New Benchtops for HiveBio

HiveBio is a DIYBio lab, which means we are putting together a lot of our own equipment. We built our own microscopes, our own shelves, and so its not surprising that we also built our own benches. The original benches in the lab were study, but had wood tops. In a traditional science lab, the lab benches (where you stand to do work) have chemical-proof, flame-proof surfaces. We've only been open a few months now, but the wooden top benches are one of the clues that we aren't a "real" lab.

It's not that hard to talk my Dad in to a construction project these days. When he came to the lab opening party, I mentioned that someday we wanted flame retardant tops, and the very next week I got an update since he happened to be at the tile store 50 miles from his house. And they happened to have the perfect thing for the lab that they were totally willing to donate. These are benchtops from an old school. They were worn, but certainly salvageable and durable. Props to Tile Lines http://www.tilelines.com/ for this generous gift.

Benchtops in need of refinishing.

He brought home 3 tops. He refinished them by spending many gritty hours sanding them down. 

Just a few hours of sanding and buffing, and all those streaks come off.

He painted them all with concrete finish, and now they look really nice. 

The first benchtop, resealed and finished on a brand new sturdy base.

Of course, looking nice in my driveway wasn't quite the end goal. The final step was to load each of the ~150lb slabs back in the truck, deliver them to the lab, and navigate them through the twisty turn corridors of the building. Fortunately, we were able to recruit some students on that day, and my dad played ignorance if mainland social norms ("what do you mean the grass isn't for driving on?") and the unload process took only a few minutes. 

He spent some money and a lot of hours, but it's a major facelift to the lab, and an important step to help us with capacity building. Fantastic. If you want to see the final product, come by the lab sometime.

And btw- the thermometer is hovering around 75% right now. 

Almost half way there!

As I expected, finding a job is cutting into my time for planning and executing wild, philanthropic adventures. But the thermometer keeps ticking along regardless. In the last few weeks, my dear Karen AND my Dad donated blood without me even pestering them to death about it!  Saving lives and eating cookies!

In a month where I have had more money to leverage than time, I was able to support several friend's philanthropic efforts, including Paramita's Alzheimer's Walk, Karl's AIDS walk, and Ian's Half marathon for his local children's hospital. It's been really fun to get involved in some of my own walks this summer, but I also know that it can be awesome to have people help make your fundraising goals.  And all of those are great causes!

I've also been chugging away at my 'regular' volunteer activities. (More meatballs to the shelter this week) In the next month, I will have used up my current contract, so I have a suspicion that next month will be structured the opposite: more time than money.  We'll see if I can figure out the best way to leverage that for some Good.

And let's just take a look at that thermometer. It is SO CLOSE to 50%. Want to help me push it over the edge? I am looking for help for a particular project this weekend, please let me know if you are free and in the Seattle area Saturday.

Guest Post: Austin Partners in Education

From time to time, I' like to hear from the folks I've coerced into helping me with this goal. My big brother was one of the first people to jump on board with this project, and he spent the spring volunteering in Austin public schools as a math tutor/educator. Here are his thoughts on the volunteer experience he has had at Austin Partners in Education.

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My favorite destination for my volunteer money or time has always been education. As near as I can tell, it solves every problem. It lifts people from poverty, helps them make better decisions, opens up opportunities for further growth, and helps build communities in healthy and sustainable ways. It solves energy problems, medical problems, social problems, and even educational problems! It's the best. Education is really just the best. We should do more of it.

Education has also been the first area where I've donated more time than money this year. It's been a long, long time since I volunteered any time, but after looking for a while for a reason to periodically get out of the house, I stumbled upon a volunteer opportunity that was perfect for me. It involved helping teach kids math, one of my favorite and best fields. It was near my work, near lunchtime, and afforded me the opportunity to not only get out of the house for a while, but also work with kids who could really use my help.

The volunteer opportunity I tried was called Austin Partners in Education. It's a pretty big organization, boasting something like 2000 volunteers. Once a week, I would go in and work in very small groups (nearly one-on-one) with kids who were having trouble with math. It was all pretty straightforward stuff, but getting to do teaching, math, and volunteering all at once? Sounded like a great time to me. What they mostly needed from potential volunteers wasn't a lot of crazy experience or anything, mostly just enthusiasm and a willingness to be patient with kids who needed it. I could do that. (Hint: so can you!)

For the most part, it wasn't too bad. I was perfectly willing to give them a lot of patience: my usual math student was less than 2 at the time, and he still hasn't picked up counting yet. The fact that it took the other students a couple of tries to pick complex fractions was a welcome change of pace. Each day we'd do a little more work, sometimes offering encouragement as they worked, sometimes dragging them through the exercises, and sometimes failing even to do that. But you do what you can, and though the kids I was working with were in middle school, and already too cool to appreciate anything, we were continuously reminded by the teachers that they could really see improvement in their students. And the kids did appreciate it, even if they didn't say so with, you know, words. Or actions. Or facial expressions.

I enjoyed it, and being as school is starting up soon I'm planning on volunteering again when the program starts up for the new year. Every year there's a new crew of kids that need help with math, and by Jove! I just might be the incredibly dorky math nerd to help them. If this sounds like the sort of thing you might want to try, here's some little tips you may want to consider:

1. Bring your own pencils and/or pens. The kids often don't have their own, or are willing to fake it so they don't have to work.
2. Bring neat stuff. I got a lot of mileage out of my cool and unique backpack.
3. It's okay to talk about your interests, especially if it's stuff like video games or (hurk) pop music that they can get into as well. You have to let them come out of their shell in their own way.
4. But do remember that you are an authority as well, and it's your main goal to get them to do work. You can't force them to do anything, of course, but you might be surprised how well telling them 'it's time to work' will just make it so.

Now get out there and change some lives!

What a Great Birthday!

I have the best friends and family ever. Seriously. I'm still so excited about all the good stuff yinz did for my big day.

First things first: we shattered the 30% mark! 31.5% is the official high water mark as of my birthday!

Is it crass to talk numbers? I don't really care. For my actual birthday, my awesome friends and family helped me to push up the thermometer nearly $900- nearly 3% of the way there! In one day!

So let's break it down. I had TWO friends go in for their very first blood donations, thanks Karen and Ruth! Both of them said it was not terrible, that people were very friendly and they got to eat cookies. You should try this.

My parents gave another donation to one of my favorite teachers on Donor's Choose who is moving to a new classroom and needs (choke) pencils for her third grade students who can't afford their own pencils and crayons. Ms. Kacsur's classroom has been supported by my folks in the past, someday soon I hope to scan in some of the thank you cards I got from her students. *misty eyes*

AND my parents gave me some hats to take to Friends of Youth (you may be wondering if generosity is hereditary: I believe it is a learned behavior). Combined with the lamps and tent from Karen, I'm ready to take quite a haul to the Friend's of Youth office up the hill from me, to distribute these items to foster, at risk and homeless youth.

My parents ALSO gave some money to Northwest Harvest, the regional food bank. It both infuriates and inspires me that there can be people in America who would go hungry, if it weren't for the work of food banks like Northwest Harvest. I'm glad to finally get them up on the board.


I'm so glad to support Northwest Harvest, in fact, that I asked my friends to participate in a game of "skill" at my birthday party. We opened a pool for ladder golf, and planned to split the pool between the winner and Northwest harvest.  This resulted in both some friendly rivalry AND $80 for Northwest Harvest. Aren't my friends awesome??

I had a great time, and I really can't think of a better way to spend the day. Thanks to my friends to hung out with me, supported the causes I care about, and generally made me feel awesome about turning 30.

Before the SummeRun 5K. It might take me longer than 10 minutes.

What Makes Volunteer Work Easier?

After than initial excitement about launching this project, I've been faced with the multitude of ways that this si going to be a formidable challenge.  I don't have infinite time or money, and you can't just insist that people you know support your crazy efforts, especially if it requires time or money.

That being said, I've also started to crack the secrets of making this work.  Well, they aren't so much secrets as they will be key to my plan.

1) Do things you like.  It's hard to commit your limited free time to anything, but finding something that is fun, and you might have done anyway, is a pretty great way to get in some volunteer work.  That's part of the reason I'm enjoying cooking for Friend's of Youth, I like cooking, and it happens to really help some people in need. Awesome.  It's a similar deal with running a 5K- you might have gone for a run anyway, why not pitch in a few bucks to support a good cause while going for a run somewhere new?

2) Time is valuable.  Part of this reflects how I set up the project, but it will be much easier for me to find 900 hours to volunteer than $30,000 to give away.  My time is valuable, and there are a number of people looking for someone to show up at some event and help out. If you have the time to spare, it means a lot, both to the organization you are helping, and I think actually participating feels more worthy.

3) Use the multiplier.  Volunteering can be a little intimidating if you go alone- meeting strangers, doing new things. I'm much happier doing that sort of thing if I've brought a friend.  And it's a lot easier to rack up hours when you've got friend matching you hour for hour.  How do you think the Science Fair turned into such a huge event? (Thanks Karen!)

Consider yourselves warned, I'm going to be egging on my family and friends to come and do fun things with me in the name of charity.

Even The Kiddos Can Help!

My sister-in-law just informed me that she and my nephew have started volunteering with an organization called Little Helping Hands. Their mission is to support raising kids to value volunteerism by making it a family activity. My family helped out by cleaning up a park.

Also, my nephew isn't yet two. I am just loving the idea of him helping out and volunteering!