Help from home

As you might all realize by now I am seriously dead set on finishing my project but I don't really know what to do with what I have right now and because of this I had decided to talk to my Tutor, Leif about my project. Little did I know that he actually has a history with engineering and planning out projects so that's exactly what we did today. I had intended to talk to him about working on the conversions of the original potato cannon into a small enough mechanism to be safe but instead I managed to start setting up a decent schedule to help me get on track properly.

I am extremely thankful for the help on my project but it also shows how little time I actually seem to have left. After the end of this week I only seem to have 7 weeks left which may sound like much but considering what I have to fit into there it isn't much at all. Because of this the plans I have been setting up have left me a little bit iffy on whether or not I will be able to finish my project in time for the end of the year which while you might think that the end of the year is the New year I would say that the time I should have the project done is around December 21st so that it does not interfere with the Holidays and also so the holidays don't interfere with my plans for my project.

In all things are working out better today then I actually intended but there is no reason not to give a good long reminder that today is definitely Halloween. While last year I gave a review on the history of Halloween there isn't anything quite as fancy this year. I don't have anyone to celebrate it with and because of this there isn't that much to do today thats out of the ordinary. I don't  really mind though because I haven't been too focused on making a costume either and going as someone like Spider man without being Spider man isn't going to fly again this year. I might try to do something next year but I don't really know what I would do only because there isn't time to think about that right now since I have work to do and that is to wish you all a happy Halloween and follow everyone else's experiences for the rest of the day and see how everyone else is enjoying themselves.

Getting somewhere a little bit at a time.

Today I went over to Hammer Space and continued my work on my homemade Nerf gun and I am getting somewhere but not very easily. Today I have researched the flaws of the design of the gun and some of the safety hazards that would come from a similar design and certain materials. For example if this gun exceeds a certain amount of pressure there is a chance of it either hurting someone else or the wielder of said gun due to the built of pressure being able to turn the gun into a small bomb for the most part sending shrapnel everywhere. This is just one of the many problems and honestly it isn't very encouraging.

Despite some of the problems I will be trying to continue with the model and maybe add couple of safety features too it including a air release valve directly connected to the location of the air so that if the pressure were to be too high I could safely vent out the air from the storage area. Also something important is that this gun should not get too difficult because while this gun will be something completely new to the Nerf community I am not really experienced enough to take this the extra mile that it needs to be taken. Because of this the gun should remain simple enough to fire at least one dart a large distance using the design that is being presented without causing anyone any major harm. I have heard some really bad things about air guns on the forums while I have been comparing my current notes.

Funny thing for all of you people out there is that the original for this gun is based entirely around a large potato cannon. Yes this is a cannon and not just a potato gun because the original is absolutely deadly if it were to be fired at a person. What makes this gun a lot less worse is that this is going to be scaled down to fire darts and nothing even half the size of a potato. This would be more like launching a french fry hopefully because if this turns out to be more powerful then expected I might have to have something to slow down the speed of the dart. Either way the overall design of the whole thing seems so promising and with a little bit of conversions and some help from other people at the Hammer Space I should be able to easily convert this large gun into the main mechanism for my homemade Nerf gun.

Not that much of a day off

Alright so today I did not have to go over to Hillcrest to work only for a couple of reasons though. The first reason is that my dad would not be able to bring me while Kristi is out working on her final job and the second reason is that I wasn't able to ride my bike over there either due to the fact that it was raining outside and the parents wouldn't let me because it isn't safe to do so. Either way because of these things I did not have to go to Hillcrest and because of this I stayed home to work on my usual work.

Finally moving onto some new books including Tale of Two Cities which is the next book in the large book of Charles Dickens. I have been looking forward to the point where I would not be stuck on David Copperfield anymore because as I said in my last blog entry that David Copperfield is an extremely hard book to read at all and that can deter a lot of people from ever reading it. Because of the fact that I have started a new book I have been doing a lot better and once I learn a little bit more about whats going on I will try to give a small review when I can.

I feel really bad on my computer most of the time because I don't keep track of time on how long I have been on. The first thing you will have to know is that I have a limited amount of time on the computer each day and that is usually about 3 hours each day which is still pretty generous. The problem is that since I don't keep track of time I just assume that when I am asked about how much time I have used that I have used all of it. A prime example is that yesterday I hopped on my computer at 4:30 PM and played until 7:00 PM which is under 3 hours and when my dad asked how much time I had left I said that I had used all of it and even over the amount that I had been allowed. I went to Tae Kwon Do and when I had some free time I did the math and realized that I hadn't even used all of my time. I really need to start thinking those things through because by doing that again and again I am just punishing myself in the long run because if I keep it up the parents won't believe me when I keep on lying inadvertently.

Finishing the hard part

Today I have finished the longest book within my entire Charles Dickens novel. Yes I have finished the very long book known as David Copperfield and I am fairly relieved by this because that was one of the hardest reads that I have ever had to do at all. The book wasn't as hard as something like Les Miserable but at least Les Miserable had some more exciting parts in the book while David Copperfield was the story of a man which made it feel more like an auto biography then reading the fiction book that it really is. Either way if you have the time you could try to sit down and read it but I myself was not to entirely enthralled by this book.

This weekend was a Halloween event over at Kristi's church and our family made out like bandits. Our theme over at this event known as Candy Crush is Duck Dynasty which is currently the most popular show on TV. Dad was Phil Robertson and Kristi was Mrs. Kay. I would have participated if I could but by the time that we were all ready to go I had just gotten back from an extremely long bike ride to the barber shop and back on my bicycle. During this event the parents won best costume for adults, best group costume, and best setup which is just awesome but to put the icing on the cake they had one of those guess the amount of gumballs within the jar and I managed to win that one with a guess of 138 and I was off by one with a grand total of 139. In other words we went we conquered and left extremely satisfied.

To top off the night we all ended up going to another new restaurant that I have never been to. This restaurant is known as Sakura sushi which was really awesome as I was able to get things here that I would never be able to get at Zara's. The problem that I had is that there seemed to be quite a lack of service there at the time before ever being addresed and there were only 3 groups there with only one group sitting at the bar. The food there was amazing but since I was not expecting Sushi I ended up eating stuff at Candy Crush destroying a good portion of my appetite. The problem is that my opinion might not mean much due to the fact that I went on a Sunday and that means that most of the employees would most likely have the day off. The atmosphere of the place was calm and laid back with a little bit of style so you wouldn't walk into this place wearing torn up jeans and a tank top but you won't be coming in Khakis and a polo either. In all this restaurant gets a good review from me but the hardest part is that it was pretty hard to find for us because its in a shopping area making it hard to find while also finding parking and that the place is just annoying to go through in car or on foot.

First time for everything! - Revised

Today was my first real day over at Hammer Space and I had one awesome time over there primarily while learning about the Coaxial Piston which is the system which is going to make my gun better then some other homemade gun that someone else comes up with. The secret behind all of this is that the entire gun is going to be based on air pressure so that you can launch darts long distances without modding a normal gun to the points of it being unrecognizable. Either way I really enjoyed it over there and there was just so much to enjoy that I can't contain it into one paragraph.

I honestly loved it over at Hammer Space but for more then just the fact that everyone was almost exactly as I expected. What I mean by this is that everyone that I had met was awesome and the only problem that I had is that no one was around my age so it could've been a lot cooler but there was no reason not to like any of the people at all. Many of the people were concerned primarily with making costumes because of how fast Halloween is coming up so I wasn't too concerned with that at all. I was really happy with the fact that I could ask anyone there for help or their opinion so I am definitely not working alone on all of this.

My day is doing pretty good and hopefully it gets even better tomorrow with the Nerf war at my dojo tomorrow. I don't know how many people will be participating but there is no reason not to be happy for the next couple of days. I am seriously enjoying myself lately but I also seem to be losing a lot of my free time I used to have over time. The main thing that brought this to my attention is that yesterday both of my friends had the day off and came over looking for me so that we could have some fun with the day off. Sadly I was working and also both of them had the day off. I am losing time that I have come to love for so long but now I seem to be losing it all before my eyes but is it really a bad thing. The reason why I say this is because I have been trying to make a name for myself and start making my own money in order to start doing this. I may be 14 but I have things set up against me and in order to continue I will have to give up the time that I have held dear for so long now.

Meeting with Leif and the Shihpoo

Today I had a wonderful tutoring lesson with Leif due to the fact that I am starting to do some of the curriculum that I might be doing next year. The reason why I say that is I don't know for sure what I will be doing next year without getting some help from other people but I do know that I will have to start with either Geometry or pre algebra. Either way no matter what happens I have some new experience with Algebra to get me started on how to get things done in the near future. I also have to make it clear that I have most likely gone over most of the stuff that I will be taught but I will need to be reminded on most of the things that I have learned before.

I also got a visit from the family's favorite poodle/Shih Tzu mix or otherwise known as the Shihpoo. This one may look pathetic but he is an attention loving little dog who might I add is just a little bit spoiled. He absolutely loves everyone under any circumstances as long as they are willing to give him some attention. I will be looking after him this weekend which is going to be pretty fun despite some of the stuff going on this weekend. I know I don't have much to complain about because people like Kristi have a lot more to do this weekend then me so I guess it won't be that bad despite what I may be thinking.

Also by what I have been told I will not be able to go to Hammerspace tomorrow but instead I will be going on Sunday  I feel pretty sad about this because I will have to wait in order to go but I don't really mind because I will be staying home to look after Zoe while Kristi runs a couple of errands tomorrow so I'm not staying home because of something like no one is willing to give me a ride but because I am needed more at home then I am needed over at Hammerspace tomorrow. Either way Tomorrow might be a little bit boring if you know what I'm talking about.


P.S.: I will be going tomorrow to Hammerspace ( Sorry )

Getting ready for the races

As I have mentioned time and time again I can't do much until I get over to Hammer space and this week I will be going and because of this I need a plan. That is exactly why the parents made me write a list of things that I would do while I am over there also so I don't get too side tracked. The main thing I want to do is meet some of the people that go there most of the time and make sure to know how each person could help me and vice versa. I may not be able to help out much around there without some kind of practice but maybe I can be of some help there to someone else.

The main reason why I want to meet the other people is that I sense a major opportunity to make some awesome new friends with the help of Hammerspace. I don't think there is any reason why me and one of the people minimum can be friends because most people their would have some kind of  similarity and they all sound like they might be interested in the exact same kind of stuff. Including making things better and also computers maybe. I may not be as smart as half of the people there but your only as ignorant as you decide to be.

Something really funny that I don't think that I have ever mentioned on my blog before is that I haven't ever once mentioned what I do in my spare time most of the time. The main thing is that I am a huge gamer and I can spend hours on the computer to the point where I believe that I am addicted and have been trying to cut back. What I might do instead includes nice calm walks around the neighborhood, reading or, hanging out with my two closest friends. I know this seems to be pretty random but the more I think about that last paragraph about what other people would be interested in I realize that no one that reads this even knows what I do while I'm not doing school work half the time.

Project is moving on

I'm enjoying this project immensely and it has started to move onto its next step from my original wall of brown paper bags and sharpie. It has moved onto the point where I am transferring all of the data off of my wall onto documents on my computer. I can't do much with my gun right now until I get back to Hammer space only so I can see the parts that I will need for one kind of model for this gun and after that I might start my work on a second gun with a separate build and some new things to do as well like add a clip or something like that. I can't wait to dissect everything and am going to start getting on some forums and see how people can help me out with something with my project which is not cheating but actually using all of my resources.

I got back from working at the Thrift shop again today and even though I set the familys schedule back a quarter of an hour I still had a really good day. I managed to help clean up the electronics area which is the busiest part of the entire store because of the amount of stuff that counts as electronics nowadays. I also managed to help clean up the break room where a lot of stuff is thrown about and because of all of this my day has been really good.

I am looking forward to showing off some of my nerf expertise and primarily due to the fact that there will be a Nerf war up at my Tae Kwon Do dojo! I love having Nerf wars and the only reason why I haven't been able to have one recently is because there usually isn't enough people do have one. Since I have the chance it will be awesome to show off some of my skills up at the dojo and while some might be there for the costume contest or there just to see friends I have goals and I want to stick with the Nerf plan due to the fact that I haven't had the chance in ages.

Rat in a Maze

I loved this weekend primarily due to the fact that I once again headed out with the families church to go on yet another wonderful field trip. I had to set it up myself which made it even better and what can better field trip in the fall then running through a corn maze during a full moon. I certainly enjoyed to run through without a flashlight while navigating entirely by moonlight was just too much fun. I had some of the most fun I have had the entire month so far. I got to hang out with some really awesome kids around my age as well as just get lost and wander aimlessly while just rambling and laughing alongside my friends.

I seriously can't wait to go back to Hammerspace and the main reason why is because there is so many things to be done and discovered over there. I know that not many people were actually interested in my ramblings about it during my last blog entry but I am seriously happy about this place and I might just have to get some video of the place just to show you how amazing the place really is. The main reason above all other things though is that with some help my current Nerf gun design can be taken to the next level while also being created by me entirely.

Today I have finished John Steinbeck's book called Travels with Charley which is Steinbeck's travels all over America during his later years and when most people might start retiring. I was in love with this book the instant I gave it a chance due to all of the work that went into the book itself from every detail to the boats being moved by people closer to his harbor where it almost sunk his boat to his travels back to his home town where he learned just how much things had changed. I also loved his little side character which is his dog Charlie. While Steinbeck had met many other people along the way to the edge of America and back his faithful companion Charlie was there the entire step way which makes him a side character that had a lot to add to the story as a whole mainly because of how much Steinbeck refers and responds to his dog.

Welcome to Hammerspace

I'm in love with this place at first sight just because of how much this place has to offer. I still haven't seen something from this entire place that I didn't like. I would call it the geeks paradise and I'm not talking like one of those geek squad, best buy jockeys that think they are good at computers either. I'm talking about honest to god geeks who are In love with obscure references and making things work better then they did originally. Some of the things I was seeing over there were just amazing and a good example is this little picture right here. If anyone recognizes this sign it is because it is based on the movie Idiocracy which I recommend watching if you a chance at any point. The coolest part is that these people actually make their own solution that gets mixed with the water and then is converted into Brawndo which is not an actual drink that can be purchased but to describe it pretty easily it is super Gatorade which is like really sweet and really salty as well. This is just funny and also just awesome so my point is that people make these things and each person has their own idea and then those ideas are improved by other people and then  they put them to work. From what I'm seeing it is possible to go there during the day on all days and then Thursdays are open house where anyone can come in and use their amazing expanses of resources. I love the place and look forward to using it.

My project is starting to take more shape and more ideas are coming up the more that people tell me. For example when I was talking to the owner of Hammerspace about  my Nerf gun he recommended that I use a model similar to a miniature potato gun and also discussed some of the other things that were going on currently. I loved his idea for the nerf gun and with a little bit more research maybe I'll be able to convert to my own idea. I already have something in mind to make it work even better then just a miniature potato gun. I love all of the things I have ran into today and even most of my day consisting of work has been relaxing and enjoyable.

Work is an interesting way to put the day because since Hammerspace is pretty far from home I got to go to work with dad today where I am currently typing this blog entry. I love it over here as well because by this point this place is familiar and inviting while also having a ton of stuff to do while I'm here that includes work that I enjoy. What I mean by "work that I enjoy" is I love working with computers even if I have to do something as trivial as say move computer cases all over the place. The interesting part about today though is that I have been doing all of that work while also being able to complete my school work that was assigned including my math work and reading. In other words today has been fruitful and indeed worth every second used on work and the best part is that no matter how much work I did today I enjoyed every second!

Grinding onward

Good news for me is that I have someone to help me get up to speed for when I do go back to public school. I always have my parents for when I need help but Leif is going to help me get back up to the point that I need to be at for when I get to public school again. As many people know I have fallen behind in my math work and because of this I am not truly suited to be heading back until I catch back up to date on my math. Because of this Leif is willing to help teach me to where I need to be and we will be doing a little bit more time then 2 hours a day instead. Maybe an hour on Monday if the parents approve and then the 2 hours on Thursday.

I am also going to be proposing a preliminary budget to my parents today. I don't think I'm exactly ready for the whole thing because it has only been a week since I started even trying to do everything. The main reason is though that there is still a couple of things that are incomplete at the moment. I will keep on adding ideas when they come up for example a material to use for the Nerf gun would be to use PVC pipes because of how versatile they are and that they come in appropriate sizes for nerf darts and the guns themselves. I don't honestly know what exactly I'll be useing other then I won't be using wood at all because that destroys too much nerf items. PVC pipes are a good place to go to so lets use that for a first gun actually.

I'm going to be very busy with the upcoming weeks because of how things are going for my project and my math work. These two things are going to be dominating my days for a while because for my project I will be using entire days over at hammer space to work on my project and for math when I'm trying to catch up to where I need to be I will be doing a lot of work to get there. Of course for math  the work can be seperate from Leif as well so I will be doing a lot of side work as well. Either way things are going to start getting really interesting here soon.

The Baking Season

Incoming to my favorite season which as everyone close to knows by now is that I absolutely love Winter. One of the main reasons is because of the snow but there is so much more including the wonderful goodies that are made by the family to be given to everyone else. Also due to how cold it is outside your are more prone towards staying inside which means a lot more time to be spent with the family doing whatever. I know that Fall isn't really over yet but things are moving fast and Fall hit like a wall and in about one more month Winter will be very out there here soon with how things are going at the moment. Besides Fall has its own reasons for being almost as good as winter. One reason is that it is a warning that colder days have yet to come in the year. It has its own food that starts becoming appropriate like chili is a fall food most of the time. and then there is the fact that it has many fascinating holidays including the family favorite of Thanksgiving which is the true day for family.

I'm starting to work on putting my project into action and the beginning of it all is to get into contact with Hammerspace which is a public group where you can use their tools in order to work on whatever project that you want. This is absolutely brilliant for people that don't want to spend the money on getting your own tools. Because of the fact that it also only costs $40.00 then I don't really have to worry about this costing too much and if it will be worth it. I look forward to trying out al of it and what exactly they have to offer.

Things are going nicely lately other then all of the stuff with going back to public school. The scariest part about that decision is that I have been considering it for a while and my main concern about it is that my blog will be left behind completely if I go back. I want to know how everyone reading this feels about me going back and if you want me to continue things for when I go back to public school because I might just keep my blog going for during public school for at least one semester and even longer only if everyone else wants it to continue though because there is no point in boring everyone of my viewers with an unnecessary post.

Earning my place

Today I was working at Hillcrest thrift shop like usually and I'm making sure that I have been appreciated while I'm over there. Usually I'm kind of a minion while I work in there but now I'm working on making sure that people remember me over there as being more useful then lackey. Now I'm controlling the electronic table where a lot of junk is pushed into which is one of the least appreciated jobs downstairs. That's saying something because downstairs in the thrift shop is one of the last places that people go to and the people upstairs don't seem to acknowledge that we even exist half of the time so things between the two aren't exactly captivating. Anyway I am going through the electronics  table and am finding some awesome things including two working RC cars and both of them worked with a little bit of work which is always fun. I also still do some odd jobs around the place as well including cleaning up some furniture when they bring some new loads of donations so I'm keeping busy and making a word for myself.

I'm sorry about not posting yesterday everybody and I saw how many people were looking for something yesterday so I'm sorry. My audience isn't that big but still there is something going on though which is that my little sister Zoe who I have been talking about is now getting herself out of trouble quite quickly. I love it because her problems appeared over night and just as soon as they showed up they disappeared just as fast because in less then a weekend she dug herself out of her predicament. Because of this things have quieted down around my house and I love it.

Today I went to one of my favorite Thai places for the first time. I know that might sound strange but the reason why its my favorite is because of the leftovers themselves. The restaurant is known as the Thai place and honestly I have had so much Pad Thai from over there it is my second favorite pad Thai I have ever had because of just how delicious it is. My first favorite is my dads and thats because its here at my house but if we were going by being made outside of the house the Thai Place would take first place. The food is amazing and served properly on proportionate plates and bowls for more showy items they have showy containers. The place has some nice lighting as well so people with sensitive eyes and normal eyesight can eat there comfortably, The problem that I had with it is that the Thai Place is down in Westport and that means that there is major competition down there which means that it is very hard to find something because of all of the other places to go to. Keep an eye out around Westport in downtown Kansas City because there is so many good places to eat down there that your eyes can be bigger then your plate.

My project is comeing along nicely as well which is leaving my quite happy I'm going to be getting in contact with Hammer space tomorrow and see if I can sign up to get started. Because of this project though I have to say something very important. I will be going back to Public school next semester and I may return to homeschool at a later point but I have to go back for myself and not because the parents are making me. I'm not going back because of friends or because the parents want me to go back because I want to prove to myself and to everyone that I can still do what I need to and that I have improved. I want to prove that I have actually improved in my home school environment and that I am not the Galen that left public school a year ago.

A "Grand" adventure

Everyone has those family members where they are fantastic to be around no matter whats going on and for many of people that would be on average your grandparents Grandmas and Grandfathers everywhere have made it there job to make their grand kids as happy as possible and I have not given Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mike their proper dues as they brought me and Zoe on a trip out to Weston Missouri to go to an apple farm and I never once said anything about it on my blog until now. I have to say out first that I was so busy with other things going on that I couldn't seem to make proper time to give them their acknowledgements. Because of this I'm dedicating this first paragraph to all of those grandparents who never got their recognition. For those who might have grouchy and cruel as kids that became the true crusaders for kids throughout the world. For those that would provide us with sweets and give and give everyone a good time.

What we did over at the apple orchard or Vaughn's apple Orchard was first off we were all pretty hungry so we all sat down and ordered a nice big slab or ribs and then split the whole thing. Each person got some kind of drink but everybody but Zoe got Apple cider which was fantastic because of how fresh it tasted. Although apparently despite Grandma and Grandpa wanting leftovers they never took into account that both me and Zoe can pack away a large chunk of food . Afterwards we decided to check out the store selection that they had their but I was drawn in a bit too deeply by all of the different things in there which for me was primarily the different kinds of foods because there was a lot of random knick knacks around the place more then anything. Afterwards we were just about to start heading out but Zoe really wanted to try out some little game where you pump water from this large bucket to move a plastic duck into the other large metal bucket of water. It would have been a lot more fun if there was a chance that Zoe could win if I wasn't purposely handicapping myself. The reason why is because the pumps were for the most part an indirect test of strength where the harder you pumped the more water that came out and it didn't take much to get water coming. After the little game on the sidelines we all start heading back towards the house to sit down for a fantastic family dinner which was Chicken and Dumplings and for dessert we had some apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream. I know this sounds like a bunch of shallow food loving Galen but its all of the little things that went on while this was all going that made this so special. The thought of being able to spend time with my grandparents and the casual chatter is what topped off that day.

Outside of all of that is that things around the house are going a lot better the yesterday. I'm doing a lot better then I thought I would after waking up at 4:30 in the morning. The reason for waking up that early is to help out Zoe with getting up in time to make sure she gets herself out of trouble I won't go into detail on her predicament because thats not mine to tell. What I will say is that she is slowly filling back up her grave after digging this massive hole.

Meeting Leif

Today was my first real meeting with Leif Masrud and I like him even more then I did originally and I already had a lot of respect for him because of how much he had helped Nate. In fact if he hadn't helped Nate in the past I don't think I would have even considered having a tutor at all. Its fascinating to think of this because if it weren't for Nate I wouldn't be getting the education that I want. I will have to thank Nate but even more important is that Leif is willing to help me with my downfalls in my Math work including Long division and Fractions which after today I have a lot more confidence doing. The coolest part is that Leif is not under the impression that all parts of math are going to be usefull in the future for example long division is rarely going to be too useful unless I'm dividing prices in the grocery store or something along those lines.

My project is coming along nicely but instead of waring on about it every day I'm going to give an update once a week and let you see the slow progression on how things are doing. The interesting thing is that probably at this rate that I will be done with the whole planning thing in a couple weeks at most. Of course thats if I keep up this pace so it probably won't be that short either with my luck. The most important part is that I don't rush to meet with some kind of deadline because once I start thinking that I need to be done by a certain point I will rush and screw things up.

Recently around the house things are getting pretty bad outside of my home school career. My little sister Zoe is going through some growing pains but the main reason why I'm so concerned about all of it is that I am going to be the person that will be babysitting her while she works on some of her problems. In other wotds I'm getting paid through all of this and it certainly helps me with whats going on with Cindy who was providing me with a steady paycheck despite it being somewhat small. I have an effect on things that are going on right now and I hope that things don't get any worse because some of the tension that's building up is almost thick enough for you to cut with a knife. Of course it will slowly start dyeing out for everyone else so this won't be that bad for long as long as no one does anything stupid.

Getting started right

I am seriously enjoying my new project but to let things straightened out from my last blog entry which was sadly on Monday. Instead of just explaining on how to mod a gun to an audience I am going to build my own Nerf gun instead and honestly I love it. Here is the start I have gotten on the whole thing so far. You'll need to zoom in on the picture because its a large paper that has taken over a large chunk of the wall next to my computer. The most interesting part is that I am trying to keep the aspect from the original idea and still try to teach someone on how to build this Nerf gun but who knows what might happen in the long run and maybe then I can set up a Nerf community in the area and we can start getting some Nerf wars organized. I hope to contact Freeskool soon after I get all of my thoughts sorted out. I don't know much on the whole teaching part yet but I can definitely build this gun if I can put my mind to all of this and stay focused.

The coolest part is that you might notice in the picture above that there are prices on certain items. The reason for this is to start building myself a budget and then propose the amount of money that I will need to spend to the parents. I am nowhere near ready to start presenting any of the budget yet because I still don't know what I'm going to build the nerf gun out of or what will the material cost and how much will I need. In other words I'm trying very hard to get all of the details in that I need before proposing anything to the parents. I'm having one heck of a time with this project and I am seriously enjoying a lot and for every second I think about it the more it works out in my head and can only hope now that I don't make this any harder for me then it needs to be.

This entire project comes down into just details. For example the very large cluster to the left is all about what kind of dart I want to use and the reasons why I should use it instead of the others. The only kind of ammo I vetoed is the disk type and thats because of how obnoxious it would be to use it and how to make a way to load them into the Nerf gun. The rest of it was up to the challenge and there are at least 4 different types of darts and not including duplicates of that kind of dart for a different reasons. For example the Whistler darts also have different type very similar which is used for the official Nerf dart tag tournaments. The streamline dart comes in two different varieties but I included this one because its important to know that the streamline elite dart is more expensive but also has more range and is more sturdy. Its the small details that make this all so hard and that means that I haven't started on some of the larger stuff yet but thats also why this is allowed to last an entire semester so I'm not worried about getting this done very fast.

Restaurant Review: Em Chemas

I have had a fantastic weekend so far but to start it all off I have had one fantastic meal over at a place called Em Chemas which is a Brazilian grill. I absolutely loved the food there and unlike my last review which was Cheddars the tone is very consistent. One of the problems is that yet again this place has a kinda bad location which doesn't help it but it doesn't exactly hinder it as much as most because of the price of things over there aren't exactly cheap but I can't say that you won't leave satisfied with a fantastic meal.

On the inside of the store and a little bit more specific they serve at least 12 different meats there and trust me on this that it is plenty to keep you going. Originally I thought that I would be ordering from a menu but instead the people come around with this meat on some huge skewers and each one is perfect for their own reasons but there is one that I agree is the best and the whole family agrees that never pass up the ham because it is the best that any of us have tasted to date. The atmosphere is calm and kinda fancy which makes recommended that you get dressed up for going over here but once again it is all worth it. Finally location as I mentioned earlier isn't that big of a problem because first off this is the kind of place you don't go to weekly but instead once every couple months or on special occasions but the building itself is behind some other places but shouldn't be that bad considering how many other people have to go into that area. Either way I believe that this place is worth going to at least once and if you don't like the atmosphere just talk to someone about ordering one of those fantastic hams because they do sell them to people.

Today I have also been working very hard on an idea for a project and then I remembered that I used to have a very fun hobby that I don't exactly partake in anymore. I used to mod Nerf guns for fun and honestly I had a blast. The problem with this for a project is that my project has to at least last a good semester. In that case what would I be doing for an entire semester that would have to revolve around Nerf guns. What I will be doing is hopefully contacting the Freeskool group and seeing if I can teach a class on how to mod one of these guns and then turn around and have a Nerf war or 2. Either way tell me your thoughts and leave a comment on my blog, Google plus, or Facebook and then I'll see what I can do to get back to you but warning I am not taking any recommendations because I feel that this project should be my own as much as possible.

Becoming interested

Recently I have been looking into some of the things going on with the public around the world lately. For example my work on food insecurity or today's video on what happened in Japan with the nuclear meltdown a year back. The episode just came out 3 days ago so its not outdated when all your doing is looking for some information that you didn't know. The interesting part about this frontline video about the nuclear meltdown in Japan is that it shows that it is still causing damage to the environment today over there and that if it wasn't dealt with in the way it was it could've affected everyone all over the entire world and maybe it already has affected everyone.

I am still working constantly on my work which my main focus is math because of how far I have fallen behind. Because of this we are pretty much willing to cut back some of my work to put even more focus on getting me back up to a 9th grade math level instead of the 7/8th grade level that I am at right now. I do believe that with Lief's help it shouldn't be that hard but if things do start to get to the point where I will need some extra work in math then I guess there are options. Speaking of Lief I finally have a date set up to get started on my tutoring. I hope that the first day goes well and maybe just maybe things will turn out right in the end.

Despite all of the things going on recently I am still working on something else along with my work which is a huge struggle for me. My problem is that I am trying to become proactive but at the same time I seem to be rejecting the thought of changing my behavior towards things. I'm trying very hard but things have been very difficult for me. I make plans and they never get touched. i want to force myself to sit down and do this stuff that I lay out but I can't seem to accept doing so. I don't know what I'm doing wrong with all of this but the point is that I'm trying very hard to do this. It is probably the hardest thing I have done in my life to date.

Ears to the ground and eyes on the TV

 Todays work has been satisfying but todays most interesting stuff is happening outside of my life and honestly outside of my house. For example today had some wonderfully heavy rain that was absolutely perfect after the last couple of days being chalk full of hot, dry, weather that was just obnoxious. I honestly went for a long relaxing walk through the rain and came back sopping wet which is exactly what I wanted then I came home and got straight to work because while the walk was relaxing and helpful it used time that I could have been doing something like working on the research for Food insecurity which was extremely eye opening to look up.

I would go into more details on food insecurity but things are getting pretty bad with this whole government shutdown going on and even I'm fascinated to see how things will turn out. I just saw the news report on someone firing off a gun outside of the white house and how the capitol went into lock down because of it. I'm just scared to see if someone will push their luck on what they might try to do and if they do America will be in more chaos then there is right now which could end very badly for everyone. My family is suffering some of the least repercussions that any american can face at the moment so I don't know what people are going through first hand out there but I do know that people are being removed from their jobs during this government shutdown so people can't provide for their family. I know things are getting bad out there I just hope things aren't going to get worse by one bad decision from someone.

Things are getting bad but I things for me are still doing pretty good because I'm not being directly affected yet. Because of this my life goes on pretty normal at the moment but many people around the U.S. are in terror that can't be helped without this break ending. I don't stand on any side of this argument but are probably not going the way that people imagined them to go at all. Other then all of the politics going on things are just fantastic for me with David Copperfield coming along nicely and moving at a nice pace through the Watsons go to Birmingham and Ron Paul's book about today's current school economy.

Wrapping up a series

Today I finished Rachael vs Guy kids Cook off and I was honestly sad to see it end in only 4 weeks. I also understand why they had to end it like so, but I wish that it wasn't so short. I felt that the person who won deserved it but I also could see a couple of other kids being able to do just as good if not better. For example Cole was open with the audience and not afraid to be different so being able to make cooking fun would be easy for him. Thats beside the point though because I would like to know who you think should have won and if you haven't seen it you could probably find it on food network
Don't be afraid to post on Facebook or Google + either because I am paying attention.  

While I'm on the subject of something food related and in particular the kids cook off I feel inferior in comparison to some of those other cooks out there. I love food as much as the next person but despite being able to cook some fascinating meals I can honestly say that those kids are dedicated while someone like me can once again not figure out how to cook rice which only solidifies this feeling. Still I don't have an itneresting talent but there has to be something that I can do that they couldn't possibly do but I don't know the kids either so I guess for now they are better cooks and I certainly won't deny a dish of food from any of them.

Other then my jealousy of those kids I feel pretty darn good today. I'm trying to find things to do that will help me become more proactive that hasn't been done before on my blog. Like say continuing work on my raspberry Pi which fell out of my blog slowly or the catapult that also like the Pi seemed to disappear without anyone noticing. I'm not going to accept or ask for suggestions from anyone because thats not going to accomplish anything for anyone. Yes maybe someone on my blog recommends something really fantastic for me to do but I didn't go out and decide to do it on my own so it doesn't accomplish moving from reactive to proactive. In other words I'm on my own on this one except for Kristi who is going to help me make sure that I don't fall out of this idea either much like the catapult.

Loving the work

I really enjoy working at Hillcrest because of being usefull to people that actually need my help. I wish I was able to help out a little bit more but since I haven't been there for that long and despite going out of my way to find work I still can't seem to get work when it matters the most. I try to help out people that need it but I can't seem to do much half the time and have to go get someone else to answer the question. I help out with electronics and appliances but after those are done for the day I have to go hunt down some kind of work on my own. When that comes around I start feeling pretty useless until someone asks for my help. At which point I jump up and get straight to work to have something to do.

Things are going fantastically for the most part and with things finally being set up with Leif I am getting close to getting things on the right track for the beginning of the year because its not that late into the year until the snow hits. I'm off to a fantastic start this years and full speed ahead so I'm ready for the rest of the challenges the rest of the year and I hope that you can all keep up with how things go throughout the year.

 I don't have that much to talk about today other then the Thriftshop but I feel like I have to provide the audience a complete 3 paragraphs today even thought I just want to quit. I feel like I need to provide for those that are reading this even when I'm at a stalemate. It's interesting because of the fact that I even mentioned that I would try for 2 paragraphs every Tuesday but even then I don't think I really meant it because even then I sat down and made sure that I would make a third paragraph. I also apologize for grinding on about seemingly random things at times because just because I say something does not make it literature gold. I might have to rewrite a good chunk of things every once in a while because of the lack of interesting things going on in my blog most of the time but due to the fact that I am not that good at going out and doing things or being Reactive instead of Proactive I don't have many interesting things that happen unless they happen to me when they come to me.