Week #17 -- Housing Doubts and Rust

Hello once more my friends. Another week has gone by, so now we only have about 2 weeks of school days left. Jeez, time does indeed go by fast. As such, this week has been rather busy for me. I kept working on my Fallout symbol, as pictured above. As you can tell the rust is coming along nicely. It isn't as dispersed on the other side, nor is it to where I want, but it is coming along. Since the process takes extended periods to work, I decided to occupy the rest of my time by making some more metal art. I'm doing another Eagle, Globe, and Anchor piece, but I am going to turn it into something creative. I learned you can buy a small set at Home Depot, Lowes, etc that can be used to make a custom clock. I was pretty joyed about this, as it means I can make a homecoming present for my dad when he comes back from the hospital.

Anyway, moving on to the essential question. It's a big one this week, which I don't look forward to typing about since I have a headache a mile long. As it is, the question is: "what is the housing market like in California?"

As it stands currently, it costs about $440,000 to buy a home in California. I doubt many people, as most are low-to-mid class, can afford such steep prices. Home prices have gone up about 6% in the last year and are expected to go up about another 3-4% in the next year alone. This seems really worrisome, and it is. However, unemployment rate has gone down to about 6.6% from last year's 7.5%. That's .9%. Doesn't seem like much compared to the housing cost, but more people working and more jobs opening means more money going into the economy. And since other sources seem to calculate home prices to drop about 2%, against the rising 4%, that means home prices will be a slight more affordable.

Regardless, though, these are all very small changes and it will likely take many more years for things to get better, if at all. So that means I probably won't get a house unless it is BAH or some shite since I'm going in the military.

Meh. Oh well. Have a nice weekend, friendos. Stay safe.

Week #16 -- Funtime Friday

Hello again my friends. Dr Nebula here with another update for the troops. Kidding. Week sixteen is now behind us, with only about 28 days or so until another year passes. So, while we wait, why not recap on last week's events? This week I worked on my fallout symbol. Monday was scraping off the rest of the rust with steel wool. Tuesday was a lethargic day for me, so I mostly researched the essential question on that day. Wednesday was spraying one side with some black-ish grey primer to keep out rust and keep the final paint on. Thursday was spraying the other side, which is above. Gonna have to tilt your head to the side because the phone is a bad medium to upload photos with.

The essential question of this week was: "how do you get electricity from rotating shaft? How is this movement so important?"

The most basic and efficient way to make electricity in the modern day is to use fossil fuels or coal power. The coal is used to evaporate liquid water to steam. The steam then goes through to a generator. There are rotating blades in this generator in which the steam spins the blades. The blades then spin a shaft, which creates power for a turbine. The turbine moves a magnet inside a coil of copper, in which electric power is produced on a massive scale. This electricity then goes out to power lines, transformers, etc. 

Week #7 -- Sergeant Metal Promoted

It is now the end of week number seven. This week I continued work on the present for my dad. Monday there was no school as it was President's Day. On Tuesday, I continued to grind off the little metal boogers on my art. It took a little while to get it how I wanted. On Wednesday, I put my art in the eighty ton press to flatten it out and make it straight. Beforehand I had to heat it up with a small, propane-fueled blow torch. That was quite fun. After I was done there, I started rubbing off rust with some steel wool. On Thursday, February 19th (my birthday), I continued to use steel wool and re-press the piece. The first time did not do so. Next, I went over one last time with the wool and then sprayed primer on it, pictured above.

The essential question for the week is "Are you well rounded? Should this be a goal?"

About 3 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to answer this question, really. I was not that well rounded. A know-it-all, yes, but not well rounded. Today, I am a much more developed individual. I can do a lot more, fix a lot more, reason a lot better, and so on. I've gotten smarter and a little wiser. I can act, I can draw, I can write, I have mechanical aptitude, I can do math at my level, I'm active, I can read much higher than the designated area, and a few other things of less notable mention. Do I think I am well rounded? No. There is still a lot more I have to learn, much more I have to do, and infinitely more I have to see. I need to keep pressing and keep developing. I must get better. That IS a worthy goal for not just me, but everyone. I will continue.

Side note: I apologise for the sideways image. I could not rectify it. 

Week #15 -- I got nothing for a title.

This week has been a fond one for me, no matter how difficult it was to get out of bed. I finally got to cut out my nuclear fallout metal art piece. I did that on Wednesday, which took nearly all period due to machine complications. On Thursday I began to file off the little metal boogers and grind them down. I'm gonna do the same to the triangles. Make some cool throwables. The picture above is from right after cutting the bloody thing. As you can see, there's rust on it so I'll have to take steel wool to it and use some primer.

This week's essential question asks where do plastics come from and how are they formed.

Based on research from le Google, I discovered that cellulose (a sugar), natural gas, salt, coal, and crude oil such as petroleum. All the ingredients are distilled in a factory and broken down. The two types of production that branch from this are thermoplastics (soften on heating, then harden on cooling) and thermosets (must be molded and stay hard). 

Week #14 -- Cutting Blues and Rancho's Poo

I'll admit, that title is tasteless and not funny. However, my mood is one of that who does not care. Ha! Anyway, so flies by another week of work, boredom, fun, surprise, and the mundane. What I did this week was pretty much the same. I spent some time on MyMiniFactory and Thingiverse, but found little to interest me other than Destiny weapons. At about Wednesday I decided to cut my Fallout symbol, yet forgot to bring my USB to school and apparently the file was not on Google Drive anymore. Thus, I had to start over. Took the whole period. I was ready to cut it yesterday (Thursday), but another classmate took the whole period printing his stuff. I did a little cleaning and watched science tricks on Youtube. Bleh.

Essential Question: Where does your waste go when you flush at Rancho?


Well, since Rancho Cotate High is in Rohnert Park, we have made a pact of sorts with Santa Rosa and Cotati. As such, all of our waste goes to the Laguna Treatment Plant in Santa Rosa on Llano Road. There, they clean and reuse waste water every day. As much as 21 million gallons can come into the plant on a busy day, making its work and impact highly important.

Week #13 -- Back in the Shop

Credit: Kirby Downey for the image and creation/design of the weapon.

Spring Break is over! Which means this past week has been spent at school and in the shop. Monday was a religious day type deal, so school was not in session then. For the past 4 days, I have been unable to cut out my metal Fallout symbol. The plasma cutter blew a fuse or a wire or something else of that nature. As such, it was out of commission. In the absence of that, I spent my time doing odd jobs around the shop, I helped carry windows for the tear drop trailers from the office (quite a distance). I also made divet holes in the edges of the trailer walls so they could rest in the trailer fittings. It required a chisel and hammer, which was fun. Bashing stuff sure is exciting! In and around those jobs, I looked at cool 3D printed stuff from MyMiniFactory. One of the things I found that I loved was a 3D printed, 1:1 scale weapon from one of my favorite video games: Destiny. I wish I could print something like that, but the cost would be ridiculous.

The essential question of the week is: how has the water crisis affected you?

To put this question into context, I reside in Northern California, on the Western coast of the United States. Right now we are in year four of a major drought. As such, water rationing and not being able to grow crops has been quite an issue. And since Cali is responsible for 1/3rd of the produce in the country, the effect is felt nationwide. As for me personally, I have to take shorter showers and monitor myself when brushing my teeth and doing dishes. I always get water when I turn on the faucet, but I am a huge environmental kind of guy, so I try to conserve when possible. Next, the prices of both meats and produce will go up in price by next year. These prices are already high, but they can go nowhere but up at this point. I love meat and nuts, so those are two things in particular I'll have trouble enjoying.

Week #12 -- Falling Out to Spring

Salutations once more, people. This week has been quite draining on my mental health. However, I shall persevere. For the most part, this whole week has been mostly computer work. I found a new piece of metal art to work on. As I mentioned in my last post, it is a Fallout insignia, denoting a building as being a nuclear shelter. First, I took the image and put it on Inkscape, traced a bitmap, then saved it as a .dxf file. Next, I set the image in AutoCAD and cleaned it up. This was easy as cutting a cake. Lastly, I scaled it down to my desired dimensions, then saved it again as a .dxf file. Now it is ready to cut, as I hoped to do this period. I would have been able to do this on Wednesday or Thursday, but I had a family emergency those two days. 

As I said, this week was rather draining and I am quite happy that next week is spring break.

There is no essential question for this week.

Anyway, peace fools. Kill! 

Week 11# -- Revelations and the Social Contract

This week has been slightly monotonous if I do say so myself. I have once again been pulled into the realm of self-doubt and no idea on what to do as a project. My hopes of making a fire pit ring with the them of Five Nights at Freddy's don't seem like they will be realised. The face that I was trying to use simply has too much fall out for it to work as a project. However, this has not deterred me in the slightest. The idea of fall out made me think of making some art based on, well, the Fallout game series.

I've been a fan of Fallout for quite sometime, ever since I played the second game as a kid. Mind you, I wasn't that good at it. But I loved it. Since I've mastered New Vegas and got some play time on Fallout 3. As such, I'll be making some art pieces of that for my bedroom door or other decorations. I'm quite excited now that I have a little bit of purpose.

The essential question of the week is what is the social contract? The social contract is a binding contract that states people of a particular society give up certain freedoms (my teacher used the humourous analogy of streaking) for political and social stability. In essence, you give a little to get a beneficial place for everyone. Despite being a contract, you don't sign it. One is automatically bound by it the moment they are born. Failure to comply can result in imprisonment, injury, or death.  

Week #10 -- The New Face of Freddy Fazbear

This week has been a lift up a hill. Or a climb, rather. I finally got a new project to work on. I am going to make a fire pit ring based of the popular indie game, Five Nights at Freddy's. I've got interested in the game early when I saw it on Steam. Since I love scary games, I bought it. I've been a fan from the start to the finish. I've also met some great friends along the way. Also, since I am an admin on Fazbear Entertainment on Facebook, I thought I'd take that opportunity of advertisement to sell my project. I don't know if anyone has responded yet, as I just posted it last night. 

My worries about the project is that the cut out of Freddy Fazbear's head will have too much fall out to work correctly. If so, I may have to improvise. Best of luck, on this Friday the 13th.

This week's essential question was to bring evidence of a project to performance evaluations. As such, there is no question to answer.

Week #9 -- Lost (No, not the T.V. series)

This week has been hard for me. I've been in quite a funk, or an artist's block if you will. As such, I have been doing little more than research on Thingiverse. I've had complications finding inspiration for projects I might want to take on. I'm not, admittedly, one for taking things slow. I run before I walk, so to speak. It is a poor habit, and one that gets me into undesirable situations, such as the one I am in now. Oh well. Hopefully next week I'll be in a more exuberant. I will try to get more ideas of the weekend.

The essential question of the week is less practical than it is philosophy. The question is: "How do you know there is a hammer before you right now"? First, I can tell there is a hammer in front of me because I can see it, touch it, hear it hit other objects, and taste it if I wish. After one of my senses caught the object, then the nerve endings (or optic nerve) send the information to the brain, which processes the information. It takes from language to find a name for the object. However, all this information the brain processes comes from prior experience with the object.

Week #8 -- Thoughts and Ideas

This week is over, much like the life of a very kind man whom I love dearly. Rest in peace Leonard Nimoy. Anyway, on to business. This week I continued work on my metal art for my dad. All I did was paint it on Monday and Tuesday, doing each side. It took the whole day for it to dry, so that's why it took a while. However, it got painted and turned out quite nice. I'll take a picture of it and upload it later, due to it slipping my mind. The last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) have been spent on one of the shop computers. I have been trying to get inspiration to make stuff with the 3-D printer, but it is hard to find creations I like. I will in time, I'm sure.

This week's essential question isn't really direct and requires context. A block of apartments is being built near the local university. Therefore, we were asked to list at least seven sub-contractors that a general contractor would hire for the project. Sub-contractors could consist of: painters, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, roofers, landscapers, and surveyors. These are only a few of the jobs, and there are much more.

Week #6 -- Sergeant Metal

Salutations once more, friends. It is now the end of week six.  This week I primarily worked on small, random jobs around the shop as I had no complete idea on what to do. Wednesday is when I started working on the piece of metal art pictured above. Naturally, another gift for my dad. His last rank in the Marines was an E-5, or Sergeant. Therefore, I'm making this piece for him. I decided to take this and the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor I made before and put them on a wood panel. I'll also place pictures and his DD-214 up on there to create a mural of sorts in honor of his USMC career. He knows about this and has already agreed. I figure it will be fun.

In the process of grinding of melted metal boogers on this piece of art, I shaved off a little bit of my thumb. Bled a little, but I had it under control. Cleaned it, put some alcohol on, then bandaged it. It's been a day, but it looks good. In better news, I recently got a cellular device to call my own. Expect more pictures.

Ah, yes, the Essential Question. It has returned! Maybe my persistence helped. The question is as follows:

"How much does a heavy equipment operator make in California?"

A heavy equipment operator is a certified professional in a contracting or landfill business that makes use of bulldozers, cranes, and varied lifts and tractors in the field. Since each city and area varies, I picked a close to home locale. In San Francisco, a heavy equipment operator makes about $37 per hour, which equals to about $6,492 a month, and a median of $77,908 a year. Not a bad pay, I'd declare. 

Week #5 -- Chair Complete!

As you can see from the title, I have completed the chair for my teacher. After  grinding down the messy parts of the chair ring, I had a friend weld it to the seat base. He did this because he is a much more accomplished welder, and I do not trust my own skill. After letting it cool and cleaning it with steel wool, I took on the task of putting the chair back together. Since the lever that lowers/raises the chair became disheveled, I had to put it back on. There were broken rivets that held the bracket for the lever. Therefore I held the lever in place and put new rivets in. All that was left was putting the cushion back on and screwing it into place. I made sure it worked and then took it to my teacher. It was a pleasant experience, and I felt proud of myself for the experience.

As the last couple weeks, there is no Essential Question. I ponder when they will return, as I do miss them. They were good filler. 

Week #4 -- Broken Divets and Punching Rivets

This has been a rather pleasant yet slow week for me. The fourth week of the new semester has been dedicated to continuing work on projects or teardrop trailers. I myself have been responsible for evaluating the chair above (cushion is in the background). I had to figure out why the chair was rickety and falling apart. Therefore I took off the cushion by unscrewing some screws, then I assessed the issue. I figured out that the small, circular piece attached to the stem of the base had broken from its welds. Two out of three broke, which can be seen on the rectangular base piece. To fix this, I will grind out the broken welds and go over the general area with steel wool, to rub out rust and grime. I will then re-weld the circular disk to the rectangular platform. Then I'll screw back on the cushion. Ta-da!

There is no essential question for this week...We do seem to have a shortage on those..

Week #3 -- Batarangs and Metal Shavings

This may be confusing, as there is no  Week #2. This is because I was absent Friday and thus did not do the blog post for that week. This week was rather delightful and enjoyable, if I do say so. I finished my United States Marine Corps emblem metal art piece for my dad. It looked rather nice, though I decided to give it a non-reflective black coat of paint rather than the scarlet that i planned. I think it looked much better with the black than it would have with the scarlet. Much more subtle and sleek. My dad was immensely happy and I think I observed him shed a tear. At the same time, I also cut out a batarang with the plasma cutter. I took it home, due to the fact I wanted to sharpen it for a personal shuriken training tool. It is balanced and can be thrown quite accurately if one has enough skill. Finally, I got to use the sand blaster for the first time. My friend Josh helped me learn how to use it, then we took turns blasting away at a rusty bench seat, which is being refurbished for one of the Special Education classes. I hope they enjoy the finished product.

For this week, there is no essential question. This is surprising, because I figured that our teacher would have given us one.

On a personal note of hype, I am going to be going to the USMC Recruitment Depot today. I can barely contain both my anxiousness and joy.

Week #1 -- Rebooting Systems

Salutations everyone. It is I again. The first week of the second semester has arrived and died already. Quite surprising. This week I have been working on a metal art piece for my father's 50th birthday, which has passed recently. However, I wish to give him a personal gift even if it is late. Therefore, my work has been all directed towards this project. I based the project on the United States Marine Corps most prominent symbol: the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Symbolizing the proud heritage and honor that adorns all Marines, I figure this a perfect piece for my dad, since he is one (circa 1982-1988). I also favored it because I somewhat idolize the Marines and plan to enlist quite soon.

Anyway, I designed the piece in AutoCAD and Inkscape following instructions that our teacher left in a video. After it was designed digitally, I fixed all the errors on it and corrected them. This involved eliminating extra lines and thickening pieces so they would not break. After that, I uploaded the design to the plasma cutter and cut it out. Since there were little metal boogers and greebles, I had to grind them off. Next, I used steel wool to rub off dirt and rust. Finally, I am going to coat it in primer and then paint it scarlet with spray paint. Then it shall be complete and ready to turn in. I hope my dad will like it.

There is no essential question for this week. Expect one next week.