Random Musings from a Troubled Mind

Wow, is it possible that PG&E is this backward? (dare I say stupid?)

So, now that I have my first bill, I just had a call with PG&E, my wonderful provider of Gas and Electricity.  Before I launch into them, I must say that Natalie, my customer service rep, was friendly, informative, compassionate, and overall, a great customer service person.  Unfortunately, the execs she works for are complete freaking morons.  Wait, was that my outside voice?

Here is the lunacy of the day.  I was puzzled by my latest bill (surprised?), so I called, and as I said, Natalie walked me through it in a friendly, helpful manner (she's POTS!)  Here were the highlights of our call, some interesting (In:), most idiotic (Id:), as noted by those initials below.

• In: Today, PG&E has a pretty well managed website, offering both online access to all current information, as well as PDFs of all previous bills, which are not only downloadable, but even dynamically comparable month-to-month, year-to-year, etc., as I showed in my previous blog post.
• Id: That's today.  Tomorrow, because I opted to go with cutting technology, they figured it made sense to slow down, and take several steps backward.  A few examples.  Hopefully this is coherent, because, being a tech guy, I'm so distraught by their lack of foresight, that I'm almost shaking.
• Id: Going forward, bills will only show my gas usage, and the monthly minimum of $4.14 for "access to electricity"
• Id: A separate "Net Energy Metering Electric Statement", which covers the solar aspects, will be sent to show the electricity usage, net of what I generated.  This is a paper only bill. Not available online, and completely disconnected from rest of the billing/web system that was working well today.
• Id: They forecast for those systems to be aligned is mid-2012.  Apparently, PG&E was taken a bit by surprise from the last decade's growing trend of moving to alternative energy, led by solar. Wow.
• In: Each house, in each region, has a baseline rate, which determines how much in first billing tier (and subsequent in tiers 2-5)  No problem, that's not new.  This determines what PG&E charges us for vs what we're generating from our solar panels.
• In: We have a choice of paying the delta between usage and generation (the "net" metered usage) either monthly, or at the end of the "True-Up" period, which is August 2012.  Cool.
• Id: If I opt for the pay-as-you-go model (smart budgeting in my view), it's up to me as a consumer to figure out, manually, what I should pay each month, by adding the amounts that come to my house on two bills, completely independently of each other.  For example, let's say my Gas + Min service bill equals $30, and my "Net Metering" elecrtricity bill is $70, totalling $100.  Fortunately, I can still write one check to cover both. Sort of...
• Id: Now, get this.  I send a check for $100 to cover both bills.  Great.  However, when I get my next month's bill, it will show that my "bill" was $30, but I paid $100, so I now have a net credit of -$70.  For simplicity, let's assuming the amounts are the same the following month, and I send another check for $100.  Subsequently, I get my new bill showing that we owe $30, we paid $100, we had a credit of -$70, but now our credit is -$140.  And this goes on every month until the true up period, 11 months from now.
• Id: There is nothing automated, and no online tools to make these disparate processes easy, clearly defined or helpful.

Contrast all this with what I get from SolarCity.  I can log onto my SolarGuard account from anywhere in the world, on my PC (or on my slick new Nokia N9!), and get information that is updated every 15 mins, showing how much power I am currently generating with my 22 panels. Awesome!  That's why guys like me work on new technologies, always trying to streamline old processes  and make peoples lives easier so folks can focus on what's really important to them (not manually calculating bill payments)

You know, it just occured to me that I think I should change my tone here. Pointing fingers doesn't help, and I'm not even pointing in the right direction.  It's me I should be angry with, not PG&E.  I,foolishly, expected PG&E to be anything other than the slow moving, bureaucratic, backward thinking money grubbing idiots that they have spent decades demonstrating they are.  Silly me...

 

DMac Out...

One month in, and solar is looking bright!

Well, my last post about our new solar power system was on July 23, where I happily showed the images of the system going in.  After that, due to the laggards at our wonderful PG&E, progress came to a screeching halt, for almost a month.  Then, magic happened.  I won't bore you with a lot of text, and just let our new bills share the news, as they say, a picture is worth a 1K words, or in this case, about 682 kWh.  

The comparison details get ever so slightly muddy, given that Solar Guard shows progress by calendar month (wow, what a novel concept), and PG&E by whatever their whims happen to be at the time. As best I can tell, I think PG&E probably bases their cycles on some semblance of mystic lunar cycles, coupled with an algorithm derived from an ancient Druid/pagan rituals, with a sprinkling of serendipity, but I may be wrong.  Nonetheless, 30 days in, it appears that we're off to a great start.

Here we have our bill for Aug (07/22 - 08/19), which I'll call Exhibit 1: BS (Before Solar)

 

And here, we have our bill for Sep (08/20 - 09/20), which I'll call Exhibit 2: ASS (After Solar System)

 

It doesn't take a mathematics Ph.D. to see that the amont in my BS is much larger than my ASS.  My mathematical model, to do the cost justification for going solar, planned on an average savings of $200/month, and we're at $245 in the fall, so not bad.  Oh, I almost for the zinger.  In late August, I added a hot tub, which has been running full tilt since then, at 100ºF, and STILL saved nearly two fiddy. Not bad.

God, thanks for my California sunshine and clear skies! :-)

 

DMac Out...

 

PS. If any of you are interested in going Solar, the Solar City team were rockin' to deal with!  My sales guy was Alex Dabdy, adabney@solarcity.com, +1.650.963.5862

 

 

 

Service? In Finland?

That might seem like an odd title after my recent FB post(s) regarding the great taxi service in Finland. However, to be fair, that post was mostly focused on the taxi 'efficiency', more than the actual quality of the personal service. So, with that clarification made, let's delve into what was, without a doubt, my best restaurant service experience in the six and a half years I've been coming to Finland.

The restaurant was someplace I had never been, called Kitchen G18, tucked just off Bulevardi. The menu was limited, but in a way that I felt they were only serving the handful of dishes that they considered 'worthy' of the experience they were trying to deliver, rather than me feeling like the choices were too limited. 

They have a pretty solid 'tapas' appetizer, running €18. I'm not going to go into the prices of everything, that's not what this post is about. The reason I included it was to showcase the deal that they offer. If you buy a bottle of wine (which appeared to be reasonably priced) you could order the tapas platter for only €1 more. What? Yes, that's a smoking deal. Now, while several of the larger items on the platter only came in pairs, there was plenty to share between three to four people. Most of the melange was quite yummy. However, the lamb wasn't to my liking, but I don't fault the chef, I'm just not much of a lamb guy. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the cheese-stuffed peppers were incredible! There should have been twice (or thrice!) as many of those delectable gems.

Overall, the food was good.  Actually, as I think we all know, that is a tremendously relative term. So for KG18, the quality is more like what a group of us (foreigners, that is) have come to refer to as "HG," which means 'Helsinki Good.' But, even as a modest foodie, what will draw me back to this cool place, is the amazing service we got, not the food itself. Superior customer service is something I crave!  

We had two wait staff looking after us.  Suzanna (I think) and our main waiter, Thomas Möller. Thomas was so attentive, warm, gracious and professional, I thought he was the owner. He appeared to care deeply about our experience, as though both his ego and livelihood were at stake. Now, I don't know how much Thomas makes as a waiter/manager in Helsinki, but he could (should?) teach courses in hospitality to every other person in Helsinki who thinks he/she is serious about restaurant life.

Oh, and did I mention he was humble? As I was effusing praise about the quality of his service (and actually did tell him that the service outpaced the food a bit), his comment was something like, 'Next time you come, we'll make sure your experience with the food matches the service.' Holy carp, he cares about both the front and the back of the house!!!

So, if you want to be treated just like you have become accustomed in other highly service-oriented countries, give yourself a treat and go to Kitchen G18. Make sure you ask for Thomas, and tell him Doug sent you. Actually, don't do that, as I'm sure I did not make as big of an impression on him, as he made on me. So, better yet, tell him that some crazy American, who yammered on about the quality of the service, and who left a [small] tip (money folded into an origami bow tie), sent you, and said that he was a certified, service Rock Star!

 

DMac out...

 

 

Yrjönkatu 18, Helsinki

www.kitcheng18.fi

+35810 3222 940

Going Solar

 
Well, after a long, long (way too long, actually) "think" on whether or not to take the plunge, the numbers were clearly in favor of going.  While I'm sure that every month and year I would have waited would have returned even better ROI, saving $40k over the life of the system (20 years), plus a short-term recovery of the intitial investment (5 years) made it make enough sense for me.

Here are some pics of the initial installation.  We're not operational yet, but should be within the month. Unfortunately, we have one of those STUPID PG&E Smart Meters, so I don't get the joyu of watching the wheel on my electricity meter roll backward, but alas, it will be nice when we start getting much smaller bills from PG&E every month.

 

 

The Solar City truck arrives, bright and early before the hot Morgan Hill sun gets into full blaze.

 

 

 

 

 

 Cool ladder brace to hold it to the roof so they can't fall backward.  Silly me, I just use one of the kids...

 

 

 

 

 

 

More safety features.  Each guy on the roof was tethered so he couldn't fall off.  Pretty cool toys these guys have!

 

 

 

 

All the support infrastructure is in place.  Time to beef up the roof a bit from the underside.  

 

 

 

 

Minor bracing was required due to the construction-era of our house, but this was still part of the "free" install from Solar City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty panels are up and connected. Time to get them wired to the invertor.

 

 

 

 

Well, stage one is now complete.  Actually more like stage eleventeen, after all the paperwork, evals, inspections, etc.  However, all the "stuff" is here.  Now a few more things to take care of and we'll be operational.

 

 

Come on back next month for an update on progress.

 

Ciao!  DMac out...

Hello, rekindling my blog...

Packed and Ready!

The image of organization.

- 12 large bags (2 per person) each packed to within ounces of their 50 lb. capacity.
- 6 carry-ons
- 6 personal items

Lock and Load! Cars will be here soon to transport all this stuff, and us, to the airport...

DMac Out...

{{ Sent from DMac's E71 }}

Jamie gets the treatment

One thing that Jamie just loved about getting his hair cut in China, is that they wash It,s right in the seat. Not sure why that's so exciting, but he loves it...

They also occasionally give him the Mohawk treatment, which is clearly a cool thing!

DMac Out...

{{ Sent from DMac's E71 }}

If it ain't nailed down, or labeled...

PACK IT!!!  The pre-team of two swept through, marking all the things that belonged to the landlord and were not to be moved.  Basically, anything that we are not taking on the plane, and did not belong to the house is going in a sea-bound container.  

 
 

There was one exception that got marked that is going on the plane with us...

After that activity, then the team of workers swooped in to make it all happen.

 
 
 And of course, we had our crack junior team hard at it, "on the job" moving stuff!

 Let's see, Jessie is moving vegetables in "Gardening Mama", Jake is moving people and objects in "Zelda", Josh is moving animals in "Animal Crossing", and Jamie was moving who knows what in "Mr. Slime Junior."

BUT, it will all get done.  We have Kristi on our team, and as you all know, that means that our team more than makes up for having four slackers.  :-)

DMac Out...

As seen on TV!

I don't know if any of you have tried these "space bags" that you can now find at Target and other places, but there are amazing.  I neglected to take the full picture of everything getting "reduced in size", but here is a small example of what went "into" a space bag.

 

Next, I stuffed in bedding and sucked it all down... 

And voila!  Bedding for six in a single Eddie Bauer duffle bag.  

 

That, does NOT suck!

DMac Out...

PS. By the way, a huge thanks to Julie Brenny for hooking us up with these bags!!!

More 'resources' isn't always the answer...

I had a great lesson in resource management the other day, funnily enough, while shopping for groceries.

In our daily lives, whether personal or professional, we often think, 'if only I had some more help, this would be so much easier!' To be fair, that is occasionally the case, maybe even the predominant factor, but, it doesn't resolve all ills.

In China, their largest resource, I would have to estimate, is most likely human. Therefore, during crunch times, the first 'lever' that is pulled is large 'throw people at the problem!' switch,

I'll cut to the chase. No matter how many unskilled workers you throw at a problem, it will not be resolved in an effective manner. Case in point. I wanted to buy a nice bottle of wine for a friend. Unfortunately, my wine knowledge is limited, therefore, I struggle when I'm in a store that has NOTHING I know. Yes, I did get an 'A' in my wine class while at university, so at some point, I probably could have extolled the virtues of this year over that, or the moisture content in that region for that grape, etc. That knowledge is long buried behind drinking lots of Capri Sun juice drinks with four kids.

Fast forward to now, and the problem at hand. I am of course in China, and therefore have a limited selection of wines to choose from. Therefore, anything I might know is either unavailable, or 'unattainable' price wise.

I scour the shelves, looking for something yummy and interesting, that I might recognize. A Pinot Nor maybe, or perhaps a Syrah? Maybe a precocious little Chateau neuf du Pape. No, double No, and 'what was I thinking?'

Whilst I looked, one clerk after another asked if I needed help. Now, mind you, this is in a very Western part of Beijing that completely caters to foreigners. The store is loaded with Western products, at nose-bleed prices, and English-speaking staff. But, I thought to myself, 'they really won't be able to help. Will they?'

That was confirmed when two different girls, without asking anything about what I wanted, pointed to two completely different (but equally expensive) bottles and commented, 'this derlicious' No, that's not a typo.

So, after being asked three times, by three different clerks, and experiencing increasing frustration at my lack of success in finding just the right bottle, I came to the conclusion, 'why not ask, they certainly can't do any LESS than I am doing now.'

So, I called over one of the clerks, and told her what I wad trying to find.

She in turn called over her colleague, and they debated the topic some more.

A third clerk made the mistake of wandering by, so she too was pulled into the discussion.

Finally, they filled out their problem solving squad with a fourth member, and the dream team was complete. They had brought all the resources to bear that the store had to offer. Unfortunately, none of them really appeared to know anything more than any of the others.

I thanked them for their assistance (for reference, read back a few posts to the one about language, and varying degrees of something being 'fixed' or 'finished') and bade them farewell.

I made a choice that looked reasonable. French, good year, expensive enough to not be too dodgy. Let's see what happens. That said, it was for a Chinese friend, in China. So even if it were corked, or the worst bottle of wine available, I would still hear how much it was 'enjoyed.'

I must say, there is a certain warmth to the fact that the Chinese culture embraces people who would rather tell a half truth, than to offend someone. We could learn a little bit there.

DMac Out...

PS. Sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy, I was laughing a bit, and wanted to take this quickly so I didn't offend them. I'm sure they thought I was nuts!

{{ Sent from DMac's E71 }}