contemplate resolutions for the coming year.

From our family to you and yours we wish you health and happiness.