In 2007 I consulted for Oakland based Brightsource Energy, which was developing central receiver concentrated solar power technology. The technical team had been responsible for development of the parabolic trough based SEGS units in southern California. CEO John Woolard dispatched me to Jerusalem to evaluate the engineering organization. I began my visit by meeting with the senior executives who were pointedly rude and hostile to my presence, and who directed that nobody talk to me while I was in the office. My recommendation was that the Jerusalem staff be kept because they were engaged in a demonstration project in Israel, and that my continued presence would be disruptive. [I later joined Ausra to lead their engineering].

After a coach class flight in the back of an Austrian Airways plane, I spent the night in Tel Aviv before heding to Jerusalem. I stayed at the Mount Zion Hotel, quite a distance from the office, but an easy walk to the Old City, which I explored every evening since I was on my own. One night I toured the Western Wall Tunnel with friends. My uncle Joe entered hospice that week, so I lit a candle for him at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.