Break in solar electricity production

Unbeknownst to us, our solar inverter broke down on March 16. The inverter is a critical component that converts direct current (DC) electricity produced by solar panels into alternating current (AC), which is used by our home and sends the excess to the utility grid. It functions as the "brain" of the system, enabling, managing, and monitoring electricity usage. 

I should have known it if I had looked at my app telling me about the functionality of our solar electricity production, but I was simply assuming that all was well. It’s just in April that I checked it and realized that nothing was going on, then, a few days later I got the monthly bill from the power company telling me that I was owing three times the amount I normally paid when my solar system worked. 

I called the company that installed the system and ten days later they came to replace the faulty inverter and restore the natural cycle fed by our indefatigable sun. For those of you considering installing solar panels, be aware that there are two ways to convert current, one with a central inverter like ours or one smaller inverter per panel (a much better idea because it’s preferable to have one panel done instead of the entire system!) 

Now we’re back in full production and thanking the sun, our solar device and the human brains that have thought about that power conversion and made it such a practical and useful invention!

My veggie garden

Our vegetable garden is 250 square feet small, but still represents some real work to set it up and aerate early season, fence and feed it as well as irrigate it regularly during our long and sometimes hot summers. So are all these efforts really worth it? 

For the moment, I’d say yes, but I’m not sure that’s quite true given all the hard work and expenses involved. So what am I hoping to get with continuing this gardening habit of ours that started some 20 years ago? 

For one thing, crop diversity isn’t a priority, as we focus on lettuce, strawberries and herbs given the small area we’re dealing with and the mountain’s rather brief growing season. 

Still what we get is fantastically fresh and tasting good, plus we know what made it grow and we enjoy caring for our tiny crops and harvesting them. 

I’ve also learned patience through tending a veggie garden as there aren’t many shortcuts available but letting time, sunshine and enough water work their way as we would expect them to. So, even if our lettuce, parsley, rosemary and strawberry are far from cheap, we value them for being ours and very tasty, so that’s why I decided yesterday that, God willing, I’ll continue tending our veggie garden until I turn 80…

The extra effort

It is amazing how sometimes, when we’re seemingly tired and are done for the day, a little extra effort can accomplish and for certainty, will add up in what we accomplished. I was reminded of it a few days ago as I was aerating our veggie garden, a yearly chore that I loathe. 

If I were putting my mind to it, I could still find mental and physical resources that would add up to a lot and make a huge difference in the job produced. I disregarded my internal calls for indulging into self-satisfaction and self-praise and leaving the job at a level substantially and quantitatively lower, but somehow mustered the resources to produce that magical extra effort. 

Was it the remnant of a habit I had observed in my family when I was a kid or that I have instinctively maintained throughout my adult life? Quite possibly, but it was still there to give me a head-start the next day when I would return to that job. I was just amazed about it and perhaps that amazement was amply justified. It made me realize that this “extra effort” is rarely about strength. 

It’s about intention. It’s about that quiet decision to lean in rather than step back, even when no one is watching and no one will praise us for it. And perhaps that is why it feels so strangely satisfying: because it reconnects us with a part of ourselves that refuses to settle for the minimum. Is it also a form of guilt? Quite possibly. A part of us that still believes in doing things well, not for recognition, but because it shapes who we are and want to stay. 

As I grow older, I’m increasingly aware that these small choices accumulate. They become a kind of personal signature — the way we show up in the world, even in the most mundane tasks. Maybe that’s why the moment struck me as it reminded me that I’m still capable of that little surge of purpose, that quiet insistence on doing things properly. 

And that, in itself, felt like a gift. In the end, the extra effort wasn’t about the veggie garden at all. It was about remembering that there is always a little more inside us than we think — a reserve we only discover when we choose to reach for it.

The “2cv mentality”

Believe it or not, I’ve learned an awful lot from owning and driving a Citroen 2cv. 

It made me an efficiency freak with its undepowered, smartly engineered and inspiring design, literally from top to bottom. 

All life long it has made me longing for efficiency in all kinds of domains, from house design, to all kinds of objects and devices and has made me a much better consumer while developing in me an unending quest for the best ratio between design and performance. 

It’s been a catalyst of sort for me, like many other objects or situations can be for many others. 

Thank you, lowly 2cv!

The little boy goes to China

The man with the IQ of a six-year old, beginning to show some serious signs of senility, that love to demolish things first, think about the consequences afterwards and still doesn’t understand basic arithmetic, is in China to meet and negotiate with Xi Jinping.

Both men are supposed to discuss a variety of very important topics including commerce between the US and China and of course an exit ramp for that insane US-Israeli war in Iran.

Xi is likely to smile as a way to manipulate Trump, flattering him, getting exactly what he wants while showing his contempt for a man he profoundly disrespect. 

Based on that, my level of confidence in a positive outcome for the United States is very low. We could have sent any American homeless begging off a freeway ramp to the Iran quagmire, with just enough common sense and expect a better outcome. 

So, as the six-year would say: “We’ll see…”

Who need sycophants?

Often, I wonder why any manager with a functioning brain would hire sycophants to surround him or her, and what this tells about the business acumen of such and individual? Of course, as we all know that a manager who surrounds themselves with sycophants is making a strategic choice — but not a smart one. 

And the choice reveals far more about their psychology and insecurities than about their business acumen. In fact, leaders hire sycophants when protecting their ego feels more important than protecting the organization. If one cannot tolerate dissent, challenge, being wrong or being questioned they will hire people who will never threaten their self-image. 

Let’s say that it’s emotional safety masquerading as leadership. That kind of leader is Trump and the sycophant is Rubio, or Kennedy or Hegseth to name a few. If Trump had any self-confidence he would hire strong people. Instead, our insecure president hires agreeable people that provide him with constant validation, the illusion of competence, the feeling of being in control and a psychological crutch. It’s true that being surrounded by sycophants makes daily life easier. 

There are no debates, no push-back and no uncomfortable truths to hear. The cost however is enormous with plenty of blind spots, strategic errors, group-think and stagnation. A president like Trump who surrounds himself with sycophants is signaling at least one of the following traits. Poor judgment as he can’t distinguish competence from compliance, alignment from flattery and loyalty from dependency. 

Fragile decision-making as bad news is filtered, risks hidden and mistakes unchallenged. Lack of strategic maturity as great leaders know they need dissent, debate, diverse perspectives and people who dare say “you’re wrong”. Finally a final trait is fear-based leadership, as Trump needs flattery to function, he’s not leading he’s managing their own anxiety. 

Sycophants don’t gather around strong leaders but gather around leaders who need them, and that need is the real problem.

A healthy knee hits the ground

To celebrate May Day, as we arrived late afternoon in San Francisco. I didn’t have a better idea than raising my glance to admire some Victorian architectural detail on a home while we were walking one of the city’s many steep hills. I hit something with my right foot, lost my balance and fell right on my left knee. 

When this kind of fall happens, the pain is always intense. In fact falling on one’s knee can cause a serious injuries like patella fractures, ligament or meniscus tears, and severe contusions, often leading to immediate swelling, bruising, and inability to bear weight. In my case there was a bloody bruise over the knee cap, but the beast I am kept on walking up and down the hilly streets. 

I felt okay when I went to bed but woke up at midnight with some intense pain, particularly in the back of my knee. I meditated, took no drug and eventually went back to sleep. The next morning my knee was both stiff swollen, I took a pain killer and decided to participate in a rather long 8 miles walk to and through Golden Gate Park. Strong at first, the pain gradually dissipated through the day and I thought I was “saved”. 

The night was okay, but the next morning my knee’s pain and stiffness were intense. I swallowed another painkiller and followed wife and daughter on a hike over Marin County, to Mount Tamalpais known locally as “Mount Tam”, through a mountain bike trail. 

Gradually, the horrible pain disappeared and by the end of the day and 6.5 miles later, it felt okay. From that day one, there was pain in the morning that quickly went away as soon as there was activity and blood circulation. 

Had I listened to my body I would have stayed home, put an ice pack on my knee, elevated my leg and probably would have suffered much more. All this to show that when there is nothing broken, activity that promotes blood circulation is a better remedy than laying down!