When is my solar production returning?

Just last week, big chunks of snow had finally slid off some of my solar panels and, miracle! We were producing electricity again. 

Half of our panels were still covered, but we were hopeful, and then midweek, we were hit with almost 25 inches of new snow that set us back in the heart of winter. 

Yesterday, when I check my solar phone app, I realized we only had produced in a couple of days 5.69 kwh for… the 2023 year! To put things into perspective, our solar system’s annual output is around 4,000 kwh. 

So, at this point we can only hope that no matter how thick the snow is on our panels it will slide or melt faster now that we approach March and the days are getting longer. If death and taxes are a certainty, solar production is definitely not!

The FIS still doesn’t get it…

At times the FIS acts like a totally dumb organization. Why fly technical ski racers (slalom and GS) for just one weekend of races from the Alps to California, to ski on snow far too soft for racing? 

There is the toll it takes on the athletes bodies (round-trip length plus 9 hours jet-lag), plus the cost to the environment estimated to be in the order of 1,500 tons of carbon emissions.

Just like FIFA, this Swiss-based organization remains stiff, conservative, tax-avoiding, slow to adapt and woefully unable to innovate. 

But in all frankness, and without generalizing too much, these are solid Swiss values. Perhaps, most sports federations, including the International Olympic Committee, might benefit greatly from being moved out of this iconic fiscal paradise?

A lot of snow…

This winter snow cover in Park City is headed for the record books. 

Not only the season started early with perfect show conditions, but this winter of 2022-2023 is the season that keeps on giving. 

With even more snow on the way in the next few days, everyone is wondering “Where are we going to do with all of this snow?” 

Roofs are overloaded and must be relieved, parking is shrinking, our solar panels that were on their way to resume production last weekend are shrouded again. 

I wish we could divert some of the next snowfalls to my friends and family in the Alp who could use it, but that’s unfortunately impossible. 

We prayed for snow and we got it. 

Now, at the very least, let’s enjoy it!

The two sides of growing old

My wife always complains about the physical downsides of old age like wrinkles, waning beauty of our youth, stiff joints and gradual loss of perfect health. 

These of course are elements we can’t totally dismiss, that we cannot totally control, that are left to mother nature and yet that we must accept. Sure, we can work harder and more diligently at controlling that loss of personal assets by exercising more, eating healthy, sleeping well and remaining mentally active, but no matter what we do a certain amount of decline is unavoidable. 

Yet, I tend to believe that what we lose on that physical realm can be largely compensating by what we can install – gradually as well – inside our brains and minds. We can become better, much, much better people, if we pay attention to it, are convinced that it’s possible and apply ourselves to that task on a daily basis. 

The tools for doing it are obvious, simple and can be activated during everyone of our waking hours. We simply need to invest into them relentlessly. Simple things that training ourselves at controlling our emotions, at thinking positively, becoming more grateful, generous, humble, open-minded, loving, emphatic and compassionate are ours to adopt among many others. 

Likewise, we should kick out fear, jealousy, envy, greed, vanity and any other negative feelings. When you look at aging this way it’s not just a great deal, it got everything to become the best time and the culmination of our lives!

When FOMO meets FOBO

I knew FOMO (fear of missing out) quite well as I had experienced it many, many times, but I until a few days back, had never seen FOBO and didn’t know what it meant. So, let me introduce you to that new acronym and see how it compare to what could be its pretty nasty cousin. 

Well, FOBO, that means “Fear of a Better Option” reminds me of FOMO, but unlike the fear of missing out on events, people, opportunities, etc., FOMO meant to keep all of us from committing to any choice whenever a choice is presented to us, under the form of some alternatives, that seems better ever and could potentially come along.

This way of stopping an individual’s decision making process (for decisions big or small) can delay that operation for as indefinite amount of time. Then, quite often, at the very last minute, that same individual picks whatever option works best, without considering the effects this kind of wishy-washy behavior has on those who are impacted by that painful form of indecision. 

Have I been victim of FOBO? You bet, when I have interviewed for jobs I didn’t get and was told “We’ll get back to you!”, never to hear anything back. Conversely, have I used FOBO for my own convenience? Yes, I had a few experiences with that practice many years ago, I found it convenient at the time, but it also made me look very bad, unreliable and didn’t help my reputation. 

This is why, very quickly, I refrained from using that tactic. While FOMO is the result of events we don’t quite control, FOBO is something that is well under our own mastery, so a chronic and continued case of FOBO can turn whoever uses that into a pretty rotten friend, colleague, business partner, and all-around person!

My dreams and my reality

We all have dreams and we all have a reality to contend with. As a result, there’s often a disconnect between our dreams and our reality, and often the former runs a step ahead in overall quality over the latter. I believe that happens with most people, but what do I know? 

This said, I must confess that for as long as I can remember and that runs at least a couple of decades (the double couple of decades before are, I must admit, is a total blur as my overstuffed memory can handle so much), a tiny number of my dreams have been pleasant, all the rest that made some impression on me were depressing, scary and amounted always to a lot of unpleasant work. 

Something most reasonable people would call nightmares. Perhaps is it due to the fact that bad dreams woke me up, while good ones let me sleep like a baby? That’s a fair possibility. 

At any rate, that observation leads me to say that if to most people their dreams are better than their reality, my dreaming condition runs exactly the opposite: My daily reality is way better than my dreams, I love it and I sincerely hope this status will remain the same for as long as I live. 

That, we’ll see!

Competition and me

I've never really enjoyed participating in races of any kind (running, cycling or skiing) as they never fail to bring out the competitor in me by stressing me too much, making me feel uncomfortable and often sick. It's not a situation that I particularly like. 

That said, I always remain in competition with myself. That's it, I am in competition between what I am able to provide and what I consider to be my potential. This is called self-competition. Is it good or bad? In fact, self-competition is simply pursuing one's own unrealized potential. 

When we find ourselves in competition with people, we have to follow rules invented by others instead of creating the ones that suit us perfectly. This brings additional stress by letting other individuals define our own performance criteria.

In a way, it forces us to compromise and even give up what suits us better, to satisfy other people's preferences. This is a bit why I am convinced that self-competition contributes even more to our personal development. 

We just have to set ourselves ambitious and exciting goals that are also useful and traceable, and by integrating our own values. When we are in competition with others, we leave it up to someone to define our objectives and that’s too bad.