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.

Vacation!

So the presentation went as expected... the stove didn't actually "work", in that it didn't heat or sense, but it looked great so the presentation went well, considering. The audience was very forgiving and seemed to understand the complexity of the problem and therefore rated us high (we came in third out of seven). You can watch a video of the presentation at: http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/index.html (click on "infinite range"). You can also check out the other teams' projects there.
I'm officially on vacation now and loving it. Eric has is final critiques this week. Then on thurs. we head to LA for my brother, Sandy's wedding. It's promising to be a swanky, fun time! I even bought new makeup!
Merry Christmas to all....

Sarah

Looking forward to tomorrow

So tomorrow is the final presentation for the undergraduate product design class I'm in. This class has been absolutely mad. The team I'm in seems to have aimed for the stars and barely reached the treetops. We are making (with emphasis on STILL MAKING 24 hrs before the presentation) an electric stovetop the can sense and heat a pot anywhere on the surface. As of right now we have some mild heat. No sensing, no water boiling. We have been working basically round the clock for the past month. Apparently we should have been working round the clock for the past three months. The worst part has been that only two out of the sixteen of us have much experience with electronics. I am not one of them. I imagine that I have learned a lot from this class but it might take a semester, or lifetime, to get a sense of what that was. I really think the expectations for this class are ridiculously high for the time we're expected to accomplish them. But that's just me. I'll post photos of the final product (it does actually LOOK really cool, even if it doesn't work) after tomorrow.

new video!

So, as Eric said in his post life here is hectic. Graduate school at MIT with a baby at home is exactly as stressful as everyone said it would be. The shear vastness of knowledge that people at this school have (and that I don't have) is humbling and has taken a bit of a toll on the ol' ego. BUT, I persevere. I'm in a undergrad senior level design class and these kids are crazy. All plan on going out and making at least $100 grand after graduation-- compared to the kids I graduated with who's main concern was which ski mountain they planned to take up residence in after graduation. The overall culture shock is a bit more than I expected. But, despite all that bad stuff I am learning A LOT, which is something I like to do. Mica, of course, is doing great. Singing, talking, running, peeing in the potty. All that good stuff. She loves her daycare and only sits on other kids occationally (or so we're told). Enjoy the film!


more mica from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.


Mica 1 from Sarah Reed on Vimeo.


p.s. I would LOVE some advice on how to get these videos to not be so blurry and pixelated if anyone can tell me!

Shots of importance.

Pictures and words for November 1st.

So I am writing and putting up pictures because we have neglected to do so since last month. Wild to think that we are already into November. I have already been in school for five weeks and I am loving it. I haven't taken that many pictures with the Digital camera this term because we are really working exclusively with film. Black & White and color film. I really like color printing but it looks and sounds as if it is on its way out. To be replaced with digital soon. I have been getting alot of great feed back from the professors and the other students. Great to be in a creative and supportive environment. But they really treat this school like a job. Very strict policies regarding being on time, deadlines, and equipment usage. Really not a problem for me but for the folks that had never had a job in the past. It has been tough for them. Enough about me. The ladies are great and continue to become more amazing every day. Mica just had here first Halloween that she could really walk around and trick or treat. Mommy and daddy have lots of candy now.