Despite using two vacuum cleaners at the same time, it was impossible to capture all of the dust created by a 14″ concrete saw that Kyle and I used today to help remove a slab of concrete in his basement. There were times when you could not see into the next room it was so thick. Before I get scolded by my mother and/or Jeanine, I should clarify that we were both wearing high-performance respirators. We sliced the 4-inch slab every two inches or so and then used a sledgehammer to break it into pieces. Some additional excavation with a demolition hammer followed by a diamond grinder and we were very pleased with the outcome. We also removed a massive cast iron standing sink which involved a little more plumbing work than we initially anticipated. I think it is safe to say that we are both pleased to have these two tasks in our rearview mirror.

Jeanine referred me to an article on Wicked Local today about “Doc” Furey, a teacher and coach at the Concord Carlisle High School for the past 40 years. Last month he stepped down as the Head Coach of the Women’s Varsity Tennis Team, a position he had held for 18 years. Before that, he was the Assistant Head Coach and JV Head coach for 17 years. During his tenure, the team won 11 state titles. He was also the Head Coach of the combined Alpine and Nordic Ski Teams for 20 years and the Head Coach of the Alpine Ski team for another 20 years when the programs split. As if that was not enough, he was also the Head Coach of the Boy’s Ninth Grade Soccer team for 40 years. Why was he called “Doc”? Because he holds four graduate degrees. And now for the amazing part and the reason the phrase “illustrious career” was invented. In forty years of coaching three sports, his teams never had a losing season!

While reading the article on the Wicked Local site, I noticed an included video documentary about the CCHS Nordic Ski Team produced while Maya was a member. It features her boyfriend at the time as well as brief shots of her.

The students at the Fenn School are preparing for their winter food drive. They have been partnering with Open Table for over three decades and will help this year by collecting food for recently resettled Afghan people and for Open Table’s Fuel for School program. The latter prepares “Kids Bags” which provide a weekend’s worth of wholesome, calorie-dense, nutritious food and snacks that supplement a child’s access to food and can help alleviate hunger. Open Table is also partnering with local organizations to support the 2000+ Afghan refugees resettling in Massachusetts this year. They are hoping to make these families feel welcome and respected by providing familiar and culturally important foods. Pictured above are two slides from a deck being presented at Fenn to explain the programs, the second feature food photos that Jeanine asked me to take for the project.

We were fortunate this evening to have all three kids over for dinner. Usually, such occasions are limited to the weekends. It made for a terrific end to an already great day. Earlier, I had an important presentation to the Board of Directors of one of my clients. I was challenged to design a polypeptide printer that can operate 100 times faster than their existing machine. My work was well received and I have a green light to move on to early prototyping. The presentation was recorded for posterity and to share with other employees. When I played it back, I was shocked to hear how many times I used the word “essentially” to explain the work. I really need to break that habit.

Yesterday’s first blizzard of the season was impressive. It lasted all day long and dropped up to 24 inches of snow in some nearby areas. We only received about half of that and it was distributed very nonuniformly because of the winds and drifting. Our new electric snowblower got its first real work out and I am happy to report it was up to the task although, to be fair, the snow was very fluffy and light. Still, it managed to chew through the dense two-foot buildup left by the street plows at the end of our driveway with little complaining. I did, however, deplete both sets of batteries and had to wait for a recharge cycle before I could finish the job. I should probably just bite the bullet and order a third set but at nearly a thousand dollars a pair, it may be worth putting up with the recharge delay for larger snowfalls.

The shed I ordered to house our snowblower and trash cans arrived yesterday at 2:30 pm. It arrived in a large box in kit form. With a blizzard forecasted for today, I desperately wanted to get it assembled and ready for use before the snow started. It took just over three hours to complete the work following 40 pages of pictorial instructions. It should have taken half the time but I was slowed down by the cold weather, a number of ill-fitting components that I had to coerce into place and the lack of daylight for the final hour. All-in-all, I am happy with the result and pleased with the aesthetic match to the house. I will need to add a carpet to the interior because the floor is dangerously slippery as things stand.

This evening we were joined for dinner by our good friends Irene and Eric. Completing the guest list was their dog, Cobi, who is an absolute peach. He is very well behaved and extremely friendly. Jeanine and I continue to discuss the possibility of getting a dog when our new house is completed. Visits with Cobi only increase the probability of that happening.

I have spent a good bit of time this week working on the mechanical systems for the River House. At this point, I think we will be using two cold climate heat pumps, one for each wing of the house. This partition is essentially the night time zone (west wing) and the daytime zone (east wing) allowing for a straightforward temperature setback strategy to save energy. It also means that we will have a measure of redundancy should one unit fail. Furthermore, the east wing zone is almost entirely an open floor plan which means we can use a common return, whereas the west wing is composed entirely of individual rooms which will benefit from having a return vent in each. Locating the HVAC trunk lines is the biggest challenge and I now have a plan which I believe will work very well.

Kyle shared these photos with me of his first 2×4 wall segment. Thus far, I have been leading the effort on his basement renovation project. He has been paying attention and learning how to use all the various tools. After our last work session, I suggested he tackle this remaining wall segment on his own. I wouldn’t say he is a master carpenter quite yet, but he is certainly off to a great start.

Jeanine received this orchid as a present and has been taking great pleasure in its care. It has bloomed for the second time which filled her with much joy. I was happy to oblige when she asked me to photograph it for her.

My work for a new client has been very exciting and I wake up almost every morning with a new idea to improve the design I am working on. It has been a lot of fun but time-consuming to learn about an entirely new field. In many ways, it is like learning to speak a new language. It took me days to get through a summary of the technology, having to stop every third word to look it up. Fortunately, I have hit my stride and I am very confident I can design the machine that will achieve the client’s goals.

Jeanine has decided she would like a mural on one of the walls in her office. We spent some time together going through my photo archive and she selected these three as her favorites. The one above was taken in Switzerland while we were hiking in the mountains during a soft rain. The hanging laundry was taken by Jeanine in India during her coming of age adventure with Maya. The final was taken by me of the Maroon Bells in Colorado while we were visiting Nico at college. Her first choice was the laundry shot but unfortunately, it was not of high enough resolution to use for the 11 foot by 7-foot mural. The angles in the Maroon Bells photo work against those in the room and the dark upper left corner would have made for an abrupt color transition with the space above the door where the mural ends. Hence, the Swiss House is on order and should be here in early February.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch with my nephew John and his girlfriend Quinn today. We met at the River House for a pre-demolition tour and a good location for walking their dog, Miso. We moved on to the Road House for a vegetarian meal and the opportunity to catch up while also celebrating his upcoming birthday. John’s last name is Quinn and Quinn’s first name is Quinn, hence the title of this post and possibly a foreshadowing of things to come.

Mercifully, after almost two weeks of intermittent service, our broadband network issues have been resolved. The root cause was determined to be a poorly secured cable connector located at the amplifier on the power pole at the edge of our property. It has taken a total of three technicians, three linesmen, and one supervisor to resolve the problem. Based on our own observations we determined the problem was exacerbated by low temperatures and made sure this morning’s visit was scheduled for a period of chilly weather. Having endured this major inconvenience, I can honestly say I would have preferred to have no heat than no broadband. Dealing with the front end of Comcast Customer Service is like dental work without anesthetics. There highly automated response systems and similarly-programmed humans are designed to deal with typical problems like the power cable to the modem is not plugged in. It is impossible to talk to them about a problem that does not fall within their framework without first repeating the same set of time-consuming and unproductive diagnostics. By contrast, I found their on-site technicians and technical supervisor to be extremely friendly, capable, and easy to work with.

Maya celebrated with her housemates after all tested negative for Covid. This, after completing 5 days of mandatory quarantine before returning to Olin for the beginning of their final semester. It appears to me that Maya has baked some rather yummy cookies to celebrate the results.