I just learned that Mark Krauss, a former Concord United soccer teammate of mine, passed away yesterday at the age of 56. He was afflicted with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and ALS, possibly a consequence of Lyme’s disease which he also suffered from. He leaves behind his wife, a school teacher, and their five children, three of them in college. It is a heart breaking situation and our soccer community is coming together to support the family. His nickname on the pitch was “Mouse” but he played with the heart of a lion. He was a true gentleman on and off the field. We are all extremely saddened to lose one of our own and reminded to live life to the fullest each day.

His daughter, Jessie, organized a fundraising 5K run to benefit the Massachusetts General Hospital FTD Unit. It was scheduled for yesterday which only seems to amplify the sense of loss. Pictured below with our Concord United squad.  He is the one with my arm over his shoulder.

Nicolai has been accepted to Lesley University’s graduate degree program.  High school teachers in Massachusetts require a Master’s Degree in Education in order to gain certification.  He is currently living with us but is actively looking to find a friend to share an apartment with.  Even so, we rarely see him.  This evening he was home and we enjoyed a nice Sunday dinner with him before he left to hang out with friends.

“Before kickoff I said I wanted the game to be over by half-time. For the first 20 minutes some shambolic defending meant that without a few superb saves from Rob we would have been sunk. After that we sorted ourselves out… Carl under a lot of pressure and moving away from goal outside the box curled one top corner 1-0.  Tony made a run down the wing and a pinpoint cross onto Bob’s head, 2-0 at half-time. In the second half we buried them in the first 5 minutes…   A dazzling dribble from Jamie resulted in a ball across the box and Joe hammered it home. A corner from Joe found Frank two feet in the air and he headed it top corner, 4-0 and their heads went down. We kept going with some great team work resulting in Jeno and Tony both scoring.  6-0 and no cards a perfect start to the season!”

Little by little we are preparing to sell our house. Last week we had the wallpaper in our foyer removed and the walls repainted.  Today, I removed the carpeting, padding, and tack strips from our front hallway stairs so the refinishing and paint work can continue next week.  I left the remnants neatly stacked to keep my boss happy.

Pictured here is the Program Manager for our recently announced Form 3L 3D printer.  The “L” in “3L” stands for large and hence the tag line on these shirts passed out to all 500 employees of the company.  On the other side is a graphic depicting the new machine.  Interest in the Form 3L has been overwhelming and we are now in a race to get it into full production.

On my daily walk today I came across this clever adaptation of a tree stump in Cambridge.  I was tempted to sit down for a spell but it is most definitely a “high chair” which would have required a running start and half gainer to deliver my backside to the correct location.  I thought it better to maintain my aerobic walk and paused only for the photograph.

Timed perfectly to coincide with our big product announcement yesterday, Built In Boston just published their Insider Spotlight on Formlabs. I wish they had used the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots picture (featured on this blog last week) but still very pleased with the piece. Here is another photo that I really liked which also did not make the cut.

A huge day at work today! We announced our next generation of 3D printers. The Form 3 and the large format Form 3L.  Both using Low Force Stereolithography, an advanced printing technology that we invented.  We have teams at two major trade shows, one in Chicago and the other in Germany, introducing the products to the world and a team in China working feverishly to ramp up production while the folks at headquarters are working seven days a week to put the finishing touches on the design.  The next several months are going to be a marathon but the whole company is hyper energized.  Below is a video created by our marketing folks to introduce the products.

Interest in our new products was intense and orders started flowing the moment we announced them.

The colleague pictured to my left organized a pancake breakfast for our teammates at work this morning.  After enjoying some myself, I offered my services as a short-order cook.  He continued to mix up batch after batch of batter while I cooked an estimated 60 pancakes.  Fillings included blueberries, pecans, chocolate chips, and bananas.  Can’t think of a better way to start the morning.

I currently own two DJI drones. The smaller, a Mavic Air has a 12MP camera and is about half the weight of his big brother, The Mavic 2 Pro which features a 20MP camera. Ever since I purchased the latter it is the only one I have flown. As is my habit, when I do not regularly use a piece of technology it gets put up for sale. Such is the case for the drone that got me hooked on aerial photography. Feature here are two photos that appear in my Craig’s List listing.

Last night after the Open Table Chopped for Charity event, volunteers, including Jeanine, stayed until midnight to load up the organization’s new truck with all the cooking equipment, dishes, tableware, utensils, linens, and other paraphernalia used for the affair. This morning, Jeanine asked if I would drive it from Camp Thoreau to the Open Table facility in Maynard and help unload it. Never one to forgo an opportunity to drive an industrial-sized vehicle, I was happy to oblige.  Forward visibility is amazing with the cab-over-engine design.  Rear visibility, not so much. Even so, I was able to back it up into the Open Table driveway with the aid of a spotter.  The truck is pictured above.  I took the photo for last year’s annual fundraising campaign.

For the last several weeks, Jeanine and her team have been preparing for Open Table’s 30th anniversary.  To mark the milestone, they organized a Chopped for Charity event to celebrate their history and to raise funds. We attended this evening and it proved to be both a tremendous success and near disaster.

Jeanine’s opening remarks were both humorous and poignant as she discussed the many challenges the organization faced and how they had to constantly adapt to unexpected circumstances. It was as if she knew what lie ahead. Government dignitaries included State Senator Jamie Eldridge and State Representatives Kate Hogan and Tami Gouveia. Open Table received honorary citations from both the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives.

Music was provided by The Acton Music Project.

The competition, inspired by the popular TV show, featured a cooking competition and a gingerbread cookie decorating competition.  The cooks included teams representing the Concord Police Department (“Culinary Operations Unit”),  the Minute Man Arc (“MMAwesome”), and Gaining Ground (“Popcorn Sandwich”). 

The decorating teams included entrants from the Maynard Cookbook Club (“Tough Cookies”), the Concord Fire Department (“Fire and Icing”), the Fenn School (Fenn Foodies”), and the Rotary Club of Concord (“Cookie Monsters”).

The event was held at the Thoreau Club Camp Thoreau facility where tables were set up at the front of the venue, each equipped with an electric induction burner,  food processor, and other necessary appliances and cooking tools.  Two minutes into the 30 minute competition the power to all three cooking stations went dead.  I investigated immediately and found all the electrical equipment plugged into a single circuit, the breaker for which was located in a locked equipment room and no one immediately available with a key. I dispatched a volunteer to find someone with a key while I identified nearby outlets on a different circuit.  Thankfully, the extension cords in use allowed for connection to other circuits and power was restored briefly until those circuits overloaded, taking out power for the band, video lighting and AV system.  I estimated the total load for all three stations to be about 50 amps.  We would need three 20 amp circuits to keep all three teams in business and would need to restrict teams to use of either their induction stove or toaster oven but not both at the same time.  Once we gained access to the breaker panel, I enlisted the help of a facilities guy to keep resetting the circuit breakers every time they tripped while I worked with others to identify which outlets belonged to which circuits and splitting the load accordingly.  It took at least a half an hour to resolve the power situation with the band being rebooted more than half a dozen times.  I felt sorry for the cooks who had to deal with on and off again stoves and appliances as well as a group of us reconfiguring power cords right under foot.  Despite the chaos, everyone adapted and the show went on.  The team from Gaining Ground took first place in the cooking competition and the Concord Fire Department won the decorating competition with a house on fire concept.  I took photos through most of the evening when I was not working on the electrical issues.  A complete set can be found here.

On Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s lunch is catered at work.  On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I have to head out for food. Today, while on that mission, I passed by this sign which I found disturbing for reasons you might not expect.  I eat chicken all the time.  Those chickens must first be rendered lifeless.  The more recently dispatched the less need for preservation.  So far so good.  What bothered me was the grammar and design of the sign.  “Live Poultry” seems redundant.  Is there a need, in this case, to distinguish between “Dead Poultry” given the premise of the business?  Why “Fresh Killed” rather than “Freshly Killed.”  Why the need for 4 different fonts, one of which features knife like elements.  As I passed the establishment, I was fully expecting to see and hear live caged chickens and a pool of blood beneath a nearby chopping block.  Instead, I found traditionally packaged chicken in a supermarket style refrigerated display case.  Apparently these chickens were Fresh Killed elsewhere.

Last week I was asked to participate in an upcoming feature story on Formlabs for builtinboston.com.  Today I got access to some of the photographs they took.  Rest assured this is not how I spend my time at work. Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots first came to market in 1964, when I was 6 years old. Suffice it to say, I am very skilled in the game and easily found my muscle memory as my “Red Rocker” repeatedly clobbered my opponent’s “Blue Bomber.”  I will post a link to the story when it is published.

I discovered this photo, probably taken by my sister-in-law last fall, while Maya was visiting with their family in Minnesota.  Reminds my I have not been out to see them since they moved into their new house.