Last Night I got to have dinner with 2 angels:

I was blessed with these girls right around Christmas 24 and 22 years ago… I’ll always be grateful to their mother Rachel, I can’t imagine my life without my daughters. Both of my girls have finished college debt free, landed great jobs and they’re out there independently surviving in the adult wilderness, figuring out shit like we all had to do.

They call me for advice, and sometimes they actually listen!

Grace was born just before the turn of the century, so her age will always match the year; 5 in 2005, 40 in 2040, 75 in 2075…

We are living through an age of rapid change and massive challenges, but I feel like Claire and Grace’s generation is the the most progressive generation, the most tech savvy, the most forward-looking generation of humans who have ever existed, and that gives me hope.

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My generation was not as progressive, but I’d like to think that these solar installs I’m selling across Tampa Bay will have a positive ripple effect that will benefit the generations after me, because we need to make huge changes now.

I’m in Elon Musk’s generation, and he’s done more to electrify transportation than any other human being on this planet… not to mention Tesla solar, the 2nd largest installer of solar in the USA behind Sunrun.

The success of Tesla pushed other car manufacturers into the EV tech race, almost too late in the game!

When I was Claire and Grace’s age there was zero rooftop solar, zero electric cars for sale… heck, the first Prius hybrid was still a few years away! Here I am, in 2022, with an electric car in my driveway powered by a massive solar array on my roof. However, I’m still one of the few homes in my subdivision utilizing technology in this manner. Most folks are stuck in the old ways of doing things.

My neighbors pay $220 per month to the electric company and still drive gas guzzling trucks and cars with huge V-8 engines. There is plenty of backward thinking still out there…

Yeah, ‘Murica! Freedom to not get vaxxed, then die soon after!

Grace will be my present age in the year 2047. I hope and pray that things will be better by then. There might NOT be a global solution to climate change until some truly terrible events take place…. then again, there might be advanced tech solutions that come into play in the 2030’s that we can barely imagine today.

Artificial Intelligence might really move the tech needle in a way that no one anticipates today.

Heck, back in 1997 who knew LED lights would become a thing? LED lights use 6 times LESS energy than the old incandescent lightbulbs, with a much longer lifespan. Back in 1997 Elon Musk was just starting Paypal… who knew he would leverage that fortune into the most innovative EV / rooftop Solar / Rocket company on the planet?

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I hope that the current political turmoil we see today is just a ripple in the pond, and not the precursor to a larger tidal wave just over the horizon.

I don’t think the January 6th insurrection was an isolated incident, and I’m worried about a much larger action in the next 24 months, especially after the next Presidential election in 2024.

Violent political action here in the USA could easily trigger a nasty economic recesssion, and we’re overdue for a correction not only in the stock market but also in the vastly inflated real estate market.

Remember the 2007 real estate bubble? Looks just like real estate today in 2021.

The folks who buy a home right now are going to be upside down by 2024.

I bought a house in 2003, for peanuts, Still live here, for peanuts. Might pay off my mortgage soon, depends on how many solar deals I can close in 2022.

As a business owner all I can do right now is help grow Tampa Bay Solar, pay off my home, be a good father to my girls, and a good son to my parents… the turmoil and change will come, no matter what we do in our personal lives.

I’m blessed and thankful to be in the solar business, with great partners in a great position.

I’m grateful to spend the holidays around my family and friends.

Tonight I’m singing this at church… but not as well as Jonathan Antoine:

And my outfit will certainly NOT be as fancy, that’s fer sure.

For Christmas Dinner I’m having a bunch of friends and family together, all vaxxed up, of course.

I hope you have a nice holiday, whomever you are!

Ben Alexander

December 24rth ::::::::::::::::: 2021