Hey everyone,

I took the time this Thanksgiving to give my artistic skills a shot (and my pathetic attempts at modifying WordPress templates…PHP and HTML are not my forte). If you happen to read this post and you have any thoughts on my new blog of a picture at the top, I would really appreciate it. I got the idea for the blurry circuit from a great new book I’m reading “Analog Circuits — World Class Designs”, edited by Bob Pease. I’m only just starting the book, but enjoyed the simplified model of slew rate in an op amp and thought it would look cool on the top of the page. If you have any other thoughts or additions you think I should make to the site, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

OK, so I know that just about everyone else on the internet is doing the same today (I’ve read them), but I thought I would also say what I’m thankful for.

1. My Girlfriend — I know I am consistently annoying by staying up late writing and sometimes during the few hours we have to spend together after work. My wonderful girlfriend has always been accepting of my interestingly nerdy habit of coming home from working on electronics to…write about working on electronics. I appreciate her patience and her understanding along with everything else she does for me.
2. My Family — What can I say? Not only was I born into a demographic with more opportunities than most, I was also blessed with a family that encouraged my interest in science and learning. I appreciate how they pushed me to read at a young age and then nurtured my interest in creative toys (Legos, TinkerToys, etc), even when I left them laying around.
3. My Friends — My buddies are kind enough to support me when I’m complaining about silly stuff like not getting blog exposure and are real troopers who bother to read my blog on a regular basis. Without them, I’m sure I would go crazy and I really appreciate having them around.
4. Electronics Pioneers — Aside from thanking my loved ones, I really wanted to write this post because when I think about the progress that has been made to get the human race to where we are, it’s quite amazing. From the early inventors who developed the math that allows us to calculate what we do, to the first testers of transistors and up to the people that helped create software 10 years ago. What’s more, I’m very grateful that they have provided me with the tools to do my job today (such as graphing calculators, SPICE, MATLAB, etc) so much easier and on such a higher level because of all the hard work they did with their slide rulers and look up tables.
5. The Internet — Similar to the above point, I am very thankful that there are tools available to me on the internet that allow me to get my ideas out with very little hassle. Prior to WordPress, I had tried to start websites many times. After finding simple publishing software, I was able to get my thoughts onto my site with no issues. I also have the opportunity to easily do research on topics that interest me and connect with others interested in similar topics.
6. My colleagues — In all my jobs, I am thankful for people that take the time to show me new techniques for solving problems or ways to better approach an issue. As an engineer gaining more experience, it is inspiring and makes me want to share knowledge I have with younger engineers. If you happen to be a younger engineer, I would take this opportunity to encourage you to find those willing to help and use them as a resource. Oftentimes it seems like you might be bugging someone or that you should be able to solve something on your own, but asking an experienced person will often give you a new way to solve a problem with a completely different approach than you would have normally used.

So thanks to all those listed and all those I forgot. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the madness of the holiday season that is now upon us!

Like any good mortgage-fearing first-time home buyer, I worry about my income sources and my job. I don’t have any fears based on performance, but just general fears. It seems that the possibility of recession I wrote about back in September is here and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere for a while. So what can I tell you to try and put your mind at ease (“you” of course being an engineer or someone interested in the fate of engineers…I have no authority on other job types). I can tell you what I was told when I was nervous today:

So usually I don’t like to write about my personal life on here too much, but I had an offer accepted on a house yesterday and I think it’s relevant to topics discussed on this site. Yes, I realize that the housing market is down and that it will likely only get worse. And yes, I realize I’m young and a house is a big responsibility. And yes, I know home ownership can be a daunting experience from upkeep to sales to everything else bad that can happen. But there are some great things about houses too, namely tax advantages and being able to do whatever I want with it (within reason). Plus, I feel that every home can take advantage of advances in conservation and renewable technology, even if they are already in good shape and the energy bills are low.

I’ve been writing a lot more lately about renewable energy than I have analog electronics, but I think with good reason. There has been added interest on the part of many because of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency and his promise to invest $15 billion per year for 10 years in order to create 5 million new “green collar” jobs. But where and how do we separate the promises and the politician from the reality? How do we know that renewable energy will help pull America out of our economic recession? And most importantly, once we are confident that this idea of a green economy could work, how do we know where to put our money and invest?

I used to read Popular Science religiously. Those great stories about the new technologies were so exciting, sometimes I had trouble sitting still. And the best part was turning to the back where you could buy some DIY kit! I remember there were “lightsabers” and “hovercrafts” and flying vehicles, all available in kit form. I have since stopped reading Popular Science, but I could very easily imagine some of those ads on the back. One might just happen to read “Batteries no longer necessary. Ultra-capacitor is the wave of the future! Cheap energy for all!”. Of course, these are in fact the headlines for an Austin based company EEStor.

I wrote last week about Barack Obama further laying out his plans for renewable energy. He states in that video that he plans to invest $15 Billion or more in renewable energy each year. My question is, what can we start doing now? In order for him and the renewable energy community to hit the ground running on Jan 20th, we need to start planning some actions for the new administrations (with or without funding).

I take a personal interest in Barack Obama‘s new plan to increase investment in renewable energy technologies, as I think and hope my long-term plan of working on renewable energies will come to fruition.

Skip to 9:38 to hear about his plans for renewable energy

I don’t seek to point out any political messages other than to focus on his determination to make renewables a viable part of the American economy, much like Thomas Friedman points out in Hot, Flat & Crowded. A green revolution or economy will help to return America as an arbiter of international issues by once again showing our leadership and innovation abilities (not to mention our economic strength). While I will point out that John McCain has also shown some initiatives for renewable energy (not to mention he does not believe that drilling for oil is the only solution), I feel that his focus on nuclear as the only true long term solution in his administration would not put enough money into the hands of people that will drive the “green revolution”. Given the possibility of recession in this country (or is it already here?), I believe that direct government investment in renewables will help to jump start the economy by driving job growth. And it won’t just come from the presidential administration either; people in the house and senate all need to push these new green energy agendas to really allow for new legislation. Great examples of this are Alice Kryzan, running for the 26th congressional district in New York and Dan Maffei who is running for the  25th district, also in New York.

I remember reading a book called “50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth” when I was about 10. It was a really great book and had some interesting conservation ideas. Then for my teenage years and beyond, conservation definitely took a backseat because no one was talking about it and teenagers think about other stuff, apparently. But now, writing about energy conservation and renewable energy more regularly, I’ve looked around and seen some really dumb things that I do in my everyday life that consume a lot of resources and energy.

It’s gonna happen. Some day.

Some day, we (as the human race) will reach a point–or a singularity–where it will be more economically viable to create renewable energy than to harvest oil or coal out of the ground; there won’t be any going back. We started toeing that line a few months ago. Oil just about crossed the $150 mark before dropping way back, thanks to the possibility of recession. Now that we’re back into cheap oil land, we will probably suffer a setback on developing newer more efficient energy solutions (not even necessarily renewable ones). But once we cross that threshold where renewable energy is cheaper than hydrocarbon based energy, the world can only change for the better.