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..