Jeanine is attending classes in Bridgeport today, Maya Rose is with her friend Maya Rose at her family’s summer home in Maine, and Nico is hanging out with his friends. With the day to myself I did a little bit of shopping and a little bit of fall cleaning. I decided to upgrade a few of my cordless tools to the latest battery technology and listed some of my older tools on Craig’s list to help fund the purchase. While I was at it I decided to sell a lens and flash that have seen very little use.

Yesterday marked 21 years of marriage for Jeanine and I. This evening we celebrated with a special dinner at 80 Thoreau a new restaurant located on the second floor of the historic Concord train depot. Our meals were exquisite as was the ambiance.

We have now shared half of our lives and should we be blessed with continued good health we have the second half of our marriage to look forward to. A lucky man need not be smart but a smart man knows when he has been lucky. My good fortune in life was falling in love with Jeanine.

For the second week in a row I spent an entire day at an offsite meeting. This one was more fun than the last as we spent the majority of our time brainstorming possible future products. When iRobot brings a flying Roomba to the market you will know where and when the idea was hatched. Our challenge as a technologist laden company is ensuring that our innovation is motivated by a keen understanding of the customer benefits our new ideas can provide. I was pleased with the level of awareness and appreciation for this concept that was shared by the team.

After the meeting I was able to catch the second half of a soccer game at the high school where Nico had another fine showing and his team secured a 2-1 win. I opted to skip my own soccer practice this evening to give my back a few more days to recover from a recent misalignment. Two days ago the pain was so bad that I could scarcely walk (or even sit at my desk). Yesterday morning I had a chiropractic adjustment and used an ice pack for the entire day. Today I almost felt good enough to workout and think my chances of being fully ready for Sunday are high.

I arrived at work today only to discover a new and very official looking name plate gracing my office. My current position was held by 5 different people over as many years prior to my arrival. Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I have beat the odds and stand a good chance of setting a new record thus warranting the investment in a permanent looking name plate. More than likely it was simply a matter of maintaining consistency with a number of newly constructed offices within the building.

The mask has been with me since my first trip to Africa. I can hang it either side up to reveal a happy or sad face giving an indication to visitors of my present mood. Stand on your head or flip your monitor to see the effect. So far I have had no occasion to invert it from its default position.

The Wayland defender charged with marking Nicolai eventually resorted to illegal tactics (pushing with his hands) in an attempt to win even a single head ball. Despite a constant light rain and cool temperatures, Nico was on fire today scoring one goal and setting up several others with extremely dangerous and pinpoint distribution. It is rarely fun to stand in the rain to watch soccer but Jeanine and I both enjoyed watching our son playing some of his best soccer to date.

Mothers and daughters I am coming to understand share many seemingly insignificant rituals which form a very deep and altogether different bond than fathers and daughters. The pinning up of hair is one such enterprise. Using an antique clip, mother assists child with hair bun “winding”, clip placement and bobby pinning. This by way of contrast to my bonding activities with Maya. After months of asking for her own camping/hunting knife, I escorted her as she picked out a very serious looking knife with a 4″ blade and a single handed open and close design. I remember the feeling I had when I received my first knife and I saw the same look in her eyes. Priceless.

Note to future boyfriends. Maya has harvested (nice word for cutting the heads off) two chickens and is now armed with her own a seriously sharp weapon. Keep all your digits and appendages in their proper place and do not act like a chicken.

Each year Jeanine helps to organize a block party for the Mattison Drive community. The weather was questionable right up until the late afternoon start but the event proved to be rain free. Attendance was down somewhat from last year but those who attended had a great time. My soccer match this morning was in Dover where we secured a 5-1 win and I scored a very pretty goal beating three defenders before slotting a very strong shot past the keeper into the left hand side netting. I also picked up a rather nasty looking bruise on my upper chest just below my neck when I caught an errant cleat at some point during the game. I did not notice that I had been tagged until I emerged from my post game shower.

The fifth annual Kicks for Cancer soccer fundraiser was held this evening at the high school. Jeanine, Nico and I all attended in support of the very worthy cause. Players from all teams wear special jerseys with the name of a loved one who lost a battle with cancer in place of their own. Two years ago I photographed the event and did a Concord team photo with all the players facing backwards. It remains one of my most poignant photos. This year I captured both teams during the opening ceremony and I feel it is equally powerful. At full resolution the names of each person can be read reminding us of how many people have lost family and friends to this dreadful disease. This year the event raised more than $20,000.

Earlier in the day I completed testing of our new standby generator and the system is now fully operational. The unit will exercise itself once a week for 12 minutes to ensure it is ready should it ever be called into service.

The family officially celebrated my birthday this evening with a feast of my favorite foods. Maya gave me an assortment of three gourmet cheeses which complemented a last of the season tomato, mozzarella and basil bruschetta. This course was followed by baked ziti and my mother’s rice pudding recipe for dessert. The deliciousness of this meal was well worth the dent it put in my diet. I was so engrossed in the food that I did not take any pictures of the birthday boy so this shot of Maya’s decorated toes will have to stand in (pun intended).

I reached my 53rd birthday today with much to be thankful for. I am in great health, I have a wonderful family, and a great job. I am between soccer injuries and playing better than I have for many years. I have now spent more than half my life in love with the same woman and our kids are all thriving, each in their own way. Life is good.

I received this fruit bouquet and a nice card from my colleagues at work today. We have postponed our family celebration until Friday because I have soccer practice this evening (mustn’t lose sight of priorities).

Maya has expressed interest in playing field hockey on her middle school team this year. Here she practices with Sarinnagh in the back yard. Judging by the number of divots in the lawn I would say the girls are wise to be spending time on refining their technique. Maya informed me that it was much harder than it looked and encouraged me to give it a try. Not one to back down from such a challenge I stepped up, took aim, and launched a large section of turf across the yard. My second attempt was more fruitful but Maya had made her point. Her challenge now will be one of scheduling around conflicts with Model UN and Student Government both of which she is interested in pursuing.

It took longer to research the local plumbing codes and plan the installation than it did to run a new natural gas line to the standby generator I am installing. Code requires an external shutoff valve, a flexible pipe coupling to the generator (to isolate vibration), a 3″ sediment trap, and black steel pipe for all plumbing. Planning involved sizing the pipes and valves to carry the required volume of natural gas and routing the pipe from the existing system to the new location using nothing but commercially available pre-cut lengths of pipe (avoiding the need for renting a pipe threader or obtaining custom cut lengths of pipes). Natural gas pipe fittings leave no room for error. The slightest leak can lead to a house leveling explosion. Every joint must be tested. I used two methods to be absolutely certain of my work. The first method involves applying the equivalent of soapy water to each joint and inspecting for bubbles. The second involves over pressurizing the line with compressed air and checking the next day to ensure that the pressure has not dropped.

I will be travelling to China in early December to visit our contract manufacturers and several key vendors. My passport has run out of pages for additional stamps and visa entries. For $80 dollars you can send your passport in and they will add 40 new pages. For $110 you can get a new 52 page passport and reset the ten year life. The later option was the obvious choice and I shot this self portrait for the required photo. I am not particularly happy with the result and I do not know who to blame more, the subject or the photographer.

Jeanine was up at the crack of dawn to begin her 12 hour day (2 hour drive, 8 hour class, 2 hour drive) at the University of Bridgeport. Nico was grounded for a curfew violation and Maya attended church school while I played soccer. We faced the top team in our division and had to settle for a 0-0 tie in very hot and humid conditions which left both sides exhausted. My team played very well as did I but our opponent was an even match for us. Afterwards Maya and I attended a pool party hosted by Rob Morrison, our goalie. Maya had a great time and wound up swimming in her clothes after declining to bring a swim suit despite my urging. The family waited for Jeanine to return so we could eat together at Chang An. It was our first time there seated at a table for four. Fortunately we ended the evening with a Skype video call to Kyle which alleviated our sense of loss.