Maya prepared pumpkin pancakes for 25 of her fellow National Charity League members. Her chapter of the organization had its fall meeting at our home this morning. The girls also wrote holiday letters which will be distributed to people in prison. Whenever the ratio of women to men in the house exceeds twenty to one, I have learned to make myself scarce. I spent time organizing my shop so that it would be ready for the winter woodworking season. I also designed a new feather board jig that I plan to print at work next week. Once the meeting was in full swing I managed to sneak into the kitchen and liberated three pancakes for an early lunch.

One of the quality improvements we have made to our Mark One printer is an increase to the tension we keep on our fiber spool.  This eliminates the possibility of having the spring-like fiber filament “jump” off the reel as it is currently prone to do.  We did this by adding a second spool tensioner (the thin plastic sheets at 45-degree angles).  I created this fixture so that workers at our factory will consistently install these at the proper angle.

Coach McGee asked if I would take a team photo after today’s game against Cambridge. The smiles came as easily as the 3-0 win. Maya tweaked her ankle in the first few minutes of play but returned to the pitch after wrapping it.

Last week my tool holder with embedded magnets received but a single vote during Part of the Week. I believe this was a clear signal that everyone at work is tired of my variations on the tool holder theme. Last night I decided to pick an object at random and design it for printing. With my eyes closed, I opened a camping equipment catalog to an arbitrary page and there found a collapsible cup. Today when I arrived at work, I started printing it and four hours later I was drinking water from my creation (while much of it dribbled through the seams into the sink over which I wisely conducted my first test). Normally, I would go back to the drawing board and refine the design but I had an idea for a more relevant work project and will be moving on to that. Despite the leaks, the geometry worked out perfectly including the retention features I employed to lock the cup into its extended position.

A meeting at our contract manufacturer in Lowell took me past Pages Brook Pond this morning where a family of beavers have set up their residence. I have watched this pond evolve over twelve years (my first job in Massachusetts had me commuting along this road) and it is remarkable to see how dramatically the landscape has been altered by such tiny creatures. For those who doubt that 7.3 billion humans can change the climate of our planet, they should see what 6 beavers have done in just over a decade to this corner of the world.

Employees at MarkForged are issued respirator masks for use inside our fiber production area. Today they proved handy when someone microwaved a most foul-smelling lunch. I don’t know, or care to know, what food was being prepared but I was thankful for my mask, a feeling shared by my colleagues.

Another loss (0-1) this morning has placed my soccer team near the bottom of our division. I played well as did my teammates but we just could not find the back of the net despite many chances. With the season nearing completion we have to get our act together or face relegation to Division 2, an outcome that would be hard to accept after winning Division 1 last season.

Alissa and my nephew John William treated us to breakfast at Nancy’s Airfield Cafe after the game and I found a few moments later in the day for a little photography at Verrill Farm where I was dispatched to pick up some dinner ingredients.

As a rule, Jeanine cooks a great deal of vegetarian food. When she does cook with meat, she prefers to use locally sourced, grass-fed, antibiotic free cows. Today we drove out to the Wheelview Farm in Shelburne Falls located in the Berkshires to pick up our winter’s supply of beef. I interviewed some of the cows and they confirmed that they were being treated well and getting plenty to eat. The fall foliage was spectacular and I would venture to say at its peak. We paused en route at the French King Bridge for a photo. I have shot this angle on a few previous occasions but never tire of the majesty of this bridge or the composition of its surroundings.

My sister Alissa has been staying with us and was joined by her husband John this evening. The four of us went out to see the Martian, a film I can give my highest recommendation.

It is a 12-minute walk from where I work to the campus of Harvard University. A perfect fall afternoon was the only excuse I needed to make the short stroll in search of lunch today. In addition to a magnificent grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, I found a pygmy pig, baby goat, and several rabbits at a make-shift petting zoo for students. I had no idea that Harvard took campus diversity to such lengths.

Maya played a terrific match today against Westford helping her team to a 1-0 win. When I asked her why she was so full of energy she reminded me that she had gone to bed at 8:30 last night. I wonder if there is a lesson for her in this. She had several nice shots on goal and made many attacking passes setting up her teammates for shots on net. The weather could not have been more perfect and it was nice to get some fresh air after being cooped up in planes and a car for the last few days.

The second day of my mid-west business trip took my to Ashtabula, OH to visit with a supplier. The drive to Cleveland for my return flight went right right past the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I only had time for a quick visit so I decided to stop at Brandywine Falls, arguably the park’s most iconic landmark. Not satisfied with the perspective from the viewing platform, I ventured down to the base of the falls for a different angle. I will let you decide if that view (below) was worth spending the rest of the day in water-logged boots, the result of falling into the river after slipping on an algae covered rock.  I think not.

Last night I flew to Detroit and then drove to Ann Arbor where I spent the evening. I was up before the sun and embarked on the remainder of my journey to Battle Creek where I had business with a vendor. A twenty minute excursion took me to Hell and back. More accurately, I went through Hell to get to my destination. It was a cold day in Hell but there were no signs of ice or snowballs. Contrary to popular belief, the road to Hell is paved in asphalt rather than good intentions. I was also surprised to learn that there are only 266 people in Hell, I would have thought the number was much higher.

I usually budget 75 minutes when traveling to Cambridge for meetings at the offices of Matrix Partners, one of the venture capital firms backing MarkForged. This morning, I made the trip in half the time because of the Columbus Day holiday which many in Massachusetts observe. With an extra 40 minutes to spare, I took a walk across the Longfellow Bridge and took this photo of the Community Boating docks. I returned to Matrix with 5 minutes to spare and could not understand why everyone else had already gone inside for the meeting. Only later did I realize that I was 5 minutes early for a 9 am meeting that actually started at 8 am.

My soccer team had to settle for a 1-1 tie this morning against the Mariners. We had to leave Concord at 6:15AM to arrive in Fairhaven in time for warmups and the 8AM kick-off. It was a disappointing outcome given that we had a 10 to 1 advantage in shots on goal.

I returned to Concord by noon, just in time to join Jeanine, Maya, and her friend Sarinnagh on an excursion to Crane Beach in Ipswich. There we enjoyed lunch on the beach and the fresh sea air. Later we toured the Inn on Castle Hill and the surrounding estate. Within the area known as the casino complex, we discovered a magnificent croquet court and introduced Sarinnagh to the game. Despite a strong showing, the girls fell victim to Jeanine’s sharp shooting and my strategy.