Standing here on the Golden Mile you can look either way and get a sense of endless possibilities. Chicago is an urban power house filled with small town Americans. It is a city of robust retail might, diverse manufacturing and financial muscle. Chicago is a transportation colossus; a trans-shipment mecca for people and goods. In the midst of all this Chicago has an art and architecture that is part Frank Lloyd Wright, part George Gershwin and part Jackson Pollock. The extremes are on display, no doubt, but somehow the corners are all rounded. From the buildings to the people this is a metropolitan city of unmatched purpose.

I'm here until Thursday for Power Systems World and, specifically, the Power Quality Conference, where I will have a presentation on Thursday morning. The power quality business has been taking a beating in North America since Y2K and we are all here looking for business answers, process fixes, product mixes and perfect combinations with other complimentary electrical system products and services. What I see is more of the same on the show floor, but from some of my advance scanning of the papers there are some interesting things going on out there that many of the product leaders have not picked up on yet. More to come.