Each year, on or about their birthday, I interview each of our children on video. I think they will one day enjoy seeing how they changed from year to year as they grew up. This year, I am very late initiating the process for Maya who turned 14 last month. The boys, having reached the age of majority, are no longer subject to this father-imposed “requirement”. Kyle was kind enough to conduct the interview this year which led to a more casual conversation and created a nice two-for-one .
Kyle is back from California where he has completed his sophomore year at Santa Clara University. After enjoying a road trip to Las Vegas for the Electric Daisy Music Carnival he returned in time to celebrate his brother’s 19th birthday. He is currently pursuing internship opportunities in Los Gatos, CA, and NYC so it is unclear how long he will remain in Concord. We are happy for every day we get.
The senior management team at iRobot spent the day at the Wylie Conference Center in Beverley, MA for a strategy review meeting. This was followed by an elegant dinner at the home of our CEO, a short walk from the site where this photo was taken on the rear patio overlooking the Salem Sound.
Starting in September Jeanine will take over as President of the Open Table organization replacing Peter Hilton, pictured here with her. This photo will run in the local news when the transition is announced. Offering weekly community supper programs and food pantries in Concord and Maynard to more than 300 guests since 1989, Open Table’s mission is to provide healthy food, friendship, and support to those in need while respecting their privacy and dignity.
I am usually quite active and always looking for something new to do. Occasionally, however, I just need a day to “veg out”. Recent travels to Japan and NYC have left me exhausted and behind on sleep. I only left the house once today to watch a movie with the family. Nicolai requested Monsters University which was a nice intellectual match for the day I spent lounging on the couch. Can’t say that I fully recharged the batteries but I recovered enough to be fit for work tomorrow.
At the last minute, Maya’s good friend, Sarinnagh Budris, found herself without a ride to the USA Track and Field Region 1 Junior Olympic Trials being held at the Icahn Stadium in New York City today. The three of us decided to make a road trip of it and set out at 5:30 AM. I folded down the back seat and placed sleeping pads and bags in the back of my SUV. Both girls slept for the entire 3-and-a-half-hour journey. The Region 1 event includes qualifying athletes from all over New England. We arrived early and devoured the lunch that Jeanine prepared for us before checking in. Sarinnagh received her numbered bib (1176) and I received a coaching credential which gave me access to the field area. Maya was able to join Sarinnagh for warmups on the adjacent soccer field but had to stay in the stands during the actual competition. Shortly after 11 AM, Sarinnagh participated in her first event, the 100m sprint.
Her second event did not start until 1:30 PM and took an hour and a half to complete under the blistering sun and oppressive 95-degree heat. Despite the long wait and difficult conditions, she did very well advancing to the finals where she placed 8th overall (the top five finishers advance to the Nationals). After the competition, we surprised my mother, who is living with her sister and brother-in-law in nearby Little Neck Bay. We shared a delightful dinner at my Uncle’s club before returning to Concord.
With Kyle in California, Nicolai on Martha’s Vineyard, and Maya returning from her ballet intensive in Philadelphia, Jeanine and I made a visit to the Butterfly Garden in Westford this afternoon. We had a great time appreciating these wonders of nature.
For almost a decade now we have enjoyed the Fourth of July at the home of my high school friend and wrestling partner, Tom Metzold. Karen and Tom throw a fantastic party and this year they were giving away babies. Jeanine grabbed this one during the dessert buffet.
Our flight back to Boston is not until this afternoon leaving us the morning to explore Kobe on foot. The Ikuta Shrine is thought to be one of the oldest in Japan dating to the beginning of the third century. Our walking tour covered about four miles and included a lovely park near the waterfront where we met a Japanese woman who was all too happy to guide us in my pursuit of some ice cream.
My body clock had me up very early this morning and as soon as the sun rose, I decided to explore the area around my hotel. Less than half a mile away I found the lovely Takushima Central Park. There are few things I find more relaxing and pleasing to my senses than a Japanese garden. I share this passion with my mother who created an exquisite version of her own in the backyard of my childhood home. I was able to spend 2 hours exploring the park before returning to the hotel and preparing for my business meeting.
I don’t often feature stylized photos on this blog but am making an exception for the one below. Somehow this version conveys the feeling of the place more genuinely than the more accurately rendered original.
Examples of fine Japanese woodworking and design aesthetics were to be found at every turn. I took hundreds of pictures despite the gray skies and poor light.
After completing what proved to be a very fruitful day of business, all but one of my colleagues headed off in different directions. My traveling companion and I were chauffeured to Kobe where we would spend the evening before traveling on to Osaka for our flight home tomorrow. We arrived with just over an hour of sunlight remaining and decided to make a quick tour of the Nunobiki Falls, a short walk from our hotel. In Japan, Nunobiki is considered one of the greatest “divine falls” and includes four separate falls: Ondaki (top fall pictured below), Mendaki (bottom fall pictured below), Tsusumigadaki, and Meotodaki.
I am in Japan to meet with battery vendors and to learn how both nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries are made. After completing today’s meeting in the Shinagawa area my colleagues and I flew to Takushima for our meeting tomorrow. The flight took us past Mount Fuji whose peak could be seen poking through the cloud cover and over an oil tanker which was being docked to an off-shore depot pipeline.
At 2:30 AM I emerged from my cocoon and had a small breakfast before preparing for the final stage of my climb. The temperature at the summit is just above freezing so proper clothing is critical. I was on the trail by 3:15 AM equipped with a headlamp to illuminate the path. The trail grows progressively steeper and narrower as you approach the top which inevitably results in a traffic jam among the many climbers hoping to see the sunrise from the summit. My timing was perfect and I reached the top with 20 minutes to spare and even had time for this pre-dawn photo with the highest gate.
The morning air was crisp and clear offering a magnificent view of the sunrise as the sun broke through the sea of clouds which completely encircled the mountain.
Just as with Kilimanjaro, Fuji is a volcano with a tilted rim. To reach the actual summit you must circumnavigate the rim to the high side. This excursion adds another 90 minutes to the climb but is well worth the effort as it is mostly level. I am pictured below with the actual summit marker at the Kengamine peak which sits adjacent to a structure which appears to be a weather station.
Although my ascent and descent are both through clouds, I am lucky that conditions at the summit are crystal clear. Looking down upon the clouds is a rare and beautiful experience that I can recommend to anyone who questions why one would seek to climb high mountains.
During most of the year the top of Fuji is covered in snow. The climbing season of July and August is generally accompanied by an absence of snow but even now one can find plenty on the mountain. My descent took about four hours with last three spent in the clouds again. When I reached the fifth station I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I returned to Shinzuku to pick up my business gear and then took a train to Shinagawa where I rendezvoused with colleagues for our business meetings which start tomorrow.
Although I am in Japan for business, I have added two days of vacation so that I can fulfill a lifelong aspiration to climb Mount Fuji. A 7:40 AM bus from Shinjuku Station has me to the Fifth Station of the Yoshida trail by 10:30 AM. This is the most common starting point for the climb and sits at an altitude of 7,500 feet, roughly 5,000 feet below the 12,388-foot summit. Technically, the 2 month climbing season does not begin for another 2 days but as is evidenced by the photo, there are nearly one hundred other climbers that I will be sharing the trail with today. During peak times, as many as 10,000 people attempt the climb each day.
The photo below was taken with the camera level and shows the effects of massive winter avalanches on the vegetation on the lower part of the trail.
As is common at this time of year, much of the ascent is through a layer of clouds which renders visibility quite limited. With only one stop for lunch, I made a continuous climb of about 6 hours before reaching my destination for the evening, a mountain hut at the 8th station. I prefer a slow steady pace with no stopping to greater speed and frequent breaks (which other hikers seem to favor). I must admit that the climbing was harder than I anticipated and with limited visibility it was also quite unrewarding photographically speaking. The trail is an unrelenting ascent. If not for the numerous mountain huts starting after the seventh station there would not be a scintilla of level ground to be found anywhere.
The Japanese custom is to pause at one of the mountain huts for dinner and a few hours of rest before leaving early in the morning so as to time your arrival at the summit with the rising of the sun. A typical mountain hut includes a small dining area with tables and a common sleeping room. I had a reservation for space number 24 and it was as comfortable as a five-star hotel bed after the day’s climb. 24 is also the number of inches separating me from my fellow guests.
After a few hours of sleep and a hot shower, I took to the streets in search of dinner. The Shinjuku train station is Tokyo’s largest, serving as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central Tokyo and its western suburbs on inter-city rail, commuter rail, and metro lines. The station is used by an average of 3.8 million people per day, making it, by far, the world’s busiest transport hub (and registered as such with Guinness World Records). Putting this into perspective, about one-quarter of the population of Tokyo moves through this station each day. Naturally, the area surrounding the station is unbelievably crowded with 100-foot-wide cross walks to accommodate all the pedestrians. It is also packed with great places to eat and shop. I must confess that I stopped in one of Japan’s mega camera stores for more than an appropriate amount of time. Fortunately, prices were high enough to keep me from making an impulse buy.