Well back in August 2010 I posted that I was excited about getting solar panels for our home and they should be installed by Christmas - HA! We have only progressed to the point where 10 months later we have mounts on our roof but no solar panels. We have watched our original SRP rebate come and go, watched our SRP rebate extension come and go, and now are applying for a new SRP rebate that is about $4k less since we can no longer renew the $10,750 rebate. The good news is that we received in writing from the company that we won't be charged the difference. At the same time they have no idea when our solar panels will get here.
In their defense, solar panels have been getting installed like crazy in solar farms, for businesses, and residence like me since the government started incentivizing us with tax deductions etc. Only 10 years ago solar panels were hardly ever installed and even then it was mostly a solar water heater. So, apparently solar panels have a higher demand than supply. With this being the case and knowing that a 5Kw/h system costs about $25k it seems that customer service would make sure I'm apprised of my ongoing status right?
Well as it turns out, unless they have good news - no news is bad news. And apparently the contractor I went with (Salt River Solar and Wind) doesn't like to spread bad news and so they don't return calls, when you get someone that will respond to you they don't have answers and they are incapable of providing you answers. So I continue to not get answers on my install and just as I'm about to contact BBB and the Registrar of Contractors I get an answer of "hey, we are working on it and we understand you are frustrated" but after another week goes by, still no one can provide and answer. I just sent another inquiry to the company . . . I hope after 10 months I can get an answer. So now I’m looking at the BBB site and it shows that of the 16 solar panel installers, this is the only one with complaints and as I viewed most of the complaints I see that they are all related to delivery. Just our luck.
On the flip side, as of May 1, 2011 the state of Arizona just increased all installs to a tax deduction of $6750 from $1000 so now we can charge more off over the next 5 years so that is worth the wait. I hope the next time I post anything about the solar panels they are installed – if not I’m sure it will be full of legal entanglements we are getting into.
Andrew “hope we get panels soon” Brown
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
"Unto Whom Much is Given" . . . Shadow Leadership
Today while I was running I thought back to my Canada Winnipeg Mission. My 2nd to last Zone conference had just ended and some of us missionaries were visiting outside of the church building. Suddenly we heard tires squealing from intense breaking, we spun around just in time to catch what appeared to be a blanket flying through the air and papers seeming to explode from the blanket. Then someone said, "Someone’s been hit!" We ran over and found an unknown Elder with his suit jacket flipped over his head as he lay on the ground. We helped him free his head from his jacket and he kept lifting his head and dropping it on the pavement. I ran back to my car and popped the trunk and grabbed our emergency blankets to put under his head. His arms were flailing as he seemed to be reaching for comfort and to be assured that everything was going to be ok. I reached for his hand and held it firm, squeezing it periodically to keep his focus. This was before cell phones and some one had already run into the church to call 911 (an Elder had to shove a sister off the phone because he didn't have time to explain the urgency). I now started checking out this Elder to see what the damage was . . . oh man, how is his knee aimed to the left while his foot is aimed to the right? That must be broken, I looked at his pant leg and there was no blood dripping from it - "Did you guys give him a blessing yet?" Yep, it came from a sister. Here we were, some 20+ missionaries constantly teaching of the priesthood and in the panic of a car accident none of us were composed enough to initiate a priesthood blessing.
My former MTC companion whom I had always detested as our personalities always conflicted took what I thought was the easy route, he administered the anointing of this Elder. When he had completed the anointing I looked up and saw the man that I always had looked up to and admired . . . my Mission President - President Christensen. I moved to give him room to seal the blessing as I looked upon him with eyes of admiration knowing if ever there was a man that could exercise his priesthood and administer to an accident victim and make him whole, it was President Christensen.
"Go ahead Elder Brown." I had not expected President Christensen to defer the sealing of the anointing to me . . . in fact I felt that since I didn't have good feelings towards the person that had just anointed that I should excuse myself . . . but here was a suffering child of God waiting for a blessing!! I silently made amends for my failure to forgive my MTC companion and to hold him blameless for my antagonistic feelings I had every time he came around - the failure was on my part and I made this my responsibility to resolve and did so in a moment. My hands were now on the Elders head along with my MTC companion and my Mission President. A blessing was pronounced. Afterwards I continued to hold this injured Elders hand until the paramedics showed up.
A few days later I visited the Elder in the hospital. He had two bones broken in his leg that required a 6 inch incision for the plate now securely screwed in place. He was released from the hospital the same time that we were to have regular transfers. He became my last companion as I was about to culminate two years of service.
In the last month, I washed his wound and dressed it 2-3 times a day as he currently wasn't able to keep it free of infection. Soon the infection was gone and it was showing a nice pink as it quickly healed. We baptized a mother and daughter that month - political refugees that had sought refuge by immigrating to Canada. We had choice experiences as I catered to his needs but ultimately as we taught this family on the second floor of the apartments, he had to hop up the flight of stairs to be with them and teach.
I look back and I think of President Christensen, why hadn't he led? How did he know that the little kid that I was, needed the purifying realization that my harbored feelings towards my MTC companion needed to be detoxified? How did he know that I needed to pronounce this blessing upon this Elder to have my faith and understanding expanded? I don't think he did know, I think that he was expert in practicing shadow leadership. He allowed me, the untrained, and the inexperienced, to feel the gravity of that situation and to have the chance to grow from it as I exercised the priesthood.
I learned plenty from President Christensen. He had shared the story of his daughter and her near death as he was a young father and the faith that he exercised in asking Heavenly Father for her to live. Not even 2 years later I would hold my own firstborn's lifeless body and with President Christensen's pattern before me I would exercise my faith and my priesthood in asking Heavenly Father to give my infant son life and to allow him to stay on this Earth in our family. We still had to perform CPR, suck fluid out of his lungs; but life was given to our son who is now 17 years old.
Thanks to all of you who practice shadow leadership - to allow people like me to benefit from real life experiences as we struggle to grow and understand the things that will bring us happiness.
Andrew "Been-In-Many-Great-Shadows" Brown
My former MTC companion whom I had always detested as our personalities always conflicted took what I thought was the easy route, he administered the anointing of this Elder. When he had completed the anointing I looked up and saw the man that I always had looked up to and admired . . . my Mission President - President Christensen. I moved to give him room to seal the blessing as I looked upon him with eyes of admiration knowing if ever there was a man that could exercise his priesthood and administer to an accident victim and make him whole, it was President Christensen.
"Go ahead Elder Brown." I had not expected President Christensen to defer the sealing of the anointing to me . . . in fact I felt that since I didn't have good feelings towards the person that had just anointed that I should excuse myself . . . but here was a suffering child of God waiting for a blessing!! I silently made amends for my failure to forgive my MTC companion and to hold him blameless for my antagonistic feelings I had every time he came around - the failure was on my part and I made this my responsibility to resolve and did so in a moment. My hands were now on the Elders head along with my MTC companion and my Mission President. A blessing was pronounced. Afterwards I continued to hold this injured Elders hand until the paramedics showed up.
A few days later I visited the Elder in the hospital. He had two bones broken in his leg that required a 6 inch incision for the plate now securely screwed in place. He was released from the hospital the same time that we were to have regular transfers. He became my last companion as I was about to culminate two years of service.
In the last month, I washed his wound and dressed it 2-3 times a day as he currently wasn't able to keep it free of infection. Soon the infection was gone and it was showing a nice pink as it quickly healed. We baptized a mother and daughter that month - political refugees that had sought refuge by immigrating to Canada. We had choice experiences as I catered to his needs but ultimately as we taught this family on the second floor of the apartments, he had to hop up the flight of stairs to be with them and teach.
I look back and I think of President Christensen, why hadn't he led? How did he know that the little kid that I was, needed the purifying realization that my harbored feelings towards my MTC companion needed to be detoxified? How did he know that I needed to pronounce this blessing upon this Elder to have my faith and understanding expanded? I don't think he did know, I think that he was expert in practicing shadow leadership. He allowed me, the untrained, and the inexperienced, to feel the gravity of that situation and to have the chance to grow from it as I exercised the priesthood.
I learned plenty from President Christensen. He had shared the story of his daughter and her near death as he was a young father and the faith that he exercised in asking Heavenly Father for her to live. Not even 2 years later I would hold my own firstborn's lifeless body and with President Christensen's pattern before me I would exercise my faith and my priesthood in asking Heavenly Father to give my infant son life and to allow him to stay on this Earth in our family. We still had to perform CPR, suck fluid out of his lungs; but life was given to our son who is now 17 years old.
Thanks to all of you who practice shadow leadership - to allow people like me to benefit from real life experiences as we struggle to grow and understand the things that will bring us happiness.
Andrew "Been-In-Many-Great-Shadows" Brown
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tons of Good News
Yesterday was a day of lots of good news. It started out with an email announcing the mission call of my Aunt & Uncle, Janet and Dennis, have been called to serve a mission at Cape Verde. It is a former colony of Portugal off the western coast of Africa. 4 Islands make up the country. They will be missionaries with the Perpetual Education program for the church and will be speaking Portuguese, a language he learned on his mission in Brazil. I'm so thrilled for them and the example they are to the rest of us!
Glory's sister has been trying to have a baby with her husband for several years and we just learned that a recent procedure was successful. She is pregnant after 10 years of trying! Now we wait to find out if it will be a single child, twins, or triplets!! We are so happy for her and her husband who have always been great with children.
We received a text during our family scripture reading last night. Apparently our son who does regular exchanges with the missionaries did some old fashion tracting on one of the nights. He ran into Patricia Sanchez, a 20 year old lady who had just finished praying for answers in her life. Because she was more comfortable speaking Spanish, the La Joya ward missionaries continued to teach her and she was baptized last night. A flurry of texts were exchanged with the missionaries to catch him up on the excitement. What a thrill to know that our kid has had a successful tracting experience before he has even gone on a mission.
Finally, yesterday we visited with the Estrella ward missionaries and they let us know that the folks that we had over to our home on March 5th have continued to receive the missionaries and are enjoying the message that they have to share. We knew we should have this activity at our house and we invited many of our Spanish speaking neighbors and our friends Lucy and Carlos Rivas. We had a great night and the missionaries shared a brief spiritual message in Spanish. We felt a bit left out but we knew our purpose of having the get together was being fulfilled. We hope to hear continued good news and hope the missionaries will take advantage of the natural friendship Lucy and Carlos developed with our neighbors.
I was really amazed that so many amazing things were realized yesterdays and just wanted to leave a quick blurb that life is good.
Glory's sister has been trying to have a baby with her husband for several years and we just learned that a recent procedure was successful. She is pregnant after 10 years of trying! Now we wait to find out if it will be a single child, twins, or triplets!! We are so happy for her and her husband who have always been great with children.
We received a text during our family scripture reading last night. Apparently our son who does regular exchanges with the missionaries did some old fashion tracting on one of the nights. He ran into Patricia Sanchez, a 20 year old lady who had just finished praying for answers in her life. Because she was more comfortable speaking Spanish, the La Joya ward missionaries continued to teach her and she was baptized last night. A flurry of texts were exchanged with the missionaries to catch him up on the excitement. What a thrill to know that our kid has had a successful tracting experience before he has even gone on a mission.
Finally, yesterday we visited with the Estrella ward missionaries and they let us know that the folks that we had over to our home on March 5th have continued to receive the missionaries and are enjoying the message that they have to share. We knew we should have this activity at our house and we invited many of our Spanish speaking neighbors and our friends Lucy and Carlos Rivas. We had a great night and the missionaries shared a brief spiritual message in Spanish. We felt a bit left out but we knew our purpose of having the get together was being fulfilled. We hope to hear continued good news and hope the missionaries will take advantage of the natural friendship Lucy and Carlos developed with our neighbors.
I was really amazed that so many amazing things were realized yesterdays and just wanted to leave a quick blurb that life is good.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Kensie Brown - Hair Designer/Colourist
My sister Kensie recently moved back from Kirkland, WA after 16 months of working as an Assistant and Hair Designer/Colourist. She had the experience of a life time but Arizona has called her back and it is time for her to start her own business here in Phoenix.
Growing her client base in a new area in the hair industry can be very tedious and just plain hard. That is why I need your help and referrals to start the word of mouth. Below is a link that connects to the Salons website where she works. All you have to do is fill out your name, email, and choose HAIR as your voucher and as a first time client you will receive 50% OFF your service(s).
http://www.salon3121.com/id69.html
If you agree that her service is exceptional, all I ask in return is that you tell people about her.
Please forward this message to a friend so that the word of mouth can spread...
Kensie's Accomplishments:
The Academy of Cosmetology 2008-2009
Redken Product and Color line 2008-2011
Redken Creative Color Academy 2010
Hollywood House of Hair 2010
American Crew Line 2010
Growing her client base in a new area in the hair industry can be very tedious and just plain hard. That is why I need your help and referrals to start the word of mouth. Below is a link that connects to the Salons website where she works. All you have to do is fill out your name, email, and choose HAIR as your voucher and as a first time client you will receive 50% OFF your service(s).
http://www.salon3121.com/id69.html
If you agree that her service is exceptional, all I ask in return is that you tell people about her.
Please forward this message to a friend so that the word of mouth can spread...
Kensie's Accomplishments:
The Academy of Cosmetology 2008-2009
Redken Product and Color line 2008-2011
Redken Creative Color Academy 2010
Hollywood House of Hair 2010
American Crew Line 2010
Monday, January 10, 2011
Children First Academy - so COOL!
One of my business customers is a school in downtown Phoenix that focuses on "at-risk" students and homeless children. In their attempt to provide these children with the tools they will need in life, they teach some truths that I find very refreshing. One sign had always caught my eye since the first day I visited the school. This weekend I took a picture of it.
Everything in this school is setup to give children the understanding they need to break the cycle of being at risk, for being homeless. The school has amazing teachers and administrators. My son earned his Eagle Scout award by performing his Eagle Project there. My second son is now gearing up to repeat this action as he is learning to make contact and follow up with the service/volunteer director for the school.
Above the school principles office is this saying: "We teach them correct principles, and let them govern themselves." How cool is that? This philosophy is why I think Children's First Academy (CFA) is so cool!
Children's First Academy, thanks for all you do for the community and for allowing the community to serve you.
(if you can't read the picture, this is what it says:
I am NOT the experience nor actions of my parents
It matters not how I became
But that I am
I am courage
I am compassion
I am hope
I am strong . . . I am here
You cannot define me as I choose who I become
I am the future
Everything in this school is setup to give children the understanding they need to break the cycle of being at risk, for being homeless. The school has amazing teachers and administrators. My son earned his Eagle Scout award by performing his Eagle Project there. My second son is now gearing up to repeat this action as he is learning to make contact and follow up with the service/volunteer director for the school.
Above the school principles office is this saying: "We teach them correct principles, and let them govern themselves." How cool is that? This philosophy is why I think Children's First Academy (CFA) is so cool!
Children's First Academy, thanks for all you do for the community and for allowing the community to serve you.
(if you can't read the picture, this is what it says:
I am NOT the experience nor actions of my parents
It matters not how I became
But that I am
I am courage
I am compassion
I am hope
I am strong . . . I am here
You cannot define me as I choose who I become
I am the future
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Iddy Bitties - Scooters and Purses
Here are the two youngest, they love to play together. In this pic they are circling the back patio. They love to do everything together and when one got their purse, the other had to get their purse too. When one started riding the scooter with their purse, the other had to copy. They have so much fun and I love watching them play.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Solar Panels?
"Cap and Trade" and other items are coming up all the time now along with "Carbon Footprint". Coal is dirty, nuclear power is dangerous, oil is polluting, etc - we are constantly hearing the tirade of how our power consumption is polluting this world and leading to Al Gore's climate change.
Recently the utility companies have been under pressure to obtain alternative energy sources that are renewable (hydro, solar, wind) and so they began offering incentives. The federal government has decided not to tax any purchases of this kind and the state of Arizona has followed suit. In addition to not taxing the equipment and the install, Arizona is giving up to $1000 in tax credits and Uncle Sam is giving 30% of the cost back in credits too. To sweeten the pot they gave us 5 years to claim these credits. Now this isn't like a child tax credit so you'd need to get your tax advisor's take on this as it is possible to not realize all of the credits you are eligible for.
Now with some improvements in PV (Solar Panels) and the cost of equipment and installation going down somewhat, it seemed like the best time to pounce before incentives decrease. So we have hired a company to install a 5 kilowatt hour system on our roof. It costs around $25K. SRP is reimbursing us up to the 5 kWh level at a rate of $2.15 per watt or $10,750.
So the breakdown of my costs is about $5,800 after I realize my tax benefits. So 5 years ROI. I was given an 18 month interest free loan that we are going to pay off before earning any interest and our electric bill will go down an average of $100 per month. If we make more power than we use than a credit is created on our meter as it will actually run backwards if we put energy out on the grid.
So I'm excited. I know there are a few things that may become major obstacles; some things will be a bigger issue than I have accounted for, and some things will be better than I imagined. I'm looking forward to having this bad boy installed and start reaping the benefits financially . . . and if I happen to be doing something "green" in the meanwhile then I can feel good about that too.
Recently the utility companies have been under pressure to obtain alternative energy sources that are renewable (hydro, solar, wind) and so they began offering incentives. The federal government has decided not to tax any purchases of this kind and the state of Arizona has followed suit. In addition to not taxing the equipment and the install, Arizona is giving up to $1000 in tax credits and Uncle Sam is giving 30% of the cost back in credits too. To sweeten the pot they gave us 5 years to claim these credits. Now this isn't like a child tax credit so you'd need to get your tax advisor's take on this as it is possible to not realize all of the credits you are eligible for.
Now with some improvements in PV (Solar Panels) and the cost of equipment and installation going down somewhat, it seemed like the best time to pounce before incentives decrease. So we have hired a company to install a 5 kilowatt hour system on our roof. It costs around $25K. SRP is reimbursing us up to the 5 kWh level at a rate of $2.15 per watt or $10,750.
So the breakdown of my costs is about $5,800 after I realize my tax benefits. So 5 years ROI. I was given an 18 month interest free loan that we are going to pay off before earning any interest and our electric bill will go down an average of $100 per month. If we make more power than we use than a credit is created on our meter as it will actually run backwards if we put energy out on the grid.
So I'm excited. I know there are a few things that may become major obstacles; some things will be a bigger issue than I have accounted for, and some things will be better than I imagined. I'm looking forward to having this bad boy installed and start reaping the benefits financially . . . and if I happen to be doing something "green" in the meanwhile then I can feel good about that too.
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