October 3, 2007Consolidating gadgets
After several years of lugging around a PDA and a phone, contact information never getting updated in one or the other and just the hassle of keeping up with multiple devices I finally broke down and got myself an iPhone. Thanks to the price reduction and Jeff's $100 store credit from the phone he bought for work, the price wasn't too bad; even for the 8gb. And the iPhone has so many cool features!
There's a lot of room for expansion/improvement as far as software, including games, but the hardware and the interface is just too cool. Oh, and my phone plan now includes 200 text messages/mo so I don't have to pay $.10/ea anymore. So everyone text away!
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October 8, 2007Continuing the gadget craze
To follow up my recent iPhone purchase I bought a new digital camera this weekend. My little Sony, while still in perfectly good condition, was just not producing print-quality pictures. And as a scrapbooker, printing is very important! I was initially looking at Nikon but never found one that met all of my criteria. I ended up choosing the 8-megapixel Canon SD870 (in silver), which I bought at Best Buy (and took advantage of the tax free weekend).
Next week, during my trip to Biloxi, I should get a chance to really test it out. What I've done so far has been great. It's lightweight and small despite having a 3in LCD. The delay between flash-enabled pictures is minimal and it has face recognition, which is kinda cool.
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October 12, 2007Text messaging
Perhaps I should mention that I get absolutely no cell signal in my office building, so if you send me a text message during the day I won't get it until I leave work. :(
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October 13, 2007Belated or early Arbor Day?
Last weekend Jeff & I picked up another tree from Lowes to plant in our side yard (living room side of the house). It's an October Glory Maple, similar to the one we planted last year.
We're still hoping (I think) to work on the deck before it gets too cold. We're just running out of weekends. October always seems to be so busy.
Speaking of, Jeff is currently in Pennsylvania at the annual Tacober Fest, a big east-coast gathering of Custom Tacos members. I wasn't able to go this year because I, along with Chris H, Karen & Nick, will be flying to Biloxi, MS tomorrow afternoon for a week. Brian will be joining us on Tuesday.
We're going down there to work with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for Katrina survivors. Chris & Karen went back in January and had such a good time they organized another trip and invited anyone who could go, to come along. I'm really looking forward to the week. I think it'll be a great learning experience and it'll be nice knowing I'm really helping out and hopefully making a difference in someone's life.
I may not get a chance to blog any while I'm down there, but I'll be sure to do so when I get back.
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October 22, 2007Biloxi Photos
Hey everyone, I'm back from a fantastic week in Biloxi. I haven't had a chance to write anything yet, but you can view photos now. We're all posting our photos on the Hollomon's Smug Mug site so they'll be together.
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October 27, 2007Biloxi 2007 Details
Sunday afternoon (Oct 14), Chris, Karen, Nick & I got on a plane headed for Biloxi, MS via Atlanta. We arrived shortly after 5, with just enough time to get our bags and make it to the church for dinner. Tim had already arrived so we all sat down to eat and listen to the brief orientation. After dinner we found the stockpile of air mattresses and set up camp in a corner of the sanctuary; the bunk rooms (former Sunday school classrooms) were already full.
Ever since Katrina, the church, Bethel Lutheran, has transformed itself to a volunteer center. Every week, usually on Sunday, a new batch of volunteers come in. I think there were almost 70 people there the week we went. The entire operation is organized and efficient and mostly runs on the help of the volunteers. There's a clinic open during the week, a full kitchen that provides volunteers breakfast & dinner, showers & beds available for everyone.
Lights out was at 10 every night, but the fellowship hall and conference room were available for those who wanted to stay up. Breakfast was serves at 6:30AM and dinner at 6PM. A trailer with 2 shower stalls, plus an indoor shower were available for volunteers; a sign up sheet was posted each day so everyone was ensured a time slot.
Needless to say, Monday started out very early in order to get everyone up and ready to go on time. All the volunteers met at a local high school (Yankie) stadium for work assignments and instructions. There are also 3 containers full of tools that we could raid anytime we needed something. Nick was placed on another team so he could help with drywall, and the rest of us merged with a group from Ohio. Chris ended up as the unofficial leader of the group and he did a great job getting everyone organized and answering questions.
Our first task of the day was to load up a pile of siding onto a trailer that was heading to our project house. Another volunteer, Gretchen, was responsible for delivering supplies and materials to project houses when needed. Then we had to unload all the siding. And then move it all into the backyard where it was laid out to be painted. I would say most pieces of the siding were moved no less than 5 times. Day one was mostly consumed with painting and getting other projects prepped.
Peter, the head of construction (well, he was the one who knew what was going on with each house), came by with surveying equipment to help run a chalk line around the bottom of the house so the new siding would be level and the house would appear level to the eye. The house was originally built in the 1920s so it definitely had some age problems that were only made worse by Katrina. Then he stole Karen & me to teach us how to bend siding pieces that would become the flashing on our house. That's a pretty neat machine we got to use.
Lunch was served around noon at Yankie Stadium. It was a serve yourself buffet with sandwich toppings. It was pretty good and just what we needed, but turned out to be exactly the same thing everyday. We ended up going out to lunch twice.
Day 2 began with more of the same. A second coat of paint needed to be put on all the siding, including the pieces done by the previous group. I left the Ohio ladies to it and took out the final old window that was left in the house. Then I got to measure and cut the frame pieces to go around all the new windows. Our day was cut a little short due to rain, but it worked out well because Brian's flight arrived around 5, so we all piled our stinky selves into the Enclave and went to the airport to pick him up.
After showering and getting Brian settled we headed out to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. The place was almost empty until 18 police officers came in to eat. It was definitely the safest place in town to be!
Wednesday brought on work that would start to show a noticeable difference on the house. Team Tar Paper (me, Brian & Chris from CA) kicked things off by using this cool staple gun to put up tar paper over the entire house. We had to stop briefly to put in insulation and wood to cover the giant holes the plumbers had to cut out to install new piping for a second bathroom. Stupid me volunteered for the insulation since I'd had experience with it. Luckily I was able to rope Brian into helping me. That was an exhausting day and by the end we were all so tired. The Virginia crew and CA Chris all signed one of the boards to prove we were there.
By Thursday we were ready for the siding. It was amazing to finally see it going up on the house. We had such a great crew of people working on the house. Everyone was broken into groups: tar papering, siding, window framing, installing flashing, there was one team inside framing a closet and Nick came over to patch some drywall in the kitchen. I think we got a lot done on Thursday, but once again the rain ended things early. We worked as long as we could, moving under the carport during the heavy rain and back out when it stopped. Eventually we had to give up and call it a day. After dinner at the church we drove out to Sonic for a little dessert. It was so much fun just hanging out with everyone.
Friday was sad, but everyone was determined to get as much done as possible. Luckily the weather cooperated and gave us a perfect day to work. Team Tar Paper and Team Siding continued plugging along. We'd had to work around the plumbers all week, but when they left for lunch on Friday they didn't come back, which was a huge help. Brian and CA Chris rigged up a tar paper roll holder to help us get to the highest section of the house. It was kind of ghetto, but it worked. The Virginia crew took a late lunch out so Brian could work a little longer. His flight was that afternoon, so after lunch Chris took him back to the church where one of the staff members drove him to the church.
The rest of us got back to work. CA Chris & I finally finished up the tar paper. The last piece required us to get on the roof and Chris braved her fear of heights to get the job done. The Ohio group left at 5, but the rest of us stuck around trying to get the wall until the carport finished. There were some tricky cuts which Tim & Nick worked on, but eventually the light ran out and we had to pack it all up and call it quits about 7pm. It was really hard to leave without finishing the job, but we knew there would be another group, just like us, coming in the following week. They would be able to pick it right up and probably finish the siding.
It had been an extremely long, yet fulfilling day, and surprisingly we still had energy left. We had definitely missed dinner, so we ate at a barbecue place called The Shed. It was pretty much just that; several shed/lean to like building put together to form a restaurant. The waitresses were crazy, we could write on the walls and there were forks (plastic) stuck in the ceiling. Fun place.
Tim's flight left early Saturday morning so one of the staff members drove him to the airport. The rest of us got to sleep in a little and since our flight wasn't until 5:15 we stuck around and helped clean the church up. Afterwards we drove around quite a bit just to see more of the area. our first stop was the Mardi Gras Supply store we had passed several times. I think we all just wanted to see a store full of beads. And beads we found. Eventually we stopped to eat in a small town restaurant called The Buttercup. Nick & I were a little afraid to try a local place, but it turned out to have the best food I'd had all week. After lunch we headed to the airport to wave our final goodbyes to Biloxi from the plane.
Posted by Olivia at 1:20 AM | Comments (1)
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