I achieved a new record time of 32 minutes for my morning commute by leaving at 6 am. This afforded me the opportunity to enjoy sunrise over the Charles River during a vigorous 5-mile walk I took before breakfast.

I pass this small parking lot every day on my way to lunch. The more I study the sign posted there, the more I struggle to understand almost everything about it; the font choice, the color scheme, the punctuation, and the kearning.  One thing is for sure, I never, and I mean never, want to engage in a confrontation with its creator.

When I started taking photography seriously about 20 years ago, I selected a very unusual quick-release camera and lens mounting system manufactured in Germany by a small inventor-run business called iDeesign. When the company went out of business several years ago, I cornered the market on used sales because I liked the system so much. Apparently, the rights to the design were acquired by another company and they were once again for sale. I picked up a few more sets before that company stopped selling them.  At this point, I am very confident I have the largest collection of these quick release clamps in the world.  This weekend I decided to switch to the industry defacto quick connect system and will either find a new application for the iDeesign clamps or start selling them off.

This pumpkin has been sitting in our kitchen for several weeks now.  Today I noticed how interesting the colors in the stem were and decided I would make it the subject of a still life. I spent the balance of the day collecting and spending money.  Three of my Craig’s List postings sold netting a total of more than $2K. I turned around and spent that on a new 27″ iMac.

We returned to Concord this afternoon so that Maya could host a Friendsgiving gathering of her high school buddies. All are doing well and they had a great time catching up. It took little persuasion to coax the women into a group photo which I hope they will look back on fondly one day.

This year our family is having Thanksgiving dinner at my mother’s house in Schenectady, NY.  She will celebrate her 90th birthday next year and can still run circles around the rest of us. The three hour car ride was a great opportunity to learn more about what each of the kids are up to. We were joined by my sister Alissa and her family for the holiday feast and later connected with my brother Mark and his family over FaceTime and briefly with my other sister Mayela by phone.

Nico encouraged the group to learn the card game of Canasta and despite its complexity, the group picked it up fairly quickly.

Having never really enjoyed card games of any type, I spent my time taking photographs of the family.

Cold weather and an outdoor location afforded me exactly two attempts to snap a family portrait. Given the constraints, I should be pleased with the outcome, but all I see are the opportunities to have done a better job. Those regrets aside, however, I have come to recognize how increasingly less frequent these opportunities are becoming and to make the best of them. 

Rare it is these days when all three kids are in the same place at the same time. Rarer still when they allow me to rope them in for a portrait. My goal for this holiday week is to get one good family portrait and one good photo of all three children.

As part of our effort to free up more space at Superpedestrian headquarters, we managed to fill a van with bicycles that will be donated to Bikes Not Bombs. Bikes Not Bombs uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change.

Nala enjoyed some canine companionship while Jeanine hosted close friend Irene and her mother. Kobe is a big, handsome, and very gentle fellow. Still, Nala was not the least bit receptive to his amorous advances.

Fiona is the daughter of one of my soccer teammates and a very close friend of Maya. She is studying nursing at UMass and is back in town for the Thanksgiving break. Her parents have just sold their home and are looking for one in Rhode Island where they are moving to be closer to family and work. We have offered to let her stay with us during the transition and hope she will take us up on the offer.

Maya is back for the holiday break although we have to share her time with Caleb. She genuinely seems to be enjoying her college experience and it was nice to hear about her various projects and classes. I completed my third week at Superpedestrian feeling very good about my choice to return to work. I was able to orchestrate a shift in product strategy which I am confident will pay huge dividends down the road. Next week I will be busy helping the team to organize around our new direction.

Jeanine treated me to two of my favorite foods this evening. Meatballs in marinara sauce and brussel sprouts with bacon, onions, and maple syrup. Admittedly this might sound like a strange combination to some but trust me when I say that it was a delicious meal. I am a very lucky man to have a wife with such amazing culinary talent.

Superpedestrian is located just a few blocks away from MIT. As has become my habit, I drive into Cambridge very early to beat the traffic and walk from the office to one of many cafe options for breakfast. This morning I made a little detour and discovered Arcturus, a recent MIT solar car, well hidden behind a fence. I reached over the top and got a nice shot with Simmons Hall in the background.

I facilitated my first all-hands meeting of the Engineering team at work today. I challenged participants to design an award-winning new product in one hour.  They rose to the challenge and I was pleased to see such good collaborative and engineering skills at play.

This distinctive bit of artwork can be found on the facade of the Cambridge Public Library, located a 5-minute walk from the Superpedestrian office. Had I taken a wide-angle photo you would have seen two homeless individuals sleeping on the concrete sidewalk below.

Motivated by a 30% discount on custom holiday cards, I completed this year’s design before the promotion ended at midnight.  For someone who takes so many photos, I was amazed at how few of the family I had from this past year and resolved to take more. Here is one of Kyle preparing dinner. He trains at the gym every morning before working on his programming course and is looking mighty strong these days.

Jeanine and I went out for lunch today and caught owner Steve Verrill cooking up a massive pan of beef stew at Verrill Farm.  Jeanine gets very excited any time she sees large cooking utensils being put to good use. She will take a break from her Executive Director role at Open Table next week to be head chef for one of their community dinners.

Nala is aging gracefully and has now surpassed Jeanine and me in relative age. It is somewhat disconcerting to see changes in her that are just around the corner for us. She remains as dumb and cute as ever but has now developed an acute aversion to being photographed.

I received a new lens in the mail today and through sheer laziness did all of my testing while sacked out on the couch. From that vantage point, our entry foyer is the most interesting subject.  I am in the middle of transitioning camera systems and have been buying one new lens for each one I sell.

The commute to Cambridge is almost tolerable if I leave at 6:30 AM as was the case this morning with a door-to-door time of 42 minutes. The breakfast options within walking distance of the office are impressive and the walk invariably presents new photo ops. You simply don’t see dumpsters decorated in this manner anywhere in Concord.

Couldn’t resist this shot of my bonsai as I was headed out the door this morning. The sun had just risen and was bathing our Japanese maple in golden light. Wish I had spent a few more minutes to set up some foreground lighting but beating the crush of commuter traffic was a higher priority.

The only aspect of my new job that I do not like is the commute. Last week it averaged 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Today I left the house at 6:30AM and used a couple of back road detours and was able to reach the office in 44 minutes; wahoo!! Having skipped breakfast I walked a half mile down Brookline Ave to Central Square where I found a great place to eat.  I can tell this is going to become a routine.  The breakfast sandwich I had was out of this world and the walk, featuring great urban art scenes along the way, is a wonderful way to kick off my work day.

My Division 1 over-56 soccer team closed the fall season this morning with a come-from-behind 2-2 tie securing us a 3rd-place finish in the league. I managed 60 minutes of play before re-tweaking the hamstring that has been plaguing me all season. With 6 goals in the four matches I played healthy, it is one of my better seasons in some time. I think I am going to skip the indoor season and let my various injuries heal thoroughly.

Our Japanese maple is always the last to turn color and a beautiful focal point in our backyard. We planted this tree shortly after moving here some 14 years ago and it has grown to be quite large. Also in full color are the two massive burning bushes that frame our front yard (only one pictured below). I took advantage of the nice weather to winterize our irrigation system and outdoor water faucets, relocate our snowblower from the shed to our garage, and spend some time working on the tiny house.

I am loving everything about my new job except the commute. Each day I try a different route in an attempt to avoid the traffic pinch points. This experimentation sometimes leads to interesting discoveries as was the case this morning when I encountered a block-long row of scarecrows.

The Superpedestian office is what you would expect of a startup on a tight budget. The pair of buildings we occupy are rather nondescript and look more like a bike shop than anything else.  We are rapidly running out of space and have to share what little remains with dozens and dozens of bikes. I believe we have more bikes than employees at this point and they are even used for wall art (which I find very cool).

I received this photo from Jeanine in a text but was too busy at work to figure out what she was up to.