The Launch Pad: December 2009

Christmas 2009

Has it been a year already? I suppose that it has been a year since I have spoken to many of you. I hope that this update finds everyone and your families doing well. For the most part, I am doing well despite some challenging times and life is ....well its good. Things are good for me here in Houston and I am glad that I can say that. On the surface, the unfortunate end of 2009 would seem to betray the good that they year has brought my way, but that is not the whole story. So where have I been? What have I been up to? Glad you asked.

I took a moment to look back at last year's Christmas note from 2008, and then I looked back at the one before that from 2007. They both share the common fact, as is true this year, that I am looking for work. Yeah, three years running, but I will get into that in a moment. Shortly after I posted in last year with you around Christmas, I got a call from Haddington Ventures, a small private equity shop here in Houston. With the Federal announcement of hundreds of millions of dollars flowing towards the energy sector through grant and loan guarantee programs, they had a need for somebody to research and apply for those programs. I have split my year with two of the Haddington start up portfolio companies leading this effort seeking DOE funding. I wrote a $27.5 million grant for the biofuels business and also a $30 million grant for the renewable power project, Norton compressed air energy storage. For Norton, I also worked on part one and part two loan guarantee applications to secure DOE guarantees for about $280 million in debt.

Over all it has been very interesting working in private equity and I have learned a lot in several areas. I got a chance to dig into the biofuels industry and learn a lot about how feedstocks create long term value in that industry. I am also taking away a lot about what it takes to put together a project finance and the right way to negotiate with the DOE when it comes to raising funds. All of that is a huge plus for my energy career. So why am I in the market again looking for a job? Well, Norton was sold to FirstEnergy early December. I had hopes that we would capitalize the company, finish development and EPC, build the project and there would be a role for me there on the team. But that was not to be, and there is no work for me going forward at Haddington. Things have ended on an amicable and good note with respect to my contract which is good. As always there is more to the story, but I won't dwell on any of it here. Buy me a beer and I will tell you the whole story. I certainly can't hide the fact that this is very hard to go through yet again.

Mom is doing very well and her medical situation is much, much better. The doctors are very happy with her recovery and I hope and pray all of that is put to bed for good. As for me, I am doing just fine. Not a lot has changed with my day to day life in Houston. I am still pretty active at Texas Children's helping out with the foundation. My on unit participation has slowed with them taking a very guarded approach to H1N1 and protecting the patients. As for fun stuff, unfortunately there were not a lot of fun get away trips this year to report on and that two week vacation that I have been waiting on remains elusive. I have been very focused and busy at work on many applications so that has taken a lot of time this year. Easily one of the best get aways that I did make was an all too short three day trip to Cabo for a wedding. This year was also my Kellogg 10 year reunion so I went back to Chicago to catch up with the Kellogg Family. The "just for George vacation" will have to be on the list for next year.

Having the contract job this year allowed me to get active again skydiving after tapering my jumps off end of 2008. Because of the contract job not providing much long term security, I did not commit to a four way team at the beginning of 2009 for the entire season which was a disappointment. Fortunately there was plenty to do in the sport other than membership on a team and I have logged just over 500 skydives to date. I obtained my coach rating which is the first instructional rating allowing me to work with some skydivers just starting out. I also was asked to fill in as a substitute for a couple teams that were training on occasion.

By far the coolest thing I got to do in the sport was compete at the USPA Nationals which was held at my dropzone this year. It's difficult to convey the magnitude of the event in a short explanation, however I would best sum it up by saying the event attracts the best skydivers from around the world. During the two week competition I would estimate that there are well over 6,000 individual skydives made across all of the disciplines. I participated on a four way team that competed as a guest team because of our international members from France. We did quite well given that we did not train and had not previously jumped together. I wrapped up the year jumping at the Ballunar Festival at Johnson Space Center which was lots of fun. It's not often that you get to jump at a place that you have previously worked for two days in front of hundreds of people.

Well that sums up much of the update from me on the year. Please stay in touch and post in from time to time. Let's see where 2010 takes us. Closing it out with some video of my skydives from this past year. You will note that some of the video is first person POV made with a GoPro mini camera mounted on various locations on my harness or helmet. You can find me in the rest of the larger formations in black with black/red/gold container. Have an awesome Christmas with you family and loved ones.

The Friday Feeling

It's back. Maybe I am just having a bad day (and I am certainly allowed that), but the frustration that I remember on Fridays during my job search is back and bigger than ever. This is hard. I don't know how much I have in my tank this go round. I can only hope that this will be over quickly.