My day started and ended with great food. Maya offered to prepare french toast for me and added some theatrics to the preparation. The family enjoyed dinner together at Za’s in Arlington where we celebrated Jeanine’s birthday before Kyle’s return to Santa Clara tomorrow. The middle of the day was entirely distasteful, spent preparing our income tax filings. If I thought that our state and federal government was operating with even a modicum of efficiency it would depress me less to turn over 32 cents of every dollar I earned. The tax code itself is a perfect example of something that has been made so insanely complex that it leaves my head throbbing after trying to comprehend the special provisions of the alternative minimum tax. RANT ON: I would vote for any politician who could deliver a progressive tax system with zero loop holes. I’d offer to write the instructions myself (multiply your income and earnings by X% and pay this amount). Did you know that 23% of the taxes we pay is spent to comply with the federal tax code which contains over 10 million words. No kidding. My system requires just 11 words and would save $384 billion dollars a year by eliminating 90% of the IRS. RANT OFF

Today marked the end of a 31-day sprint during which my team and I completed the integration of iRobot’s former divisions into a unified engineering organization. As part of this effort, we formed a Transition Advisory Group (TAG) to help develop recommendations for the structure of the merged teams. To celebrate their accomplishments, I invited the group of 11 to join our new program and engineering management team for a casual dinner at Maximillian’s, a nice pool hall and bar located in Tyngsboro. The venue was particularly well suited to encouraging dialog among team members who will be working together for the first time. I am expecting my insane work pace over the last month to begin tapering off having reached this critical milestone.

I have had little time to enjoy my new camera since it arrived last week. One of the most exciting new capabilities is the ability to shoot in very low light. It produces the same image quality in one-quarter of the light as my previous camera. This image was made with an ISO setting of 12,800 and shows almost no signs of noise which can be expected when shooting at this “film” speed (amplifier gain). Viewed another way it increases the versatility of my entire collection of lenses which can now be used in low-light settings which would have previously resulted in image blur due to slow shutter speeds.

Jeanine and Maya snuggle on the couch while watching TV. The current demands of work have me arriving home very late each night long after the family has had dinner. This period of intense effort, however, should come to an end by Friday when I am scheduled to make an all-hands presentation to my newly merged engineering team. At that time, I will roll out our new organizational design, new leadership team, new employee placements, and new titles. I am looking forward to finishing this phase of the integration.

I drive past this telephone poll of questionable integrity on the way to work every day. It appears poised to snap at any moment and I am left to wonder, month after month, how much worse it will need to get before someone in the town of Bedford decides to address the issue. I am considering sending this photo to the local paper to help motivate preemptive repairs. It is simply a matter of time before the smaller pole snaps completely and comes down on a random motorist. I hold my breath every time I drive under it.

Love is in the air at this time of year. I spotted this pair of turkeys off in the distance and had to walk quite a distance from the road for this shot. They seemed more interested in each other than me so I was able to get fairly close. I wasn’t invisible, however, and when my last step caused them to start for the woods I had to settle for this retreating view.

It is overcast with intermittent rain today. Fortunately, the temperature was not too bad at 8:30 am for my final friendly match before official league play starts next weekend. We faced Acton Boxboro’s division 1 team (including some over 40s ringers) and played much better soccer than last week. We lost 1-2 but it was one of those matches that could have easily tipped the other way. Most importantly no one was injured which was actually the higher priority. I only had one shot on goal but it was well stuck from 25 yards out and only slightly too high. Jeanine completed her last day of volunteering at the church and the rest of us joined her for lunch at the Main Street Cafe. I squeezed in 30 minutes of photography on a local walk about despite the unfavorable light. My best effort is shown above.

My nephew John stopped by the house today to visit with Kyle and to help with the design of his new Yard Dogs website. We are fortunate that he is so close by and enjoy it immensely when he drops in.

I needed a break from the insane pace of my life over the last month and relaxed for a good potion of the day by organizing my photography gear. I also assisted Kyle as he searched for suitable photos to use for marketing purposes.

Several weeks ago I sold my 3 year old primary camera and flash days before their replacements were announced (timing is everything in the used market so my online research proved most beneficial). Nothing could have been more satisfying after another long work week than to receive my new camera today. I spent the better part of 2 hours learning the new features and programming user settings to my taste. The successful penetration can never be possible without sildenafil 100mg tablets hard erection. Manual therapy can visit content levitra prescription be a sub-specialty in Physical therapy treatment. Keung has many foes but only one skill to fight them, which is martial art. deeprootsmag.org cialis price It is used order levitra online as a suppository to the penis as a whole. Although the new model has dozens of improvements the most compelling are a highly improved auto focus system and significantly improved low light performance. The latter is the more valuable as it effectively makes all of my current lenses “faster” allowing me to shoot at four times the shutter speed under similar lighting conditions.

In New England, the first days of spring often feel more like winter. This has been the mildest winter since we moved here almost nine years ago and the trees and bushes are already beginning to flower. This photo does not do justice to the bright yellows that can be found on the road leading to our house. Spring always feels like the shortest season in Massachusetts and this year I am determined to more fully enjoy its beauty before it is overwhelmed by summer.

Kyle is back from college for spring break. Unfortunately, he had to complete a final project which is due this evening leaving little time to catch up. Jeanine prepared a special dinner and it felt really good to have the whole family gathered together. His ankle remains swollen from a nasty turn he suffered while playing basketball but he says it doesn’t hurt. He has more ailments than his old decrepit father at this point. With my soccer season set to begin shortly, I may have to drag him out for a run or two to help with his rehab and my 5 pounds of stress-induced weight gain.

My mother is the most organized person I know. I recently came across an envelope containing all of my scholastic report cards including one from the third grade! I have begun the process of scanning old family records and photos that my parents collected over a life time. I estimate the effort will take three years to complete if I set aside 15 minutes a day for the effort. Several years ago I completed a multi-year scanning project for all of my old photos and documents. The motivation for this daunting task is to preserve precious memories and share them with all family members rather than having them wind up in a box in someone’s attic. Children please note that dad was not a half bad student and that good grades do pay off.

All I am going to say is that this was a very difficult photo to make. I don’t particularly care for spiders and the big white dot on this one’s back warns of its venomous bite. Jumping spiders have a total of 8 eyes and can jump many times their body length. They generally do not spin webs but rather stalk their prey, ambush them with a prolific leap, and use their fangs to inject them with their fast-acting poison. If you can look past all the creepy stuff I think this one, probably a juvenile is rather cute.

Spring is in the air and a more beautiful day you could not ask for. Arriving in the middle of March seems a bit early but who am I to complain. My league soccer season opens in two weeks. This morning we had a friendly match against Belmont’s division 1 team as a tune up. At the half we were down 0-2 and our team was looking just awful. During half time we made some strategic adjustments which proved highly effective. Five minutes into the second half I scored a really sweet goal. I received a nice pass into open space as I charged down the right side of the field. My first touch was the key to this goal which I used to improved my angle on the goalie. My second touch set up my right foot and forced the keeper to commit to the near post. I drilled it past him to find the side netting on the far post and to open my season with a strong finish. My team went on to score an additional four goals to their one resulting in a 5-3 win for Concord. Maya and Nico spent a large part of the afternoon indoors doing homework but I could not resist being outside where I made time for a little photography.

This evening Jeanine and I joined three other couples for dinner in downtown Boston at Sibling Rivalry. This restaurant featuring modern American cuisine is run by two brothers from a family of ten. The menu offers competing selections designed by each sibling. The result of this competition is inspired culinary innovation. I cannot remember when I last enjoyed a meal so thoroughly.

Like the two before it, this has been a very long work week. On average I have been spending 12 hours a day in the office and another couple of hours at home on e-mail. I expect this level of intensity to last another few weeks and then return to more normal levels. With my recent promotion came the responsibility for integrating two largely dissimilar divisions into a single cohesive team. I like managing complex transitions and despite the long hours, I am genuinely enjoying the opportunity to innovate at the organizational design level. My energy is buoyed by the strong support from my new leadership team and the positive feedback that I have received from all corners of the organization. Even as I left the office at 8 pm there were several other cars in the parking lot which speaks volumes about the work ethic present at iRobot.

I left for the office before sun up and returned after sundown. I am still working in my home office so this picture of my lamp will have to do for today.

Temperatures are steadily climbing and it will not be too long before our field is green again. Work is occupying all of my time right now but I really enjoy the process of organizational transformation making the time commitment worth every minute.

Before visiting with us last weekend, my brother visited our childhood home in Schenectady where he gathered various items of sentimental value as we prepared the house for sale. The wood jewelry box pictured here is something I made for my mother many many years ago. Seeing it again brought back fond memories and it was as if I had reunited with an old friend. It has withstood the test of time well and I will pass it down to Maya when she is a little older.

I could not resist adding one more photo of Rose from this weekend. It is hard to decide whether she is cuter when she is happy or when she is not. Both of Mark’s girls are at that magical age when everything they do is adorable. I remember when Maya was this age and how much I enjoyed playing with her. By contrast, she now seems very mature. Even so, I still see through to the little girl inside of her and I am pretty sure I always will.

We were relieved to learn that Kyle’s ankle injury is not as severe as it initially appeared. The doctor feels he can make a full recovery in time with physical therapy. Kyle’s absence was somehow amplified with all of his cousins visiting and we are looking forward anxiously for his return during spring break.

Nicolai, Mario and Rory joined me this morning for my regular soccer practice/scrimmage. Four Calabria men all on the same team made for a powerful combination and one extremely proud father and uncle. The beauty of soccer is that even men of a certain age can give a bunch of young bucks a run for their money. Minuteman Park and the Old North Bridge were the afternoon destinations for the adults where we combined exercise with a walk through history. Later in the day, I secured a group photo using the promise of an ice cream outing as an incentive and upon our return, photographed my brother who requested an individual portrait.

Shortly after lunch my brother Mark and I set out for a little kayaking. We put in at the South boat house and paddled up to the Sudbury bridge. Mark used the kayak that Maya built and found it to be to his liking, both roomy and stable.

Maya looked elegant in a new dress, hand tailored by her Aunt Marie, as she readied herself to attend a bar mitzva for a school mate.

Rose may be the smallest of the cousins but she commands more than her fair share of attention. She can switch from being coy to pouting to unbridled exuberance in the course of a minute.

The morning meal was prepared by Nicolai who cooked eggs to order for our expanded household of eleven. For dinner, Mark expertly sauteed scallops to complement a magnificent salad prepared by Jeanine and Marie.

Bringing to five the number of visiting cousins, John William Quinn, my sister Alissa’s son, joined us for dinner and spent the night. We like the fact that he is attending Babson which is a relatively short distance from our home. Kyle was very much missed from our gathering which did not seem quite the same without him. A recent ankle injury does not appear to be healing very well making his life more difficult than need be and we are all wishing him a speedy recovery.

When I returned from work this evening I was treated to a great surprise. My brother Mark was able to join the rest of his family for a weekend visit from Minnesota. Pictured here are my niece Sophia and her sister Rose. When I finished our basement, I built a kids-sized room with a tiny door and window underneath the stairs. I was pleased to see it occupied again as my children have long since outgrown it.

Heavy winds today produced this unfortunate outcome which I came across on my work commute. Fortunately, the car was unoccupied when the limb fell according to the owner who was also photographing the scene for his insurance company.

This evening we celebrated the CCHS Wrestling team at a banquet in their honor. Naturally, Jeanine played a major role in providing food the event (pulled pork with barbecued ribs and chicken) and always seems happiest to me when dishing up a meal for a hungry crowd. Nicolai, decked out in tie and coat, delivered one of the captain’s speeches nicely summing up the challenges and rewards of being a wrestler and the importance of working hard to reach your full potential. I provided a slide show of 300 images from the season which played in the background all evening.

I took the red-eye from California to New York’s JFK and then flew on to Raleigh Durham, NC for meetings with iRobot’s maritime design facility. This team is responsible for our Seaglider, a deep-diving unmanned underwater vehicle capable of missions lasting several months and covering thousands of miles. It can be fitted with various sensor packages that collect data on temperature, salinity, ocean currents, contaminants, etc. When it surfaces, this data is transmitted via satellite to scientists on shore and they can send back new diving missions. I spent the day in meetings before flying back to Boston completing an exhausting 2-day, coast-to-coast-to-coast journey.

I arrived in San Luis Obispo, CA early this morning (3:30am body clock) after a flight delay resulted in a missed connection. I am here for 18 hours to visit with one of iRobot’s development teams which is now part of the organization I am managing. Arriving as late as I did the car rental agencies were closed so I took a taxi to my hotel. This morning I decided to walk to the office (2 miles) and passed the Madonna Inn along the way. This local landmark includes the inn, a restaurant and bakery and the property is adorned with a pseudo-Swiss-Alps exterior and lavish common rooms accented by pink roses, Western murals, and hammered copper. Each of the 109 guest rooms and suites is uniquely designed and themed, though some tourists (myself included) stop just to peek at the famous rock waterfall urinal located in the men’s washroom, a feature designed by Hollywood set designer Harvey Allen Warren.

I managed to coerce Maya into letting me measure her height this morning, something I have not done since last August. I have used a long 3/4 x 3/4 inch piece of wood to record the growth of all three children since we moved here nine years ago. With Kyle out of the house and Nico probably nearing his maximum height, Maya is the only one left to measure. She has grown 2 1/4 inches in the last 6 months. Quite pleased with her enhanced stature she requested that I tuck her in so she could sleep on the couch. Why do I get the feeling that a butterfly will soon emerge from this cocoon?

Later today I leave for San Luis Obispo, CA and then catch a red-eye to Raleigh Durham, NC where I will meet the remaining members of iRobot’s newly merged engineering team.

Jeanine helps Maya with her hair as she readies herself for a Model United Nations Conference being held at Bentley College today. I assisted by knotting one of my ties for her very business-like outfit. I would have never predicted that Maya would put my tie collection to better use than I. As I mature, I find myself almost religiously opposed to wearing a suit. I’ll take a pair of comfortable hiking boots and soft cotton clothes any day.

Nala, the master of relaxation, set the tone for my day. Having completed a week of back to back 12-16 hour days in the office I needed to just kick back and relax. I expect another week or two of intense work before my schedule returns to a more normal pace.

This has been the strangest winter I can recall as far as snowfall goes. We had a massive storm very early in the season. Then nothing at all. And now, with spring around the corner, we get our first substantial snowfall of the season. Had I been less busy yesterday I would have taken a few hours in the early morning to capture some nice snowscapes of the fresh snowfall. Instead, I spent 16 hours working and had to settle for this day-old shot of the rapidly vanishing snow from my office window.

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