Jersey to Cali Part Two: The Wine, the Rat & The Rest of the Day

The Wine

On the way to Project Green Home in Palo Alto, my electric vehicle boasting, well insulated abode for the week I stopped at Safeway to grab some grub and a small token of gratitude for my hosts- wine. I grabbed a wine that was on display, made in northern California. It’s a red wine with a nice label and in my budget so I snagged it, thinking to myself “how does anyone know? would I come out with a better wine if I spent more time searching and deliberating? I decided not so much. I arrived at the house, found the key in the rock outside where they instructed me to look and was greeted by a cute dog name Art or Artie that jumped on me excessively. The family was at a wedding that my host couple officiated, so I set the wine on the kitchen table, added some dark chocolate mint doves with it and a note of gratitude for their having me.

At dinner the following evening with a neighborhood family they took out the wine. “Menage a Trois.” I had no idea of the implications until the friend said she’d been wanting to try the wine, but didn’t want to bring it home to her husband. They asked me if I knew what it meant and almost didn’t tell me, afraid to corrupt my naïve spirit. A threesome.

It should come with a sign – do not bring to houses of new people- or leave for strangers with chocolate as a young single woman coming into a house. Can someone please make an app for that? I want to check all future wines for associations and to determine what’s good for whom. Maybe a scanner so I can steer clear of future implications that I may in some way desire a threesome.

We all had a good laugh, and they enjoyed the wine. And it’ll always be a funny story of the young single woman who came to their house and asked for a threesome without knowing it. And who turned out to be a cool young journalist who could stay a while, go the farmers market with the kids or enjoy a good EV talk.

The Rat

In the morning I awoke to a dead rat on the counter. I am staying with a family who has pet rats. It wasn’t just any rat, it was the eldest daughter, Gen’s, precious rat, Sprint, the second one to pass away that week. It had been a rough week.

Kate (the mother), Gen and Sophie (two daughters) and I went outside to have coffee and egg in a basket- egg inside a piece of bread. The eggs were straight from the backyard, from the chickens whose coos woke me around sunrise (I immediately closed the window and fell back to sleep).

In a rush to get out the door to go to a wedding, the parents had frozen the rat when they found it dead Friday evening. Sophie had laid it out on the counter and covered it with flowers from the wedding they had attended the day prior in an empathetic sisterly gesture.

We sat outside talking about the day, rat still on the counter inside. It was a good chance to get to know one another. Kate is from the east coast originally too. Gen and Sophie often bike ride to school now, and talk openly and honestly about many topics. They are very mature and responsible. They do chores around the house, and are quite giving. They have made me feel welcome and at home.

Gen and I went grocery shopping at the farmers market, one of my favorite things to do, and shared a pretzel. We got nan, whole wheat apricot bread, apples and vegetables for the family and she roller bladed home along side me. I felt like a mom and immediately was concerned every time she switched gears quickly, as she was not wearing a helmet.

Her and I headed there after she buried the rat with her dad alongside the other two in the backyard.

The resting of the frozen dead rat on the kitchen counter.

After the rat funeral..

And after I went to the market, I was picked up by my very kind and wonderful friend (and roommate) from college who lives in San Francisco. She chauffeured me around the Bay area to the various stops I needed to hit to get the pieces of my display: fabric as a backdrop to the photos to cover the foam board that will act as walls; the poster that I designed with all 36 caption cards at FedEx; and my 36 large photos printed at Costco.

Reviewing my newly printed posters & captions for my exhibit.

I stood in awe for a moment. I could cry of happiness for a brief moment of what I had done. It was all coming together. I also picked up the posters and display information of Power Watch, my partner who I built and designed the exhibit with. Power Watch is a project of the World Resources Institute that is mapping all of the power plants around the world on an open source platform. My photos and stories go with the data points and together we present a qualitative and quantitate way for you to understand the energy sector.

After that, my friend and I then went to McDonald’s nearby for Mcflurry’s and had a heart to heart. Through all the odd and challenging moments in the last seven months since I left DC, I can still say that in my current venture my highs are higher, and my lows are higher than in my previous position post grad. Maybe even compared to any other stages of my life (though that’s hard to say).

I encouraged her to really try to think about what she enjoys doing. For me, when I talk to people in the field, hear their stories and learn new things, I feel joy. And so my professional life is fulfilling me personally. I feel like I am always growing through my work. And that’s a beautiful thing.

She dropped me back off and said I’d see her later in the week.

Later I drove around the block in Sven’s (the father /original host) electric vehicle and he babbled about his favorite part, the heated steering wheel which was added by Kia as an efficiency measure because it provides heat to the driver and reduces the need to create hot air to blow through the vents, which uses a lot of the battery’s electricity. I did like that feature, which in a typical combustion engine’s car, would only be found in a luxury vehicle.

We were called in for dinner. I was reminded of what it’s like to be around children, more specifically 4 year olds (I was once a camp counselor for 4 year old boys). Then I had a great post dinner conversation with Sven about kids face today, and about Sven’s businesses, home, and the future of electric vehicles.

Only a little of the rat smell of the one living rat wafts through to my bedroom. I can officially say that I’ve witnessed a rat burial. And the official strings of my business and project are threading themselves together. I have a large 2 foot by 3 foot poster, photos and caption cards and a full gallery of photos to show for myself. Business cards and a website to back it up. It really looks like the pillars of Electric America have arisen. They are standing and now I happily climb to the top of them to see the view. Keep following as I find my way up, and surely slide down some. But for now, I am moving forward and it feels electric.