Meet Charlotte Grace Basile-Skinner, the daughter of Jeanine’s niece, Erica. She tipped the scales at 8 pounds 9 ounces despite being a couple of weeks early. Her family calls her “Charley.” Jeanine starts a three-month sabbatical in 2 weeks and plans to travel to Kentucky for a visit with the newest member of our extended family. Charley is pictured below with her siblings, Lily and Will.

I continue to replace my corded power tools with cordless (battery-driven) versions. My planar is one of the last to make the transition and is now on Craig’s List in search of a happy home. As soon as DeWALT offers a cordless biscuit joiner, my toolset will be complete.

Those who know me well understand that I have a special place in my heart for quality tools. Today’s goal was to shop for a multi-tool that will permanently live in my car. It will join a small set of tools already there that will allow me to address any number of repair challenges I may encounter while on the road. After half a day of research, I settled on the Letherman Free P2 and procured one at REI. Once I had a chance to actually use it myself, I have decided to return it in favor of the Letherman Charge+. While the P2 is among the latest and greatest from Letherman, it is optimized for ease of tool deployment rather than the utility of the tools themselves. The Charge+ has better tools and hopefully, it will only be used on rare occasions so a few extra seconds to access the desired tool is of no consequence.

I spent the better part of the day making repairs and improvements to our double wall oven whose doors have not worked properly for years now. Fortunately, I was able to locate the perfectly sized platform I built when I installed the ovens some 15 years ago which made extraction from the wall relatively straightforward. When I took the oven apart, I found all four hinge/spring mechanisms had been mechanically deformed due to excessive weight having been placed on the open doors. I was able to look up the replacement part number only to find that the $200 apiece components are no longer available anywhere. This left me no choice but to repair the mechanisms which was no picnic as each contained four high force springs and a mechanical linkage that could easily amputate a finger if not handled carefully. It took me two hours to come up with a safe procedure and make the repair to the first one. I completed the remaining three in less than an hour. This improved the door closure but it was still not perfect. The problem now was that the gaskets surrounding the opening to the oven had hardened over time. A thorough cleaning helped to soften them slightly but still no joy on total door closure. I finally solved the problem with four very powerful rare earth magnets strategically placed to make a magnetic closure (similar to a refrigerator door). The doors now work better than they did when the oven was new.

Those who know me are aware that the only radio station I listen to is NPR. It is also my habit to send Jeanine a dozen roses for Valentine’s Day and to support the station’s fundraising in so doing. This year, I decided to also give Jeanine a Meyer lemon tree. The one that was passed down to her by her father did not survive an attempt to re-pot it last year and I know its loss has left an empty spot in her heart. She was as thrilled to receive it as I was to give it.

Today I consulted at Formlabs. I had a total of 17scheduled meetings and a working lunch with my prior engineering leadership team. Although I was exhausted by the end, it was also a very satisfying day. I enjoy mentoring and coaching and on this occasion feel I made a positive difference for many I met with. I returned home to a lovingly prepared Valentine’s Day dinner with Jeanine and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I outdid myself with a gift for her which I will cover in tomorrow’s post.

There was a lot of excitement at work today as parts for a new printer arrived. Everyone chipped in with the build effort. Unlike the high volume products I have worked on in the recent past, we build our products in house. The base and gantry pictured here weigh over a thousand pounds which necessitates some pretty interesting construction techniques.

Winter thus far has been rather mild. I suspect we still have at least one big storm in front of us but would be just as happy if today’s light snow is the last of the season.

The last time I was in Amsterdam was with Nicolai in 2007. We had a layover there while en route to Tanzania. We had just enough time for a bus tour of the city before heading back to the airport. Nicolai has terrorized pigeons on 4 continents.

Maya shared a photograph of her breakfast taken in Amsterdam where she is studying abroad. I am counting on her for more pictures to help sustain my daily posting need for relevant photos.

Jeanine and I spent the night at the Elm Street Inn, a delightful bed and breakfast directly across the street from Smith College. After a fantastic breakfast, we went for a walk on campus passing by the President’s house, strolling through a small Japanese garden and visiting, at length, the Botanic Garden pictured below.

Jeanine and I traveled to Northampton, MA today to meet up with my cousin Heather and her husband Burton. They treated us to a wonderful dinner followed by a modern dance recital featuring the choreography of their daughter, Toni. The performance, which we enjoyed thoroughly, was her final project towards a Master of Fine Arts degree from Smith College.

A storm this evening left vegetation covered in thick ice at higher elevations.

At work, our 3D metal printers require an inert atmosphere in order to prevent oxidation. This is achieved by filling our hermetically sealed printing chamber with argon gas. We use so much of it that we have a large tank behind our facility which is replenished every time it runs low. This evening, I had a chance to watch as the “argon man” refilled the tank within the foggy mist created by the process.