With only two healthy subs, my soccer team was lucky to walk away from our contest with Belmont this morning having secured a scoreless tie. Despite earlier forecasts to the contrary, it was cold with periods of steady rain. I sustained a cracked rib early in the match which did nothing but add misery to the damp, cold conditions. I collided with an opponent while pursuing a 50/50 ball. We both went to ground and somehow his knee wound up clipping me under my rightarmpitt. I have cracked several ribs over the course of my life and I know to expect agony any time I sneeze, cough, or laugh for the next several weeks. Fortunately, it should not prevent me from continuing to play.

Later, the day turned beautiful and I found time to give Maya, now 14, her first proper driving lesson. She was a surprisingly fast learner and by the end of an hour was driving confidently around our neighborhood. She feathers the brakes as if she has been driving for years and didn’t once forget to signal a turn.

Nicolai got his first exposure to sled hockey this morning when we visited the 10th Annual USA Disabled Hockey Festival at the New England Sports Center in Marlborough Massachusetts. We were invited by future Paralympian, Noah Grove, one of his teammates from the US National Amputee Soccer team to check out the sport. Noah, arguably the best player in the tournament, scored a total of 13 goals. He feels Nicolai would be very successful in the sport and is encouraging him to give it a try.

This evening, the entire family, joined by my mother and Jeanine’s sister, Susan, attended Open Table’s annual fundraiser. This is the first major event organized under Jeanine’s leadership as the recently installed President. The gala featured an Iron Chef style competition for appetizers and entrees and a Cake Boss inspired dessert contest. Distinguished judges selected winning teams while guests enjoyed food prepared by Open Table volunteers. The entire evening proved to be an overwhelming success and the charity brought in ~$20,000 for the benefit of those in our community who know hunger. I was the official photographer for the event, assisted by both Nicolai and Maya, and will be posting a full collection of photos in the coming days.

Adding to the celebration was the fact that today is Jeanine’s 51st birthday. You have never heard “Happy Birthday” sung by a larger or more enthusiastic crowd. I could not have planned a more perfect birthday party if I tried and all I had to do was show up with my camera.

iRobot has embarked on a facility upgrade project to transform our rather industrial-looking environment into something more modern and high-tech. To accommodate the associated construction, many employees need to vacate their current locations. I am one of a group that needs to make an interim move and then a final move in a couple of months. Today I packed up my things, removed my artwork from the walls, and relocated to the first floor. I have done some good work in this office and am sad to leave it behind.

Nico and Jeanine were in New York City today attending the Kicking + Screening Film Festival where Nico participated in a panel discussion and did a half dozen press interviews. The folks at Powerade submitted the 2m version of Nico’s Story to the festival which included it in their short documentary line up.

His interview with Mashable, which gets 30+ million viewers per month is already online.  An interview he did with Coca Cola was also posted yesterday.

Just in an article from Today.com

Among her many talents, my mother is a skilled calligrapher.  This evening she set out to create place tags for the big Open Table fundraising event happening this weekend. There can be little doubt about which parent was the source of my manual dexterity and sense of style.  Maya also contributed to the effort through her clever idea for an ad hoc light table.

At iRobot we give departing employees a royalsend-offf and in this case a proper roasting. Gerry, our VP of Product Management, joined the company almost exactly when I did and I have really enjoyed working with him over the years. He is headed to Fort Collins, CO and I hope to see him again one day while visiting Nicolai at Colorado College.

Nico travels to NYC on Thursday to attend the Kicking & Screening Film Festival held at the Tribeca Cinemas. He will be present for Q&A and media interviews after the screening of Nico, a two-minute documentary about his life on the soccer pitch, filmed almost exclusively by his dear old dad.  Jeanine will accompany him and I will be sending her with a nice camera to capture the event.  An interview with him about his participation can be found on the K&S Blog.

Winter snows have given way to spring rains and it is nice to get out forlunchtimee walks again. I find that my post soccer game muscle soreness dissipates more quickly when I exercise the day after a match.

At eighty-five, my mother shows no signs of slowing down and is as beautiful as the day my father married her. I hope I age as well as she has although my soccer performance this morning did little to suggest that would be the case. I need to shed at least 15 pounds and build back my cardio fitness at the very least. Our season opener match was against our arch rival Acton-Boxborough. In the ten years I have played for Concord United we have never beaten them. Today we broke that pattern with a well earned 2-0 win suggesting we might have a shot at the Division 1 title this year.

Few things are more photogenic than ballerinas. Today I spent 7 hours photographing Maya and her fellow students during their tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and spring performance. I was completely exhausted after capturing 1500 images without a break for food or water. Eighty percent of my photographs wound up in the trash. The remaining ones can be seen at this link. I am very pleased with the results and hope they will bring joy to many families.

My mother arrived today and will be visiting us for a few days. We had occasion to look through the collection of old family photos I have digitized over the years. In this one, my dad is front and center, I am to his right, and my brother is seated on my mother’s lap. As we studied the photo, my mother pointed out an interesting fact. Nearly 50 years after it was taken, two of the pictured people got married to each other. Also in this photo is the mother of the bride and the brother of the groom and they are married to each other adding further to the improbability of this image. Difficult to wrap your head around these relationships and further complicated if I tell you that the newlyweds are not blood relatives.

The big day has arrived. Powerade launched their new marketing campaign featuring Nico and world famous soccer player Andrés Iniesta of FC Barcelona. The video posted above is the anthem TV ad (60 second version) which will run internationally during the 2014 World Cup games (check out Nico’s sweet diving header not seen in the 30 second version posted previously). If you click on the video it will take you through a playlist that also includes a 2 minute documentary exclusively about Nicolai, a piece called Powering Through which is a narrative by Iniesta with footage of Nico playing soccer, and a funny “unguarded” reel that may be the most entertaining of the bunch. You call follow the media campaign on Twitter at #powerthrough.

Later this month Nicolai will travel to Barcelona where he will meet Iniesta on the soccer pitch. Can’t wait to see who has the better moves and to report on that. Working with the folks at Coca Cola on this Powerade campaign has been wonderful and we are looking forward to seeing the first ads on TV.

Nicolai’s girlfriend Karuna joined us for dinner this evening. She arrived bearing delicious brownies but we let her stay anyway. Her habit of showing up with home made treats is having a negative impact on my spring soccer weight loss plan. Later, I decided it was time for a formal portrait and this is one of my favorites.

Crosby’s Marketplace in Concord is a a great corporate citizen. Today they presented a check for $1,042  to Open Table. Read the full Patch article describing their donation HERE.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of the filming for Tumbledown, I returned to Concord from work during my lunch hour. As I approached the Main Street Cafe from the downtown parking area, I first came upon Olivia Wilde. She played “Thirteen,” one of the doctors in the television series House. Only later did I learn that she is engaged to Jason Sudeikis, who is pictured below in one of the scenes being filmed.

As I was driving through downtown Concord on the way home from work, I noticed a film crew setting up lighting. I pulled over briefly to get this photo but did not have enough time to inquire about the project. From the look of things, it appears to be a big project and based on signs directing “extras” to the town’s large parking area, I am guessing that tomorrow will be even more interesting. Perhaps I can gather more background for tomorrow’s post.

UPDATE:
The film being made is called Tumbledown, a romantic comedy that stars Jason Sudeikis and Rebecca Hall. Sean Mewshaw directs from Desi Van Til’s original screenplay, which follows a woman (Hall) who is unable to move on after the death of her husband, an acclaimed musician and the subject of a biography she’s struggling to write. She meets a brash New York academic (Sudeikis) who has a different take on her husband’s life and death, and the pair must collaborate to craft the famous singer’s story and begin to write the next chapter in their lives together.