Fall 2009 Video

Here's the latest installment of the Mica adventures. Today was her first day back in school! Next week we head off to Western Mass for x-mas/Mica's B-day with the Reeds, then off to Costa Rica!

Fall 2009 Conglomerate from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.

Christmas coming-- school done

It has been one hell of a couple of weeks. Here's the list:
1. Friday Dec 5th, 10 days before Sarah's final project is due, Mica comes down with Salmonella poisoning.
2. Saturday we make the trip to Children's hospital to get her IV fluids.
3. Mica out of school and sick all week (actually, for the next two weeks).
4. Sarah has a migraine for two days mid week.
5. Eric home with Mica almost all week-- no work done.
6. Thursday Granny comes home from Europe! Yea!
7. Sarah spends > 12 hrs a day at school from Friday Dec 10- Monday Dec. 14th getting final project done.
8. Monday final presentation-- all done!

Mica is doing much better now. She's still got some "loose stools" each day, but otherwise she seems completely normal. Poor kid still isn't allowed any dairy, though. And for Mica that's a BIG deal. We think she got it from her cousin who had it 3 weeks before they saw each other (and had no symptoms), but but we still don't really know. Otherwise it's a crazy coincidence. Either way it's crazy, really.

Here's a short YouTube of my final project: It's a Frisbee cast from cork mixed with a liquid plastic and with a circuit embedded in the top. When thrown it lights up!

Thanksgiving Break

We've had a nice Thanksgiving break. Eric cooked his signature massive turkey, stuffing and gravy and served it up to a cround in Andover-- rave reviews. Now we're out in western Mass visiting his folks. All in all it's been a lot of sitting around, TV and general relaxing. I find it's always a little tough to go from the rush rush of normal life to the dramatic halt of vacation. But I know that I need the rest, so I'm trying to appreciate it. Mica loves seeing all the aunties and cousins and everyone loves to see her.
Two weeks left of school! Final project here I come. I'm aiming for simplicity since I know these things get out of hand. I'll be making a cork frisbee that will light up in some interesting way. In contrast, my class mates will likely cure cancer.... or at least attempt to.
Oh, and my cousin plays soccer for Harvard and told us at Thanksgiving about this news story. Girl needs a bit more than a yellow card in my opinion...

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures of some of the things I've been doing at school this semester. This is really just a random snapshot, though. There's been a lot more.

This is a mold that I laser cut with the intention of casting our cork mixture into it and making cork lace. Unfortunately I couldn't cut it deep enough because it was taking too long on the laser cutter (this took 1.5 hrs as is!) It's pretty though!

This is a fishing rod holder I made on the machine below, called a ShopBot. It's a CNC (computer controlled) router. Lots of fun to work with. Like the project above, the holder looks cool but the rods aren't quite stable enough. A lot of my projects in the class have had the quality-- look cool, but not really functional : /

Here's a video of a circuit I made. It has a temperature sensor on it so in the video I breath on it and the lights light up. Amazing...took a ridiculous amount of time to make.


This is a planter I made that was originally intended to be a step stool for Mica, but didn't end up being strong enough. It's made from Hemp Linen soaked in Polyester Resin --horribly nasty stuff that I never want to lay eyes on again-- and then molded over a small trash can.

We all know who this is!

Beautiful Weekend

We had a nice weekend at home-- hanging out with our gorgeous new windows. Our landlord got us 6 Huge new windows on Friday and we are infinitely grateful--changed the whole place. Mica had her first swim lesson at the Y around the corner from us on Saturday morning. Had to have been one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I thought I would be going in with her, like when she was a baby, but, to my embarrassment, when we walked down to the pool none of the other moms were in bathing suits! Luckily I brought my clothes down with us. Apparently I had fudged a little and when I signed her up I told them she was three (she'll be in a month) so they put her in the 3-6 yr. old class. She was the tiniest of the group but did awesome! She let the teacher lift her right in with a little floaty tied around her waist and she hung onto the side of the pool and kicked happily. By the end of the class she was swimming on her own holding onto a kick board (with the floaty still, of course)! I was amazed! She was laughing with the other kids and had the "this is the funnest thing I have ever done" look on her face the entire 30 min. So glad I signed her up.

Start of a new commitment to this blog

So, I have a friend here at school that has a great little blog that he posts to at least a couple times a week. A picture here, a quote there. Little stuff. I want to do that too. So I'm going to try.
Our big news these days is that we're pregnant! Again! I'm about 6 weeks along which, by my own count, puts us due in about early to mid July. Just around my birthday (July 9th). We've told various friends and family, but we're kind of just letting the word get out "organically." I don't get morning sickness, but I am feeling pretty tired and I seem to have a near permanent sinus infection. We told Mica and she seems excited, although I think it's still pretty abstract for her. She first asked if we could name the baby Cappy, which is her name for every toy. She's been asking more questions as time goes on-- like on the bus the other day when she asked how the baby was going to come out!
We're all very excited for Thanksgiving!

FAll

Well the pressure has been on to make a new entry and put some photos of the Mica Monster. I am now bowing. We have busy this summer and fall. Sarah chugs along at MIT, Mica continues to be a brilliant exciting and loving little girl, and i am still working to make the photography biz work for me. I have made my biz licenced and now am the Owner, President, Accountant, and Janitor of Eric Reed Photography. I have been shooting Weddings all summer and have learned alot. I look forward to next Season. I have also become the North East Sales Rep. for Beulah Fly Rods. Alot to things to juggle but I wouldn't have it any otherwise. Well thats enough words lets look at the photos. Love you all and See you soon.
Eric

Summer coming to an end

This is Mica talking to Granny in Sweden via Skype



As the summer comes to an end, I'm inspired to post some of the photos and videos we've collected. It's been a nice summer and I think we're all a bit sad to see it end-- I know I am. We've been to Maine a lot and spent lots of fun time on the beach. Mica has grown into the beach bunny the Reeds always dreamed she would be. She loves the sand and the water and quickly got over her fear of water. She now asks to go into the waves, and happily runs through sprinklers (just this morning she was running through one naked at the playground because we forgot to bring a bathing suit:) I've had a great summer playing with cork, but it's back to class work in a week for me. Eric's busy working on taking over the East Coast salt water fishing industry. More pictures from him to come....

Enjoy!

-Sarah

Video from the Summer

Untitled from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.

Mica on the yellow slide from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.

Some more pictures

Entrance to Grandpa Peter's Garden










Poo On the Go


Here are some new cute pictures from this past weekend in Vermont. Also, you can see some of the stuff we've make with cork this summer:

cork pictures

So, apparently we're just not born bloggers since our last post was in February! But we've amassed some pictures and some video since then so I figured it worth posting. Life is quite happy here. We've recently moved to Somerville and love our new hood. It's lively and diverse and easy to get around. We've all been happily riding public transportation to and from school/work (something we only barely and unhappily could do from our last place). My cork research is going slowly, but I'm enjoying it a lot-- mostly because I get to play with weird substances all day long. Eric has been taking advantage of his privileges as a NESOP employee by using their computers and printers and taking one class. He's of course itching (no pun intended, Eric) to go fishing, and will be heading back down Martha's Vineyard this weekend. Mica and I will be going north to Vermont to visit Grandpa Peter.

The pictures below go in reverse chronological order: starting with a recent hiking trip and trip to the zoo, then on to Mica's and my trip to Colorado. Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!

Colorado, June 2009

New Fun Video!

Movie for Bob from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.

New Year

So, after some gentle pushing, it is time to update the blog. Its a new year and so far its been a bit of a mixed bag. The holidays were a great time and thanks to all who came to Mica's b-day party and sent presents. We've all headed back to school, although I've mostly been doing research this month since my spring classes don't start until next tuesday. I've finally chosen a research project: An Investigation into the Feasibility of Using Cork Composite in Wind Turbine Blades. Yes, it's a bit random, but I think it will be interesting. My professor has funding from the Govn't of Portugal, where apparently 53% of the worlds cork is grown.
The financial crisis you all have been hearing about, and many have started to personally feel, has hit home here, so some changes are in the works. We'll let you know when they're finalized. Otherwise Mica is awesome and working hard on her sentences. We attempted some potty training over break but didn't get too far. Try again later.
The photos are compliments of Michelle Reed, thanks! They were taken during a wonderful weekend away in Sunday River Maine.

Love to all.