Senior Project
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Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Aleks Rudzitis" journal:
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09:14 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 12
Very simple today. I still needed a torri gate for my project to be considered complete. Luckily, it is a very simple design. I went to The Home Depot, purched 4 4x4s, and screwed them together with a few wood screws (after cutting them to proper size). Right now it is just leaning in place, but someday soon I will bury the ends to anchor it in place.
Days of Work: 12
Total Hours of Work: 2 hrs. physical labor
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09:12 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 11
With the main part of the shrine complete, today I turned my attention to the gravel and stone pathway. I began by laying out the stones left over from the removal of the old flower bed. It was pretty simple. I just placed them where I thought they should go. Next, with the help of my younger brother, we moved the gravel from my mentor's trailor to the site by means of wheelbarrow. After dumping it in place, I used a broom to sweep it in between the rocks, which added to their stability. I took the rest of the day to work on the senior project notebook.
Days of Work: 11
Total Hours Today: 4 hrs. physical labor, 4 hrs. desk work
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06:30 am
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Shrine Construction - Day 10
Today was a day of finishing touches. I finished the shingles on the roof in only a few hours. We ran out and had to purchase more in the middle of the task. After that was done, I began work on the shelf which will hold the statue itself. It was made in a manner very similar to the rafters. After making a template, I cut the boards on the band saw. I used a nail gun to attach deck boards to the top, and then just simply set it inside the shrine. In anticipation of tomorrow, my mentor and I purchased a cubic yard of gravel as ground cover from Sky Nursery. We finished the day by stapling the lattice onto the sides of the structure and securing it with some strips of 2x2. That was about all we could accomplish before daylight ran out.
Days of Work: 10
Total Hours Today: 6 hrs. physical labor
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05:03 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 9
Today I used the hour I had before I had to go to work to attach a few more rows of shingles. It started to rain even before my time was up, and as a result, I did not acomplish much.
Days of Work: 9
Total Hours Today: 1 hr.
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09:01 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 8
Today we attached each of the rafters to the skelleton of the shrine. Each one is held in place with two screws, but attaching them was not that simple. Because none of them were perfect copies, each pair had to be marked where they overlaped at the top and trimed on site with a saber saw to make for a snug fit. The spacing between each pair was so narrow that it made it difficult to lean a ladder against the structure. As hard as I tried to avoid it, it became necessary to climb onto the roof to complete the work. After each of the rafters was secure in place, I stapled fence boards between them which will eventualy provide the surface to which the shingles are attached. When this was finished (it took less than an hour), my mentor trimmed the extra off with the saber saw, and I attached a piece to cap the ends. This piece was made from the same template as the rafters and served as a decorative end to mask the underlying structure. There was enough daylight left to attach three rows of ceder shingles, which were stapled in the same manor as the fence boards.
Days of Work: 8
Total Hours Today: 6 hrs.
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08:54 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 7
The primary goal today was to start assembling the roof. With the help of my mentor, we put the finishing touches on all of the rafters. In addition to joining the two separate pieces that made up each one, we also routed the edges. This puts a nice round edge on the sides of all of them. Because the roof is made up of 18 separate pieces this was a very long process. However, I did notice substancial improvement over practice. The first piece took me about 15 minutes to do today, while the last one I did probably only took me about 5 minutes. Although they are not attached, we set the rafters on top of the roof just to see how they would look.
Days of Work: 7
Total Hours Today: 7 hrs.
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07:50 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 6
Today I finished cutting the rafters with the band saw. The pieces aren't matching up as well as I hoped. Once they are all completed and joined, we will trim all of them together so that they are all approximately the same shape.
Days of Work: 6
Total Hours Today: 6 hrs. physical labor
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08:47 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 5
Today was a very productive day indeed. Basically, I built the main skelleton for the shrine. It was made by a handful of 6 foot 4x4 posts from Dunn Lumber. For each joint, I had to countersink two holes, drill into the wood, and then drive in the screw. I also used a band saw to cut the decorative edges into the posts that protrude out from the front of the skelliton. After this was assembled as described, my mentor and I carried it up to the site where we screwed it into the foundation. Now it really looks like something.
I also worked today by cutting some of the arched rafters that will support the roof. The initial design was transfered to a piece of plywood, which I then used to trace the shape onto each of the boards. To save on material costs, it is cheaper to use a narrower board. As a result, each piece has to be made from two different pieces. When I finish cutting them, they will be joined with first wood glue, and then two wood screws. I only made the first two with the band saw today.
Days of Work: 5
Total Hours Today: 7 hrs. physical labor
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06:38 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 4
The goal for today was to set the foundation for my shrine. This basically involved digging holes, setting card board tubes in them, pouring in concrete, and inserting little metal feet which will hold up the main supports for my shrine. I started by removing a little more of the dirt to make sure the foundation was nice and firm. Next, my mentor and I used a metal gird to figure out where the holes need to be placed in relation to each other. Once the proper marks were made, I dug holes approximately 1 foot deep, and 6 inches in diameter. We purchased the concrete from the Home Depot. I mixed it in a wheelbarrow and poured it into the forms while my mentor made sure everything stayed level. The concrete will be dry enough to work with by tomorrow, but won't reach full strenght for a couple of weeks. I finally feel like this is starting to take some shape.
Days of Work: 4
Total Hours Today: 5 hrs. physical labor
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10:30 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 3
Today was basically more dirt removal. I removed all the dirt up to what I believe I want the foundation of the shrine to be. There is more dirt removal in this project than I could have ever anticipated. I don't know what we will do with it all. My mom suggested putting a fresh layer of dirt on all of the flowerbeds, but I think there is too much for that even. My mentor (dad) thinks we may have to haul it away to some place that will put it to use. Either way, it will happen after the conclusion of this project.
Days of work: 3
Total Hours Today: 5 hrs. physical labor
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01:17 am
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Desk Work
Outline and Bibliography done.
Total Hours: 5 hrs. desk work
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01:14 am
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Desk Work
Nothing Special...just made more notecards from books I checked out from the library the last two days. No additional comments.
Total Hours: 5 hrs.
Notecards: 100% done
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02:35 am
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Desk Work
Today I worked on note cards for research. Honestly, since my project is pretty physical, this research is kind of useless. I should have completed it about a week ago, but I put it off because it didn't really contribute that much to the construction of my project. Now it is sorta late. Oh well...the final product is what really matters =)
Total Hours Today: 2 hrs. desk work
Notecards: 30% done
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05:11 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 2
Today I continued the process of removing dirt and concrete stones. Upon completion of the stone removal, my mentor assisted me in reconstructing the wall in the new location. The wall will now curve in toward the hill, and will curve around the back of the shrine. At the end of the day, the wall was mostly complete. The next part of the task will be to remove and dispose of all the excess dirt. Most of the dirt is still where I plan to put the shrine. It may take a whole day of work to remove it all. My goal is the dig 6 inches bellow the level of our lawn for the zen rock garden by the end of the week, so that we can set the foundation this weekend.
End of Day 2 picture.
Also, today I made this blog site to keep track of my progress, in addition to the journals I am keeping for my own records.
Days of Work: 2
Hours spent today: 4 hrs. physical labor, 2 hrs. desk work.
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04:54 pm
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Shrine Construction - Day 1
As you may or may not know...I changed my senior project (sorta last minute, I know). I am now building a Buddhist shrine in my back yard. An exceprt from my proposal:
• I will build a Buddhist shrine in a dedicated space in my yard.
• The space will be approximately 10 feet by 15 feet.
• The shrine will incorporate two traditional structures: a tori arch-way and a covering for the Buddha statue which will emulate traditional Japanese architecture.
• The portion of the space not occupied by the above structures will be filled with a Zen rock garden.
• Traditional plant life, including bamboo, will be incorporated around the outside edge of the space.
My parents choose a place where they wanted me to build the shrine. This is a before picture.
After about 3 hours of shoveling, and moving heavy stones, after my first day of work it looked more like this.
This is all the material I moved out of the way.
I still don't have a final layout planned, because it will be really hard to determine untill I finish setting up the area. There are many rocks and trees in the way, so I can't say for sure how it will really end up. I am happy with how things went today though. This is going to be the hardest part...after this it will be pretty easy sailing. =)
Days of Work: 1
Hours spent today: 3 hrs. physical labor
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