We mourn with the French.  Kyle is in the foreground during our trip to France in 2000.

I was very busy at work today. Too much so to participate in a campus-wide Easter Egg Hunt. As I was leaving for the day, I ran into the CEO and his wife who were on their way to Hoppy Labs.
I had not planned to attend because a beer party (hoppy) is not really my thing. When I learned that the event would also feature baby bunnies (hoppy) and goats I had to stick around.  Next year I will invite Maya who would have surely smuggled out some furry friends.

Spring has arrived and with it rowers on the Charles River.

Monday’s are always very busy for me at work.  Even so, I was able to find 90 minutes shortly after lunch, between meetings and the rain, to take in a bit of the Boston Marathon.   The four mile round trip walk took 80 minutes leaving me only 10 minutes to shoot. While spectating from a bridge over Commonwealth Avenue, I was standing next to a man with one child on his shoulders and another by his side. He was checking on a phone app telling his young kids that mommy was getting close.  When she appeared they began yelling and she spotted them.  I captured a nice sequence and gave the dad my contact info and told him I would send the photos.  This evening I made good on that promise and was happy to provide this family from Asheville, NC a happy souvenir from their visit to Boston. 

The kids were all home this afternoon for a family celebration of Jeanine’s birthday as was our niece Rachel.  Jeanine had requested that here children prepare a meal together as her birthday gift.  Kyle expertly prepared a lamb dish, Nicolai roasted cauliflower and broccoli, and Maya was in charge of the cake (not sure who made the rice).   Jeanine was thrilled to be surrounded by family and to witness her children sharing her gift for cooking.  Unfortunately, I had procrastinated on preparing income taxes and had to spend a good portion of the day involved with that less than enjoyable activity.  My mood was not enhanced by my soccer game this morning which resulted in a 0-0 tie.  Our opponents did not make a single serious shot on our net but managed to pack the box with defenders throughout the game frustrating our many attempts to score.  I may have had our best opportunity with a header that just missed the lower corner.

Once a year, spouses are invited to the book group to which Jeanine belongs.  This year, for the first time, we met at a restaurant, the Forge and Vine in Groton. Reservations must be obtained months in advance and this was reflected in the quality of the food.  Our group of ten enjoyed a quiet semi-private room which lent itself to conversation.  As I have suspected for many years, the book group is really a cover for monthly social gatherings. I was one of only two participants who actually completed the assigned book, Michelle Obama’s, Becoming.  For the record, Jeanine was not the other.  As is her habit and right, Jeanine is stretching her birthday into something of a week-long event which made for a very delicious end to the evening. Tomorrow we are celebrating again, this time with the kids.

Our little Jeanine is all grown up.  Today she celebrates her 56th birthday.  Seems to me she becomes more lovely each year.

Many of my recent posts feature new buildings going up in Cambridge or Somerville. For better or worse I have exhausted most other photographically interesting subjects within walking distance from my office. For every new building that goes up, there are old ones coming down. Today I walked passed the pictured construction site and watched for several minutes as this excavator made quick work of its demolition task. I think the water is to keep dust down rather than fire prevention.

Boston is well known for our fleet of Duck Boats. These military surplus amphibious vehicles are used to give tours of the city from both land and water. Our whole family took one when we first moved to the area and enjoyed it immensely. In addition to the driver/captain being a very funny guy, he let the kids skipper the duck while on the water. In Boston, Duck Boats are also used for “rolling rallies” to celebrate national sports championships, eleven in total since 2002. Pictured above is one of the fleet in front of the Boston Science Museum.

Located a few blocks from Formlabs, the Zinc Apartments building seems to carry some kind of cryptic message on its exterior.  When time permits I may try to solve the puzzle.  Monthly rents range from $2500 to $10,000.  

I just learned that Mark Krauss, a former Concord United soccer teammate of mine, passed away yesterday at the age of 56. He was afflicted with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and ALS, possibly a consequence of Lyme’s disease which he also suffered from. He leaves behind his wife, a school teacher, and their five children, three of them in college. It is a heart breaking situation and our soccer community is coming together to support the family. His nickname on the pitch was “Mouse” but he played with the heart of a lion. He was a true gentleman on and off the field. We are all extremely saddened to lose one of our own and reminded to live life to the fullest each day.

His daughter, Jessie, organized a fundraising 5K run to benefit the Massachusetts General Hospital FTD Unit. It was scheduled for yesterday which only seems to amplify the sense of loss. Pictured below with our Concord United squad.  He is the one with my arm over his shoulder.

Nicolai has been accepted to Lesley University’s graduate degree program.  High school teachers in Massachusetts require a Master’s Degree in Education in order to gain certification.  He is currently living with us but is actively looking to find a friend to share an apartment with.  Even so, we rarely see him.  This evening he was home and we enjoyed a nice Sunday dinner with him before he left to hang out with friends.

“Before kickoff I said I wanted the game to be over by half-time. For the first 20 minutes some shambolic defending meant that without a few superb saves from Rob we would have been sunk. After that we sorted ourselves out… Carl under a lot of pressure and moving away from goal outside the box curled one top corner 1-0.  Tony made a run down the wing and a pinpoint cross onto Bob’s head, 2-0 at half-time. In the second half we buried them in the first 5 minutes…   A dazzling dribble from Jamie resulted in a ball across the box and Joe hammered it home. A corner from Joe found Frank two feet in the air and he headed it top corner, 4-0 and their heads went down. We kept going with some great team work resulting in Jeno and Tony both scoring.  6-0 and no cards a perfect start to the season!”

Little by little we are preparing to sell our house. Last week we had the wallpaper in our foyer removed and the walls repainted.  Today, I removed the carpeting, padding, and tack strips from our front hallway stairs so the refinishing and paint work can continue next week.  I left the remnants neatly stacked to keep my boss happy.

Pictured here is the Program Manager for our recently announced Form 3L 3D printer.  The “L” in “3L” stands for large and hence the tag line on these shirts passed out to all 500 employees of the company.  On the other side is a graphic depicting the new machine.  Interest in the Form 3L has been overwhelming and we are now in a race to get it into full production.

On my daily walk today I came across this clever adaptation of a tree stump in Cambridge.  I was tempted to sit down for a spell but it is most definitely a “high chair” which would have required a running start and half gainer to deliver my backside to the correct location.  I thought it better to maintain my aerobic walk and paused only for the photograph.

Timed perfectly to coincide with our big product announcement yesterday, Built In Boston just published their Insider Spotlight on Formlabs. I wish they had used the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots picture (featured on this blog last week) but still very pleased with the piece. Here is another photo that I really liked which also did not make the cut.

A huge day at work today! We announced our next generation of 3D printers. The Form 3 and the large format Form 3L.  Both using Low Force Stereolithography, an advanced printing technology that we invented.  We have teams at two major trade shows, one in Chicago and the other in Germany, introducing the products to the world and a team in China working feverishly to ramp up production while the folks at headquarters are working seven days a week to put the finishing touches on the design.  The next several months are going to be a marathon but the whole company is hyper energized.  Below is a video created by our marketing folks to introduce the products.

Interest in our new products was intense and orders started flowing the moment we announced them.

The colleague pictured to my left organized a pancake breakfast for our teammates at work this morning.  After enjoying some myself, I offered my services as a short-order cook.  He continued to mix up batch after batch of batter while I cooked an estimated 60 pancakes.  Fillings included blueberries, pecans, chocolate chips, and bananas.  Can’t think of a better way to start the morning.

I currently own two DJI drones. The smaller, a Mavic Air has a 12MP camera and is about half the weight of his big brother, The Mavic 2 Pro which features a 20MP camera. Ever since I purchased the latter it is the only one I have flown. As is my habit, when I do not regularly use a piece of technology it gets put up for sale. Such is the case for the drone that got me hooked on aerial photography. Feature here are two photos that appear in my Craig’s List listing.

Last night after the Open Table Chopped for Charity event, volunteers, including Jeanine, stayed until midnight to load up the organization’s new truck with all the cooking equipment, dishes, tableware, utensils, linens, and other paraphernalia used for the affair. This morning, Jeanine asked if I would drive it from Camp Thoreau to the Open Table facility in Maynard and help unload it. Never one to forgo an opportunity to drive an industrial-sized vehicle, I was happy to oblige.  Forward visibility is amazing with the cab-over-engine design.  Rear visibility, not so much. Even so, I was able to back it up into the Open Table driveway with the aid of a spotter.  The truck is pictured above.  I took the photo for last year’s annual fundraising campaign.

For the last several weeks, Jeanine and her team have been preparing for Open Table’s 30th anniversary.  To mark the milestone, they organized a Chopped for Charity event to celebrate their history and to raise funds. We attended this evening and it proved to be both a tremendous success and near disaster.

Jeanine’s opening remarks were both humorous and poignant as she discussed the many challenges the organization faced and how they had to constantly adapt to unexpected circumstances. It was as if she knew what lie ahead. Government dignitaries included State Senator Jamie Eldridge and State Representatives Kate Hogan and Tami Gouveia. Open Table received honorary citations from both the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives.

Music was provided by The Acton Music Project.

The competition, inspired by the popular TV show, featured a cooking competition and a gingerbread cookie decorating competition.  The cooks included teams representing the Concord Police Department (“Culinary Operations Unit”),  the Minute Man Arc (“MMAwesome”), and Gaining Ground (“Popcorn Sandwich”). 

The decorating teams included entrants from the Maynard Cookbook Club (“Tough Cookies”), the Concord Fire Department (“Fire and Icing”), the Fenn School (Fenn Foodies”), and the Rotary Club of Concord (“Cookie Monsters”).

The event was held at the Thoreau Club Camp Thoreau facility where tables were set up at the front of the venue, each equipped with an electric induction burner,  food processor, and other necessary appliances and cooking tools.  Two minutes into the 30 minute competition the power to all three cooking stations went dead.  I investigated immediately and found all the electrical equipment plugged into a single circuit, the breaker for which was located in a locked equipment room and no one immediately available with a key. I dispatched a volunteer to find someone with a key while I identified nearby outlets on a different circuit.  Thankfully, the extension cords in use allowed for connection to other circuits and power was restored briefly until those circuits overloaded, taking out power for the band, video lighting and AV system.  I estimated the total load for all three stations to be about 50 amps.  We would need three 20 amp circuits to keep all three teams in business and would need to restrict teams to use of either their induction stove or toaster oven but not both at the same time.  Once we gained access to the breaker panel, I enlisted the help of a facilities guy to keep resetting the circuit breakers every time they tripped while I worked with others to identify which outlets belonged to which circuits and splitting the load accordingly.  It took at least a half an hour to resolve the power situation with the band being rebooted more than half a dozen times.  I felt sorry for the cooks who had to deal with on and off again stoves and appliances as well as a group of us reconfiguring power cords right under foot.  Despite the chaos, everyone adapted and the show went on.  The team from Gaining Ground took first place in the cooking competition and the Concord Fire Department won the decorating competition with a house on fire concept.  I took photos through most of the evening when I was not working on the electrical issues.  A complete set can be found here.

On Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s lunch is catered at work.  On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I have to head out for food. Today, while on that mission, I passed by this sign which I found disturbing for reasons you might not expect.  I eat chicken all the time.  Those chickens must first be rendered lifeless.  The more recently dispatched the less need for preservation.  So far so good.  What bothered me was the grammar and design of the sign.  “Live Poultry” seems redundant.  Is there a need, in this case, to distinguish between “Dead Poultry” given the premise of the business?  Why “Fresh Killed” rather than “Freshly Killed.”  Why the need for 4 different fonts, one of which features knife like elements.  As I passed the establishment, I was fully expecting to see and hear live caged chickens and a pool of blood beneath a nearby chopping block.  Instead, I found traditionally packaged chicken in a supermarket style refrigerated display case.  Apparently these chickens were Fresh Killed elsewhere.

Last week I was asked to participate in an upcoming feature story on Formlabs for builtinboston.com.  Today I got access to some of the photographs they took.  Rest assured this is not how I spend my time at work. Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots first came to market in 1964, when I was 6 years old. Suffice it to say, I am very skilled in the game and easily found my muscle memory as my “Red Rocker” repeatedly clobbered my opponent’s “Blue Bomber.”  I will post a link to the story when it is published.

I discovered this photo, probably taken by my sister-in-law last fall, while Maya was visiting with their family in Minnesota.  Reminds my I have not been out to see them since they moved into their new house.

My construction-detoured commute takes me through Inman Square where you will find a very wonderful mural painted on the second story of the Inman Square Firehouse.  The mural was painted in 1976 by Ellary Eddy to celebrate the nation’s Bicentennial and includes George Washington and Benjamin Franklin among the Cambridge firefighters of the day.  Washington and Franklin both served as volunteer firemen in their spare time. The apparatus shown is the 1960 Pirsch 1,000 gallons per minute pump which was Engine 5’s pump at the time. Is it me or is Ben wearing a pair of Converse.

This morning my soccer team held our first outdoor practice with our season opener only two weeks away.  Unfortunately, one of my teammates caught an errant elbow (not mine) which broke his nose.  I took him to the hospital where they fixed him up.  I am guessing he is going to have two black eyes in the morning and a wife standing in the way of his taking the field with us for our first match.  He was bleeding profusely after the injury but it was only a small fraction of the blood I saw later in the day.  Jeanine and I took a 3.5-mile walk on the Lexington section of the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway.  There we encountered several police vehicles, firetrucks, and a taped-off section of the trail.  Apparently, two bikes traveling in the opposite direction collided at very high speed.  There was a VERY large pool of blood on the bike path, two mangled bicycles, and one helmet on the ground.  One of the riders died and the other sustained serious injuries.

Local media coverage of our recent trip to Argentina.

With Nala no longer here to patrol the perimeter of our yard every day, we have noticed an increase in the number of critters that are visiting.  The geese and the presents they leave are not very welcome.  This coyote, however, is quite beautiful and I am hoping for a better shot of him one day.  I took this photo with less-than-optimal settings in dreary light.

Thanks to a former colleague (N.M.) and follower of this blog the significance of the mystery medal (posted two days ago) has been solved.  I could not be more thankful for his discovery and Jeanine is thrilled with the result.  My assumption that it was a military medal had me searching in all the wrong places.

The French Academic Palms recognizes those who have rendered eminent service to French education and have contributed actively to the prestige of French culture.  For those who are named and promoted in the Order of the French Academic Palms (l’Ordre des Palmes académiques), this esteemed distinction acknowledges their merits, talents, and exemplary activities.

Napoleon I first created the palmes académiques as an honorary title to recognize members of the University in 1808.  The academic palms became a decoration in 1866, under Napoléon III, at which time the honor was also extended to non-teaching persons who had rendered illustrious service to French education. Thus, the academic palms is the oldest non-military French decoration.

By decree of Président René Coty, the Order of the Academic Palms was instituted in 1955 as the first of ministerial orders recognized by the French Republic and was defined by three ranks: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), and Commandeur (Commander).  Jeanine’s grandfather’s medal corresponds to the rank of Officier.

Details beyond the ones I have already copied here can be found at https://www.frenchacademicpalms.org/information.html

The Ray and Maria Stata Center is a 720,000-square-foot academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004. In contrast to the MIT custom of referring to buildings by their numbers rather than their official names, the complex is usually referred to as “Stata” or “the Stata Center.”  Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates Tower and the Dreyfoos Tower, often called “G Tower” and “D Tower” respectively.  I took advantage of the nice spring-like day to visit during my lunch hour.

Jeanine asked me to photograph and research this WWI-era medal that was awarded to her grandfather. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the second part of my assignment.  I used a reverse image search and all conceivable Google search terms and still found nothing that would shed any light on the significance of this medal.