My team continues to make steady progress at work. We printed this part on our 3D metal printer in H13 tool steel. It is 70 layers tall, our highest in this material to date. Each week we continue to achieve larger and larger prints and hope to be printing our first commercial parts very soon. We have a backlog of orders and will start filling them as soon as we possibly can.

This morning my soccer team traveled to Nashua, NH for a pre-season scrimmage. Masks were mandatory off the field and optional on the pitch. I chose to wear an N95 mask at all times out of an abundance of caution. I did not feel as bad as I thought I would, given how out of shape I am right now. We used a 3 man rotation for the two wing-midfield positions which meant I could rest for 1/3 of the match. Our opponents scored in the first minute which did not exactly get things started on the right foot. We did not panic and methodically scored four unanswered goals of our own for the win. I had one shot on goal, a rocket from 25 yards to the upper left corner. Their diving goalie managed to get a few fingertips on it, enough to deflect it into the crossbar. Despite wearing a mask and all the modified rules meant to increase player separation, it felt great to be on the field playing again.

With the remnants of hurricane Sarah producing a very rainy day, I spent most of it indoors working on our walk-in closet project. The first order of business was moving much of the shelving and cabinets into the master bedroom so we can continue to have access to our clothing for the remainder of the project. I then moved on to wallpaper removal, a job which I have little passion for. Progress has been slow but steady and as long as I tackle it in small increments it has not been too bad. Next up will be adding drywall to the areas previously occupied by the wall separating these two spaces.

Maya continues to intern at Formlabs, where her team enjoyed a company-sponsored whale watching outing yesterday. Despite bad weather, the excursion was a great success and many whales were spotted including, Shuffleboard, Silla, and Salt (mother of 14 calves. )

Today, I learned that the photo above of my visiting cousin Vinny played a role in his second marriage. I took it in 2014 during a family reunion in Wisconsin. It turns out that he used this photo for his online dating profile and it caught the attention of the woman to whom he is now married. Despite the fact that she lived in Arizona at the time while he in California, she showed the picture to a friend and said this was the kind of man she could see herself marrying. This makes for the second marriage, I have helped to facilitate. Perhaps I should start a little Yenta work as a side gig..

Late last night, my second cousin Vinny (left) and his son JD arrived at our home. JD will be a freshman at Boston College this fall and his dad made the trip to help him get settled in. They both tested negative for Covid before leaving their home in Manhattan Beach but we all wore masks out of an abundance of caution. When he moves into his room later this afternoon, JD will not be allowed to leave again until he receives another negative test and Vinny will stay with us through Friday to make sure that everything goes smoothly. When we lived in Indianapolis, we would stop in to visit Vinny’s family every year on the way back from our annual family retreat at Bay Side Camp. We are thrilled to have them staying with us.

For a couple of weeks now, my team at Digital Alloys has been working to perfect a heating system for our printer. Today, we were able to register a small victory when we heated this block of steel to its melting point. The system is essentially an upside-down induction cooktop.

Nicolai is due to return home tomorrow after covering 11,000 miles over the course of 6 weeks on his cross country road adventure. He has traveled coast to coast visiting family, friends, and soccer teammates. One of his goals was to figure out next steps in his teaching career in light of the dramatic changes that Covid-19 has introduced into his profession. He has an offer from CCHS to teach World Cultures for the fall semester and has been approached about doing private tutoring for small pods of local students. I am not sure where he took these photos but he noted that the smoke in the air was from a forest fire.

Kyle prepared a lovely dinner for Jeanine and I this evening. We had freshly picked sweet corn (which is as good as I have ever tasted), roasted potatoes, cheeseburgers, grilled chicken, and a green bean and asparagus salad. He cooked in large enough quantity to provide food for the next week which is a real lifesaver for Jeanine who is up to her ears in work challenges.

For the last two years, Jeanine and I have been on the lookout for a new home. Although we have enjoyed living in our current one, it is twice the size we would like for our rapidly approaching retirement years. We wanted something in a natural setting with an exceptional view above all else. For 16 years we have thoroughly enjoyed the view of our field every day. Our new home is situated on the Sudbury River, located just around the bend in the photo below. Our view across the river includes wetlands and a hill covered in deciduous trees (think autumn splendor). Looking upriver to the right is the long view featured in a photo from earlier this week. These views can be enjoyed from inside the house because of how it is situated on the 1.8-acre lot. The house was on the market for a total of 9 days and our offer was substantially over asking price to win a bidding war with two current residents of Conantum, the Concord neighborhood where the home is located. Our closing date is tentatively set for October 15th.

Ikebana, “arranging flowers” or “making flowers alive” is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. The tradition dates back to the Heian period when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, they were placed in the tokonoma (alcove) of a home. Ikebana reached its first zenith in the 16th century under the influence of Buddhist tea masters and has grown over the centuries, with numerous distinct schools extant today. The arrangement pictured above was created by my mother during a Zoom class which she participated in along with my sister who organized the activity. She never ceases to amaze us with her artistic talent which apparently does not extend to photography. I may have to request that she take another picture without the fire alarm, nature sign, and lighting sconce in the background.

This image is of a component we will be using on the latest revision of Digital Alloy’s metal 3D printer. I thought the tooling marks left from the machining process were quite beautiful.

Despite our decision to postpone house hunting until the market returns to something approaching sane, I found a property that features an incredible river view. We will be bidding against several other interested parties and I put the chances of our coming out on top at 25%. Once again we will be grappling with the same question we face on every home that we like. What is a view worth?

A couple of videos from Nico’s Instagram account. To see the second one, click on the right arrow in a circle located on the right side of the frame. It is scarier than the first. It should be noted that one parent will lose sleep thinking about these very risky exploits. The other wishes he had the skill and courage to join in the fun but shares the concerns of the responsible parent.

Maya and her college roommate, Lauren, pose in the home they have rented for the fall semester. They will be joined by four other Olin students in the three-floor house in Medford. Maya has elected to extend her internship at Formlabs rather than to attend the fall semester at Olin under the current Covid-19 restrictions. Maya chose Olin for the project-based, hands-on, collaborative learning approach, much of which cannot be realized while adhering to the schools appropriately conservative temporary safety policies. Jeanine prepared a nice meal for the girls which we shared with them while visiting this evening for the grand tour.

The master bedroom in our house has a 128 sqft walk-in closet which opens to a sitting area that is 90 sqft. The latter is separated from our bedroom by an open double-wide door frame and offers little practical utility. Today, we decided it would make more sense to integrate these two spaces to create a spacious 218 sqft walk-in. I spent the better part of the day working on deconstruction. In order, I removed the carpeting, padding, and carpet tack strips in the sitting area followed by the door, door molding, door frame, and floor molding. Finally, I removed the drywall from one side of the wall. Tomorrow, I plan to remove the remaining drywall and wall framing.