This weekend I got to reconvene with friends and colleagues whom I seemed to have lost touch with in the past months of frenzied self-exploration and development. Despite a lot of work being done on everyone's end to stay afloat in this nasty storm of economic hardship, there are still devoted individuals who toil after some sort of ecologically sustainable alternative to how Americans and the rest of the world live.
It is too easy at times to become shortsighted and deterred from the greater good. Wherever one's moral compass points them towards, the status quo in our every day lives must be maintained through hard work and perseverance. A balanced approach to improving your own life and the lives of others around you is the only way.
I'm looking forward to writing more in the future about the collaborative efforts of some of the friends I have that are making a difference in their every day actions and extracurricular efforts. They're both models for the type of life I try to live and I'm excited to see their ideas fleshing out and becoming tangible as so I can present them to readers of this blog.
Please stay tuned for more information on Seth and Jim's dynamic take on triggers of and solutions to high atmosphere carbon and other global warming events.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Quick Before and After Recap of My Day in Chicago
Pre Interview Sitting in a Cafeteria:
Not an entirely bad day thus far. I got up at 5:30 am as planned and found it kind of difficult to get myself in gear. I knew and pained over the fact that today was going to be such a long day. After a good breakfast I got my suit on and headed out the door at 7:00 am. Leaving this early in the past I encountered little to no traffic. Today was different. The ride to Logan took about an hour and forty-five minutes. I kept my cool and didn’t get too upset because I knew if I started my day off angry it wasn’t going to help my interview.
I found parking easily and made it through security with no hang ups. When I made it to my gate they were finishing boarding and I didn’t have to wait in line at all. My layover was in Philadelphia which wasn’t the best airport in recent memory. After looking around in vain for food I decided to head for my gate and find better fare in Chicago. That didn’t exactly work either. I would up paying over $18 dollars for a sandwich, coffee and bottled water. Ridiculous! At this point I was really hungry and thirsty because US Air doesn’t give complementary anything on their flights, so I just sucked It up along with my overpriced sandwich and beverages.
Post Interview Waiting to Board my Plane:
It went well. My flight is boarding so I can’t elaborate too much. They drilled some hard questions, but I fielded them nicely and I don’t feel like I would have said or done anything differently. I was told I’ll hear next week. I really hope I get this job. The people there seem really nice and dedicated to what they do. It could be the opportunity of a lifetime.
The office is literally located ten minutes from the airport. Super easy for getting to. I could live anywhere and have direct access. The company is growing fast. I think I have a good chance of getting a job offer. We'll see.
Wish me luck. No matter what happens I am so happy I went!
Not an entirely bad day thus far. I got up at 5:30 am as planned and found it kind of difficult to get myself in gear. I knew and pained over the fact that today was going to be such a long day. After a good breakfast I got my suit on and headed out the door at 7:00 am. Leaving this early in the past I encountered little to no traffic. Today was different. The ride to Logan took about an hour and forty-five minutes. I kept my cool and didn’t get too upset because I knew if I started my day off angry it wasn’t going to help my interview.
I found parking easily and made it through security with no hang ups. When I made it to my gate they were finishing boarding and I didn’t have to wait in line at all. My layover was in Philadelphia which wasn’t the best airport in recent memory. After looking around in vain for food I decided to head for my gate and find better fare in Chicago. That didn’t exactly work either. I would up paying over $18 dollars for a sandwich, coffee and bottled water. Ridiculous! At this point I was really hungry and thirsty because US Air doesn’t give complementary anything on their flights, so I just sucked It up along with my overpriced sandwich and beverages.
Post Interview Waiting to Board my Plane:
It went well. My flight is boarding so I can’t elaborate too much. They drilled some hard questions, but I fielded them nicely and I don’t feel like I would have said or done anything differently. I was told I’ll hear next week. I really hope I get this job. The people there seem really nice and dedicated to what they do. It could be the opportunity of a lifetime.
The office is literally located ten minutes from the airport. Super easy for getting to. I could live anywhere and have direct access. The company is growing fast. I think I have a good chance of getting a job offer. We'll see.
Wish me luck. No matter what happens I am so happy I went!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
An Internet Addicted Tree Hugger
Time for a new computer? Quite possibly! This guide gave me a few more interesting things to think about before buying.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/buygreen-laptop-computers.php#ch04
Having a work laptop computer is a nice perk. I am allowed to work at home a couple times a week if I really want to and I can finish up work that I don't complete during office hours at home if the pressure is on. I currently use an IBM ThinkPad that is quite a workhorse. I think the actual machine is four years old but it has had memory upgrades to handle the applications and software that I use regularly. Also, it's really light! I'd be surprised if my work laptop weighed more than 5 pounds.
Then there is the big baby that I use at home. She weighs upwards of 10 lbs. A Hewlett Packard Pavilion, it has served me very well and has never had a hardware problem in the four years I've owned it. I originally bought it as a replacement for my laptop that was stolen in Prague. It was big, fast and badass and the best laptop on the market at the time. Now there are laptops at half the weight with double the features for 2/3 of the price! What a world, huh?
Either way, I debated getting a desktop, but I'd like to conserve energy and also stay as mobile as possible. Carrying my current home compy around is terrible. I want something much lighter and not too pricey. I miss being able to carry around my older, yet much lighter laptop to cafes and bookstores and doing geeky things no matter where I was! I'll also probably get a docking station that will allow me to hook up to a large monitor with extra USB ports and such when I come home and want to login.
Hopefully my purchase as an American consumer goes to a company that actually cares about the environment AND economy!
Please leave a comment if you have any advice on which of the computers in the Green Buying Guide are good or not. I'd appreciate it!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
I Need Queer Eye for the Liberal Guy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080925/sc_livescience/conservativeorliberalworkspacerevealsall
So I find this article to be fascinating and quite spot on. I mean, I've never been a big decorator in the traditional sense, but my clutter tends to be somewhat nice looking in my own eyes.
In every job I've had I always wind up putting the many books I read over the a course of time lined up somewhere for reference or just so I feel proud and smart for reading so damn much. I've torn pages out of magazines that had great articles that should be posted. When I interned for the state I had all my Hunter S. Thompson memorabilia out including a large font explanation of why George W. Bush is a blundering idiot compared to Richard Nixon who was a mean old "gin sot" in his own right. I definitely got some looks and everyone knew where I stood politically.
In my office now people talk half heartedly about politics and where they stand. I honestly can't bear the thought of being upset over someone else's party being different from mine when I've got more work on my plate that I know what to do with.
Currently my cubicle's entire top shelf is nothing but books that I have read this year. About 30. I let people come by and borrow them as they like. I move so much I figure even if I don't get a book back it's one less thing to box up when I hit the road again. Plus it's a great conversation piece! I mean seriously; who wants to strike up conversation about a framed picture with some flowers or a dog in them? No, I'm a stinking liberal and I want to talk about literature.
Don't even ask me about what was on television last night because unless it involves mixed martial arts or politics I probably didn't see it.
So, should I make my work space more neutral and boring like many other people have theirs, or should I keep it the way I like it? At least I feel comfortable to some extent. Plus when the networks go down I'll have something to keep me entertained.
***On a side note, I left Worcester at 7:15 am and got to work at 8:15 am with very little traffic. Nice!
So I find this article to be fascinating and quite spot on. I mean, I've never been a big decorator in the traditional sense, but my clutter tends to be somewhat nice looking in my own eyes.
In every job I've had I always wind up putting the many books I read over the a course of time lined up somewhere for reference or just so I feel proud and smart for reading so damn much. I've torn pages out of magazines that had great articles that should be posted. When I interned for the state I had all my Hunter S. Thompson memorabilia out including a large font explanation of why George W. Bush is a blundering idiot compared to Richard Nixon who was a mean old "gin sot" in his own right. I definitely got some looks and everyone knew where I stood politically.
In my office now people talk half heartedly about politics and where they stand. I honestly can't bear the thought of being upset over someone else's party being different from mine when I've got more work on my plate that I know what to do with.
Currently my cubicle's entire top shelf is nothing but books that I have read this year. About 30. I let people come by and borrow them as they like. I move so much I figure even if I don't get a book back it's one less thing to box up when I hit the road again. Plus it's a great conversation piece! I mean seriously; who wants to strike up conversation about a framed picture with some flowers or a dog in them? No, I'm a stinking liberal and I want to talk about literature.
Don't even ask me about what was on television last night because unless it involves mixed martial arts or politics I probably didn't see it.
So, should I make my work space more neutral and boring like many other people have theirs, or should I keep it the way I like it? At least I feel comfortable to some extent. Plus when the networks go down I'll have something to keep me entertained.
***On a side note, I left Worcester at 7:15 am and got to work at 8:15 am with very little traffic. Nice!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Big Week, Big Traffic Delays, Immune System Don't Fail Me Now!
My puffy, allergy and cold ridden eyes cracked open at 6:30 am and I began my new routine of getting ready for my drive from Worcester to Watertown. Quick bite to eat with coffee set me off into the shower, got dressed and was out of the door at about 7:50 am. Fast forward; 9:45 and I am pulling into my company's parking lot thinking, "did it really just take that long to drive 35 miles?" I did encounter 2 accidents and one breakdown. Boston traffic is just lovely!
No matter, as I'm usually on time for work and do my duty above and beyond. I think I may leave at 7:00 am tomorrow which means I'll have to get up at 6:00 am and get ready faster. These are things I expected and trial runs will continue until I'm able to easily get to work by 8:30-8:45am.
Thursday morning I fly to Chicago to meet and interview the people in charge of marketing and sales at a major wind power corporation. The company is huge and I'm really going nuts over how to present myself and how much I know about wind energy. I've been reading up on this stuff for years, but I've never had to use my knowledge outside of job interviews and presentations. This is big business! That being said, I am clearly passionate about this and I think they'll see that. I buffed the hell out of my shoes last night and I can see my reflection in them. How about that? I've never done shined my shoes for an interview before! Golly!
The move to Worcester was grueling. I've been sick since Friday and I'm getting over it now. It took two trips to get most of my junk out of the room. I left behind my bed and some shelves that I plan on retrieving sometime this week with my grandfather's truck. I need the rain to let up before I can lug that big mattress back. For now I'm staying in my mom's apartment (lame!) until the upstairs apartment is ready. The tenants can't move out for couple weeks which I was just informed of yesterday.
Tough situation, but at least I've got other stuff, both positive and negative, to take my mind off setbacks like this. Hopefully I'll be looking for apartments in Chicago before the people move out and I can just save everybody the trouble. I just need to make sure my cousin is taken care of and has a good place to stay. I'm guessing he can stay there if he gets a room mate. I'm doing my best to help him out whenever and however I can. I hope he doesn't hate me for this last-minute Chicago development.
Friday, September 26, 2008
TGIF, Let's Interact
I hate TGIF. It's corny like hearing "Happy Monday!" But, this week has been so mentally, emotionally and physically draining I need to let out a collective sigh with my readers.
I move this weekend. I hate moving! But, I love saving money. I'm super stoked about next week's interview. I'm also happy looking back on all the content I've created on this site and other sites in the past year. I love writing!
Leave a comment and let me know what you're looking forward to this weekend and next week. Are you proud of or happy about anything right now? I'm dying to hear!
...and another thing! Here's my reiteration of Mr. Saul Colt's reiteration of the fabulous Gary Vaynerchuk speech given at the Web 2.0 Conference in NYC last week. Amazing!!!
http://saulcolt.blogspot.com/2008/09/seriouslydrop-what-you-are-doing-and.html
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Marketing to Business, People and the Planet
Interesting read on the death of the Internal Combustion engine. Can we push this along please?
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com/
Who takes precedence in the marketing of renewable energy and goods? Is B2B the only model that is feasible? It seems as if the real niche needing to be filled on a national scale is where utility companies cannot make enough energy at peak times with their current production methods. Clean, unlimited, energy in big gobs is something that can be easily achieved through diverting serious resources to the technology and manpower of getting this new economic engine running. Or, the infrastructure of transportation in all its facets could be changed by developing clean running vehicles of all sorts. Electric cars to electric railroads and tractor trailers!
Then there is the consumer side to this concept. Disposable income seems to be a thing of the past. Can people afford unsubsidized sustainable products in their lives? Does the average consumer have a decent working knowledge of how their spending affects atmosphere carbon and global warming? International relations that some smooth PR will coerce consumers into realizing that wind farms and solar panels and non-Internal Combustion cars are not hippie toys, but true symbols of patriotism and economic intelligence.
The high water mark of cheap oil and easy financing has come and gone. The tide has left a mess to be cleaned up and lived amongst. As Americans, we'll probably rebuild. Hopefully we do it under the right premises.
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com/
Who takes precedence in the marketing of renewable energy and goods? Is B2B the only model that is feasible? It seems as if the real niche needing to be filled on a national scale is where utility companies cannot make enough energy at peak times with their current production methods. Clean, unlimited, energy in big gobs is something that can be easily achieved through diverting serious resources to the technology and manpower of getting this new economic engine running. Or, the infrastructure of transportation in all its facets could be changed by developing clean running vehicles of all sorts. Electric cars to electric railroads and tractor trailers!
Then there is the consumer side to this concept. Disposable income seems to be a thing of the past. Can people afford unsubsidized sustainable products in their lives? Does the average consumer have a decent working knowledge of how their spending affects atmosphere carbon and global warming? International relations that some smooth PR will coerce consumers into realizing that wind farms and solar panels and non-Internal Combustion cars are not hippie toys, but true symbols of patriotism and economic intelligence.
The high water mark of cheap oil and easy financing has come and gone. The tide has left a mess to be cleaned up and lived amongst. As Americans, we'll probably rebuild. Hopefully we do it under the right premises.
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