sum sums summertime

What a whirlwind of a month.  I wrapped up finals, wrapped up life at Hatelberg (my home for my first year at NHH) and made my way back (taking the long way due to volcanos and hurricanes) to sunny San Diego for the summer time.  And, since returning home, I've been keeping busy.  But, for those of you who know me, I'm sure that's not a big surprise :)  Now that I'm settled back into life in SD, I'm looking forward to blogging much more regularly.  There's so much I want to share! Just so little time to sit down and gather my thoughts.  

Let me start with my super last weekend in Norway.  My birthday was May 20th and my dear friends Bea (Germany), Vale (Italy) and Martha (Norway) organized a fantastic weekend to Stavanger and hiking Preikestolen (or the 'Pulpit' rock.... you will see why below).  We are a little posse (all ENE majors) and have a great time together causing trouble..... but mostly being nerds.  Martha's bday was May 16th and this was our last weekend together until next spring.  It was the perfect wrap up to our year together.

We didn't take this photo but just to give you a different perspective

my BV gals!

Isn't Norway beautiful?!  I really loved all of the outdoor activities this past year and I'm looking forward to more hiking this fall. 

I also wanted to share a neat graphic I came across at the end of the semester.  I think this is a great visual of something one of my classes looked at this semester- potential energy from natural resources.  The amazing thing is how much energy the sun gives us- really enough to cover the energy we consume it's just a matter of harnessing the power (goodness that sounds like a bad movie line).    Check it out:

Some interesting numbers I just saw from the EIA (source EIA) on electricity generation numbers over last year in the US:

solar generation in march 2011 up 37% over march 2010

wind generation in march 2011 up 20% over march 2010

hydro generation in march 2011 up 52.2% over march 2010 (and up 28.9% from Feb 2011)

natural gas generation in march 2011 up 5% over March 2010 (up 0.5% from Feb 2011)

nuclear generation in march 2011 up 1.6% over March 2010 (up 1.3% from Feb 2011)

Next up I'll write a little about what I've been learning about being back in SD.  Hello algal biofuels!  Also, I've been enlisted to help on my parents kitchen remodel and I might end up teaching surfing?  Ahhhh, never a dull moment.  Oh yes, and last Monday I ran up to LA to play a show at The Mint.  All good things.  I'm grateful for my opportunities.

Heading off to the San Diego Wind Energy Symposium tomorrow.

hugs from sunny (with some June gloom popping up) So Cal,
lisa

beeeeeeeveeeeeee