Veterans Green Jobs, Week 5

Home sweet home!  Our last day of work with VGJ was Thursday, and I flew back to Washington early this morning.  I was greeted with a few inches of fresh snow, which makes me realize that Denver really needs some winter lessons from Spokane.

Or not.  It’s cold here.

Our last week with VGJ was great.  We finished our painting projects, and they ordered a bunch of pizza for a really nice send-off lunch.  We also got VGJ bandanas, and stickers and some other sweet swag.  VGJ was a great project sponsor, and I loved working with them the last month.  The weatherizing and the warehouse were both great learning experiences, and alot of fun. (Thanks for this pic, McAdoo)

The last week did have me looking forward to next round though.  Being out with the crews the week before, I hadn’t realized how close we were to finishing the work they had planned for us.  This week was full of random little filler tasks that made the notion of leaving VGJ easier.  I, for example, spent two full days insulating a little doll house.  They plan to use it as a visual aid for what the weatherizing crews do in the field.  Or maybe the dolls were just getting too cold.  I already got loads of shit from my team for it, so you can save your breath.  

Another amazing VGJ parting gift: Nuggets tickets.  They gave us six amazing tickets for Thursday’s game against the Spurs.   

1. Our nosebleed seats the last time we saw the Nuggets play
2. Our kickass seats this time, probably thirty feet back from the court

Unfortunately the Spurs had to go and ruin our good time.  They won on a bullshit offensive foul that negated Melo’s game winner.  Typical, Spurs. Just typical.  On the plus-side, we did get to see JR Smith do this to Gary Neal:

(I didn’t take this.  Our seats were good, but nothing like this)

Thursday was also the day that all the other teams got back from their respective projects, so after the game, we walked downtown to meet our friends.  It was great to have everybody back, and Thursday turned into (euphemism alert!) quite an evening.

We’re on break for the next two weeks.  After that, we’ve got a week of prep before our Habitat project in New Orleans starts up!  In the meantime, Merry Christmas! I hope you all get the Turbo-Man Action figure you've been hoping for. 

Anybody going to the P.I. tonight? Great. Me too.  

Veterans Green Jobs, Week 4

With Christmas two weeks away, here’s a festive picture of Denver City Hall at night. To get you all in the mood for some a-wassailing.

At VGJ this week, I got to go out every day with the weatherizing crews.  A great break from the warehouse and a really interesting job.  All the houses we visited (about six this week) needed more insulation in the attic, so a big part of my week was spent grinding insulation in the back of the truck. (All the other jobs needed some sort of know-how, so I was in the truck).  Step into my office:

1. Bags of insulation.  Basically shredded newspaper, vacuum sealed into 30lb bricks.  Each attic used about 50 bags.
2. The insulation grinder.  You open the bags, and dump ‘em in.  A blower in the bottom of the grinder pushes the insulation fluff through a long hose (#4)
3. Big-ass generator.  (It’s behind the fan).  Powers the grinder.
4. Hose to the attic. 

Since you’re in the confined space of the truck, essentially throwing big blocks of dust into a wood chipper, it gets pretty messy.

We also insulated walls, a ceiling, hot water heaters, doors, air ducts, and crawl-spaces.  I could insulate my way out of a strait-jacket.  (That doesn’t make any sense, but whatever...) Want me to Mastic the roof-to-joist? Want me to collar a flu vent? Want me to Tyzol the swamp cooler?  Want me to run the blower-door?  Well, if you have a truck full of all those things, I totally could. (…En route to a badass strait-jacket escape.)

All the people we met doing the weatherizing were really grateful, and it was a rewarding week being able to see exactly what a great program the warehouse is going to help support.   On one hand, it could be a great job, helping people every day.  On the other hand, one of the guys I worked with had a story about finding 90 dead cats in a crawl-space on his first day of work.  I think my dead-cat-threshold is too low to do weatherizing full-time, no matter how thankful the clients are. (As a side note, I do know where they send those cats’ pelts. Just f.y.i.)

Not a whole lot new or exciting this week, so I’ll end on this.  We had to turn in a “personal reflection” on our first project earlier this week.  Lots of people wrote poems or drew pictures.  Here’s mine.

Our nasty cafeteria is called Machebeuf hall. I ate a lot of Cholula there this round.   It’s pretty deep.

Anyway, only ONE week left at VGJ before all the other teams get back to campus and we all go on Christmas break.  Paradise/ Xanadu/ Eden/ Spokane, you never sounded so good…

Veterans Green Jobs, Week 3

Alright, another week down at Veterans Green Jobs.  (Only two left!) This week was mostly painting, which is exciting to write about and even more exciting to read about.  We painted a bathroom, we painted outside, we painted inside, we used different colors of paint,… umm...  This must be a pretty gripping read.  We did get to use the giant stencils that we made a few weeks back:

Pretty sweet huh?

In Americorps news that won’t put you to sleep, we just got our assignments for next round, and I couldn’t be happier.  There are 28 possible projects, one for each team, and projects are assigned as follows:

1:  First, all the possible projects are written on paper and put into a hat

2:  Then, the hat is worn for good luck

3:  Then, each team raises a kitten from birth, and the cats play laser-tag to determine who gets first pick of projects.

None of that is true. 

They actually use a very confusing lottery system, but my team ended up getting our top choice for next round, which rules.  Starting in January, we’ll be working for Habitat for Humanity, building houses.  Where you ask?  I think chris-tracker has the answer…

Yessir, from January through early March, we’ll be building houses in New Orleans, riding on parade floats, trawling for shrimp, and hanging out with Drew Brees!  Who Dat!  I’ve never been to the south before, so I’m real excited.  Even though it’s over a month away, I can’t stop thinking about all the creole food and the Carnival celebrations. (Unfortunately we’re missing Mardi Gras by four days, but there are Carnival parades and parties starting in early January.  That way everybody can get a good base-drunk going for the big day.) Cannot wait!

Lastly, I’ve gotten some postcards the last few weeks that need showing off. 

Bronze medal goes to Miss Kelsey Schill:

 The silver to Katie Bertram for this one:

And this update’s winner, Tanner Lawrence, for this card from the Sedro-Woolley Loggerodeo:

Thanks Tanner. It's like I'm getting a taste of Mardi Gras season early.  Throw them hotties some lumber-themed beads! 

The caption on the back of the card for the Loggerodeo’s “community picnics, firemen’s muster and log show” put it over the top.  What the hell is a "fireman’s muster"?  I’ll have to Ask-Jeeves it later.  

(If you would care to join in...)

Chris Matthews- Class 17
AmeriCorps NCCC
3001 S. Federal Blvd.
Walsh Hall, Room 136
Denver, CO 80236

Somehow Denver is still dry and 45 degrees.  I thought it got winter here, but I guess not. Without the cold, it really doesn’t feel like our Christmas vacation is two weeks away.  Two weeks! See you soon cold, shitty weather!