Given the impending UC 8% pay cut (and some talk that faculty who are well paid should volunteer to take a 10% or 12% pay cut), I've been thinking about going on my own Wildcat strike. That's why I stopped blogging for 10 days.

I used my time away from blogging to attend the UCEI Energy Camp at Berkeley. This summer conference brings together some of the best people doing work at the intersection of energy/IO/environmental topics. I had a great time and it was good to see my old friends, co-authors and future co-authors. I even learned some economics.

While in Berkeley at my in-laws' house, I sat down and took pages of notes on a variety of projects that I'm working on. This helped me to "recharge my batteries" and I'm now quite excited about these projects.

The one funny thing to happen in Berkeley was that the UC Energy Institute is 2 blocks from People's Park . I went to this park to take a phone call from my book editor. I'm making progress on a book that will interest you when it will be published next summer! If climate change interests you, if cities interest you --- then this book may interest you. Returning to my boring story, as I discussed strategies and writing outline with my book editor --- several bums started to converge on me in the park. The paranoid New Yorker, that I am, thought that I would be cooked for dinner by this motley crew. I got up and abandoned ship and had to retreat to a safer haven to finish my phone call. Say what you want about UCLA but this does not take place in Westwood.