Thursday, July 22, 2010

A little bump on the journey...

Dear readers,

Today was not a very productive day which is a bit troubling to me as I only have about 9 days to go until my experiment starts. The rain cover and the rain water collector that I had designed had proved to be not strong enough for a rain storm. I realized half way through the building of it that I have forgotten to account for the wind factor in a storm. The structures that I had built this morning and early afternoon is not strong enough to withstand the winds in a median rain storm. I was a bit discouraged and a bit worry since times is very valuable these day as the starting date is not far ahead.

I had redesigned the rain water collector and the rain cover and I am ready to build the structure tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to finish the whole rain cover and water collector tomorrow. If not, I will be a day late in my schedule.

The "Traveling Manual" been coming along very well with many of its components researched and ready. I am started to now putting things together, in order and assemble them all together in a book.

Here is some pictures of the fail attempts of the rain cover structure:



That is the structure that I discovered as not workable, the one on top of the tool kit.



























 











Thanks for you reading. 
All the best



Patrick

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The basic structure of the rain top/ rain water collector has been built and mounded!!!

Dear reader,

In the last 2 days, I been working mostly on the "Traveling manual" and it been going very well. The "Travel manual" is a book that I am preparing for the journey that I am going to undertake, the experiment. It is not really a manual in the sense that it tell me what to do every day of those 4 weeks but more like a hand book/ guide/ informational notebook that has all my researches and notes that I had gathered in the last 2 months in preparation for the experiment. It is going well and there are so many information all pack in that book. I cannot wait to use it on the street and share it with all of you!!!

Also whenever my good friend, Fernando, who is a great metal sculptor, is free, I will head to the studio and ask him to help me to weld the frame work for the rain water collector on top of my tool kit. But today he did not came and I thought to myself, why don't I just try it myself so I did. It turned out quite well, the joint is a bit messy but it is indeed jointed tightly, the joints. I was quite proud of myself when it was all finished!!! It was a lot of fun and surely an adventure.




























A joint that my friend, Fernando welded, beautiful!





Also welded by Fernando!




The finished and mounded framework.


























Thanks for your reading and supports again. 
10 more days until the day I leave for the city!!!


Patrick

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

2 red box had been returned back to me...

Dear readers,

There is sad new - Two of the twelve "Red Box" had returned back to me by their location. One is Bitter End Coffee House and the other one is the Schuler books store in downtown. It is sad to see that they are out of service now. They were both doing such a great job as knowledge sharing stations. It was truly sad moment when I received them, the "Red Boxes" back into my hands.

The one that was stationed at Bitter End Coffee House was sent back to me due to the owner's findings of profanities and rude material within the pages of the note pad within. He sad that he cannot allow such profanities being seen and exchanged within his coffee house which I understand fully. He expressed his disappointment of the fact that he have to stop the project but he suggested that I can try again next year which I was very grateful for. So now that "Red Box" is in the passenger seat of my car now, just sitting. I will be looking for a new home for it and hopefully soon it can be in service again.

The one that was stationed at Schuler books store was given back to me due to the fact that a man had stolen the note pad from the "Red Box" and walked away. So now what they returned, is a empty "Red Box". It pained me to know that all those knowledge had lost in a way. Most of what within is already copied and pasted on the blog, but the physical object of the notepad, the different hand writing within, the illustrations that people had draw, the folded pages, the conversation of different people within that shown by the different side notes and arrows... They are all lost. I am sad that it is all lost. The history of that book and little pieces of many's history had been lost due to one man's actions, selfishness, desire. It is so sad. One of the worker that works there was very empathetic toward the whole situation and he assured me that if I want to, he will helps me to put up the "Red Box" again. I am grateful for his offer and I hope to find a new notepad before tomorrow.

I wonder what can make a person to decide that his own desire and wants is more important than a common shared experiences and exchanged knowledge. I don't understand how can one have such a selfish heart to do that. I just don't. I don't understand what make that person think that he have a right to vandalize and to steal the note pad, the tool of exchanging and sharing... which something humans today had slow losing and detaching from... What make him feel that he have a right to take aways and own other's knowledge, experiences and histories that others had meant to share with the world. I am a bit angry I must admit to you all. I am angry at his or her selfishness. It is this kind of selfishness that the world had become what it is today.



Thank for your reading again.
sorry for my angry words...


Patrick

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The basic structure of the tool kit is finished, with fresh coat of chalk board paint.

Dear readers, 
I spent yesterday and today to paint the tool kit. I painted the tool kit with this paint that give a surface like a blackboard. I painted the tool kit this way so that I can use the surface of the tool kit as a black board and a message board. Here is some of its picture.
 















































Thank you so very much for reading. 
Have a great night


Patrick
 
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