Nala is growing up like the rest of the children in the family. She has progressed from gnawing on the furniture to wasting energy and messing up the house. When she wants to go in or out she simply opens the door. We have lever style handles and she can open a door as easily as you or I. Closing the door, or wiping her feet when she comes in from digging in the mud are very low on her priority list, not unlike my other children. I am going to have to change handles back to round knobs and pray she doen’t learn to turn those with her teeth.
Turning 50 this year comes with upsides and downsides. Yesterday, playing soccer in the over 50 leauge was a thrill because my speed was a factor again. This afternoon, I had my first routine colonoscopy. Between the fasting and the prep, my weight dropped to below 160 for the first time since I can remember. That’s a 25 pound loss since January and I think I will stabilize here.
This morning I had a soccer scrimmage with my new team (hard to believe I have graduating to the over 50 league). I scored three goals and had two assists. Amazing what playing with guys your own age can do for your game! I thought I would spare everyone another picture of the kayak and instead chose this still life. These orchids were a gift from our good friend Aliza and make me happy every time I look at them. Kyle was also in action today and his team beat the Bolts, a top ranked club which they have never defeated in several years of competition.
Today I fiberglassed the deck of my kayak. Once again, Maya played a crucial role mixing epoxy on a just in time basis. It took roughly 20 batches to completely bond the fiberglass to the wood. Four additional layers of epoxy are required but these should go much more quickly and Nicolai has volunteered for the next round of mixing. Jeanine just back from a bike ride inspects the progress. You really need to click on the photo for a higher resolution view.
Kyle is taking a class in photography at the high school. His teacher prefers to start the kids off with pinhole cameras which the students construct and then move them up to film cameras with minimal automation. I searched Craig’s list and found a guy who was giving away a half dozen broken film cameras. I was able to repair three of them and this is the one I will give to Kyle for his class work. I forgot how much more deliberate shooting with film is and now fully appreciate why the professor insists on starting the kids with film.
Maura will graduate high school early, spend a year in India and is considering Tufts for her college choice. They will be visitig the campus tomorrow.
Several weeks ago some baby sheep arrived to join the herd I routinely drive past on my commute. I kept telling myself that I should stop and get a photo but with all that has been going on at work it has been hard to spare the time. Today, on my drive home, I snuck up on them and was surprised that the babies have nearly doubled in size. None the less they are still pretty cute.
Maya and Nico played a little B-ball this afternoon after school. I came home a little early to take all three kids to their dentist appointment. I am happy to report no cavities and high marks for brushing technique. Jeanine has been away since Sunday attending a healthy living class at Kirpalu in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Holding down the fort has become easier as the kids have gotten older. Each child was assigned one night for making dinner and kitchen clean up and they can all fend for themselves after school. That said, we are looking forward to Jeanine’s return tomorrow.
A big day at work today. I announced that I would be leaving Avid to join a much smaller company called Sonos where I will head up their engineering team. Sonos, headquartered in Santa Barbara, designs and manufactures a wireless digital music delivery system for the home. I will be based in their Cambridge, MA office which is growing rapidly as the company expands its product portfolio. The company reminds me of Truevision, the company I co-founded in my twenties, and I am very excited about returning to such a high voltage environment, now with 25 years of experience to draw on. Leaving Avid, however, will not be easy. It is a great company and I have been priviledged to work with many wonderful people. I offered a three month notice when I resigned earlier this month and will start at Sonos in early June. Pictured here is the Sonos controller from which I can access any song in the world and play it in any room in the house. I purchased the system before my first interview to evaluate the company. Many will recall that it was immediately usurped by the kids and turned into their Christmas present.
Maya endured three hours of travel to watch her brother play. During his one hour pre-game practice we had a lunch date at Applebees. On the way to the restaurant I stopped to photograph this cute little house.
Kyle played in three soccer games this weekend at the Seacoast Soccer Tournament in Epping, NH. Jeanine made the three hour round trip yesterday and I did the honors today. The boys won their first two matches and tied the last which was good enough to finish in first place. Kyle, still recovering from mono, was in fine form. Here he lifts the ball over a defender’s slide tackle and continues on his way as if he had stepped over a puddle. And yes, that is snow in the background. Conditions yesterday were terrible but could not have been nicer today.
I completed the deck of my kayak today (twice). The first time I wired it together, I was not satisfied with the bevel angles between deck plates. To make the refinements, I had to remove them all and then redo about four hours of work. Despite the enormous frustration this caused, I was quite pleased with the outcome and am extremely happy with the shape and lines of the kayak. Once again, Maya provided significant assistance. I have decided on the name Calypso when the time comes to christen her.
Maya and her friends perform a dance to the Nutcracker at the Willard Talent Show this evening. Maya has not grown dramatically since yesterday. She has, however, developed a very big vertical leap.
Today I had a chance to photograph the work I completed this weekend on my kayak. I made very good progress considering I spent most of Saturday at Kyle’s soccer game and most of Sunday occupied with the Easter gathering. Nicolai assisted with scarfing the plates together, cutting wire ties, and building of the cradle, Maya was in charge of sponging and hammer holding, Rachel was in charge of glue and dry wipes, and Kyle helped out with stitching the panels together. This is my first wood working project where the assistance of the kids actually made the project go faster. The hull is now in pretty good shape and I will move onto the deck next weekend.
Among the guests at our home was my sister’s new dog, Harpo. Nala was banished from the house lest she confuse this tiny fellow for a snack. When a wind up toy from one of the Easter Eggs was released, Harpo started batting at it with those little legs and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Nicolai was in charge of hiding Easter eggs, a job he cherishes. Among them was the golden egg with a $20 gift certificate inside. After a half hour of searching Kyle was convinced that Nico had placed it high in one of our trees. In fact, the coveted egg was hidden under the newel post of our deck railing.
A highlight for the kids was this chocolate fountain. Despite the available array of fruits and cakes available for chocolate coating the kids seemed determined to try using every imaginable substrate for the liquid confectionery. I stopped keeping track when experimentation led them to potato chips.
In celebration of Easter this year we invited several families over for an Easter Egg hunt and Sunday dinner. The women seemed to gather around the food (no comment), while the men seemed to prefer the dining room. The kids claimed the sun porch and breakfast area. In total I think we had 28 guests and enough food to feed 50.
Nephew, John William, 7 months younger than Kyle is now taller than both of us. He went to watch Kyle play soccer this afternoon and got roped into being a linesman. Although he initially turned down my winter coat, by half time he was more than happy to slip it on.
My sister Alissa and her family are here to celebrate Easter with us this weekend. Pictured here with Maya is cousin Rachel. They spent the morning in pajamas rehearsing a music video dance routine.
I needed to wait till morning for the photograph but I was able to finish the strong back in a little over two hours. I am very pleased with the result. The H beam design I used proved to be very strong. I also took the time to protect the floor under the assembly area which is likely to get covered in epoxy and varnish before the project is done.
This evening I started construction of a wooden kayak. The first step is construction of a strong back (a 14 foot, twelve inch wide table that is ultra flat and very stable). It is the platform on which construction of the kayak takes place. I came up with a design that can be easily broken down into two seven foot sections for later storage. If this project goes well I plan to build another for kayak for Jeanine.
Kyle hanging out with some of his buddies this evening. Seth shaved his head for a big swim meet and now understands why I am always wearing my Nanook of the North hat. Harrison grew a foot since I last saw him.
This evening I finished building a set of sports crutches for Nicolai. I used a conduit bender to form the angle in the aluminum tubes I obtained from eBay. I recycled the handles and cuffs from Nico’s collection of broken crutches (a typical pair lasts him 6 months). My design is custom made for his height and does not require adjustability allowing me to use a single tube rather than three. This allowed me to shave 2 ounces off the weight and eliminate all the adjustment holes which invariably are the failure points. These crutches are also totally quiet compared to the clicking of his current crutches. I may have to add a cow bell to the new ones so we can continue to keep track of Nico. Total cost of materials was $10 compared to $100 for a new set.
