IMLP Blog Alumni

Entries in Holidays (7)

Thursday
Dec242009

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from the IMLP Blog

A few photos of light displays powered by GE technology all around the world. [via GE Reports]

Paris, France: GE Lighting has been a partner of the annual Champs Elysees event since 2002. The number of pedestrians visiting the famous avenue is expected to rise from an average of 300,000 to 500,000 every day reaching more than a million on Dec. 31. Celebrities including Liza Minelli, Johnny Halliday, Monica Belluci, Vanessa Paradis and Marion Cotillard, attended the illumination ceremony.

On the famous Champs Elysees this year (photo posted above), “a glittering forest of fuchsia” lights adorn more than 400 trees for two kilometers — and an additional 120 trees are decorated with 30,000 flashing lights to represent the “light from falling stars”. Meanwhile, across the ocean in Washington, D.C., GE’s design of the 2009 National Christmas Tree this year has made it the most energy efficient in history — with LEDs using about 6,000 watts compared to last year’s 18,000 watts.

Read more at the GE Lighting web site.

Washington DC: GE has been designing the National Christmas Tree since 1962, producing and donating the lighting and decorations.

"This was the inspiration behind GE’s design of the 2009 National Christmas Tree, now the most energy efficient in history, consuming about 6,000 watts compared to last year’s 18,000 watts.  This year’s tree will be outfitted entirely in LEDs and will feature background lighting, a topper and ornaments all utilized in past designs.

The lighting design features 750 strings of white LED lights, half of which are C5 LED lights reused from last year, and half of which are new LED crystal minis, giving the lighting a more three-dimensional look.  Each string only costs 14 cents to run for the entire holiday season. The topper for the tree is the same heirloom topper used for the last three years—a 42-inch star made with industrial grade, warm white GE Tetra® LEDs.  The ornaments all come from the tree’s recent history, with gold stars from 2008; white stars from 2004; and red and gold starbursts from 1998."

[via TheNationalTree.org]

Read more about GE & The National Christmas Tree here.

Friday
Dec182009

Hands on with Santa Claus

GE's Santa Sleigh So as part of my rotation I have had the amazing experience of working directly with a team, that works with a team, that works with a team, that works for Santa Claus. Those teams have been hard at work for the past year or so developing some amazing proprietary technology for Santa’s sleigh.

We all know that traditionally Santa has had a rather old fashioned sleigh pulled by his reindeer, but the reindeer are getting old and so is Santa and so GE has solved some of those traditional problems. Some of the new features include OLED lighting, RFID Asset tracking (for Santa’s many gifts), and much more. Another cool thing is that most of this stuff is in development or has been developed by GE already.

Take a look at the app below to learn more.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Dec162009

A Houston Snow Day (Just In Time)

In case you missed it on Twitter, the news, or on the Weather Channel, it snowed in Houston earlier this Month.

As a native northerner (I'm from Ohio), a few flurries here and there is commonplace for me (I'm used to the white stuff falling from the sky), but things were a little different in Texas.

When it started to snow, I noticed that businesses started to close early and people were getting off the roads (including yours truly). My co-workers at Oil & Gas in Houston advised me of the same.

The best part was watching people take pictures of their snow covered cars with their smartphones.

Moving around the country and observing and living through different climates is one aspect of the IMLP Program that goes beyond one's daily work.

 

 

 

Monday
Dec142009

An IMLP Winter in California

Well, with Hanukkah upon us and with Christmas and New Years around the corner, I couldn't help but think about what the weather is going to be like in New York when I return for the holidays. As of now, it has rained for a grand total of 5 days spread across the entire 5 months I've been out here in California. The coldest it's been was around 40 degrees, and that's only at night and early mornings.

I am a winter person. I went to school in upstate New York, Syracuse University to be exact (GO CUSE!), and right around now, I would be trudging through 6 inches of snow to make my way to my last final of the semester. So naturally I miss the white stuff, especially because there are three small mountains within 45 minutes of the campus to ski on whenever you want.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Dec042009

T is for turkey (and technology)

Here is a little story about how technology and the internet saved my thanksgiving.

 

This year, my cousins (all 3 of them) and I decided to take 'take over' our annual family Thanksgiving dinner. During planing, we generated a list of what we wanted to make for dinner and divide it among each other. As T-day grew closer emails started going out asking for others to pick up ingredients that were not available in our local grocery stores.

Finally Thanksgiving was here! And everybody had what they needed...except me. I was missing some ripe plantains (which somebody forgot to pickup for me...). Being in New Jersey... I had no clue where to go and some family members were 'less than helpful' since most of us are not from the area or just moved there recently. 3 hours until dinner is served and I'm missing ingredient! What do I do?!

Click to read more ...