Maya returned from a shopping outing with her mother very pleased with the outfit they had created based on a jacket that was a gift from her grandmother. When asked to take a picture by one of my children (normally I have to fight them for the opportunity) I am quick to drag them into my studio and setup my lighting. Maya was very patient with me as I tried some new arrangements and together we produced twenty or so images that will be among my favorites of her at this age. I think she was very pleased with the results as well.

It is possible to do serious damage to one’s waistline during the holiday season. The challenge is even greater while attending a Christmas Dessert party, as was the case this evening. Jeanine prepared a lime mousse which disappeared faster than anything else and a chocolate slab over Kahlua custard.  The extent of my culinary contribution was to place the pomegranate garnish on the mousse.

It is hard to believe we are in the middle of December. The weather has been unusually warm and it feels more like autumn than winter. Please note, this should not be construed as a complaint. A very productive and exhausting week in the office, I am looking forward to relaxing over the weekend and this scene puts me in the right frame of mind.

Maya pauses briefly from her studies to check her phone for messages. She held still for the entire duration of this ten second exposure, not because I asked her to or told her it was a long exposure. She simply understood the mechanics of a DSLR and was listening for the shutter to close before moving. Only the child of a photographer and future engineer would be so aware and thoughtful. Thank you, Miss Maya.

A totally unexpected and most appreciated gift arrived today from my former colleagues at iRobot. The Roomba 980 is the company’s new flagship floor care robot and was one of the major projects being worked on by my team when I left the company. It features a sophisticated visual navigation system that allows it to systematically cover an entire floor of your home, a major advancement from the pseudo-random algorithm that was used in previous generations. I am very thankful for the present, but even more so for being remembered by a wonderful group of people that I had the great pleasure to work with for five years. I hope my iRobot followers will convey my deep appreciation for this thoughtful and generous gesture to all my friends that remain at the company.

Former President of Open Table, Peter Hilton, told Jeanine that I would enjoy this cartoon from the Concord Journal. He was right!

A 2 minute walk from the office, Fresh Pond Park offers a wonderful 2.25 mile loop trail which took me 40 minutes to complete over my lunch hour today. As long as the weather remains nice, I will try to walk this trail as often as possible. Not sure what the stone structure is all about and this will be worthy of future investigation.

I had some business that took me into the office today. There was very little traffic and I seemed to catch every green light. The 15-mile journey took exactly 15 minutes, a record which I suspect will stand for some time. In moderate traffic, I can make the trip in 25-30 minutes. My old commute was just two miles longer but averaged about 55 minutes and often took up to 70 minutes. Imagine getting an hour back every day.

I have set myself the goal of 3D printing an entire working tripod and head. Today I worked out the final details for the swivel head and quick release which I added to the tripod legs I designed a few weeks ago. I will print these parts at work tomorrow in Nylon before making final refinements and committing to a carbon fiber print.

One of the recently hired engineers at Markforged 3D printed an entire quadcopter for the inaugural Part of the Week (POTW) party at our new office. It is amazing how quickly we have settled into our new surroundings and equally amazing how much more productive everyone feels. The move has been a great success and marks a real milestone for the company.

Tis the season of tool upgrades and organization. My new job has me spending a lot more time in the shop than I have at recent gigs. Prone to look for the most efficient way to do a thing, I am constantly refining my tools and how they are organized so that I can quickly accomplish the task at hand. Pictured here is a Markforged printed bit caddy that hosts my power drive bit collection. Generous spacing and logical layout make it easy to find the exact tool I need in no time flat.

With the move to our new facility, I once again have a window to enjoy (beats the hell out of sitting next to a CNC milling machine). It overlooks Fresh Pond Park and more importantly, allows me to bring my bonsai tree into work. This tree has kept me company at work for almost a decade. Unfortunately, the depth of the window sill did not really offer a good place for it to rest. Last night I built a sill extension, sized perfectly to the application, from scraps I have been saving from various past kitchen projects. It fits perfectly and most people at work have just assumed it was part of the building.

Last Christmas Kyle gave me a gift certificate to a bonsai store which I plan to redeem in the coming days so that my lone friend will have a new companion.

I returned from work this evening to find my recent order for a new set of Wiha pliers and cutters had arrived. They fit perfectly into the caddy I fabricated a few weeks ago and they make a colorful statement in the shop. My Craftsman set has served me well for over two decades but it was time for an upgrade.

After nearly half a year working in a dingy machine shop where the din of a milling machine, lathe and extruder made hearing yourself think impossible, Markforged moved into its new facility today. The contrast could not be more dramatic. The quiet, the space, the ambiance. Many of us worked over the weekend to ensure a smooth transition and by the end of the day we were essentially up and running.