Sunday, June 04, 2006
I graduated! Woohoo! Olin now has graduates! You can read about my graduation in the Boston Globe or you can read a more entertaining version written by IEEE Spectrum. Before I left Boston, I took a walk around a lake to destress after finishing a paper for a class. Here is a snapshot from my walk around the lake.
The day I left Boston, it was 30 degrees, because there was an artic storm coming through. It had been warming up, but there were still cold days. I had hung up my sweaters in my closet in case I needed them; I don't need them. Today it was over 90 degrees! Not that it doesn't get hot in Boston, it was just a quick switch.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Cool Design!
I am in a course called Sustainable Design this semester. Our first project is to take a product and reuse it to make another product. The coolest example we were shown was a record that had been made into a bowl. He put a clear sticker over the bottom of the bowl so that you could still see the label. Well, I've been trying to think about products to try to reuse. I happened to find another cool design today surfing the web. This product is a merry-go-round that doubles as a water pump designed in South Africa. The kids play on it, and it pumps water for the village into a high reservoir! Very cool.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Head Covering Paper
Hey, hey. I've finished my head covering paper. You can read it here.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Mexico Trip
I just recently took a trip to Juarez, Mexico to build a house in 3 1/2 days! I really enjoyed it. I went with my school's Christian Club, and some Dads through an organization called Casas por Cristo. The Dads came in handy when it came time to swing hammers and sink thick 16 penny nails into the 2x4's to make the walls. First, here's the neighborhood.
The Neighborhood
On the first day we poured the concrete slab. I got to "screen", which involved raking each batch of concrete away from where the small concrete mixer would drop it, and until it filled in our wooden mould. Then we would move a piece of wood like a saw over the top of the concrete to smooth it out (i.e. push down the rocks) and make it level. After we screened the entire slab we smoothed it out even more because it was going to be the floor of the house. The house was only 11'x22'.
slab
On the second day, we put the walls and ceiling up. We hammered together each wall on the ground and then put them all up one after the other at the same time. Our Casas staff guy, Mark, said that our house was the most exact--in terms of being square--that he had made! The second day I got to hang out with Raymundo a lot. He's the father of the family we were building the house for. He would watch as we would try to hammer in the nails, and then they would go crooked, which would make them harder to get in. So he would come over and help us out. I got to translate the instructions we had for each section to him using a combination of Spanish and pointing :). He helped me with some of the words after a while. "El techo" is the roof and "el agujero" is the hole. "El agujero" was very useful when we drilled holes in the walls for the electrical lights and fan and fed the romex through the walls.
walls
On the third day, I did sheet rock with three others. I like power drills :). We started sheet rock in the morning and we finished just as it was getting dark. The others put a black board on the outside of the house, and then chicken wire, and then stucco. They also did the roof.
On the last day, we just did the finishing touches: We hooked up all of the outlets and the lights. They worked :). We also poured a step for the front door and the back door. We decorated their front step with a cross and Olin College.
Done!
Raymundo
Each day, the family gave us lunch! They were not required to at all, but they wanted to. It was usually a bag of tortillas, rice and some type of meat. On the last day, Raymundo asked us if he could make fish. We certainly accepted. He and his wife made us amazing fried fish, served us fancy cheese and a spicy soup with jumbo shrimp! We had come to build the house because we have been blessed and thus, wanted to give to others. Now, he had been blessed and wanted give to us.
The Neighborhood
On the first day we poured the concrete slab. I got to "screen", which involved raking each batch of concrete away from where the small concrete mixer would drop it, and until it filled in our wooden mould. Then we would move a piece of wood like a saw over the top of the concrete to smooth it out (i.e. push down the rocks) and make it level. After we screened the entire slab we smoothed it out even more because it was going to be the floor of the house. The house was only 11'x22'.
slab
On the second day, we put the walls and ceiling up. We hammered together each wall on the ground and then put them all up one after the other at the same time. Our Casas staff guy, Mark, said that our house was the most exact--in terms of being square--that he had made! The second day I got to hang out with Raymundo a lot. He's the father of the family we were building the house for. He would watch as we would try to hammer in the nails, and then they would go crooked, which would make them harder to get in. So he would come over and help us out. I got to translate the instructions we had for each section to him using a combination of Spanish and pointing :). He helped me with some of the words after a while. "El techo" is the roof and "el agujero" is the hole. "El agujero" was very useful when we drilled holes in the walls for the electrical lights and fan and fed the romex through the walls.
walls
On the third day, I did sheet rock with three others. I like power drills :). We started sheet rock in the morning and we finished just as it was getting dark. The others put a black board on the outside of the house, and then chicken wire, and then stucco. They also did the roof.
On the last day, we just did the finishing touches: We hooked up all of the outlets and the lights. They worked :). We also poured a step for the front door and the back door. We decorated their front step with a cross and Olin College.
Done!
Raymundo Each day, the family gave us lunch! They were not required to at all, but they wanted to. It was usually a bag of tortillas, rice and some type of meat. On the last day, Raymundo asked us if he could make fish. We certainly accepted. He and his wife made us amazing fried fish, served us fancy cheese and a spicy soup with jumbo shrimp! We had come to build the house because we have been blessed and thus, wanted to give to others. Now, he had been blessed and wanted give to us.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Update
I am happy with my senior engineering project right now. The algorithm we had to write by Thanksgiving has been written already and we are on to bigger and better things. Our company liason and her boss came to visit to help us with our project. They were helpful in propelling us to work as far as we could without them before they came, and in helping us to know how we will do the next steps. I also got to drive the Rhino, which is the project directors's atv with seats and a cover, around Parcel B, which is a large forested area with paths and open areas that our school owns. It was a lot of fun! He had me drive right through the puddles instead of going around them.
He has converted Parcel B into a Robot test track, and is very excited about it, and wanted to show it off to our sponsors. He has even arragned to have the paths plowed in the winter! He's also building a shed with heating and an internet connection so we can work out there in the winter while we're testing our vehicle. He says that at about 10 degrees below freezing your laptop screen freezes and starts to do funny things. This winter will be interesting!
I am halfway through the body of my 25 page paper on Testimony literature in Latin America. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am excited about it. This website http://www.speaktruthtopower.org/ has some great bios and pictures of Human Rights workers throughout the world!
I have started a spreadsheet to track due dates for my applications to Law Schools and scholarships, programs and school rankings. Some schools have some really cool scholarships for public interest law, or have well funded programs to provide money to students for summer internships that do not pay. I plan to write essays during Thanksgiving break, instead of before. and, I hope to visit some Law Schools in southern California while I'm there.
Back to writing . . .
He has converted Parcel B into a Robot test track, and is very excited about it, and wanted to show it off to our sponsors. He has even arragned to have the paths plowed in the winter! He's also building a shed with heating and an internet connection so we can work out there in the winter while we're testing our vehicle. He says that at about 10 degrees below freezing your laptop screen freezes and starts to do funny things. This winter will be interesting!
I am halfway through the body of my 25 page paper on Testimony literature in Latin America. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am excited about it. This website http://www.speaktruthtopower.org/ has some great bios and pictures of Human Rights workers throughout the world!
I have started a spreadsheet to track due dates for my applications to Law Schools and scholarships, programs and school rankings. Some schools have some really cool scholarships for public interest law, or have well funded programs to provide money to students for summer internships that do not pay. I plan to write essays during Thanksgiving break, instead of before. and, I hope to visit some Law Schools in southern California while I'm there.
Back to writing . . .
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
To do before Thanksgiving: a partial list
- Write a 25 page paper on Testimony literature in Latin America
- Finish reading a 250 page book in Spanish ('Si me permiten hablar . . .' Testimonio de Domitila, una mujer de las minas de Bolivia) I'm on page 185 . . .
- Read two more books (The Inferno by Luz Arce, A Single Numberless Death by Nora Streveilich)
- Write, write, write, pause, find quote, write, write, write
- Write a 10 page Annotation to my 25 page paper
- Write an algorithm for my senior Engineering project first in Java, then in C (But I just found out about eclipse and it is a wonderful Java environment!)
- Choose Law Schools to apply to, write essays, take more practice LSATs
- Have a personal letter to give to people to raise prayer support and money for a trip to Juarez, Mexico to build a house in January
- Spend time with my suitemates*
*added to reflect a real priority
Friday, September 23, 2005
Top Ten things that have changed since last post:
10. I am a College Senior!
My school now has all four classes: Seniors through freshmen! I have not met all, okay most, of the freshmen this year, but I have met the ones who joined Christian Club :O) There are lots of exciting things going on this year! We are hoping to go to Mexico to build a house with Casas Por Cristo this January.
9. My car broke down again . . . my brakes started grinding. I know that means: 'Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.' Conveniently enough, I was able to leave my car at the shop on the way out of the area, and have them fix it while I was in California. They also replaced my hood latch cable so that my hood opens!
8. My glasses came with a sunglass clip that magnetically stuck into place. I lost it long ago, but recently decided to buy a replacement. Well, I ordered it in California and had to have it shipped to Boston. It arrived this week, but unfortunately, they flipped the magnets, so my sunglasses stay very effectively unattached to my glasses!
7. I have broken out my frog collection in force in my room once again. Many smiling reminders to fully rely on God.
6. I now live in a suite with five other girls, whiich was arranged by who would most and least mind my Rooster alarm waking them up in the morning.
5. I really like the Red Sox team from 2004 season (They won the World Series, in case you are not in New England), because of a short DVD called Reverse the Curse put on by Athletes in Action in which 10 of the team members talk about their Faith in God and how they relied on God during their games, how it was him who blessed them with the victory!
4. I have again strung my walls with the cards I've received from family and friends over the last three years. They cover quite a bit of my wall space! The cards are so encouraging, and a big improvement over the white space that was there.
Scarriest: a frog with HUGE eyes and teeth making a face at me, from my Mom
Loudest: a bright pink construction paper card with green construction paper framing my name, from my friend Johannah
Highly Memory filled: Card that says "Hey, Sister- you're a year older . . . thankfully that's one thing you can't blame on me", signed 'Tim' in the way I used to scratch his name into the dining room table instead of mine, so I wouldn't get in trouble.
3. I can no longer claim to people's astongishment that my biological sister has light skin, blue eyes and curly blond hair . . . she has become a brunette . . . or at least dark blond.
2. I wrote a paper about head coverings. It's in the revision stages, but I'll pass it around soon!
1. I want to go to law school now. This summer, I heard Gary Haugen from the International Justice Mission speak on the radio. He was talking about how God is a God who is passionate about justice, and he then started talking about when he was sent by the UN to investigate the massacre in Rwanda, and how he realized what God's love for the world really means. He was conducting an interview with a little girl who had barely survived the machete wounds on her neck and realized that God cared so much about whether this girl lived or died. He, over in America, would not have known the difference, but God would have. He came to see God as truly against the injustice in the world, and able to overcome it. He also realized that God's plan for showing himself to be a God of justice is to use his people. So he started up the International Justice Mission, which is a group of Christian attorneys, law enforcement professionals and human rights workers who rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression.
To see the amazing things God is doing with lawyers check out the International Justice Mission.
I think this is amazing, because I have been looking for a Christian group that is doing in human rights work. In my class Human Rights in Latin America, we learned about the atrocities that occured in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and other countries during the 60's and 70's. It's real that people were tortured, recently. I knew God was bigger than how I had seen him before after this class. I knew that Jesus could identify with every person who is tortured, because he was too, for an unjust cause as well. Now I can see how active he is, as in Psalms 10-14, where David cries to him for rescue from injustice and he responds because he does that. I would love to be a part of such a work as the International Justice Mission!
My school now has all four classes: Seniors through freshmen! I have not met all, okay most, of the freshmen this year, but I have met the ones who joined Christian Club :O) There are lots of exciting things going on this year! We are hoping to go to Mexico to build a house with Casas Por Cristo this January.
9. My car broke down again . . . my brakes started grinding. I know that means: 'Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.' Conveniently enough, I was able to leave my car at the shop on the way out of the area, and have them fix it while I was in California. They also replaced my hood latch cable so that my hood opens!
8. My glasses came with a sunglass clip that magnetically stuck into place. I lost it long ago, but recently decided to buy a replacement. Well, I ordered it in California and had to have it shipped to Boston. It arrived this week, but unfortunately, they flipped the magnets, so my sunglasses stay very effectively unattached to my glasses!
7. I have broken out my frog collection in force in my room once again. Many smiling reminders to fully rely on God.
6. I now live in a suite with five other girls, whiich was arranged by who would most and least mind my Rooster alarm waking them up in the morning.
5. I really like the Red Sox team from 2004 season (They won the World Series, in case you are not in New England), because of a short DVD called Reverse the Curse put on by Athletes in Action in which 10 of the team members talk about their Faith in God and how they relied on God during their games, how it was him who blessed them with the victory!
4. I have again strung my walls with the cards I've received from family and friends over the last three years. They cover quite a bit of my wall space! The cards are so encouraging, and a big improvement over the white space that was there.
Scarriest: a frog with HUGE eyes and teeth making a face at me, from my Mom
Loudest: a bright pink construction paper card with green construction paper framing my name, from my friend Johannah
Highly Memory filled: Card that says "Hey, Sister- you're a year older . . . thankfully that's one thing you can't blame on me", signed 'Tim' in the way I used to scratch his name into the dining room table instead of mine, so I wouldn't get in trouble.
3. I can no longer claim to people's astongishment that my biological sister has light skin, blue eyes and curly blond hair . . . she has become a brunette . . . or at least dark blond.
2. I wrote a paper about head coverings. It's in the revision stages, but I'll pass it around soon!
1. I want to go to law school now. This summer, I heard Gary Haugen from the International Justice Mission speak on the radio. He was talking about how God is a God who is passionate about justice, and he then started talking about when he was sent by the UN to investigate the massacre in Rwanda, and how he realized what God's love for the world really means. He was conducting an interview with a little girl who had barely survived the machete wounds on her neck and realized that God cared so much about whether this girl lived or died. He, over in America, would not have known the difference, but God would have. He came to see God as truly against the injustice in the world, and able to overcome it. He also realized that God's plan for showing himself to be a God of justice is to use his people. So he started up the International Justice Mission, which is a group of Christian attorneys, law enforcement professionals and human rights workers who rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression.
To see the amazing things God is doing with lawyers check out the International Justice Mission.
I think this is amazing, because I have been looking for a Christian group that is doing in human rights work. In my class Human Rights in Latin America, we learned about the atrocities that occured in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and other countries during the 60's and 70's. It's real that people were tortured, recently. I knew God was bigger than how I had seen him before after this class. I knew that Jesus could identify with every person who is tortured, because he was too, for an unjust cause as well. Now I can see how active he is, as in Psalms 10-14, where David cries to him for rescue from injustice and he responds because he does that. I would love to be a part of such a work as the International Justice Mission!
