Solar Panels Volume 2

After weeks and weeks of what I should call negotiations, but was actually badgering I have gotten permission from the city to cut down the very large tree from my backyard. Halleluiah! We are going with a company called the Austin Tree Surgeons. I will let you know how that works out. The fellow we have been working with, Brad, seems like a really nice guy. After the tree comes down, we just need to get the solar panel company, Texas Solar Power, to come for the final estimates, and then put in the applications to the city for installation. I think we might get it done by the end of the year. I am really excited about having a much lower utility bill and I am also excited about being able to do something. When you are working essentially two jobs it is hard to give back to your community. This is an awesome way to do it. You are not only taking yourself out of the pool of those who use energy that has to be produced by some outside source, clean or not, you are actually selling what you do not use to the city. This allows the system to have to work a little less, and alleviates the need for coal or other energy sources, that have a lot of repercussions. We will now be sun farmers. How funny is that? The panels are supposed to last for decades, and are smaller and more efficient than they have ever been. I am really excited about this. This is the first big project we are trying to tackle since we moved into our first home, about a year ago. It makes it feel like ours that we can attach this huge thing to the roof. I will keep you up to date on the demise of the backyard giant.

Labor of Love

I have a lot of shows lined up for this holiday season the fist of which will be the 18th “Annual Labor of Love Arts and Crafts Show”. It is put on by the Hill Crest Baptist Church here in Austin and looks to be very promising. It is always nice to have an indoor show as the weather turns to rainy or cold. Here in Austin we are right in the thick of the wet and miserable. The show will be jam packed with close to 100 vendors of handmade arts and crafts. It will be my first year in attendance, but the shows organizer tells me that most of their merchants have returned year after year. The proceeds of the show are a fundraiser for their teen mission program. The young people work to raise money for their own accounts by volunteering at events like this, helping the vendors carry their wares, and making sure everything is running smoothly. An indoor show, with help carrying my set up, and by well mannered teenagers no less, someone pinch me. The show will be Friday October 30th from 9-6, and Saturday October 31st from 9-4 at 3838 Steck Ave. Austin, TX 78759. You can find some creative holiday gifts, and still have plenty of time to trick or treat.

The hardest thing

I think the hardest thing about trying to run your own business is admitting when you should seek help. I hit things with a hammer that is how I get them to work. When you are making business cards, there are no hammers involved. This fact puts me at a great disadvantage. I found a package of paper at my local office supply that said I could make my own business cards and flyers with my computer. This sounded like an excellent idea. It however was not. I can not say for sure if it was my computer, my printer, the software, or the fact that I was controlling the process, but as I had previously suspected I do not know how to make business cards. After hours of wasting paper, ink, and most importantly time, I decided to go to a print shop where they know about these things. As it turns out they could do it faster and cheaper than I could, and it looked a heck of a lot better. While I was there, just to be sure, I peaked around the counter and I was right they did not have a hammer there.

Meditation by hammer blow:

All of my life I have heard people talk about meditation, how you can clear your mind. As lovely as this sounded to me it is something that I have never been able to accomplish. I start to think about what needs to be done, or acquired. Before long I am up and working down the list I just created. Then this week when I was out in my shop I realized I have been meditating for years. I only think about the thing that I am doing if I am cutting I focus only on staying on the line. If I am polishing I only consider how to move so I can cover more of an area with one motion. This may not be the most accepted form of meditation, but it is the closest I think I will ever come. It is my break from the stressful and the mundane alike. I hope that you have a fixation like this in your life. Something that is so powerful to you that it can hold your attention, and make you notice each movement and how you make it.