The owner of Buffalo Peak Ranch, Leigh McGill, desired to have a battery backup for the cabin and barn. Lightning strikes and falling trees (since the Hayman fire some ten years ago) frequently cut power for hours, even days at at time. While we could have installed a simpler grid-tied, battery backed or even auto-generator system, it was determined that to generate our own power from the Sun was a preferred solution.

We worked with The Solar Biz, an established, New Mexico based, family-owned distributor of all things solar to design and procure the system, my company Over the Sun, LLC the reseller and installer.

As many projects do unfold, it was more work than anticipated. We set concrete forms to support the PV panel runs, a good 32 or 36 inches below grade to avoid frost-heave. The racks required some modification, but nothing a hack saw and drill could not remedy, and in the end the panels sit side by side, perfectly aligned.

Our four man team was comprised of Trevor (ranch hand), Clint (son of the owner), Chris (renewable energy engineer out of Fort Collins, my co-worker and friend), and me. We worked well together, logging long hours for a few weeks in total.

The deep trench was started with a ditch-witch, but in the end, much of it came down to a pickax and shovel (and Clint’s strong back). The pipe was laid in place and then the heavy, thick cables lubricated and pushed/pulled through, chasing a braided, nylon string which was inserted into each piece pipe, one by one. I forget the exact length, but moving more than one hundred feet of cable is not a simple task. Each bend in the pipe, each joint offered more of a challenge as it neared the end.

I built a utility wall from which the Xantrex inverter and charge controllers hang. The eight 6V batteries (48V array) rest on a sturdy shelf beneath. Ample power to run the electric oven, fridge, microwave, and heaters in the fall and spring. This was my second Xantrex wiring effort (the first being my house in Loveland) and while familiar, it remained a bit tricky. But in the end, having rewired both electrical panels on the house in order to isolate mission-critical circuits for backup power, it works perfectly.

I cannot think of a place in which I’d rather work. At more than 7000 feet elevation, there are elk, coyotes, fox, deer, bear, horses and domestic buffalo. It is a place in which I feel truly calm. It is one of my favorite places in the world.

With 24 220W panels, the system generates a theoretical maximum 5200W. It produces more when in direct, early afternoon sun. But generally, we see between 4-5k with less than 10% total system loss (D/C from the panels to the charge controllers, batteries, inverter). It’s a good, functional solution that will generate more power, over the year, than is consumed meaning eventually, it will pay for itself in addition to its obvious functionality.

Even the hot tub is solar powered. That makes me feel good.

“Baby, We Were Made for Each Other”

Last night Sarah and I attended an evening with NPR’s Scott Simon, hosted by KUNC, in Boulder. Scott is on tour to talk about his life at NPR, and to promote his new book, “Baby, We Were Made for Each Other,” about the experience of adopting two children.

For me, meeting Scott was putting a face to a voice as familiar to me as that of my own father, for I have listened to him nearly every Saturday morning for more than a decade, perhaps as many as fifteen years. His thoughtful approach to sharing not just sound bites but complete stories is the very essence of NPR’s philosophy which draws more than thirty million listeners every day.

Scott is a deeply intelligent, engaging, humorous individual who knows how to deliver a story in such a way that the audience laughs and learns at the same time. But by no means was the entire evening filled with humor, for Scott himself was moved to tears as he spoke of the loss of Dan Shore this summer, and the joy of his two adopted daughters. With him, many of us in the audience were moved as well.

Scott spoke of his friendship with Senator Paul Simon whose adopted son’s birth certificate stated he was Native American. Only at age twenty eight, when he was reunited with his birth mother did he learn he was actually Swedish. The mistaken identity was the result of a hilarious misunderstanding at birth, which when told by Scott caused the entire audience to nearly fall from their chairs.

Scott tells of his oldest daughter, now six, throwing a tantrum in a restaurant. Scott, his wife, and daughters excuse themselves from their friends to go home.

His daughter says to Scott’s wife, “Mom, I was hungry.”

His wife responds, frustrated, “Then you should have eaten the food you left on your plate!”

“No, when I was in my mother,” referring to when she was in China and her mother did not have the resources to keep her healthy, even before birth. And then she continued, “Why didn’t you come for me then?”

For as hard as we laughed that evening, we cried as well.

It is a rare individual who can be on the road as often as Scott is, speaking to people two, three or a half dozen times a month and on every occasion deliver his stories in such a way that each audience feels they were the first to receive him on what must surely be the beginning of his tour.

A Passion for Public Radio

I took from this evening two things: an appreciation for those a man who moves people without ego and without fear; and a deepened sense of appreciation for public radio.

In speaking with the station, content, and music directors of KUNC I found myself engaged with individuals who have been involved with KUNC for as many as three decades because they truly believe in what they do.

I was reminded that public radio is not just an alternative to commercial radio, but is an expression of a strong philosophy for how news is to be recorded, edited, and reported–for how the art of communication and story telling must be carried into the 21st century if we are to maintain some semblance of integrity in an otherwise heavily filtered world of sound bites and political slants.

There is not a day that goes by that I do not listen to NPR, in my home office or via satellite radio while driving. And as my friends, co-workers, and climbing partners will verify, there is not a day that goes by that I do not quote some portion of a story I have heard on NPR.

While this is may begin to read as a publicity piece for NPR, I do ask that for those of you who listen to public radio, please contribute to your local affiliate station; and for those of you who do not, you don’t know what you are missing

Today was a good day, for it marked the fruition of more than a year of thinking, dreaming, sketching, designing, problem solving, and collaboration with an incredibly gifted team.

Today marked the birth of iConji.

Whole Foods is, according to a hilarious (and all too true) daily calendar “Stuff White People Like“, the ultimate epiphany of olive bar congregation, hand lotion sampling, and coffee, bread, wine and cheese tasting for those who want everyone else to know they are doing the right thing.

To have stumbled into Whole Foods on Earth Day should be, according to the 365 tear-off pieces of paper, a cosmic orgasm of organic ecstasy to save Planet Earth, one echinacea infused, rose hip and lavender bottle of carrot juice at a time.

Quite frankly, I found it a bit overwhelming and would have run away were it not for the incredible variety of free samples of chocolates, breads, cheeses, and pastries. I nearly abandoned my plans for dinner, realizing that just two or three rounds, from end-cap to end-cap would likely suffice for a complete, 3-course meal.

At the table for Zinger brand trail bars, I enjoyed a few samples which reminded me of Bit-O-Honey candy when I was a kid, the rich flavor of honey so much preferred over any variety of processed sugar.

But on the right most paper lined dish was an assortment of red blobs, the diameter of a quarter and roughly half the height at the peak of their shiny, waxy dome. If the woman serving the samples had not explained that they were a new kind of “power shot”, I would have assumed someone failed to recover a highly displaced Christmas tree ornament box, its contents spilled neatly on this end-cap at Whole Foods.

At her request for me to try a sample, I shook my head stating it just didn’t look like something to be consumed, at least not without good reason.

Just then, a sharply dressed and quite fit woman I presume to be in late sixties or early seventies stepped up, grabbed one of the red drops and popped it her mouth. I looked at her, and then back to the woman behind the table and said, “If she starts tap dancing, I’ll eat one too.”

As though we had rehearsed the routine for weeks, she started to tap dance. I nearly fell over. She looked at me and said with a confident grin, “I used to tap dance, you know.”

I clapped my hands and said, “Hah! I knew it!” and then turning to the woman behind the table, “Guess I better try one now.”

And that is how I was witness to tap dancing at Whole Foods on Earth Day.

The Fall Guy
Earlier this year I met “Ed” who had setup an interview for my friend “D” with a particular City of Phoenix official. Barrel chested, chisel cut and strong, especially for his sixty+ age, Ed was like no one I had ever met.

Conversation with Ed from parking meter to the upper floors of the City government building revolved almost entirely around his work in Hollywood as the stunt double for one, very famous actor.

Ed did not fail to remind me nor D how much of a favor he was doing for her by making this introduction. Anyone else, he explained, would wait weeks to gain the attention let alone a meeting of this particular person. Ed pointed to the security cameras, the guards, the locked doors–all of which we passed with relative ease due to the people he knows and the trust they have in him.

I took all of this in stride, intrigued by this strong bodied and strong willed man who was keen to make clear his position with or without solicitation. Even if a bit overwhelming, I enjoyed the hour for Ed was also complimentary, in a fatherly manner, when it came to his emphasis that D would succeed if she focused and continued to move her life in a chosen direction.

At the end of the interview, Ed escorted the two of us back to my car, a little more than two blocks North of the City building.

The Hang Man
In the interest of his time in Hollywood, I invited him to attend the public screening of this year’s first Almost Famous Film Festival event. He glanced at the license plate on my car and incorrectly assumed the event was held in Colorado, quick to state “I won’t go there.”

I asked, “To Colorado? Why?” thinking he had an outstanding speeding ticket or perhaps an ex-wife who would hunt him down if she so much as smelled him within a thousand mile of her home. I could see that, given a strong predilection for stating his opinion.

But instead, Ed replied, “It’s about upholding my ethics.” Ed paused to look at the tips of his fingers and chew a blade of something which had found its way to his mouth. He looked at the sky and then back to me and D. “Too many goddamn liberals in Colorada. I told myself I will never set foot in that State again, not as long as Colorada is overrun with them kinds of people.”

I didn’t know if I should laugh or turn and run, but I was pleased to have cut my hair a few years earlier. I silently hoped he hadn’t noticed the foreign origin of my car.

He took a deep breath, leaned against the back of his white Ford pickup truck, head back and eyes narrowed into a tight focus, elbow propped on the closed tailgate, “You know what I got in the back of this truck?”

Oh shit. In broad daylight I was noticeably nervous that he had something in the back of his truck I didn’t want to see. Neither I nor D responded, which was in retrospect the best possible reaction.

“A rope.” He paused again, for effect I am certain. “A rope for hang’n. You see, in the old days, I would’a used it for hanging just about anyone if they crossed me, if you know what I mean.”

Ed glanced at D who is of African ethnicity, and my amusement was fully replaced with a very uncomfortable feeling. I considered the implications of what he had said with a sense of horror and at the same time belief that his story likely carried a Hollywood flair, perhaps a slight confusion for the movies in which he had acted and his real life.

“But I learned a thing or two and I have changed my ways. I don’t think like that any more. But I’ll still use it, ’cause there are plenty of folk that still need a hang’n. If you do something wrong, and I catch ya, I’m gonna use it, understand?”

This was not exactly the sort of thing I was used to hearing on the streets of Phoenix. Then again, I could not think of a better place in which to receive a live, serious Eastwood monologue outside of Dodge.

“You see, I ain’t afraid to do what’s right, to stand my ground and fight for what I believe in. I ain’t gonna go to Colorado no more ’cause it lost its way. On the principal of who I am, and I gotta stand by my principals, I won’t go there.”

“And just the same, I’ll hang a man for crossing me or anyone I care about and protect. I care about her mother

A Simply Evil Evening
For this year’s Halloween, I attended a gathering of ghouls at the tomb of my neighbors Pete and Daniella. The party was perfectly … horrible!

The front porch was itself a haunted house, the Jacob’s Ladder lighting the fog as it sizzled from bottom to top. Inside, The Exorcist played without sound while witches cackled, pirates said their share of “Arrrggh!” and monsters did groan. When the devil had ensnared each and every soul through food too good to pass by, one frightening fiend read an original story about this hallowed eve which included each of those present, the youngest of which, a vampire, ensnared by every word. The night concluded with a most wicked guitar duo which surely roused all in hell to dance, only to lay down again.

Before the days of dying in lines at the mall, digging graves for our debt, people told stories, ate good food, and scared each other just enough to make the walk home a little faster than that which brought them together.

This is a summary of more than ten years’ remodeling of my home in historic, Old Town Loveland, Colorado. Other stories about the work on my house include Shot in the Back and Fiddler Through the Roof. Earlier photos are forthcoming …

Do we really have to buy it?
In the fall of 1998 my parents drove up to Colorado from Phoenix, Arizona to co-sign on my house. At that time, I had never carried a credit card nor debt of any sort and therefore had no credit history. I was proud of this fact but the loan officer was just shaking his head, tapping the computer monitor screen as though the lack of data were incorrect, impossible.

My parents arrived just hours before the signing. My mother stepped from the car to the sidewalk where my then girlfriend Janet (owner of the famous Yellow Dog “Potter”) and I greeted them. My mother stopped, looked at the house, at my father, and then to me. My stomach did one of those implosions as though someone invisible punched me. I had hoped for “You did well. Good choice,” or at least, “Well, it’ll take some work, but it will be a jewel in no time.” Rather, with tears in her eyes, her lips quivering as she fought back the words, “Do, do you really have to buy it? Maybe there is another one?

Three weeks ago the Fixstars Solutions’ Colorado operation was closed.

I have been waiting for the right words to move from mind to brain, from fingers to keyboard. I believe I have been waiting for something profound, something worthy of the closure of more than a decade of my life and yet this transition was neither sudden nor unexpected and therefore, perhaps, not worthy of a great deal of commentary.

Much of the value for which Terra Soft was acquired by Fixstars was eroded by decisions made by key vendors, then compounded by market trends and weak economies. Frustrating and certainly not foreseen last fall, I feel for Fixstars’ CEO Miki-san who spearheaded the acquisition of Terra Soft in challenging times as a means of rising above the average. I am certain he will find a new, solid direction.

Director of Engineering Owen remains on-board from his location in Victoria, Canada and is working with the Tokyo-based engineers to advance Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux (YDEL) offerings.

As I am no longer involved with the Yellow Dog, I am both thankful and sad for what was, excited and uncertain for what will be.

The Sale of Terra Soft to Fixstars
An interview by Kristen Tatti, Reporter for the Northern Colorado Business Report, with Kai Staats, founder and former CEO of Terra Soft Solutions.

Just shy of ten years from the formation of Terra Soft Solutions, I am proud to have sold my company to Fixstars of Tokyo, Japan. This experience was truly positive, well timed and well executed, a blessing in challenging times as described in the following interview with NCBR.

> Has acquisition always been a possibility for Terra Soft?
> Have you entertained previous offers?

The potential for acquisition is about being willing to sell, yes, but more importantly about someone wanting to acquire. Some companies are built to be sold, an acquisition the most common exist strategy. While I was open to the possibility of selling Terra Soft, and had entertained two conversations twice in Terra Soft’s history, it was not until working with Fixstars and Miki-san that this became a real opportunity.

> What was Terra Soft’s relationship with Fixstars prior to the acquisition?

Fixstars had for the prior two years used Yellow Dog Linux in their work with IBM, Sony, and their systems which use the Cell Broadband Engine micro-processor.

> Was selling the company a difficult decision to make? Why/why not?

Not at all. A risk, yes. But a difficult decision, no. The timing was right. The acquiring company was a good fit. But most important, I was ready to let go because I recognized that through the acquisition my team and our product line would be accelerated beyond the level otherwise afforded by our then current path.

> How will your role/responsibilities change as the COO of Fixstars?

Very similar to what I was doing as CEO, actually, but with opportunity for more focus on key customer relations and systems integration and knowledge sharing between our North American and Japanese offices.

> Are you releasing financial details of the acquisition?

No.

> I noticed that the Fixstars Solutions subsidiary is headquartered in San
> Jose. Is that office already set up? Will you be working out of the
> Loveland office still?

While working through the due diligence of the acquisition, we were also busy establishing the new company in San Jose. There are no permanent employees in that office location yet, but that team will be built in 2009. My team remains as we were with Terra Soft, in Loveland with home offices in Montreal, Quebec and Victoria, B.C.

> What does this acquisition mean for you and the Terra Soft team
> (ie: new capabilities, focus, markets)?

With the offering of a complete ecosystem, meaning hardware, operating system, and optimized applications, we will be focused on deliver of turn-key, vertical market solutions such as medical imaging, industrial inspection, and financial modeling.

This is the best means by which we can deliver systems built upon the Cell processor, which otherwise presents a challenge to many code developers due to the rather immature, multi-core programming paradigm and associated tools.

> Do you anticipate growth (revenue and employment) at a
> faster/slower/similar pace as a part of Fixstars?

Must faster.

> What will be the biggest change for you, personally?

I am truly excited to work for someone else for the first time in thirteen years as it frees me to focus on my strengths and worry less about my weaknesses.

> What will be the biggest change for the Terra Soft team?

Greater financial stability. Being part of a larger, international organization. With the addition of Japan, we now have four, soon to be five countries represented by our employee and contractor base. This has been a hi-light for me, personally, as I see cross-cultural business interactions as a bridge to greater personal empathy and understanding.

> Looking back at the past 10 years, what was the biggest challenge Terra
> Soft faced?

The chicken-and-egg reality of trying to gain the trust of larger organizations who recognize and appreciate the value of our products, but questioned our ability to support them or their customers. We could not grow our team without larger customers, but could not gain larger customers without growing our team.

With Fixstars, we have moved from a half dozen engineers to over 80. With the largest Power architecture Linux development team in the world, this is resolved.

> What was the biggest success?

There were many. Building a company for which my employees enjoyed working. Every product launch. Travel across the world. Building personal relationships with talented, smart, kind and caring individuals that transcend the confines of business. Navigating the challenging, intricate relationships in Sony and IBM. Helping process the images from the Mars rovers. Working with Lockheed Martin, the Sony SCEI (PS3) and B2B (BCU-100) teams. And beating the odds, again and again and again when so many people said it was impossible.

> Any regrets?

None. There were many mistakes, but there is no value in regretting them. Experience comes in many forms, and positive or negative at the moment, it remains a valued experience.

> What will you miss about being a business owner? What will you be glad to be done with?

Nothing :)

> Would you consider starting another business in the future?

Already have two in motion.

> What challenges do you see in the future for Linux operating systems? What
> challenge has Linux already overcome?

Linux is like no other product on the market. It evolves rapidly, finding entropy in the midst of what may appear to be chaos, a community of like-minded, talented individuals diligently applying their ever-increasing experience to improve the quality of thousands of applications.

In recent years, those larger organizations have adopted open source paradigms, finding value in embracing the open source community as a means of delivering a higher quality product with less internal overhead.

IBM once painted the sides of New York City skyscrapers with Linux advertisements, but now it is Google that is causing radical shifts in open source product development, recently launching “Android”, a Linux operating system for PDAs and Cell phones.

Ten years ago it was exciting to see Linux adopted in any new device, but now it is so commonplace that no one thinks twice. Televisions, cell phones, real time image processing systems on-board military aircraft, land, and sea vehicles; embedded medical image processing systems (ie: CAT) and weather modeling supercomputers all run Linux.

Linux has overcome the challenge of being adopted and made common place. It’s future is truly limited, as the license enables (in the truest sense of this over-used word), only to the imagination of those who work with it and the power of the new hardware which it supports.

I am pleased to state that after a three months pause in my writing, I chose this afternoon to sit at my favorite home-away-from-home, Fort Collins’ Mugs cafe to work on a screenplay I left dormant for the past few years, re-inspired by recent events in my life.

But when the fruit smoothie and hummus tray were fully consumed, my belly full and brain sugar deplete, I found myself nodding-off. The repeating keys across the screen a clear sign that my body required Walrus ice cream if I were to remain at all functional. I left my laptop at my corner table, and headed north on College.

As I neared Mountain, the sound of classic rock ‘n roll grew in volume until it was clear there was an outdoor concert, common in Old Town Square in the summers. But what caught my attention was the genre, “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC on a Sunday afternoon. With my single scoop of Bing Cherry in a chocolate dipped sugar cone, I walked across College and into the walking district of historic Fort Collins. The quality of the cover was surprisingly good.

But as I neared the stage, I could barely see the three guitarists or lead singer. Only in the final steps was it apparent these hard core rock ‘n roll enthusiasts were between the ages of ten and fourteen (tops).

The lead singer could have been a stand-in for Harry potter in the first two movies, his medium length bangs covering the upper half of his wire-rim glasses. The stage-right guitarist wore a white Oxford style shirt, tie, blue coaching shorts, and low-top Converse classics.

The tallest of the crew by two heads was of course the bass guitarist, a girl maybe fifteen years of age, but likely less. The drummer was clad only in shorts, his skinny, pale upper torso not much larger in diameter than the drum sticks he wielded.

I thought for certain this was a lip-sync show, for the tone of the lead vocalist was dead-on, his prepubescent screeching highs a perfect, even if uncontrolled match for the original recordings. A guy wearing a black Motley Crue tour shirt stood to the front. He held his right hand high, fingers splayed, and lowered his head in respect for this dynamic kid crew.

They finished their set with High Voltage Rock ‘n Roll (the namesake of their band), the guitarist clad in Converse walking into the center of the crowd, his wireless feed perpetuating his high speed, high energy finger play as he fell to his knees and then right hip, spinning in a complete circle.

The crowd demanded more, but the next band was already standing at the ready, eager to have their shot at the lime light. Wow! What a fantastic show of young talent and courage.