Gleaning Reflection

1. I really liked how my unnamed person, we'll call her Boquisha, used a lot of detail in her thinking process in we entries. She also had a good description of herself growing as she learned how to balance her work and overcome challenges.

2. Boquisha sometimes used language that was too casual in her entries. I think she also could have added more research about already created duct tape art.

3. I would really like to borrow her use of lists. Obviously we already talked about it in class but she had some good examples of lists with a lot of content and meaning. I would also like to use Boquisha's honest description of her thoughts and how she grew as a person. I think sometimes I can sound a bit like the diary of a cat.

XDXP GG

How stuff works

The website "How Stuff Works" is a dream come true for the curious. It's a website answering questions of how some basic things work that you never quite wondered about until you see it there. I have been noticing a bit of the same phenomenon around me with all sorts of furniture. This project has made me think a lot more about how this chair I'm sitting in stays up with only 2 screws and how that table has finish on it that has lasted since 1960. Just some food for thought: bookshelves are so much more complex than one might think.

XDXP GG

Rabbet joints

Part of a box is using a rabbet joint to fit the pieces together, pictured below. For this, I had to put on a different saw blade and measure to the correct width and depth. Unfortunately, that's much harder than it sounds. There are a couple places on the box that are a couple millimeters off, but you can't sweat the small stuff when you're staring those sharp saw blades in the face and appreciating each finger more and more as the days progress.

XDXP GG

My dad is just the best

After research and practice I was finally ready to cut into the good, expensive wood for my project. My dad was very adamant on helping me and showing me what to do. There was a part of me that wanted to say "Dad... This is my project, I have to do it my way" which is my usual tendency (unfortunately). What really surprised me enough to confess this personality flaw of mine was that I realized even after my preparation, I would be clueless without him there guiding me. So I decided to think of it as me being his apprentice for a little while until I get the hang of it all. WISE lesson of the day: accept help even when you want to march to your own drum because you never realize your drum is broken until you start banging on it. Clever metaphor, or one that makes no sense? That's for you to sleep on folks.

XDXP GG

Approaching a task

I had a conversation with my aunt who is a Life Coach via the Martha Beck life coach training program. We were discussing my project and she told me about a seminar she attended on different approaches to tasks. She is going to send me the link to read more about it, but the basic types of approaches are fact finder, process oriented, quick start, and a couple others that I can't remember but will read up on when I get the link. She asked me a couple questions and concluded without question that I am a QuickStart learner, meaning I don't want to do research or have instruction, I just want to figure it out myself and use my own knowledge to learn by doing and making mistakes. I couldn't agree with this more. I think that's why the research component of wise is really difficult for me I would much rather start sawing away than read up on how to do it effectively. Unfortunately, that's not really a productive use of materials and isn't really practical in this sense, so I do have to so a lot of research. Oh well, it's interesting to think about and understand myself a little better anyway.

XDXP GG

Mentor Meeting

A little late on actually posting this, but I had a great meeting with my mentor last week. We talked about some possible project ideas after he boxes and also a little bit about meeting the blog entry requirements. We had a great discussion on how I can now look at the way things are constructed differently and see how much work goes into them, and also ow I can write a blog post on something as simple as that.

XDXP GG

Who thought a box would be this hard...

Well, it's Tuesday and I have yet to make a box. I have been doing research and practicing some skills while I got my materials in place, but the long and short of it is that it's taking a lot longer than expected to get all my ducks in a row. I went to visit West Virginia University last week (woohoo!) so I was away from my project for a little while. On the up side, while I was away, my flat of wood it delivered! Hot digity. Now I'm working on a technical sketch of the dimensions of the box before I cut the very valuable wood.
On that note, my project is proving to be more expensive than intended, as common with most things in life. Good old Papa Jorge to the rescue though! (That's my dad, his name is actually George). The two of us have been working on putting in insulation in our cabin, and soon drywall. He agreed to pay for some parts of my project as long as I continue to insulate and drywall the cabin! A good deal if you ask me because those are skills that are also related to carpentry so I really am just working on my wise project.

XDXPGG