the one with ALL the dirt

well.. today was great. I shoveled dirt for 6 hours, but man did we get some work done. Also- the news station cam out so we will be one the news tonight... Ive realized that this project isn't about "publicity" but rather about awareness. awareness of 2 things. 1) substandard housing- and the effect it has on people  2) just trying to get people to help other people--- we are all the same, even if some of us have nice homes, or ugly homes, or unsafe homes--- there is no way to help people unless you meet people, and see what sort of opportunities are out there

the one where i may have found the line

"made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."- Tennyson

This is one of my all time favorite quotes-- i generally dont drag it out of the closet unless I need encouragment...

well... you know if we though we had problems before.... now we really do. I was unfortunate enough to have a little encounter with Mark Joiner the other afternoon... you know, after he denied our building certificate. Basically he made me feel like a complete jackass about the project- and so i realized something about that "line" from my last post. i have to come to terms with that. so, as a result, i have went back to desinging more- Im working on the from port because we decided to table that for a while. We discussed the designs to tonight and it seemed to go well...

so for now- think LINE thoughts 

the one with the dividing line

 Several of us were out of town for the weekend, but the people that were here did an amazing job at the site- good job guys.

Despite the progressing form work, i still seem to be lacking confidence in the project. There is just something about it that is really bothering me, problem is- i cant seem to figure out what "IT" is. Is did a couple of interviews last week for the papers, and I started to feel awkward about it. I feel like we are in some way exploiting the family, even though- we have asked them if we could tell their story. On the one hand we are doing all this to raise public awareness of substandard housing in Ruston, but on the other hand I don't want the Evans kiddos going to school and their classmates being like "hey, we saw in the paper that your house if full of mold"- that would be uncomfortable for them.... which is not something I want to happen. Perhaps I will try and think of a better way to do handle that aspect of the PR work. 

I really like doing the PR stuff, but it is tough, because so much of it has to be done during the day time- which is when everyone else is out on the site working. I want to be out working, because i want to see and learn what is going on (after all is was one of my goals for the year), but i also, want to and have to be here in studio working to do things like finding power poles and doing interviews (things which cant be handled at 10 pm),,, yadda yadda ya- its tough. I need to figure out the dividing line somewhere in all that... oh and plus, find a  way not to fail all my other classes!

the one where i need encouragement

Ok- well so, we have been busy out at the site. Actually, not really. Actually, I tend to get really annoyed when I am out there because everything always seems SO chaotic and disorganized. We've got people who don't show up until 5 hours after we were supposed to ALL meet there. And then people go off and change what time we are supposed to meet, but dont call and tell anyone. Then its like we get there and no one is sure what to do. Im pretty sure I spent most of my time out there today raking sticks and clipping roots out of the ground. It took forever to get going on the site layout, but it finally got figured out. I guess getting started from that first initial 2 or 3 points is the hardest- but I did help work on that for a bit, and least to learned how it works.

I feel really discouraged about the project as a whole.... its seems like we cant get any one thing done. We always seem to think something is done- but then there will be some ridiculous set back or catastrophe. We make all these dead lines to meet, but we are having to depend on so many different sets of people we cant get anything done- much less get it done to fit within our time lines... and I guess we are partly to blame for the stuff that goes wrong, but  there is no way we can control when other people find time to plumb our house, or cut our trees, or move our dirt, or survey out site, or ... or .. .. or... or- its really starting to bother me. I mean these people are volunteering to do this stuff for us- so we can only push them so much to try and do it.... because, unlike us, they actually have:   A job.  A family. A life.

I got a huge ass log dropped on my foot yesterday-- and it really f*cking hurt! Now I have a swolled foot and a big bruise-- and my shoe makes it hurt more! 

We have been having problems with the neighbors- and pretty much... they dont like us. WELL- today Ms. Evans and the kiddos came out to help us work. Turns out, her and the neighbors know each other and now all of a sudden.. ..  the neighbors are really nice to us- how coincidental. I tell you what.... HOW  ABOUT  YOU  QUIT PUTTING  YOUR  TRASH  ON  OUR  SITE!!!!!!  

Hopefully things will really get underway in the very near future- and hopefully I will gain some faith and courage in the project....

the one where we had to come back and actually work...

Alright-- so after 2 shots, 2 steroid packs, and 2 miserable weeks of poison ivy.... ive come to think its beginning to go away. Things have been busy since we got back to school. Our plans came back from the building inspector in great shape--- we had a couple of major things to work on and make changes to, but nothing too severe. We went and met with Jay Martin from dubach heat and air this morning-- and that went well. Both he and his wife are very supportive of the habitat/ architecture projects, which is nice and always makes me feel good. Yesterday: morgan, janina and I went over to Ms. Evan's house to take pictures of the existing conditions. I have been trying to sort through all this ridiculous paperwork- and as a result, got to go by and meet the infamous Mark Joiner today--- he was nice, and seems very willing to help. So GREAT. There is this whole big thing with getting an elevation certificate- so we are having to have the site resurveyed.... more or less... I will let you know how it goes!

KICK BALL GAME TONIGHT!!! go tea-baggers!!!