March 17th
Today was all in all a lot easier than my first day because I had a better idea of what to expect. I also had a much better idea of what to do in order to best help the kids with homework. I worked with Becca and the fourth graders again today. Today did not go as easy as last week as far as helping kids do homework is concerned. I actually was in charge of convincing one of the kids to do his homework. This proved to be a bit of a challenge. This was a whole new experience for me. It was hard to persuade him to do his homework and it required some help from Becca. After homework time was over, the kids sat in a group and talked about global warming. After the group discussion, I took a group of kids down to the gym again. I played basketball with a group of kids for a little while, and then I switched to playing soccer with a different group of kids. All in all today was a new experience that resulted in a productive day.

April 21st
Today was my first day back to volunteering after almost a month off the Aces program at Green Central. I worked with Becca and the fourth graders today. Today the fourth graders worked on homework in the cafeteria for the first half of the day. I helped a couple kids work on math homework. After homework time the kids went upstairs to see a live owl. This was very interesting and the kids were very good during this time period. They had many questions for the trainer and were very productive. After getting to see the owl, I took a group of kids outside to play soccer. I spent the rest of the day playing soccer with a group of kids. All in all today was a very productive day even though it had been my first time back in awhile.

April 28th
Today I worked with Becca and the fourth graders again. Today we worked in the cafeteria again. We spent the day learning more about owls. I helped the kids out wherever possible. The kids watched a movie on owls and the Raptor Center in St. Paul. After the movie the kids were given a set of questions to answer. I helped out the kids who needed help answering questions. I hinted towards the right answer in order to not just give them the answer. It appeared to be pretty helpful to the kids. After the kids answered the questions on the movie, they all got pictures of owls to color. Once the kids were finished with this it was time for choice time. I took a group of kids to the gym again. I played soccer with a group of kids. I was even the goalie for awhile so they could kick the ball towards someone new. It was a lot of fun playing soccer with the kids.

Summary of Volunteering
Working with the ACES program was a very good experience. I learned a lot about productive tutoring of younger kids. The ACES program is a good mixture of learning experience and fun. It was always a blast playing soccer with the kids in the program. It was very nice to work with the same set of kids each time I volunteered as well. This helped me connect to the kids I was tutoring. I think they began to trust that I could answer most of their questions. The only thing that was difficult about volunteering for ACES was figuring out a time that I could volunteer. The only day that worked for me was Mondays at Green Central. Unfortunately in the spring semester, Green Central had like 3 weeks off in a row on Mondays. As a result I was only able to volunteer four times. I think that over the course of those four times I learned a lot of helpful tricks though. So all in all I’d say the ACES program was a very fun and experience filled event.

I am not so certain that materials such as adobe, cob, or bamboo can be used to create a home up to the standards of today's society. Many ancient homes created using similar materials have been designed in a manner that makes them beautiful. On the downside many of these same homes could not be fashioned to include necessities of many of societies needs. Electricity might be a big one. I think the idea behind the groups presentation was a good one, but upon further examination Im not sure how well one could make it work. If houses made of these materials can be fashioned to include items included in modern homes today I believe this idea could work.

I believe that all of these houses are extremely creative. Each with its own twist or style. I do not believe that constructing a house from recycled materials will limit the ideas and the types of houses a person can construct. I was initially concerned that recycled materials would limit the type of houses a person could design. After finding these images I believe that using recycled materials is a good innovative way to design houses while remaining friendly to the atmosphere.

This first possible title pages centers around the idea of "Going Green". It uses cartoon like diagrams to explain processes that occur on a regular basis. It also explains in a way a method of addressing the issue of sustainability.
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This second possible title page centers around the idea of a "Sustainable City". It portrays images of how people typically see the city. It again shows a way or two of addressing the problem of sustainability.
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The third possible title page I designed centers around the idea of "Sustainability". It portrays and image of a city that's typically thought of as becoming more sustainable. This city being Chicago. It also gives an example of how sustainability can be thought of and what sort of actions can be used to address this issue.
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POWER POINT

Corel Presentation

LOTUS FREELANCE GRAPHICS

HARVARD GRAPICS

PRESENTATION MANAGER

OFFICE IMPRESS PRESENTATION

Legos such a simple design right? How could anything complex or complicated come from them? Well if you don’t believe that Legos can be used to create complex and complicated designs, just take a look at the long list of amazing Lego designs pictured below. I did not build any of these buildings, but I would like to give a great amount of credit to the people who did. Over the years I did create some pretty awesome looking buildings ranging from a giant castle to a simple house with a complex interior design. The fact that such amazing Lego designs exist goes to show that architecture does not just need to be done on paper.

I’m not exactly sure if this is what the blog was asking me to illustrate, but I found these awesome pictures of really complex Lego designs and wanted to share them more people. I believe architecture can be more than just drawing. I believe fully it can be hands on in the form of physically building models. What better way to build an architecture model than using Legos? I can’t think of a better way to show off a building design.

I would urge that the implications of releasing students from the ‘architectural school’ program, in most cases would be beneficial. This releasing would leave students to get experiences geared towards architecture in everyday life situations. Students would learn from life in hands on situations, instead of just from books while sitting in a classroom. Many of these students could learn a thing or two by volunteering for an organization like Habitat for Humanity. Students could learn through physical doing of architecture. I believe this would have a profound impact on the environment in a good way.

Depending on what individual students did with this release from the ‘architectural school’ program, many different things could be affected including the architecture and the culture of a neighborhood. Some students would undoubtedly choose to focus on helping people with architectural design in order to further education in that field of work. Others yet might focus on the cultural side of architecture and choose to help families in the neighborhood. I would like to urge that both of these aspects are necessarily architectural and would improve the environment.

I have over 6000 songs on my I-pod which is always attached to my belt. As a result this made narrowing what I see as the most influential music out of that list of music. These songs are a just a sampler of the type of music I find meaning in. If u want to know what other songs I find influential, Just Ask!!!

Besides music one other type of media that can and has had impacts on the way I look at the world in my life would be DVDS. I have a few examples of some of the DVDs I have come across throughout my life that I have been able to find a deeper meaning in. This list includes movies like: Big Daddy, Forrest Gump, Radio, Reign Over Me, and August Rush. A few of these movies even have music as an underlying theme throughout them. This goes to show again how much I can connect myself to music.

Take a closer look at the logo located in the center at the top of this page. What does this logo mean to you? Do you look at the logo and think to yourself, “Oh it’s just another foundation trying to fix a problem that can’t be fixed.� I would have to disagree with this outlook. In fact, when I look at that logo that is not what I think of at all. I look at the logo in quite a different light. I say to myself, “Now there is a foundation making a difference in a problem that is much bigger than most people tend to think.� Did you know on an average night in Minnesota… 8,000 people are homeless? Slowly foundations like Habitat for Humanity ARE making a dent in this number.
I would like to explain in more detail what the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is all about. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has a very noble mission on its agenda. That mission is to eliminate poverty housing from the Twin Cities area and make decent affordable shelter for all people a matter of conscience. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity helps family in need of housing/ shelter that are willing to work with Habitat for Humanity. Helping families with housing, allows families to concentrate on things such as parenting, employment, education, and the community. Habitat for Humanity allows a meshing of people coming together to help those around them in need.
The Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has been in operation since 1985 and has helped build 650 houses. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity doesn’t only focus on building a new house, but once that house is built and the family is moved in Habitat for Humanity helps that family keep the house. They do this through a program within the Habitat for Humanity called Mortgage Foreclosure Preventing Program. The also help families keep their houses in good shape through another program within the organization called A Brush with Kindness which focuses on areas like painting, landscaping, and maintenance of houses.
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity relies heavily on volunteer labor and donations of money, materials, professional services, and property. The reason for this is the fact that Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is strictly a non-profit organization. For this reason the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is always in need of volunteers and donations. Help out your community, help out people less fortunate than yourself and volunteer or send donations to the Twin Cities Habitat For Humanity.

Time, energy, flow, and transformation are all aspects that can be seen in and throughout the city. Time is present everywhere a person turns. Time affects everything in different ways. Energy takes place in different ways throughout the city such as the power moved throughout the city. Flow can be seen in the way people or traffic move through the city. Transformation often happens in a more subtle way over a longer period of time in the shape of a new house being constructed or similar acts.

All of these different aspects that take place in the city are caused by environment in different manners. As the sun rises in the morning it spreads its energy to every corner of the city. Flow takes place in the routes the wind takes through the streets of the city. Transformation occurs when the leaves drop from trees in the fall, often leaving the trees barren for the approaching winter. All of these ideas are rushed along by time.

Of course time, energy, flow, and transformation affect the city differently on the account of both mankind and the environment. The ultimate idea here, however, is that mankind affects the environment as much as the environment affects mankind. Both in turn are seen throughout the city everyday with mankind relying on the environment and the environment relying on the city in a way.