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A lot can change in the span of one week.

Some things that I was expecting but not trying to expect (wrap your head around that) have happened. This is leading to a chain of events that are inevitable. This does not mean, however, that I can just lose focus of what is currently going on.

I am both happy and sad at what happened, and what it will lead to. Along the way I have experienced plenty of great experiences that have made me better as a person. That I am sure of.

Hopefully I can ride this great wave to better and greater heights.

Out.

Refurbished Pallets

Since I started watching Tiny House Nation I've gotten a lot of ideas about refurbishing used items, specifically pallets.

We have lots of used pallets at work, and originally I was planning on buying some of them so I could refurbish them at home with my dad into various different useful stuff. 

We're expecting a shipment of items at work, and our stock area was a total mess. My boss wanted to create some shelves from our old pallets so we had vertical space to stack stuff instead of everything on the floor.

With his approval I proposed a design for a three-tier rack based on used pallets. Yesterday with the help of my boss' all-around driver we managed to create two racks. Here's some photos from our projects.

The first thing we did was remove the three legs of the pallets, and I decided to keep the base intact. We also reused the nails that were holding the pallets together.

Starting our rack

Making the legs stand up gave us three levels instantly. Plus another good thing is all levels are raised off the floor, to avoid having our stock get wet.

Pallets fit on legs so no need to cut anything

We needed to modify my initial design. In the first rack we used four legs only. The second rack we added a fifth support leg along the middle of the length of the shelf. This added stability to the rack and I'm guessing increased the load capacity per shelf. We also changed the orientation of how we placed the legs on the racks.

First rack, note the lack of fifth leg

And there you have it, two refurbished racks we now have in our storage area. Our floor space got a lot less cluttered because we are now using vertical space, plus we were able to save some money because we didn't have to buy racks for storing. Oh, and we decided to add a fifth leg to the first rack for added stability.

Notice we changed how the legs were oriented on the second rack

I also learned a lot of "carpentry" stuff building the racks.

The only downside I can see is now my body is very, very sore because aside from building racks, we had to move all the stuff around. As you can see from some photos we did not finish moving the stuff. We were too tired after all.

Out.

My Current Dream (Tiny) House

Ever since I became aware of them around 2012 or 2013, my fascination with tiny houses has grown.

Something about being able to live in such a small, economical, practical, and energy-efficient abode attracted me, the same way I am attracted to small, economical, practical cars.

The show "Tiny House Nation" shown on FYI helped fan the flames of curiosity I have, to the point that my current dream house is now a tiny house.

I know it will be a big challenge to live in such a small place. The bedroom where my wife, my daughter, and I currently stay at is about the size of a (really) tiny house. For my dream house, I was thinking of a floor area of around 30 square meters, or around 322 square feet.

Based on what I have seen on television and the internet, that would be a pretty big tiny house. The difference with this dream house I want is that I don't want it to be mobile. If this dream was achieved in the Philippines I'd rather have it built on the ground with a solid foundation.

So what would my tiny dream house have?

1. Two sleeping lofts. One for my wife and I, and another for my daughter and any future children. My biggest concern here is how to climb both. Do I go with one "full-size" staircase and a ladder? Or should there be two ladders? The problem with ladders is when my wife and I get older we could have problems going up to sleep.
2. A sloped roof, where solar panels would be placed. This would provide additional power for the house, and maybe heat our water. Also, I never was a fan of the gabled roofs commonly seen in Tiny House Nation.
3. The kitchen would have at least two burners or induction stoves, an oven, a good sink, a decent sized counter for prep, and a big refrigerator. Maica and I love to cook, and so we need a place where we can relax. The kitchen is that place.
4. The bathroom would have a faucet-shower combo, a toilet (I don't think I can handle a composting toilet yet), and a slightly deep sink where we can wash clothes. It doesn't have to be big. I was imagining it to be around 2 meters long by 1.4 meters wide. Oh, and it should have a tabo, or dipper.
5. A sofa bed. This would be in the common area, and the purpose is for guests or for Maica and I when we get older.
6. A self-cleaning fish tank. The link at the previous sentence was a Kickstarter project I became aware of a few years ago, and I was impressed. We'd get a small herb garden, and we would be able to care for a pet fish as well. I wouldn't mind having a dog in the house but he/she might not fit.

These are some of the things I've thought about having for my tiny dream house. I admit I currently have no idea how to achieve this dream, but I will still keep this dream alive. And update it to whatever taste I have as of that moment.

Out.

Biking

I actually rode a bike for the first time in a long time last August 23, 2014 at Panglao Island in Bohol. We were staying at Amorita Resort and they had four mountain bikes you could borrow (for free) and take out to the island for bike rides.

I convinced myself to go with my dad, and off we went. It was very tiring, for me at least, because the last time I went on a bike was in high school, around 1994. I specifically remember because I had a bad wipe out during a bike ride and after that I only rode one more time.

How bad was the wipe out? A friend cut me off and his rear tire hit my front tire, locking it at a 90° angle and sending me flying off my bike. Not knowing how to fall properly, I land on the right side of my face. Fortunately the accident happened just one house away from where I lived. Unfortunately after that I became afraid of biking.

Fast forward to this year. Maica's been asking me to go biking with her once in a while, and a few weeks ago I gave in. I couldn't last too long, my knees got sore and I was severely winded.

Now that it's the Holy Week holidays, Maica and I went biking yesterday in the village. I managed to bike longer because I wasn't forcing myself to go 15kph. This morning I again went for a quick bike ride. I'm not going past 2 - 3km for now, since I want to get my legs and stamina up first.

My legs are killing me. The good thing is I'm not as winded as when I went biking with Maica a few weeks ago. Moderation is probably the key thing, since I now don't try to push fast speeds. I'm perfectly happy going 9 - 12kph depending on road conditions.

I need to learn to balance better since I can't bike straight. Practice will handle that. I also want to be able to bike with no hands, something I used to do a lot when I was younger.

Who would have thought I'd be going biking again? I certainly didn't, but the itch is back. I want to get myself a proper helmet, since I now know how important safety is. I also want to get some glow in the dark stickers for my bike rims, so I can still do a quick circuit when I get home from work.

To be honest, I just hope I can maintain biking long enough to make this a healthy habit. My current short term goal is to keep biking. My mid term goal is to be able to go maybe 5 or 6 kilometers per circuit. And my long term goal is to be able to join my former officemates from Anino Games, who have their small bike group where they go biking to different places.

One step at a time.

Out.