All Good Things...

Well, my friends, this is it! My last blog post of my high school senior project, and unless required to blog, this will also serve as my last blog post ever. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate posting, it just was an extra burden for my project, especially since the only people who read this blog know what I'm doing anyway. And telling the world what I've been doing for a few months does not rank highly on list of pleasures. But, it will be over in approximately 160 words. So to fill up the remaining space, I would like to thank some of the people who had a connection to my project. 

First and foremost, Mrs. McConaghy who is the head hancho of the senior projects. She has kept us on course by her displayed interest in our projects.

Next, my advisor, Mr. McClernon, who has not yet quite mastered the blogging experience. Senior year would have been much less productive without him. He has definitely inspired me to continue in my scientific goals and has been a spectacular role model. I would also like to thank him in advance for all the work we'll be putting in together trying to perfect my presentation.

And finally, my friend Mason Waaler, who to my knowledge, was the only consistent reader of this blog. Knowing that there was someone who was truly interested helped me push through to the end.

Thank you to these three people and anyone else who played a role in my senior project.

Applying the Brakes

Well my friends, the model is finished as of yesterday! In my opinion, it came out better than I actually expected it would. Seeing as I have posted pictures of the process leading up to the finished product, you might think that I will have pictures of the finished model. Sadly, you would be wrong.I have to have something to surprise you with at my presentation.

Speaking of my presentation, it is coming along nicely. So far, I have just over 20 slides. I will still be working on it for a while, but it has kind been put on the back burner for now. I consider studying for my Mandarin AP, much more important. The only problem is the slide show is due to my mentor on Monday and the test is Wednesday. Luckily though for me, I don't have to present anything until the following week! But besides doing a little work on my slide show, there really isn't much to discuss. But if I was strapping for something to say right now, I would have to discuss, well I'm not quite sure what to say. Hmmmm. Well, I guess I could mention that I think that I have way too many slides for a twenty minute presentation. I think I will keep them all in though and once I go through it with Mr. McClernon, we'll sit down and cut where necessary. If we go by the standard of about 1.5 minutes per slide, I have a forty minute presentation which I twice as long as I need. Well, I’ll figure t out when I get there. 

Almost There and Back Again...

It seems that for a few weeks, I keep saying that I am almost done with my model.that has been true all along, but the amount "almost" represents keeps shrinking. As of this very minute I still have a few things to do.

1) After cross refrencing my completed buildings with the master list of buildings, it seems that a few are missing. I do not really know how I could have overlooked these, but alas I did, and now have to bring back out the cutting tools.

2) Of these buildings I've overlooked, one of them is the Hyatt. This is one of the most complicated buildings, if not the most complicated buildings in downtown Phoenix. It will have to be built in layers and I will need to pick up some more wood from Home Depot.

3) Chase Field has yet to be completed. I still need to stop by Home Depot and pick up some wood to complete it.

4) My "special" buildings still have to be painted. By "special" I mean that these buildings require  bit more attention to detail to paint them. This list includes the buildings: Chase Field, the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Court House, Chase Tower, Phoenix City Hall, CityScape 1 & 2, Phoenix Convention Center 1 &2, the Bank of America Tower, and the Hyatt.

5) There are four sections of the base that need to be painted. This has taken awhile, because the buildings need to be measured on it before I can distinguish what colors go where. The Capital grounds and Chase Field are two examples of this.

6) Once the sections are finished, I'll have to back and touch up a few spots on the streets and railroad tracks.

7) Finally, once all is completed (Perhaps excluding the Hyatt and Chase Field) I will begin to glue down the buildings and then my model will be complete.

Tis a Lonely Life...

I know many of you may be thinking to yourself, "What does John do all day? He writes about cutting and painting, but what does that mean?" Well my friends, if it sounds boring, I;m here to tell you it is. The average day for me revolves around completing this project. From the moment I wake up, the computer is on and I am working through breakfast. This could be me cross referencing building IDs, or checking what I have to do that day. After a quick stop at the gym, I'm back home prepping my garage for work. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am very particular on certain things. Mostly, I enjoy living and working in a clean and orderly environment. Once all is orderly, I can be gin my work.

If I am cutting that day, I measure and draw out every building on the wood; number each cut; clamp, clamp, and clamp again; gloves and goggles on; and then saw to my hearts content. If I am painting that day, the prep takes a little longer to order all the paint brushes and drying racks, but then it is really just me painting the buildings, and as is often the case, getting more paint on my hands than the buildings. In either scenario though, I will have XM channel 75, XM Pops, playing in the background. I would guess that to a passerby that this is a pretty strange site, which would explain that for the dozens of people who walk each day in my neighborhood, only two have stopped by to see what I am doing. One of which is my neighbor who has taken and interest in seeing my daily progress. Usually, he is the only person I talk to until my mom gets home in the evening. Am I going a little stir crazy? I don't know, that is more of a question for Savannah's project.

Almost there...

Remember how I said I wanted to finish my model my Friday? Well, that didn't exactly happen. I was working Thursday morning (fantastic weather that day), and at around noon, just as I was about to begin to paint the roofs of the last sixty or so buildings, I received a phone call. "Be ready in ten minutes, cousins from Chicago are here." At first, I was angry because I knew that it would delay my progress, but there is nothing more important than spending time with family, even if they are second cousins once removed.

Even with this enjoyable set back, the model will be done this weekend. As of Friday, just Chase Field needs to to be built, there are just a few sections of the board that need to be painted in, about thirty more roofs to paint, seven complicated buildings that need to be glued together and painted, and then just gluing the buildings to the board and doing some minor touch ups.

From there it should be smooth sailing. Compile some of the research, gather my photos, and make a power point. For any of you who wish to see my model and hear my presentation, you are invited to the Scottsdale Civic Center Public Library Auditorium on Monday, May 21st from 5:15 to 8:45. I will only be presenting for twenty minutes and taking questions for ten, but I highly recommend you stay to see what my fellow classmates have done over their third trimesters.

Smells Like a Forest Fire

Greetings everyone!! As many of you know, our "on site" time for senior projects is drawing to a close. So today, I finally was able to cut out all but two of my remaining buildings. I wasn't sure how i was going to slice through a 3.5 by 3.5 by 12 inch block of wood, but luckily I was able to procure a few six inch saber saw blades. Because of the rigid grain of Alaskan yellow cedar, cutting was tough and the smell of burning cedar filled the air. (For those of you who have never smelled Alaskan Cedar burn, it is not an extremely pleasant smell. In fact, it is quite putrid.) To illustrate how tough that wood is, you can see under the Buildings tab, a picture of two blades that fractured due to the intense heat. It was an odd sight to see the edges of both the blade and the wood kind of glowing orange. But that's why we always wear protection.

As mentioned above there are only two buildings that remain to be "built." They are Chase Field and the US Airways Center. The US Airways Center is not a hard building to make, I just need a piece of wood that measures at least 10 cm by 15.2 cm. Chase Field will be built in three parts, two will be easy to cut, while the roof will be made out of concave molding. My plan is to have all the buildings finished completely by next Friday. Which will only leave me with the task of gluing them onto the board, and my model will be complete.

Grass Grow Or Paint Dry?

Have you ever heard the simile, "as boring as watching paint dry"? Well, I can tell you that there are very few activities that could even challenge the mental exhaustion of waiting for paint to dry. This, by no means, means that I paint then watch over the board waiting for the paint to dry like a hawk eyes its prey. Instead, I will tape out my borders, apply the correct shade or color of paint in ample amounts, clean my utensils, the go do something else for a half an hour. That something else can range from eating breakfast, eating lunch, eating a snack, bicycling, installing a new doorbell, etc...

Thankfully most of that is behind me now. I should have the entire base painted by sundown tomorrow. Then all that is left for me to do is paint those pesky buildings. Once again though, I live by the motto, thirty minutes of planning save 3 days of work, or something like that. Already having a beautiful Excel spreadsheet of all my buildings and their codes, all I had to do was cross reference that list with satellite imagery to ascertain their colors. Luckily, many of them are pretty close to being solid colors and many of those that are not solid, have monochromatic sides with a white roof. All in all I see no reason not to have the model completed by next Friday.

Any questions or comments about the model, just comment below, because there will only be a few more posts, and I won't be answering model questions after the next two.