Sweet home Alabama

Last day in the Bama, and what a day it was. This morning we went to the Habitat warehouse and supervised High school Sophomores building blue jay bird houses.  I can't believe how young these kids look! man it makes me feel old.  They did a pretty awesome job though I had these two girls at my table who were perfectionist, crafting what appeared to be 5 factory finished bird houses.  I acknowledged their perfection suggesting a career in engineering to which one girl replied "My Dad is an engineer." How appropriate. That first pic up there is the "model" birdhouse I crafted myself to show the kiddies how it was done... did not compare to the one those girls did though!

As you can see from the pics the Habitat warehouse is pretty big, this is the first time I've seen this place since arriving in Mobile. Overall the kids finished somewhere between 150-200 houses and primed them a nice neutral white to prep them to be painted by younger kids in a Christian elementary school.

After the bird house extravaganza we went to our last Habitat house dedication event (which can be seen in the last pic).  Pretty much a short ceremony officially giving the keys to the new home owners and these people are always beyond grateful for Habitat's help. 

Leaving tomorrow 7am.... I should really be packing and figuring out a way to get all this stuff in my red bag...

Hasta la vista, Habitat

Welp, last day working with Habitat for Humanity. Threw up a bunch of pics from the final day of all the work we've done including but not limited to removing carpet, installing "wood" flooring, putting up foundation, installing fascia, and demolishing rotted wood.

Tomorrow we go to the Habitat warehouse for our debriefing.  I really hope we work with Habitat for Humanity again this year, truly an amazing organization.  Site managers, workers, community volunteers and everything associated along with Habitat was enjoyable, and smoothly run.

Heading back to Vicksburg, Mississippi on Friday I'm already dreading packing especially after acquiring some Bama gear I will have to figure out how I'm going to fit everything...

Almost forgot, heard a sonic boom today (most likely from a military/coast guard plane over the gulf) and it shook the house we were working in! Pretty awesome, too bad I couldn't see it happen so I'll add a picture of what it probably looked like ^^

Oh, and I ran today but increased 30 seconds back to 11:20 on my 1.5 mile. Didn't have my running buddy Mac who sets a pretty fast pace so for me so I'm pretty sure that's probably why.

Last full day in Mobile tomorrow... bittersweet indeed.

Back on track

Awesome, awesome, awesome weekend back home.  Of course it flew by and I was back in Bama before I knew it, but well worth my first day off.  Nothing like sleeping in your own bed and getting some home cooking for a weekend.  After being a bum all weekend seeing friends and watching football, I ran today and dropped my 1.5 mile time down to 10:50 again, Kaboom!! One more week until our official timed run in the military park takes place and I'm on pace to drop 3.5 minutes off my first time (first run was pretty pathetic).

Tomorrow is the last workday I will have with Habitat for Humanity in Mobile County.  Still can't believe how quickly this first Spike went by...  Did some flooring today which I'm getting pretty good at, I am now proficient with a skill saw, jigsaw, table saw, chop saw,  and just about any other type of saw out there. We had a volunteer come by and work with us today; an older woman named Joyce who was impressively knowledgeable about flooring. Hopefully, she will be working with us tomorrow as well, we got a significant amount of flooring done today.

Also, I've been reading a post grad "how to get a job" book which i've been taking pretty seriously until it told me to save my resume in Windows 6 or 95 mode and realized the book was beyond outdated.  Alright team meeting time, this should be good. 

Yet another Weekend Getaway

After a fun filled week of flooring, upside down hammering vinyl soffiting, metal bending, and sawing the weekend has arrived early for me. Utilizing my first (of two) personal days off, I have been approved to take Saturday off enabling me to fly home to Long Island tonight. Looking forward to seeing my parents and friends for the first time in months (yes Ma even our weekly phone calls don't do justice). Also getting to experience a little of what REAL fall is like, maybe even get to see some leaves falling off tree's who knows.

It seems just as I'm finally getting to know the town of Mobile, we are getting ready to depart onto our next Spike.  Last night Cain and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Nebraska/ Kansas State game which was quite the massacre; Nebraska which is not often known for their offense really ripped apart Kansas State defense winning by a boatload.  No worries I did go running before and got my time down to 11:02.

As a media representative for my team (Along with Jacquie King, she's pretty awesome) I have been in contact with the local fox 10 news assistant manager trying to get River 7 some press coverage in the community.  Furthermore, I have written an updated Press Release to attract other forms of Media, however have had no such luck in obtaining interest.

Time to get back to some flooring, only a few more hours until I'm en route to NY!

Incoming last full week of work

My how time has flown, I cannot believe how fast this Spike has gone by.  Working with habitat has been awesome, and the staff is filled with amazing people.  I will be sad to leave them, however looking forward to my next adventure in New Orleans.  The project information for the Spike in Nawlins can be seen HERE (pdf format).  My work week will go back to the standard Monday - Friday grind, and we have a week of training included before we begin working (although most of the stuff we should already know at this point).

Our team photo specialist posted pics from the past few weeks which I will share to give you a better understanding of some of the things I have been doing. Pretty random pics captured during working, relaxing, and ISP's. 

Ran again yesterday and cut the 1.5 mile time down to 11:15 (slowly working my way back towards the 10's).  Mac has been inspired by the epic ABabama shirt and wanted to do an ab routine yesterday so we did that as well after the run, will probably be increasing the ab routine up to twice a week, once with the team, and once with Mac.

Another beautiful day here in Alabama - sunny, low humidity, and lower 70's... will probably have to go for a run this weather is perfect for it.

Edit: 1.5 mile run for the day time = 11:06

Another week bites the dust

After getting to "sleep in" until 6:45, River 7 embarked on yet another day of serving the community in Mobile, Alabama.  Our new construction site was packed out with all 60 volunteers who promptly showed up at 8am.  Although they left at lunch, we accomplished a lot and witnessed some people overcome their fear of going up on a roof which is always rewarding.  Today we finished putting up the roof and began shingling.  The trusses were backwards so half the volunteers dismantled the trusses (they will be recycled, reconstructed, and brought back to us) and the other half helped with the roofing.  The work day went extra long as we did not leave until all the roofing was completed (Habitat is on a pretty tight schedule) and everything was cleaned up and ready for next weeks shenanigans.

In more exciting news, I am officially allowed to announce I will be going to New Orleans for my next Spike! My team, along with River 1,2,3, and 6 will be heading out in late October (and just in time for Halloween) to good ol' Nawlins which we are all pretty excited about (Each River team has a separate project).  I don't have the project information yet however I should be able to post it tomorrow (Don't worry Ma it's another 20 pager that should answer all your questions). Right now all I know is we are working with The Phoenix Project and doing more construction, as well as surveying low income communities finding out... well I have no idea yet.  

I guess I should address this dungeons and dragons issue as all four of my followers seem to have made a comment towards it!  Dungeons and Dragons is not a video game however a tactical strategy role playing board game that is bonding us together as a team!! Well... the guys anyways... The running may be dipping however I am still teaching my ABsolutely ABliterating AB routine weekly for PT as well as maintaining a strict diet.  Hopefully next Spike I will have access to a gym.... only time will tell.

Hello again.  I know it's been a whopping 3 days since i've updated the old blog however I have been captivated by a game known as "Dungeons and Dragons" that has been taking up a substantial amount of my free time.

The last 3 work days have been filled with bending metal, putting up siding, painting, measuring and cutting wood, and other fun work related activities.  Today (Friday) we went to our first house dedication where Habitat finished a house and dedicated it to Sudanese refugees (Kaitlin you'll appreciate this - they spoke Zwahili).  It was pretty cool, and they barbecued some shiskabobs for us and after a prayer the keys were given to them and we were on our merry way.

Tomorrow our new construction site will have 60 volunteers which is quite a substantial amount.  Only 2 weeks left until the first Spike is completed and back to campus for transition and training for the next Spike... Time for some dinner and then potentially more Dungeons and Dragons...

Edit: Ran for the first time in a week and a half... wow that was painful! 11:25 1.5 mile... meh. Also southern people seem to love heckling runners for some unknown reason. And forgot to add this awesome pic of me with Nelson our coast guard friend