Blast from the past.

Posted by Andrew M.D. Streit on November 23, 2006 04:38

GET SOLAR
Moving the world to sustainable energy production because you love your children


"Let there be light".

Genesis

I was lost, but now I am found. This is my first blog, my first foray into solar and my first step into the rest of my life.
I am a builder living in South Carolina. I have been working in construction for 12yrs with a 5yr stint as a business analyst/network engineer in the late 1990's. Most of my adult life I have been searching for a meaning or cause I could get behind, get involved in. It wasn't until I married, settled down and had children that I became stable enough to try and find out what that cause was to be.
Several months ago I fired a painter who had been working with me for more than a year. He was a great guy, Leon was 55, a decorated Vietnam vet, father of two and a raging alchoholic. We had just finished a week long job out of town and Leon asked for a half pint so he could nap on the way home. I had never seen him drunk so I acquiesced. The ride home was horrible, Leon was out of his mind, so the next day I said no more booze around me, ever! Part of my conversation with him was you've been a soldier/father, you've been a professional drunk, whats the third act going to be Leon, What is the third act?
Well Leon drank the next day at work, and so I fired him and told him not to come back until he had a token from AA because I did not want to watch him kill himself. My conversation with Leon Stuck with me, "the third Act" swirled around in my head until I realized maybe I wasn't just talking to Leon.
I read a lot, I have a BA from the university of Georgia, I am a dedicated husband and father and I am reasonbly good at what I do. It's not enough. Even before 9/11 I was distressed by the direction of American pop culture, the Lewinsky episode, bad TV, education slipping behind Asian and European countries, etc. When we got a cowboy president with oil on his boots I was downcast. The raw destruction of the twin towers shook me, my brother lives in NY and I had spent some happy times in the city.
Things went from bad to worse, no to the Kyoto treaty, which contrary to what the president said would create jobs and improve the environment, yes to dividend tax cuts and a reduction in income tax to the richest 1%. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett the richest and second richest men in america both said the tax cut was uncessary and to them and irresponsible for long term growth of the economy. No to education spending, yes to $87billion a year in killing Iraqis and not providing protection to our troops who are an average age of 22yrs old. No to prisoners rights, Iran held candle light vigils for the fallen on 9/11 but Bush and his cabinet have so sullied the moral imperative of the USA we have never been so disliked by the world. Yes to looting, after securing the oil fields we allowed the desecration of the artifacts of one of the oldest civilizations on the planet. $1 billion to renewable energy initiatives was stated in the 2004 state of the Union. $15 billion to oil company subsidies when they record more profit in a single month than ever before in human history!!!
"Let there be light". I read "Business 2.0", "Fortune", "This old House", and the "NY times". For more than a year I have been seeing articles on Solar, Solar towers in Australia, Solar water heat in Florida, Solar power in Bangledesh by Grameen bank, Solar power at WalMart, Microsoft and Intel. Thin film monocrystaline silicon for buiding exteriors, Solar concentrators for +20% effeciency the list was long and intriguing. I started doing research and Solar is no longer your sandeled Californian cousins' back yard disaster it is a maturing industry with alot of VC money to springboard it to the future. So with no business plan, seed money or experience other than my building and electrical knowledge I have decided to start my own Solar business and this blog is the beginning, the genesis if you will. All are welcome, advice is sought, conversation mandatory, tips optional.
Posted by Andrew M.D. Streit on November 23, 2006 04:38