Go West, Middle-Aged Man
 



Farewell DC, Hello Seattle!
 -- Two days ago, my little family boarded a plane, lifted off from our home of Washington D.C., and touched down a few hours later in our new home in Washington state. Our seven-year sojourn on the East Coast is over. It was a spectacular run, including A Year in New York and six years in the nation's capital, where we met a fascinating circle of friends, bought a house, got a front-seat view of the Obama presidency, established careers, and saw D.C. transform before our eyes from slum into desirable hipsterhood. It was my third -- and most likely my last -- time living in this swampy cauldron of ambition and racial tension. I never felt like I belonged there, but D.C. nonetheless blessed me with indelible memories and lifetime friendships. I depart with a heavy heart. 

On the other hand, we now get to live in a green (albeit cloudy) outdoor paradise! I am a child of the West Coast and life is incomplete without mountains and the vast Pacific. My wife Anjali feels the same way, and when she got a great job offer in Seattle, we couldn't say no. I gingerly approached my editor with the prospect of a move. Her response: Happy trails, dude. The upshot is that I will continue covering energy technology and innovation for EnergyWire, as the company’s representative in the Pacific Northwest. In the off-hours I will climb glaciers, instead of kayaking in the bathtub water of the Potomac. 



 

Your Man in Havana – While speaking of geographic whiplash, let me mention I just returned from Cuba. EnergyWire sent me there to report on the decrepit energy system of the Communist island and how it might transform now that that the U.S. is easing its 50-year-long chokehold. I strolled the Malecón, caught taxi rides in 1950s Pontiacs, and wrote two stories: Cuba Wants Clean Energy. Can the U.S. Deliver? and Inside the Retro World of Cuban Energy.








 

Inside America’s Weirdest Energy Lab — I've recently visited a couple of laboratories that are are producing, not apps, but mind-blowingly cool things. As in hardware that can be touched and felt and that might make America a manufacturing giant again. In Boston, I toured Greentown Labs, where I explored the invention trend; in San Francisco, I saw a crazy makerspace called Otherlab and met its founder, Saul Griffith, an inventor who believes our future lies with inflatables

 






Fatherhood, and Other Dubious Decisions — My daddy blog continues to explore the joys and frustrations of raising a two-year-old girl. Crowd favorites include The Reluctant Mummy, about her mother’s unvarnished approach to motherhood, and Raising a Child on Bad Spanish, which is what I am presently doing. 











 
Unsubscribe <<Email Address>> from this list | Forward to a friend | Update your profile
Copyright (C) 2015 The Ferris Files All rights reserved.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp