Go Green at Home

Did you hear what happened in San Francisco recently? The city enacted a bill which would give HUGE and MASSIVE rebates to people installing renewable energy, specifically solar energy in their homes or businesses. The major of good ole San Fran signed this into legislation today!

If a home installs a photovoltaic (solar) system, they are eligible for between $3000-$5000 in tax rebates, and for a business the rebate goes up to $10,000. Wow! That is over $3 million worth of tax incentives for renewable energy!

While this is an overall effort that is being looked at across California, San Francisco lead the way with this.

In my humble opinion, there are many other cities ans states which have the potential to benefit even more than this.

Anyone know if good ole sunny Colorado is looking into this?

What do you do? (Part II)

I've been asked on numerous occasions, "Do you really do that?" I find it an odd question but understandable. Most people do not realize that one can be a SAH parent AND be in charge of our own business. I''ll address those two topics in the next several paragraphs.

In terms of being a stay at home parent, I my wife and I have always thought (least for me and my wife) that if our life situation allowed, that one parent be there when the kids are at home. Its just part of what we wanted to be as a parent team when we first started thinking of raising a family. Now this I know is only true for our situation, and not true for all families. Some very successful families have both parents working full-time outside of the house. I tip my hat to them, I know my wife and I couldn't manage that. So, when the situation came up that my wife was going back to work, I didn't think twice (OK, maybe twice anyway) about staying at home with my kids. Its just part of what we do as a family. Or a solution to a problem so to speak. Both of us found it rewarding in different ways at different times.

In terms of being in charge of ones own business, well I'll definitely say that you have to want to do it. No bones about it, you gotta want to work at it. There is definitely alot of work involved, but there is an equal amount of reward as well. I don't mean entirely financial reward either. I greatly cherish the fact that I am the boss. How my business does is a direct reflection of how hard and how smart that my wife and I work at it. I've worked for other people and is not my cup of tea. I loved it in the Army when I was in charge, making all the decisions, calling all the shots.

What I am involved in now is a unique opportunity to both be a SAH parent and run my own business. It allows me to work on it when the kids are either at pre-school, or over at a friends house, or down for a nap or asleep for the evening. When they are awake, my focus is on them and what my family needs and wants.

I will tell you that for myself, I have found ample opportunity to work if as a SAH parent. You've just gotta decide to give up a few things. For example, I can't remember the last time I watched TV. Not interested in the least in it, except for the news and weather probably.
Being organized is key. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy other things as well. I ski, exercise, jam out on video games once in a while, love going to baseball games, hang out with my kids, etc. I just make the best use of my time that I can.

I'll admit what I do is not for everyone, but the rewards can be great. You can be there for your family, AND run your own business. I still coach my kids soccer team, drop them off for school, take them to piano, help them with their homework. Instead of leisure time, I work at my business. It's an awesome life in my opinion. Fun being there for my family AND having something myself.

I heard this somewhere and I think its a great quote. You have to create the future you want, it wont come to you by thinking about it! That's what I'm doing, creating the life I want and I love it!

Jolly Green Dad

So what do you do?

"So what do you do?" is the common question when you are meeting someone casually for the first time. Until recently, I could always reply, "I'm an Army Officer" or "I'm a big important exec at XYZ corporation" or something to that effect.

However, recently I have been a little perplexed as to how to properly answer that question. I stay at home with my kids and work an awesome business that my wife started...so i wonder, how do I answer now?

I guess many people go thru some sort of questioning like this whenever they go thru a big life change like I did. For the most part though, I always imagined I would always be a "Big Bidnez Man" or something along those lines.

I guess what I have come to the realization of is that its not about a title or anything like that, but about who you are and what you care about and how you help others that is important. I truly cherish the fact that I am staying at home with my kids now and have given my wife the opportunity to pursue her career goals. I'm also very appreciative of the fact that I am working with a wonderful company.

So...I guess my reply to the question is now, "What do I do? Well, I'm the Jolly Green Dad."


Jolly Green Dad