Tall Decaf Soy Moksha

After working so hard over the week (I put in about 38 hours in 3 days), I felt very compelled to get a lot done over the weekend. I just won’t have time during the week to take care of much over the week.

I mentioned in my last post that I got my whole solar system set up last week. I noticed immediately that it wasn’t working! Of course, I had just started my job and had no time to investigate during day hours - you know, the hours when a solar system works :P. I thought I was going to have to un-mount the panel from the roof and was not looking forward to that, but it turns out I didn’t need to. I purchased wires with j-plugs (yah j-plugs, which are so new they practically don’t exist), so you just plug all the wires together and there’s no need for wire strippers, or connectors etc. Unfortunately, they switched the positive and negative colors on the piece that connects to the battery (what were they thinking?), so I basically connected the neg to the pos and vice versa. That was an easy fix and it works! I get ~19 volts and ~4.5 amps which is spot on for an 80 watt panel (this means the panel is in good shape; I wasn’t sure when I bought it). All together I spent about $300 on this solar system, which can power my computer for at least 8 hours straight every day and charge all my electronics without limit. Of course, it’s best for me to spend time in places with sunshine, but that’s true regardless of having a solar system.

I’ll be going to Rachel’s graduation this afternoon (Congrats Rachel)! She’s done with classes but not practicum yet, so she’ll be out of school in spring 2012.

Other than that, I’ve been cleaning, doing ‘house’ chores and reading a lot about astrology this weekend. The astrology I’ve read focuses especially on the year to come and also my natal (birth) chart. What have I learned? Here’s what it says as part of one of my aspects: “You seem to have a need to shock people, which should be stopped.” Haha… what? I need to stop shocking people? But it’s fun and part of my nature. Besides the people that are shocked by what I do and say are the ones that are most confined by their beliefs - maybe they need to be shocked! The aspect that brings this out in me is Mars conjunct Uranus. Mars is all about aggressive action and Uranus is all about non-conformity and being unexpected and sudden. Conjunct means that these two energies blend together and are brought out in me. Both Mars and Uranus are found in fire signs in my chart which makes my actions in this realm even more volatile. My chart is probably right though, it’s not usually great to shock people; I’ll have to work on that. :P

On the plus side, the aspect that causes me to want to shock people is the same aspect that, “bestows great vitality, honesty, intuition and courage.” This is also very true for me and I live and act through all four of those traits.

Thanks for reading!

It’s been a little while since I posted an update. I’ve got quite a bit to cover, so here it goes! I’ve been spending a lot of time in Berkeley and San Jose looking for work. I’ve had one major interview and I have a second one in a couple hours. I’m writing this partially to relieve some of the nervousness I have for the interview lol! I’ve been trying to find design work, but since I rarely get responses other than to say, “there’s too many applicants,” I’ve been branching out a bit. I’ve started a house and pet sitter business for the holidays which has already had many requests.This morning I also received a freelance designer request on my website. I feel things are changing positively for me and I’m very thankful for that!

I spent Thanksgiving with Rachel and her family, which was quite fun! This TG was very different from the type that I’m used to. We went to a modern steak house in San Jose, which didn’t have a lot of options for a vegetarian, but what they did have was very delicious. I had a beet salad, truffle mac and cheese and sauteed wild mushrooms. We topped off our evening with good conversation and watching Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship.

I ordered my solar charge controller and wiring on amazon which arrived at Rachel’s yesterday. I spent time over the weekend at Home Depot and made plans for mounting my panel to my van. It’s an 80 watt panel that will be hooked up to a 100 amp hour battery. I considered many routes for mounting including drilling into the van roof or strong adhesion, but because the roof is curved at the back I decided to hook it straight to the roof rack. This will make it easier to keep the panel if I decide to upgrade to a newer van later on. It took me about an hour to get all the pieces together and attach the panel to the roof. I rented a drill and drilled wholes into the solar panel frame. Rachel helped me get it on the roof and held the panel during drilling, but the project would have been entirely do-able be 1 person which is great! Everything is setup and now all I need to do is make sure everything is working properly.

Wish me luck in my interview! Hope you are all doing well and had a good holiday =)