Pausing to rest after we had walked around the lake. Maya collected red and black berries which she intends to crush this evening to make paint.

Late this afternoon, Maya, Jeanine and I went for a nature walk at the Old Lexington Reservoir. Earlier in the day Kyle’s team suffered a 2-0 loss to a tough opponent. It was one of those games where they dominated possession but could not find the back of the net. My team had no such problems as we cruised to a 7-1 victory against a team we had beat 2-1 earlier in the season. This win virtually guarantees our promotion to Division 1 (of 7 in our league) provided we do not get any additional yellow or red cards.

I am convinced Maya is going to follow in her father’s foot steps as an engineer. This evening, she took apart a calculator (broken by her brothers). When she had it completely apart, she put it back together perfectly. She never ceases to amaze me. Earlier in the day Nicolai’s soccer team won a narrow 1-0 victory against a team that had beated them 5-0 earlier in the season. Nico had the assist on the winning goal.

I believe this weekend is the last for peak color and I will try to move on to a new theme.

After the game, I was asked to take the annual team photo.

During halftime I noticed this pleasing arrangement of trees. I love fall in New England.

When I get a chance I am going to ask Kyle what he was doing in this defender’s armpit.

Kyle’s team earned a tough 1-0 victory this afternoon. The team is now 5-0.

My team suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss this morning against a team we had beaten soundly earlier in the season. Nicolai and his friend Joe came to the game and took photos. I did not see a lot of action today but when I was in, I played very well. Towards the end of the game, I went up for a header on a great 30-yard cross. I timed my jump perfectly and had one of the highest vertical leaps of my life. I got head and shoulders above a much taller defender and put a strong shot on goal which just missed the far corner by inches.

You really need to view this image at full resolution to appreciate the beauty of this field just down the road from our house. Maya and I went out for peanuts and orange soda after her game.

Next on the agenda was Nico’s soccer game in Wayland. While he was warming up, I found this out of the way pond on my navigation system and hiked in for the picture. Nico had a very strong game and at one point single handedly took the ball from the kick-off to inside the goal box for a shot which deflected off the goalie’s shin.

Today, Jeanine is at a Ropes course with some of the youth from our Church. My day starts by taking Maya to swimming lessons.

Friday the 13th marks a big management shake up at work. My boss and his boss, both of whom I have a lot of respect for, have been moved out of the organization. I have been asked to stay on and will report to the new General Manager as VP of Engineering and will also pick up the Program Management team and an engineering team in Dallas (my total team size is now ~550). On Monday, additional senior management changes will be announced with six VPs being reassigned or moved out (I am one of two to survive in my current role). Although the changes are massive, I think they will be good for the company in the long term. My new boss has scheduled meetings for 12 hours on Monday so I don’t expect I will be posting much during the early part of next week.

I drive past this farm every day on the way into work. This morning, I stopped to explore a little and found this nice perspective which is not appreciated from the road.

At the end of the day we had a fantastic dinner on the waterfront at the Black Pearl.

On our last run, the wind completely died, affording me my only opportunity to get a photo of us on the water.

Today, I took my entire management team to Newport, RI for a team sailing challenge. The weather and wind were perfect and the outing was a great success. We had six J-22 boats manned by three team members and one coach/safety officer. We learned basic sailing techniques in the morning and had the team challenge in the afternoon. The challenge required us sailing in teams of three boats through a course (set with buoys). We were rewarded for sailing in a specific boat sequence, in the least amount of time, with the tightest grouping of boats (time of slowest boat plus the delta time of the first boat to the last boat). A great deal of communication and strategy was involved. The final event required us to sail as a group of six boats against the clock. Our team produced the best time in this configuration (the ultimate goal) which was a first for the facilitators of this event.

1 PM: Woman flying through air suspended by balloon complying with sign (only in NYC)

8:35 AM: Brush with celebrities John Lithgow,Jeffery Tambor, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer.

8:30 AM: Arrive Rockefeller Center for meetings with NBC.

7:00 AM: Sunrise over NYC on approach to Laguardia.

4:20 AM: Wake up
4:45 AM: Limo to airport
6:30 AM: Taxi for take-off

Kyle showed some interest in my camera and took this very nice photo of his mother and sister while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive.

When we returned from hiking, we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Kyle had a rare weekend with no soccer games which was very fortunate as he is nursing a turned ankle.

When I retruned home Jeanine and I were both in the mood to be outdoors on this glorious fall day. We grabbed Maya and drove to the Boxborough Conservation area and did a little hiking in the woods. Here we discovered a tiny stone bridge over a small creek.

This morning, I was back in action again after missing one game to a hamstring injury. We beat Cambridge 1-0 despite playing a man down for the entire second half due to a red card ejection of one of our players. Since I was so close, I decided to do a little shopping at Harvard Square. When I arrived, I discovered the entire area closed to auto traffic for Octoberfest. I decided to stay for lunch and sampled the varied open air musical entertainiment.

Question: How long does it take to consume nearly two pounds of Cougar Gold cheese? Answer: It has been 8 days since I received this gift for my birthday. Thank you Larry!

Jeanine and Rudy shared a canoe with good friend Gabe (in the middle – even though you can not see her). I had Maya and Julie with me. I love these girls more than words can express, but when they persistantly dragged their paddles in the water thus thwarting my attempts at propulsion, I was prepared to put their swimming ability to the test.

Maya would have taken the lamb home with her if she could have gotten it in the canoe.

For reasons that are not all together clear to me, there was a lamb at the Old Manse and Maya wasted little time introducing herself.

Today we were visited by Rudy Albachten, one of Jeanine’s childhood friends. We rented canoes and paddled down to the old North Bridge where we put ashore for a while. Here, the two pose in front of the Old Manse.