Final Day at Metheny Weir

Sigh, the last day helping out at Metheny Weir. While the beginning of the day was one spent exchanging goodbye gifts (and a request to continuing helping over the summer!) the rest was one of happy work. Mrs. Metheny was off away at a house painting kitchen cabinets "Old Ochre" and Mrs. Weir continue to work on the Nature Center rain barrel. I worked on creating paint samples.

still more to go but getting there

Each Annie Sloan paint color is presented on a slab of molding, then divided in half, one side with dark wax and the other with clear. This gives client an idea of what their finished product will look like depending on the wax they use.

like this

Yes, the work was trivial. I had to get out every single color (which is a lot mind you), clean all the brushes between pieces of wood, let it dry, apply a second coat, let it dry, tap the wood into two sections, apply clear wax on one side, let it dry, reapply, then do the same thing on the opposite side with dark wax. It seemed to take forever! But then I got to remove the tap. Now let me tell you, never has a simple activity given me so much fulfillment. When I removed that yellow tap, revealing a clean cut between two different shades of the same color... so satisfying. It looked good. It looked great, if I do say so myself.

~Laura

Good Greens Day 10

Today when we came into the office, we met with Keith again and explored further video ideas. This was a joint brainstorming effort and we came up with a few ideas that we will explore in the summer, as we are both working there. After this brainstorming session, we went to lunch with Ms. Cho's entrepreneurship class. While there, we answered some of their questions and encouraged them not to give up on their ideas. After lunch, we were tasked to run a few errands for the office. We picked up water for their cooler and then picked up information cards from Jak Prints. Days like today make me happy to be working for a small company because in the morning we were working with the CEO on one task and in the afternoon we were doing something completely different. It is great to have this variety because it keeps things exciting and keeps everyone on their toes. It's awesome to be able to work with the founder so often because we are learning incredibly important information that will be extremely helpful down the road if we choose to pursue careers in business. 

~Stephen and Ryan

Good Greens Day 9

Today we presented our draft of the video to the CEO Keith. We had shown our video to a few people in the company and they all loved it. This isn't saying very much however, because Keith has a very strong conviction and does not hesitate to tell you what he thinks. Stephen and I knew this coming in because of prior work for him but it still is tough to hear negative reviews about something you worked very hard on. Ignoring all of these negative thoughts, we went to the conference room with the rest of the employees and presented our video.

To our surprise, he loved the video. He had a few critiques but in general thought it was a neat and interesting way to convey our product. This was also a great experience to witness a legitimate company meeting. It is a venue for everyone to share what they're working on and to give positive feedback. I think that meetings are crucial to a successful company because communication is vital for business and and meetings always keep everyone on the same page and up to date with what's going on.

Today was great. I was able to prepare my chicken from scratch to proportions to serving, along with my bacon bits and my croutons.  Not to mention mincing all my tomatoes, onions, hard boiled eggs, and cucumbers and such.  I also made the Caesar dressing this morning too.  I actually feel like I made a from scratch dish and it is really cool how it all turned out/ tasted because I made myself a chicken cob salad.  We also got a new ice cream in called coffee chocolate chunk and it is truly amazing so I had that with my salad.  I am liking the experience we are getting and hope to move further down the line next week.

week 4

Chef let me use his knifes today! I was able to use two hundred dollar knives today to do my various tasks and it was pretty cool.  The knives were balanced differently for each task I had to do and they were very very sharp.  I was able to cut through my tasks for prepping the salad stand like it was nothing!

                Today was weird because we had to start weighing the salad we were giving out and making sure that we weren’t under or over portioning people’s foods.  It made things a lot more difficult because I kept using the weigh bowl for house salads and I would have to retar the scale and wipe out the bowl completely… it stunk because I used a lot of towels throughout the day. 

week 4

This is the final stretch of our project and I am excited for it to come to a close so I can start experimenting with cooking at my house and lunch and such things.  I am also sad to realize that I haven’t been able to do many different things but I realized that I am getting the best possible training. Experience.  The time I am using to prepare the food, cook things on the spot and under pressure, keeping an eye out for multiple things like soup with melting cheese on it and fries dropped in the fryer and the amount of onion rings I am putting on the salmon salad, all are things training me for when I am off on my own cooking and preparing a full 3 course meal.  I am excited to really secure my abilities as a cook.

week 3

Thursday and Friday of this week were pretty regular and I am not sure if it was a good idea or not to do the four and a half week project.  I wanted to get more involved as we progressed through this project but it seems like we are all specializing in prep and creating dishes.  Non of us have been able to experience the grille yet and It is sort of upsetting.  I was again on fry duty but I started in the back and learned to make the new soup, Gazpacho.  It was interesting to do because I had to do some additions to the final product to make it better tasting judged by the chef present.  It is tedious work to add a pinch of salt to over two gallons of soup. 

week 3

Yesterday was a little redundant and I was worried about it happening but, I did the same thing I did Monday.  Something that was really cool about today is that I was in charge of salads.  The salad person I normally work with was unable to make it due to a doctor’s appointment and I was next in line for most knowledgeable person on the section.  I of course was watched very closely and aided when the rush came through but I only forgot to get chicken portions when prepping the stand and didn’t make any mistakes, even with the new soup and menu that was new that day. I felt pretty cool being able to direct a chef to help me with my stand for the day.  

week 3

The third week was a lot better.  All of the drama was over about management wanting us in the front of the house and our actual project and sponsor pertaining to the back of the house and learning how to cook.  The Monday was great.  I was able to blanch the fries and prep the bacon along with make some croutons and end the day off making stuffed meatballs.  I keep getting constant complements with the croutons and I cannot wait to make them at home sometime.  My knife skills are getting noticeably better and the chefs are starting to work with me to get into chopping and mincing things very quickly. The one thing that was unfortunate was that I got burned by the fry basket but luckily it was just because it was wet with the grease and I was able to wipe it off before it started to become anything serious. 

Kaitlyn Cerne

On Friday, Meg and I prepared for the boys lacrosse playoff game. There were many things that we needed to take out to the field in order to keep everyone safe and be prepared for any type of injury. Meg told me that the most important rule about being an athletic trainer is to always be prepared. Whether someone looses a contact and needs eye drops or falls and tears a ligament, we must always prepare and bring even the littlest of things. Meg and I were unable to go to the game though because her son had a baseball game and she wanted to go to that instead. Until we had to leave, I worked on making my flash cards even more elaborate. For example, on the front side of the name of a muscle. Then on the back side, I printed off pictures form the internet of the muscle and its position in the body and its location compared to other muscles around it. I did this for all of the muscles as well as all of the bones. In addition to this, Meg and I downloaded apps on our phones of anatomy and physiology quizzes. One game was really cool and helpful because it provided quizzes and games on the information that I am learning about. I then began making flashcards for all of the systems in the body and leaning what each system does as well as the organs within that system.

Kaitlyn Cerne

On Wednesday, Meg and I continued to take inventory until everything in the athletic room as well as the storage room was accounted for. We then began to order new supplies that were running low and needed for next year. I was unable to go with her to her office at Precision Orthopedics because the doctors were not comfortable with a student accompanying them. I understand where they are coming form because I did have to go though many tests, such as a quiz and TB test, in order to get into the Medical Observation Senior Project at University Hospitals. The hospital was very strict regarding patient information and HIPPA rules. Instead, Meg and I reviewed all of the muscles in the body and I took a quiz on both muscles and bones during the half time of the girls lacrosse game. One of the girls was feeling a sharp pain in her back during the game. Meg and I helped her by showing her some back stretches that she could do at half time.  Meg and I also began to go over the different systems of the body. For homework, I made flash cards of everything that Meg has taught me to help study for my final test.    

Post 11

Today was the day to make Salmon Burgers again.  For Salmon burgers, we take the salmon scraps that were cut off the salmon for dinner and dice it up.  Next I add some lemon zest, capers, and a few more ingredients.  From here it is simple enough, I just take out six ounces of salmon and make it into a patty.  After completing the Salmon burgers I moved onto cleaning up the cooler. One of the prep cooks had spilled some sauce in the cooler and naturally I had to clean it up.  It did not take long, and it is something that everyone has to do occasionally in the business so i went on and cleaned it up.  After doing this, I had to weigh out some noodles.  While working the prep room I learned that this is one of the most important areas in a restaurant.  Without a prep team, the chefs would be scrambling to get things done.  the prep cooks get just about everything ready for the chefs before the restaurant even opens! They are a huge help to the chefs and they really know how to cook.

Post 10

On Monday we sat down with Mr. Doody at the start of work.  He had a talk with us about cost management in a restaurant.  When putting an investment into one, he is looking for a 30% income from the initial cost in order to say he is succeeding.  He shared with us that Cedar Creek Grille is doing fine and is on the ball however still needs some work on food management as it is still a new restaurant.  After this talk, I went to the back and again made food.  This time I prepared crab cakes.  It is simple to make, some panko bread crumbs, crab meat, and red peppers.  Then we mix in some sauce.  After it is mixed, I shaped the mix into cakes then put bread crumbs on them.  After finishing the crab cakes, i moved on to Cole Slaw which again is a simple and easy thing to make.  I first cut some cabbage, add chopped carrots and onions, then add the dressing.  It has been getting easier to work in the back as I finally understand what a fish tub is, I know where most of the ingredients are, and I have come to memorize what we need for certain recipes.

Post 9

While working today in the back, I sliced bacon and then cooked it.  Of course everyone had to get a piece of bacon when it was done.  next I had to take out the artichoke hearts out.  This is not a fun task if you do not know what to do, and I did not know what I was doing.  First you cut the artichokes in half, then shove a spoon in the heart and hope you don't take out too much. Eventually I got the hang of it. After this, I had to make deviled eggs which is simple enough.  First scoop out the yolk of about 50 eggs, then add mayonnaise, wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, some thyme, and franks red hot.  once mixed up I had completed all my tasks for the day.  This day was more about learning how to prepare artichokes and deviled eggs.

The Chair Affair

Furniture mid-class

About once a week, Metheny Weir hosts a workshop that teaches a small group the basic techniques of Annie Sloan.

Last night one was held, and it wan an unusual one. Typically, the store closes at 3pm, but not Friday night. Instead, we were open until 9:30 hosting a special "Girls' Night Chair Affair" won at an auction.

Starting at 6pm, a group of five older woman strolled in, decked out in overalls, sweats and ruined t-shirts. They toted in bags of cupcakes, macaroons, cheese, beer and tons of wine. Oh, and of course, furniture to paint.

I bet anyone passing by the shop on the sidewalk would be able to tell that there was a party happening inside due to all the noise. The woman laughed, chattered and drank in between coats of paint.

And you know what? Despite the fact that the painting process was not the focus of their three hour class, their pieces actually turned out okay. Originally brown, dirty, chipped or just plain ugly, all the woman picked bright Annie Sloan paint to brighten the rather dull chairs and tables. Usually what happens in these classes is that the woman are so focused on getting it painted oh so perfectly, that it actually turns out a little iffy. Things look best when they are done a little more loosely and without perfection in mind.

Learning from our Mistakes

So yesterday before going to visit the Uptown studio, we made a few little mistakes when signing people in for the 8:30 and 9:30 classes.  I signed a new couple into the computer under an already existing account that they must have made years ago when the studio was in an office building by Beachwood Place mall.  And then another woman was running about 15 minutes late to a class, and we let her go in without paying beforehand and without filling out the entire new student waiver.  Our sponsor was a little disappointed and took us off the computer for the rest of the project. Whoops! At least our project is almost over.  So that was a lesson for the three of us to ask questions when we are confused and under pressure.

CY at Uptown !!

Yesterday Joni, Jordan and I took a trip to see Cleveland Yoga's brand new space in the up-and-coming neighborhood of University Circle.  This second location is situated in a great area with a lot of activity surrounding it.  The space itself has an urban, city vibe.  It's on the second floor and the studio has these two horizontal windows that look out over the street.  The size of the studio itself is about the same as the two studios in Beachwood combined and it can hold over 100 people at full capacity.  Since the location is so new, CY only offers about four classes a day, usually two in the morning and two in the evening.  They are hoping to pick up more as interest increases.

Week 4 Day 3

For the past two days, we have been working on our video. We are making a video about hunting and our experiences. The video is looking great. We have some nice photos from our hunters education course and from inside the blind. I actually got some photos of a wild turkey, even if we didn't shoot it. We have video of us finding our way to a good spot in the woods and us setting up the blind. There are shots of us shooting the crossbow, so you can see that we actually learned. Finally, our music selection is spot on so when you have the opportunity to watch it, you are more than welcome to sing along.

Working on the Presentation

Most of today was spent focusing on our final presentation. We have decided to do a sort of video documentary, rather than a power point, that chronicles our progress through the the turkey hunting world and gives a step by step guide on how we learned to hunt. Grant's experience working with the focus has proven very helpful for our video. It's amazing watching something that I was sure would take days just fly by in a matter of hours. Zackariah's seemingly infinite knowledge of country music has also been very valuable to our project; I was sure the presentation was missing something until I heard the acoustic guitar and lonesome lyrics accompanying the footage we took. All in all I'd say I'm extremely impressed with what we managed to accomplish with this presentation, it's almost done and it's already much better than I ever thought it would be. Anyone who manages to squeeze their way into our project presentation room is in for a real treat.

Week 4 Day 1

With the hunting season closed, we set upon our new task of researching the environment, habitat, and habitats of wild turkeys. We started out by visiting our local Cleveland Heights Public Library to pick up some books. We got The Field & Stream Bowhunting Handbook and the Field & Stream Turkey Hunting Handbook. We are using these books to write our final report. With the information in these books, we can write about what we could have done better. We also picked up some books about the art of hunting and the use of bows. We picked up one final book by Teddy Roosevelt. In it he describes  his recollections of hunting trips. There is a section where he recalls hunting turkey in Texas. We started doing research using these books and preparing what we would write in the report.

Playing Receptionist

Ring, ring!

I looked around the workshop. Mrs. Weir was helping a client pick out a pint of paint for her kitchen cabinets, and Mrs. Metheny was teaching a class of three on new painting techniques. Mrs. Metheny paused from her lesson for a second and turned towards me.

"Laura, do you mind getting that?" And she returned to her students.

Um okay. I headed over to the back office and sat down in the floral chair. One long breath in preparation and then I picked up the phone.

"Thank you for calling Metheny Weir. This is Laura," I was surprised by how quickly the greeting came out of my mouth, like I'd been working here for years. Okay, okay, I can do this.

The lady on the other end did not seem to know that I was a newbie (most likely because of my amazingly professional introduction) and started firing off questions.

Do I need to bring in a chair to the Chair Affair, or can I bring in a table? Where do I sign up? How much paint will I need? How much does it cost? Do I have to buy wax? Which one do you recommend? How much? What about a brush? Do I need that too? How much?

Without any hesitation, I answered all of the woman's questions. Again, I was surprised by how easily the answers came. It's amazing how, just after two weeks, I know so much about the Annie Sloan business.

Good Greens Day 7

The shoot begins. Today, we began shooting our commercial/viral video. The shoot took place in Stephen's kitchen with a great deal of set up. The video required a tripod mount so that a camera could sit high up looking straight down. We also required several lights so that we could create a high definition, well light stop motion film. Luckily, we have Ryan's father at our disposal so that we were able to acquire these items with ease.

The first set up apart from the camera and lights was what the camera will be shooting. We placed a wood block in the center of the shot with fruits surrounding it. The video itself is a stop motion story of the fruits cutting themselves and flowing off the cutting board. The fruits them seem to spell themselves out into words.

The video was extremely bland to shoot, however it was still a good time. We will have the video up for everyone to see shortly.

Your boys,
Stephen and Ryan

Good Greens Day 3

Today at Good Greens we finally got started on our advertising project. Our goal was to design a video campaign to make Good Greens a household name. Essentially, we were tasked to make a viral video with millions of views. At first we thought this was impossible because we had no video experience and were just a bunch of high-schoolers. We had no idea how to make a video go viral and didn't even know exactly what to put in it. Even with our doubts, we went to the conference room and started working. We put down ideas on whiteboards and really tried to brainstorm funny video ideas. Unfortunately, as we were working we realized that most viral videos that are funny involve insults or making fun of people. We obviously couldn't include this in our video because our work reflects the values of the company. We then moved on to cool viral videos and explored this concept. We decided that stop-motion would be the most realistic and likely to get a lot of views. Unfortunately, this work took all day and we could leave before we started on this video. It just shows how much planning goes into these videos and how time-consuming this work can be. Fortunately we now have a plan for what to do and we should make progress.

Stephen and Ryan

Don't Tickle Your Turckey

This is no innuendo for anything. Yesterday we slaughtered some turkeys and we didn't have any time to tickle them. I wasnt around for the actually killing of the turkeys, but I was for sure a part of the processing of them. Its a really fun process.
First you take the just recently murdered turkey and drown it in hot water to make sure its fully dead. Im joking you know these things are dead because they arent moving at all. You soak them to start to loosen the feathers off their body.
Next you play a nice game of tug and war with the dead turkey body to pull off all the feathers you can. You try to get everything with your hands, and then here comes the fun part. You take one of those horror movie butcher knives and take all your anger out on this dead turkey. You chop its head off and its feet off. Really thats a great job if your mad.
After that you take the turkey and throw it into this machine that kinda throws it all around. It kinda looks like a ball in one of those bingo ball mixers. Since these turkeys are old and past their prime, all the feathers will not fall out, so we had to pick out all the remaining feathers hand by hand. This is where I came in and this was the closest we were allowed to tickle the turkeys. After all the feathers are out we gut them and rinsed them down before throwing them into a big tank of water for them to stay for a while while we deal with all the other ones. It was a fun experience.

Week 4 Day 3

Today we were able to get together the rest of our photos to add to the movie. Jake had a few on his camera of our instructor from our hunter’s safety course. Zack also had photos on his camera of the turkey that our sponsor hit with his car while driving home from Cincinnati. We added both sets of these photos to our video and also added the photos Zack took of the turkey while we were in the blind. By messing with the time and Ken Burns cropping on imovie we were able to make the pictures flow very well with our presentation. Ken Burns cropping allows you to start with a wider frame and then have the frame zoom in or the reverse. After we added everything we needed I went back and used the clip trimmer to make sure that the music was set up the way we wanted it. I can’t wait to present this video; I think we did a very good job with it.

First House Job

Mrs. Weir at work

Like an excited little puppy dog, I hopped into the car. My first trip to a home!

With Mrs. Weir at my side, and a ladder and a pint of paint in my arms, I strolled on in to a lovely white wood house without even knocking.

So, casually, we began to set up the living room for painting. I took yellow tape to protect the molding, and Sue put down cloth. Eventually, a teenaged boy walked past. He muttered a confused "uh, hi" at these two strangers moving furniture around but quickly left to, who knows where.

As we prepped to paint this gray/brown/tan sponged wall, Mrs. Weir told me that half the fun of the job is getting to explore all these old houses in Shaker and Cleveland Heights. She told me of magazine-worthy houses and ones that were just plain messing (like the one today *cough*).

my expert taping job

Unfortunately, I was unable to paint. Mrs. Weir assured me that it was not because she doubted my abilities but because with this sponging/blotting technique, if you have two people working on it, it'll look like two people worked on it. But I didn't mind. These older homes do not have air conditioning, and work as simple as taping and brushing can cause you to sweat. Thus, we finished in a rush (without jeopardizing the quality) and booked it back to the studio where multiple fans would be awaiting us.

Week 4 Day 2

Today we were able to begin to edit the video. I got all of the footage onto Zack’s computer and we also connected Zack’s iphone to his computer to put the photos he had from our hunter education class on his computer too. I began to edit our video, and since I do the focus with imovie I know how to edit the video with is very helpful. We decided that our video will follow our journey chronologically starting with our hunter safety course. We used Zack’s pictures for the hunter safety course and then put some good music in the background. Next we went on to a section where it showed us practicing with the crossbow. Following the practicing we put in film of all of the things we used while hunting and I had Zack record his voice describing everything we used. Now we put in film of us getting ready to hunt, then walking into the woods, setting up our blind and film from inside our blind. This was as far as we were able to get, but when Mrs. Thompson visited us we showed her what we had done at that point and I think she liked it.

Week 4 Day 1

Today we began getting our research materials ready for our project. We did this by going to the Cleveland Heights public library and taking out some books on turkeys. The books look interesting, we started to read them and we also began to organize our film so that we can make a great video. I was able to upload all of the footage I took with the camera onto the focus computer at school. I had to do this because I was still filming for sports, so to keep the senior project and sports film separate I continually uploaded until I had all of the hunting film we needed. Next I put all of the hunting film onto a hard drive. The hard drive connected to the focus computer with fire wire but Zack’s computer does not have a fire wire port. So the Tech department will give me a thunderbolt cable tonight. With that thunderbolt cable I connected it to Zack’s computer and put all of the footage in his imovie. We will start editing the video the tomorrow.

Friday May 17

When I walked in on Friday, I was greeted by Doug and Todd, the operations guy for both Fire and the Katz Club.  I was served coffee and I sat down with Todd to talk about what I wanted to get from this experience.  I mentioned that my previous project fell though and that I felt like a free labor cook at Flour.  I said that I wanted to help out mainly in the “front of the house”, which is the dining room as opposed to the kitchen.  I helped out by running some errands and sitting in on a meeting about the opening of the diner.  Later in the day I acted as a hostess, this was a cool opportunity because Jeannie gave me total control over the dining room; I could seat people wherever I wanted to.  After a little bit of time being the hostess, I created a more solid plan of how to seat people involving a dining room diagram.  I rotated between server’s sections of the dining room so that each server had a more equal amount of customers.  Opening day is coming up and I can’t wait to be involved in the chaos! 

May 20

It's great to be back with my partners again! Yesterday we started off by discussing the last week, evaluating our hunting strategies and discussing what will come next. Since we never actually managed to catch a turkey, we spent alot of time talking about where we did well, what went wrong, and how we could improve so that if we ever went hunting again (the season has officially closed, unfortunately), we would have better chances. Afterwards we started working on the research part of our presentation, specifically looking at turkey habitats and their niche in the ecosystem, as well as how hunting plays into the preservation and population maintenance of wild turkeys. Zackariah and I took a trip to the Cleveland Heights public library to get some books. All in all we got five research books on turkeys and bow hunting, including one written by Teddy Roosevelt!

Time off to travel

I had to take a long weekend (Fri-Mon) off of project to travel to Boston for my sister's college graduation.  Unfortunately, I had to miss both Friday of last week and Monday of this week (yesterday).  I was able to take a Vinyasa Flow yoga class up in Boston on Saturday though so I was practicing consistently throughout the weekend! Then on Monday I still came into the studio, I just changed my hours so I was able to come in at 3:30 and experience the evening rush, which I learned is very different from the morning.  A lot of people who work will come to the classes in the 6 o'clock hour so the studio gets crowded and at times stressful, but it was interesting to see the studio in such a different state.

New Clients and the Front Desk

This lady walked in today and she's from Brazil.  She said she heard all about the studio so she wanted to come try a class.  I signed her in to Terri Bahr's 12:15pm Power Vinyasa 60 minute class and had her fill out a new student Release and Waiver of Liability.

I also got to check in three classes this morning.  I really like working the front desk and greeting yogis as they walk in!

The Katz Club Diner

Last Friday I started my new project after my project at Flour fell through.  Doug Katz, owner of Fire food and drink and Hawken graduate, is opening his second restaurant in the Cleveland area.  The Katz Club Diner is meant to resemble a 1920’s diner and also has a “speakeasy” section complete with a direct phone to the bartender to get in.  I am helping Doug and the manager of the diner, Jeannie, set up to open on Tuesday, May 21 (tomorrow).  It is very exciting seeing everything that goes into opening a new restaurant.  The cooks must be trained, the food must be tested and perfected, the servers must be tested on the menu and much more.  I really like being in this new restaurant environment because they actually need me to help out with may aspects of the planning and setting up.  On Friday the diner had a “soft opening” for friends and family.  This really means that invited people can come in and have a free meal so that the servers and cooks can have an opportunity to practice for opening to the public.  The importance of a “soft opening” like this one is that the food is free so if there are any mistakes or service is slow, the people there wont have actually paid for the meal. 

Kaitlyn Cerne

Because there were no scheduled games today, Meg and I took inventory of all the medical supplies in the athletic training room. We first made a long list of al the supplies in the room. Then by recording how much of each item we had, we were able to see what we needed more of for the upcoming school year. While taking inventory, we also filed paperwork for incoming freshman next year who will be playing sports. While taking inventory, Meg and I found a few medications that we expired. Because you can not throw away medicine, we had to take the time to place all the pills in a cup and then let them soak in water. After they were done soaking for a long period of time, we were then able to throw them away in the biohazards waste trashcan to be disposed of. While taking inventory, I was able to learn about the all the equipment and supplies a athletic trainer uses everyday. After taking inventory, Meg and I reviewed the bones and muscles in the body again and then I had a pop quiz. We also planned out a date for me to come and shadow her at Precision Orthopedics. We will be going there together on Wednesday morning. I am very excited to meet with the orthopedic surgeons that she works with. In addition to this, we prepared to travel to tomorrow’s girls lacrosse game.      

Kaitlyn Cerne

On Thursday night. Meg the Trainer and I spent out time preparing and monitoring the many games that were going on throughout the evening at Hawken. First off, we packed the cart with supplies such as water and first aid kits. Meg even let me drive the cart full of supplies to and from the games. We made our first stop at the girls’ lacrosse game. Because it was so hot, it was essential to keep a few extra jugs of water for the Hawken team as well as the other team so no one became dehydrated. Hydration is a key factor to monitor in this type of weather. During half time, Meg taught me the muscles in the body. We filled out a diagram and used different colors to label each muscle. I then took my quiz on all of the bones in the body. Because we had time, we then went over directions used to describe where things are located in the body. Meg then quizzed me for fun on these directions. After half time, we stayed until there was about five minutes left in the game. We had to leave because we received an emergency call from the softball game. A girl on the other team felt faint because she had not eaten all day and the hot weather caused her to feel light headed. We gave her some water and food to help her and kept her in the shade to cool off. We then headed off to make our last trip to the boys‘ lacrosse game. We taped ankles before the game. During the game, a player from the other team sprained his ankle. He told Meg that this was not the first time this had happened. Meg used the acronym RICE to help him. RICE stands for rest,  ice, compress and elevate. These are the steps an athletic trainer needs to take if there is a muscular injury.

Week 3

Our turkey hunting days came to an end without a bang. On Saturday, we went out bright and early in Perry. We got out to the blind by 6 AM and started watching for turkeys. Immediately, we saw a turkey across the field. We called it in and it came within 25 yards of our blind. This was a little too far to accurately shoot, and we were pretty sure that it was a hen. So, it got away. The season is over and our last day was the most successful. We actually had the opportunity to see a wild turkey. After the immediate excitement of seeing a turkey, the rest of the time was pretty bland. Our blind was set up next to a tree inhabited by some raccoons, so part of the reason that more turkeys didn't come by might have been the noise. The raccoons were very angry that we were sitting next to their house and were very vocal about their displeasure. We were disappointed not to get a turkey, but we got some good pictures. We will be making a video about hunting and Jake will contribute.

Good Greens Day 5

On day 5, Ryan and I were split up along with Peter and Will, who are also working for Good Greens. In pairs, we went to do demos of the product at different events. Will and I were sent to the I-X Center for the registration of the Cleveland Marathon. At this demo, we were able to see how the product is sold, but more importantly, how well the product is liked by customers. It is truly crazy how well the product is loved by its fans. Throughout the day, we had customers almost sell the product to other customers, telling them how amazing it is. I learned that this is truly the best way of selling. If a customer recommends something to another customer they take it as the word of God. Can't wait to start another exciting week in the office. Stay tuned for more!

Slaughter Master

Yep I did it again. This time i killed around 120-130 chickens but it wasnt as bad. I have actually started to get good at it, which maybe isnt such a good skill to have. This time it was the same set up, but now i can kill the chickens faster.
I havent been that effected by killing the chickens. I am still eating chicken and it doesnt taste any different and now I know mostly how chickens are actually killed, but usually I need like 24 hours for the shock to wear off. What I mean is i need about 24 hours after killing chickens before I'll eat chicken again. Other than that it hasnt really effected me at all other than maybe now some things remind me of killing chickens, or I've had a couple weird dreams about it. Whatever, I'll get over it.

Week 3 Day 5/6

On Friday Zack and I went to another piece of public land that I had heard there were a bunch of turkeys on. We went in with high hopes but saw nothing. At night I met my uncle out in Perry, where we sat up the blind and hunted for about an hour and a half until sundown. As we were leaving we decided to change the location of the blind so that it was more concealed. We woke up on Saturday morning at 5:02 am because as my uncle would say, “5 am is too early”. Zack and I set up in the blind and my uncle went into the woods to our right. Our plan to alternate turkey calls as we hoped attract a male turkey to our decoy that was 15 yards in front of the blind. We got into the blind at 6 am and about ten minutes later I spotted a turkey on the other side of the field! It was on a path to continue to walk across us, so I called it and the turkey turned and came in close. There was good and bad news though, the bad being it never came within our range to shoot it. The good was that the turkey as a hen, so even if it had come into range, we could not have shot it. Zack was very stealthy and was able to capture several photos of the small hen which was very exciting.

Baby Steps

Two milestones were accomplished today.

1) I used the bathroom in the workshop (a bigger deal then it seems I swear... I'll explain)

and

2) I was left to man the shop alone for two hours

Okay, so for the bathroom. In the back corner of the workshop is this cute pink door painted in the Annie Sloan style of course. Now, although the door is inviting, behind it is scary. Crooked steps due to erosion lead down to a damp basement with walls made of decaying brick. In an attempt to make it look a little less like a dungeon, Sue and Kim hung off-white (once pure-white) curtains to cover up icky pipes and other basement stuff. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn't step on a rat because, ironically, earlier this morning a woman from the shop next door said that they were having vermin issues. But it was okay. Nothing scampered across my toes and I managed to get back up the stairs without tripping.

The second hill I summited? Taking care of the store by myself. Both Kim and Sue's kids were back from college so they all went out to lunch while I waxed a black dresser painted last week. (Thankfully) no one came in, just a phone caller asking when we were open until. So it was me and Michael Bublé over the speakers while I worked away.

Oh, also, the Nature Center has asked Metheny Weir to paint a rain barrel. It looks ugly now but I swear it'll be as pretty as rain barrels go when we're finished.

~Laura

Week 3 Day 2

Today I went out to Perry and met with my uncle and we hunted from 3:30 until sundown. We started on a property of one of his friends, where my uncle has seen turkeys cutting through before. He admitted that this place would be very hit or miss, but he only planned on having us stay there for about an hour. After we had seen nothing we drove to his fellow coach’s property that was in the Chardon area. Oddly enough it was actually very close to the public hunting area that we have gone to before, and the signs of turkey were great. My uncle pointed out turkey scratch to me which is made when a turkey calling for a mate it will push the leaves away with its wings leaving two patches of ground bare next to each other. There was plenty of turkey scratch back there and my uncle has seen the turkeys roost in the woods, so we set up in a nice spot and waited for the turkey. Again I saw nothing, but nature again worked against me as the winds were high and the temperatures dropped quickly as the sun fell.

Research

Since I am no longer able to hunt with Zackariah and Grant, I have been spending my time doing research and working on a model for our final project presentation. Most of my research is involved in making a step by step field-dressing guide for Zackariah and Grant to follow when they do manage to catch a turkey. It is important to field-dress the turkey as soon as possible, ideally right after the kill, in order to prevent it from spoiling and ensure a high quality of meat. Once the turkey has been field dressed, you can hike it out and finish preparing it (removing the feathers, feet etc.) at home. On the presentation side of things, we have decided to present with a short video detailing what we've learned and what we've gained from our project. It would follow our progress as we learned about hunting, became familiar with the crossbow and our exploits out in the field.

Photography to Good Greens

This week came with a new transition to our schedule. We will now be working in the office of an up and coming nutrition bar company. In our time here, we hope to dive into the world of marketing and advertising as we also hope to utilize our photography skills. We have been out of the office most of the week thus far due to AP tests, however Wednesday marked our official start, with both of us in the office. We learned that in our time here we will work to produce two videos for advertising. The first will be a campaign about the demoing the company does, and the second video will be about training new employees to demo. The video projects should test our new found artistic skills, but overall it will test our ability to draw a viewer. We will update you as soon as we progress into the storyboarding phase.

-Ryan and Stephen

Week 3 Day 3

Today, Grant and I went back to the public hunting grounds in Chardon. We got lots of great video which you will be able to see in our short film that we are making next week. I filmed part of the drive there and Grant filmed me getting dressed into my camouflaged attire. Then, we filmed our walk through the woods to find a feasible location where we could set up. We finished with a video of how to set up the blind and then got down to business. Like usual, we waited in the blind, attempting to call in a Tom. This time, we altered how we used the call boxes. Grant had talked to his uncle, who had said that instead of trying to make the calls loud as to reach Toms in a large radius, we should try to make the calls softer and rustle our feet in the leaves when we call. We tried this and our calls did start to sound better. We didn't see any turkeys today, but I will be optimistic and say it wasn't our fault. There were a lot of noises that sounded like chainsaws and other machines. Also, with all the rain, the trees were wet and many large branches fell, creating loud "booms." The turkeys were probably scared away by all the noise and commotion.

Week 3 Day 1

On Monday, Grant and I turned our attention to a new location in the hope of getting a turkey. We headed out to a private property in Gates Mills off of River Road. We trekked up the hill in the back of the property to get to the wooded area and set up our blind in a flat area. We spent the morning and early afternoon calling, and this time we did get some responses! However, most of these responses were from the dogs that lived at the house where we were. There were some noises that we thought could have been from turkeys; a few could-be yelps and some really weird noises that sounded like rumbling or whirring. I had been told by the owner of the property that there were many turkeys who frequented the yard, but we didn't see any. I asked the owner and she said that there are many turkeys but they usually can be found across River Road near the Chagrin River or across Sherman Road on the other side of the property. It is getting very frustrating not seeing anything, but we still think we can get a turkey.

day ten

Day 10 (Friday);

I learned how to make crab cakes!!

I gained a new love for a food I had never tried today.  In the prep room today, I learned how to use the knife to cut meats, vegetables, and soft foods.  I also learned how to follow a recipe and multiply the recipe.  I cut onions and finally appreciate the tears they bring to people’s eyes.  It is very painful.  In the back of the house, I am learning so much so fast and I am not sure what order I should learn things in but I am figuring out that I can only learn by paying close attention to my first demonstration and just going slow and never hesitating to ask questions.  Being in the back is quite different socially with the workers.  In the prep room, a few guys are very explicit and it’s a little unsettling but it’s something that I am getting used to in time.  They are always very helpful and I am trying to remember as much of as many recipes as I can because the food is so good, I want to be able to memorize the recipes for later in life when I need to cook up a good meal. 

Wrinkled Fingers

All techniques were practiced on slabs of molding

Back and forth I hustled, from table to sink, both hands loaded with dripping paint brushes. Instead of a typical day of relaxed painting and gossip, Metheny Weir held an introductory class for stay-at-home moms who want to learn how to jazz up their old antiques lying around in their attic. While Mrs. Weir and Mrs. Metheny showed the three ladies how to apply the chalk paint to get different effects, I was scrubbing away, preparing a new batch of brushes for the next round of painting.

Although my fingers pruned, it was a fun day. Almost like a party. I learned about all the ways to apply Annie Sloan paint....

Cross-hatches to get the typical streaky look- the most popular technique and the only one I have done so far

Flat strokes for a clean look

Heavily applied for a stucco feel

Heavily applied and then dried with a hairdryer to get the paint to crack

And mixing the paint with water and applying thin layers of multiple colors creating a watercolor effect.

These women buzzed about their results, loving the crackle and wash effects and digging how the wax changed the paint's color slightly. And even better than their enthusiasm? Lunch.

One of the most important parts of our day at the workshop is our lunch break. We get to rest our feet (which ache like crazy at the end of the day due to all the standing) and well, eat. We love our food.

Because today was taken up by a class (a five hour class mind you!) Sue made all participants wraps and Kim brought in brownies, real brownies. Ironically, all of the women there were on diets but heck, I wasn't. They missed out.

~Laura

day eight

Day 8 (Wednesday);

We finally made it to the back.  Today was our last AP and we decided that we were no longer working up front because yesterday there wasn’t a bus boy scheduled and they used Kevin and I to take his place.  It was nice to get the true experience without anyone to help but it was again, postponing our project which we were very upset about.  But today was a new day and it was productive.  We were in the back… ish… Kevin and I learned the next step of dirty work that came with preparing food.  We washed the dishes.  Kevin did all of the big dishes like containers and trays and pans used in the back while I did dishes that were used by the guests.  It was a very good day in the sense that I gained an appreciation for not using dishes that aren’t needed to be used. Also I experienced how waist full people are.

day six

Day 6 (Monday);

Today was supposed to be our first day in the back but we had our AP exam and when we arrived a little later in the day, the management stopped us and put us on bus boy duty because they were short-handed.  The day really wasn’t that busy and we weren’t really able to do much of anything today.  I did get the chance to learn more about the process of checking over the food and was able to partake in developing the new table prep serving trays.  We got a rack system in the back where we normally would set up trays and we were able to prepare six trays for six tables that needed to be reset along with storing the trays that would be used to clear the tables and also everything that is used in creating a prep tray.  Today wasn’t a total bust but it was a little disappointing that we didn’t get to be in the back.  

day five

Day 5;

Today was our last day in the front of the house. I learned how to do everything from smile and look pretty at the door, to bring the food to the tables and give orders and direct where the food goes.  Not to mention all of the tear down and set up that is in between sitting customers.  The week has been extremely helpful in advancing our appreciation for what we have to do in the back; the importance of having food ready to be prepared and the importance of preparing the food in a timely manner that the guests get their food all at once and all still warm.  I learned what resetting a table is like when all of the tables are full and the restaurant is very busy.  I also learned how to deal with the unnumbered tables on the patio.  I learned how to serve food to Mr. Looney and how to make fast small talk in the process because of how much other work I was trying to get done.  I can’t explain why I was nervous but I think I was more excited than nervous.  I was able to experience being a ‘need based person’ as in, I would relay telephone messages, set and clear tables, and serve food when no hands were available.  It was a great way to end our being upfront.