The Co-op

There are a great diversity of people at the bike co-op. There are people of every race, social-status, economic-status, and religion. In that respect, the bike co-op has been an eye-opening experience for me. I have met someone that lives in a one room apartment with a couple other people right outside of the projects and I have met someone that owns his own business and drives a sports-car. I think that bike co-ops ability to attract such a diverse group of people is what makes the bike co-op unique from a standard “bike shop.” I think that the bike co-op is more of a culture/experience than a place to just buy/fix bikes. In that respect, I hope that the bike co-op continues to grow and develop because it is really a unique place. It would be great if the Hawken community got more involved with the bike co-op because the co-op really does embody many of the values and service-commitments that Hawken prides itself on.

Also, if anyone wants a bike for college, wants to fix up their old one, or wants to learn more about how to fix bikes, you should visit the co-op sometime… 1840 Columbus Road near Downtown Cleveland, in the flats.
~Joe

Some Suggestions

After working at the co-op for a while, Seth and I have thought of a variety of suggestions for the bike co-op. Currently, the bike co-op is still in its “developmental stage” due to have just relocating. The bike co-op is now located in what use to be an old factory on 1840 Columbus Rd. Since the location use to be a factory the bike co-op is very… dirty and run-down. I think that the co-op should make cleaning up the site a number one priority (instead of a minor priority, as it is now). I think that doing this would allow the bike co-op to be more appealing to a greater and more diverse group of people. Moreover, I think that a clean and organized environment would greatly increase efficiency, enabling the bike co-op to get more done than it normally does (organization is a big problem). The second priority that I think the bike co-op should focus on is increasing the functionality of the entire co-op. Currently, the command structure and the volunteer structure at the co-op is very loose. People don’t always know what to do and there is no “mission guide/plan” to follow. Sometimes I will be told to scrap some bikes by one person, just to be told by another to save them. I feel that if the bike co-op focused on these two priorities, the co-op would improve vastly.
~Joe

Actually Working on Bikes

Today we actually worked on bikes. We didn’t sort parts, sweep the shop, or any other kind of “grunt” work. It was actually a lot of fun. It was nice to finally engage in a task that required a little bit of thinking. I learned more today actually working on a bike than I learned during the rest of senior project. It was a nice experience being able to finally put all of things that I had learned from the bicycle maintenance classes to use. I started with a basic kid’s bike, which served as a good introductory task. I fitted the bike with new tires and wheels. I adjusted the bottom bracket and the hubs as well. I also learned how to use a variety of tools I hadn’t known how to use before. I think working on the bike helped teach me about a variety of mechanical skills in addition to bike-repair skills. It was quite fun. The only thing that wasn’t fun today was the heat. It gets VERY hot at the bike co-op. Regardless, today was still more fun than most days. I hope that for my final day tomorrow I get to work on some more bikes again.

~Joe

Grand Opening Day

I came to volunteer for the Coop's Grand Opening of their new location (across the street from their old one), and was pleasantly surprised. Roughly 100 people showed up at some point during the event, enjoyed free lunch (thanks to Jim, our director & great cook), and looked at bikes. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, despite a horrible odor escaping from the underground drainage pipes & broken toilets. Of course, they could've ignored it while our rock band tore up the building (with its concrete walls & floors). To say the least, it was a crazy day.

I even took a stab at selling a customer bike parts. Of course I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily neither did the person I was selling to know or care. So while I didn't make a sale, I still got my first experience as a sales rep. Easily, I knew I wasn't fit for the job.

The rest of the time I spent wondering around aimlessly, talking to coop members & looking around for some entertainment. A little obstacle course was set up using a mini-bike (this bike has tiny wheels) & half-tennis balls as cones. Kids tried to beat top times by riding between the tennis balls. I don't know if there was ever a winner, but it looked like fun!

Finally, the raffle took place for a $150 towards a coop bicycle. No one I knew won it, but it was a great event addition either way.

The Day Before the Grand Opening

Friday was our last day at the coop to prepare for its big opening day on Saturday. Fortunately, I got out of the brunt work involved in getting ready. Instead, I spent most of the day fixing toddlers' bikes, which was relatively easy & fun.

Since these bikes were so small, taking them apart was quite easy. There weren't any heavy parts to remove nor did I find my self in awkward or precarious positions. However, I did have to replace a lot of worn out tires & eroded brakes. It surprised me to find so many worn tires, especially because you wouldn't expect a toddler to be travelling that far. Maybe because the tires are so small they receive more wear just as a result of their diameter, and not so much the difference in the distance they travel.

However, I found the last bike to be the most daunting. With bent front brakes, a missing brake handle, worn rear tire, and worn hand grips, I spent nearly 2 hours repairing it!

The rest of the day I spent "spiffing up" old city bikes into looking like new ones. I actually wouldn't repair the old bikes, but rather give them the appearance that they've been repaired (i.e. adjusting the seatpost height, aligning brake cables, etc.) so that the coop appears to have a huge inventory on the grand opening. Technically they could be sold, but that would be cheating them of their hard-earned dollars!

Other than working on bikes, I threw wet tires onto a trailer to be recycled. The lesson learned: don't keep tires outside - they get wet, really wet!

We made it.

On Thursday the 26th, we had the final performance of the tour in Cleveland at The Grog Shop.
The promoters were not the usual ones who throw shows at the Grog so it was kind of weird but it was still awesome.
These promoters had the show start an hour earlier than it was supposed to, which led to the crowd being pretty small during the first couple performers. The lineup was a group called Plastic Hearts, then me, then a group called Twenty One Pilots, and then Smoke Screen.
Despite the relatively small crowd, my performance still received a pretty good response.
After the show, the promoters said they would love to put us on more shows in the future. And one of the members of a group called The Manhattan Scene came up to me and asked if I would like to perform at their upcoming album release show.

So looking back at this tour, there were a lot of obstacles, as we predicted, but each obstacle came with a myriad of benefits whether its experience, connections to a new scene, or even just having our names associated with certain venues as a resume builder. I would definitely consider it a success.
Now we're basically spending all of our time compiling and editing footage, along with scoring the documentary with our own original music.

Charleston, Part 3

Our second interview on Tuesday was with an owner of a local bookstore, known as Ravenous Reader, located around ten minutes outside of downtown Charleston. Unfortunately, as we pulled into the parking lot in front of the small pink storefront, we saw a huge banner displaying the message: "Going out of business!" So we obviously had to alter some of our questions in our heads to cater to the fact that this local business wasn't surviving or able to compete against the larger chains. We figured that maybe we would be able to figure out something that this business was doing that may have hurt it and caused it to go out of business.

We entered to find the storeowner sitting behind a desk, quietly reading while music played throughout the tiny, vacant store. The shelves were far from full, so we realized that the business was trying to get rid of all of the books without receiving shipments of any more. When we talked to her, she mentioned how a lot of her difficulty with her business lately was from dealing with the new technologies, just like we had found with the owner of Mac's Backs Books in Cleveland. The difference between the two businesses that seemed to have helped Mac's Backs but not Ravenous Reader was that Mac's Backs had set up a method for buyers to purchase eBooks towards the store, yet Ravenous Reader did not even have a website. Another reason Ravenous Reader was going out of business was because the owner was in her early sixties and ready for retirement, so she wasn't as willing to fight against all the big businesses and the new technologies.

When we asked for her opinion on the eBook movement, she mentioned how she thinks they are just a fad, and that what is troubling is that consumers always want what is currently trendy. However, she doesn't believe that eBooks will completely take over the book industry because there are some types of books that are important to have in the physical form, such as certain non-fiction and self-help books. She does not plan on adding eBooks to her business' products because she is not willing to pay the expenses for a website, so she hasn't been and won't be able to compete with other businesses in that aspect.

She did mention that in the seventeen years that her store has been open, it has had a very loyal group of customers, and that often times several generations of her customers' families will shop there. Her first location was right next to a Publix, similar to a Giant Eagle, which brought a lot of foot traffic. But after ten years of open business, she moved down the street to a location a little more tucked away, but that wasn't as much of a problem because she had already built many customer connections.

One coincidence that we thought of while talking with her was that she did advertise more than other businesses we had previously talked with. Other businesses would maybe advertise a few times in a local newspaper, but they depended heavily on word of mouth, whereas Ravenous Reader advertised much more often in newspapers and magazines, budgeting a lot more money towards that part of the business.

The owner did not want to be filmed, so it was a quick conversation that was short yet informative, and it gave us a different aspect on local businesses because we had talked with one that was no longer successful.

visitors

So this week has been interesting, to say the least. I've been doing somewhat of the same stuff, but with a few twists. I've been doing a lot of Rehabilitation work, like STEM and Ultrasound therapy, as well as working with players to work out bumps and bruises. I don't do a lot of taping, because I haven't been "officially" taught how to do it, I was just shown how. I have taped the Intern's ankles multiple times though, and am getting decent at it.

The past two days have been a little weirder because of people coming in. Wednesday, Coach Walton (project advisor) came in for his visit during the practice, so Dean and I spent most of the practice talking with him about the project, and AFL in general. While that didn't mean a lot when it came to the project in general, as there wasn't much to do when he was there, today was different. After talking with Trainer Meg, my project came up. One thing led to another, and Trainer Meg and Catherine Yoke (her student trainer/independent work) got up bright and early and came in to observe what goes on around the training room and in practice. It was a different twist to things, as anytime I wasn't doing something, she was asking questions about what happens. It was nice to have a little twist to things, and it was fun to see Meg try to function before 2 PM! (Anyone that has talked to her about it knows that she usually tends to sleep in, and doesn't come in until around 2)

Because of the rains last night, we came into the room today and found the carpet soaked. There was such a bad storm where the practice facility is located, that it flooded the training room and the equipment room, making everything really wet, and more difficult to work with. Apart from that, it was a fun week. The team is away this weekend, meaning that I will only have next week with the team. While that fact is kind of sad, knowing that I will be able to hold my own in the future is very promising.

Charleston, Part 2

We traveled to Charleston Coffee Roasters on Tuesday to interview the founder and owner of the business, Lowell Grosse. It was not in the most affluent-looking neighbor, especially compared to downtown Charleston's inescapable designer and expensive brand-name shops, but whose to judge where the "best coffee in South Carolina" comes from if it really is the best coffee. We were both very surprised to find that it wasn't a coffee shop, but rather a company who imports coffee from several regions all over the world, then roasts and sells their coffee to grocery stores, hotels, restaurants, and other similar venues. Right off the bat, before we even opened the door, we knew that this interview was going to be a perfect addition to our project, simply from a bumper sticker on the steel doors. It read, "Lowcountry Local First". This is an organization whose mission is as follows, "Lowcountry Local First advocates the benefits of a local living economy by strengthening community support for independent locally owned businesses and farmers;" pretty self-explanatory why we knew this business would be excellent to incorporate in our project. 


After we introduced ourselves to Lowell and were acquainted with his very soft, playful Golden Retriever, Boomer, we held a very productive and interesting interview. Right off the bat, he mentioned that he did not advertise. The money is not in the budget and regardless, it is not worth wasting money when you can advertise for free by word of mouth. He explained that his company does a lot of face-to-face interaction; they knock on doors, set up stands, and do anything to get their name out there. This seems like a very common theme that we have been seeing in these successful businesses- they don't waste time and money advertising when they can provide fantastic customer service which leads to advertisement by word of mouth, the best kind there is. Think about it, are you more willing to pay attention and trust what a TV commercial is blabbering about, especially when you are angry that the commercial is on in the first place because you would rather be watching your show, or are you going to listen to your neighbor or friend who recommends this great product? Our guess is the latter. He did get lucky with the placement of his building though- right off the highway where drivers can see his logo (but again, this is free advertisement). It is funny because the other interview that we went to that day, which we will write about in a later post, happened to be going out of business- this was the one business that reported how often they advertise in local magazines, newspapers, etc. 


The biggest advantage that Lowell thinks about owning his own, local business is simply that it is your own and there is pride and dignity that comes along with that idea, undoubtedly wanting to make it the best business possible. Aside from the fact that you can't be fired from your own company, the concept that everything he does and represents reflects back not only on his company as a whole, but on himself, is really evident. This motivates him, makes he works harder to make his product better, does anything to please his customers, and anything else that contributes to a better name for himself. As opposed to the local shops, the employees at a big corporation wouldn't necessarily be commended for their loyal work or clever contribution, therefore, they aren't as motivated. 


Charleston Coffee Roasters donates a lot of coffee and time to schools and the turtle rescue project, specifically in South Carolina. Lowell wants people to support local and he believes firmly in supporting local, therefore he wants to be an advocate for anything local and give back to the community. It is a full circle when it comes to supporting local whereas all that big corporations try to do it bring in as much revenue as possible. Several big companies, we assume, do support some sort of charity organization, but whereas Lowell works hands-on with these organizations, a more personal and meaningful way to give back, these companies seem to solely donate money. Perhaps this is an incorrect assumption, but it seemed as if Lowell was very passionate about helping the turtles and we do not feel that same passion conveyed from a Starbucks or Wal-Mart (in fact, we can't even think of an organization on the top of our heads that they work with). 


After the interview, he gave us a tour of his very neat work place and where the coffee is roasted and packaged. He explained the process and gave us each a free bag of coffee and a very nice mug. Jana is not a coffee connoisseur herself, and in fact, she detests hot coffee (coffee ice cream and the smell of coffee are ironically very appealing though), but Sara is an avid coffee drinker. She will have to report later on how the coffee tasted in comparison to a Starbucks or Caribou cup of coffee.

Charleston!

We arrived in Charleston on Sunday night to Sara's grandma's house, where her grandma prepared us a delicious meal of chicken and potatoes! Sophie, her dog wasn't so happy to see us at first, (I don't think she was expecting so many guests,) but she warmed up to us quickly. We went to bed early, and our appointment was scheduled for 4 pm the next day, so we had the entire morning and early afternoon to explore downtown Charleston.

We arrived in downtown at around noon, and walked around for a bit while David and Sam drove away to a Habitat Restore. It took us a little while to get familiar with the downtown area, even though Sara was just there a little over two years ago, but we soon found our way around. We walked down Meeting Street and crossed over Market Street until we reached King Street, and after a while of looking at the different stores, we settled into a Starbucks to get some documentary work done. We were there for almost three hours, walking around in between for breaks, but we got a ton of work done. Unfortunately, while we were at Starbucks, the man who we were supposed to interview at four called and rescheduled for the next day, so we didn't end up having an interview then. So Sam and David met up with us there later, and we all decided to go back to Sara's grandma's for dinner. It was a really hot and long day, but we fortunately completed a lot of work for our documentary, which we know will take many hours after we get back to Cleveland.

Awesome!

I thought I would be sorting tires all day. In reality, though, I had something much better awaiting me!

After a gruesome 4 hours labeling price tags on tires, in which I used a crudely made hook (actually an upside-down kickstand) to "catch" tires & pull tires out of their hooks, price them, and then re-hook them, I was finally told I would help fix "earn-a-bikes" (more on that later) with other volunteers. Given that Joe had been sick today and I had worked all by myself, that message was a huge relief!

Earn-a-bikes is a program run by the coop to give bikes to youth and the under-privileged. I'm not sure exactly how it is run, but the basics are that a person (typically a youth) will volunteer at the coop, learn a bit about bike safety, and eventually earn his/her own bike (usually of mediocre quality) after some stated goal is met. It's a great way to give back to the community & keep members engaged, however often these "earn-a-bikes" need quite a bit of tuning before they can be given to others. That was my responsibility last evening.

In the process of tuning a bike, consisting of the three S's - steering, stopping, security - I would check that the stem was tight (so that the handlebars won't turn without the wheel), the brakes work well (i.e. they are centered, not worn, etc.), and the important parts to the bike are strongly bolted on. In addition, I checked the chains to make sure they aren't worn (chains actually stretch over time - that's why you need to replace them). I also lubed the cables (shifter, brakes) and made sure all other necessary parts were there.

I learned a lot working through each step. For instance, I now know to check the length of the old chain before putting in the new one! Of course, the new chain is not specific to the bike, so it needs to be "cut" (a process of releasing a pin from one of its links) to the specific length. Being the person that I am, I forgot to do so - however, I did learn how to measure the correct length of chain another way!

In addition, I now know how to adjust disc brakes! In case you don't know, disc brakes are the equivalent of the ipod for music - revolutionary & totally awesome! Knowing how to fix them is a great skill to have.

After my trials & troubles, I was picked up my Dad to swing home. I had ridden my bike over to the coop (it was a nice day!), but little did I know the sun exposure would only be brief before a massive storm hit northeast Ohio. So, it appeared as if my biking days were over - at least while Cleveland's weather still sucked.

some results

Yesterday we did some real analysis of the data about statins. I learned quite a bit about statistics and especially how to tell if your results are significant – it turns out the bar is pretty high. For instance, one factor we investigated was how long patients survived after their initial diagnosis. In comparing the patients who took statins with those who didn’t, it turned out those on the drugs lived for an average of five months longer than those not on the drugs, after checking to make sure age wasn’t a factor. That seems pretty important when the prognosis is rarely even two years, but then we had to perform a bunch of statistical tests. The “T Test” gives a “confidence interval,” in this case, it was a range of times such that there was a 95% chance a given patient would live that long. The confidence interval for non-statin patients and statin patients overlapped, meaning that even though there seemed to be a big difference in the average survival, the results didn’t indicate any correlation whatsoever.

It was a little frustrating to find out that after all that, there was not a statistically significant result and we’re not at all closer to finding the causes of brain tumors. The idea was that GBMs, the nastiest kind of brain tumor and the one this study used, are highly vascularized, meaning they involve the blood vessels in the brain to a great extent. This is partly why they’re so hard to completely remove. The researcher thought that statins, which lower cholesterol levels and have some effect on blood vessels, might somehow interfere with the cancer’s vascularization or perhaps increase it. Either way, it was interesting to learn the extremely high standards that truly scientific data must reach, and it did make me trust the statistics you hear from different studies a little bit more. There’s a lot that goes into collecting that data and analyzing it.

Final Stretch...

Monday May 23rd: We drove to Philadelphia for our performance at Danger Danger.
The venue was actually a big house that was converted into a performance space so it was definitely unique (but sort of weird)
There were 2 other acts on the bill (4 total including me and Smoke Screen).
One of the acts ended up falling through so it was just us and this group from DC called Les Rhinoceros.
It was basically a dead event but we rocked it anyway. Les Rhinoceros were awesome and a really cool. They were definitely a great connection. And despite the annoyingly unorganized nature of it, the owner said he would love to have us back at some point.
So that was solid - Very cool to be in Philadelphia.

After waking up in Philly and packing all of our stuff up, we had to head back to Brooklyn for our performance at Public Assembly.
When we arrived at the venue and met the sound guy and the owner, we were so relieved to see that they were actually calm, professional people, unlike most of the people we dealt with over this tour.
We actually got a decent crowd out and our performances were definitely the best so far.
After the show, the sound guy, both of the bouncers, and the owner said they loved us and would love to have us back with a more organized approach.

As a whole this tour has definitely been rough, however it has been extremely beneficial in many ways and I've learned SO much about the industry.
It's currently 2am and I'm definitely still delirious. We've gotta get on the road back to Cleveland after we get some rest.
We have our final show at the Grog Shop on Thursday the 26th. It's gonna be a great show.

tuesday 5 24

Today was our last day with the deconstruction team which was very sad, but a very memorable day with those men and women. We were only with them for the morning, then headed to the store. When it was time to leave the deconstruction site my supervisor sat everybody down and everybody said some really nice things to us. It was very heart warming experience. They appreciated our help more than we thought. We gave hugs and shook hands then my Supervisor Frank, gave me and my brother a pin called a Golden Hammer. It was a small hammer made of real gold for our help that we had done with habitat. It was very cool and hard to leave the people we had so much fun working our butts off with. But we eventually left and headed to the store. A normal day of work followed by a similar situation with the store managers and the volunteers that worked there. So alot of good stuff happened today. And I forsee it happening again with the construction team tommoro. But all in all, I am pretty sad were leaving soon. Its been so much fun.

Managing the Course

Friday Alex and I helped Jeff manage the range and the course. We drove around the course in golf carts with individual pickers and any range balls we saw we would pick up. We also learned to drive the picker cart that goes on the range that everybody aims at when they're golfing. It was entertaining attempting to dodge golf balls and pick them up at the same time. That and driving the picker (something I've wanted to do since I knew it existed) was amazing. It's shouldn't be that exciting, but honestly, if you've ever been to a driving range you've wanted to drive the cart that picks up the golf balls. After we picked up a few hundred balls we helped set up the greens which actually takes a lot of work. Helping to rake the sand and clear up everything was time consuming, but Alex and I made it fun. We also got to get in a few good hours of practicing putting and chipping. Later, Alex had to go to his playoff baseball game, but for the last two hours of project I played a round of golf with one of the pros. Now that the course is beginning to dry up a little, we will be able to golf more often.

Bicycle Brakes

Since I just really started senior project and haven’t been blogging enough lately, I thought I’d do another one today. One thing that I worked on extensively last week was examining different kinds of bicycle brakes. I learned about the different kinds of brakes and the evolution of brakes in regards to the bicycle industry. The first popular brake that I learned about in the evolution of common bicycle brakes was the side-pull brake. The side-pull brake operates by pulling on the cable that is located on the side of the device (thus the name…). Pulling the cable pulls the brake pads together, thus causing the bike to break. The next popular kind of brake was the center-pull. The center-pull provided even torque to the brake pads and was easier to adjust and operate than the side-pull brake. It looks exactly like a side-pull brake, except that the “pull” is located at the center. The next brake to become extremely popular was the cantilever brake. The cantilever brake was more effective and eliminated the unnecessary hardware that the center-pull and the side-pull brakes used. The latest evolution in bicycle braking was the invention of V-brakes. V-brakes look similar to cantilever brakes, but due to their design are significantly easier to adjust and operate. V-brakes first emerged in 1998 and have dominated the industry since. So, that’s all for bicycle brakes. Enjoy the pictures.

Side-pull:

Center-Pull:

Cantilever Brakes:

V-Brakes:


Putting images on blogger is a pain... ~Joe.

The Bike Co-op

Today was yet another normal day at the Bike Co-op. We sorted bikes to make room for volunteers that are coming tomorrow from Key Bank. It was a pretty boring day, but a nice break from schoolwork. The work is very monotonous and tiring, but at the same time, relaxing. Doing "grunt work" around the bike co-op provides an interesting perspective on life that we don't get much of at school. At school we are always doing "intellectual work," and we often forget that the vast majority of American jobs require much less “intellectual work” than “grunt work.” While, I don’t mind doing much “grunt work,” it does get a bit boring after awhile… Nonetheless, I have still learned much about bikes from doing such work. I hope I get the chance to actually work on fixing up a bike from scratch at the co-op before senior project is over. Seth and I have been thinking about renting out an old vintage bike and fixing it up as a summer project, provided that we learn enough about bikes by the end of senior project. I think that a project such as that would be a good combination of “grunt work” and “intellectual work.”

While sorting bikes today, I did see a variety of different kinds of bikes and was surprised at how many varying kinds of designs there were. There were plenty of common bikes (mountain bikes and road bikes), but there were also many old city bikes and old cruisers. I found those bikes especially interesting, as they were popular back in the ‘50’s. I noticed that bikes from that era were much more unique on an individual level than the mass-produced bikes that many of us are use to seeing and riding. It will be interesting to see what other kinds of bikes we find while sorting tomorrow.

~Joe

monday 5 23

We are in the home stretch. Today was another hot one. 80 degrees. We did a lot of traveling today. We went to 4 different job sites including the store. They were things like tearing out a small kitchen, pulling carpet, and moving decking boards. All tough work but it was in small portions which made it a little more bearable. We said our final goodbyes to some of the guys we wouldn't see again, due to the fact that they only work with the deconstruction team. It was almost sad. We have become a little family, like having 10 grandfathers. They are all hilarious which helps us get through the day. The men we worked with for the majority of this month took us out to lunch at a real nice sit down restaurant on them. ( which is a heck of alot better then the packaged crap we have had to eat all month. I think I lost 10 lbs here so far ). Working today with the team was so smooth and laughter-filled. They want us to come back sometime which is funny because my brother and I want to as well. Madison is a beautiful place to be. A thousand times better than cleveland. Good times .

Gladiators v Soul

The end of this week was exciting for me. Thursday and friday, I got more involved with the players, doing STEM work with them, as well as Ultrasound Therapy work. Both of these are techniques to loosen up muscles and help heal injuries. I was also allowed to tape 2 people's ankles during a lighter practice (just in case they were bad, but luckily they weren't!).

Saturday night was another home game for the Gladiators, as they took on the Philadelphia Soul. I got to downtown CLE at about 3:30, and because of an Indians game that started at 4, I couldn't find a parking spot until about 4:20!! I kid you not... it took me over an hour to park! The game was awesome. Minus a few bumps and bruises, the players weren't in need of that much, so I wasn't doing a whole lot, just mainly dealing with water and towels, and some small stuff before the game, like I did the last Home Game. This game was a lot more violent though...in the 4th quarter alone, at least 4 people got ejected from the game! It was a really fun night.

Since one of Dean's college interns moved to Texas on Sunday, I will be able to step up and contribute a lot more the next week. I look forward to seeing what is going to be thrown at me!

Third tour stop: Brooklyn part 1

Just got home from our first performance in Brooklyn at Goodbye Blue Monday. (it's currently 3:50am).
It was in Williamsburg, which is a really cool/active part of Brooklyn.
Once again, it started off really weird and awkward. The dude who owned the venue was extremely rude at first and rushing us to perform. It was clear that he wasn't taking us seriously.
But we did our thing.
Smoke Screen performed first and when they finished up their set, the owner came up like "wow, okay so you guys were actually really good. If you want to do another short set in a little bit after Urbindex performs, that would be cool"
Then I was up to perform.
It went very well. Its really interesting getting a feel for what songs get certain responses in different settings. Catering set lists based on the circumstances has been difficult simply because it's tough to find time while we're on the road.
But overall my performance got a great response and I actually did an encore song after Smoke Screen's second set. It was fun.

Tomorrow (well... technically today given the fact that its almost 4am) we're heading to Philadelphia for our performance at Danger Danger. Keeping it moving.
This experience has been so crazy, really surreal. It's the type of thing that you can read about or even see videos of but unless you actually experience it, you have no idea what it's like. Still having a blast. Still have no idea what day it is. Still sort of delirious.

DAY 1

okay my first day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was a little nerve racking at first. I didn't really know where to park so I just parked in the great lakes science center parking garage and walked to the rock hall from there. My sponsor told me to go through the back entrance of the Rock Hall where all the other employees entered and i had to be buzzed in by there security which was tight. Then i went to their administrative offices where i was introduced to all the employees at the Rock Hall from the CEO/president to the one of the people working in the tech dept. who ive been shadowing Brett Friedman. Then i got my own id badge which works as a key throughout all of the rock hall: security, administrative, etc. That was pretty sweet. Then I sat in on one of the Rock Hall's Rock The Schools classes which uses a soundboard, specifically a digico sd8. That's where I met Connor's uncle Ron Mussara he was working the board which was cool even though nothing much was happening during the class besides an occasional recording demo. It was cool seeing the equipment though which Ron later gave me more of an intro to.

DAY 4

Similar to day one but know that I had purchased a parking pass to the cleveland port parking it was easier to get to and from the rock hall. Also it was not as awkward because by today I had a lot more familiar faces to go by as well as I had begun to know my way around the Rock Hall. The basement had the main exhibit and all the offices, the second floor has the gift shop, the 3rd has the cafe and actual hall of fame, the fourth floor has the theater where they show u2 3d and hold the rock the school classes and the 5th and 6th floors are dedicated to there thematic exhibit which is now the newly opened Women who Rock exhibit. I basically did the same thing as day 1 sat in on the class and learned about the sd8.

Day5

Today I got my own desk next to Brett Friedman in tech. support. I also got my own computor which has been dedicated to ripping cd's into the rockhall archives/database for future reference/use in exhibits to come. I have becom the master of ripping. Ive had to rip, label, organize, and notate through audiograbber, excel and some other program i dont know. After I ripped a bunch of cds I sat in on the class again and worked on the board a bit which was cool. Then I helped set up for a concert that would soon take place today. I worked with Ron Mussara again and some other guys from eighth day sound and they were all pretty cool. We finished setting the medium sized stage on the second level in less then 2 hours and was sound checking after 2.5 hours. This time they were working on a yamaha board which was simpler than the digico and more accessble. the problem with the digico is that its all digital which means there are not as many manual controls and lots of digital "layers" of sound control that one could get lost in if not careful. THe engineers were more at home with this older piece of equipment because of its sheer simplicity.

to be continueeed......

Savannah, Part 2

Today, we didn't have any interviews scheduled because all of the people that we tried to contact in Savannah never got back to us. We dropped Sam and David off at the Restore for Habitat and then we drove further into the city. We walked around and stopped in a store call Smooth. It was a smoothie shop and conveniently enough, there was a sign printed on the door that said "We are not a chain." Naturally, we walked in because this seemed like a perfect place to interview. Unfortunately, when we asked if the owner was available, he or she wasn't in town, so we were not able to talk with anyone. We however bought a smoothie and some coffee, sat down, wrote our blogs, and planned out the rest of our trip to Charleston. 


After we were done there, we walked around and stopped into a sub shop that we had never heard of: Lenny's Subs. Apparently, we are very northern and did not know that it was a southern chain. The owner was willing to talk to us, but unfortunately had reservations about being filmed, and after we learned that Lenny's Subs was a franchise, we had a very productive interview.

Lenny's Subs is in their 4th year and is actually trying to expand more and to become a bigger franchise. Currently, they only have about 160 stores, but compared to Subway's 32,000 locations, it is quite a miniscule business. Ironically enough, the corner across the street is home to a Subway. So although Lenny's is a franchise, we were able to treat it more like a local business because it's directly competing with a store that has 200 times as many locations.


A major disadvantage that the owner of this specific Lenny's explained is that the prices have to be higher than Subway's prices because there aren't as many stores. In addition to the fact that they are much smaller business than Subway, he insists that they have better quality food. Some examples that he gave us that support his belief are:

1. They bake their bread the day of as opposed to Subway, who bakes their bread the night before.
2. Their meat is not pre-sliced like Subway's meat, therefore it is able to stay much fresher.
3. They receive fresh produce twice a week whereas Subway receives it fewer times.
4. The portions are bigger - the regular sub has half a pound of meat and the large has a pound.


The location has both good and bad sides that contribute to Lenny's success and/or failure. A bad part is obviously that there is a competitive Subway literally across a side street. He explained that people are more familiar with Subway, especially northern tourists and tourists from places that don't have Lenny's, therefore they know what sub they want and what their product is, in turn being more willing to shop there than at Lenny's. Yet an advantage to the location is that there is a lot of foot traffic. It is located on what seems like the busiest street in Savannah, in the middle of Broughton Street, allowing for many locals and tourists to pass by.

One thing that we have seen a lot in local businesses that the owner explained is the excellent customer service. The workers know the customers and their sandwiches. Proof of this friendly customer service is from the moment we stepped through the door - more than one of the workers greeted us and the owner was really willing to talk to us. This is something that most likely wouldn't happen at Subway. For example, on the way to Savannah, we stopped at Subway for dinner and the lady working behind the counter began to talk to us and the conversation turned into her bashing Subway's ad campaigns and products.

Although Lenny's wasn't the ideal "local" business that we are searching for, the insight was really interesting because it was of a little different of a perspective. 

Second Stop of Tour: Columbus

We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Columbus.
We stayed with a Columbus based electro group called Digiraatii.
On Wednesday we spent most of our time in Digiraatii's studio working on a new project called "Caveman Lawyer" which is a supergroup consisting of me, Smoke Screen, and Digiraatii, just for fun. But we also had a lot of rehearsing and arranging to do to prepare for our performance (which was Thursday).
On Thursday we did more Caveman Lawyer stuff as well as more rehearsing leading up to the performance that evening.
When we arrived for sound check at Long Street District, it was definitely really awkward.
Everything was extremely unorganized. The promoter/organizer of the show was pretty much unresponsive and unhelpful at first, but (long story short) after some persistence, we made arrangements.
We performed in the back VIP room of the club for their weekly dance party and there was a very solid turnout.
It went very well. Smoke Screen got a great response because their music has many club music elements incorporated, but initially I was not sure about the response would be to my performance because of the more experimental nature of my music. Despite my insecurities, the crowd responded very well to my music and it was lot of fun.
Though the event was unorganized to a point of subliminal pandemonium in all of the artists, promoters, and bouncers, it went very smoothly.

After my performance, the promoter asked me to DJ for an hour to fill in space. I was sort of annoyed because he had not brought this up earlier for me to prepare but I did it on the spot.
After the event was over I exchanged information with the promoter and he said he would love to feature me as a performer there more often. So this was a very productive gig; this could really help establish myself better in Columbus.

We are now in Brooklyn, New York, after 10 hours of driving, staying at my brother's house.
We have a day off before we have our performance to arrange our set-lists and work in my brother's studio, so thats awesome.

This experience, even in just the first few days, has been unbelievably fun, stressful, exciting, overwhelming, etc. My sense of time, date, and geographical location has completely disappeared. I might wake up thinking it's a Tuesday in Cleveland at 9am and I'm late for school and then realize it's a Friday in Columbus at 12pm and I have to drive 10 hours to New York to perform.
Very surreal, yet very awesome.I
Ps. It is 2am right now.

Rest of the schedule:
Sunday May 22nd: Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn, NY
Monday May 23rd: Danger Danger in Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday May 24th: Public Assembly in Brooklyn, NY
Thursday May 26th: The Grog Shop in Cleveland, OH

Friday 5/20

Today was a hot, hot day. I was tired and the heat didnt help. We worked through it though. The store is always less labor intensive than the on site teams so that helped as well. Today was a low key day besides the heavy donation every now and then. We mainly prices and sorted objects. I must have sorted floor and wall tiles for at least 2 hours but it was nice getting out of the sun for a bit. We are really pumped that it is finally the weekend, we need to catch up on our sleep. The nightlife here is tons of fun. Sometimes after work my brother an I will just go to State St, which is like the happening part of downtown Madison, and play guitar and sing for people. I couldnt have asked for a better project.

Savannah!

Thursday was our first actual day in Savannah. After our long drive from New Orleans on Wednesday, we decided to sleep in a little the next morning and start the day a little later since we didn't have anything specific scheduled. We drove into downtown Savannah, about a half hour away from Jana's aunt's home in Richmond Hill. After scrounging for a place to park, the four of us walked around for a while, passing by little souvenir shops and restaurants along the river. It was a beautiful day, not too humid, and the breeze from the river added the perfect touch. We then walked a few blocks into the city, exploring a few of the main streets, one of them called Broughton Street, which had a collection of both locally owned shops and larger chains. By the time we walked up and down a few streets, it had was around 2:30, so we stopped in a small park to eat the sandwiches we brought along with us.

Once we finished, the two of us walked around the downtown area some more, taking some footage of the city and walking into a few stores. Unfortunately, for the stores we walked into, such as Shirts-N-Stuff and Savannah's Candy Kitchen, the owners either weren't available to speak with us or the store was too busy, so we weren't able to get any specific interviews. On a side note, the free samples of pralines at Savannah's Candy Kitchen were excellent - free and tasty! But from what we could notice, the stores were doing quite well, and we felt that the reasons for this are similar to those we discovered in New Orleans, Cleveland, and Chicago: the location of the store, the customer service, and keeping the local quality of the community. Also, we noticed that what Heidi had told us several days ago during our conversation held true in Savannah - the locally owned stores and the chains were very evenly mixed in with each other, and we noticed that this could be an aspect of the city that helps with its success. It gives the consumers some options of how they want to spend their money, and the chains provide jobs while the local shops provide personality. After looking around downtown, we found a frozen yogurt place and sat down to work on our documentary for a while. We have so much footage to sort through, so this could take a while... I guess it's a good thing we aren't heading up to New York City after Charleston anymore. We ended our day downtown at about 6 and drove back to Richmond Hill for dinner. Jana's aunt has been so kind to allow us to eat basically all our meals at her house, which has really helped us out financially on the trip. Thursday was a very nice and relaxing break from our very busy, long, and jam packed days in New Orleans, although we got a great feel for the city and made progress on our documentary.

New Orleans, Part 3/ Driving to Savannah

On Wednesday, we got up and packed everything up to get ready to leave New Orleans. We went back into the French Quarter for an interview with a local business owner, Nancy Tusa. She owns a shop called WhatsNew, which she labels as a souvenir type store, only more upscale and lacking the typical tacky shirts and keychain type souvenirs. Nancy originally started her work career as a banker and then a teacher until her friend, who owns a shop down the street, mentioned to her that there was a location open. Nancy decided to be risky and open up a shop and has been loving it ever since.

She really stressed the fact that location is key for her and her shop's success. Many middle aged tourists travel to New Orleans and specifically the French Quarter (middle aged because, in general, they are the ones that can afford to travel,) and this is perfect for her business because they are the people that are attracted to the items that her shop carries.

Customer service is another key aspect to her success. She explained that she loves people and, similar to what all the other local businesses have previously said, having good customer service is crucial. For example, if someone comes into the shop and they need five plates but they only have three in stock, they will make sure they get two more. They always put their customer's wishes first and will do anything they possibly can to satisfy them.

Another point that she brought up was one very similar to one that Heidi had mentioned the day before - the idea of exclusives. Nancy is not allowed to sell the same items as the store next door or down the street, therefore providing a variety of shopping on the street and in the French Quarter. For example, her store, a candy store, and a clothing store among others are located on that little strip itself. This is a fair and a healthy form of competition because there are no mega superstores casting a shadow on the local businesses, automatically telling them what they can and can't do. Rather, they all compete with each other to try to attract the most customers and they all have an equal opportunity.

Lastly, similar to what we have heard at many other local stores, she isn't too keen on advertising. She pays to be part of the French Quarter Business Association who advertises with that money, and she mentioned once having placed an ad in a magazine that would be seen in hotels. But other than that, she counts on word of mouth. The fact that most of these stores seem to take a different path than advertising in every newspaper and billboard (like many megacorporations,) but choose to rely on word of mouth and loyalty of customers is not only extremely brave, but it shows that they are able to be successful due to their fantastic customer service and great products.

After the interview, we all reconvened and headed to Savannah, GA. It was a long drive, especially because the roads through Georgia were relatively slow and kept changing speeds. It was frustrating - but we finally made it. Yay!

hearing patients' stories

On Thursday we went across the street to the Bolwell Medical Center to find patients who might be eligible for the study. Both the patients I visited yesterday were older and generally in worse shape than the ones I had seen before. One had just had surgery and was feeling pretty miserable, but his son was there to sign the paperwork and he seemed really excited about our study and research in general. The other was an 80-something woman whose only symptoms had been an atypical seizure during which she was totally fine except she couldn’t read. She was getting her nails done when she realized she didn’t understand the magazine even though she could see perfectly fine. She said it was like it was in a different language. She’s going into surgery today. They think her tumor is a meningioma, which is one of the benign kinds, fortunately. She also seemed interested in the study, but was very apologetic about the family history part. Because her mother died in the Holocaust, she knew very little about that side of the family. Karen reassured her that any information helps, and we chatted a bit more, about how her father had survived the concentration camps and escaped with her to America. It was a heartbreaking story.

medical chart review

While we wait for the data analysis of the family history study, we’ve been compiling data for another study that a colleague of my sponsor wants to use our information for. This study involves what kinds of medications people were taking when they were diagnosed, specifically “statins,” such as Lipitor or Crestor, which lower cholesterol. It was a bit tedious but I learned a lot about different types of medications and what they’re used for.

Wednesday I also did my first medical chart review, which is when we get faxed over 100 pages of prescriptions, lab results, nurse’s notes, and surgical records from the hospital and we must condense it into a much more organized and streamlined 5-10 page form to keep in the chart with the patient’s interview and consent forms. It was interesting to see how bad doctor’s handwriting really was, and even though the review took a long time, it was kind of fun searching through the extensive documentation to find the important stuff. The way the doctor’s notes are written is sort of funny, they always say someone is a “very pleasant 56-year-old gentleman” or something that totally clashes with the following description of the titanium plate they fused onto the skull or whatever. It’s an interesting look into how medical records work.

Thursday 5/19

Today was a very fun day for my brother and I. We were at a deconstruction site taking out windows and doors. The fun part was being up on the roof taking out windows. We were basically running around on 80 degree angles like monkeys tearing down gutters and ripping out windows. It was a good time. We have gotten to know the men and women were working with quite well and they are all very cool. It was very hot today which is nice as well, I could use a tan. Looking forward to our last couple of days. I am going to miss Madison when we leave.

week 3

So this week started off like a normal week, but with a few twists. Treatments on Monday went fairly well. I was able to work one on one with some of the players, doing rehab exercises, specifically with the legs and ankles.

On tuesday, I was actually taught how to tape an ankle, as opposed to simply watching. It is simple, but fairly confusing, because there are a number of different patterns that have to be done in order to fully support the whole ankle. I was working with Ashley and Megan (Dean's two interns who go to Kent State University, although Ashley just graduated a week ago and will be moving to Texas on Sunday), while Dean did paperwork for players new to the Gladiators. Ashley showed me step by step how to tape by taping Megan's ankle while the players were in meetings. She then had me tape her ankle from memory of what she did, as opposed to taping the other leg at the same time. Though the first attempt wasn't as pretty looking as theirs are, it still had the support that it needs to have, meaning that they were successful tape jobs.

Today, Dean was not there because his car broke down. He had a replacement come in to help out, but he was there to tape and help out, he didn't know the routine of how things went. This meant that the interns and I were essentially running the training room for the day. It went without a hitch, except for the fact that we weren't sure if someone needed to ice down after practice. It was good to realize exactly what is necessary to be a trainer, w/o someone telling you what you should do all the time

I am excited for the rest of the week, because I am going to be able to tape the layers during practice, and also be more of an asset in the game Saturday night. It should be awesome.

Wednesday 5/19

We just got back from work today. We were located at the restore all day. Like the last time we were there, other than the plant and warehouse sale, we mainly cleaned furniture and relocates items to the show floor and helped out with everyday stuff. Its a really nice place to work at because everyone who works there, donates there, or even shops there are all really nice people. (Plus the break room is always stocked with any snack you could imagine)

Tuesday, 5/18

Another really hard day at work. Im sore all over from moving another 4000 lbs of bricks. There was about 5 guys at the site when we got there and then after about 20 minuets everyone had left to go do something else, so my brother and I were left to rip up and move all the bricks ourselves. It was hard to keep working all by ourselves but we did and when the guys all came back with the truck they were very impressed and appreciative of our efforts. It was a gratifying day with all the supervisors telling us how thankful they were that we were there and helping them out so much. It's nice to know that our work is going to such a good cause and that people are right there to tell us that every chance they get. Im really enjoying my time here. I almost don't wanna go back to Cleveland, the weather is to nice here.

Running the Shop

Since this has been the worst Spring in Ohio's history weatherwise, Alex and I have not been able to get experience working on the course and have not been able to golf much. Instead, We've been helping out in the pro shop with the pros and the workers in the pro shop. We've done everything from inventory, to cleaning, to order forms and lots in between. Even through all of these menial tasks, we've semi-learned how to run a business. We have learned to deal with companies and people sending in order forms. We have learned the golf business inside and out. Alex and I are now much more knowledgable about clubs and balls, and the more technical aspects of the game. We also helped read through applications for a golf scholarship that one of the pros has set up. Going into this project alex and I just thought all the pro did was teach lessons and go golfing at his leisure, but instead he has to take care of every one of the tiniest details dealing with the club, pro shop, and course.

US Open

Last Monday, Alex and I were lucky enough to help run the US Open qualifier that was held at the Beechmont Country Club. We were made United States Golf Association marshalls and were ball spotters for the event. We would stand about three hundred and thirty yards from the tee box with little to no cover, and watch professional golfers hit tee shots at us as we pray that they did not hit us. After about six balls landing within seven feet of me, we decided to watch a little further away from where we were supposed to, behind some trees. We got to talk to the golfers and experience the intensity of their focus. They were generally thankful towards us for helping find their tee shots, although a few were in a pissy mood (probably because we were needed to find their shots). We even had the opportunity to talk to and get to know professional golfers. One in particular, Yohaan Benson, was very nice and I was thankful I got to talk with him. We got to talk for about ten minutes because another guy in his group was taking forever to hit his ball. I didn't even know he was a professional golfer until Alex pointed it out to me after the group moved on to the next hole. I also got to talk to Andrew Bieber whom I knew from golf. He's a sixteen year old at Gilmour and actually won the qualifier and moved onto the sectional for a chance to qualify for the US Open. We saw each other because his ball hit the tree I was hiding behind and we got a chance to catch up for a few minutes. It was a great experience to watch professional golfers in action and to get a feel for how tournaments as big as that one actually work.

First day of tour: Pittsburgh

Driving to Pittsburgh was alright. Crazy rain basically the whole way. We got lost like 5 times cause we couldn't see the signs and stuff but it all worked out and we made it to the hotel and venue.
The venue, Garfield Artworks, was awesome because it's like an art gallery converted into a concert venue.
The owner/manager, Manny, seemed super weird and rude at first but once we got a chance to talk to him more, we got more of an idea of his humor.
The show was very low-key... very. But it was still fun and great to build a foundation here.
Right now we're hanging out in the hotel making beats and stuff.
Tomorrow we're off to Columbus, we have a night off.
Woop!

New Orleans, Part 2

Today was our second day in New Orleans, and quite a busy one. Jana dropped Sam and David off at their Habitat build this morning, and after that, we headed towards The Idea Village by the intersection of Magazine Street and Girod Street for our first interview with a man named Tim. The Idea Village is an organization that established around ten years ago to help new entrepreneurs find their place in the business world and start up their own companies. They are able to do this by creating a tight-knit network of other entrepreneurs, companies, schools, and associations throughout the New Orleans area that allow new entrepreneurs to contact anyone they need - this is essential for new businesses because connections are so important for the commercial community. They also provide financial founding for these companies, which gives them the opportunity to get a leg up on their companies. In fact, their slogan happens to be: "For entrepreneurs and those who believe in them." Tim mentioned to us how the key for any city to rebuild itself is to build a strong foundation of small, local businesses. It creates a network of hardworking people who feed money to the local economy, and also, larger corporations wouldn't want to establish themselves anyways in a poor city - where there is crime, corruption, a lack of education, and a poor economy, a nation chain wouldn't flourish. Therefore, the only option for a city in need of renovation is for it to start from the bottom up and support motivated entrepreneurs. This happened to New Orleans about 25 years ago when there was a previously flourishing economy centered around the oil industry that had collapsed. A lot of problems arose in the city, and New Orleans was able to rebuild itself by starting from the bottom and building upwards. This gave local businesses a chance to thrive. Tim also talked about how competition is healthy and essential to all businesses. Not only is it beneficial for the consumer, but it helps the businesses because it forces them to improve, thus progressing the community as a whole. After our interview, Tim gave us a quick tour of the place, and both of us thought the rooms were really cool especially because a lot of the walls were entire white boards (talk about extreme note-taking!)

After our interview and tour at The Idea Village, we drove over to the apartment of a woman named Heidi. She is a commercial realtor for a lot of Louisiana, so she works with many larger corporations who are trying to establish in New Orleans and surrounding cities. Although the information she shared with us didn't have much to do with our project because she didn't have much knowledge pertaining to owning and operating a local business, she mentioned how a balance of large chain stores and local stores is important for communities. This is because corporations need to support all types of consumers, including those who want to support the local economy and those who can't afford to. A disadvantage that Heidi has noticed for local businesses is that it is difficult for them to survive because stores such as Dick's Sporting Goods have the ability to establish exclusives more easily. For example, if a new shopping complex were to be built and realtors were trying to fill one of the spaces with Dick's, Dick's can say that if they were to open up there, they don't want other shoe stores to open up nearby them. Yet local businesses often don't have this power because they aren't large, national chains. Another disadvantage for local businesses is that realtors and landlords aren't nearly as willing to take a chance with local businesses in their areas because the owners aren't reliable enough to remain open for the full time they claimed they would. On the other hand, national chains have often already established that they are stable enough to pay the lease and not declare bankruptcy, so the realtors and landlords often sell the spaces to them instead. In the end, Heidi's main point was that the most successful communities have a blend of local businesses and large corporations to serve as much of the community as possible.

New Orleans

We finally made it to New Orleans! After our week in Cleveland filled with AP tests, interviews, and Relay for Life, the four of us began driving down south. Because the drive was so long and there was some reluctance to us driving the route in one sitting, we were fortunate enough to find a place to stay in Jackson, Mississippi. So last night, we stayed at the Fairview Inn, owned by a good friend of the Jaffe family, and we drove down to New Orleans this morning. Both drives were surprisingly easy, and being able to see such a city makes the long hours worth it. We arrived at David's cousin's house at around 1:00 pm, and after getting settled, we traveled over to the French Quarter to meet with an associate of the area.

We had some time to kill, so we walked down Decatur St. for a little while, checking out some of the local shops as we passed. We then headed up the staircase of 400 Decatur St., eventually coming to the office of Annie, an associate who deals with the businesses of the French Quarter. It was an interesting interview because she herself wasn't a local business owner, but she worked with many that exist in the French Quarter. Annie talked to us a lot about how New Orleans is a community that is very keen on keeping everything local and friendly. Obviously there are chains dispersed throughout the city, but in the French Quarter itself, there are mainly only locally owned businesses and shops. Because New Orleans is such an old city, many of the citizens put in an effort to maintain its originality and history. The people often protest change for this reason - when a Walmart opened up in a suburb nearby the French Quarter, many were upset and wanted it to close.

Part of the reason that most of the French Quarter remains full of local businesses is because if some of the businesses had the opportunity to expand, they wouldn't be able to easily because much of their success comes from the fact that they were located in New Orleans in the first place. For example, if a famous seafood restaurant were to try to open up in another state, it wouldn't have the same kind of success because it wouldn't have the popularity in a different type of environment. Also, the local businesses create an atmosphere in the French Quarter that is very personal and friendly, and it is an atmosphere that the community wants to keep. New Orleans is an extremely unique community, and luckily, the citizens want to keep it that way according to Annie.

Today we sorted out brakes, brake pads, and shifting & brake cables. There was a lot of sorting, as usual.

However, I was joined by a new ally...Joe, who had finally returned from the Intel International Science Fair. Finally someone who can help me! So, mindless sorting turned into a bit of light-hearted fun. ALRIGHT, so I may have exaggerated a little bit.

But things were definitely improved having a partner at hand. We continued to collect sample parts for the classroom, used to educate the select public who wishes to learn more about bikes and bike repair by taking mechanics' classes here at the coop. These samples would range from rusted cables that couldn't shift well because they weren't smooth enough to move easily in their housing (a protective tube covering them), to worn out brake pads with chunks of metal (from the wheel's rim) stuck in them. There was a lot of repetitive labor, but in the end we ended up ahead of schedule with valuable tasks completed. I was content to say the least.

Finally, at the end of the day we loaded up the truck with cheap bike materials intended to teach school children the next day on bicycles. I'm going to help out with that assembly, if it is indeed a school assembly, or wherever else they need me. I'll be up by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning...the earliest I've been up for anything work-related since school ended! Wish me luck...

Cleveland, Part 3

Later on Friday, we both headed over to Coventry to meet with Suzanne from Mac's Backs Books. New and used books lined all the walls from the floor to the ceiling, and she took us to the basement for the interview because there was barely any room on the main floor. The basement was also filled with books, but there was enough room for us to comfortably talk with her.

During our interview, Suzanne talked about how the book business has been suffering a lot because of the new technologies, such as the iPad and the Kindle. With all the new technology, people tend to go for simplicity and low prices, and the eBook has been a new and exciting solution for consumers. Therefore, in the past few years, book stores have been going out of business, and we all have witnessed several of them closing recently. Fortunately, Mac's Backs has been able to stay in business because they are able to sell eBooks as well, and those who are loyal to the store are able to support the business while enjoying the new technology. Mac's Backs is different from other larger bookstores that we know well, for they sell both new and used books and have a much smaller collection. The business also does not sell new mainstream books. So, Mac's Backs is able to support itself through its loyal customers who continue to purchase their books and those who buy eBooks geared towards the Mac's Backs business.

Another key to Mac's Backs ability to support itself is its location on Coventry. By existing in Cleveland Heights, the store attracts a wide variety of customers, many whom are well-educated and willing to support the local community. Also, with the opening connecting Mac's Backs to Tommy's Restaurant, many customers at Tommy's tend to contribute to the bookstore traffic. The last point that Suzanne made had to do with Amazon and their enormous corporation. Mac's Backs feels the pressure of Amazon's success, for Amazon is the only business that is able to sell Kindles and the books that go along with them. That itself puts Amazon ahead of the game, but luckily other devices are available on the market for consumers to purchase that allow them to use eBooks from sources other than Amazon. Also, Amazon's huge success partly comes from the fact that they don't need to charge a sales tax to their customers, but states have recently began to turn that around, which is good news for both the local and larger bookstores. One thing we've learned is that even though bookstores are both small, independent business and large, national chains, they don't exactly compete with each other - they compete with technology.

analyzing the data

Today I had a crash course in statistical analysis from Yanwen, a member of the team who recently immigrated here from China and is basically a computer genius. She is starting to analyze the data set I spent the last two weeks helping collect, organize, and clean. The program she uses, SAS, has its own programming language full of semicolons and weird abbreviations. Apparently there are much more user-friendly programs, but SAS is for “hardcore” statisticians who need to do a lot of comparison across different variables and be very precise in determining the quality of the data.

So, this afternoon she took me through the process of checking for inconsistencies in the data. She started by cross-referencing the individuals who never got fully interviewed to see if there were significant differences based on several factors (age, race, gender, etc.). The only real difference was in the grade of peoples’ tumors, which makes sense, because people with more severe tumors are less likely to agree to sit through a forty-five minute interview, and even if they do, they might not get a chance to before they (as the medical charts put it) “expire.” She judged the significance of the difference using a chi-squared value, which is something we talked about in AP Bio and so I actually kind of knew what was going on at that point. Then Yanwen started doing “logistical regression” and I was totally lost. But tomorrow she says she will let me try out some of the coding, a lot of which is pretty straightforward if/then statements. The program is friendly in that it says “ERROR!” in bright red if you make a typo, so that should be helpful.

It was cool to see more of the purely mathematical side of the project. This team spans such a wide range of skill sets, from interacting with grieving family members to interacting with spreadsheets, and it’s great to get to see how all the different elements work together.

Woo!

Finally feeling like I have a chance to calm down.
On Thursday I was finishing up my EP, which was a very hectic and stressful process but I did it. I released the EP on friday.
I had a little listening party at Heart & Sole on Coventry on Friday night. It was cool. It was basically just people coming and circulating through while my new music was playing through the store speakers. A fair amount of people came out to support, and everyone seemed to have a pretty good response to the music as well - it got over 50 downloads in the first 24 hours, which is solid given the fact that I am not very well known and the promotion of the project was limited.
The EP itself felt very rushed given the time constraints, however now that I've finished and released it, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with it. I think it's a great step in my artistic growth and it was definitely necessary to release before I head out on tour.
Speaking of the tour... It starts tomorrow!!
The first show is Pittsburgh.
I'm sort of nervous because I feel like I couldn't quite get enough rehearsal time while I was working on the EP, but I know that it will be a great show. And today is fully dedicated to rehearsal and arranging set lists of which songs I'm performing.

Very excited in general.

Last Week at Snake Hill Farm

(Meant to be posted on Saturday)
This past week has been busy and beautiful. Everyday was sunny and in the 70’s and 80’s while we were working, which allowed us to get a lot done. Tuesday morning we used a monster of a lawnmower to power through a jungle of tough weeds in the blueberry and raspberry beds. After mowing down all of the big stuff in the walkways and beds, we went through the beds themselves and hand picked out the roots of the weeds. A tricky thing about growing blueberries is that they prefer an acidic soil. Because of this, after putting down fresh soil, we then put pine shavings on top for an added acidity. Later that morning, we were surprised to find a cow going into labor! Roger, one of the farm managers, had to help the cow with the birthing, but later that afternoon there was a new baby calf at Snake Hill. One aspect that Savery recognizes needs major improvement is her soil quality. We are improving it by adding organic minerals to the soil. To determine how much of each mineral is needed on the beds, she had a soil analysis done. The analysis told her what minerals the soil was lacking, and how many pounds per acre are needed. What I did for her was to calculate the area of her beds and then to figure out how many pounds she actually needed. I then weighed out the minerals to be spread on the fields.

On Saturday we went with Savery to the Shaker Square Farmer’s Market. Until working with Snake Hill, I had never been to this farmer’s market before. We arrived bright and early at 7 am to help set up the stand. After setting up the tables, signs proclaiming that organic beef was for sale, a Snake Hill Farm Banner, and strategically placing the vegetables and syrup to look the most appealing, we were ready to sell. We were worried that the gloomy morning would keep shoppers away, but this was not the case. It was a busy day on the square. That day at the market we came with a mission to sell more ground beef. To achieve this, we brought a hot plate and a skillet to cook up bite size hamburger samples. When people smelled the aroma of the beef, they flocked to the stand. After trying the organic grass fed beef, most people could not resist it and bought some by the pound. In addition to the ground beef, we were selling many cuts of steak, beef sausages, chives, ramps, and syrup.
(extra long to include two posts in one, sorry)

The Warrior

On Friday, I worked only 3 hours. I had to come to Hawken early to help out with the electronics recycling drive, which unfortunately attracted very few people. Little did I know how poorly publicized the event was. I learned a lot in that moment about community dynamics - particularly how fast I could become an outsider to my own high school! In short, I overextended my responsibilities and overestimated my influence as a Hawken student sans attending school.

I also found how fast I could lose my capabilities as a writer. My assignment on Friday was to rewrite wikilinks pages for the coop, which detailed basic bike maintenance procedures. These were very simple topics to write on - but nonetheless, it took me an hour and a half to write the first full page. Afterwards, my efficiency improved, but I still was surprised just how difficult it had been for me to write formally after only a few weeks without daily writing. It's brought a whole perception on the importance of practice and reinforced the old saying, "practice, practice, practice!"

However, the assignment stirred up new feelings. I was frustrated that this assignment seemed purposeless - essentially rewording articles on bicycle mechanics that no one would ever read anyways. I thought the coop should instead focus on developing clear instructions for volunteers, so that they can view them while they work. Jim (the director) earlier said this was a good idea and worth considering, but I wasn't about to wait for his command to construct them. So starting this weekend, I began drafting my own set of instructions for the shop - after all, I'm a volunteer, and volunteers should volunteer there help to the cause! Not only that, but I'm volunteering at a coop - where the whole idea is we cooperate. So, if they really find they hated my idea, we can take a group consensus and move onto a different idea. But the harder I work, the more my experience will pay off for the both of us. That's what I love about the coop - we truly work together, respect one another, and receive mutual benefits. I'm really enjoying my experience!

An Assortment

Bicycle seats. Who knew there were so many different kinds?

In essence, that is what I discovered today at the coop. The rare antique seats with rusty springs and leather covers became valued gems, while light, but slightly torn racing seats were scavenged off the sorted piles. There are some major differences however to note: older bikes have a much smaller diameter seat post (due to the lighter weight of people at the time, I proposed), and many of them had leather covers with massive, heavy, metal plates providing the base for the cushion. They didn’t look comfortable by any means, but they were quite valued by the coop. In addition, we collected an assortment of seats intended to support a bikes for Africa program. As you would expect, these were lower-caliper seats – not quite as expensive, and quite a bit more worn than the others.

If there is one important lesson I have learned, it is that I’ve underestimated the public perception of duck tape’s usefulness. By-and-large, duck tape is the preferred fix-it solution by non-mechanic folks. I’ve seen it on seat covers, handlebars, front forks…even tires! Sadly, duck tape is not a worthy solution to most problems. Although, for a quick fix on the road, it will work!

In addition to sorting seats, I also got a chance at voicing my opinions over a launch between Jim (the director) and Al (A Coop mechanic). It was good to hear similar viewpoints were shared, and my own were not unlike theirs. It’s nice that the regulation of the place is relatively open to suggestions and always willing to adapt. I like how free it’s framework is – only now, I hope I can help solidify it!

Seeing as there’s only 16 more days until the coop’s grand opening, there’s a lot to do before we’re ready for that day! That means I’ll have more work to do, but also more motivation to do it. Although, I can’t wait!

meeting patients

This week I had a couple chances to meet real patients in person. I accompanied the nurse on the team, Karen, to the post-op floor to meet a patient who’d just had his pituitary adenoma (a benign tumor) removed. We explained the study and read through all the consent forms. Karen was excellent at not pressuring him. She sat down next to him on the bed and joked about hospital food and teased how she didn’t have to take anything else from him right then. He was really nice about it and seemed pretty interested in the outcome of the study. He signed the form but it’s not binding at all, anyone can opt out for three years after they start the study.

We also met up with a patient who had already consented and was coming back for a clinic visit to get his sutures taken out. Karen drew a few tubes of his blood for the study and set up a time for the interview next week. She told me that generally people aren’t in any mood to have blood taken right after surgery, or right before, which is when she also often consents people. Both the patients we saw were in pretty good spirits, even though the one in the clinic had been diagnosed recently with a glioblastoma multiforme, the most malignant kind of brain tumor. Even after having it totally removed the life expectancy isn’t great. Anyway I hope to see more patients in the upcoming weeks, as it is a good reminder that all the patients we’re studying are (in many cases, were) real people who flinch when you take their blood and joke about hamburgers.

end of the week

So the past two days have been fairly slow, because the team has an away game in Orlando this week, so the practices were light, meaning not a lot has been happening. It has been more-or-less the same as it has been. I have ben able to talk with the players more freely, and have been able to do a little bit more. I have been able to help out with the activities going on in the training room, and on the field a little more. I've helped out players with the ultrasound electrotherapy machine, while doing my normal duties.

Yesterday while watching the players get taped, Troy Bergeron (one of their star Wide Receivers) asked me what I've been learning, and then said he was going to see how much I have soaked up from watching by taping his ankles after practice. This shows how much more comfortable the players are with me being there and helping out. Monday starts treatments for their home game on Saturday, so it should be an exciting week.