I traveled from Hong Kong to mainland China this morning with my colleagues. We spent the day touring Kin Yat, one of our three contract manufacturing partners we are here to visit. It was a long day spent largely on our feet. This factory has made huge strides since the last time I visited and I was pleased with the state of affairs. Regrettably, photography is not permitted inside the facilities. You will simply have to imagine a sea of young Chinese women wearing uniforms and hats sitting in one production line after another. Each performs a small number of simple tasks on a robot which moves via conveyor to the next worker. In all, our line with related sub-assembly stations, employs in excess of 1000 workers. Despite the monotony of the work these positions are highly sought after. Dinner this evening could have easily been confused with a trip to the aquarium. On the main floor of the restaurant we view tank after tank filled with live exotic sea creatures looking out at us through the glass. Our food order is taken here by pointing out the species that we wish to eat. We move to a second floor private dining area with circular table where course by course the food arrives and is placed on a lazy Susan at the center. Once again we are eye-ball to eye-ball with our food. I have a rule about eating food with eye-balls which I suspended in order to be respectful of our dinner hosts. After settling into my hotel in Dongguan, I ventured out for what turned into a two hour walk. Pictured here is a pagoda found at the top of a large hill in Chang’An Park.

I arrived at my Hong Kong hotel at about 9PM feeling relatively awake despite not having slept a wink on the plane. I decided to head out for some exercise and photography. The city is decorated for Christmas which only intensified the night time illumination for which this city is already legendary.

Lately, I have been drawn to photographing moving water using slow shutter speeds. A plethora of lit fountains offered many opportunities to explore this theme. The youth of China, as in cultures everywhere, are pushing the boundaries in this very conservative society. I expect this is the one force the government here will find impossible to contain.

I began my travel to China early this morning with a flight to Chicago where the airport was decked out for the holidays. A three hour layover is followed by a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong arriving on Sunday eveningand where I will overnight before continuing on to China. With some time to kill at O’Hare, I searched our interesting photo opportunities and found this interesting view of the inter-terminal rail tracks as viewed through a frosted window from an overpass.

After conducting an interview at the office I drove downtown to the Microsoft NERD (New England Research and Development) Center where I attended a seminar on the Future of Robotics. It was an extremely informative session and I made a number of good connections. After the presentations, mostly by local university researchers, I walked over to the MIT campus where a tour was given of the robotics sections of the CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab). I saw walking robots, flying robots, underwater robots and even this cooking robot (she was stirring a bowl of cookie batter). If there was any doubt in my mind before, I am now convinced that Boston is the worldwide epicenter of robotics.

Tomorrow I depart for Hong Kong and China where I will spend a week visiting with our contract manufacturers and several key vendors. In the past my website has been blocked by the Chinese government (censorship at its finest) and if that is the case again I will not be able to make new posts until I return.

Nicolai completed his SideStix video and I think you will find the results quite entertaining.

To my way of seeing things, Nala is more trouble than she is worth. Lately she has been breaching her electric fence (even with it set to maximum shock level). She returns covered in ticks or bathed in the aroma of skunk. When she is inside she wants to go out. When she is outside she wants to come in. She has learned how to open the lever handled outside doors but not to close them behind her. Despite the constant aggravation it is hard not to love the way she interacts with the family.

Even on the grayest of days there was a splash of color to be found in the yard. With day light growing shorter each day it is increasingly challenging to find interesting photographic subjects when I am not at work. Nicolai began editing video footage that we shot together last weekend of him doing all manner of stunts on his crutches. The founders of SideStix, the company which designed his crutches, have requested a short clip to put on their website. Tomorrow night they will be appearing on the CBC television show called the Dragon’s Den, where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how make to help them succeed. They expect the national exposure to drive traffic to their website and Nico was more than happy to help out.

Anytime I take vacation I can count on a very busy day in the office when I return. Such was the case today and there was no time for even a single photograph. Consequently I went into my time machine and set the clock for November, 2006 returning with this image of Maya and one of her pets.

Just as Goldilocks searched for a bed that was just right, our dog Nala was caught this evening sampling a new piece of furniture in the music room. She has been banned from our recently reupholstered family room couch and is now intent on finding an equally comfortable substitute.

With Nico out on a babysitting gig, Jeanine, Maya and I took in the movie, Hugo, which I can highly recommend. This was my first 3D movie (I don’t get out much) and must say that the effect was used with great artistic impact and made for an extremely immersive experience.

Finally, after two failed attempts earlier this week, I was able to get on the water with my nephew Johnie today. The weather was perfect for our one-hour round trip from the Concord Boat House to the Old North Bridge. The exercise felt great after several days of feasting. Johnie took Kyle to the airport this afternoon for his return flight to San Jose and we are once again down to a family of four.

Having done some serious damage to my weight maintenance plan yesterday I was all too happy to learn of a 10AM pick-up soccer game at the high school. Children were specifically invited to join the more seasoned (old and slow) players. Nicolai, his cousin Johnie, and Maya all joined me for what turned out to be a great game. We played full field until the numbers grew to the point where we split into two cross-field games. Although he turned his ankle mid-way through the game, Johnie scored a phone number from a local girl who is attending Wellesley.Nicolai was approached by the CCHS varsity soccer coach after our game and asked to play in the alumni match being contested on the adjacent field. Later he approached me and asked that I encourage Nico to try out for the team next year having distinguished himself in the game among a group of players who have won the state championship in 2 of the last 3 years. Plans for a mid afternoon kayak run were thwarted by our fall clean up crew which blocked access to the garage with their equipment. The kayaks are loaded, however, and I hope to be on the water tomorrow. John requested a photograph for his Facebook page and I was more than happy to oblige.

With much to be thankful for our family, joined by my sister and hers, and by good friend Susan Reynolds enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The kids have matured to the point where they remained for quite some time at the table to share in post-feast conversation with the adults. The children eventually retreated to the kitchen for card playing and the adults to the family room for an old movie. My mother was missed by all but we reached out for a group phone call and it sounded like she is doing a bit better. Jeanine prepared a dinner plate for her with all the fixings and hopefully this will be a small consolation.

As a child, Christmas was my favorite holiday. Since becoming an adult, Thanksgiving reigns supreme. A day to gather with family and friends, to prepare and share food together and to give thanks for our many blessings. What holiday could be more perfect. As was my father’s tradition, we went around the table, each of us sharing our reasons for being thankful. Health and family were the dominant themes. I expressed gratitude for the courage of my family in the face of challenge.

It is not everyday that you return from work to discover a trio of Greek Goddesses making a movie in your home. Prohibited from the set I captured these images, from the adjacent room, as Maya (Hestia) directed and filmed her classmates (Demeter and Hera) for a project they are doing on the Greek mythology.

Speaking of Goddesses my sister Alissa and her daughter Rachel arrived today from upstate New York and were joined by her son John William who drove over from Babson College where he is a freshman. Due to work obligations, John senior will not be joining us until tomorrow. Unfortunately my mother, who had originally planned to join them for the visit, will not be making the trip due to illness. We considered bringing the feast to her but the last minute logistics proved to be too much.

Last week Nicolai learned that his coach had selected him as a co-captain of the varsity wrestling team.

Today he learned that he will never wrestle again.

Last season he suffered from a number of “stingers” which caused his arms to go numb. A visit to the neurologist today revealed from his MRI scans that he has two bulging discs between the vertebrae in his neck (C4/C5 and C5/C6) that are impinging on his spinal cord. A further bulging or herniation of either disc could result in permanent loss of feeling in his arms or paralysis. The doctor reassured Nico that his current situation is stable but felt the risk of continuing to wrestle was unacceptably high given the potential consequences.

We were all despondent over the news. Wrestling is the one sport in which Nico felt he could compete on equal footing (no pun intended) because his limited mobility and leverage were equally offset by his greater upper body strength at any given weight class. I left work early and spent hours pouring over his MRIs and doing research on the internet. Initially, I thought it would make sense to get a second opinion but the damage to his neck is apparent even to my untrained eye.

A door has closed today for Nico. Despite our sorrow, we can only be thankful that we learned of this situation before an even more tragic outcome ensued. Although Nico has had to shoulder more than his fair share of burden, it has made him exactly the indomitable person he is today. We are hopeful that he will rise above this setback and that it will only further strengthen his mighty spirit.