July 27, 2011-Ropes course at Brown University

2h

9am-11am

A day at the ropes course.

I attended the Ropes course at the Leadership Institute at Brown University. I learned about leadership and the importance of team work. This was a low course, consisting of a series of real and imaginary obstacles designed to challenge us to work to accomplish the task as individuals and as a team.

The course consisted of a series of ropes, and obstacles between trees about a foot above the ground. These obstacles examine physical conditioning by testing strength, balance, stamina, agility, flexibility and examine mental conditioning by inviting us to confront issues such as a fear of failure or a fear of losing control.

It was a fun course because we learned to trust our teammates and I actually made great friends in my short 2 weeks at Brown. My best friends were Jacques, Austin, Kevin, Heather, Tori, and Leah. I learned more about myself here than anywhere else and I decided firmly that I wanted to do Doctors without borders later in life because of the things I learned at Brown.

Overall, the idea behind the ropes course was personal development and team-building. Lesson learned: Physical fitness, and mental fitness are both required to overcome challenges. Mental strength is important to accomplish even the most physical tasks.

August 27, 2011- Strength and conditioning workshop 4-6pm

2h
4-6pm
I attended the strength and conditioning workshop at Lake Newnan.The workshop included rowing-specific strength and conditioning assessment and implementation of exercises. This would be very helpful for injury prevention during the rowing season. The workshop was conducted by two of the master rowers, Renate & Jason Lambert. Rowing is such a repetitive activity that there are specific types of stretches and movements that we can all be doing to make sure we stay balanced and reduce injury. The workshop included instruction, demonstration, and a workout!

Renate & Jason are very knowledgeable personal trainers who have recently joined GAR Masters. Renate was at Erg Sprints attempting to break the world record in the 500 m dash last year. Overall, this was a very informative workshop. I learned some of the stretches that I should perform after rowing to keep myself injury free. Sometimes, my back hurts after rowing because you sit up so straight to row. The back stretching techniques were very useful and I have incorporated those in my routine after I am done with practice everyday.

August 27, 2011- Lake Newnan Cleanup

8am-11pm

Today, we cleaned up the boathouse and the shoreline at Lake Newnan to get ready for the crew season 2011-2012. The boathouse is the enclosure where the boats are kept, the ERG machines are stored and the weight machines are stored. Twice each year, we clean up the boathouse so that it is functional for the rest of the year. As the year progresses, day to day activity in the boat house takes its toll on the boathouse. Things start getting cluttered and since we do not replace everything to its spot after using it, the clutter keeps increasing. The first thing that comes to mind is it would be so easy to replace the equipment and weights after use, but somehow it is overlooked every single time. I am going to be more mindful and try to keep things organized everyday rather than doing a lot of work on one single day.

Lesson learned: 1. Keeping organized is important to becoming clutter free. 2. Putting things back in place can make you more efficient. 3. It is fun to hangout with the crew buddies and work as a team on something other than rowing.

After we were done with the cleanup, this is what the boathouse looked like. I wish I had taken a  picture before the cleanup,  it would have clearly illustrated how much clutter we had on the floor.

July 16, 2011-Music for Burra Katha

4 hours
I wrote several new songs called Fastlane, Horror, Taxi, Weve got the Jazz, and tinging. It remains to be seen how many of these songs we will actually record, but I think they are the best material I have produced in a while. 

July 15, 2011- Haven Hospice

4 hours

I was a volunteer at the Hospice again today. As I am a teen volunteer, I can only work in the Hospice Attic. My main job today was to accept donated items and then process them by sorting them out into similar categories. I was very surprised at the number of people who bring in things everyday. There were at least 20 bags of clothes and things to sort through. I thought this would be a slow paced Job, but I was busy almost all the time and it was pretty hard work to sort and continuously process items and clothing.

It feels rewarding when you place the sorted items out into the sales area after the staff decides what items are suitable for resale. It is very interesting to see how the staff prices the items for resale. Sometimes, I did not see the value in some of the clothes, but the staff said that these were very hot items and have very good resale price. I also learned that people in general are very generous and like donating to the Hospice because it is for a good cause. I will ask my parents to donate items to the Hospice for resale. I will myself donate some of my old clothes and toys, which I don't use anymore. Volunteering at the Haven Hospice has further instilled in me a feeling of helping those who are not so fortunate.

July 6, 2011- Haven Hospice

4h

Today was the first day I volunteered at the Hospice Attic. The Haven Hospice provides support for patients with a life-limiting or terminal illness. This support improves the quality of their lives and relationships during there final days. The hospice requires the help of volunteers in various areas. You can volunteer pretty much at any position, like patient volunteers: provide companionship, support and assistance to patients, administrative volunteers: office and clerical support, alliance volunteers: organize fund raising activities. I personally wanted to volunteer as a patient volunteer, but I am not 18 yet, and therefore considered to be a teen volunteer and I can only offer my services at the Haven Hospice Attic store.

The Attic is important because it provides revenue to support the Hospice. The attic voluneers are involved in day to day operations of the stores. I arrived at the Attic bright and early at 8am. I started accepting donated items. I also realized that there were 3 days worth of stuff that people had brought in for charity. So I started to organize the received items. There was a milieu of whatever you can think of: old cassette players, chairs, clothes, furniture, canned food etc. I also realized that this was a surprisingly dirty job because people's old junk was very dusty and smelly. It was also more physically demanding that I had expected which was pleasant because I got to work my forearms a bit. I had to lift heavy bags of clothes and toss them into a bin. It was nice to know that I was helping the hospice resell items and create revenue to support the patients.

Lesson learned: 1. Somebody's junk can be someone else's gold. 2. Being organized can help in all walks of life, right from school work to processing large number of items.

June 11, 2011- Sunshine Games at Lake Wauberg

6 hours

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110609/ARTICLES/110609409

I volunteered at the Florida’s Sunshine State Games, 2011. The Sunshine State Games held competitions in a total of 26 sports over a period of 3 months. I volunteered at the rowing regatta for over 6 hours. I directed boats to the docks, helped people with handing them oars for the boats, and then helped to unload them from the dock. Later on, I helped with the ice cone maker. It was fun to just watch other people participating in a sport that I am so passionate about. Also, it was an experience to sit watch the sport from the perspective of an observer, rather than a participant.

Lesson Learned: The sport of rowing can be run efficiently only with the help of volunteers. The sport involves a lot of help from the volunteers in directing boat traffic, loading, unloading and serving food.