Great experience

...So we got into some hard work. We dug out trenches of concrete. We were digging up dirt, stone, and concrete lined with rebar that had been there for 40 years. Stuff was SOLID. We had to jack hammer it at first and then use crowbars and spud bars to loosen it up. To make it worse, there pipes running all through it that you had to avoid because if we had punctured one the electricity running through would have shocked us unbelievably badly. We were digging about 2-3 feet below the surface and believe it or not it took about a day to uncover one pipe. Along with this we were doing our duty of emptying the dirt and debris into the dumpster which was hard work too because concrete is quite heavy.

Along with doing more work at the restaurant we were working at Brio at legacy again. We worked with Sarah at the front of the house a lot and Eric and I have mastered the art of seating guests, a very tough art to master indeed.

Overall, this was a tremendous experience. Everything being new to us in the restaurant industry really made us take a lot away. Not only about the restaurant business but we learned many lessons and tips that will benefit us in every day life. I am thankful we got the opportunity to learn from the best in a very competitive industry.

Week 3

Over the last 2 weeks Eric and myself have continued to enrich ourselves with the way of business and employment in the restaurant industry. Eric and I were joined by Willie and David so we had some company in working construction among other things. We haven't done much different stuff, just more of the same in different ways from our previous post. We have learned many more things about the restaurant industry over the past few weeks.

For example, last week our sponsor and his colleague had a business trip to Las Vegas which they told us all about. I literally had no idea of this part of business until we became involved with Mr. Doody and BBRG. Basically, they went to a large "shopping center" convention. All of the nation's largest and most prestigious developers such as Simon were in attendance. At the convention Mr. Doody, along with both regional real estate heads (One Western US, one Eastern US) had meetings every 30 minutes with potential sites for a new Brio or Bravo. These sites would be prospective for as late as 2015 or early as late 2013. That is another thing I was amazed by, how far ahead they work. Anyway, when they came back we went over the entire list of who went to what meetings and such. Mr. Doody would go to the big developer because he had personal relationships and makes stuff happen. 

A point that also came up that is important is in these meetings, you must be as professional as possible. Cheesecake Factory and Brio/Bravo are two of the best restaurants in the industry and are the best run. This means that instead of Mr. Doody selling themselves to a new site, developer WANT them to be in their site, essentially they get to pick between 10-15 sites that they think will be best out of 50-100 offers they receive. 

On the professional note, Mr. Doody for example may walk around with a little "swagger" because he can. He'll throw on a white linen suit for the convention so he looks good. 

We learned this lesson that you must be professional, act professional, and dress the part to be successful first hand in a previous meeting that week.

We got to sit in on a meeting with Mr. Doody and the owner's of Paladar. Many up and coming founders and presidents look to Mr. Doody and the BBRG organization and way of business for guidance when working on their own projects. Anyway, they came off as a bit too confident and one of them was walking around wearing a t-shirt and jeans. We learned that was the same outfit he wore to the shopping center convention the year before and it he simply looked ridiculous and unprofessional. 

Sitting in on meetings like that one we learned a lot as we just stood by and listened to them talk about projections, site prospects, things like that. Another great lesson was learned in the process. We learned to always expect less and be surprised by more rather than expect more and be disappointed by less, if that makes sense. For example you would rather expect 3.8 and get 4.2, than expect 4.8 and be disappointed with 4.2.  

Another meeting we sat in on that week was with the founder and president of Melt. That was especially interesting because he was doing a lot of things right and Mr. Doody let him know that. We went through almost everything that he was doing right and the stuff that Mr. Doody was questioning he took note of. The owner of Melt really learned from Mr. Doody because he knew that he could, the guys from Paladar weren't trying to learn as much I thought. 

Along with working in the office during the afternoon, many times during the week we were working construction in the morning. We really got into the dirty work during week 3 because the plumbers began to come in. To be continued. 

Final Reports

If you are having any concerns or problems with your final reports, please contact your advisor or me. These are to be submitted electronically to me, your overseer.

Tragedy hits farm: Chickens attacked

Here is a link to the remaining photos on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150974402704715.484076.566364714&type=1
Theres around 85 pictures.

Last week:
On Wensday, Thursday, and Friday we worked on planting many plants for the garden as well as laying down cardboard paths for the garden. This took a while because we had to cover the entire perimeter of the garden as well as all the paths along with it. We did this so that the weeds would have a harder time growing through the wood chips and it would keep the garden looking ascetically pleasing! On friday a group of 12 eighth graders from the lower school came in the morning to help us out! They were extremely helpful because it gave us a lot of extra hands. With them there, we were able to wood chip the entire garden as well as weed the garden. On thursday, Liam's bee's arrived in the mail! There was about 9000 bees in a small box that was designed for bee transport. In the morning, Liam's sponsor, Stan Hockey helped Liam install the bees into the hive that was donated to us. This experience was very unique and interesting to see!

On friday night, Liam put away the chickens in the chicken coup. Somehow that night, a Raccoon climbed up the hawk-net fencing and went through the side window into the coop. When we got there on saturday morning, there were no remains  of the chickens besides an abundance of feathers. This was a very sad day for our project but it just goes to show that in nature if theres a will then theres a way.

Friday was the day in which I gave my 4th grade class their pizza party for completing their math worksheet and each of them getting it mostly correct. The children were so excited when they saw that I had pizza and Sunny D set up for them when they came in after recess for lunch. They all thanked me for my generosity and gave me big hugs. Each child was able to have 3 pieces of pizza and were well satisfied. After their pizza party I got a very different experience but it was also a notible one, because I was able to work with the entire 4th grade class. This was different because though I work with the 4th graders all day I don't spend much time with their general classrooms. I was able to meet more of the children and though they were introduced to me a couple weeks ago they really got to work with me one on one and see who I really am and what I was about. They worked on a project for the trip that they are going on this week to Stone Lab. It is a science based trip where the children will be able to take multiple Ferry Rides across Lake Erie and stay in cabins on one of the many Lake Erie Islands. The project for this day was for the children to find a fish, animal, or wild flower that they were studying and create a name from it for their group as well as a catchey saying. Above is a video of a group of boys who mad their group from the Bald Eagle and they were willing enough to perform it though they didn't practice it much.

Flying

Over the last few days I have been able to get up in the air three times. It was amazing, a bit nerve wracking, but amazing nonetheless. The first day I had to make a special schedule in order to fly, but the weather was absolutely perfect on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, a few days this week we were simply unable to fly at all because of lack of VFR safe weather. My instructor firmly believes that it is much more important to be safe when flying than to rush things and take unnecessary risks. Anyway, Tuesday was more of an introductory session, I was able to do a takeoff and landing though because there was barely any wind. My instructor demonstrated stalls and a few other maneuvers. We flew from Cleveland to Perry and on our way back we made a touch-and-go landing at Cuyahoga County Airport. It is very easy to fly from Burke since you can follow the shoreline to get just about anywhere, except south. On Wednesday it was all up to me - I was required to taxi and takeoff by myself. Then we went up in the air to practice stalls. We did both power on and power off stalls, this is to prepare you in case you stall during take off or landing and how to recover safely. After that we practiced slow flight maneuvers where you fly without descending at about 40KIAS (knots indicated airspeed). You want to be able to hear the stall warners, but avoid stalling by using the throttle, rudder and yoke. It is very tough since you are in the region of reverse command so your yoke controls the speed and the throttle controls the pitch. We did most of our maneuvers over Chardon high school and the square. Thursday I was unable to fly due to scheduling issues, but today was perfect for flying. Although very hazy in the morning, our two hour flight included a lot of pure instruction time. My instructor was thrilled with my performance on the stalls. We also did steep turns with a 45º bank angle (which puts about 4Gs of force on your body). We also practiced maneuvers around the SPIRE institute in Geneva; turns about a point and rectangular course were the covered maneuvers today. On Monday I will have the opportunity to do some more stalls, learn how to do S-turns on a road and some other interesting maneuvers. Overall, it has been a very exciting time for the last week and I cannot wait to get my license in the near future, even though I may not solo by the end of project due to issues with the plane, scheduling and weather.

General Nutrition

I have decided to roughly go through my nutrition, as it has been a large part of my project. One of the most important rules is to eat every three hours to keep the body from storing food as fat ('starvation mode'). Waiting four hours before the next meal is acceptable if the meal cannot be had after three hours for some reason. The meals should contain a protein source, and, depending on the time, a source of carbohydrates. The carbohydrate should be one that digests slowly; whole-wheat and brown rice fit this category. Slow digesting carbohydrates are important because they do not cause the spikes in blood sugar (which causes fat to be stored) which fast digesting carbohydrates do. Different protein sources also have different absorption rates, but these are far less important; red meats (e.g. beef) have a slower absorption rate, and can be beneficial in the last meal before sleep for this reason. Having some fat in meals is important as well, and a small portion of almonds can be helpful if the rest of the meal is pretty lean.

Vegetables are also very important for their higher pH and for filling you up. As the day goes on, and you get into the afternoon, unless you have some activity planned, most people become more sedentary, and subsequently need less carbohydrates (energy). As this happens I start to cut carbohydrates and replace them with vegetables. I also use Barlean's Greens (http://www.barleans.com/greens.asp) twice a day with the morning meals where I am not eating vegetables.

You can get more technical with exactly how much you eat (here's a good article for that http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/nutrition/3709-anabolic-eating-for-your-age.html), but using a clenched fist for judging protein and a flat hand for carbohydrates is a way to judge how much you eat in a manner which is more practical than weighing everything out.