So I started to scrape the paint off all of my storm windows. I did a rough job on all of them. Next time I will go over it again in more detail. Afterwards, I will paint shellac onto the bare wood. This will act as a sort of primer. Then I will do the glazing for the parts that were old and broken that I scraped off.  A slight setback is I accidentally cracked one of the windows. I don't know now if I can repair it, replace it, or if I will have to just buy a new one. Also paint scraping and glazing is so boring. It's also painful. I stabbed myself three times with the paint chipper by accident.

1) I feel most happy when I know I've completed something successfully. It could be finishing a math problem on a test, baking a pie for fun, or writing an essay late into the night. I think this makes me happy because it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I know that I am doing something right. I spend a lot of time not knowing what the right thing to do is. In some ways I just coast. I follow a path that someone else has made for me. So when I deliberately finish something correctly on my own, It makes me happy.

2) I don't know if I agree with the idea that you can't be happy, if you search for happiness. I think that a proactive lifestyle is the best way to discover happiness. If one just goes with the flow, than he/she could just flow right past happiness. A passive lifestyle can lead to sadness because you don't explore the things that might make you happy.

3) I feel like I am either in the anxiety channel, or I'm in the boredom channel. Rarely am I in the Flow channel.

4) I feel borderline calm actually when I'm doing my project. I feel a little anxious because I know I will get a grade on my project, my presentation, and my journal entries. This grade is a huge portion of my overall grade in this class. Even though I am already in college, I still most maintain my grades, or I will lose my financial aid. Other than that part, I've felt very happy throughout this project. When I've completed a task I set myself, it's a nice feeling. It's different from how I feel when I finish my homework. I guess it's because for this project I'm creating my own tasks, and I am setting my own goals. I feel more independent and satisfied with myself.

5) If I was more skillful in every way, I could easily achieve flow. Skills I need improvement on would be public speaking, computer skills, professional skills (e.g. carpentry, plumbing, engineering), writing skills, artistic skills, and many more. I have a lot of things that I can learn.

"The estimated recoverable energy from solar energy is about 75 times the present annual human global energy consumption."

I just called up Tommy Beers to schedule a meet with him, and he said that I could just come over today. He ended up living like 3 minutes from my house which is cool. I had always wondered who lived at the house the pink flamingo mailbox. His solar array is very simple, but still very efficient and useful. It generates 2,450 kilowatts per hour on sunny days.He pays $174 per year on electricity. The average household cost of electricity per year is $1440-1920 per year. Apparently there is a solar home tour that goes on in Ithaca. His house was part of it. I wish I had heard about this earlier so I could find other homes to look at.

I also can finally begin the construction process of my solar collection box. I have the storm windows on site already, so I can begin preparing those for the collector. First, I have to scrape off the loose paint and glazing on the framing of the storm windows. Most of it is loose, so it will take a long time. Then I will start the glazing process.

To give the putty that I line around the edges of the glass something to stick to, I first brush shellac on the bare wood all around the edges of the windows panes. Then I line the putty around the window which connects the glass to the wood frame. Once that's on, I can prime and paint over the putty and  the entire window frame. It will be the dark green tree color that matches the trim on my house, so as to create an aesthetically pleasing look for the solar collector.

It's earth day and I just met with Bill. We went to visit a couple houses around town that already have these solar collectors on them. They were all bigger then the one that I am going to build, but they were constructed using the same concept. Here are some pictures of them:

The collector I am building will be similar to this one., but it will only cover the space under the windows.

“Energy use is what binds us most immediately to the world around us, to our style of living, and to each other as well.” by Scott L. Montgomery

I just got back from Italy. Time to start my project back up again. I just called Bill and set up a meet with him this coming Sunday to go shopping for materials. Finally, I am getting started on the actual construction process. Hopefully the weather will stay nice.

Our WISE assignment was to listen to the NPR report by Brian Grazer, "Disrupting my comfort zone". Brian believes that to grow as a human being, you have to step out of your comfort zone. He, like many WISE students, called up experts in many different fields to meet with them. Even if it was difficult and not that pleasurable, he still did it. He did it in order to learn about basically anything he could.

Similarly, in WISE it isn't always easy to just call up some one that you don't know, and to meet with them. I know it totally disrupts my comfort zone. So far I have met with one of my several contacts.  His name was Michael Kaplinka-loehr. Even though I was nervous about it, and it was totally disrupting my comfort zone, I am so glad that I did it. I had a great time and learned lots of interesting solar information.

I am also stepping out of my comfort zone in another way. One that is not related to WISE at all. I am going to Italy! It is with soccer team that I have only met two times, and I know no one. Should be interesting. And it should be very educational.