I've been scouting locations for the creative coop for the last few days.  Today, I think I found its home.  The property is affordable; the location is perfect; and the neighbors are awesome!  I'm so frecking tickled.

Here are the pictures:

These postings are WAY LATE, but I've been super busy since returning from vacation.  Here are some shots with captions.

On the outskirts of Vegas we stopped to get some water and Gatorade for the road trip to Zion Canyon.  The landscape was alien to my South Eastern experience, so dry and open.  I love the name of the store, "Green Valley Grocery".  Who are you kidding?  :)

The Virgin River Canyon pass into Arizona.  We had to stop, because the pass looked so cool.  This shot doesn't do justice to the scale.  It was awesome.

Arriving at the Majestic View Lodge in Zion Canyon, and the view during breakfast the next day.

The Virgin River makes an Oasis in the desert of Zion Canyon. 

The River is too high to continue into deeper into the Narrows.  To bad, the Narrows were to be the highlight of the trip.

Andrea cools off with water that started its journey through the rocks, before the Europeans came to America

The bravery of our forefathers.  You should be able to read the story, the next picture shows where the cable started.  Crazy!

Climbing up the path.  Did I mention that I'm not a fan of heights.  Yup, that says 4 feet wide and 700 feet down!!!! 

About two weeks ago, I was greeted with a blue sign in the neighbor's yard.  "Notice of Public Hearing.  New Residence Construction."  New Residence Construction!  WTF.  We live in the quietest awesomest neighborhood in Jacksonville.  That's going to be totally ruined by loud construction at ungodly hours in the morning.

After the commensurate few hours of bitching (and a few beers), I checked my options:

• Fight It - No chance to win and bad karma.
• Rent a Space - Looks to be about $600 a month.
• Start the Creative Co Op that I've been thinking about - Probably about $600 a month, but could go to $1500 if partners drop out.
• Find Public Spaces to work and create a mobile desk - About $400

I put the mobile desk together yesterday, and I'm testing it out this week in Orlando.  I'm totally psyched about how it worked out.

Mobile Desk and the Caring Case (at the Towne Place Suite in Orlando)

The mobile desk consists of the following:

• 20" Acer Monitor with 1680x1050 Rez - $189.00 CompUsa
• 7 Port Power Supply - $9.99 CompUsa
• Logitech Lazer Wireless Natural Keyboard / Mouse - $79.99 CompUsa
• Jeep Bag with MP3 Speakers as a bonus - $39.99 Walmart
• Chair cushion stuffing from Walmart (Padding for Bag) - $12.99 Walmart

Gratuitous Newton Shot.  I love my dog!

It's 7:15 AM on Saturday Morning.  Andrea and I are 3 days into our trip out west.  Today, we will be leaving Vegas to go into the canyons of Utah and the Rockies.  For both of us, it's none too soon.

It's been 10 years, since I've been to Vegas.  And I had forgotten the way it made me feel.  The city is aptly named.  Almost everything I do here reinforces pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony or lust.  These sins are part of our nature, and experiencing them undeniably connects to a part of my self.  But when the moment has passed, I invariably feel ashamed.

I had always thought these motivations to be part of my animal self.  But today, we go into the wild...into nature.  And it is this experience of mother earth, that will wash away these last three days.  What could be more animal then marveling at the beauty of nature?  Something to think about, during the drive.

I haven't missed Vegas, over these last 10 years, and I don't think I'll miss her in the future.  Still, she is not without value.  To me, her Siren's Song does not catch my ear for long.  And for some reason, that makes me feel comfortable with the man I've become.

I like to think of myself as a fairly ethnically and culturally diverse person.  My mother is a Puerto Rican Catholic, my father is a Californian Agnostic, my step-father is a trained Southern Baptist Minister and my step-mother is a Jamaican Jew.

Often, when I tell people my mother is a Jamaican Jew, I am regarded with a look of consternation.  I enjoy imaging what must be going through their minds.  My mom's family are Sephardic Jews that fled Portugal, during the Inquisition.  Apparently, one of the techniques used to root out Secret Jews was to note the kinds of foods they ate, during the Passover Festival.  For this year's Seder dinner, mom wanted to honor her ancestors by eating the kinds of foods that would have been eaten by the Secret Jews. So on Saturday, Andrea and I went up to Charleston to celebrate Seder with my Father and my Step-Mother.

Seder is celebrated after sundown which was around 8 PM this particular Saturday.  So, Andrea and I took a late lunch at Mondo's. 

This joint is absolutely local's only, but it's the best food in Charleston hands down!  Better yet, the prices can't be beat.  I had an Eggplant Parm Sandwich, Andrea had a Veal Burger, we washed them down with 2 Bloody Mary's and finished with a shared Hazelnut Chocolate Gelato.   Total bill:  $28 (with a good tip).

So with full bellies, we headed off to John's Island to see the folks.  We were greeted with Reggae Music, a lazy cat and awesome smells.

Here is 'Kitty', I swear this cat never ages she's like 13 years old!

Here is Mom putting the dinner together, Dad and I weren't being lazy, we were ordered not to help.

The Pièce de résistance a beautiful chicken coated with this amazing paste.

So for about another 5 hours, we cooked, talked and drank.  Finally around sundown, we put on our nice clothes and sat down for dinner.

Andrea, mom and Fran (mom's dear friend for over 20 years).  And here's the Seder table.

The meal was outstanding!  And the ceremony was truly powerful.  Religions and their unique ability to preach love openly and yet proclaim a monopoly on God; generally engender feeling of discord within me.  But spirituality, the human, individual communion with the divine is beautiful and powerful.  While, I'm a stranger to Judaism, I can appreciate the spiritual nature of the ceremony.

The next day, Andrea and I drove around Charleston, and in the late afternoon, I took her to James Island County Park.  Like Mondo's this is another local's only spot in Charleston, which is absolutely breath taking.

While I'm in love with the Urban Bohemian feel of Riverside in Jacksonville, my heart and my soul will always belong to the marsh lands of the Southeastern Coast.  Someday, I hope to return to Charleston to settle, but until then I need to walk my own path.

I have this vision of Boone Park in Avondale along Herschel.  It's a sunny Sunday with just a dusting of puffy clouds in the sky.  The weather is perfect high seventies and there is a whisper of wind.  The open field, just west of Herschel, is filled with Adults and Older children playing Frisbee, kickball or catch.  Under the trees, younger children chase gigantic bubbles.  The picnic tables are covered with different family recipes.  All around strangers become acquaintances and acquaintances become friends.  Everyone eats hearty, laughs and feels like a kid again for a day.  As the sun goes down, the gathering retires back to their individual homes.  Groups of neighbors who have lived 100 yards away from each other, finally meet and realize they share many of the same interests and stories.  Maybe, we all become a bit more connected.  Maybe, we feel a bit less like islands amid a digital sea of entertainment.  Maybe, we make the place we live a community.  At least that's my vision.

This weekend, we beta tested Potluck in the Park.  A wonderful time was had by all!  And I thank my lovely wife, for this awesome idea!  Ya'll should come next time, everyone's welcome!

We were here...you should be too!

Best Bocce throw ever.  That was about 40 yards away!

Everybody loves big bubbles!

As my understanding of our industry has evolved, I have learned to value the contributions Graphic Artists have added to my projects.  I remember the early days of the web when content was king, and a web designer was anyone who knew an <a/> from a <br/>.  But as we have matured as an industry, the form of a page has become tantamount in capturing the average user's 8 second attention span.  In fact, when Andrea, my wife, started in the Graphic Design Program at UNF, I had visions of starting a Web Studio with top of the line application developers, paired with top of the line Graphic Designers.  We were to be the personification of the 'design wives and programming husbands' paradigm.  That vision may someday come to fruition, but at the moment our careers are talking two divergent paths.

So in order to better network with the community of Graphic Designers, I decided to enroll in the RE:Charge 08 AIGA Design Conference.  Turns out this was an awesome decision!  I was inspired by the speakers, and left more convinced than ever that Graphic Artists can play a critical role in the development of applications.  We engineers are the machine, but the designers are the paint job.  For better or for worse, consumers make their purchasing decision based on an emotional connection to the paint job, not just an understanding of the utility of the machine.

I found it fascinating ironic that I came across the following quote, while reading about Game Theory between sessions.

"Some recent experiments have raised questions about utility theory, the mechanism that allows you to express a person's preferences in a consistent pattern so he or she can make rational decisions.  It appears that choices are often made on the basis of the way the alternatives are expressed; while this may not be news to biased poll-takers, salespeople and advertisers, it is disturbing to game theorists.  Game theorists assume decision makers behave rationally; when they don't difficulties arise, and these difficulties are discussed in the text."

I love this quote because it shows how disconnected the mathematical and systemic minds of the scientific community are from their own souls.  Their spouses must be pissed!

So why is this important.  This is a simple example showing how the scientific mind clings to the rational.  For years scientists have mocked the religious for clinging to a subjective mystery, yet we too are guilty of ignoring the subjective in the pursue of the quantitative.  The result is that we miss the obvious.  In this example, does the irrational components of behavior invalidate the rational foundations of game theory?  Absolutely not?  The irrational decision points provide no objective means of predicting behavior.  It's kind of like quantum uncertainty at the store front.  :)

I'll close with the following.  During the RE:Charge event, Juliet D'Ambrosio gave a presentation on interviewing technique.  When she asked for volunteers from the audience, I spoke.  The purpose of the 12 minute interview was to demonstrate interviewing techniques.  At the end of the exercise, she would summarize the person in 6 words.  For me she chose, "Bohemian Techie in Love with Life".  I think I'm sticking that on my business card.  I am a scientist == techie and I am an artist == bohemian.  In some way, shape or form I think that this is not just a description of me, but also a description of the human condition.  Before we ate the Apple in the Garden of Eden, we saw the world as color and experience.  The Apple showed us cause, effect and consequence.

Thank you AIGA, the speakers at RE:Charge and the participants.  What a wonderful few days!

Last night Andrea and I went down to the Florida Theatre for 'Art After Dark'.  Several of the local artists there absolutely knocked my socks off!  I'm absolutely unschooled in Art.  I don't know what to look for, but I know what makes me 'feel'; and to me, feeling is the purpose of Art.  Special kudos go to the following artists:

• Grant Thornton - Man your stuff is great!  It's like post nuclear electric candy!
• Nicklos Richards - I love your vision of the hypocrisy and danger that underlies the 'Leave it to Beaver" persona of Conservative America's Golden Age.
• Jonathan Atkins - My favorite pieces look like they walked out of a Lovecraft Novel.  Terrible, but beautiful.  H.R. Giger better keep an eye on you.
• Phillip Chesnick - Dude, the fact that you are still in high school is frecking unreal!  Wow, have you got a bright future...Stunning imagination!
• Ali Isabelle - Ali your work was like walking into a Dr. Seuss landscape at sunset, I loved it and can't wait for your show next week.

So to these artists and the many more that came out to Art After Dark; thank you for sharing your essence.

With that said, Art After Dark, as an organizational venture totally sucked.  For Andrea and myself it was $40.  The halls were too crowded, and I felt trapped in Ponta Vedra Land..."Who told these people how to get downtown?!"  If you want to see the same quality, with more variety, in a more genuine event, check out 'Art Walk'.  Although, I understand the artists were likely to get more sales from 'Art After Dark', then from us locals at 'Art Walk'.  So 'Long Live Art After Dark', but don't look for me there next year.

Andrea and I went to Art Walk on March 5.  It was my first Art Walk, since leaving Microsoft, and it filled me with creative electricity.  The evening was full of fresh experiences.  We especially enjoyed meeting the young artists above ClubTSI.  The evening must have been a bit too adventurous, because I was certain that we passed the NGen Works Studios, during Art Walk.  I'd have bet $50.00 that their studios were right next to ClubTSI.

I've got an appointment on my calendar this Thursday for Refresh Jacksonville and as I recalled, from skimming the announcement, Refresh Jacksonville meets at the NGen Works Studio.  Since I wanted to bike to the Refresh Jacksonville meeting, I decided to take the afternoon and find the NGen Works Studio.

The day was bright and beautiful, if a bit windy and cool.  But with a sweatshirt in hand, I biked Downtown to find NGen Works.  When I got to ClubTSI and the building that I thought housed the studio, I found the following:

Looking like an idiot, in front of an empty building

In fact, I found a ton of commercial space for lease.  What a travesty and what an opportunity!  As soon as I'm building some kind of revenue stream from my business ideas, I'm definitely getting a place downtown!

Back to the story.  So obviously, I had the wrong location.  I used my trusty XV6700 to find their address off NGenWorks.com, then I used Mobile Live Search to get directions to their actual studio, off Hendricks.  Finally, I hopped on my trusty bike and road towards the other side of the river.

 
My Killer Recumbent

I finally arrived at the studio and was greeted by Joey Marchy and Travis Schmeisser.  After offering me a glass of water, which was SO appreciated, we spent a few minutes talking about the creative community in Jacksonville.  These are really bright young business people, and I'm very impressed with the way they present themselves.  At Microsoft, we are taught to always have your 'elevator pitch' ready, but I am really just researching the market; so I wasn't looking to sell or buy any services.  In fact, having a conversation without an ulterior motive was pretty refreshing.

It turns out that it was a good thing I checked out their studio beforehand.  Apparently, the March 27th event is tentative at best.  Thus, I could have been making this exact same bike ride, Thursday evening only to find 2 empty buildings.  That would have sucked!

Anyway, it was an awesome day.  I'm really looking forward to getting to know the guys at NGen works.  They think about the community in much the same way that I do. 

On February 28th, I went to the Town Hall Meeting regarding vehicle access to Huguenot Park.  There are several competing interest groups that will be affected by this decision:

• Locals who live on Heckscher Drive and will be affected by increased daily fees.
• The Audubon Society who is interested in preserving the habitat of endangered birds.
• The Florida Fish and Wildlife experts interested in protecting the nesting grounds of the Sea Turtles.
• The Kite Surfers, my interest group, interested in the ability to drive out to the point and have access to the Lagoon (the Pond).
• The Florida Surf Riders, interested in preserving open access to the beaches.

I was struck by two things during the meeting.

First, I was struck by the self-righteous arrogance of the members of the Audubon Society.  Frankly, I came to the meeting believing that the interests of the Audubon Society must certainly be considered in the decision.  As each presenter from the Audubon Society spoke, I found their demeanor to be haughty.  Instead of providing their recommended plan to the gathered attendees, rather they preferred to state they will work with the City Council to ensure the plan meets their needs.  Well screw that!  A Forum is intended for all parties to discuss the issues, not for a single party to make a public statement and defer debate to a closed audience with the ones in positions of power.

Second, I was profoundly impressed by the locals and shocked by the incompetence of the officials.  The locals know that beach, and you can instantly tell how much they respect her.  The locals pointed out BIG problems with the current plan:

• The number of cones required to demarcate the driving lanes would be impossible to manage, during the changing of the tide.
• What happens to the people that are turned away from access to the park?  Heckscher, a major traffic artery, will come to a stop.
• The habitat pattern assertions cited by the Audubon Society and the Fish and Wildlife were misleading and untrue.

I don't know how the Huguenot Issue will play out.  But I learned quite a bit by participating in my first Town Hall.  I do hope our local officials take the time to listen to the people who actually live near the beach.  They have her (and our) best interests at heart.

Almost forgot, here's a link to the Times Union Article.

I think 2008 was the third annual Tangerine Festival.  This spontaneous carnival in Riverside is a perfect example of why I feel so at home in this community.  The organizers are not swaggering around.  There are no special attendees.  There is no syllabus.  It is an organic assembly for the sake of community.

Andrea was out of town for a baby shower in Atlanta, and I was throwing a Poker / Birthday Party of my friend John at 3 PM, so I was only able to attend for a few hours.  The weather was more reminiscent of a Seattle Winter's Day, overcast, damp and chilly, but I was glad to see there were about 40 to 60 people in attendance when I arrived at 11 AM.

I brought my 'Bubble Thing' to entertain the kids and as a means to strike up conversation with strangers.  So for a few hours, I made giant bubbles, watched kids play and made a few new friends.  I've included a few pictures from my camera phone, in my photo album.  Special commendation is due to the young women in IMAGE_00110.  We bartered a bubble lesson for a 'hoolah hoop' lesson.  Now I'm nearly 33 years old, and the act of 'hoolah hooping' has always eluded me.  I wish I had a picture from the moment I realized I was actually doing it.

If you live in Jacksonville and you stumble across an advertisement for the Tangerine Festival 20xx, you should come.  You'll be welcome, and I bet you'll be surprised at how much fun you'll have.  Thanks to the organizers, but special thanks to the people who attended.  You make this place feel like home.

If you check my 'MySite' Profile, you'll find the following, "Microsoft will be the last company I'll ever work for. I'm proud to be a part of its culture."

January 12th, 2008 will mark my 4 year anniversary with Microsoft. I still remember finals day, like it was yesterday. It was a freezing cold day in December, and I interviewed at the Microsoft Office near Times Square. I knew that I had a successful interview, so afterwards I purchased a fine cigar, unbeknownst to me, you cannot smoke indoors in New York. So, I shivered on 52nd Street, freezing, smoking but filled with elation and pride. I'd dreamed about working for Microsoft for years, and I felt so privileged to be part of this wonderful company. I would expect everyone of you share a similar memory.

These last 4 years have not dampered my enthusiasm for this company, instead it has metamorphosed into a conviction that this special community of bright, passionate and principled people can change the world. Every time I fly over my beloved country or our shared world, I look out the window. You know what I see? I see millions of homes and billions of people that use our technology. I see shared memories, tools to advance our standard of living and to enrich the experiences of our lives. I was born in 1975 and all this was created within my lifetime. Bill and Paul's vision, our hands and the hands that came before us, have transformed this world into a better place.

Microsoft and everyone associated with this extraordinary organization will always be my family. I've had tremendous success here and met lifelong friends, but it's time for me to change. I'm 32 now, and my window of opportunity to be both a father and an entrepreneur shrinks everyday. While my entrepreneurial spirit has contributed to my success. I've never owned my own company. I've been the hands that have implemented others dream, but I've never been the dreamer. It's never truly been my story.

Effective January 18th, 2008, I will begin building my own vision. While I've never been more nervous nor more excited in my life, I feel certain this the right decision for me. I have a vision that I truly believe in and feel can make a real difference in peoples' lives. I believe that I can leverage our technologies in new ways to have a meaningful impact on obesity in America. I'm not certain that I will succeed in this venture, but I'm certain that I will always regret being too afraid to try.

• John Maxwell
• Marcus Buckingham
• Jim Collins
• Ken Blanchard
• Hurst Scultze

Priests and Hope

Saturday, July 28th, I was flying back from D.C. to Jacksonville with a connection in Newark.  I happened upon three priests in their robes.  From my catholic upbringing, I remember that priests must take vows of celibacy, chastity and poverty.  Given that nothing in the airport is cheap, I offered to buy the elderly priest, he must have been around 70, something to eat for breakfast.  He gently declined.  When I went to the little food stand, they had some fresh strawberries, so I thought it would be a kind gesture to purchase a carton of strawberries for all the priests to share.  The priests were delighted with the strawberries and I happened to strike up a conversation with them as we awaited our planes.  I was most taken with the elder Abbot Father Gabriel.

The night before, I had a terrible time sleeping.  For years now, I've been suffering from the malaise shared by many Americans:  Global Warming, Terrorism, Bush and especially Iraq.  It's so dark, and the future seems so dim.  What Father Gabriel had, which I did not, was perspective.  He had lived a long life, in fact, before he joined the priesthood he was in World War II.  Seeing him gave me hope.  If we, humanity, could emerge from that dark and terrible time, I know we can overcome the challenges we face today, which pale in comparison to that evil.  We will persevere, we just need honorable leaders to follow.

"But that's not what I came to talk about", (Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie).  I came to talk about miracles.  For the first time in my life, I had the courage to say to a priest.  "I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in miracles."  And in fact we a had an excellent conversation about miracles.  Here's what I understood from their philosophy.  Jesus had to have miracles in order to prove that he was in fact God.  Without them, he was just a philosopher.  If Jesus was in fact God, then the creator is more than capable of changing the nature of reality to prove his identity.  Okay, honestly that's still a stretch for me, but here is what I have experienced.  I've experienced what could be miracles.  They are not an uncommon occurrence, I just refuse to really believe them.  Their importance tends to fade over time.  C.S. Lewis's The Case for Christianity at TechReady 3.  The wind chimes my mother bought for Andrea, my wife.  Andrea and her mother had looked at those same wind chimes months prior, and my mother who lived 1500 miles away had an urge to buy them for Andrea shortly after Andrea's mother passed away.  Even those priests at my gate, they weren't even going to Jacksonville.  They were just looking for a quiet place to rest.  I needed them, and they were there.

Hubris and Adam

I relate most closely to the analogies that follow the Hero Story, by Joseph Cambell.  So, from school, I remember that it is Hubris that is the tragic flaw of the hero.  For a long time, I always thought that hubris was simple pride.  Pride in the sense of pride when it comes to your peers.  Hubris as the antonym of humility.  But now I think differently.  Hubris is pride in the face of God.  Believing that we understand and control the nature of things.  That we can mold the world into our image.  Remember the things I was worried about:  Global Warming, Terrorism, Bush and Iraq.  To me those are all examples of Hubris on different scales: individual, national, even humanity as a whole.

Today in the shower, I thought about Hubris and its root.  And I looked to my favorite passage in Genesis:  "See!  The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad!  Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, also, and thus eat of it and live forever."  The 'us', by the way, is the most mysterious two letters in the Bible.  Again another story.  When Adam and Eve ate, they knew.  They saw the world.  They became actors in the world.

And that's my problem.  And that's the Hero's problem.  We are actors in the world.  We know not just our actions, but the consequences of our actions.  The chain of events that can be used to shape a thing.  And in that knowing.  In the practice of shaping things, we believe that which is not shaped by us is either chaos or without value.  But God humbles the Hero.

So for me, as I have tried to do in the past, I want to make sure that my actions are based in honest good intentions.  For when they are, God always tends to send a minor miracle my way.  I don't deserve it.  Heck too often, I forget to recognize it.  And I think it would be much better placed in the hands of someone truly in need.  But if that is the way God chooses to guide me.  Then who am I to question the word of God.

Aside Notes:

• Father Gabriel wrote a book about his order, From Harvard to Harvard. 

Andrea and I moved to Avondale on May 15th.  We got a beautiful 3/2 brick home off Boone Park on Oak.  We've been living in Jacksonville for 7 years, and were frankly tired of the desolate wasteland that Southside had become.  It seemed the Southside has become an endless strip mall filled with franchises run by Stepford Wives.

Our new neighborhood fits like a warn out tee shirt.  Every morning, I walk down to the corner market where I buy a mix of hot coco with coffee and a package of Little Debbie Plain Glazed Donuts.  It's my anti-yuppie mocha and scone.  I've only been here two months, and I've met countless characters.  All are dear to me in some way.  I'd been on the Southside for nearly 10 years, and I knew maybe 10 people from my neighborhood.  Oh yes, I am definitely home.

Tonight, I'm going to take Andrea out to dinner and see two different Art Shows.  Frankly, I'm absolutely tickled to start our day!  Man I love this place.

• Taxes have to go up.
• Inflation has to climb, lowering the purchasing power of the borrowed dollars and the real cost of interest payments.
• Interest rates have to climb to attract enough money back to the United States to finance economic growth.
• The dollar has to fall, so we can pay our debts more cheaply.
• We have to sell more assets to overseas investors.
• U.S. Workers have to take more wage cuts.
• U.S. consumers have to cut back on spending.

• Evangelical Climate Initiative
• Congressional Republicans on Climate Change
• Pat Robertson Converts - (That might just be a miracle)

• Florida Maps - There is a 5 foot elevation contour map available of Florida.  This would provide an excellent opportunity to show how a 20 to 40 foot rise in sea level would devistate the Jacksonville Geography.
• American Ingenuity Domes - This particular method of construction, while not terribly visibly appealling, is a extreme energy efficient and durable.
• Sun Works - This company provides all kinds of Solar Services for homes, everything from Heat Pumps to Solar Electric.
• Seattle Mayors Initative - A mechanism by which local mayors are calculating their carbon footprint.
• Things I need to research
  • Mechanisms used to provide electricty via Tidal Action.
  • JEA's plans to develop a Coal Fired Power Plant to meet Jacksonville's future
  • Mechanism to cool houses using the naturally cold ground, approximately 6 feet under the ground soil.  Apparently pumping water into that area of the soil and using a type of coil mechanism to cool the air around it.
  • JCCI's initative to have a critical review of environmental impacts in a study.  Don't know the type of Study.
  • Project to be delivered in two years time that will provide a map of Florida at 2 foot gradiation.
  • If rain projections are true, we need to be thinking about capturing water during these rain events as the aquifirs do not effeciently refill with heavy rainfall, rather they refill with steady rainfall.
  • Diesel Hybrid technologies.  Audi car in Europe currently gets 90 miles to the gallon.

Finally, Global Warming will not be solved with Heroic Individual Effort as this will only lead to a localize solution.  We need to, as a community, recognize this as an issue an work towards a resolution.