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Byrds, Dogs, Burning Hair, and Restless Anticipation

By September 16, 2020November 5th, 2021Energy Rant

Distributed, independent, economical, efficient, reliable, resilient, flexible, adaptable, technical, clean, redundant, modern, profitable, renewable ready, and doh, smart!

What is this? A microgrid? No, it’s Michaels Energy. We’re back[1]. The Rant is back, and we’re ready to rock and roll!

Let us take a look back a year and briefly review what has progressed in our company. As our clients know, before the microbe, which shall not be identified, forced the closure of bars and hair salons nationwide, we reorganized the company and modernized our team to possess microgrid characteristics. The reorganization required my first-ever sabbatical from the Rant in ten years. That lasted several months from October through January.

I returned to Rant writing in February. We had a great AESP Annual Conference in Anaheim, and then to our chagrin, the hydra landed and everything was cancelled. It didn’t seem like the time for marketing and wise-cracking with the Rant. It was a somber time. In fact, television ads featured plenty of somber piano music, repetitive characteristics, and banal words and phrases like: years of service, we’re there for you, people, family, now, more than ever, difficult times, unprecedented times, uncertainty, distance, connected, safety, home, help, here for you (no longer there for you?), together, clapping and barking.

Every single ad had the same drama, elements, words, phrases and progression – precisely the opposite of the Rant’s purpose, which is to be different. As far as the Rant was concerned, it was pine-riding time for Jeff.

But as the Byrds sang, there is time for this and time for that, and it’s time to turn baby – Yeah!

What We’ve Been Up To

Along with many people reading this, I spent a record number of hours writing or contributing to a record number of proposals since April. Coincidence? I would say no. When we can’t meet or get into each other’s business [sic], the real work subsides, and it was time to bang out RFPs and corresponding proposals.

In the meantime, we sped through the development of remote approaches to building investigations, customer interviews, and measurement and verification. Before the hydra landed, these approaches were well underway to save time and money, and to be more convenient for customers. The hydra simply brought them briskly to completion and through successful testing.

I’m no good at waiting, and I don’t accept cancellation well. I thrive when there is too much to do – when my hair is on fire. I think all of us can’t wait to get back to something like that.

[1] We never went anywhere.

Jeff Ihnen

Author Jeff Ihnen

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