Lauren Lamonica

After years of study, I finally finished my MBA in May 2010. Each SF State MBA candidate is required to take the class called “Culminating Experience,” which is a series of case studies, discussion, and group projects. The class was upbeat and interesting, taught by Professor Sanjay Jain. Because San Francisco State University College of Business is very focused on sustainable energy, all group projects involved clean tech in some way. My group was responsible for analyzing wind turbine producer, Vestas, and for making recommendations.

One recommendation our group made for Vestas was this online household SCADA tool, which I mocked up. (SCADA stands for “supervisory control and data acquisition”.) The online tool is designed to provide a window into your household wind usage, through your energy provider’s extranet, which you might use for paying bills.

A few of the problems this tool aims to fix are as follows:

Problem #1 - because alternative energy sources like wind energy are managed and sourced by larger energy providers like Pacific Gas & Electric, there is often no end-user (in this case, household) connection to the alternative energy source. This does the opposite of empowering the user to make smart energy consumption choices.

Solution #1 - by providing a portal into household wind energy usage, beyond overall household energy usage, we are giving the end-user of energy transparency and control over their wind usage, and providing them with real cost savings.

Problem #2 - it’s not always windy when we need wind power, and it’s often windy when we don’t. AND, wind is difficult and expensive to store. So, off-peak wind usage is key to the success of wind power.

Solution #2 - this online tool uses your phone and the web to monitor and communicate about your energy usage, and alert you (the end-user; the household) when you’re using too much or too little energy. I threw in images of automated household appliances, like the prototypes shown at CES 2010 by Touch Revolution, to illustrate how we can automate household appliances, running a load of laundry or defrosting dinner during off-peak hours from the web or our phone.

After recently becoming pregnant, I’ve been forced to answer certain questions, for myself and others: “are you going to continue working?”, “how long do you plan to be away from work?”, and “what are your day care plans?” It makes me wonder why our normal work environment is designed in a way in which families have to choose between leaving their children for a full day, and staying home.

The job market is uncertain, but I’ve encountered people recently who’ve been looking for jobs forever. I’m by no means perfect, but have generally been able to get interviews when I need them. Here are some suggestions to those who can’t seem to find work:

1. Every interaction with humans is a networking activity. If you are out with friends having drinks, everyone should know that you’re looking for work. Think of your tab as a business expense.
2. Aim for a 9-5 workday. If you’re looking for a professional career, any job in an office is better than a job in a restaurant. This is because you will have a foot in the door at a company, will be surrounded with other professionals, meet possible mentors, and get to network at happy hour with your coworkers. If the admin job is really below you, you don’t have to put it on your resume.
3. If there’s a job you want, look at the job requirements listed under the job description. If you don’t have the job requirements, you’re not qualified. So either become qualified or look for another type of job.
4. Don’t label yourself. If you’re looking for work, you should be open to what the employer wants. Never say “I am an ideas person,” or “I prefer to work alone,” or “I’m not a technology person.” Saying stuff like that just gives the employer reason not to offer you a job. Listen for what they are looking for, and give them just that. It’s called marketing.
5. Being green doesn’t mean being low-tech. If you’re looking to score one of the extremely coveted positions of “green educator” or “environmental initiative manager,” you will be expected to be able to mobilize people using inexpensive tools, such as Facebook groups, starting a blog, or making a YouTube video. Liking the great outdoors doesn’t give you a free pass for being a late adopter of technology. On the contrary, you should be an expert.
6. Time is money. Take on free, challenging, but non-work projects like a running goal, learning to play guitar, making a garden, or reading a difficult book. If you have “free time” now, make the most of it. Once you’re working, you’ll regret not having spent your free time more wisely. There’s a few other reasons to do this: It will give you something interesting to say in your interview when someone asks “what have you been doing?” It will keep your mind fresh. It will give you a sense of accomplishment and control in the face of uncertainty.
7. It takes money to make money. Go to the smart networking event that costs $50. If there’s a Kinko’s resume stock, spring for it. If you’re not sure if your shirt is pressed enough, take it to the dry cleaner. Looking professional reflects common sense and education.

After an hour on the phone with my web hosting company retrieving a lost password and cleaning up thousands of rows of spam comments, I’m revisiting my blog. I’ve been experiencing many life changes and will do a better job of documenting them…

Just prior to an important birthday, I hiked Mt. Shasta . Like life, the top is higher than you think. I didn’t make it to the official summit this time, but I got very far, and learned what I need to get to the top. I made it above "the heart", and "red banks" and up to lower Misery Hill and Thumb Rock at 13K ft . We began our descent after sunrise at 6:30 a.m. It felt and looked like the top, walking along the crevasse between Avalache Gulch and Konwafkton Glacier.

Shasta isn’t miserable. Shasta is beautiful, especially along the ascent. The bleak white landscape creates the illusion of flatness and shortens the distance to the summit. While I was hiking up through the clouds, I realized why I love the architecture of Hugh Jacobsen, who uses white and gray to play with depth. I saw one of his houses years ago on a snowy day in the Berkshires and fell in love with the elegance and minimalism of his work. So beautiful and mysterious, like Shasta.

This was my first mountaineering experience. The trip required planning, as well as lessons in the use of crampons and an ice axe. For anyone who wants to summit Mt. Shasta, here are some things to know.

• You will need a bunch of gear and can rent almost all of it in Shasta. Things I rented were: Boots (for hiking in snow, and must fit crampons), crampons (spikes that attach to boots, to hike in ice), ice axe, climbing helmet, warm sleeping bag and pad, leg gaitors (go over pants to keep snow from getting in boots). I rented all of this at a place called Fifth Season and the total was about $145. You can buy most other necessities at the shop, too. We had a big checklist of things to bring, and I’d be happy to provide it upon request.
• You can do this hike in 2 or 3 days (or in 45 minutes, according to local lore!). The first day you can either hike to Horse Camp (about 9K ft) from Bunny Flat, or you can hike all the way to Helen Lake (10.4K ft). The difference is a day.
• Helen Lake is not a lake. It’s a ridge of snow, behind which is “tent city.” This is where hikers camp out the night before the summit to 14.1K feet. At Helen Lake, you camp until around 1:30 am and then begin the last leg of the hike. Getting up at 1:30 in 20 degree weather is…um…refreshing.
• You have to be in really good shape to even mildly enjoy this trip. It’s beautiful but aerobically tough and technical.
• Don’t take a camelback to the summit. The mouth tube will be frozen when you wake. Take a plastic bottle like a Nalgene. It will still begin to freeze, but the mouth should be wide enough to use for drinking the unfrozen water.
• Don’t leave or walk ahead of your group unless you have food. I hiked ahead, and at one point, I had to bum food from a descending hiker to get enough energy to make it to Helen Lake.
• Do the first 2 legs in 1 day, not 2. If you can’t do the first 2 legs in 1 day, you probably won’t be able to summit. The people who fell behind on day 1 did not attempt the summit.
• My main reason for not getting from 13K ft (lower Misery Hill) to 14.1 ft (summit) is that I couldn’t feel my right foot. Not sure what to do about that, but you must not let water into your boots. It will freeze overnight rather than drying, and then it will melt when you begin hiking—and proceed to freeze your feet. I found some battery-powered foot warmers online that I may have to get before my next attempt.
• My crampons kept falling off. So, be sure to get quality crampons or just learn to keep fixing them. Nothing is more disappointing then having them come off over and over again, in the dark, with little sleep, in freezing weather.
• Go with someone who has made the summit before. If you’re nice, they’ll help you put on your crampons (thanks, Chris!)

Years after graduating from CMU’s Art Department with a BFA in Electronic and Time-based Media Art (2001), I feel I’m getting some love! Not that the Art department didn’t appreciate my sell-out electronic art focus while I was there…but I feel I’m finally getting some publicity within their alumni newsletters. Also, I’ve been receiving catch-up emails from the Dean of the College of Fine Arts, little blurbs on their website…and CHECK THIS OUT: a snapshot of an interactive Shockwave movie I made is featured on the CMU Art Page!

This image is a screen shot of my old portfolio site at laurenlamonica.com, which linked to shots and videos of my 3D models, paintings, sculpture, performance art, VR worlds, videos and films, and my resume. I’m going to have to bring this site back up for the memories!

(It’s a snapshot because I don’t think you can even play Shockwave movies anymore).

I went to NY a couple of weeks ago to join an annual tradition in Long Beach, NY - jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on Superbowl Sunday. I did this for the first time last year with about 5,000 other Long Beach Polar Bears. This chapter was founded back in 1998 by my uncle, Kevin McCarthy and his friend, who wanted to do something crazy for their upcoming birthdays. A few years later, with about a hundred members, they decided to turn the event into a fundraiser for Make A Wish. In 2008, the event raised 350K. This year’s event, which has doubled in size over last year’s to almost 10,000 Polar Bears (a Guiness World Record), has been expected to raise almost 1 Million Dollars.

I am very proud of my uncle and everyone else who jumped into the cold Atlantic on this beautiful NY winter day. My family was all there in orange “staff” hoodies volunteering and collecting money for Make A Wish. What a great day. Here is a video, which features my uncle talking about the event.