Return of the Cube

With our time in Rio comes the return of office life in the city. Crowded subways, coffee robots, hermitically sealed and air-conditioned buildings, the 40 hour workweek, and, of course, the cube. We have professionally-led (and hilarious) workout sessions set to music in the midst of the cubes. Today it was Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” as we beat carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Despite these strange and unnatural conditions, the work here has been interesting. We find ourselves in a truly emerging wind energy market, where the government has recently passed very favorable incentives, more electricity is badly needed, and it’s stupid windy. Many people are looking for knowledge about wind power, and we are in an ideal position to help. Our Brazilian colleagues are curious and excited to learn. It’s a very positive environment to be in. Working is also the only way we could realistically spend this amount of time in Rio, an expensive city by any measure.

On another note, Rio is crazy about fire extinguishers - they just can’t get enough! On our commute to work we counted no less than 48 fire extinguishers between our building, two subway stops, and our new office. We also live a block from a fire station. Weird. 

Rush hour in the subway tunnel

Pole position for the train

Crowded train

View of the business center

The coffee robot

Workout time

In your face CTS

Air conditioner/cold torture machine

Another important business meeting

Risk Management