habitat #6: all limbs and digits still intact

this week, i got to play on a roof and also play with a circular saw (but not ON the roof).  cool.  i called on my contact from the build i did with ford a few weeks ago and he let me (and my friend shari) come down to Monroe to work on a house being framed.  he remembered my desire to do "real work" and instantly assigned us to the roof.  egad.  so we climbed on up and nailed on roof sheeting (the big four by six foot plywood panels) for the first half of the day.  neither of us managed to lose our footing and go rolling off the roof, thank goodness.  but we were being extra careful, to be sure.  after that, Dave just casually pointed us to a circular saw and told us to cut wood to a certain dimension to go all the way around the house.  just like that.  he threw a couple other requests at us while we were sawing away, no problem trusting us at all.  and we also helped raise a porch heading.  in the end, there was sawdust in places it just should never be.

oh!  i forgot the coolest part!  one of the mottos of habitat is "simple, decent, affordable."  most homes are quite modest and plain.  this particular house, however, had a special story.  there was a contest with the local high schools for students to design a home and this was the winner!  the kid who made the winning design was there working with us that day.  (as was the future homeowner, which is also really fun.)  this house had a more interesting layout, a garage, and even a small wrap-around porch at one corner!

a little more on habitat…

habitat for humanity is organized by county (at least here in michigan).  the county i live in (washtenaw) is called Huron Valley HFH and they do mostly rebuilds.  they buy houses that have been foreclosed or are otherwise affordable – trying to focus in a particular neighborhood to create a whole neighborhood revitalization – and tear out most of the insides and rebuild.  the house we worked on last week was one of those.  we were ripping down all of the drywall and ceilings, leaving only the framing and outside walls intact.  once sufficiently torn down and cleaned up, rebuilding will start with new drywall and ceilings and go on from there.  sometimes new siding is put up outside, and sometimes if it is good, then the house will just be painted on the outside.  sometimes a new roof must be put on, sometimes flooring, but always new cabinets and finishings.  either way, what starts as a fairly dark, musty, old, broken-down house ends up being shiny and new and bright and beautiful.

one of the nearby counties, Monroe, does the opposite.  for whatever reasons (and i have heard different accounts on both sides), they find it more economical to build new houses from scratch.  (Huron Valley used to do it that way.)  that's where i had lunch with the overall construction manager, Dave, and made a contact so that i could come down and work even when there are not slots available online.  i'll probably be focusing most of my effort for the rest of the summer down in Monroe, so i can get more interesting and structural work instead of painting and yard work and cleaning. 

(to be fair, both groups have staggered starts on many houses this year, so there will be opportunities in both places at various stages of build.  unfortunately, you don't get to check the status of a given house and decide to volunteer there based on what work they'll be doing.)

habitat builds are done with nearly all volunteer labor.  signing up is generally done online, but individual volunteers are not really the norm.  prospective habitat homeowners must put in something like 300 hours of "sweat equity," in addition to paying the closing costs and mortgage for their house.  (habitat is touted as "a hand up, not a hand-out."  most people don't seem to know that the houses, once built, are assessed at fair market value and sold to the owner for that amount.  the real benefit is that the mortgage is either zero- or very low-interest, so the monthly payments are reasonable.)  the other main source of volunteer labor comes from area churches and businesses.  in fact, many times these communities will sponsor the seed money for getting the house built in the first place, as well as providing labor.  the issue for those like me that want to do individual volunteering is that many of the saturday builds are closed for the sponsoring/church/community groups working on that particular house.  in the case where the builds are open, online slots often get filled.  that is why it's so important that i've made contact with Paul in Huron Valley and Dave in Monroe.  through them, i can work on a site even if there are not spots available online.  thus, i can work every weekend, as well as get meaningful work to do while i am there.

step by step

so my health plan has sent me a pedometer to use.  not so much as a nice gift as much as a requirement.  since i am overweight (and over a certain body mass index), i was given the choice of either joining weight watchers or starting a walking program.  otherwise, my copays and expenses will go up, probably drastically.  so i'm walking now.

i like sport.  exercise, not so much.  i used to say i would only run if there was a ball involved or if someone was chasing me.  except now i am too out-of-shape and injured to play team sports like i used to.  shoulder, elbow, back, knees, foot/ankle, the list goes on…  so now i must exercise.  and there's no doubt that i need it.  i just still don't like it.

not that walking is such a huge burden.  it's just a matter of making myself carve out the time and motivation to do it.  which is where the health plan is so brilliant.  they aim for the wallet.  you've got to do it to keep the better level of benefits, so you kinda gotta do it.

the pedometer program is pretty slick.  it's actually a fairly decent one – does a good job of picking up steps and is difficult to fool into counting things that aren't steps.  (you knew i'd have to figure that out, just to see what was possible.)  it's set up with an online program, where you upload your steps periodically and it keeps track of what you've done each day and over time.  it counts steps, miles, calories burned, time & distance at aerobic pace.  you also get a ton of "inspiring" emails and other online gadgets to motivate, train, and otherwise con yourself into doing better.  i have to average over 5,000 steps a day, which isn't that much, but with a sedentary desk job is enough that it means i must specifically go for intentional walks.  and me being me, a light, casual walk is kind of a waste of time (unless in a beautiful setting, which i am not), so i try to get through it as fast as i can.

mostly i've walked in the steam tunnels here at work.  there have been a few nice days when i walked outside, but it isn't exactly a walker-friendly area.  and michigan being what it is, may is still cool and very rainy.  so mostly i walk in the dregs of our tunnels.  i always walk at work because i know as soon as i get home there's no way i'm going to do anything that motivated.  hey, at least i know myself.  besides, any time away from my desk that brings me closer to quitting time is a good thing.

but here's the thing about it – it kind of works!  not that i'm losing any weight or anything yet, but i'm managing to stick with it (weekends are actually harder).  more than that, the flimsy little see-through psychological game works on me.  now that it is being counted somewhere, every step matters and gets me some kind of credit.  so, despite my ongoing knee pain, when i accidentally walk the wrong way as i go somewhere, i don't even mind:  it still counts for something!  how pathetic is that?

as much as i need to lose weight, though, the real thing is health.  and this plays into the peace corps thing too.  i have to be in some kind of shape before being dumped in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a bike to get around large rough areas.  i worry more and more these days about the sometimes-quite-inhibiting knee pain, but i figure the more walking i do (and possible weight i lose), the better that will become.  and it is better for my overall health long-term of course.

so let's see – walking, chorus, habitat, crocheting, spanish, oh, and work.  that should keep me off the streets.

engineers in the PC

teaching math.  i just feel like there's so much more i could do.  there have got to be jobs in the peace corps for engineers.  don't there?

i don't know whether there is an official policy that my recruiter is following (i doubt it), or whether he is just taking the easy way, or whether there really just isn't anything for non-civil/-environmental engineers to do.  but i had to keep investigating.  i wasn't ready to give up and just leave it all to fate and the motivation of my recruiter.

so i had a few brilliant ideas, if i do say so myself.

1. talk to the former head recruiter with whom my father had made contact for an article he wrote.  (i've already got a list of questions to discuss with him.)
2. write to the regional recruiter for boston, figuring that they must get their share of MIT engineers applying -- and if anyone could get assigned engineering jobs in the pc, it'd be them.
3. contact the head guy for a program i read about at michigan tech.  they have a joint program between the pc and their mechanical eng'g department for a master's degree.
4. make contact directly with the current head recruiter in washington to ask about it myself.  (last resort, since it could be seen as inappropriate and/or stepping on my recruiter's toes.) 

i wrote to the boston recruiter and the michigan tech guy first, and heard back so far only from michigan tech.  i asked what kind of peace corps assignments his students were getting, telling him what i had heard, and asking whether there really weren't jobs for MEs.

this is what he said:

Congratulations on your decision to enter the PC.  While our program is fairly new, I can give you a little insight.  The summary is that the PC still does not know how best to use engineers of any kind, and especially MEs.  They are slowly learning however.  The ME program is only 2 years old and there is still no code for MEs.  Worse yet is that engineering experience does not seem to change how you are placed or how you are dealt with.  All that being said, regardless of your initial assignment with the PC, what you actually do within the town/village you are placed is normally quite different and is a matter of defining and meeting the local needs with your skill set.  In that respect, I would not sweat it.  The process of having impact can be slow, very slow.

so just when i was starting to wonder whether i was being a prima donna about it (i even had a blog title picked out:  "engineer or brat?"), it turns out i've got my answer.  math is about the best i can expect.  and i'll have to make the best i can out of the secondary projects i come up with while there.

poop.

habitat #5: it doesn't count unless there's blood

today was demolition day.  we tore out dry wall and an entire bathroom, including the tub.  pretty cool.

my buddy Shari came with me and we had a good, though exhausting, time.  we were the only volunteers there.  Paul was our house leader again (from the very first habitat day), and cut himself again, just like he did the first day.  Shari scraped herself pretty well on a nail, too.  i remain intact, minus that little hammer incident last week.

the overall construction manager for the county, Lynn, came by the site again today and this time she recognized me!  as did Paul and one of the Americorps workers when we first got there.  it's still an exhausting day, but i don't mind cutting my weekend in half by adding a work day to my week.

hope

hope is a funny thing.  generally it's positive, a force that can inspire and lead to beauty and change.  on the other hand, hope sometimes comes with a companion, disappointment.

i got a call from the pc friday.  my nomination is on its way in the mail.  math in sub-saharan africa.  it's exactly what i expected, yet somehow i'm still disappointed now that it's official.  i had really begun to hope that, with my clear preferences and my stated commitment to preparing myself in spanish and construction, maybe the nomination would somehow have taken that into account.  i know, i know.  but my optimism and hopefulness had taken over.

it's not set in stone.  the nomination is just a preliminary, general suggestion from the recruiter to the pc for a placement.  in a few months i'll have the chance to submit an updated resume which, if i can get done what i need to, may qualify me to be considered for other assignments.  and in any event, the final assignment can and often does differ from the nomination.  let's hope.

life seldom goes exactly as planned, and even less often as hoped-for.  generally i believe that things work out as they're meant to, and i know i need to keep an open mind as to where i'll go and what i'll do.  still, i have some hopes about that.

pedir

"pedir" means "to ask" in spanish.  and i am learning that one should always "pedir."

so far in my habitat for humanity experiences, i've gotten to do different things each time and always the coolest stuff available that day.  how?  because i keep asking.  when i ask what's on the docket for the day, i express interest in the best project and then come right out and ask whether i can work on that.  this is especially important as a woman.  although i look and carry myself as if i can hold my own, many of the build leaders are used to most of the women not wanting to handle power tools or not wanting to do the hard core work.  and/or they make that assumption and the women don't object.  so i ask.

so simple and obvious.  we all know it.  but it is amazing to me how well it really works!

ouch!

it was bound to happen sooner or later.  i hammered my finger at habitat today.  ouch.  not a big deal, but it's sore and bruised over the first two joints.  dumb, dumb, dumb.

this week's habitat (today), i got to build a deck and stairs!  man, that was loads of fun!  i love learning and doing new things, and it's great watching progress as you go along.  it was just me and the build leader working on it and he let me do some of everything.  lots of everything, and all on my own.  at the end, there was a whole little deck (porch, really), anchored to the house and finished perfectly.  in fact, if a tornado ever hits that house, the deck will remain standing and exactly in place!

last week (day 3) i was down in monroe county.  unlike here close to home, in monroe they are doing almost all new builds.  (washtenaw -- or huron valley -- is doing almost all rehabs.)  i ended up having lunch with a few of the regular volunteers and the construction manager for all of the houses in monroe.  though they seem to never have spots to sign up for online, he said i could call and come volunteer on the new houses.  i think that will be a great opportunity to learn more new things.

that day i blew insulation into the attic.  not too thrilling, but something new and better than just painting and cleaning like most of the other volunteers did.  oh, and yes, it was rainy and cold and most people were working outside.  (only this week did i finally get some decent weather.)  crawling around in the attic was no fun on my very bad knees, and it got pretty warm under the paper suit, but i didn't get covered in too much fiberglass.

sadly, there was one downer part of that day.  the build leader at the house was telling me about a "women build" blitz event that was coming up.  there are occasionally events where all of the workers, included the skilled leaders, are women.  he said "there will be a women build coming up.  well, women-ish."  at my confused look, he explained that "there are some gays."  i was very disappointed.  he went on to say that he believes everyone should have love in their life and it doesn't matter who your partner is, man or woman, so i let it slide.  but it was still disappointing.

i haven't decided yet whether i'm sticking with the local build i signed up for next week or calling monroe and seeing if i can go down there.

"i see," said the blind woman...

when the technician asked how long it had been since my last eye exam, i said, "oh, at least a hundred years."  and if not for applying to the pc, it might have been another hundred.  but at least i finally went in for an exam.

the truth is, i've noticed while driving at night that things have been a bit more blurry than usual -- as evidenced by the doctor saying, "yeah, i can see how driving at night would be... adventurous."  at the least.

since it's been a hundred years, it's no real surprise that things have changed so much from what (little) i remember.  it was like sitting in front of a variety of microscopes and getting a different test at each one.  they tested bunches of things, looking at peripheral vision, response to light frequency, eye topology, the air puff thing, 'yellow' content, digital imaging, and various things to determine what my general eyesight is.  no 'E' charts, thank goodness.  i hate those things.  i can never decide whether i can actually see the letter or am just guessing at its shape, and since i can remember them from one eye to the other, i can't trust myself.

in the end, my eyes are very healthy, if near-sighted, and there is no concern for glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetes or high pressure.

oddly, the peace corps forms indicate that only the prescription and results be given to them, and that they will fill it to provide glasses.  no doubt "birth control glasses," as my friends say.  but... so as to not make nighttime driving such an adventure over the next 9 months, i suppose i ought to get that script filled instead of waiting.

the ultimate irony?  after all that, the actual signed prescription has nothing written on it at all.  or else i suddenly have more severe vision issues than i imagined.  guess i'll be going back to ask for "clarification."