The Basics
How long have you been at City Light? A full six years now, started in June of 2018.
Division: Customer Energy Solutions
Tell us about your role. I help implement Seattle City Light’s energy conservation programs. I work with commercial and industrial customers to help them save energy and guide them through participating in our conservation programs. People are often surprised to hear we pay our customers for using less electricity, but our conservation efforts help the utility manage its resources and save money in the long run by reducing stress on the grid.
Background
Hometown: Sammamish, Wash.
Alma mater: Western Washington University
Discipline/Trade of study: Energy management
Tell us about your family/pets: My wife, Sidar, and I have been together for 15 years. Sidar was born in Wenatchee, Wash. Her parents were Cambodian refugees who were granted asylum in the U.S. in the 1980s. We met in Bellingham while attending college. We have two dogs, Dash and Dixie, both were adopted from the Seattle Humane Society, and they acted as the Ring Bear (not a typo) and Flower Grr (again not a typo) in our wedding.
Just for fun
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else than Seattle, but if you’re giving away homes, I’ll take one on Lake Washington.
What was your first concert? Blink-182 at The Gorge Amphitheater the summer before eighth grade. It was over 100 degrees, I lost my shoe crowd surfing, had to walk two miles to our campsite without said shoe, and still had a blast.
Cats or dogs? Dogs.
What’s your favorite scent? A fresh cup of coffee. I’ve spent way too much money chasing the best cup of coffee. My home setup is worth more than the first few cars I owned, and on a recent trip to London I accidentally spent $21.84 on a single cup of coffee. I had thought the price on the menu was for a bag of coffee, but it was for a single 10oz cup. To be fair, it was one of the best cups of coffee I’ve ever had.
Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? Who’s your doppelganger? I’m constantly being mistaken for other people. A few times per year people will walk right up to me and start talking like they know me. Most of the time they just think I’m some person they know, or they ask me if I’m related to someone they know. One time a gentleman who’d had a few too many drinks thought I was an actor from the movie “EuroTrip.” When I tried to explain I wasn’t an actor, and hadn’t even seen the movie, he got upset because he thought I was trying to get out of signing an autograph for him. I have since watched “EuroTrip” and still have no idea which actor he thought I was.