Jon's In5anity

I realized the other day that i didn’t blog once last year.  Here is a quick rundown on life.  For the last year I was working with FLS Energy a solar energy company.  They were a great company to work with and I learned so much about how to build solar systems large and small.  Unfortunately I was recently let go from the job.  I am now looking for another job and contemplating going back to school for my masters.

I have been living in Black Mountain, NC.  It is a nice little mountain town.  One of the great things is easy access to great mountain biking.  I purchased a sweet cannondale bike this year and I have been enjoying it.  Can’t wait for it to warm up a bit so I can get back out there.  I also picked up a sweet cruiser bike with gorilla handlebars.  I would like to put a small engine kit from ebay on it and rock out.

As per usual I did some traveling.  I went to Minnesota to go steelhead fishing.  I was in Colorado 3 times visiting family.  One time was for an engagement party for my sister.  We had a rockin good time.  She got married in Raleigh, NC in december and she and her husband live in San Diego, CA.  i can’t wait to go visit them soon.

It has been a very transformational year and I feel great things are coming in 2009.

The other day I was in Colorado at my dad’s hardware store and one of the guys that works there asked where I was living these days. I told him for now Colorado until I leave in a week then wherever I end up next. Another one of the guys there interrupted saying you have to understand Jon is a citizen of the universe. I like it

I am living in North Carolina right now. My mom is nice enough to let me stay at her sweet house until I figure out what I’m doing and where I’m going. I plan to stay here in NC and work in the renewable energy industry.

Specifically I’d like to be making a million gallons of biodiesel or more in the next year. I am in the middle of talking with two different facilities. Both look promising but nothing is happening before the new year.

Right now I have been doing some temp. work with a great solar company here in Raleigh. I got the chance to work on a huge 105 kW PV (solar electric) system at the zoo. It is the largest in the state to date. A friend of mine in Boone told me I don’t really work I just show up for the biggest jobs. I guess this is sorta true I have worked on the two biggest systems in NC. But I do other work it’s just that I only brag about the big ones. Wouldn’t you??

Life here in the universe is good. The holidays are coming actually I think they are here. This year I’m cool with it, usually it’s Bahhh Humbug. It’s just another time (like every day) to think of friends and family and be thankful!!

Lastly I got a truck!! an 89 Ford F250 with a 7.3 International Diesel Engine. It rules it’s big and loud just like a truck should be. I think it is going to be a good work truck.

Thats all for now….next year I’m going to try and blog more the last two years have been pretty pathetic. Peace and Veggie Grease

It’s snowing in Shelburne Falls, MA. WTF. I’m trying to test out our solar system here at the house and get it running but there is no fucking sun. Whatever… the sun will come but when? I talk about global warming everyday. The globe is heating up and causing major shifts in the weather. And it’s snowing in the middle of April. WTF.

I am working for a cooperative right now. Co-op Power is a renewable energy coopperative. It’s sort of like a food coop only instead of selling food we sell renewable energy, and energy efficiency products. Our members get a discount on these products. We also have a network of installers who we refer our members to. These people install these products and services for our members. This is all awesome but it gets better. Each member pays us $1000 to join (or $500 for limitied income people or $750 for farmers) the co-op then pools this equity together and then we invest in community scale, community owned renewable energy projects. Amazing!!! We are helping to build a community owned sustainable energy infrastructure that is sustainable beyond the end of petroleum.

Yes peak oil is upon us. It is debatable whether the peak is now or tomorrow or in a couple years or even ten but it’s here. Even if it’s all going to be ok for ten years that means we only have ten years to do something different. This is not me preaching this is me trying to make you aware that the time to do something besides rely on petroleum for everything around us is NOW. Check here for just a few of the things made of petroleum.

Peak oil is happening because we are using petroleum at an alarming rate. The use of petroleum (when burned) releases CO2 and other gases like NOX into the atmosphere. These are greenhouse gases. The excess gases cause the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect causes global warming. Global warming may or may not cause it to be snowing April 12th in Shelburne Falls, MA. But the average temperature of the earth has risen 0.74° C in the last hundred years. To give prospective this temperature change would normally occur over a 1000 yr period.

If we do nothing the temperature will continue to rise and scientist predict that when we hit a 2° C rise 25% of plant and animal life will face extinction. This is predicted to happen in the next 50 years if we continue to rapidly destroy the world.

There is no silver bullet plan. There is no one thing that can fix the problem. I wish i could tell you do this one thing and it will all be ok. I can’t!!! But I will say I believe every little bit counts. Every little action from changing to compact flourescent lightbulbs or walking instead of driving or putting a solar hot water system on your home will help. Every little bit counts on this one. Do not feel powerless. Do not feel weak. You can make a difference or you can go back to your daily life “business as usual” and be a part of the destruction of the planet we live on. It’s your decision.

A grand parade made its way down to the edge of the sump hole. The stench was unbearable so the parade continued leaving their waste behind. Trash bins across town filled with disposable noise makers and confetti. They exploded one by one as the parade passed by filling the streets with fun. Soon, children began to emerge from their sweaters and hats, dancing in front of their houses and cheering their joy for the people and other animals of the town to hear. They cheered for the woman on stilts juggling knives followed by a gang of unicycle riders. They cheered for the midwives, the farmers, and the strangers. The bass drum boomed and the trumpets sang as the marching band passed by. The clothes of the bass drummer slowly, with distance between, became to big as she became a child and the trumpets joined the brass and the origin of its own sound. The sounds tasted like the colors of the rainbow and smelled like burnt fireworks. Dispersal of syncopation. Diffraction. Diffusion.

I find myself here in Massachusetts at a stand still or a cross roads perhaps. I am here and still working with Co-op Power. Ever since the first of the year I have been in a holding pattern. Not knowing whether to stay or to go. I feel drawn to my job. It’s good work. It fits my goals of making the world a better place and working with renewable energy. I also feel very lost in life and I’m not sure if this is the place for me to heal. I need to do some soul searching. See if I can find some answers from within. Mainly I just wanted to check in. Much Love Jon

Today i hurt. It has been building for days but today I hurt. I ache. I feel loss. I feel lonely I feel alone. My relationship has fallen apart. My partner in crime and i have broken up. What a way to start a new year. I will heal. but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt like hell for awhile. It’s like an acheing almost like being hungry mixed with when you get the wind knocked out of you. I just wish it would have worked out. But sometimes two people just can’t do it. When trying to make the relationship work becomes like banging your head against a brick wall and neither of you have smiled in days or weeks and the laughter is gone you know it’s time. I will heal This pain will slowly roll away like clouds clearing after a storm. The sun will shine again but today it’s raining.

Love is truly the most amazing and powerful force in this world. It brings people together and it tears them apart. I Love You Alyssa and I Love everyone of you out there reading this. Love is strong and we all need it. Spread some love around today.

We set off 5 days ago our iron donkeys were loaded to the brim and we carried our backpacks.  yes you can call us super man and woman now.  We rode off into the sunrise…..wait wait wait it was actually into turential rains.  not like a little sprinkle i´m talking buckets.  It was extremely wet and strenuous but all and all it was a good first day.  The second day we learned the difference between tour biking and mountain biking.  you don´t tour bike on a mountain trail with 20pounds on the back.  you ride on the smooth road.  1/2 km into the second “rainy” day BOOM.  what the hell was that.  a flat tire.  shit

Needless to say i didn´t have a wrench to take off the tire.  luckily a nice farmer man helped us.  the second flat tire of the day in the rain  happened on a muddy trail several kms before the next town.  damnit son of a bitch insert  many other expletives.   i had to walk the bike to town.  as i dragged it along the rocky terrain i punctured the tire.  what a day.  I arrived at a bar and the man there had a wrench.  i fixed the tube but the tire was un fixable and the tube protruded out of the tire like a tumor.  i started biking but the tire was not inflated enough.  I tried my handy 5 euro bike pump the plastic piece of shit deflated the tire and wouldn´t pump.  so i once again started dragging the bike down the road to the albergue 4-5km away we arrived there soaked to the bone.

the third day things were looking up no rain yaaahooo.  i did have to walk the bike to the next town to get another tire.  after that we were free to ride.  and ride we did.

the fourth day brought us to finisterre.  lots of great down hills once we climbed up the hills.  10km from finisterre our luck failed us the rain got heavier and alyssa got a flat tire.  I rode ahead to find us a hotel.

that night we tried to dry out everything. then treated ourselves to a nice seafood feast.  after which alyssa got sick all night long, total body evactuation.  needless to say we are headed down south where it´s not supposed to rain as much.  we are also getting rid of the bikes.  it was fun but the hate has outwayed the love of biking and we have decided bikes will be another adventure, another trip, another day.

We have several wwoof farms which we have offers from so we look forward to starting another new segment of our trip we´ll keep you posted.

oh yea finisterre or bust…

we are at the end of the world.  despite the rain it´s beautiful here.  we haven´t checked it out fully as we´ve been resting/recuperating in a hotel room. we will swim in the ocean manana.

peace and love