For the last few days, I have been traveling down memory lane as I prepare materials for a talk I am giving tomorrow at the high school. I am to speak on my career journey in the field of engineering and technology to students considering a similar path. Pictured here are some of my earliest hand-wired designs. The first circuit was for a project I completed while at Stanford, the second was my earliest design for a video capture system which ultimately dictated the course of my career.
Concord has the perfect live Christmas tree located in the center of town. Four utility workers, each operating their own bucket truck worked in perfect synchronization to hang decorative lighting on the tree. I have often wondered how this task was accomplished and can now count that mystery solved. I will follow up with a photo of the illuminated tree in a future posting.
The parking lot at iRobot overlooks Route 3. This morning three of four northbound lanes were closed due to the very serious accident pictured here.
Reunited after two days apart, mother and daughter prepare for the end-of-the-season soccer game between the two groups. I officiated the match which resulted in a 5-5 tie amidst widespread disparaging comments about my abilities as a referee from the girls. I do not believe that my occasional shots on their goal, headers in favor of the parent’s team, or questionable calls in the box were inconsistent with my responsibilities as an unpaid referee who shares a bed with one of the parents on the field.
As we returned to Massachusetts from Vermont I paused for some nature and wildlife wildwife portrait photography.
A second evening of Mountainfilm on Tour took us to the Clay Brook Resort on Sugarbush Mountain where we also spent the evening. The setting here was more intimate and required two screens to accommodate the full audience of more than 300. Nico and I were introduced to a standing ovation. During the intermission Nicolai was sought out by several attractive young ladies for celebrity photo ops, a perk, it should be noted, which did not extend to the other star of the film.
Jeanine, Nico and I spent the day with Susan in Burlington while Kyle supervised the care of Maya back in Concord. I spent a large part of the day on my computer taking care of some lose ends from work and researching an imminent new car purchase. Later in the day I scampered to the top of 1000 foot Mount Philo to enjoy a spectacular view of Lake Champlain.
After work, Jeanine, Nico and I drove to Burlington, Vermont to attend Mountainfilm on Tour on the UVM campus. Select entries from the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival go on tour around the country. Nico and I were introduced after the screening of Nico’s Challenge (the film about our ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro and fundraising for the Free Wheelchair Mission) and responded to questions from the audience of ~400 which included Jeanine’s sister, Susan, and several of her friends. Nicolai did a great job and has become quite comfortable addressing large groups. We enjoyed a late night breakfast before spending the night at Susan’s home.
Massachusetts Senator, Scott Brown, visited iRobot today to meet with executives of the company. Afterward, he addressed the staff and responded to questions from employees.
No where else would you find a Northern Indian dinner which included adding raw pureed kale and collard greens to the Chipatis and quinoa flour to the Parathas. “This is my unique touch”, says Prerena Mital, the lead cook for Jeanine’s Collaborative Cooking evening. “I wanted to start eating more greens and less gluten. This is a simple way.” Simple? Most of the participants were shaking their heads as they stared in amazement at all the homemade ingredients Prerena had brought for the evening: homemade yogurt and ghee, ground and toasted fresh cumin seeds and chilis, mint grown in her back yard. The menu: Toor Daal, Carrots with Edame and Potatoes, Cucmber Raita, Chipatis and Parathas-absolutely delectable. As the group gathered, everyone was handed an apron, knife, cutting board and rolling pin. Learning how to heat the chipatis just right over the flame was trickier than it looked. Prerena has had years of experience and as the youngest participant marveled, “your chipatis are perfect circles every time, mine are sort of morphed”. Next Wednesday there will be a repeat performance from 11:30-1:30 if you’d like to join. Recipes for the evening can be found at Cookandcleanse.com
Nicolai and his girlfriend Holly celebrate her birthday this afternoon while Jeanine prepares the house for a major cooking party and dinner. I took advantage of the iRobot holiday to shop for a car. Nico will have his license by January and will be anxious to have unfettered access to the SmartCar.
Maya photographed my injured ankle this morning and I used PhotoShop to adjust the hue and saturation in such a way as to reveal where blood has pooled. This is NOT what my foot looks like but it does give a pretty good indication of what it feels like. Now that the soccer season is over I am going to give my various joints some time to heal and then challenge Kyle to a workout regime designed to get us both back in prime shape.
All work stopped briefly today as the Home Robots Division gathered to receive the iRobot Cup, enjoy a slide show of our paintball exploits, and bask in the glory of our weekend tournament victory. The trophy will be mounted prominently in our “town hall” for all to admire. During a Board of Director’s meeting later in the day our President and GM rubbed salt in the wound as he opened his presentation with a photo of our winning team. To understand all the fuss one must know that historically our division has been the smaller and underperforming division within our company. Recently, however, we have been knocking the cover off the ball and are now the larger and more profitable. Despite this accomplishment, however, winning the iRobot Cup was the one remaining challenge needed to earn the full respect of the rest of the organization.
The book group to which Jeanine belongs has been invited to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show later this month. I was enlisted to take a group portrait for use in the local media and the show. It took some time to get everyone situated in a pleasing arrangement but once we got the right grouping it was easy to capture a great shot of these dynamic and beautiful women.