Picking the Paint (DIY Post #6)

the paint section at Home Depot

This morning I went to Applebee's to work a fundraiser for the FVHS swim team. As the hostess I got to talk to welcome all of the families to the restaurant, and thank them for their contributions. Soon after, I went to practice, and then the three of us - Makenna, Connor, and I went to lunch at Souplantation.

some of the many different colors
there were to choose from

After a busy morning, we headed over to Home Depot to pick out the paint color for the walls of our team room. When we got there, we realized that there were a ton of different colors to choose from - different shades, different sheens, and many other aspects of paint that we had never even heard of. We decided on a color called "Pool Party Blue," a product of the Glidden Paint Company. However, we didn't purchase anything because we weren't sure if the paint would be approved by the school.

I leave for Germany tomorrow, and I will be there for the next 10 days, so we won't be able to work on the project until I come back. Once all of us are back in town, we will purchase the paint and begin construction on the room.

Pitching the Project (DIY Post #5)

This week we had to work on presenting our project. While most of the groups presented on Friday, my group is going to have to present on Monday because Makenna, Connor and I were in Santa Barbara on Friday and Saturday for a swim meet. Since our presentation is only supposed to be 2 minutes long, we are planning on mainly improvising everything with some visuals playing in the background.

Originally our plan was to make a video that included our coaches, and quick interviews of our teammates to tell everyone the current terrible state of the team room. However, we did not have any time in Santa Barbara to record it, so we decided that we would just stand up in front of the class and give our presentation.

I was in charge of making the Google Presentation for the project, and I compiled a few pictures of the team room to put into the presentation. Each of us are going to speak about two slides.

Change of Plans (DIY Post #4)

If we're not going to replace the carpet,
we have to at least clean it.

This week my group decided that it wasn't going to be feasible to completely rip out the carpet of our team room. It would take too much time and resources for us to complete by the end of the school year - especially with all of our busy schedules.

Makenna and I decided that it would be better if we just steam cleaned the carpet so that it would be clean and sanitary. We are planning on doing it sometime in the next month - depending on how much time we will need and how much time we will have. We will need to create a schedule with deadlines so that we know what we have to accomplish by the given dates.

This week marked the beginning of our competition period of swim season, so we will have at least one swim meet per week from now until the second week in May. The varsity girls team crushed the Wilson girls by 20 points, and we claimed our first victory of the season. The next few months will be a busy time for all of us - with swimming, school, and AP tests to deal with, so hopefully we will have enough time to work on our DIY project.

Taking Stats (DIY Post #3)

Measuring

The stuffing falling out
of the couches.

The gross carpet

Yesterday, my group began laying out a more organized plan of what we were going to try and accomplish. One of the goals that we set out to do was try and figure out how we can redo the flooring of the team room. As we did some research on different flooring, we found that our options were limited, and began to question whether it was even feasible to rip out and replace the current carpet. It became clear that we were going to have to spend at least a couple hundred dollars on just the flooring. Taking that into consideration, we considered our options - fundraising & donations.

More stuffing oozing out of the couches.

More measuring

One dilapidated couch

However, another problem presented itself. We didn't know how many square feet the team room actually was, so Connor and I measured it today during our annual pentathlon. We found that it was about 16.5' by 15.25'. Based on that, we now know that our team room is 251.625 square feet - even bigger than we expected. Now that we have the measurements, we can figure out whether it's financially feasible to redo the carpeting.

I also took time today to document the way the team room currently looks in the form of pictures so that we could show "before" and "after" pictures of the room. It was the first time I had actually gone into the room and closely looked at all of its flaws. The stuffing falling out of the sofas looked really disgusting - even though it was just stuffing.

Jumping the Hurdle of Approval (DIY Post #2)

And so the DIY project begins...

Our curtain-less windows

So this week my job was to get the approval of a few different people for permission to do the project. I talked with the athletics director Mrs. Lawler, and she was delighted with the idea - especially after I told her the current state and condition of our team room. She said that I had her permission as long as Coach Nichols was okay with it, and suggested that we make an outline of our plans for the room, and show it to her. The only thing we would need to tell her about is if we decide to repaint the team room - she has to approve of the paint that we use because of school regulations.

Another curtain-less window

The second person I talked to was the girls water polo coach - Kaileigh. She, too, was very happy and supportive of the project. Since she is the coach of one of the 3 teams that share our aquatics team room, I asked her if she wanted anything specific to be done to the room. She only had a few requests: curtains for the windows as well as the removal of the entertainment systems (TV & game systems), or a storage area for them where they wouldn't be seen. One of my water polo friends - Merri Lightbody suggested that we secure the white board to the wall better because it currently flaps around every time someone writes on it.

The input that I received from them will contribute to the end product, and hopefully we will be able to satisfy the needs of all of the coaches and swimmers.

DIY Project Intro

The middle room in the shed is our team room.

From now on, this blog will be dedicated to my group's new assignment for the semester: the DIY (do it yourself) project. Mr. Z instructed us to "make something." Makenna DuBois, a fellow swimmer, had the brilliant idea of redoing the school's team room. This idea was exceptional because not only would we be completing our project, but we would make an impact on our school. Over the course of the next few months, we are going to remodel our swim/water polo team room on the pool deck.

Currently the team room is a disgustingly dirty shed, with nails sticking out and stuffing oozing out of the furniture. I never go in there because I have always thought that it was extremely gross and unsanitary. We are going to remedy this, and transform the entire room into a place where the team can relax and enjoy its comforts. Some of our main goals include replacing the filthy towels we use to cover the windows with actual curtains. We are also planning on putting in a better TV and mounting a projector for the coaches' uses.

To start off the process, we have to talk to a few people, to get permission to make the drastic changes, and to make sure that our project is feasible. We have already talked to swim's head coach Mike Nichols, and have his approval for the undertaking. My job is to talk to Mrs. Lawler, the activities director, and make sure we have her approval for the project as well.

I will try to post in this blog weekly to update the status of our project.

Lightning Assault

Title Screen

Three years ago my mom's cousin Timothy Chua began programming an iPhone app. The end product finally reached the App Store in early December 2012, and is now available for 99 cents.

Last year, Timo finally finished enough of the game so that he could let people beta test it, and I was part of the beta team. It was really cool being able to play a game that no one else in the world had played, and that my feedback would actually be taken into consideration to make it better. After years of hard work, the Lightning Assault was finally released in the App Store, and I was able to enjoy the final product on my brand new iPhone 5.

Weapons Room

Launch Pad

Lightning Assault is an intense, dogfight game. You pilot your own aircraft, armed with five different types of upgradable weapons and shoot down all of the UFOs and mother ships in order to pass each level. The graphics are amazing in this game, and for every five levels that you advance, you move to a different location on the world map - giving you an entirely new aerial view.

World Map

Although normally I don't play these types of "dogfight" games, this one really caught my attention - not only because my close relative made it, but because it was actually pretty interesting, and a game that kept me hooked. As I advanced in the leaderboards on Game Center, I became more and more determined to rise in the ranks, and now I'm #4 in the world.

I would highly recommend people to check this game out, and see what it's like. I decided against downloading many games onto my phone, and this was one of the few games that I felt was worth putting onto my phone. Here's the link to download the app on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lightning-assault/id561474052?ls=1&mt=8