Jeanine received word last week that one of her stories has been accepted for publication by Exceptional Parent magazine. The article is both a recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad and the story of Nicolai’s birth. I was called on to provide pictures to accompany the story and had to complete my work quickly as Nico was chomping at the bit to have his dinner.

My company held its holiday Party this evening at the House of Blues. Buses carried us from iRobot headquarters to the downtown venue located across the street from Fenway Park. More than 700 employees and their significant others were treated to passed hors d’oeuvres, fine food, and live music by the band SoHo. I had an opportunity to introduce Jeanine to my colleagues and to meet their spouses although the music was more conducive to dancing than extended conversations. And dance we did, for more than an hour.

We added another licensed driver to the family this afternoon. Nicolai, more so than Kyle, worked to obtain his license as soon as possible after reaching the legal age. Contingent on Nico maintaining good grades, we will make available to him our official car for new drivers, the Smart Car. Within minutes of returning home he concocted a reason to run a solo errand. We are all thrilled for him.

On my drive home from the office, I stopped to pick up chips and soda for Nico who was hosting a poker party for his friends this evening. Kyle had Hannah over and Maya (who is officially under the weather now) had her friend Sarinnagh sleeping over. Jeanine and I are thrilled that our kids and their friends enjoy hanging out chez Calabria and it was nice to come home to such a hotbed of fun after a particularly challenging week in the office.

I enjoy using shallow depth of field (selective focus) in my photography. When I returned from work after a tough day in the office, I was thrilled to find a UPS package with a new (used) lens waiting for me. It is a 50mm f/1.2 which is an exceptional low-light lens and is also known for producing great bokeh (buttery smooth out-of-focus areas). Maya was looking rather moody and we fear she may be getting sick.

Open Table where food is prepared and served to anyone in need of a meal. Jeanine brought her sous chef with her as she created a healthy and delicious meal for 100 guests (including all the shopping for ingredients). Jeanine forwarded this photo she received today of all the volunteers.

Another big snowfall today created difficult driving conditions. Common practice at iRobot is for employees to leave their windshield wipers in the service position when snow is anticipated as evidenced by this photo of our parking lot taken through my office window and the falling snow.

Every couple of years technology advances to the point where a complete conversion from an old technology to the new one is necessary. The device pictured here is a CD/DVD player that can store 400 discs and access any one of them in a matter of seconds. Today I removed my 300 CD music collection from this machine and “ripped” (transferred the digital music content) to the hard drive in my computer. At 5 minutes per CD, it was a time-consuming project but I now have house-wide access to the uncompressed files through the Sonos. The next step is to sell the disc carousel on Craig’s List.

My shop got a proper cleaning this morning as I prepared for the visit of a friend. I had two Roomba’s going at once and they made quick work of the task. The kayak was my last major project and I am getting tempted to start something new.

Nicolai was back in action today competing in a quad meet (three matches) at Arlington High School. In his first match, he won a hard-fought decision which went 6 minutes. In his second match, pictured here, he quickly took down his opponent only to suffer another stinger. If you click on the photo you can see the pain in his face. He took 2 minutes of injury time but was unable to continue. Fortunately, he was able to wrestle again for his third match which he won with a first-period pin. Kyle and I spent a good part of the day getting his truck into shape (jump start after a month left in the cold, new rim to replace the unmatched one, new tire and rotation, and a new battery). Maya was scheduled to get a hair cut but food shopping with her mother ran beyond her appointment.

Jeanine prepared an exceptionally delicious salmon this evening. It is pictured here, straight from the oven. Kyle and Hannah joined us for an adult dinner as Nicolai and Maya were staying with friends.

In the neutral position, Nico prefers to go down on his hands and knee. This gives him a low shooting position and a stable base. When he shoots a tackle he rarely comes up with anything less than an ankle, often both. Once he has an opponent on the mat his hand strength makes escape a lost cause and gives him an opportunity to set up any number of tilts and pinning combinations.

Newton South fell to CCHS this evening as the varsity wrestling teams faced off. Nicolai, wrestling his first match with Holly in the stands and looked fantastic. He worked hard through the match gradually building up a lead before pinning his opponent late in the third period.

School has been canceled and I will be working from home today because of a blizzard which is expected to drop more than a foot of snow throughout the day. With the family around for a shared breakfast, Jeanine prepared a Baby Dutch which was gone in a matter of minutes.