This evening Jeanine and I treated Kyle to dinner at Legal on the Mystic to celebrate his new job and the successful completion of his coursework in data science programming which made the former possible. Kyle is excited about the new job and the fact that he has a few weeks to himself before his start date. He plans to visit Europe during that time. Jeanine and I are also headed in that direction. After dinner, Kyle dropped us off at the airport where we boarded a flight for Switzerland. We will spend a week together in the Alps and then I head to Germany for a trade show while Jeanine spends another 4 days relaxing with the Swiss.
It has been less than a month since Kyle completed the online data science programming boot camp that he started last fall. Today he found himself in the enviable position of having to choose between two competing employment offers; one from DraftKings and the other from Cengage. He opted for Cengage primarily because he found their mission to be more socially responsible. The company has built a digital platform to deliver affordable educational content for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets operating in more than 20 countries. By contrast, DraftKings is based on fantasy sports and online gambling. We are very proud of his choice and his courage to enter a new field rather than continue in the financial industry which left him unfulfilled. The fact that his new career pays significantly better is just the frosting on the cake.
Synchronistically, we enjoyed a full moon this evening which could be interpreted as symbolic of the fact that all five members of our family are now fully employed.
Earlier this week I discovered that the Good New Garage owned by Tom and Ray Magliozzi, of NPR’s Car Talk radio, is only a few steps down the block from Superpedestrian. While researching that bit of trivia I learned that Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers actually named their business corporation “Dewey, Cheetham & Howe”. Their corporate office was located at the corner of Brattle and JFK Streets in Harvard Square on the third floor above the only Curious George store in the world. Check out the window which still bears the name of their dubiously named business.
The John Harvard Statue, located in Harvard Yard, honors his substantial deathbed bequest to the school which now bears his name. Some refer to it as the “statue of three lies” because of all the inaccuracies inscribed on it. (1) Even though the name “John Harvard” is written in stone on the statue’s base, the likeness is of Sherman Hoar who sat as a model for the sculptor since no living representations of John Harvard exist. (2) The engraving on the statue states “founder,” but this is also not true. He was the first major benefactor to the University, donating half of his estate and his 400 book library. Harvard University was officially founded by a vote by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. (3) Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, was founded in 1636 not 1638 as inscribed on the plaque. My morning walk took me to the campus where I photographed the statue from a high angle to show off the polished boot toes, the results of tourists and students rubbing them for good luck. I did so as well.
In 1973 before their rise to fame, Tom and Ray Magliozzi (“Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers”) of NPR’s Car Talk started a do-it-yourself shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts called Hacker’s Haven. The idea was to rent space and tools to folks wanting to work on their own cars. The idea did not pan out and a few years later they decided to start a new enterprise called the Good News Garage. They still welcomed do-it-yourselfers but focused the majority of their attention on competent and honest auto repair for those who didn’t want to These medicines included both for intake and external application. low cost levitra Generally its oral capsule offered in solid type, which acts in desire manner if sip with levitra soft usual water. Mentally stressed I would simply come http://www.wouroud.com/environment.php?ln=en levitra 20 mg home and there too outperform. They may be expensive but don’t buy cheap supplements. they will not buy sildenafil india work positvly. get greasy. It has been in business ever since. Only today did I put two and two together and realize that the Good News Garage located some 20 paces from the front door of Superpedestrian is THE Good News Garage. Sadly Ray is no longer with us but Tom is said to still stop in from time to time. Rest assured I will keep my eyes peeled for a photo opportunity. Our whole family has spent countless hours enjoying Car Talk on the radio and I would relish a chance to personally thank Tom for all the laughs.
Jeanine attended her first professional baseball game courtesy of a colleague at Open Table who offered her a pair of field box seats. The Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-0 and we were treated to a home run, a stolen base, a marriage proposal on the Jumbotron, and all the sounds and smells of a major league ballpark.
We belong to the Clark Farm CSA and this is where our food comes from. This morning I made a pick up which included a visit to the strawberry patch (foreground where people can be seen) to pick some very yummy fresh berries. We chose to live in Concord for the school system not realizing the secondary benefit of being in such close proximity to prime farmland.
We have lived in Massachusetts for almost 15 years. In all that time, I have never visited Cape Cod. Today I rectified that situation with a grand tour of the more prominent lighthouses that terminated in Provincetown and a visit to the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Having access to a metal lathe is a huge benefit of working at Superpedestrian. This morning I machined one of my favorite ball heads down to a much smaller profile for use on my travel tripod. I also fitted it with a new quick release. The new version is 60% of the weight, 75% of the volume, and nestles perfectly between the reverse folded legs of my tripod. Below is the original version.
Have you ever seen such a forlorn dog? Nala’s most recent visit to the vet has netted her this humiliation. Little wonder she fights us every time we try to coax her into the car.
Hard to believe that Maya turns 19 today. It seems like only yesterday that she was a tiny little cherub who loved riding horses. Now she is a rising sophomore in college working a summer internship in far-off Indianapolis on her way to a career in engineering. We are missing her more than usual today.
I walk past the EMF Building every day on my way to and from breakfast and lunch. Today, for the first time, I notice a tiny little alcove in the brickwork. Inside was a small Absolute Vodka bottle and a pipe emerging from the building. I am left with many unanswered questions.
Today my over-56 soccer team accepted a forfeit to complete a perfect season (10-0-0) and secure promotion to Division 1 next fall. As a new team, we had to start in Division 2 as a matter of policy. Over the next two weeks, we will play the winners from the other regions (North and South) to determine an overall champion.
Although I did not spend any time on the field, my day was full of soccer action as I enjoyed watching the day’s full line up of World Cup action with Kyle. The only way to improve on this Father’s Day would be to add Nicolai and Maya to the couch.lineup
Kyle requested a new headshot for his LinkedIn profile and I was happy to create this for him. I think the result was pretty good but we both felt it could be better and will try again. His hair is quite beautiful and I did not do a very good job of lighting it.
We then spent an embarrassingly large amount of time watching World Cup soccer, sometimes with Jeanine and sometimes with her sister Susan who is visiting us for the weekend with her friend Jean.
Visiting us for the weekend is Jeanine’s sister, Susan, and her friend Jean. Kyle joined the four of us for dinner at El Huipil, a Mexican restaurant in Maynard. Susan, an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont and Chairperson of the Social Work department in the College of Education and Social Services will be retiring in the coming months. In lieu of a retirement gift, Susan has requested that a wall within her building be dedicated in her name. Kyle and I enjoyed brainstorming with her about different ideas for how to memorialize it.
At my last startup, we were initially located in a windowless machine shop and my desk was 3 feet away from a CNC milling machine that was running more often than not. Superpedestrian is located in the two buildings nearest the camera. The smaller white one is our main office which resembles a bike shop when you walk in the door. The larger off-yellow one is where the engineering organization resides. In addition to these two buildings, we also have rented the first floor of an adjacent apartment building where we have located a number of conference rooms. What these buildings lack in elegance they more than make up for in character. Little by little we have been renovating the interior to create larger labs and more open space.
The Quincy Quarries were first opened in 1825 to supply granite for the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston’s historic Charlestown neighborhood and was actively mined to one degree or another until 1963. Once abandoned, the Quarries slowly flooded and became a popular — if dangerous — site for cliff jumping. A number of people began to die jumping into the flooded pits, so in order to curb the practice, a number of wooden pylons were placed sticking out of the water. However, these eventually sank below the waterline, becoming invisible, and deadly. The death toll went through the roof.
After being closed to the public for a number of years, the site was reopened in the 1980s after dirt from Boston’s “Big Dig” was used to fill in the pits. Now, Quincy Quarries is linked to the Blue Hill Reservation trail system and is open to the public. It has become very popular for its spectacular array of graffiti art, rock climbing, and views of downtown Boston. I left the house at 5 am so I could arrive at the quarry before it was overrun with people and so I could still beat the traffic into Boston for work. Unfortunately, this did not leave time for any climbing which would have produced more interesting photos. I will simply have to make another visit.
I have been without my Mavic Air drone for over a week while it was being repaired. For some reason, the internal fan stopped working causing the unit to overheat. Fortunately, the failure was covered under warranty and themanufacturer chose to replace the entire unit. When I returned from work it was waiting for me so I did a quick flight over the house to test it out before the sun was gone. Props to the drone maker, DJI, for prompt and hassle-free service.
Over the weekend I did a series of Copenhagen Wheel photos for work. I enjoyed the assignment but not the results thus far. Lighting such a highly reflective object is tricky and I do not feel I have quite arrived at the optimal result. The goal of the image is to celebrate the interface between the hub and spokes, a design element we call a smiley for reasons which should be self explanatory. I think I will make another attempt later in the week when the effects of yesterday’s soccer match have worn off and I am feeling like doing something other than sleeping.
I was back on the soccer pitch this morning, my knees having made a partial recovery from my patellar tendinitis. With only one sub remaining by the end of the game, I was pressed into action for over 70 minutes which was quite a strain given my lack of practice over the last 3 weeks. Despite my poor conditioning, I managed to assist on one of our 4 goals. With one game remaining in the regulation season, my team has yet to give up a single goal and has amassed a total of 58. After the game, I attended a cookout at the home of our goalie. His backyard could pass for an arboretum with one of the larger trees serving as a home to a mother and child raccoon.
Jeanine and I enjoyed a visit to Clark Farm where we are now members of their CSA. We then made stops at their farmer stand (including adjacent garden, pictured below) and finally at Kimball Farms for ice cream.
In response to the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade this week Kyle made the following posting on his Facebook page yesterday. Jeanine and I found it very moving and with his permission I share it here.
Two beautiful people lost this past week. Both passed on by their own hand. Both reached the pinnacle of success in their respective pursuits.
Mental illness afflicts people from all walks of life. A facade of success sometimes hides a soul in distress. A destitute circumstance sometimes breeds love and connection.
Tell the people in your life, including yourself, that you love them. Sending out love and positive energy today.
When I joined Superpedestrian my only non-negotiable requirement was a 4 day work week, an attempt to retain a small measure of my early retirement freedom to travel. Given ideal weather today, I decided to use my day off for a road trip. The destination I selected was Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut, a three hour drive from Concord. There I was treated to the waterfall for which the park is named, a series of drops covering 250 feet in total and accessible by a short but steep trail.
Realizing I was only 15 miles away, I decided to also visit Lime Rock Park, a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue. My timing could not have been more fortunate. Tomorrow is eEuroFest, New England’s premier European auto event hosted by eEuroparts.com. Today was an exclusive preview event for VIPs. I knew none of this when I pulled up to the gate where an older gentleman mumbled something, handed me a waiver form on a clip board for my signature, and then waved me in. I followed the car ahead of me into the infield area where I parked in a queue of cars about a dozen deep. A few minutes later I realized I was in line to take hot laps on the autocross track, a notion I entertained for a few more glorious moments. I had borrowed Jeanine’s BMW X1 SUV for the day and it has a very compelling sports mode and option to shift manually. All the other cars in line, however, were low slung. fast looking exotics and the idea of sliding through the corners with my camera gear flying all over the place while trying to avoid colliding with the other adrenaline pumped “enthusiast” drivers seemed unwise. Instead I parked nearby and settled for the pleasure of photographing these cars in action.
I stopped several more times during the remainder of my 340 mile (7.5 hour drive time) road trip and returned with a nice collection of images.
When I started working at Superpedestrian I was given a new bicycle fitted with a Copenhagen Wheel. Sadly the bike frame was reminiscent of the one used by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, which is to say, not really my cup of tea. Today I swapped the wheel onto the bike I bought for myself a couple of years ago. I am now prepared to start riding in earnest and may even be able to keep up with Jeanine on her regular bike. Kyle took it for a test spin around the neighborhood and plans to make use of it when I am not.
I decided to focus on the sculptures I encountered during my morning walk today. All were found on the campus of Boston University which is just across the river from Superpedestrian. Trying to select a 2 dimensional slice of a 3 dimensional object is always a challenge and I found myself wondering what perspective the sculptors would have chosen. Perhaps they would have declined to make a choice at all arguing that the only way to appreciate sculpture is by experiencing it from all perspectives and by sampling the texture, characteristics which do not translate to photography at all.
Bunnies are intrinsically pretty cute. Baby bunnies even more so. This little fellow allowed me to get surprisingly close. Lucky for him, I was not the gardener who planted the flowers on which he was snacking.
This morning team USA faced England for a second time. The score at half time was 1-0 in favor of the UK on a penalty kick. The US played one of their better halves of soccer demonstrating they could hang with one of the best teams in the world. Superior conditioning of the Brits in the second half and the loss of a couple of our players to injury resulted in a 6-0 final score.
All in all, the tournament, the first hosted by the US in more than a decade, was a great success. Team USA continues to show great improvement and promise for the future. Key to our prospects in the World Cup will be a commitment to better conditioning and more frequent opportunities to practice together as a team. The latter has always been an issue of funding which we are starting to overcome with recent grants to the AASA. We are one very generous donation away from developing into a world-class team. Any wealthy followers of this blog or potential team sponsors are encouraged to contact me.
After the closing ceremony Nicolai and I made our way to Space Center Houston where we learned about the history of the NASA space program before heading to the airport for our respective flights home.
The tournament was organized by one of the regional chapters of the American Amputee Soccer Association of which I am the Vice President with local sponsorship and support from the Dynamo Dash Youth Soccer Academy. Responsibility for speaking during the Opening Ceremony fell to me as the senior person present from the AASA and I was more than happy to return to photography as soon as that obligation was satisfied. Below, Nicolai and the captain of the English squad exchange greetings and gifts before what proved to be a thorough drubbing at their hands. To put things in perspective, the UK squad practices with each other as many times in a week as the US team does in 6 months, one of the down sides of living in such a large country and playing a sport with little financial support.
Despite the one-sided outcome, the US played a great match. Nicolai looked strong, relentlessly pounding away at their goal. Our only score came from the US Sled Hockey Gold Medal Paralympian and youngest member of our team, Noah Grove, who struck a beauty from distance over the head of their keeper. The English dominated the remainder of the game amassing a total of 10 goals.
Redemption for the US came during a rematch with Haiti under the lights where we managed a 2-2 tie after giving up a questionable penalty kick early in the game. Nicolai had a nice assist and lovely breakaway goal, shown below, his 14th in international competition.
After a busy morning of work, I jumped on a plane for Houston and then drove to The Woodlands where I arrived with 3 minutes to spare before the opening kick-off of the US Amputee Soccer Lonestar Invitational. This international friendly tournament between the national teams from the USA, England and Haiti is considered a tune-up before the Amputee Soccer World Cup to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico later this year. Nicolai was sporting a new haircut which was a joint effort between himself and his girlfriend Karuna. I thought the look suited him perfectly.
After briefly saying hello to Nico and members of the squad I jumped into my role as team photographer. A complete set of images from the tournament can be found here. A few of my favorites of Nicolai appear below. The US team played better than I have ever seen them before but sadly where not able to overcome a one goal deficit loosing to Haiti by a score of 1-0.
Nicolai’s conditioning was not where it has been in the past and Houston’s intense heat and humidity only added to the challenge. Even so, Nicolai remained a force to be reckoned with on the field and he was generally double teamed any team he got near the goal.
Despite an extremely physical contest, the players have genuine respect and admiration for each other. Once the final whistle has blown confrontations give way to consolations and congratulations.
After an interview with a local TV station which carried coverage of the tournament, the team remained at the field to scout the English squad while I retired to the hotel for a respite from the heat and a nice nap. England destroyed the admittedly now tired Haitian squad by a score of 6-0 which did not bode well for tomorrow’s match with the USA.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
