Next we visited the Theater of Electricity. This Van de Graaff generator is capable of generating 2 million volts and was built by Dr. Van de Graaff himself. It is the largest in the world.

Jeanine’s sister, Susan, has been visiting us for the weekend. The two are seen here on the second floor balcony of the Science Museum where we spent the afternoon with Maya. They had been watching her from this perch as she stood mesmerized in front of the kinetic sculpture on the floor below. The two sisters chose to watch Mystic India while father and daughter opted for wandering the science exhibits. Maya was captivated by the cross section of an internal combustion engine and can explain the operation (intake, compression, combustion, exhaust) in perfect detail.

Maya tends to her garden. We have quite a bounty aided by the unusually rainy spring this year. Every night we enjoy some form of fresh vegetables and Maya seems more receptive to trying new foods when she has had a hand in growing them. I spent virtually the entire day making reservations along the route of our up coming RV adventure through the Southwest.

This evening a small contingent from Sonos participated in the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile run through the streets of Boston with proceeds going to fund summer camp opportunities for underprivileged youth. When I was approached by our Cambridge office manager with a signup sheet I immediately said yes. To resist this women is simply futile. She is going to wear you down and eventually get what she wants so you are far better off surrendering right away. The last time I ran in a race (or for any other reason) was in 1981 when I competed in the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. I am now of the opinion that this near thirty year hiatus was not long enough. Although playing soccer involves a lot of sprinting over short distances it does little to prepare you to run at medium speed for longer distances. The race itself was rather interesting. With 12,000 participants you actually walk for the first several minutes just to get across the start line and again at several pinch points along the course. When you do start running it is really more of an obstacle course trying to weave through the slow traffic while not being trampled from behind. I actually found this aspect of the race enjoyable as it took my mind off the fact that I was running although it did little to help my finishing time of 37:22. By my estimates, I think I was running at just over 9 minutes a mile when you factor in the delayed start and pinch point traffic jams. Kyle informed me that this was rather pathetic as he returned from a ten mile run this evening. None the less, I made the distance without stopping and enjoyed a beautiful evening in Boston with my fellow coworkers. Next year, however, I will either find the courage to say no or will do more than one training run to prepare.

Dress a bunch of young men in suits, and you are going to get a James Bond pose.

 
Nicolai cleans up nicely for the big 8th grade dinner dance held at the high school this evening. He is looking more like a man every day. Having surpassed his mother in height many months ago he has declared that I am next.

For those who wondered if I mistyped my first entry in this series, I rest my case. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and tell me if you think there is more chocolate on Jeanine or the strawberry.

The treats are for the Peabody 8th grade dinner dance, which Nicolai will be attending tomorrow night.

Many men would find it unusual to come home to a kitchen full of strawberries and chocolate-covered women. Not me. Five women dipping 500 strawberries into rich chocolate passes for normal around here.

The motley crew I spend Sunday mornings with. Photo credits to Ruth Glidden who took this photo after our last home game.

 
Meet the Penguin, a gift from the family to me for Father’s Day. You would be hard pressed to guess that this device is used for carbonating water. It contains a CO2 cartridge which charges a 1L carafe of water in about 5 seconds. Given the amount of carbonated water I drink, this present will also benefit the environment by saving 100’s of plastic bottles and the fuel used to ship them around. My day started with an early morning soccer scrimmage against the over 40 Concord team. I scored three very pretty goals (pivoting full volley over the keeper, low hard half volley after beating the wing fullback, nice trap and move to dribble around the keeper finishing just inside the post). The day ended on a high note as well with a family dinner at my new favorite Mexican restaurant, Acapulco’s in Sudbury.

We could not be prouder of our short-haired beauty.

Maya made her donation in the names of Kate Yoder (the mother of her close friend Lydia) and Kathy Kobos (our next-door neighbor).

The 16 hour birthday event has come to a close. Maya and her friends seemed to have a fantastic time, the house remained in tact, and the parents were left standing, if a little sleep deprived.