I have been without my Mavic Air drone for over a week while it was being repaired.  For some reason, the internal fan stopped working causing the unit to overheat.  Fortunately, the failure was covered under warranty and the manufacturer chose to replace the entire unit.  When I returned from work it was waiting for me so I did a quick flight over the house to test it out before the sun was gone. Props to the drone maker, DJI, for prompt and hassle-free service.

Over the weekend I did a series of Copenhagen Wheel photos for  work.  I enjoyed the assignment but not the results thus far.  Lighting such a highly reflective object is tricky and I do not feel I have quite arrived at the optimal result.  The goal of the image is to celebrate the interface between the hub and spokes, a design element we call a smiley for reasons which should be self explanatory. I think I will make another attempt later in the week when the effects of yesterday’s soccer match have worn off and I am feeling like doing something other than sleeping.
 

I was back on the soccer pitch this morning, my knees having made a partial recovery from my patellar tendinitis. With only one sub remaining by the end of the game, I was pressed into action for over 70 minutes which was quite a strain given my lack of practice over the last 3 weeks. Despite my poor conditioning, I managed to assist on one of our 4 goals. With one game remaining in the regulation season, my team has yet to give up a single goal and has amassed a total of 58. After the game, I attended a cookout at the home of our goalie. His backyard could pass for an arboretum with one of the larger trees serving as a home to a mother and child raccoon.

Jeanine and I enjoyed a visit to Clark Farm where we are now members of their CSA. We then made stops at their farmer stand (including adjacent garden, pictured below) and finally at Kimball Farms for ice cream. 

In response to the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade this week Kyle made the following posting on his Facebook page yesterday.  Jeanine and I found it very moving and with his permission I share it here.

Two beautiful people lost this past week. Both passed on by their own hand. Both reached the pinnacle of success in their respective pursuits.

Mental illness afflicts people from all walks of life. A facade of success sometimes hides a soul in distress. A destitute circumstance sometimes breeds love and connection.

Tell the people in your life, including yourself, that you love them. Sending out love and positive energy today.

When I joined Superpedestrian my only non-negotiable  requirement was a 4 day work week, an attempt to retain a small measure of my early retirement freedom to travel. Given ideal weather today, I decided to use my day off for a road trip. The destination I selected was Kent Falls State Park in Connecticut, a three hour drive from Concord. There I was treated to the waterfall for which the park is named, a series of drops covering 250 feet in total and accessible by a short but steep trail.

Realizing I was only 15 miles away, I decided to also visit Lime Rock Park,  a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue.  My timing could not have been more fortunate.  Tomorrow is eEuroFest, New England’s premier European auto event hosted by eEuroparts.com. Today was an exclusive preview event for VIPs.  I knew none of this when I pulled up to the gate where an older gentleman mumbled something, handed me a waiver form on a clip board for my signature, and then waved me in. I followed the car ahead of me into the infield area where I parked in a queue of cars about a dozen deep.  A few minutes later I realized I was in line to take hot laps on the autocross track, a notion I entertained for a few more glorious moments.  I had borrowed Jeanine’s BMW X1 SUV for the day and it has a very compelling sports mode and option to shift manually.  All the other cars in line, however,  were low slung. fast looking exotics and the idea of sliding through the corners with my camera gear flying all over the place while trying to avoid colliding with the other adrenaline pumped “enthusiast” drivers seemed unwise.  Instead I parked nearby and settled for the pleasure of photographing these cars in action.

I stopped several more times during the remainder of my 340 mile (7.5 hour drive time) road trip and returned with a nice collection of images.

When I started working at Superpedestrian I was given a new bicycle fitted with a Copenhagen Wheel.  Sadly the bike frame was reminiscent of the one used by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, which is to say, not really my cup of tea.  Today I swapped the wheel onto the bike I bought for myself a couple of years ago. I am now prepared to start riding in earnest and may even be able to keep up with Jeanine on her regular bike. Kyle took it for a test spin around the neighborhood and plans to make use of it when I am not.

I decided to focus on the sculptures I encountered during my morning walk today. All were found on the campus of Boston University which is just across the river from Superpedestrian. Trying to select a 2 dimensional slice of a 3 dimensional object is always a challenge and I found myself wondering what perspective the sculptors would have chosen. Perhaps they would have declined to make a choice at all arguing that the only way to appreciate sculpture is by experiencing it from all perspectives and by sampling the texture, characteristics which do not translate to photography at all.

Bunnies are intrinsically pretty cute. Baby bunnies even more so. This little fellow allowed me to get surprisingly close.  Lucky for him, I was not the gardener who planted the flowers on which he was snacking.

Local TV coverage of last weekends amputee soccer tournament.

This morning team USA faced England for a second time. The score at half time was 1-0 in favor of the UK on a penalty kick.  The US played one of their better halves of soccer demonstrating they could hang with one of the best teams in the world. Superior conditioning of the Brits in the second half and the loss of a couple of our players to injury resulted in a 6-0 final score.

All in all, the tournament, the first hosted by the US in more than a decade, was a great success. Team USA continues to show great improvement and promise for the future.  Key to our prospects in the World Cup will be a commitment to better conditioning and more frequent opportunities to practice together as a team.  The latter has always been an issue of funding which we are starting to overcome with recent grants to the AASA.  We are one very generous donation away from developing into a world-class team. Any wealthy followers of this blog or potential team sponsors are encouraged to contact me.

After the closing ceremony Nicolai and I made our way to Space Center Houston where we learned about the history of the NASA space program before heading to the airport for our respective flights home.

The tournament was organized by one of the regional chapters of the American Amputee Soccer Association of which I am the Vice President with local sponsorship and support from the Dynamo Dash Youth Soccer Academy.  Responsibility for speaking during the Opening Ceremony fell to me as the senior person present from the AASA and I was more than happy to return to photography as soon as that obligation was satisfied. Below, Nicolai and the captain of the English squad exchange greetings and gifts before what proved to be a thorough drubbing at their hands. To put things in perspective, the UK squad practices with each other as many times in a week as the US team does in 6 months, one of the down sides of living in such a large country and playing a sport with little financial support.

Despite the one-sided outcome, the US played a great match. Nicolai looked strong, relentlessly pounding away at their goal. Our only score came from the US Sled Hockey Gold Medal Paralympian and youngest member of our team, Noah Grove, who struck a beauty from distance over the head of their keeper.  The English dominated the remainder of the game amassing a total of 10 goals.

Redemption for the US came during a rematch with Haiti under the lights where we managed a 2-2 tie after giving up a questionable penalty kick early in the game.  Nicolai had a nice assist and lovely breakaway goal, shown below, his 14th in international competition.

After a busy morning of work, I jumped on a plane for Houston and then drove to The Woodlands where I arrived with 3 minutes to spare before the opening kick-off of the US Amputee Soccer Lonestar Invitational. This international friendly tournament between the national teams from the USA, England and Haiti is considered a tune-up before the Amputee Soccer World Cup to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico later this year.  Nicolai was sporting a new haircut which was a joint effort between himself and his girlfriend Karuna.  I thought the look suited him perfectly.

After briefly saying hello to Nico and members of the squad I jumped into my role as team photographer.  A complete set of images from the tournament can be found here.  A few of my favorites of Nicolai appear below.  The US team played better than I have ever seen them before but sadly where not able to overcome a one goal deficit loosing to Haiti by a score of 1-0.

Nicolai’s conditioning was not where it has been in the past and Houston’s intense heat and humidity only added to the challenge. Even so, Nicolai remained a force to be reckoned with on the field and he was generally double teamed any team he got near the goal.

Despite an extremely physical contest, the players have genuine respect and admiration for each other. Once the final whistle has blown confrontations give way to consolations and congratulations.

After an interview with a local TV station which carried coverage of the tournament, the team remained at the field to scout the English squad while I retired to the hotel for a respite from the heat and a nice nap. England destroyed the admittedly now tired Haitian squad by a score of 6-0 which did not bode well for tomorrow’s match with the USA.

I pass the Lincoln Public Library every day on my commute to Cambridge.  Today it was decked out with American flags and a lovely wreath.  I have no doubt this was done to commemorate Memorial Day which means I have driven past it two times this week without noticing. I often use my commute time to think about design challenges at work which renders me oblivious to anything other than collision avoidance.

The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurs (NFTE) helps foster a future generation of business owners by working with high school students in under-resourced communities to develop the skills needed for success.  Each year they sponsor a nationwide business plan competition. Students have 7 minutes to pitch their business concepts and 3 minutes to respond to questions from judges.  This evening I had the honor to serve as a judge in the Northeastern Regional Finals which were held at District Hall in the Seaport district. The top prize at this level is $1,500. The top two finishers will advance to the Nationals where the first-place winner will receive $15,000 to be used for their business or for their education.