A New Project

So after working with my grandfather and my father this past weekend i must have done something good because my grandpa asked me to help him this next weekend with somethings and a little extra cash in my pocket. He said this would be a good way to start the construction job this summer and i could get a little head start before taking classes at kirkwood next fall. He called me yesterday and asked me if i would want to pick up the site after they were done. He said i would get to watch them do like the finishing touches on the project. I will be like picking up the loose nails and i will be getting use to measuring boards and finding studs in the house and stuff. I got to thinking that this might be actually pretty fun. He taught me a lot on Sunday and
hopeefully i will learn a lot the next weekend. I also drove by some of the houses he just finishe building and they were pretty nice. I got to thinking when i start to work i can help build some of these big houses and maybe build my own house like that. My grandpa has done a lot of projects in his days he told me about some of them and how he loves his job. He has remodled the Best Western Longbranch hotel in Cedar RApids, the Hacienda Las Glorias in Cedar Rapids and he has built about four houses in my family alone... including mine. These are just some of the jobs he talked about but, I look back to when i was little and i remember going to see him at a job site and running around wanting to help. Now look at me i want to do this as my career. And i want my kids to come help me and want to help and then they can pursue this as a career. i am very excited to finallly get started in this and hopefully I will have a job working with my grandpa by the start of next week. IT is all just coming so fast and im getting excited. ....

My First Project

This past weekend my grandpa and my dad were working on the house. They were residing the house and they also tore down the deck and we built a new one.. So i called my dad on Sunday since i didn't have to work and he told me he was doing this with my grandfather... So i got dressed and figured this would be a good opurtunity to work with my grandpa and maybe learn some things. First he taught me how to put up siding. It was actually pretty easy to do. I don't remember what kind of siding it was but it just like almost popped right in. I remember i asked my grandpa if this was a big project he did with his business and he told me this was one of the most popular project he did.

So we finished the siding and it was probably one of the easiest things i've done. It was not hard at all. After we finished that we started on the deck. My grandpa had me pull the old boards off of the deck and measured how long and wide they were. They had already gotten all o the new wood but my grandpa wanted me to measure all of it just so i could learn how to actually measure them the correct way. He then taught me how to us an electric saw. it was pretty easy but then i had thought about the blog i wrote not to long ago about the accidents. I told my grandpa about it and he told me the number one thing not to do is think about hirting yourself because that is when you are going to actually hurt yourself. so i tried not to think about it but after i was finished i had all of limbs and my fingers so that was pretty good.

When we had got done with cutting all of the boards we assembled all of the boards back to where the old ones used to be. we didn't do to bad. THere were a couple boards i had cut wrong but for the most part i did good.

The worst part of the day was when i had to pick everything up and load all of the old boards into the truck to take down to my grandpa's house and then we hd to unload it.But the best part of the day i think was just getting to be hands on with the tools and the work itself. I was talking with someone at my job i have now when i first started and they told me when i was training to be hands on not to just stand back and watch. So i did and i think it helped. So when i worked with my grandpa and with my dad this weekend i took that into consideration and i thought it helped me and hopefully it will help me in the long run.

Architecture

I have been driving around downtown and I've noticed some really tall buildings and i have got kind of interested in the architecture of the buildings. For anyone that doesn't know Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and other physical structures. I would want to know how many feet some of those buildings are. Some of the tallest buildings in the United States are The Willis Tower (Formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago, and Prior to the September 11 attacks the Twin Towers were number 2 and 3 on that list. I can't believe these buildings are over 1200 feet tall that is huge. I would be scared to go up to the top floor let alone build these buildings. The 10-story Home Insurance Building built in Chicago in 1885 is regarded as the world's first skyscraper. The building was constructed using a novel steel-load bearing frame. As of 2009, 6 of the 25 tallest buildings in the world are in the United States. The tallest building in the world is 2,716 feet. This building is in China. This building is almost 3,000 feet. That is ridiculous. I would like to know how many people fell off in the making of this building. Not even that how many people helped build this building. When I see these buildings in Cedar Rapids that probably aren't even as tall as any of these buildings throughout the world I am just astonished. These are amazing. To the left is a picture of the Sears Tower one of the biggest skyscrapers in the United States. The buildings downtown that i have been seeing lately aren't as big as this but they seem to be big when you see them in picture. The buildings i like to look at are the ones that look like mirrors almost. I dont think they are actually made of mirrors but when you drive by you can see yourself in it like it is a mirror. I have never really thought of architecture as construction but now that i have been researching some of it i have found out it is.

MY PRIOR WORK

Well Sunday morning my manager called a meeting. During that meeting he talked to us about a bunch of things that I thought would be useful for me anywhere I go and work. The most important thing I thought he talked to us about was teamwork. And I have noticed the past to nights working that we get a lot more stuff done if we do it together. I work at Buffalo Wild Wings now and I use to work at Pei's. At both places I have done different things. At Pei's I was a host and did a multiple of different things. My tasks each night were to Answer the phone, greet people, seat people, I packed the carry out, I ran the cash register, I served a few times, and I also bar tended quite a few times. At that job we had about two hosts at a time. And now that I looked back at it we teamed up quite a few times to make sure we got all of that stuff done. Most of the time I would run the front of the store as someone else would run the kitchen and stuff in the back. When I was working there I didn’t really think that was considered teamwork. Now at Buffalo Wild Wings I cook. It is a totally different environment back in the kitchen and when I first got there I realized that is my kind of thing. It gets very hectic if we aren't talking and letting the other cooks know what is going on and stuff. At Buffalo I realize we used teamwork quiet a bit more then I did at Pei’s. When someone is struggling we make sure someone gets over there to help him. And more then not we have many managers on at a time. So when we all are struggling we have a manager that can come back and help us make sure we are getting the food out.
I think that when I go on to a construction job I will have had plenty of experience with working with other people. I think having teamwork is a good skill to have especially if you don’t work by yourself. You can tell when someone needs your help with something and if you want them to help you when you are struggling to get food out or you need them to seat someone for you I think that you just need step up and help them. I mean look at the NBA or the NFL. If you can’t play as a team your not going to be able to win the big games.

Accidents

The other night i was watching the news and saw a news clip of the West Virginia mine accident. It kinda scared me a bit. It had many questions going trough my head . What would happen if I were in a construction accident. What would happen if I was injured who would care for my family? I had so many thoughts running through my head. So i started looking at some of the statistics of the injurie rates for construction workers. I found that in 2009 the Death rates for construction accidents had actually dropped. it is the lowest rate in four years. when i saw this i actually was surprised. it didnt make me worry as much but i stilll find it kind of scary. THe death rate was 3 in 2009 compared to 19 in 2008 12 in 2007 and 18 in 2006. the death rate dropped 85% from 2009 to 2008. I think the is crazy. it shows how much people have taken safety into consideration while they are working. I know when i work i take safety into consideration because i dont want to end up with out a finger when i cut a wrap or i dont want to burn my arm pretty serious because i want to get shit done and not take my time. Actually the other day i was trying to rush through my stuff so i could get out and go hangout with my friends so i went and hurried through my duties and i spilt about a cup of fryer grease onto my arm. ever since then i have took into consideration my safety. i burnt my arm so bad that i dont want to have that happen again. to be honest with you it scared me more then anything. so know that i have had my own accidents i have deffinately taken safety into consideration more now because i have seen that and i looked on youtube and saw some pretty bad accidents.

interview

Over the weekend I talked to my uncle and I asked him some questions about his job. He works with one of my grandfathers. I asked him what kind of construction he does. What are his average hours a day? Where has he been working the past year or so?



He has been working more of a commercial construction. This is the construction of buildings, sports centers, grocery stores, and these kind of things. He has been working long days of about 7 in the morning to about 6 or 7 at night. He also had talked to me about working with a lot of the flood buildings down town in Cedar Rapids. He said he has been working down town a lot for the past year. He said, "it reminded him a lot of doing his house after the flood had hit it."

After the floods of 08' he decided he didn't want to deal with it again so now he is living in a new house. He had told me that rebuilding his house was the last thing he wanted to do. And after doing a bunch of construction downtown it just makes him think about the stuff he had to do after the flood.

FLOOD VIDEO

The video i put on here shows the downtown area of Cedar Rapids during the flood. It shows how high the water was at certain times. And if you can picture in your head, think of all the damage that caused and how much it would take to fix it. Three of my family members lived in the same area and all got flooded and it took forever to fix up the houses and all that. And if you were a construction business during that time you made a killing. Think of all the business' downtown that needed fixed up and like i said my uncle is still working on a lot of the buildings.

I have found a new book i need to get a hold of. I just found when i was researching for some construction information. It is called Construction Management Jumpstart. It is intended for people that want to own a construction business, Or somebody that is already in a construction type of job and is interested in business management. I have recently been thinking about what im going to do with my life. I know it is going to be some kind of construction job. During the summer i'm going to get a construction type of job. Then, in the fall i'm going to attend Kirkwood and take some construction classes. After this im going to do construction( more on the residental side ) and then im going to try and do construction management. I really want to own my own construction business, because after seeing both of my grandfathers in that career i am down to do whatever it takes to get into it.

I've been researching some of the top schools for construction managment and i have found that Bradley University, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and Oregon State University are the top 3 schools for construction management. Over the next couple of days i am going to research some of these schools and find out what kind of schooling you will need to get to be in construction management.