For the past week or so, Diana and slowly started to notice more and more light contractions. From everyone I’ve talked to, it’s pretty normal to feel contractions in the weeks before birth, so we’re not freaking out about it. However, I have officially moved us to DEFCON 4. Other than that, not a whole lot of baby news to report. We’re about as ready as we’re going to be, and have pretty much settled into waiting.

In other news, we’ve had a meeting with a man about installing solar panels on our roof. The guy we met with analyzed our location and roof area, as well as previous year of electric bills, and presented a proposal to us about cost of installation, savings per month, etc. If we bought and installed solar panels that covered 90% of our current usage, it turns out they would pay for themselves in about 12 years. The panels are under warranty for something like 20-25 years, so, in theory, it’s a pretty good investment.

At least as important as the financial decision, though, is we try to be environmentally friendly when we can, and this seems like a great way to do our part. (And I have to admit, the idea of an electric car, fueled by self-generated solar power, is pretty cool).

The guy we spoke to was from a smaller, local company. We have another meeting with someone else from BP, who is paired up with Home Depot to do residential installations. It will be interesting to see who the two presentations compare and contrast.

Solar power seems pretty cool. I don’t know anything about how the panels are actually made (maybe it involves cutting down acres of rainforest, or spewing thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the mouths of baby seals), but it sounds like it’s a Good Thing. No moving parts, no side effects, no day-to-day maintenance. Just grabbing free power out of the air and using it. We’ll see how it all works out, but so far, I’m pretty amped (ha!) on the idea.