Habitat Progress Update

The time has come, the time is now, another Habitat update is here! (Dr. Suess was a great rhymer.)

It has been a couple of months since the last update, and a lot has happened. Good things.

The foundation has been poured on Lot 1, and the framing for the first floor, and the sheathing is all done. The sub-floor is currently being put in place.

Houses 2 and 3 have the roofing done, a fair amount of the plumbing is taken care of, the wiring is being put in place, windows and doors are in place, and siding is currently being put up.

Houses 4 and 5 have the foundations dug out, with all the form boards in place. The in-ground plumbing on house 4 passed the inspection, and house 5 was pressure tested today. It looked pretty good. After the plumbing passes inspection, the trenches around have to be filled in with sand. In addition to filling the plumbing trenches, gravel has to be laid, then tarp over the top, then sand on top of the tarp, and then finally the rebar.

House 6 (my house) has the trenches dug out, but not much really starting up yet.

It was pretty hot today, and a lot of this summer is going to be pretty rough. I'm excited to keep working out on the site, and learning stuff. I'll post some pictures that were taken at a Hays family and friends day.

That's it for today!

The Fragmentation of Society

I just finished a great book, and it had a lot of interesting themes, which I felt like sharing. The book was John Barleycorn, by Jack London. The closest Jack London ever came to writing an autobiography, a story that follows a man from his early life, until his mid-adulthood, with a focus on the role that alcohol played in his life. A fascinating story, with the classic London touch.

The beginning the story details his first few encounters with alcohol, most of which were accidental, but did allow him to learn that he was the possessor of an incredible physical tolerance when it came to alcohol. As time progressed, and he struck out on his own at a very young age, he learned the value of alcohol in a social context. He writes at some great length about the gathering of men in bars, and how the purchasing of drinks proves generosity, and the consumption of drinks proves a manliness, without a doubt. He also writes about the role of alcohol when he was traveling. Go into any town, walk into any bar, talk with the other men, move to another bar, and after just a couple bars, you would know every important person, the editor of the newspaper, the lawyer, doctor, every person worth knowing. Bars are where men congregate, and socialize with an ease that is rarely seen elsewhere. And this, right here, this is what got me thinking.

Obviously, bar culture, and drinking culture has changed from the pre-Prohibition times that London lived and wrote in. Alcohol has always been a destructive force in society, and will remain so, but the redemptive factors of socializing with peers and social networking have been diminished, to the point that it no longer seems worth the physical damage. But why isn't it worth it anymore?

It used to be that your friends were the people you saw everyday, the people you worked with, but now, we have friends that are hundreds of miles away, sometimes people we haven't even met. The social circle has gotten so wide that meeting a friend, regardless of the place isn't that hard. It used to be that if you wanted to meet with someone from more than 50 miles away, it would take weeks of planning, and at least a day of travel. Now, a cell phone call, a little over an hour of driving, and there you are, chatting away.

Good, bad, I'm not sure. What do you all think?
By the way, I'm sorry it has been so long between posts. I haven't had the time, energy, and topic all at the same time.

Habitat For Humanity, Progress, and Volunteers

I spent yesterday out on the Habitat site, with one of my good friends, Josh K, and about 20 other volunteers. This was a very different experience from what I'm used to on the site, because Thursday, when I usually go out, it is almost entirely regular volunteers, who are very experienced with construction work. This puts me in the less-experienced catagory. I do things like pound nails, and carry stuff. Sometimes I will work with someone who actually understands what is happening, but I'm rarely the person who knows the most about what is happening. Yesterday, I was actually one of the more clued-in people. It felt nice. Saturday had at best, 6 regulars. And that is counting Dad and I as regulars.  Dad is far closer to the regular category than I am.

Enough about regularity. I feel like a progress update is in order. The two houses that are currently in the process are coming along quite nicely. All the OSB is up, and most of the windows and doors,  have been routered out, so are now open, looking remarkably like real doors and windows. The roof trusses (the things that give the roof something to be built on top of, think of them as the roofing equivalent of studs.) are in place, and some plumbing is starting to go in place. Some of the walls also have something called "one-hour firewall". Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation of firewall, and fire partition, here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(construction). Yesterday, I was putting on the roof sheathing, which is some pretty cool stuff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_barrier). This will keep attic heat down by up to 20 percent in the summertime. I was doing a lot of the measurement work, and got to work with some good people on my roof. We got half of one the roofs done. So that was fun. There was also an excavator on site, preparing the two-bedroom lot foundation for the forms, and all that follows. Pretty cool to see the form of the house starting to take form, out of the ground. Cool!

On Thursday (this was written a week and a half ago) , the day that I am usually out on the site, we were putting on something called fascia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascia_(architecture) We were attaching the fascia to the rafters, where they projected past the walls. This serves the dual purpose of providing a nailing surface for the roof sheathing, as well as a nailing surface for the gutters. I had a lot of fun doing this. I'm getting pretty confident when it comes to leaning out to nail things, or cut things, and also just moving around on the trusses, and the roof and scaffolding. It was pretty intimidating at first, but I'm getting more comfortable.

I want to talk a little bit about the other people that are helping my family, and 5 others build their future houses. The site manager, Brent, and the two Americorps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americorps) volunteers, John and Matt are great young guys. Brent started as an Americorps volunteer, and then got hired recently. All those guys are out on the site everyday. It is their job. But there is another group of people, volunteers, who come out on a semi-regular basis, and have a lot, lot, lot of skills. A bulk of this group are male, Caucasian retirees, who have some kind of experience in construction or engineering. They are also some of the nicest guys I've ever worked with. Occasionally a little frustrated with those that aren't as skilled (me), they are still great guys, and all very good at whatever it is they are doing. Whenever I try to describe one of the volunteers to my family, unless everyone knows their name, it is virtually impossible. It seems like a whole 1/3 of the men have 3 letter names. Hal, Tom, Jim, Les, etc. So confusing!! I'm going to highlight a few of volunteers that I particularly like, and enjoy working with. Carter used to be in the medical field, and is a very smart guy, who has retired from that, and now is immersing himself in the world of building houses. He is out on the site every day, and is really learning a lot. I admit, I am a little jealous that he gets to spend all his time learning this really cool thing. There is also Hal, who used to be a general contractor for 20 years. Kinda knows what he is doing. Frank, who used to be a roofing and siding contractor. And Mike, the unemployed, waiting for work, journeyman carpenter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman. He is awesome. Much more spry than some of the older volunteers, and pretty impressive with the math and figuring he does in his head. I can see why some people would spend a career doing things like this. It really can be a challenge, and enjoyable, if you engage with it on a level past "I just hit nails."

Anyway, it's pretty late, and I need to get up at a decent time in the morning. I'll have more later. Good night!

The Cutest Bus Riding Partner

Hey there readers!
I just wanted to share a slice of my day with you all.

Yes, that is me and Beth on the bus today. She was my "Bus Riding Partner". I imagine you are wondering, why exactly we were riding the bus. Well....our family care recently had some serious problems diagnosed, and we were told that driving it would be a serious hazard. So, we rode the bus to church, both last week, and this week. If you can't see, in this picture, I'm reading, and Beth and I are listening to music on my iPod. She was being so cute, clapping, and tapping her feet on the window. ADORABLE!

Eventually she started to get tired, and fell asleep on me. No offense intended to anyone I've ever ridden public transit with, but Beth blew you all out of the water. She was cuddly, with out stifling me, she didn't complain about the music, or really cause any kind of problems at all.

That's it for tonight!

Go Team!

This post is going to have a couple different segments, so just read them and then stop reading when you finish it.

I've been thinking a lot about teams recently. Thought (perhaps wrongly) that it was worth sharing. I would love to hear what y'all think as well. Dad, I know you've got a fair amount of experience, and I would like hear what you in particular think.

Part of what started this train of thought was a casual study that was done on basketball teams recently. The study showed that physical contact between team members correlated with an increased quality of play. Just to make it clear, they can't PROVE the link. Correlation, not causation. Ok? Ok. It made me think back to all the teams I've been a part of, from the same group of guys playing basketball, football, and baseball together for 3 years, to a pickup soccer game with strangers, there is something about your teammates touching you. It is a very specific kind of touch that makes a difference too. High fives, back slaps, etc. It is a "positive, energetic, complimentary" contact. This totally makes sense to me. A high five isn't just a way of saying "Nice job!", but it is a way of saying "You are part of our group, and we value you, and what you just did." What is great is that it is so elegantly simple. The economy of communication in this example is brilliant. All those team-building experts can be replaced by a few more hugs and high-fiving. Actions do speak louder than words.

I've been enjoying my time out on the Habitat site (small side note, for those of you who might care, been working on my farmer tan. It's coming nicely.) and been learning a lot. Also getting a lot better at what seems to be the main skill on a construction site (not leaning on shovels), hammering nails. Tips for nail hammering. When you are "setting" the nail, getting it in place in the wood, make sure to keep it straight and try and avoid hitting your fingers. Always try to avoid hitting your fingers. Bigger backstrokes and more follow-through equals less strokes, which results in less possible bending of the nails. Don't give up the moment that your nail starts to bend. You can tap it back into shape, or at least something workable. Use gravity as frequently possible. Nailing upwards, or at an angle is a pain, and puts you a more of a risk bending the nail, or hitting your hand. Try and be hitting the head of the nail directly. That's kind of it for now.

On a final note, I want to proclaim my love for casual sports games, and nice weather. I particularly love those two in combination. Hopefully followed by some kind of food.

That's it! Thanks for reading.

My Favorite Podcasts

So, I said I would post the names, and perhaps links to my favorite podcasts. Here they are! I'm going to put them in list format, with a little explanation of the format of the show, and then why I like them.

The History of the World In 100 Objects. A great BBC podcast, with each episode revolving around one particular object in the history of the world. A few examples would be an Olmec stone mask, a Minoan bull leaping sculpture, and an Indus seal. Neal McGregor, Director of the British Museum goes through the events that surrounded this item. He sometimes talks with experts, but always makes this interesting, and informative. I haven't been listen to a lot recently, but every time I listen, I love it.

The Moth. A podcast of true stories told live. The Moth is actually a group that started in New York, and has now spread to several large cities. The stories are sometimes profound, sometimes profane, sometimes funny, and always interesting.

Planet Money-An NPR podcast that is entirely economics. It started as the economy was beginning to go down the tubes, and for a long time was focused on the crisis, and making it understandable. Sometimes with recurring guests, such as Russ Roberts, head of the school of economics at George Mason University, and Simeon Johnson, former head of the IMF. It has now expanded to cover the crisis in Haiti, and is starting to look at what makes poor countries poor, and rich countries rich. A really enjoyable podcast, assuming you enjoy podcasts.

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me-A great news contest show, with some good guests, and really funny jokes. Long time listener.

Slate Political Gabfest, Slate Cultural Gabfest, and Hang Up and Listen-All great podcasts from the online magazine, Slate. All filled with expert commentary, and some funny takes on current events, be it political, cultural, or sports. I usually finish these podcasts feeling like I learned a lot of really useful things. Good explanations of details and smaller storylines that I would miss otherwise. Also hear about some really interesting things in the "Cocktail Chatter" portion, where the three hosts of whatever podcast talk about something they are going to be sharing with their friends.

This American Life-Well done stories. A classic of podcasts, and radio.

The Sporkful-A podcast entirely about being really obsessive about food. The PB&J episode was amazing.

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know-A video podcast, about conspiracy theories. I actually suggested one of the topics for an episode. "Did the U.S. Government Steal Tesla's Technology?" That was me. Pretty interesting, and funny to think that people actually believe these things.

Stuff You Should Know-The most personable podcast on the list, with two bearded, lovable hosts, explaining various things, from ninja, to carbon trading, to scabies. Always interesting. Most How Stuff Works podcasts are pretty good, and very well researched.

Radiolab-From WYNC, like This American Life, which is also a favorite, but with science. The hosts do an amazing job of making science make sense. Some of the most interesting things I have ever heard have been on this podcast. The episode titled "The (Multi) Universe(s)" was fascinating.

And that's pretty much it. There are others I listen to, but these are my absolute favorites. Bonus, for all of you who made it to the bottom, is this. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/CellPhonePictures# Pictures I have collected with my phone, with a short explanation. They make me laugh so much.
I'm sorry this has taken me so long, but enjoy!

OSB, NBC, and SPG

Oriented Strand Board, National Broadcasting Corporation, and Slate's Political Gabfest.
With that out of the way, let me explain the probable form of this post. It might change half-way through. Or not. I'm not sure yet.

Today was my day at the Habitat site, working an 8 hour day, and having a lot of fun. A lot of what I did was putting up OSB, which, as I briefly explained, stands for Oriented Strand Board. Basically, little scraps of wood, all pointing in the same direction, which are pressurized, and more sturdy than plywood, while easier to nail into than some other of the treated and pressurized woods. What we were doing was taking big boards of this, (side note-These boards are about 1/4 of an inch thick. Half the size of a piece of toast.), and then putting them up on the outside of the framed walls. They were flush with the bottom, or mud sill, and nailed into the top plate, mudsill, and studs. Basically, we were nailing into the top, bottom, sides, and the lines between the top and bottom. But the wood isn't the easiest to nail, and is sometimes flopping around, and needs to be really pounded into the wood, particularly for the first few, we were using nail guns. Oh boy! Excitement! I was working with a team of 3 adults who were all willing to let me do more than a fair share of the nailing. My shoulder is pretty tired now.  Air-powered, with some serious heft. These guns drive the nails right through the OSB, and solidly into the studs. That's a fair amount of wood. I enjoyed it for a while, but eventually, I got tired, and it got a little monotonous. All in all, it was still pretty interesting, and enjoyable. The most interesting part of the day was the weather. No joke. It must have been getting close to 70, which, if you notice the date, is not exactly the kind of weather we expect the 25th of February. My face has that borderline sunburned feeling. Good times.

Now NBC. The Olympics are still happening. I'm starting to get bored. I'm not an ice skating fan, and cross-country skiing is like watching a marathon. A snail marathon. On snow. So now I'm falling back to my default, mocking, sarcasm, and pointing out stupidity. Case in stupid point. We were watching the women's ice skating, and the commentators were talking about one of the skaters, Turkish lady. The female commentator remarked "She is a very exotic skater." She wasn't skating differently, she was just dark. She had darker skin, darker hair, nice brown eyes. She was still beautiful, a great skater, but I just found myself noticing that there aren't a lot of dark skaters. Why? And why did the commentator feel the need to say that?

Bob Costas. One of the main NBC guys working the Olympics, and he still can't get a tie that doesn't clash with his shirt and jacket. Why can't newscasters just look classy, and stop trying to be fashionable?

Mary Castillo continues to irritate and inform me through the Games. Yes, she is doing cool stuff, and telling people all the cool things about Canada, blah blah blah. But its like a commercial that NBC is paying for, and there isn't really any substance. I mean, how important is a blind sled dog? Seriously?

Some of the events don't really need an explanation. We can see what the figure skaters are doing, we don't need a explanation and parsing of every little triple this backwards that. It is like sports spam. Just be quiet! When you have something worthwhile saying, say it, otherwise, just be quiet! There are other events where we do need some explaination. I have no clue what is happening in curling, or ski jumping. Please, explain why that dude went farther, but snowboard cross needs no explaining. It is a race! They race, and what order you cross the finish line, that is the order of the medals, or advancements or whatever. The Olympics always have this cocktail of effects on me. And I always find myself a little surprised by it. Grr!

One final Olympic thought. Everyone is comparing Apolo Ono to Michael Phelps, but I think that is actually the wrong comparison. It should be Ono to Usein Bolt, the sprinter. Much more similar sports, still the same kind of movement, just different strategies.

All right, the Slate Political Gabfest. I am actually going to add to this, with a few other podcasts, but let me just say, if you are interested in understand the big political events, and don't mind some liberals having a good time, and being pretty irrevent on occasion, listen to this podcast. Slate has put up a nice little post about how to subscribe to podcasts, in all the variety of wats that it is possible. It's right here. http://www.slate.com/id/2244964/
That's all for now, but I am going to try and post some catching up stories.
Night!