So, ignore the blog that posted before this. It was written by another student but some of the message I happen to agree. We have three weeks til graduation and people are freaking out. Here is my thing about it though.... some of the donations and materials that we are trying to acquire are being put off. The colors are being dragged along and people are complaining that we will not have time to finish.

I have the upmost confidence in my classmates, but one thing has to happen. We have to be able to do things that we are not comfortable with or do not want to work on. I must say that I work with the best groups during the week, especially Thursdays. We seem to get a lot done and complain at the same time.

The one with the hypocrites

Well... I dare say that my last post received quite a bit of attention, which happens to be exactly what I was going for. So... I WIN!

The house... is a house. We wrapped up the sheet rocking today, and its a damn good thing because I was about to go nuts. Hopefully we can REALLLLLLYY move things along now. It actually exciting.

SO here is my  ( and may others) latest complaint for the class. First off... I am 23 years old. I do not need someone to tell me when I have to show up, and that I HAVE to be there, and that I HAVE to sign up for so many spots a week. Hell no. But, I understand why it had to happen.. however, here is the real problem. Certain people in our class are so hypocritical! Don't bitch at me and everyone else and tell me how many hours I HAVE to work, and then you don't even  bother to show up for like...I don't know.. an entire day. Oh.. and a Saturday ( and/or Sunday) at that.... You know.. the day at the end of the week where we are ALL supposed to be there at 8:00 AM- not to be confused with 1:00 PM. Now, I realize that things come up and people have things to do ... and that is totally cool, but all we ask is that you just call and say .. hey, I'm gonna be late or Im not going to make it. That's it. I mean, I got stuck in Shreveport last Saturday night, but I called 2 different people to be sure they knew where I was, and I was back in Ruston and at the house before 9:30 Sunday morning.  Also-- some people tend to have a nasty habit of ALWAYS being late... and then they make up shitty excuses about why they are not where they are supposed to be. Its crap.. and its been going on ALL year long, and it has always annoyed me, but I shrugged it off, because I know some people are just completely incapable of being on time. So whatever. But I dare you.. tell me.. or anyone else for that matter... that I HAVE to do something- especially when you cant even abide by your own rules. I am not a 4 year old... so don't treat me like one.

Now, on a good note. I feel like I have been successful in helping habiTECH successfully communicate with both HFH and the community. Its nice- Its something I have worked hard for. I enjoy having people tell me that they enjoy my update emails... I wandered if anyone even read them, but in the last 2 weeks 3 HFH members have contacted me to tell me they appreciate them. At least I know that have been directly responsible for helping to fulfill one of our class goals.

The Final Stretch

So, there are no more breaks left in the school year. The next item up for the house are the windows, and it has caused some issues to arise. Some want to wait til others want to get back and others want to go ahead and install them now. I am one of the ones that would prefer to wait. Questions that need to be asked are: how much is in the budget for us for windows? are we positive on what materials we need to buy? has anyone from the group installed a window?

I am as eager as the next person, but we need to slow down and do things right the first time. We have had numerous times where people do things and other members of the group have to back and correct the work. We can do things with a better craft quickly if we take our time and do it right the first time.

"Ring, bells, ring
Happy Easter Day!"
- My Easter speech from when I was five

Eek!!!

60 DAYS TIL GRADUATION!!!!

A LONG TIME COMING

LOL!!! A lot has happened since Feb. 10. I, along with Mike, have been given the title of "shepherds" for the construction site. I don't know what that means. What is that? I'll figure it out soon enough. I hope that my classmates have enough faith with me in this role so that we are able to finish this house. I think people were a little taken aback by the roles that were given out. Melody was given the role as the studio "shepherd." We will be checking in on these roles soon.
Ok, so the group had an all out arguement the other day. Some people got a lot of stuff off of their chest. We needed to have this conversation. Unfortunately, we were having this conversation on the second floor studio space. We had a full audience. We took the meeting upstairs and tried to handle it like adults but that did not happen. I can't understand people feel the need to curse out one another. Do that really solve the problem? I guess that makes one feel better. I haven't exploded yet and I don't intend to unless I have major problem. Keep encouraging each other to do the best they can. Work as hard as you can!

"It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It's our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!"- "Hakuna Matata" from "Lion King"

MOVING ALONG

The slab and piers are poured!!!! For a while there, I was starting to get a little nervous concerning whether or not we would get this done. The SIPs panels have been ordered and we are now in a three week down time. We are designing and we have a lot of designing to do as far as details go and other things.
We also have two presentations to give this week and I'm not sure how prepared we are. I'm mostly concerned about the one at the AIA Monroe. We have people going that I am not sure will be able to present as well as others. I am keeping an open mind. That is where my concern lies with the group. I am gettting frustrated with some classmates short tempers when their work is critiqued. Everyone's work is not going to be perfect. Accept the constructive criticism and continue working.

"Eyes, boring a way through me
Paralyse, controlling completely
Now there is a fire in me
A fire that burns" - "This Fire" by Franz Ferdinand

LET IT BE DONE!!!

PLEASE LET US BE FINISHED!!! We are almost finished with everything for inspection for Friday. We are hoping to pour Friday afternoon. I am about sick of seeing this and not having concrete in the form. (Side note: I got to cut rebar, and I must say that I felt very womanly. It's not like I don't already.)

Also, the gloves are about to come off with the people in the group. We have been getting along very well, but now that we have a lot to get done people are now getting frustrated. People are now being assigned tasks to do. People, including myself, have not been stepping up to the plate to contribute to the drawings partly due to the fact that the drawings will change without a reason or the drawings are getting screwed up.

I took a break to go to Mardi Gras!!! It was just what I needed. I had the best time and I have no regrets about leaving. If individuals feel that they have put in their time f0r the week and that they do not have to go out to the site anymore, I think that is very disconcerting. WE ARE HERE FOR THE EVANS' FAMILY and we should put our differences aside when it comes down to who and how long people have been on the site.

"Why can't we be friends?

Why can't we be friends?

Why can't we be friends?

Why can't we be friends?" - "Why Can't We Be Friends" by WAR

LET'S GET IT STARTED!!!

WE HAVE BEEN IN THE PAPER!!! A LOT!!!
It was great to have the groundbreaking ceremony for the Evans family. They were very excited, and Ms. Evans began to cry. I think other people got emotional too. I just kinda stood there and waited for her to finish her speech because I didn't want to cry and then have to go and introduce Dean Jacobs with snot coming down my nose, but I digress.

Today, we bent and cut rebar for the foundation. We had some issues to work out today. Some rebar got cut down. Something happened when the rebar got cut that something else ACCIDENTALLY got overlooked. I, along with other students, did stop to go over the drawing before we proceeded. After we proceeded, we cut down all the rebar to sizes. Some folks got upset because they thought that we went ahead and cut without thinking about. Seriously? The problem was not that severe, and it will get fixed. The goal of this week is to get the dirt into the ground so that we install the rebar so that we can have the inspection so that we can POUR THE CONCRETE NEXT WEEK!!!!

Oh, we must order the SIPs this week!!!!

"Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here.
Let's get it started (ha), let's get it started in here." - "Let's Get It Started" by Black Eyed Peas

http://media.www.thetechtalk.org/media/storage/paper1237/news/2008/01/25/News/Habitech.Builds.Home.For.Family.In.Need-3169126.shtml

Getting close

We are almost at that time where we are going to be at the site a lot. It seems as if everytime we come close to completing something, it is not even close. The site layout was off and the people that were still in Ruston this weekend had to re-do the entire layout. Luckily, the Tech Habitat chapter was able to come out and help. The form work is practically done. I wish I could have been in Ruston to help, but I ended up going on the 402 trip to Austin. I love Austin!!! I found some cowboy boots and it got me a phone number!!! Anyway... getting back to the class. We almost had a small problem witht the SIPs panels. The panels will not come pre-cut and apparantly that was going to be a problem with Mark Joiner. NO PROBLEM AT ALL!!! We have to have experts out there to help us cut the windows out.(According to Joiner, we have to thank the fifth year students last year for getting him to change up the codes so that we can do SIPs. So, for those of you who read my blog, thank you so much!) Mark Joiner gave us the permit to do the slab and slab only. Some members of the group misinterpreted what Joiner said about the pier side and we have to go back and change some things. I can honestly say that I am now a little nervous about getting the house going.

Things to do (not in any particular order):

Ground breaking ceremony

Get trees removed from the street-ASAP

Get dirt work completed-ASAP

Pour slab

Order SIPs panels-ASAP

Get some more funding

Design the front porch and back porch

Fix the elevations so that we can get the permit for the piers-ASAP

Change window sizes-ASAP

One Day At a Time

Ms. Evans and her kids came out to the site yesterday to help out. They are so grateful for everything. I can't begin to imagine what their life is like currently. Fred is a riot! Dy'Sane is very quite until she starts running around the site with a rake! Typhonesia is quiet, but her presence is known. She is a hard worker. Only the girls from the group are in the picture. Mike took the picture.

So... we unfortunately picked a pretty bad weekend to go to Austin. Hopefully, the form work is going to get started this weekend and only five people will be in town out of eleven. I'm nervous about being away for FOUR days!! We attempted to do the site layout on Sunday and it was definitely an adventure. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. We managed to get some kind of system down to where we do the layout, but Stevens told us that we have to do it over again. I mean, poorly put together. This is a crucial weekend. We want to pour the concrete next week, maybe Thursday. I almost want to not go on the trip, but I hope to get some experience going on this trip. Chris Kager's architecture firm is going to be a big part of the trip as far as looking at how the houses were designed and also materiality use.

I think we might have the money from Habitat to do SIPs panels!!! I can breathe... sorta. Since Habitat really wants to look at this particular systems, we might be able to get them.

Ok, so an interesting thing happened today. Mike and I met with the president of these university, Dr. Dan Reneau. It was hilarious. Such a nice guy. I just called and his secretary said come today. We tried to get him to give us some money, but he would not budge. So, instead he gave us the name of a gentleman who does the marketing for the school and wants to be kept informed of the progress of the house. I want to see him get dirty! Can I just say that his parking spot does not need to be 24 hours!!!!

"It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good" - "Feeling Good" by Muse

It's about that time!!!

Before I begin with studio, I must say the school added one of the greatest sports to intramurals... KICKBALL!!!! We are called the teabaggers!!! HILARIOUS!!!

Ok, onto to studio... This SIPs is going to drive me up the freaking wall if we don't get the numbers we want from this last company. I got pricing back from the other companies, and I was completely blown away. Heck no, we are not going to spend that much money!! We don't even have that much money yet!!! I got close to the manufacturers and now I have to tell them that we can't afford the product. I am crossing my fingers on the last one. It's cheaper, right up the road, and they have the better product! I'M GONNA GO WORK FOR A SIPs COMPANY AFTER THIS!!!

We decided on a foundation and we are hoping to move forward and start the site layout this weekend. Here's the problem, if we don't use SIPs, we have to go back and redo the drawings. LOL!!! I think we can do it, but hopefully it won' t be necessary. I'm excited about doing two different types of foundation systems, slab and pier system. It's a learning experience. Paul Arden says, "when it can't be done, do it. If you don't do it, it doesn't exist."

"Take the pressure down
Cause I can feel it, its rising like a storm
Take hold of the wheels and turn them around
Take the pressure down" - "Pressure Down" by John Farnham

THE NEW YEAR

Ok, so back to business!!! I haven't written a blog in since last year, but a lot has happened since then. We have a lot to do as far as the drawings go and must to a quick turn around this week in order to get them back to the inspector's office.

I took a field trip to a SIPs manufacturer!! It was incredible how they make these panels. It starts off as a small bead and produces into something amazing. Unfortunately, I came on a day that was not in production, but the gentleman took me through the process.

In the past couple of days, I think the relationship with our neighbor is dwindling. A water pipe busted causing our site to flood. The busted pipe is on her property. She is blaming us for the pipe busting. Due to the water being on the site, our dirt work crew cannot go on the site to remove the stumps until the ground is dry. We cannot move forward until this situation is resolved!

WELCOME 2008!!!

"If you're going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared, don't show it"-

"If You're Going Through Hell" by Rodney Atkins