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After a lovely dinner with my wife and son for my birthday we decided to go to Best Buy. As we walk in a late model Infiniti SUV pulls up and then a bald headed Latino guy gets out. He walks in and immediately I tell my wife its Raúl Ibańez! She tells me to chill out and calm down. I'm like no, its him! We get inside and I look for the bald head. I see the shine and its him. I walk up to him in awe and say "Mr. Ibañez". He was very friendly and said hi to my son. I asked for a picture and without hesitation he was in his stance as my wife snapped a pic. Definitely was a stand up guy.

Now give out a hearty Raaaaúl!

With the rain delay, Rolling getting hurt, Bastardo blowing the save and Lidge hitting a batter with the bases loaded it was a bad day to be a Phillies fan. It was my first time at Nationals Park and I loved the stadium. There were much more Phillies fan in the stadium than Nationals fans but we left out a bit empty. The stadium workers had a good time throwing the loss in my face at the Metro station.

I felt honored to be able to stand in front of the only public electric charging station in Pennsylvania at 1600 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd in South Philly (http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/progs/ind_state.php/PA/ELEC). For the past couple weeks I have been on an electric car rampage. Reading reviews, researching specs and watching YouTube videos. I was lucky to get to drive the Nissan LEAF this past Friday with Nissan's 'Drive Electric Tour'. I really like the LEAF because it is 100% electric but sadly, as you can see, there aren't too many electric charging stations in the area. I envy those who live in California who have TONS of charging stations. This is why I don't feel that the Nissan LEAF is ready for primetime in the Philadelphia area. 

First of all I can't even buy a LEAF if I wanted to (http://bit.ly/r0MgqC), Nissan isn't selling it in the state yet. The other thing is the lack of public charging stations. When the charging stations do pop up they have to be the Level 3 type, not level 2 like pictured above. The Level 2 stations will charge a LEAF around 7 hours but a Level 3 could charge it 80% in 30 minutes. Who's going to sit in a parking lot or gas station and wait that long? California, Colorado and other states give generous tax incentives for purchasing an electric vehicle. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 in rebates (http://bit.ly/oFbJ8P). Along with a federal tax credit of $7,500 those rebates/credits add up quickly. 

If I lived in a house and the LEAF was being sold in Pennsylvania I would buy one (or lease it ). The home charging station costs $2,200 but you can get some of that money back from the feds. The future is here and slowly but surely these charging stations will be as ubiquitous as gas pumps. I can't wait.

I remember my first Square reader coming in one of those cheap plain looking semi padded envelopes you get from the post office. Now with over a $100M in funding Square is doing their best Apple impersonation with stylish packaging and I like it.

The Nissan LEAF is a pretty slick car. I wish I could have test drove it for more than 5 minutes. A drive on 95 to see how it moves at faster speeds would've been nice. Other than that the it drives just like my Altima. The car surprised me and was actually roomy especially in the back row. The staff was very helpful and friendly. I think bringing my son along helped.

If you have nothing to do this weekend stop on by the Piazza at 2nd & Germantown to test drive it!