I received this set of photos from one of our partners in China after my recent visit. Does this person remind you of anyone you know?

When I look back on my life, it is hard to imagine where the 61 years have gone since my birth. With each passing year, it feels like time is accelerating and I feel more compelled to suck every bit of marrow from the bone. As is my habit on my birthday, I like to take stock in how closely I am living to the standard of my Constancy of Purpose credo. This year with letter grades.

Achieve Balance:

• Remain Healthy (B-)
• Spend Time with Family (C)
• Work Passionately (A)

Strive for Excellence:

• Improve Everything I Touch (A)
• Learn Something New Every Day (A-)
• Create Innovative Works of Enduring Value (A)

Enjoy Life:

• Seize the Day (A)
• Remain Curious (A-)
• Dare to be Great (B)

I spent the morning on the soccer pitch; a more perfect fall day you could not ask for. I got about 40 minutes of playing time which was just the right amount and managed one very nice shot on goal that just missed wide. We secured a 6-1 win. I spent the rest of the day with Jeanine and the boys. We watched the Patriots game together, played an epic match of bocce (with Maya observing via FaceTime), and then enjoyed a birthday meal including one of my childhood favorite foods; corn fritters. Kyle, while manning the grill, spotted the coyote pictured above. I managed to get my telephoto lens mounted just in time to capture his purposeful traverse of the field behind our house.

My travel over the last 10 days has taken me around the globe once from west to east. My final stop was in Seoul where I had a 15 hour layover. Rather than try to sleep at the airport, I took a train into the city and rented a micro hotel room (exactly enough space for a bed and bathroom, 10ft x 10ft). Before going to sleep, I walked from my hotelette to the base of Namsan Mountain and then climbed one mile of stairs to reach the base of the Seoul Tower (774ft tall). An elevator took me to the top of the tower which offers a spectacular 360 degree view of the city. My laptop does not have sufficient memory to stitch together the huge panoramic photo I made and it will have to wait till I get back home.

I have visited Hong Kong many times over the years. This time I choose a hotel close to both Kowloon Park and the Xiqu Cultural Center, areas that I have not had a chance to see before. I had a couple of hours to look around before boarding my return flight which heads to Boston by way of Seoul.

The optical modules used in Formlab printers must be fabricated in clean rooms to prevent the introduction of potential contaminants. The outfits above were required before entering to keep dust from our clothing and hair from getting in. Because our lasers are calibrated in this area special safety glasses are also required. After touring the factory and meeting with the management team here I departed for Hong Kong where my flight home departs tomorrow.

I had an opportunity today to visit our main contract manufacturer as well as one of our injection mounded plastic suppliers. During lunch with our factory partners, one of the dishes served was sweet potato wedges covered in warm honey. Ten minutes after it arrived at the table, it became very difficult to pick up a single potato wedge because they all had become stuck together. I inquired if there was some trick to separating them with chopsticks. The answer was no, it was just a very sticky problem that either took fingers or multiple people. This provoked a conversation on chopstick dexterity during which I mentioned that on my last trip to China I had managed to pick up three peanuts at once. To my great surprise and the amusement of all gathered, a bowl of peanuts arrived at the table two minutes later. With the pressure on, I was able to duplicate the feat on my first attempt. Future visitors from Formlabs may be encouraged to challenge my record. For your effort to count, you must produce photographic evidence and an affidavit from a present witness that no cheating occurred.

After a total of 20 hours of elapsed travel time (11h flying, 4h driving, 5h waiting in airports), I arrived at the Aloft hotel in Huanggekeng by mid-afternoon. I have stayed in better and I have stayed in worse. Within a couple of blocks you can find the Guanjingtou Reservoir, the Yitan Holiday World shopping area, some decent restaurants, and the ugly high rise apartments that dominate the landscape of most modern cities in China. It never ceases to amaze me how much China has changed since I first visited some two decades ago.

After a weekend of travel, hiking and photography, it was back to work today. My next stop is China where I will visit two of the factories responsible for manufacturing Formlabs printers. My flight is out of Zagreb through Moscow and on to Hong Kong before finishing the trip into China by car. I will be staying just north and west of Shenzhen.

I left my weekend bungalow just outside Plitvice early enough to give myself about an hour in Zagreb while en route to the airport. The Cathedral of Zagreb is one of the cities most prominent landmarks and as is often my luck, parts of it are under going repairs which detracts from the photo somewhat. Still I could have spent hours there if not for my departure deadline.

While walking around the cathedral I came upon a farmers market the likes of which I have never seen. I regret not having stopped for a while to partake of the luscious fruit but I had little enough time as it was.

I should like to return to Zagreb in the future. It is a beautiful city with a great deal of beauty around every corner.

I spent the better part of the day in Rastoke, a lovely little town built atop the Slunjčica River (enters top right) just before it falls into the Korana River (on the left). Houses and restaurants are nestled on little islands on micro-sized lakes connected by waterfalls, small and large. The sound of babbling waters can be heard everywhere and everything is connected by tiny foot bridges.

The water is so clean that you can see right to the bottom and in photos it is easy to mistake it for the dirt and rocks at the bottom.

While walking around, I wandered into a fairy garden where I found dozens of tiny ones and a trio of big ones in addition to beautiful butterflies.

Usually I only make one posting per day. Today I am making an exception to cover my afternoon excursion into Bosnia Herzegovina. Crossing the border by car could not have been easier. The same cannot be said of the last 7km of my two hour drive to the Una National Park. I think the 1-1/4 lane, two-way dirt road is kept that way to keep visitors to an absolute minimum. The challenging drive was well worth the effort. Pictured above are the Štrbački buk falls which are as pretty as any I have ever seen.

On my drive back to Croatia I stopped for a number of photos. Many buildings are still riddled with bullet damage from the war. I stopped to photograph the remnants of a church that appeared to be destroyed by an artillery shell. At the exact instant I was thinking that thought, a MASSIVE explosion occurred right behind the church. I practically had a heart attack as I dove for cover. When I gathered my wits, I figured out that there was a rock quarry behind the church being mined with explosives.

The town of Bihać is quite lovely with a tamer version of River Una running through it. As the sun was setting, I spotted a beautiful hilltop mosque and stopped there for my last photo of the day. Having skipped breakfast and lunch, food was now my main priority. I had a wonderful black truffle risotto for diner making up for all the depravation of the day.

Yesterday after my last meeting I took a bus from Budapest to Zagreb (4.5h) and then rented a car and drove to Plitvice Lake National Park (2h). I arrived at the bungalow I am renting after midnight and was fortunate the owner was kind enough to wait up for me or I might have spent the night in the car. I was at the park entrance bright and early, well in advance of the hoards that descend here later in the day. Drones are not permitted in the park so I had to do a good bit of hiking to get the shot above. Click to enlarge to fully appreciate these magnificent water falls. By 11am the crowds were intolerable so I set off for Bosnia Herzegovina and a much less popular national park there.

Originally scheduled to arrive Budapest at midnight last night, my flight was delayed and I did not land until 1am. By the time I made it to the apartment room I rented it was 2am and I was asleep by 3am after a 2-mile walk to stretch my legs. I arrived at the Formlabs office here an hour ahead of my first scheduled meeting and used the time for a very quick walk down to the river front for some photos. After meeting the entire team in a series of meetings, we all had lunch together and finished off with an ice cream social. This is something I had promised the team if we achieved a high enough participation rate in a recent employee engagement survey.

Budapest is an absolutely beautiful city and one I hope to visit again (for more than 40m).

I was greeted at London Gatwick Airport early this morning after an all night flight by Queen Elizabeth. A pleasant way to start the day after a very turbulent flight and sleepless night.

I then traveled by car for 1.5h before arriving at one of Formlabs key manufacturers. Located well outside London in the most improbable setting, nestled into farmland, this very high tech company is doing great work for us and I had highly productive meetings which ended by late afternoon. While waiting for my taxi to the airport, I put up the drone for an aerial view of the bucolic setting.

Pictured below is Rose, one of the highly skilled artisans who help make our product.

This evening I leave for Europe and Asia on a ten day business trip. To avoid the expense of airport parking, I took the commuter rail to North Station and walked from there to work. Nicolai dropped me off at the Concord train station on his way to work and also took the above image of me with my full travel kit (45L pack plus camera). I will try and document my travels from the road.

A not particularly great sunrise photo from yesterday morning. I was too busy today preparing for upcoming travel to spend time on anything else.

At work we threw a surprise party for my boss, the CEO and founder of Formlabs, to celebrate his eighth work anniversary and by extension the eighth birthday of the company. He was definitely caught off guard and it was a very fun, if fattening event. Joining the party was his wife and new baby. I was able to steal the baby for a few minutes and also got a nice portrait of him. I handed him back to dad just moments before he threw up.

It is a fairly rare occurrence when Jeanine comes to me requesting that I take a photo of her. That was the case after she returned this morning from a 13 mile bike ride during which she had to repair her jammed derailleur. She was extremely proud of her greasy hands as was I of her newly developing bike repair aptitude. While she was riding, I was playing soccer and spent more time on the field than my current conditioning justified. Despite having a short bench, we managed a decisive 4-0 win over Wayland.

On the advice of our local weather forecasters, we decided to spend the afternoon at Plum Island for what was predicted to be the last “beach day” of the season.

It was a very relaxing afternoon as we absorbed the sunshine and the smells and sounds of the ocean.

Maya joined a few of the other interns at Blue Origin for some mountain hiking. Looks like she also scored a dog fix in the deal. Her mother and father were very happy to receive these photos because we know how genuinely happy she is despite what continues to be a demanding work load. Note to Maya; please try to secure the full resolution versions of these photos.

As is my habit, I tend to sell my photo gear as soon as I upgrade to better versions. For sale as of today is my Sony a7R III (pictured above and below). I have replaced it with a Sony a7R IV which sports a higher resolution and much improved ergonomics. Camera bodies depreciate rapidly whereas lenses can actually increase in value. My new camera arrived just ahead of planned trips over the next two months to Europe, Asia, and Central America so the timing could not have been better.

I had enough time yesterday on my drive back to the Raleigh Durham airport to stop at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on the campus of Duke University for about 10 minutes. I could have stayed for hours and will certainly do so the next time I get to Durham. On this occasion making my flight was the higher priority.

On some level, I was not thrilled about the prospects of flying out of Logan airport on the morning of September 11th. It certainly made me reflect more deeply about all who were traumatized that day 18 years ago and all those who have paid the price since. Nonetheless, I have been very delinquent in visiting our new office in Durham, North Carolina and today I was finally in a position to do so. We currently have two floors of the building pictured above with ambitions to lease it all. Recruiting top talent here has proven very successful and I have high expectations about the work that will be done at this location. I enjoyed a tour of the facility and time getting to know the team better before a same-day return to Boston.

Since I started commuting to Formlabs I have had to endure construction traffic on Cambridge Street where the new King School and Cambridge Street Upper School (CSUS) have been under construction since 2015. The 250,000 square foot, $160M building will be home to 850 students. That’s a bill of nearly $10K per student for the next twenty years. Yikes! Despite the cost, it certainly is beautiful, especially when illuminated at night as was the case during my evening commute.

Normally when I photograph Nicolai on a soccer pitch he is one of the players on the field. This evening, I had a chance to see him in action in a different capacity, as Head Coach of the Concord Carlisle High School JV Men’s Soccer Team. They were playing Boston Latin High School which is not too far from my office. It was a lot of fun watching Nico coach a team he once played for. He is an absolute natural and I have little doubt that coaching will play an important role in his future. A set of action photos from the game can be found here. The game ended in a 0-0 tie despite the fact that CCHS dominated possession and really looked to be the better team.

This morning I started my sixteenth season with the Concord United soccer club. We travelled to Raynham where we secured a 5-0 win getting things off to a good start. I play a wing midfielder and have never kicked off a season in such poor shape. The combination of a demanding work schedule and various procedures related to getting rid of my kidney stones contributed to a summer break with little exercise. It is very clear to me that I am going to have to make a serious effort to get back into soccer shape if I am going to pull my weight on the team.

For the last several years, the shower in our master bathroom has suffered from a progressively increasing drip when turned off. I was confident that this could be rectified by replacing the four washers and seals used in the main valve body (pictured above). The challenge was getting it out. First, there is no water shutoff for the shower which means that it would require turning off water to the entire house. Although this is easy to do, the risk of breaking a pipe during this operation is very real and would result in no water for the house until it was repaired. Second the handle had 31 years of corrosion on its internal spline making it next to impossible to remove. Ultimately, I needed a torch and fairly large pry bars to remove the handle. Once liberated, I had to fight different battles with each of the four threaded joints inside the valve. The entire repair took the better part of the morning but was well worth the effort.

Later in the day, Jeanine and I joined Kyle for lunch and a long walk around Fresh Pond where we encounter this bumper crop of mushrooms.

All the items pictured here were found within a 10 foot radius in our backyard early this morning. It never ceases to amaze me what you can find when you simply take the time to look.

For someone who thought she would be dead after complications from surgery, I would say my mother is looking quite alive. Earlier this week she moved from a hospice care unit into an assisted living residential facility. Little by little she is gaining weight and I am confident it is only a matter of a few months before she returns to ballroom dancing. She sent this iPad selfie to family and friends today as if to announce “I’m back.”

When I returned from a walking meeting with one of my colleagues today, I found this caterpillar crawling up the back of my neck. After recovering from the surprise, I paused to photograph this future butterfly with the camera on my phone. It is absolutely amazing to me that evolution would produce a set of fake eyes to help intimidate would be predators.

Maya started a four month internship with Kent, Washington based Blue Origin today. She will be designing systems to test and validate the sensors used on their spacecraft. When I spoke to her about her first day, she reported being somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of new things she will be required to learn in order to complete her project. I have total faith she will meet the challenge. She spent the weekend settling into her new living situation which included taking her new roommate to the hospital twice for a severe illness she contracted while driving cross country with her father.

Before leaving for home this morning, I took a few minutes to photograph portraits of Mayela and Stephen’s “children.” Peachy is seven and Banjo is three. The pair are the most delightful dogs you will ever meet. Well behaved, frisky, always ready to play or snuggle.

Earlier in the weekend, Mayela went fishing using Peachy for bait but did not catch anything.

Atop 2,690 foot Goodnow Mountain in the heart of the Adirondacks is the 60 foot tall Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7’x7’ metal cab. It was built by the NY Department of Conservation in 1922 and staffed until 1970 when fire towers were gradually phased out. It offers a spectacular 360 degree panoramic view of the Adirondack range and can be reached on a 4.5 mile roundtrip hike with an ascent of 1,100 feet. Mayela, Stephen, Jeanine and I made the hike after a 2.5 hour car/ferry ride from Vermont to Newcomb, NY.

In addition to the views from the top, there were several interesting views along the trail as well.