Welcome to the TikyToky
FlippyFloppy
SlippySloppy
...And without further ado, I bid you a pleasant viewing.
Feel free to send this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKYC6d7tok to friends and family. This is what your sons and daughters were doing all week. As Lindie rightfully put it -- "someone asked me to sum up the week in one sentence and all I could say was the week was one big dance."
(That's actually not a real quote, but I like to pretend to be a journalist sometimes. Nevertheless, Lindie essentially said that... what's that called, paraphrasing?
Miss you guys! Have a good Summer!
Official Historian,
~CCMMX
Friday, April 30, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wrapping things up
As of this moment, we are officially done volunteering for the week. I'm sitting in the couch room right now (1:26) with six other people are we're talking about school. It is strange to think that school is a little over two days away. I'm personally feeling like a vacation from a vacation. I'm sure most of you understand that concept. We don't have to wake up until 8:00 tomorrow, so we're taking advantage of the lack of a curfew tonight, in order to chat a bit.
We woke up today and went about the standard procedure, but today was hardly standard. First of all, the company that Habitat buys its lumber from brought us donuts and coffee! It made the morning so exciting! I think most everyone got a donut, but a lot of people didn't drink the delicious Starbucks coffee. I don't know how it happened and I didn't notice until I realized I had peed 3 times, but I think I may have gone through something like 5 cups. Granted they were those mini-cups, but still too much coffee for one person.
The work site today was a swamp. The heavy rains from Thursday collected in massive puddles around the site, but we didn't have to deal with any rain the whole day! It was a relatively slow day. I continued working on trim for the counters with Lindie and we moved into the sanding phase and laminate phase. Some other tasks in the group included the flooring in the last unit, painting doors and trim, installing trim, outside house trim and some goofing around.
In the goofy category we find yet another face. below (I don't know if you can tell) is a brontosaurus! Rotate it a bit and it is a frog. Fancy that. I found several others that will be on Picasa later, but once again it is getting too late to function, let alone type a sentence.
Above we have two masters of disguise. The Kevin and Brian are skilled at camouflage and had I not identified them I'm confident you would never have guessed...
Here is our champion, Bill. In order to capture a decent image of him you need to catch him by surprise. In this case, I called out "Bill, smile" and he turned around, smiled without thinking and before he could take back his smile, I snapped the shot. He is an incredible guy with the whole project on his mind. Lindie and I agreed that the question of the week is "Where is Bill??"
These two stellar painters may as well pay me for this photo. It's unfortunate both Katie and Nikki are only sophomores, because this could probably be a senior portrait. All you readers might want to consider mailing money to these two, just because they look so responsible. Of course they are responsible, but that is not my point. I'm actually not sure what my point is myself.
Does anyone else feel like I am just rambling at this point? I'm beginning to feel that way, so I'll start to wrap things up for the night. Above is an attempt at an artsy shot. What does that mean exactly? Sometimes it means there are no people present and other times it means I use my close macro setting on my camera. In this case the latter is true.
Here is Lindie finally getting out of the house that was her cage for the first 4.5 of 5 days during the trip. I can't remember if it was her goal to use a big nail gun, like this one, or if she just happened to be playing with a nail gun after leaving the couter-top crew. Either way she appears to be having fun!
Finally we have the last group photo at the work site. This turned out rather well and if you're interested in printing a copy, I'd suggest checking out the Picasa page for a bigger version. I won't be uploading tonight, but maybe tomorrow morning over breakfast.
Tonight we invited Joe, Kara and Bill to our chili dinner. Bill had a date with the wifey, but Kara and Joe showed up to hang out for awhile. We ate, played a game of mafia, had mass and played a second game of mafia. The chili, prepared from Maryanne's vegetarian (Friday) cookbook was amazing and in the first game of mafia Kara, Katie and Brian rocked the competition dead. There are reasons for this of course (as are there reasons for the towns people's loss in the second game), but going into it will only get people like me a little to excited (or better put, anxious).
Tomorrow we wake at 8:00, eat our french toast breakfast, and head out by 10:30. It will be nice to have my own bed once again, but we will all likely miss each other and I certainly know I will.
Stay tuned for C.C.MMX Dance Video. It will... dominate your senses!
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday Rain
Hello!!
Tonight will be a short one. I'm tired and need a good sleep so I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
As Jenn quite accurately pointed out tonight, today turned out to be (for many) the real hump day that Bill described would be Wednesday. The rain was no help by any means. The day started like our Mon, Tue, Wed, but after less than two hours, I think, the rain came rollin' in. It did not stop for the rest of the day and Lindie and my day (installing floors) was certainly characterized by muddy footprints.
Before the rain showed up the whole work site came together as a team to disassemble the scaffolding and move it from one side of the house to the other. The back side of the roof was complete and the shingles were going up on this side today (we're completely done with the roof now). Here is a picture of the moment I realized how cool the effort truly was..
Also, here in Exhibit 8 we have a return creature. The Emily was so curious about the cameras that she made a second appearance. Here we see the Emily in search of food. The Emily lives on a diet of bugs, grubs and critters, you see... and by far the fattest grubs are the tastiest! She lifts the heaviest objects, because she knows the biggest bugs are probably underneath. What she doesn't know is that we have hidden a camera under this piece of scaffolding and the only thing she'll get here is a flash of light in the eyes and we'll get a cute picture of an Emily! ; )
Exhibit 9
Here we have a motion shot of the Nikki. The Nikki is related to the praying mantis and has a similar fighting style. She uses her agile dance moves to entice her prey and then she captures them with her pincher fingers using a motion mimicked in modern day human martial arts classes. Do not let the eyes fool you reader.. She is watching you and the moment you forget it, you're dead meat!
Exhibit 10
We didn't honestly expect to see one of these creatures on our trip into the jungle, but then again it doesn't appear that this Jennifer expected to see us either. The little creature looks terribly frightened. The Jennifer lives underground all winter and rarely is seen by humans above the surface this time of year. They are, however, very curious little guys (and gals) and this one poked up at pretty much the worst possible time. Jennifers, you see, are deathly afraid of large creatures and following this likely traumatizing experience with a human, the Jennifer will likely retreat into her hovel for another two months, until she works up the courage to leave in search of good beats and t-shirt weather.
Here is a picture of the site at the end of the day. Eventually I will put a comparison picture together of the house from this angle at different stages. I need to get to a better computer though, in order to attempt that sort of crazy technical mojojojo..
At one point I found some more time to take face pictures. Nikki also aided me in my search. We came up with a good amount, but here are just two of the better ones.
We're also happy in inform that we may be putting together a little dance video. It is in the works and may take some time before it is complete (like after the trip is over), but look forward to seeing that. It may actually be surprisingly good stuff (so long as you can stomach the "hip thrust.")
On that note, I think I will head to bed, because I promised myself a limit to an hour and I might come in a bit under. There won't be any new photos on Picasa tonight, but these are most of them. (the rain does a number on the photo shooting activity)
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
P.S. Tynishia informed me today that her mom thought I was a girl. First of all, I find this hilarious and second I am in fact a guy and my name is Kevin. I hope I don't come across as a girl to everyone, else next time I blog I might want to state that ahead of time somewhere, I guess. Then again, what the heck does it matter?? -- good night
As Jenn quite accurately pointed out tonight, today turned out to be (for many) the real hump day that Bill described would be Wednesday. The rain was no help by any means. The day started like our Mon, Tue, Wed, but after less than two hours, I think, the rain came rollin' in. It did not stop for the rest of the day and Lindie and my day (installing floors) was certainly characterized by muddy footprints.
Before the rain showed up the whole work site came together as a team to disassemble the scaffolding and move it from one side of the house to the other. The back side of the roof was complete and the shingles were going up on this side today (we're completely done with the roof now). Here is a picture of the moment I realized how cool the effort truly was..
Also, here in Exhibit 8 we have a return creature. The Emily was so curious about the cameras that she made a second appearance. Here we see the Emily in search of food. The Emily lives on a diet of bugs, grubs and critters, you see... and by far the fattest grubs are the tastiest! She lifts the heaviest objects, because she knows the biggest bugs are probably underneath. What she doesn't know is that we have hidden a camera under this piece of scaffolding and the only thing she'll get here is a flash of light in the eyes and we'll get a cute picture of an Emily! ; )
Exhibit 9
Here we have a motion shot of the Nikki. The Nikki is related to the praying mantis and has a similar fighting style. She uses her agile dance moves to entice her prey and then she captures them with her pincher fingers using a motion mimicked in modern day human martial arts classes. Do not let the eyes fool you reader.. She is watching you and the moment you forget it, you're dead meat!
Exhibit 10
We didn't honestly expect to see one of these creatures on our trip into the jungle, but then again it doesn't appear that this Jennifer expected to see us either. The little creature looks terribly frightened. The Jennifer lives underground all winter and rarely is seen by humans above the surface this time of year. They are, however, very curious little guys (and gals) and this one poked up at pretty much the worst possible time. Jennifers, you see, are deathly afraid of large creatures and following this likely traumatizing experience with a human, the Jennifer will likely retreat into her hovel for another two months, until she works up the courage to leave in search of good beats and t-shirt weather.
Here is a picture of the site at the end of the day. Eventually I will put a comparison picture together of the house from this angle at different stages. I need to get to a better computer though, in order to attempt that sort of crazy technical mojojojo..
At one point I found some more time to take face pictures. Nikki also aided me in my search. We came up with a good amount, but here are just two of the better ones.
We're also happy in inform that we may be putting together a little dance video. It is in the works and may take some time before it is complete (like after the trip is over), but look forward to seeing that. It may actually be surprisingly good stuff (so long as you can stomach the "hip thrust.")
On that note, I think I will head to bed, because I promised myself a limit to an hour and I might come in a bit under. There won't be any new photos on Picasa tonight, but these are most of them. (the rain does a number on the photo shooting activity)
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
P.S. Tynishia informed me today that her mom thought I was a girl. First of all, I find this hilarious and second I am in fact a guy and my name is Kevin. I hope I don't come across as a girl to everyone, else next time I blog I might want to state that ahead of time somewhere, I guess. Then again, what the heck does it matter?? -- good night
Rock around the Clock (happy days)
Gruss Gott alles!
I know the title is lame and so is the link below, but I liked the idea and once I listened to the theme song again I was sold on the idea. Once they start saying "Monday, Tuesday happy days.." it makes me think of each day here. (aaaahhhh... I know.)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMxkMy9JvXI)
Coming up with a title for each post is like a blogger's worst nightmare. You have to pick a word or phrase that sums up the day or the blog entry. Most of the time I pick something that probably makes little sense to anyone. That is probably the safest bet, because then everyone who reads it will just be like "haha, those crazy kids, what silly things they say these days." Honestly, a lot goes into each title, but its a bit like hitting shuffle on your Ipod. Yeah a lot of stuff pops up that doesn't make sense, or is completely inappropriate, but you hope you might find something eventually to settle on.
Okay, now that I've unnecessarily given you blogging 101, since you're probably here to read about our adventures, I'll move on to what's important; Our hump day.(P.S. we're going back to small pictures, because they upload faster and you can see the big versions on the Picasa page [see "Photos!" post]
The group will probably kill me (in mafia) for uploading these stunna morning pictures, but I believe I said in the last entry that I'd try and get some shots from outside the work site. Here are some of us in all (maybe just some) our glory! We are readyy to take the day.
I may have also mentioned these sweet cars that we drive from place to place occasionally. Here's a nice picture of them polluting the planet on the cold and crisp morning that today was. Captain Planet would not be happy (insert unnecessary picture of Captain Planet(seriously though, you might want to be googling Captain Planet right now))
Okay, anyways, Bill (project volunteer coordinator) informed us this morning at the work site that Wednesday (hump day) is always the most lazy, because people are starting to get tired etc.. And do you think we had that??? I don't think So. It was more like a self fulfilling prophesy. If you ask anyone, Bill sabotaged the efficiency by disappearing for long periods of time for an unknown reason. He was off probably chatting it up with the neighbors and forgot that he has a team building a house.. haha. What a crack up though. He told us a joke today about an Irish man in America trying to stay connected with his two brothers. Have you heard that one? Try googling it maybe?
Oh Yeah! We got to work right away. Note the state of the house at the end of the last day. Despite hard work from Kyle the window prep wasn't done for today and yet by the end of the day the super-stellar crew consisting of (I believe) Charlie, Katie, Leslie, Jenn & Kyle finished prepping, installing and sealing every one of the twelve windows on the duplex!
They were for sure not the only stars of the day, but the sure impressed me. I liked a quote a overheard from Joe, one of the Americorps people. He said to another 3rd party volunteer re the window crew I just named "At the beginning of the day those guys knew nothing about installing windows and now I know I can leave them to it and it'll get done right." Pretty sick, way to go team!
Ever since my zoology post, I've been craving to capture some more wild animals in action. Therefore, I am proud to present exhibits 7 & 8... This is the moment when I wish I could convey a wicked Australian on the barbie accent through text. Please imagine it.
Exhibit 7
Oh Crikey! In front of you now kids is a Brain capable of accelerating to speeds similar to that of a wild Dingo! The Brian probably lives in the treetops of neighborhood. It runs on all four and terrorizes most birds that do not hear the Brian until the last moment. This species of Brian nimbly moves from treetop to treetop often leaping without a second thought. It is notably more nimble than other creatures, such as the wild Kyle which is know to stumble and fall to the ground on a regular basis. Remember how we said that a sighting of the wild Kyle is rare? That is because when the wild Kyle falls, he/she will often rampage like the Tasmanian Devil to be sure no one saw the goofy incident.
Exhibit 8
Before us now, we witness the miracle of life in the creature kingdom. A baby Brian S is fed by its mother the Nikki. We can tell the different between the two creatures, because the baby always is born with a blue outer fur coat. The coat sheds after approximately 3 year and become the pink color we all know and love. Look as the Brian learns to use its mouth to consume the food provided to it by the mother. Struggle is a way of life in the creature world and luckily this Brian looks strong enough to survive the harsh cold afternoon that will inevitably come in this day.
Here Tynishia and Jenni (it has come to my attention that I called Tynishia Synthia in my first post.. which I apologize for and to anyone who may have been confused) Anyways, The back of the house needed to have plywood attached, icedams attached and shingles put in place. Tynishia and Jenni (and Brian C?) ran all the plywood cover today and attached the metal lining to the roof.
I stumbled upon Maryanne and Charlie after having come down from the roof where Tynishia and Jenni were at. We had all heard there was painting that needed to be done today and we were probably all wondering who got that sweet job. I came in and asked for a picture and they were so good at their job that they had nothing left to paint, which consequently, means boring picture. (I'm imagining the farmer/wife/pitchfork one, but with paint brushes) Anywho, they agreed to pose and it turned out much better that way.
I worked with Lindie all day, who has been fighting a battle with some flooring the past two days. Today we focused, however, on the counter-tops. We pretty much destoryed (good) that task and we quickly found ourselves searching for Bill for the next step or out taking pictures. Here's Lindie creeping on someone. I don't know who they are.... because I was too busy creeping on Lindie... AHh
Of course, Lindie and I still had our difficulties. This nail here, zum Beispiel (i.e.), is the product of a failed nailgun attempt. I believe the reason for this strange accordion affect is the fact that I drove the nail directly into another nail. Lindie in the photo above narrowly avoided an embarrassing photo of her face pressed against the counter-top. She was reaching for something she had dropped and it was just out of reach. It was a memorable struggle.
Lindie and I rocked out to country music today. I went out on a limb this trip and proudly announced my admiration of the genre only to be harshly shot down by most. It has been a good experience though, because it reinforces the idea that I need to keep that little tid bit about my life under wraps until I get to know people better. Thanks Brian and Lindie for being so accepting!! : )
Here's a bit of what I did while we were waiting for belated Bill...
It is amazing how many faces you can find around a construction site. Do you all know where I was inspired to do this from? Wasn't that a cool commercial?? Way to go American Express, Mastercard or whichever company that was! You make too much money, but you at least put out cool ads.
There are more on the website once I upload them and if any of you are on Facebook, I have made it a point in life to capture these happy little moment and keep them in an album on Facebook.
I'm gonna skip lunch, which was enchiladas, catching aerial sweeties and a little soccer ball juggling, because I'm dying and need to go to bed.
We gathered the force and before lunch we took a group photo while sitting on the roof. We got Bill, Tara, Joe and EVEN Tom in there! If anyone reading this donated to our trip you may (...) get a 5x7 in the mail as a thank you for supporting us. I'll still post it though, because I don't want to be like.. "well you might just print it even though you did help fund us..." (imagine immature nasalized angry voice) ... (what's funny is that's almost what I sound like right now (minus the angry and hopefully minus the immature))
We're planning on giving an 8x10.5 to Habitat for Humanity Spokane group that has hosted us. They have made us lunch every day and we are incredibly grateful for all they've done.
Finally, we have a treat for you reader!! We had mucho sunshine today and Nikki was nice enough to show us The Sun Dance. Lindie and Brian S were quick to jump in on the action and they demonstrate how even the normal joes/janes can learn a new step or two. I love how you can hear the construction sounds in the background and Nikki, who may or may not be available for tutoring, insists that no music is necessary for the dance. Without further ado, I give you our up and coming dance stars Nikki, Lindie and Brian!
Good night!
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
I know the title is lame and so is the link below, but I liked the idea and once I listened to the theme song again I was sold on the idea. Once they start saying "Monday, Tuesday happy days.." it makes me think of each day here. (aaaahhhh... I know.)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMxkMy9JvXI)
Coming up with a title for each post is like a blogger's worst nightmare. You have to pick a word or phrase that sums up the day or the blog entry. Most of the time I pick something that probably makes little sense to anyone. That is probably the safest bet, because then everyone who reads it will just be like "haha, those crazy kids, what silly things they say these days." Honestly, a lot goes into each title, but its a bit like hitting shuffle on your Ipod. Yeah a lot of stuff pops up that doesn't make sense, or is completely inappropriate, but you hope you might find something eventually to settle on.
Okay, now that I've unnecessarily given you blogging 101, since you're probably here to read about our adventures, I'll move on to what's important; Our hump day.(P.S. we're going back to small pictures, because they upload faster and you can see the big versions on the Picasa page [see "Photos!" post]
The group will probably kill me (in mafia) for uploading these stunna morning pictures, but I believe I said in the last entry that I'd try and get some shots from outside the work site. Here are some of us in all (maybe just some) our glory! We are readyy to take the day.
I may have also mentioned these sweet cars that we drive from place to place occasionally. Here's a nice picture of them polluting the planet on the cold and crisp morning that today was. Captain Planet would not be happy (insert unnecessary picture of Captain Planet(seriously though, you might want to be googling Captain Planet right now))Okay, anyways, Bill (project volunteer coordinator) informed us this morning at the work site that Wednesday (hump day) is always the most lazy, because people are starting to get tired etc.. And do you think we had that??? I don't think So. It was more like a self fulfilling prophesy. If you ask anyone, Bill sabotaged the efficiency by disappearing for long periods of time for an unknown reason. He was off probably chatting it up with the neighbors and forgot that he has a team building a house.. haha. What a crack up though. He told us a joke today about an Irish man in America trying to stay connected with his two brothers. Have you heard that one? Try googling it maybe?
Oh Yeah! We got to work right away. Note the state of the house at the end of the last day. Despite hard work from Kyle the window prep wasn't done for today and yet by the end of the day the super-stellar crew consisting of (I believe) Charlie, Katie, Leslie, Jenn & Kyle finished prepping, installing and sealing every one of the twelve windows on the duplex!They were for sure not the only stars of the day, but the sure impressed me. I liked a quote a overheard from Joe, one of the Americorps people. He said to another 3rd party volunteer re the window crew I just named "At the beginning of the day those guys knew nothing about installing windows and now I know I can leave them to it and it'll get done right." Pretty sick, way to go team!
Ever since my zoology post, I've been craving to capture some more wild animals in action. Therefore, I am proud to present exhibits 7 & 8... This is the moment when I wish I could convey a wicked Australian on the barbie accent through text. Please imagine it.
Exhibit 7
Oh Crikey! In front of you now kids is a Brain capable of accelerating to speeds similar to that of a wild Dingo! The Brian probably lives in the treetops of neighborhood. It runs on all four and terrorizes most birds that do not hear the Brian until the last moment. This species of Brian nimbly moves from treetop to treetop often leaping without a second thought. It is notably more nimble than other creatures, such as the wild Kyle which is know to stumble and fall to the ground on a regular basis. Remember how we said that a sighting of the wild Kyle is rare? That is because when the wild Kyle falls, he/she will often rampage like the Tasmanian Devil to be sure no one saw the goofy incident.
Exhibit 8
Before us now, we witness the miracle of life in the creature kingdom. A baby Brian S is fed by its mother the Nikki. We can tell the different between the two creatures, because the baby always is born with a blue outer fur coat. The coat sheds after approximately 3 year and become the pink color we all know and love. Look as the Brian learns to use its mouth to consume the food provided to it by the mother. Struggle is a way of life in the creature world and luckily this Brian looks strong enough to survive the harsh cold afternoon that will inevitably come in this day.
Here Tynishia and Jenni (it has come to my attention that I called Tynishia Synthia in my first post.. which I apologize for and to anyone who may have been confused) Anyways, The back of the house needed to have plywood attached, icedams attached and shingles put in place. Tynishia and Jenni (and Brian C?) ran all the plywood cover today and attached the metal lining to the roof.
I stumbled upon Maryanne and Charlie after having come down from the roof where Tynishia and Jenni were at. We had all heard there was painting that needed to be done today and we were probably all wondering who got that sweet job. I came in and asked for a picture and they were so good at their job that they had nothing left to paint, which consequently, means boring picture. (I'm imagining the farmer/wife/pitchfork one, but with paint brushes) Anywho, they agreed to pose and it turned out much better that way.
I worked with Lindie all day, who has been fighting a battle with some flooring the past two days. Today we focused, however, on the counter-tops. We pretty much destoryed (good) that task and we quickly found ourselves searching for Bill for the next step or out taking pictures. Here's Lindie creeping on someone. I don't know who they are.... because I was too busy creeping on Lindie... AHh
Of course, Lindie and I still had our difficulties. This nail here, zum Beispiel (i.e.), is the product of a failed nailgun attempt. I believe the reason for this strange accordion affect is the fact that I drove the nail directly into another nail. Lindie in the photo above narrowly avoided an embarrassing photo of her face pressed against the counter-top. She was reaching for something she had dropped and it was just out of reach. It was a memorable struggle.Lindie and I rocked out to country music today. I went out on a limb this trip and proudly announced my admiration of the genre only to be harshly shot down by most. It has been a good experience though, because it reinforces the idea that I need to keep that little tid bit about my life under wraps until I get to know people better. Thanks Brian and Lindie for being so accepting!! : )
Here's a bit of what I did while we were waiting for belated Bill...
It is amazing how many faces you can find around a construction site. Do you all know where I was inspired to do this from? Wasn't that a cool commercial?? Way to go American Express, Mastercard or whichever company that was! You make too much money, but you at least put out cool ads.There are more on the website once I upload them and if any of you are on Facebook, I have made it a point in life to capture these happy little moment and keep them in an album on Facebook.
I'm gonna skip lunch, which was enchiladas, catching aerial sweeties and a little soccer ball juggling, because I'm dying and need to go to bed.
We gathered the force and before lunch we took a group photo while sitting on the roof. We got Bill, Tara, Joe and EVEN Tom in there! If anyone reading this donated to our trip you may (...) get a 5x7 in the mail as a thank you for supporting us. I'll still post it though, because I don't want to be like.. "well you might just print it even though you did help fund us..." (imagine immature nasalized angry voice) ... (what's funny is that's almost what I sound like right now (minus the angry and hopefully minus the immature))
We're planning on giving an 8x10.5 to Habitat for Humanity Spokane group that has hosted us. They have made us lunch every day and we are incredibly grateful for all they've done.
Finally, we have a treat for you reader!! We had mucho sunshine today and Nikki was nice enough to show us The Sun Dance. Lindie and Brian S were quick to jump in on the action and they demonstrate how even the normal joes/janes can learn a new step or two. I love how you can hear the construction sounds in the background and Nikki, who may or may not be available for tutoring, insists that no music is necessary for the dance. Without further ado, I give you our up and coming dance stars Nikki, Lindie and Brian!
Good night!
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
What's Poppin?
Welcome C.C.MMX followers!
I know what I'm about to do is breaking the 4th wall, but I want to start this post by thanking you all for keeping tuned in to our adventures. We really appreciate hearing from friends and family re our blog. It also means a significant amount to me, that this is being enjoyed by friends and families from each member of the team. They say feedback is important for all sort of aspects of life and the response I've gotten from our team and from you through our team has been amazing.
Some people have asked how many hits our blog has been getting so I've installed a hit counter on our page to keep track from now on.
okay, now I'm going to crawl back into my little hole and continue to pretend that no one is listening to me talk to myself (about how I feel when I sing in the shower). Also, I decided not to proofread this... you'll see why by the end (hint - I'm way to tired right now!! Wah!)
Work day two...... .
As I have said, we are staying in Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Spokane. We have a boys room for sleeping (really a church classroom), a girls room, Fr. Charlie's room and the couch room, which is a communal room with couches, used at the individual's discretion. I slept in the boys room the first night in a bag on the floor. It is nice to reminisce about the good ol' days of sleeping on the floor as a kid, but sadly the floor doesn't care about your childhood and punishes you all the same.
That being said, I moved to the couch room the second night and somehow found (in the dark)an empty spot. This couch has got to be one of the most comfortable I've experienced in my time, but the dang thing wreaked havoc on my back more than the freaking floor!! I couldn't believe how horrible I felt when I woke up this morning.
Lindie came around giving wake up calls at about 7:00. "..... ." is pretty much how I felt this morning when Lindie woke us up. My brain basically needed time to boot.
The highlight of my morning was the double-chocolate muffin that I ate for breakfast. I had been salivating over it since I saw it a day ago (love at first sight). Only this morning did I sink my teeth into it. Unfortunately I had to stuff the muffin into my mouth under a tissue, because my nose was bleeding profusely. It was likely a strange image for onlookers, but the nosebleed has become a pivotal part of my life and I won't let it keep me from my double-chocolate muffins.
Think of nosebleeds as modern day blood-letting (like the barber shop signs) and they are not so bad really.
(yes I added this random visual, because the first part of this blog looked so boring) (P.S. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole)
*I don't have any pictures from today outside the work site. I'll spend a little time tomorrow snapping a few pics of the other stuff that goes on around Pilgrims. For now though, I'll just jump right into our second day at the building site*
We were blessed once again today with decent weather. There was virtually no rain today and we even saw a good amount of sunlight early in the day. We hopped right back into working and took up separate tasks.
Here we've got Kyle and Brian working with the man, Tom, to finish nailing the plywood onto the roof of the duplex. Tom, who I briefly mentioned before, used to be a Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator, like Bill, who is running the show for the rest of us. Tom's persona is that he is there for the job. He is a roofing specialist and we think the project may be behind schedule, so Tom is lending his expertise for a few days.
It is fun working with Tom, because while he is less happy-go-lucky as the rest of the crew, he offers good pointers and advice in all sorts of tasks and he demands a bit more from us, because he's not afraid to push us. I really like that about him.
Here is our fearless leader, Lindie, up to absolutely no good. What no good, I do not know, but the menacing smile suggests some sort of trap like you might find on the island of the Swiss family Robinson. No, but seriously, she is setting up that table saw because she has been installing flooring for the past two days and the look is probably related to the idiot on the roof yelling "LINDIEEEEE -- Smiuuulllll!"That movie, The Swiss Family Robinson, btw (for internet lingo newbies -- by the way) was one of my favorites as a kid. I strongly recommend picking up that classic.
Next we have Fr. Charlie using the skill saw with yours truly sitting in the board to stability reasons. Cool shot right? Looking back now I'm thinking how potentially dangerous this is.. I think I'm more of a hazard than an asset.. My job in this photo is literally to sit and here I am moving around to grab my camera and subjecting Charlie to a photo shoot while he is trying to focus on the cut. Luckily Charlie reacts well under pressure and he is also very photogenic! Operating the skill saws is really fun and Jenni and I spent half the day measuring and cutting side panels for the house. We're essentially professional now.
Here's Bill and Tynishia unrolling and applying the (iceblock??). This stuff is required by law, because it helps reduce the build up of snow in certain areas of the roof. Have you ever been to a ski resort and the ends of the roofs are covered in snow? Sometimes the even fall down in huge chucks. Anywho, this black material is thick and absorbs more heat, which helps to melt the snow. Remember we are in Spokane, which gets a lot of snow.
There was a lot of time spend applying these layers and one thing that derived from it all was a battle for a staple gun. You see, on of the tool HfH has is like a standard stapler, but permanently in the open position. Basically as the black stuff is unrolled, you walk behind it and whack the roof. It is a very good feeling and so easy (physically) that it is a blast!
Here's a good view of the roof as it nears its completion stage for the day. The shingles arrived before lunch and we loaded them onto the roof in the next picture.
This machine was pretty cool to watch in action. Charlie had a run in with Bill, who said Charlie ought to let the strong and youthful Emily handle the big shingle loads. Charlie was sad at this and he can be seen spectating on the left. : (
Tomorrow we will likely be spending a lot of time putting those in. After the shingles were stacked in place, we went back to HfH headquarters uptown for lunch. Today they served us Chili and veggie spaghetti. I didn't try the spaghetti, but the chili rocked my world. I also busted out some satsuma oranges and we tossed them around the table attempting to catch them im out mouths. I went 4 for 4 with the people around me, but when I threw across the room to Nikki and Katie, they were both air balls. To be fair, though, my second throw to Katie wasn't too bad, but she didn't move her head at all, as if it was my job to land the orange slice safety inside. It did not happen.
Here is a group picture from the end of the day and a picture of the duplex thus far. We are making some major headway in the two days we've been working and what we've done has been probably the most fun part of house-building... working up high on the roof. It's super exciting!
We packed our stuff up and hid the good stuff from thieves. Jen's car went to Safeway for dinner food procurement and I had the pleasure of riding in one of the broken down vans. Here is a rare glimpse inside ol' blue (like ol' red, ohaha)...
We drove home and before six of us (Eric, Katie, Emily, Brian S, Brian C and I) showered, we decided to play a quick game of soccer in the park across from the church. Katie, Brian S and I got our butts kicked, but we all acknowledged the value in engaging in some cardio activities and not just the pure muscle building reps of hammering nails.
Speaking of soccer... Is anyone else super-excited for the world cup this Summer in South Africa?? I am so excited that I applied for an IBM position there. I didn't get the job, but that would be pretty sweet, right?
Tonight we played Mafia as a group and after 2 games, most of the group has got the game figured out. Maryanne and Emily creamed everyone in the first game. Jenni was the only one on the ball that game and she was taken out instantly in the next. The townspeople, however, despite offing their police chief Katie, won the game and eliminated Mafia members Tynishia and Brian S. I'm sure we'll be playing that game again soon. It is a fun group game.
I'm way past bedtime (11:00 and it is nearly 1:00). I'm gonna go grab a couch and hopefully not wake up stiff in the morning.
Some people have asked how many hits our blog has been getting so I've installed a hit counter on our page to keep track from now on.
okay, now I'm going to crawl back into my little hole and continue to pretend that no one is listening to me talk to myself (about how I feel when I sing in the shower). Also, I decided not to proofread this... you'll see why by the end (hint - I'm way to tired right now!! Wah!)
Work day two...... .
As I have said, we are staying in Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Spokane. We have a boys room for sleeping (really a church classroom), a girls room, Fr. Charlie's room and the couch room, which is a communal room with couches, used at the individual's discretion. I slept in the boys room the first night in a bag on the floor. It is nice to reminisce about the good ol' days of sleeping on the floor as a kid, but sadly the floor doesn't care about your childhood and punishes you all the same.
That being said, I moved to the couch room the second night and somehow found (in the dark)an empty spot. This couch has got to be one of the most comfortable I've experienced in my time, but the dang thing wreaked havoc on my back more than the freaking floor!! I couldn't believe how horrible I felt when I woke up this morning.
Lindie came around giving wake up calls at about 7:00. "..... ." is pretty much how I felt this morning when Lindie woke us up. My brain basically needed time to boot.
The highlight of my morning was the double-chocolate muffin that I ate for breakfast. I had been salivating over it since I saw it a day ago (love at first sight). Only this morning did I sink my teeth into it. Unfortunately I had to stuff the muffin into my mouth under a tissue, because my nose was bleeding profusely. It was likely a strange image for onlookers, but the nosebleed has become a pivotal part of my life and I won't let it keep me from my double-chocolate muffins.Think of nosebleeds as modern day blood-letting (like the barber shop signs) and they are not so bad really.
(yes I added this random visual, because the first part of this blog looked so boring) (P.S. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber%27s_pole)*I don't have any pictures from today outside the work site. I'll spend a little time tomorrow snapping a few pics of the other stuff that goes on around Pilgrims. For now though, I'll just jump right into our second day at the building site*
We were blessed once again today with decent weather. There was virtually no rain today and we even saw a good amount of sunlight early in the day. We hopped right back into working and took up separate tasks.
Here we've got Kyle and Brian working with the man, Tom, to finish nailing the plywood onto the roof of the duplex. Tom, who I briefly mentioned before, used to be a Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator, like Bill, who is running the show for the rest of us. Tom's persona is that he is there for the job. He is a roofing specialist and we think the project may be behind schedule, so Tom is lending his expertise for a few days.It is fun working with Tom, because while he is less happy-go-lucky as the rest of the crew, he offers good pointers and advice in all sorts of tasks and he demands a bit more from us, because he's not afraid to push us. I really like that about him.
Here is our fearless leader, Lindie, up to absolutely no good. What no good, I do not know, but the menacing smile suggests some sort of trap like you might find on the island of the Swiss family Robinson. No, but seriously, she is setting up that table saw because she has been installing flooring for the past two days and the look is probably related to the idiot on the roof yelling "LINDIEEEEE -- Smiuuulllll!"That movie, The Swiss Family Robinson, btw (for internet lingo newbies -- by the way) was one of my favorites as a kid. I strongly recommend picking up that classic.
Next we have Fr. Charlie using the skill saw with yours truly sitting in the board to stability reasons. Cool shot right? Looking back now I'm thinking how potentially dangerous this is.. I think I'm more of a hazard than an asset.. My job in this photo is literally to sit and here I am moving around to grab my camera and subjecting Charlie to a photo shoot while he is trying to focus on the cut. Luckily Charlie reacts well under pressure and he is also very photogenic! Operating the skill saws is really fun and Jenni and I spent half the day measuring and cutting side panels for the house. We're essentially professional now.
Here's Bill and Tynishia unrolling and applying the (iceblock??). This stuff is required by law, because it helps reduce the build up of snow in certain areas of the roof. Have you ever been to a ski resort and the ends of the roofs are covered in snow? Sometimes the even fall down in huge chucks. Anywho, this black material is thick and absorbs more heat, which helps to melt the snow. Remember we are in Spokane, which gets a lot of snow.
There was a lot of time spend applying these layers and one thing that derived from it all was a battle for a staple gun. You see, on of the tool HfH has is like a standard stapler, but permanently in the open position. Basically as the black stuff is unrolled, you walk behind it and whack the roof. It is a very good feeling and so easy (physically) that it is a blast!
Here's a good view of the roof as it nears its completion stage for the day. The shingles arrived before lunch and we loaded them onto the roof in the next picture.
This machine was pretty cool to watch in action. Charlie had a run in with Bill, who said Charlie ought to let the strong and youthful Emily handle the big shingle loads. Charlie was sad at this and he can be seen spectating on the left. : (
Tomorrow we will likely be spending a lot of time putting those in. After the shingles were stacked in place, we went back to HfH headquarters uptown for lunch. Today they served us Chili and veggie spaghetti. I didn't try the spaghetti, but the chili rocked my world. I also busted out some satsuma oranges and we tossed them around the table attempting to catch them im out mouths. I went 4 for 4 with the people around me, but when I threw across the room to Nikki and Katie, they were both air balls. To be fair, though, my second throw to Katie wasn't too bad, but she didn't move her head at all, as if it was my job to land the orange slice safety inside. It did not happen.
Here is a group picture from the end of the day and a picture of the duplex thus far. We are making some major headway in the two days we've been working and what we've done has been probably the most fun part of house-building... working up high on the roof. It's super exciting!We packed our stuff up and hid the good stuff from thieves. Jen's car went to Safeway for dinner food procurement and I had the pleasure of riding in one of the broken down vans. Here is a rare glimpse inside ol' blue (like ol' red, ohaha)...
We drove home and before six of us (Eric, Katie, Emily, Brian S, Brian C and I) showered, we decided to play a quick game of soccer in the park across from the church. Katie, Brian S and I got our butts kicked, but we all acknowledged the value in engaging in some cardio activities and not just the pure muscle building reps of hammering nails.
Speaking of soccer... Is anyone else super-excited for the world cup this Summer in South Africa?? I am so excited that I applied for an IBM position there. I didn't get the job, but that would be pretty sweet, right?
Tonight we played Mafia as a group and after 2 games, most of the group has got the game figured out. Maryanne and Emily creamed everyone in the first game. Jenni was the only one on the ball that game and she was taken out instantly in the next. The townspeople, however, despite offing their police chief Katie, won the game and eliminated Mafia members Tynishia and Brian S. I'm sure we'll be playing that game again soon. It is a fun group game.
I'm way past bedtime (11:00 and it is nearly 1:00). I'm gonna go grab a couch and hopefully not wake up stiff in the morning.
Take it easy listeners!
~Official Historian C.C.MMX
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