As much as I have enjoyed the excitement of the last several days, it has been anything but relaxing. This morning I returned to Agua Calientes and flew to Puerto Vallarta where I will spend a few days decompressing. Destination beach towns are not generally my thing, but I wanted someplace nearby with good flight connections and at least a few opportunities for hiking and good photography. Although the US has secured advancement to the World Cup tournament, its finishing position in the CONCACAF qualifier will not be determined until the final two matches are played this evening. I will, no doubt, report on the results tomorrow. Pictured below is the bed and breakfast where I am staying. It is very lovely and the wi-fi, while not great, is much better than my hotel in San Juan de Los Lagos. The top-level has a large hot tub/pool and sunbathing deck which also makes for a perfect drone launching helipad.
The loss to Mexico put the US hopes of a World Cup ticket in jeopardy. Nothing short of a win in their last game against Haiti would guarantee advancement putting a great deal of pressure on the team. Even so, everyone seemed resigned to their mission and calm in the build-up to the match. Inspired by an emotional visit with Don Bennett, founder of organized amputee soccer, the USA team secured the win and a trip to Turkey for the World Cup. Nicolai scored both goals in the 2-1 victory. The first was a penalty kick and the second was another brilliant header. In remarks to the team after the match, Nico described the day as the best of his life and I can understand why. I was thrilled to share it with him and my face below is as happy as it gets.
Playing the host country is never easy. In this case, about 3200 Mexican fans showed up for the soccer match giving them the 12th man advantage. Many calls went their way and their stalling tactics went unaddressed. Even so, Mexico played an excellent match and beat the US by a score of 2-1. The Mexican defense did a good job of neutralizing Nicolai whose contribution was limited to the assist on the only American goal. The sound in the stadium was deafening. Between the cheering fans and blaring music on the PA system, it was impossible to communicate on the field or with the bench.
After games, the players are generally besieged by fans seeking autographs and photographs. Over the years Nico has signed soccer balls, jerseys, scraps of papers, and all manner of clothing and body parts. The look on his face, when handed a baby for the first time, was priceless. Fortunately, he made no attempt to sign it but rather held it securely for a photo.
This morning the team visited el Colegio Miguel Bolonia, a middle school in San Juan de Los Lagos. We were greeted by faculty and students who presented each of us with handwritten letters and medals. We reciprocated with school supplies. The team played a match with the students and had to settle for another tie 🙂
By match time, it was down to business. The US came out strong and pressured El Salvador for the entire match. Nico had the assist on our only goal which was enough for the win. The entire match can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/sanjuantv/videos/251158840458769
The USA faced Costa Rica in its opening match. With seconds remaining in the first half, Costa Rica scored on a direct kick which caught our goalie off his line. The US put the setback in their rearview mirror, rallied around their keeper, and responded with an equalizer midway through the second half. Although the team had hoped for a win, a tie would have to do. In this tournament, a win earns 3 points and a tie earns 1 point. After all five teams have played each other, the three with the greatest number of points will qualify for the World Cup tournament which will be held in Turkey later this year.
I arrived in Aguas Calientes, Mexico this morning where I rented a car and drove to San Juan de Los Lagos where the Amputee Soccer World Cup Qualifier for the CONCACAF region is being held. The journey was not without drama. To start, I was robbed at the airport. Mexican customs charged me $220 as an import tax on my drone. Next, I had to wait one hour while my rental car was being “fueled”? Finally, Google Maps guided me to my hotel by way of the pedestrian-only square surrounding the main cathedral here. Once I entered the area, it was impossible to back out and I had to drive ahead at about 1/2 mph until I found an exit. Very embarrassing. Still, it was all worthwhile. I joined Nicolai for the opening ceremony which featured many traditional Mexican dances and costumes, singing, acrobatics, and pyrotechnics. Nicolai was introduced with the other team captains from Mexico, El Salvador, Haiti, and Costa Rica.
At my request, Maya shared this photo which I find quite humorous. She is pictured here carrying a “crash pad” to an outdoor rock climbing location. She left for California today where she will be doing some climbing during the coming week while on spring break. I appreciate it when she takes the appropriate safety precautions while she pursues her passions.
At Nicolai’s invitation, we gathered at his apartment this afternoon for a send-off party. He leaves for Mexico tomorrow morning with the hopes of helping the US qualify for the Amputee Soccer World Cup. Maya prepared a mushroom/tofu/egg drop soup and pan-fried potstickers. Jeanine did a Thai chicken dish. After the meal, we walked to nearby Davis Square for bubble tea and ice cream desserts. Maya leaves for a spring break vacation in California tomorrow and I will follow Nico to Mexico on Tuesday.
I spent the better part of the day working with Kyle on his basement renovation project. Today we focused on framing. The future kitchen area posed the greatest challenge as we had to work around existing plumbing and drain lines. Almost every stud required special treatment and took much longer than building a typical wall. The results, however, were very satisfying and you can almost see the kitchen layout starting to take shape. Kyle has been a terrific apprentice and I would venture to say that he has graduated to an entry-level journeyman. He certainly looks the part with his tool belt and chop saw. We enjoyed delicious roast sandwiches during an extended lunch run to Mikey’s Famous Roastbeef. As we were wrapping up for the day, Kyle observed that we could expand the size of the new living room considerably by shrinking the mechanical room which will be possible with the new much more compact equipment.
Maya shared this photo of herself with all of her Olin roommates. It appears she may have lured them in with the treats she is holding in her hands. From all reports, this has been a fantastic set of people to live with. On our last visit, Maya described how they worked as a team to do all of the household chores, treating it as a well-run engineering project. As much as she has enjoyed her college years, I get the sense she is really looking forward to starting the next chapter of her life.
Ever since my recently purchased Apple Macbook Pro arrived, the “A” key has been finicky. Press anywhere but the upper left-hand corner of the key and all was fine. Hitting that particular spot, however, would result in a missed keystroke. When your name contains four “A”s, five if you count my middle name, it becomes a hassle quickly. This morning, I took my computer to the Apple Store in the Natick Mall to have the issue addressed. I was in and out in 10 minutes and am happy to report that all is AAAAAA OK now. This is probably my first time in a shopping mall since the onset of the pandemic and I was shocked to see how few people were out and about. Perhaps it was just too early in the day (11:30 am). The lack of crowds did make it easy to get this shot of a “Celebration of Spring” exhibit. I was less interested in the display than the interplay of vertical and diagonal lines and shadows.
After Maya stuck her entire nose into this tulip yesterday, I decided to do some investigation for myself. I choose, however, to use a camera rather than my snoot. Here are some interesting facts about tulips that you probably did not know. At one point in history, tulips were the most expensive flower. In fact, in the 1600s the flowers were more valuable than most people’s homes, and cost almost 10 times what an average working-class man earned in a year. Tulips are known for their bold colors and beautiful shape, and most varieties are indeed almost perfectly symmetrical. The blooms have three petals and three sepals, but since the sepals are almost the same size and shape as the petals, tulips appear to have six petals to a bulb. Like many other flowers, tulips are edible! In fact, during World War II, tulips and tulip breads were often eaten by those who couldn’t afford other foods. The flowers can be used to replace onions in many recipes and are even used to make wine. Perhaps Maya was simply sizing up a tulip for her next recipe.
The kids joined us for dinner this evening for the second time in as many days. We enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Maya as head chef, with Susan as chief chopper, and me as sous-chopper and dishwasher. The centerpiece in our kitchen at the moment is a lovely arrangement of tulips that Susan gifted to us. After dinner, Maya decided to take a big sniff and stuck her entire nose into one of the flowers for the full experience. I asked her to do it again once I had my camera at the ready.
I spent several hours today studying photographs of power poles. I am working with a client to help improve a robot used to crawl along a live conductor while helically wrapping it with a fiber optic cable. The autonomous robot will significantly reduce the cost of expanding internet access, especially in remote areas of the world. Crawling along the power line is the easy part. Traversing the insulators at each pole is the tricky bit. Just when I have imagined a morphology that I believe will address the challenge, I come across a new insulator arrangement that cannot be traversed. I am nothing if relentless and will continue to iterate on design concepts until I have something better than the existing implementation.
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