Passport

Ellie took her passport photo today with the nice US postal worker. I held her up while manage to stay out of the picture and Dan had her attention and successfully put a grin on her face. Her application is now in the mail, it should take about 2 weeks to get her passport. We will then book the trip to Europe and China in 2010. Two big trips for her to take, am curious to see how she will enjoy the international travel in business class.

There was a failed terrorist attempt to blow up an Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on X-mas day. The Canadians have already tighten the security control by announcing that they will hand check every carry on luggage. I am all supportive of appropriate security measures, but I wish they can truly find the bad guys without causing so much inconvenience for the regular commuters like myself. There will be so much more time I will have to waste going through security every week. Man, got to find a way to be more productive while waiting in the lines.

Ellie's 1st Christmas

We had our first Christmas with Ellie, she wore a new set of outfit, a long sleeve cotton onesie with reindeer in the front, crimson pants, snow white socks, a pair of tiny shoes from New Zealand, the sole is made of sheep skin, and shoes are hand woven sheep wool. And she wore the beige colored hat with crimson flower patterns, looks like a little model baby.

The three of us went to the Christmas in the Park in San Jose on X-mas day, there were so many people, music was in the air every where, hundreds of uniquely decorated X-mas trees, we bought a couple of newly fried churro's from the food stand, sit down on the bench, Ellie got so much compliments from people passing by. What caught my attention was the older man sitting across from the bench, looking like he can use a nice shower, a good meal and a nice outfit. He started smiling at Ellie when we tried to take picture of her, he did succeed in making her put on a big grin. When we were ready to move again, the man came over and flip open his jacket and digged out a white polar bear toy from deep in his pocket and gave it to Ellie. What a surprise, I was the one who was wondering if I could offer anything to him, but now he did it. X-mas is in the air indeed.

Vancouver

Spent a whole week in Vancouver, mobilizing teams for a large project we are about to launch at the beginning of the new year. I have to say I was very impressed by the Westin Grand hotel experience: taking the taxi from the airport to the hotel, the driver said he could not take my credit card because his machine is broken, the door man immediately offered to help, he ran in to the lobby and 1 min later came back with some Canadian cash and paid the taxi driver off. He was very efficient and knew exactly what to do, unlike many other hotels I have been where they just ask me to find the nearest ATM machine. Instead, he paid and easily added the bill to my room, win win for everybody, think about how dreadful it would be to get to a ATM machine after many hours on the road as is.

Vancouver is nice city, buzzing with activities and 2011 winter Olympic game preparation activities. Lots of restaurants to choose from, very international. I enjoyed it. It looks like I will be coming here quite a bit in the next few months, the only thing not so attractive is the freezing wind and late sunrise and early sunset.

Skpe

My mom and dad got the skpe up and running last night, we successfully connected and Ellie was the movie star the whole time. She was fascinated by the screens and all the talking and movements. We showed mom and dad Ellie's newly decorated nursery, her new mobile, and shelf and the little table and chair set. Grandparents even bought a little bed set for the baby doll, Ellie will soon enjoy the little doll's company. I saw Guanwen on the video too, she is 14 now and talk and skinny, short hair and glasses. She looks very much like my big sis, she was translating for my parents what Dan was saying. Very helpful. Dan has a great idea, in the future, we will just stick the videocam in Ellie's room and my parents can see her any time they want, and can even talk Chinese to her however they want, free Chinese lessons over the Internet, now that's priceless. Beats the $250K telepresence.

We went out to the newly opened restaurant Villa 08 for lunch today. Had full load of crayfish, lobster, Atlantic oyster, crab, tuna sashimi, frog legs, and many kinds of dessert. Had to take a big nap afterwards.

Giving Thanks

We have much to thank for this year,
Thankful for the sweet little girl Ellie, the new addition to our family, she brighten up my sky;
Thankful for a wonderful husband, the most loving and supportive, he is my bedrock;
Thankful for opportunity to spend two full months with my parents, re-live the feeling of being unconditionally loved and spoiled;
Thankful for surviving on the road, despite the forgetfulness, meeting so many wonderful flight attendants helping with dry ice, cooler, water, etc;
Thankful for the Orlando police who stopped me at 5am in the morning going at 81 miles an hour, warned me about the fog coming in and let me rush to the airport without giving me a ticket;
Thankful for the nice young man from Burma working in Publix of City of Lakeland, searched all his wallet to find the Chinese restaurant card, so sincere;
Thankful for the wonderful friends we have, offer continuous support, no judgement, no jealousy, no bragging,
Thankful for another wonderful year, memorable events and people, the journey continues.

Holidays are here

Ellie is a busy social flower now, we had friends over for Sunday brunch last weekend and this weekend Ellie made her first trip to San Francisco attending a friend's b-day. All the toddlers at the party were mesmerized by this little baby and of course wanted to touch Ellie, only to be told by their parents they can only touch Ellie's feet. Nice, princess treatment.

I took Ellie on a shopping spree today, breaking my own promise that I won't take her shopping before she is 6 months old. But we went to Standford shopping mall and I figure as long as we stay in the open space we should be fine. She was fascinated as usual by the shopping, jingle bell music and the people and the noises they make. When we came home she was completely wiped out and went to sleep right away. Too much stimulation for the day I guess.

I had an interesting week, Monday and Tuesday in New York, had a nice sushi lunch on Tuesday, and brain stormed very good ideas for the next phase of work. Yum. Spent Wed and Thursday in Denver, had a few productive meetings. My client interestingly had only $25 as travel budget this quarter, so I took him for a free coffee on me on Wed, but Thursday he ordered working lunch for us out of his own pocket. Denver is too cold, already had a 5 inch snow. As much I like the city, the weather is too harsh. We keep our house at 72 degree constant, day and night, for the baby. I reminded Dan when I grew up I had no new clothes, no toys and no heater, freezing my butt off every winter and clinging to my sister for warmth, and hated to go to bed because it is too cold to get under the covers. Mom used the warm water bottles to warm us up.

Emergency Shopping

I packed everything, pump, tubes, charger, wipes, extra battery, vitamins, cooler, ice packs, you name it, except for my pair of black dress pants. I found myself having nothing to wear the next day the night I flew to Boston, Hmmm, emergency shopping seems to be in the order.

Fortunately the hotel is connected to one of the biggest and best shopping mall in downtown Boston, the prudential mall. I went to Express, found a pair of nice black Editor pants, only $89. Trying it on, it was just a bit too long for my pair of slacks...on well, might as well buy a new pair of shoes with heels while I was at it. So I went to Aldo, got the clerk finding me what's in fashion but not too uncomfortable (if you know what I mean), tried it on, walked around the store, thinking I should be able to handle running through airports with these. It was $129 and not on sale. I don't understand why the things I like are always not on sale. Well, my mom always told me the way I shop, I will never get good deals - I buy, and I don't shop. In fact, I probably bought all my coats, suits, shoes, shirts, dresses, and even the Calvin Klein leather belt via emergency shopping...the belt was from Macy's in Bellevue, Washington while I was working with Microsoft.

But, it is all worth it. I wore my new pants and new shoes, and the jacket (god bless I did not have to buy a new jacket) to see my clients, and the retirement dinner at Clios in the Elliott Hotel for one of the partners. Felt great. Now, that's priceless.

Sleep Deprivation

High performance delivered, IF you are sleeping enough. Many things went wrong this week, I left the custom made ice pack in London, had to ask them to mail it back to me; same with the Madela pump charger in St. Charles, it is also in the mail, will see which one gets to me first; Spilled the milk in the bathroom during flight from NY to SFO; and flushed the toilet during the contractor drug test when the staff told me not to just 5 seconds ago. Worst is I had to wait for another hour to collect the sample and chugged down what feels like gallons of water. All due to sleep deprivation induced lost of concentration!

They speculated that the Northwest flight pilots who over shot the destination by 150 miles were sleeping at the wheels. Although the official explanation now is that they were on their laptop. I find the sleep deprivation story to be a bit more believable, I am there. The frequent time zone changes, the 4 hour cycles of pumping, and taxing work schedules. I tell myself to really learn to nap, anytime, anywhere. This is the only to pace myself and cope with the new life.

Spent lots of time with Ellie today, took her out on a stroller to my daily hiking trail. She had her eyes wide open all the way, staring at the blue sky, green trees, squires, soccer fields and kids playing in the park. All very fascinating to this little person. We then took a big nap together before lunch, daddy made nice lunch and called us downstairs when everything was ready. Way to go to spend a relaxing Saturday.

Back on the road

Now I am back on the road, have been to Denver, Seattle, New York and London in the past 3 weeks. Taking red eye, cross country and international flights, while pumping every 3-4 hours. Getting mixed reactions on the fact that I am still nursing, some say it is the best thing I can do for my baby, some say "oh my gosh, are you out of your mind", and some say "I feel sorry for you". Oh, well, it is ONE thing I have decided to do for little Ellie and I am sticking to it. When I was Ellie's age, my mom unfortunately could not breastfeed me because she was quite sick at the time, I would do all within my powers to provide for my baby.

The $400 Medela pump I have bought is also saving my life - I can pump in the airport, on the plane, at work and in the hotels with complete mobility. Perhaps I will try pump in the car next time I drive up to the city. I can read, listen to music and watch TV while pumping, quite helpful since it could be so boring listen to the machine humming away every few hours.

Last night was Halloween, quite a few kids came knock on the door for trick or treats, but Dan said the traffic is far less than prior years. We think it is because the wide spread swine flu or the fear of it. So we kept Ellie at home, next year perhaps we will take her out in a costume and get on her first trick or treats.

Surprise Party

Yesterday Ellie attended her very first surprise party, for Teresa, the nice lady across the street. Her husband Jim was trying to set it up a few weeks ago but she got the flu so everything had to be postponed. There were at least 30 people hiding quietly in the club house when Teresa innocently walked in with her husband and family, we all screamed "surprise", she looked genuinely surprised. Ellie was not too startled, she was busy soaking up all the information around her, the balloons, kids noise, adults chit chatting, swimming pool, everyone walked by giving her big smiling faces...

Ellie is trying to lift her head up more, we would hold her body and give her chances to practice her neck muscles, she seems to enjoy this exercise, her head would turn around and around non-stop, as if amazed at all the stuff around and trying to interpret what's what.

She slept 5 hours last night, a huge milestone. Dan and I are happy.

Sign Language

Today Dan and I watched a videotape that teaches parents sign language. Contrary to my belief, it was in fact quite easy to learn, we learned very quickly the signs for words like more, milk, eat, help, love...we will try this out when Ellie is ready, perhaps around 6-8 months old. We took Ellie with us to the Los Altos clinic for flu shots. There were a ton of people in the line, even though they said today was for high risk people. I wonder what low risk people will do, perhaps self selection bias is at work therefore they are not showing up at the first place.

It is Chinese Moon festival today, we have already celebrated it 3 weeks ago with my parents and Dan's parents. We bought a few moon cakes so that everyone can have a taste of the different flavor, my favorite was the one with lotus filling. Ellie will like it next year when she can eat with us.

My friend Pei has told me, raising a child one will feel that each day is long but each year is short. It seems to be overwhelming every morning when you get up, things seem to repeat itself, the relentless cycle of feeding, diaper changing, soothing, playing with the baby...repeats it self every three hours. Remind me of the movie "Ground hog day". Dan and I are working better and better together in terms of understanding Ellie's needs, her sleeping patterns, and best of all, when she smiles back at us whole heartedly, all the agony and tiredness seems to be melting away. I don't quite know if or how I have begun to have the joy of a parent, everyday life will teach me.

Carry On

Yesterday while Ellie and I went out to take a little walk around the block, we saw the neighbor lady with her twin boys zipping home. Jean rolled down the window and the boys waved enthusiastically at Ellie. Jean's husband was laid off last year from his job, what rocked the neighborhood was that he went on to kill the CEO and the head of HR of his company, ran in exile and then was caught one day later in a nearby gas station. Now he is in jail waiting for prosecution. The victim's family decided not to press death penalty charges, but staying in prison for a long time is unavoidable.

I have not seen Jean much since that incident. Folks on the street said she was of course devastated, left with the twin boys and a 2 year old young baby boy. She was getting a bit of help from friends and neighbors around, but I can't imagine what her days were like. She sent her three boys back to China so she can cope with the new reality alone for a while.

The Jean I saw yesterday was a calm, caring and loving mom. She chased after her twin boys who went on giggling and playing on the street, she wore a nice dress and her hair was nicely done, in a much better shape than mine, who can still hang on to the new mom excuse. She touched Ellie's little feet and amazed as how tiny she is. Through Jean, I saw the true quality of bravery, love and motherhood. Life happens, it is not about what cards you were dealt with, it is about how you play them. Jean, a small built women who I have not spoken with for more than 20 min in the past 5 years, suddenly taught me a valuable lesson, make the best of the worst situation and carry on with one's lives.

The unbearable Lightness of Being

I remember reading a novel in college "Unbearable Lightness of Being" where the author challenged the concept of "eternal recurrence" by arguing that each person has only one life to live, and that which occurs in that life, occurs only once and shall never occur again.

I felt I am living that once in a life time life. The past two months have been full of parenting - learn to be a new mom and learn to live with my parents after 20 years being away from them. Yesterday marked the day of my parents departure back to China, they have done SO much for us, Dan described their daily routine as "constantly productive". Dad would get up around 6am every day, stretch in our backyard, write his diary, cook me the sweet rice breakfast at 7am, mom feeds Ellie at the same time to give me a break from coming off the night shift. They will then go on a 3 mile hike with my mom. When they come back around 9am, typically it is lunch preparation, washing long string beans, steaming buns, thaw out the lunch meat...dad would make me a mid morning snack at 10:30. Lunch is always balanced with protein, fat, fiber and hydrate, all of which are critical for milk production. Mom typically takes care of Ellie in the afternoon and gives me all the time in the world to nap, Dad would work around the house, he noticed many things we have never noticed before including which plant has red ant infection and needs to be taken care of. Dad would make light dinner that's healthy, he attributes the fact that folks in the US are more likely overweight to the habit of eating heavy dinners.

I don't know if I can ever be the kind of parents as mom and dad, it is as if they pure the last drop of their heart out for the sake of their children. With Ellie, the daily grinding goes on, Dan and I are figuring out the rhythm that would work for us, details such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, feeding, all become so important that we needed to plan out.

This is once in a life time experience, I can't say I am fully prepared, no matter how much I told myself during pregnancy that I was. Building the confidence takes time and practice, I trust I will grow with Ellie along the way and live the unbearable lightness of being.

Fenugreek

Doctor said Ellie is not gaining weight as much as he would like, we then went on a mission to solve this problem. Fengureek was the first solution, my milk supply went up at least 50% 24 hours later taking the first two capsules. And as a side effect, I start to smell like maple syrup, not too bad of a side effect I think.

We also changed the way we feed Ellie -we were more encouraging her to sleep while using feeding as a method, now we encourage her to feed as much as she can, whether she would then fall asleep or not. Amazingly (perhaps not so to an experienced mother), she falls asleep much easily now she is full. A true testimony of "man don't like go to bed hungry".

The third measure is we are not sticking to the PDF "Parent Directed Feeding" philosophy as much as we were before, not that we were that strict then, but now, we feed her on demand, even if it has been less than an hour since her last feeding.

I never know I could be so obsessed about milk supply, poop color, diaper weight and size, and courting oz es, but these details are filling up my life and I enjoy it.

Ellie got a TON of gifts from her grandma today. Grandparents drove all the way from Alabama and took a full trunk worth of baby stuff with them - music boxes, baby dulls with big feet and toes, Cinderella blanket, clothes and hair pin that range from 3-6 months to 2 year old....hope Ellie will have good hair to enjoy them soon. And they even brought a set of children's furniture with them - playing table, floor mat, toy refrigerator, cabinet, and books and baby Einstein DVDs. They say one's house will start to explode with stuff as soon as one has a baby, it is so true!

Everyday

There are no more weekends, Ellie wakes up like a clock between 5 to 6am everyday, rain or shine. And my mother instinct keeps me alert at the slightest drop of her sound. Grandma has been great and taken care of Ellie quite a bit during the day, changing diapers and keep her entertained with the Baby Einstein and many other toys.

Ellie made her first drop of tear today, during the feeding when I took the bottle away when apparently she was still quite fund of it. The tear came out the corner of her right eye and we proudly showed it to daddy, grandma and grandpa. Quite a milestone.

We went to Denny's for brunch yesterday, and it was Ellie's first restaurant trip, she enjoyed it by sleeping through the whole experience, by the window watching over the whole family downing the moon over my hammy. We then drove out to the Don Edward National Wildlife refuge and Ellie saw thousands of seagulls, ducks and many other birds i can't name. There was quite strong wind and grandma said Ellie will be a strong girl that she is already enjoying a good day with the nature on her 20th day into the world.

Everyday life is ordinary but extraordinarily rich in offering me perspectives that I have no slightest appreciation before. Is life more about the process than the destiny? With Ellie, I start to question...

New Baby

What does New Born and Smart Grid have in common? I find myself puzzled with this random question on a bright Saturday morning.

Baby has been keeping Dan and I entertained all night long with a great set of lungs and now she seems to be in a less energetic state of coma, after a nice diaper change, lotion treatment and solid feeding. Basically we figure it is a matter of factor elimination, following our engineering train of thoughts, eliminating all the factors that could cause her discomfort and eliminate them one by one.

Smart Grid is an equally fussy area that deserves much attention in its infancy stage. Lots of financial investments and human capital has gone into it, many trial and errors later we might be seeing trends that could work, but like babies, not all smart grid solutions would work the same way, state and government regulations, geographic traits that impact infrastructure deployment (think Boulder, there is a reason for it to be called that), customer demographics, needs, attitudes, utility's operating philosophy and vision toward Smart Grid, etc. These all influence how a smart grid solution will be formulated and executed upon.

It is easier talking than executing. Baby is waking up, I need to run and improvise again.

Surprising Source Of Education

Mom and Dad came to the US 3 weeks ago, it is Dad's second visit and Mom's very first in the country. Dan and I have been taking them everywhere, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Ocean Beach, China Town, Standford, Half Moon Bay. They were also invited to have a BBQ dinner at neighbor's house on the first Sunday afternoon they got here, Dan made burger and ice cream last weekend, and we had nice T-bone and rib eye steak for a late lunch today after some crispy cream donuts for breakfast. Everyday we take a walk somewhere around the town, Steven's Creek trail has been one of the easiest, we get to cross 5 wood bridges and the trail is almost all shaded by pine trees and wild flowers overhead. We went to Palo Alto duck pond last weekend and watched thousands of doves, pigeons, and of course some black teal, feeding and diving, quite a scene.

It has always been in my mind that this is the time for me to show my parents the way of life. It has been 20 years since I lived with them, first went to college and spend 6 years in Beijing, then came to the US, first in Pittsburgh and then in NorCal. If it is anyone who understands life, who but myself would have the right to say so. But it hit me tonight that parents are still the best teacher in my life. Mom said to me before she came that a house of harmony is a house of success, regardless of recession, and external stress. That went into one of my ears and came out of another very quickly. But I am realizing the spirit of it now more than ever that the love within a family overwhelms you like the ocean waves washing over sharp stones over and over again, it works on you gradually and mostly quietly until it does its job of completely melts you away.

From the smallest things, mom and dad have almost been restless from the minute they got to our home - mom nearly took over when I was preparing the welcome noodle; dad made a menu of non-repeating dishes for the whole week. Mom cleaned the kitchen floor so much it can serve as a mirror. They comforted me in a way that only Chinese parents can, and they are constantly giving and not asking anything for return.

Indeed, I am still learning from my parents and humbled by them, who can't speak English and don't have millions to brag.

Greenshoots or Brownshoots

IBM is to acquire SPSS for $1.2Billon, the annoucement sent SPSS share price to its all time high of ~$50: the bid price represents a 42% premium over SPSS's steady state valuation. Is this the start of the real greenshoots in business world acquisition or a long swim at bottom of the tub in the pool of the recession? Either way, IBM is executing on its strategy of building a strong analytics practice by consolidating global workforce of 2000+ skilled resources, creating a marketing strategy around it and now purchsing one of the leading software applications (the other one is SAS).

My hunch for the future is, being in the game is more important than watching the game from outside. It is important for IBM to do its best to embark on this journey and be a key player in this space. The opposite strategy would be strategizing and watching where everyone else is going and be left out of the game ultimately. Choose wisely.

Lessons Learned

We learn the most from our failures. Looking at the recent deals we have shaped and lost, I realized what I was taught in consultant schools are never more true -

1. Listen very carefully - the client is always telling us something, we can only hear it if we choose to listen. We are often too busy to credentialize ourselves and forget that, while clients can nod politely at our brillant solutions but really are expressing something else that we should have heard. It could be that I have a unique situation, help me with your perspectives and don't tell me you have been there done that and have the perfect solution for me. It could be that I know you can do the job but I want to know if this is the team I can and like to work with. A mentor once told me, ultimately, IQ is 20% of the factor and EQ is 80% what it takes to make it work. In order to develop the right EQ, start listening and listen very carefully. If we don't pay attention to these emotional details, we will be going to loss review sessions pretty quick.

2. Get on client's agenda - this is such easily said than done. I have a client, let's name him Bob. We signed a contract to deliver a project. A few days later when we were well into the ramp up phase, Bob called me and said the budget that was allocated to this project has been unfortunately put on hold. He apologized profusedly and I agreed to terminate the contract immediately. Although we lost this project, Bob and I became friends, now he knows that I am someone who he can trust in times of difficulty. I know I did the right thing even though lots of upfront efforts were lost.

3. Patience is virtue - in the time of recession, more people (myself included) tend to be more short term focused. There is a study that showed that people tend to be myopic when panic. Consulting is built on the basis of long term relationship and trust, which can't be built over night. The world is becoming more complex and connected, relationship must be nurtured in the old and tranditional way though. One of my colleagues develop relationship over the course of 10 years, wherever he visit, he calls up a client/friend and have lunch or dinner with him/her without specific agenda, just simply there to say hi and check in. He ends up building strong relationships with over 100 CMOs over the years, and he did it without asking them what he can sell them.

Frequent flyer

Landed in Denver on a Sunday night, it suddenly occurred to me during the cab ride to the airport that the little life inside me has already become a frequent flyer and could well passed the 1K membership mark on United alone.

She is such a good travel companion: she never complained be there with me in Nov in Minneapolis's minus 20 degree weather hailing a cab on the street, she enjoyed the Omni Parker House in Boston attending a global leadership workshop with my clients, we took a stroll to ground zero in New York one evening after work, enjoyed the Hilton Garden Inn in Cumberland Rhode Island, flew out to Columbus Ohio and Dayton Ohio and never let the ice rain dampen our excitement. The longest flight she has been on was to Helsinki Finland in Jan, we were both new to the country and enjoyed the herring for breakfast, walking in the snow to the office, the 10AM sunrise and 4pm sunset. She went to the client board meeting with me and cheered for me all the way during my presentation and we rewarded ourselves with a Helsinki Chinese meal afterwards, nice black pepper chicken, yum! The most she has been to is Denver, almost every week since Feb, I hope the 2 hour ride is not so much a torture for her. Friends advise me to have baby listen to classic music before birth, all she got was the plane engine noise and the friendly announcements from the captions and the flight attendants. I am going to Wilmington, Delaware next week, I hope she can put up with it still, I promise this will be the last trip she takes before meeting me face to face for the first time.

Up

What does Up, MSN, George Tiller have in common?

They all have a very good plot/story/Intention, but somehow failed in the middle of their endeavor to that ultimate success. Up is about motivation, adventure but a bit too violant for children who have been attracted to it due to balloons and 3D effects; MSN consumed billions of dollars of shareholder investment and falls far behond rival Google; George Tiller believes in helping to stop unintended pregnancy but was shot dead in front of his church.

World is full of unintended but well meaning endeavors. Sustainability certaintly has more and more of the attention from all corners of the world, even China and India are devoting investments into cleaning up their pollution at the expense of rapid industrial expansion. I wonder what makes these efforts "successful" is not really the end outcome that are measured by their original targets, but it is the story, the journey and the people that are influenced/touched along the way that makes these efforts memoriable and enduring.

Friday thoughts

I saw an interesting article that talks about Greenspan use the sales of man's underwear as a key indicator of if the economy has bottomed out. And the conclusion is yes, it seems. I find this theory interesting - man thinks their underweare as the first disposal item to go when things go bad because people rarely sees it. And there this is a leading indicator of how other bigger consumer goods are going to behave if the trend continues.

But I am quite puzzled by the fact that utility fund taking a huge hit together with the rest of the industries, this is a commodity that in good and hard times people would have to consumer in order to make ends meet. Tangible hypotheses for how this could happen is mild winter (relatively speaking) and less commercial activities while residential side has less to fall. Utility industry has the interesting issue of de-coupling, which mean the profitability is relatively capped/fixed ahead of time, and utilities are not incented to sell more (therefore generate more green house gas, etc) in order to make profits. The pre-arranged profitability is negotiated with public utility commissions so that any revenue short fall is recoverable from the public as a whole, which implies higher prices, which in turn implies incentives for more energy efficient consumption behaviors. It is a convoluted way of thinking, but it makes sense at aggregate levels. At individual consumer level, unfortunately the "taxation" is flat - even if you may save more than me in terms of consumption, you will be paying the PUC the same amount of "tax" to support the utility's pre-fixed profitability levels.

Boppy

My dear friend is going away from Denver to Bentonville Arkansas, with her husband and two young kids. I won't be able to see them very often any more because Walmart is not likely to hire consultants.

Consultants and emerging players are a major force behind Smart Grid - the field is exploding with new solutions, new ideas, technology, challenges that no one has dealt with before end to end. Consultants and start up companies such as Control 4, Grid Point, Silversprings, etc are propellers behind the change and are critical to provide various components of the solution. It is a fast changing environment where inter-operatability doesn't exist due to the lack of the standards, but innovation is created and cultivated exactly such an environment where competing technologies and solutions will find the appropriate places in the value chain to survive and thrive.

Saturday's Thoughts

Walking on the hiking trail in the mornings is the most beautiful thing, showy downiniga blossoming everywhere, fresh oak leaves remind you the smell of the nature, birds chirping cheerfully to welcome the hikers on the road...is nature so sophisticated that's beyond our imagination or is it so elegantly simple that remind us to slow down and smell the roses once in a while.

Increasingly folks are interested in environmental issues, for a variety of reasons including jobs creation, stimulus funding, to the ultraistics who simply want to save the environment. How fast will this wave of fad catch on or fade away, is this the train that will pull the world out of the recession, what’s your role in this evolution, and what are the economically viable solutions that will help balance the needs between shareholders and environment, and people?

No, I don’t believe this is a fad, it is here to stay. Those who lead the thinking and more importantly, execute on their beliefs will find the right role to play. It is those who stand by and watch that will be left in the dust one day and tell the hindsight 20-20 story that how they have cleverly stayed out of another bubble.

a Wife's perspective

I am a working professional who watches my husband trying at every opportunity to find the next job. Needless to say, we remain hopeful, but the process is frustrating. I am inspired by the Fortune article "Find Job in a tough Economy" in a creative way, and have now decided to take matters into my own hand to help my husband.

Why should you hire my husband? His resume will speak to his experience and professional background in corporate marketing and business development, what I do think you should know are his characters:

1. He genuinely cares about people - he goes out his way to help those who are in need, at work or in life. Remember the movie "what women want" starring Mel Gibson? The young intern with glasses will be the one my husband would have helped.
2. He doesn't frazzle under pressure - he doesn't get frazzled by pressure or stress, he did not start to scream at me when I was spinning the car out in the 10 inch snow on interstate; he just ask me in normal voice to instead tap on the brakes rather than step fast on them which was how I got us into the situation. Our car stopped after 2 360-degree turns 2 inches in front of a semi.
3. He is creative and entrepreneurial - he taught himself how to develop databases for a website using PHP in 3 short months. And he created a professional IT services consulting company helping small businesses.

I have hope, and I believe luck will find those who try.

My husband's resume is on line at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/106/527