I had an idea for a packaging concept that I have been noodling on for the last several days. I found it easier to build a mock-up than creating a CAD model.

Maya is headed to Austin, Texas to attend the 2017 Society of Women Engineers Conference and Career Fair. I was happy to provide a shuttle service from Olin College to the airport for her and two classmates.

Normally I drive into the mountains to find fall color. Today the color has come to Concord. The range on my electric car is 81 miles and I used about two-thirds of a “tank” to enjoy my own neck of the woods where autumn foliage is now at its peak.  Leaves were not the only thing I found that caught my eye.

The best way I know to get up to speed on a new product is by taking it apart. This morning I dissected a non-working Copenhagen Wheel I obtained while visiting superpedestrian last week. What appears very simple from the outside is actually quite complex internally.  I worked very carefully out of respect for the powerful magnetic fields and high-power 48V battery present inside the housing.

After two weeks of complete rest I was hopeful that my injured hamstring would have fully recovered. Fifteen minutes into my soccer match this morning, however, it became abundantly apparent that was not the case.  Fortunately, I stopped at the first twinge of pain and did no further damage to the muscle.  With any luck, I will be back in action next week. 

Since its origin in 1965, the Head Of The Charles Regatta has welcomed the world’s best crew teams to the banks of the Charles River for the ultimate two-day rowing competition attracting over 11,000 athletes and tens of thousands of spectators. Kyle and I were among the later group this morning enjoying the racing and a spectacular autumn day.  Kyle wondered if boats often collided.  I told him it was rare and not 10 minutes later we witnesses a three way crash. Two racing fours collided side-to-side and were then carried by the current into the reverse direction “lane” where they were T-boned at high speed by a double traveling in the opposite direction. It is very fortunate that no one was seriously injured although the double rowers seemed none too happy with their short swim in the frigid Charles.

The geese pictured below managed to just dodge the advancing shell but one was not so lucky with respect to the sweeping oar.

As the resident biking expert in the family, I asked Jeanine to test out a product called the Copenhagen Wheel.  It is a retrofittable rear wheel that turns an ordinary bicycle into an electric motor assisted speedster instilling in the rider a feeling of super human strength and endurance .  Her smile reveals the verdict and validated my decision to join the company that literally reinvented the wheel. Superpedestrian is a startup, founded in 2012 by one of the wheel’s co-inventors, with a mission to transform urban mobility. Over the last 18 months I have been heavily recruited for various head of engineering roles both here and on the west coast. Most were interesting, all were lucrative, but none till now stirred my passions enough to coax me out of retirement. The superpedestrian mission, its technology and design sensibility, the culture and team of exceptional individuals all spoke to me on a very profound level. My first day in the office will be a week from Monday.  Although I have failed at my first attempt to retire, I feel I made great use of my time off.  I enjoyed travel adventures in a dozen countries, visited more than half the US states, and built a tiny house with Maya. 

I had to swerve violently to avoid running over this snake on the road today. Confident I had missed it, I circled back for a photo (taken with my telephoto lens). I have no idea what kind it is but thought it wise to keep my distance despite its relatively small size (about 2.5 feet long). If anyone knows what species this is, please drop me a note and I will update the post. My current best guess is a Northern Water Snake.

During my travels yesterday I encountered a number of bridges and decided to post them today in honor of a loyal blog follower who enjoys them.

Every year at this time I try and venture into the White Mountains of New Hampshire in search of fall color. Weather and foliage reports suggested that today would be optimal. I traveled north to Franconia Notch and then east through Crawford Notch to Jackson. I returned by way of Conway and Kancamagus Highway covering a total of nearly 350 miles. The foliage this year was somewhat muted but more expansive than in past years. I enjoyed the drive as much of the photography and may even make a return visit later this week.

Women who have passed kidney stones compare the pain to that of childbirth. Early this morning after an entirely sleepless night my pain increased to 11 on a scale of 10 and it was time for a visit to the ER. There I received a very effective pain blocker and underwent a CAT scan to confirm that I was passing two 3mm kidney stones.  I was discharged by noon and felt good enough to walk home from the hospital. During my recovery, I enjoyed watching a video from Maya showing her hopper in action. Note the clever time-delayed trigger.  Link to Video

I had hoped to head up to New Hampshire for some fall foliage photography today. My soccer match was cancelled due to a forfeit by our opponent leaving me a rare unscheduled autumn Sunday. Unfortunately, the skies were overcast and I opted to do some much-needed shopping instead.  By late afternoon, the sun was peaking through the clouds occasionally and I managed to get some nice pumpkin photos at one of our local farm stands. Later I took Jeanine out for dinner and the latest Kingsman movie. We both agreed that it would have been better if I had taken Kyle instead.  Better yet would have been waiting to catch it on TV.

During day two of Olin’s Family Weekend Maya had to work on her hopper project and we were all happy to watch as she built mechanisms from parts that were laser cut over night. The project is due on Monday so she needed to work on it while we were visiting.  Later we joined some of her friends and their parents for dinner at a Japanese restaurant before saying goodbye to our baby who we will see next at Thanksgiving.

Jeanine, Kyle, and I had a chance to visit Maya during Family Weekend at Olin College. We are already fairly familiar with the tiny campus and therefore most interested in seeing Maya’s first project, a biologically inspired hoping mechanism (below is one of her initial design drawings). Maya seems very happy and thoroughly engaged in academic life as well as the social scene. We attended her ultimate frisbee practice to cap off the day