CONST. MTRL. & TESTING: STONES

The most basic construction material is the stone. Basic in the sense that this is the natural material directly used in construction. Besides being used as aggregates (CA), stones are used in different kinds of construction works such as:

1. Face works  - stones being cut and chipped to be place as walls of structures. Face works are used to define a massive appearance on some places of the structure. Most often in residences, face works are used in fire places, dens and those places intended to feel cozy and warm.

2. Paving stones - stones which are also cut and chipped, however, laid out on the pavement or foot paths. Paving stones are usually noticed in foyers or garages to bring out the massive appearance of the ground.

Rocks are also used in forming railways ballasts, or even blocks in abutments. In foundations or excavations, rocks are used as retaining walls and with its density, these walls need no or little amount of concrete.

Rocks are also crushed into smaller pieces to be part of the concrete. This is known as coarse aggregates or aggregates. Good coarse aggregates are limited in size and used most often in the concrete building structure from foundation, columns, beams to slabs and even roofs.

Click for Lecture Notes in Stones

And yet the smaller pieces of rocks are converted as basic materials in fabricating other construction materials such as cement, hollow blocks, etc.

Artificial stones are those which are reconstructed. The common types of these stones are:

1. Terrazo              - cement and marble chips combined
2. Mosaic tiles        - pre-cast concrete tiles which are surfaced with marble chips
3. Cement concrete- reinforced cement concrete

Terrazo (courtesy of Color My World)

Mosaic Tiles (courtesy of IndiaMart)

CONST. MTRLS AND TESTING: FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES

Structures are built based on the engineers' or the architects perception of the project. From structures made from clay in the ancient times, steel and glass structures are built nowadays. Furthermore, with the global idea of saving the planet even much more innovations on different materials used in construction are being developed. Construction materials are divided into six general categories:

1. Metals and alloys    - this includes ferrous and non-ferrous materials and the combination of metals.
2. Ceramics                - tiles, bricks, roof and floor times and also certain kind of pipes
3. Polymers                - a combination of materials with a large amount of similar units bonded together, such as plastics, resins and synthetic materials.
4. Composites            - materials which are made up of different materials consisting of different properties such as cement.
5. Wood                     - timber
6. Advanced materials - these are the newly innovated kinds of materials which are made mostly from recycled materials or those materials scientifically studied to be alternative sources to make up a new, more eco-friendly construction material.
Click for Notes on Fundamental Properties of Construction Materials

Not only is the aesthetic property to be looked for and studied but more importantly the physical, mechanical, thermal, chemical and even the economic properties. These are the main parameters to check the suitability of a material for a structure.

Moreover, another major concern of the course is the availability of the materials, this holds the threshold if the material is to be considered as a good material or not. The study of availability of the materials includes the traces and economics in producing them.

HOW TO ENTICE YOUR MAN THIS VALENTINES

Men would always be the one working on a sweeter Valentine’s experience for the women. However, they come short of planning and making the experience more memorable. I mean, they do make the 14^th really meaningful and full of love but they would act like a usual guy all the other days before it. So this time, its the ladies' turn to perk up the occasion by working on the 8 days before Valentine’s. These ideas would need careful planning although it would not cost much, preparation time is what you would need. Make the thought and action count more than giving him a present this time.

courtesy of Etsy

7^th February: Send him a small card asking him to be your valentine. When you meet on that day, act casual but before he leaves, hand him a small card, stay with him as he opens it, face him and look intently through his eyes while he reads your message. Stay quiet, like no expression and just wanting to know his answer. If he teases you and says no, don’t break your stare at him and remain silent like your life depends on his yes.

8^th of February: Because you just got his yes the other night. Be the first one to post to his timeline how happy you feel to be his valentine. Be creative and work on sparks or anything available. This should be posted an hour or more before he wakes up so you got the time to answer to friends’ comments and he can read all these when he wakes up.

9^th February: This is the day when you get to send a post to him. Have a hand written card posted to him at work. Have the address like a fictitious sweet place like 143 Loverslane, Sunset Blvd or Loveland, XOXO Ave. Enclose in the card a photo you had with him. Remind him of that time you took that photo and how happy you were.

10^th February: Get up early and head to his home. Pick him up and drop him to work. Make sure that before doing this, he is really going to work and not to some conference or seminar somewhere else. You can give him the heads up a few minutes before you arrive. Give him a call and tell him you are on the way to pick him up for work. Take some newly baked doughnuts and hot coffee then tell him you got his breakfast handled. Before dropping him at work. Tell him you are going to pick him up later after work.

11^th February: This day falls on a weekend for 2018. You have more time to arrange a movie with him. Rather than watching a movie in the theater, it will be more appreciated if you bring the movie to his home. Prepare the popcorn and drinks as well. This is a movie he likes watching and though you are less interested in the kind of movie, just stay with him and intently watch it.

12^th February: Record a short video of you singing your favorite love song. Send this video to him on his break time at work. Select that time when you know that he is busy or already stressed out. Make him laugh and feel how relieving to see you on those moments he is already tired.

courtesy of Foodal

13^th February: Bring him lunch at work. If you have time, it would even be sweeter if you cook the lunch you are bringing for him. Take along candles and elegant wears. An hour like this in his office will be magical.

14^th February: Wake him up with a call about half an hour before he gets up. Ask him not to stand up or prepare for work yet. Let him lie on bed and just tell him things you love about him. Make it sweet but not lusty. Keep him thrilled to meet you on your Valentine’s date. Then it will be his turn to let you know just how much he loves you.

A little effort from you to make Valentine's day worth remembering. Do things which would make him realize that he made the right choice of having you in his life. 

BASIC GEOMATICS: TRAVERSE AND TRAVERSE COMPUTATIONS

Traversing is the surveying method to determine stations by using traverse lines observed using the different methods in determining angles, directions and distances.

Click for Notes on Traverse and Traverse Computations

The two kinds of traverse are closed traverse and open traverse. Closed traverse is further identified as those which have the last remaining station with known information which means the surveyors would have a definite idea on the discrepancy in cases when errors are observed. Closed traverses are those commonly employed when checking the boundary lines of a property and when surveying routes for pavement or roads with the end station of known angle.

Open traverse, on the other hand, is similar with the traverse used for roads but the only difference is that this kind of traverse have an unknown last station. Surveyors have no basis to check the angles observed in the procedure.

Traverses are measured by the following methods:

A. Interior / Exterior Angle

B. Angle to the Right / Left

C. Deflection Angles

D. Bearings

E. Azimuths

BASIC GEOMATICS: MEASUREMENT OF ANGLES AND DIRECTIONS

Although the compass is already included in topics involving the transit, introductory discussion about measurement of angles focusing on its use should be discussed.

Compasses have different units although the most common is using the degrees. In technical subjects, one has already been introduced to radians where 2 radians would equal to 360 degrees. The other units to learn in this chapter are the:

A. Grads

B. Mils

Furthermore, the meridians ( the invisible circle line passing at certain specified places at the terrestrial poles on the surface of the earth) are categorized according to how they are observed:

A. True meridian

B. Magnetic meridian

C. Grid meridian

D. Assumed meridian

With these kinds of meridian, it is easy to follow that there would also be 4 different ways to designate the north points.

Notes on Measurement of Angles and Directions

This discussion covers the horizontal angles and there are different kinds to measure them.

1. Interior angles - as long as it is clear on where the target area is, interior angles will be considered in observing the area of a lot. Traversing or working on the bouNdary lines would always consider he angles included inside the area. The opposite procedure for this method is the Exterior angles. Both have similar procedures and only differ in computation of angles.

2. Angles to the right considers the movement of traversing. The clockwise movement of proceeding with the traverse is followed while moving counterclockwise signifies Angles to the left method.

3. Deflection angles is a totally different method from the two previously discussed. This method works with the immediately previously observed traverse line, and checks on the deviation of the next direction with this line.

4. Bearings are a common method used in surveying where the four quadrants of the coordinate system is considered. This is a method imploring the use of the directions North, South, East and West with the angles.

5. Azimuths are similarly often used by surveyors as the bearings. The only difference is azimuths work on the full revolution of 360 degrees using either the reference North or South. Thus this method only gives the angles without directions.

VALENTINE'S GIFT IDEAS: COUPLE WATCHES

With couples displaying more of their commitment to each other, most objects they share were born in pair (often termed couple stuff). While it was funny yet sweet to see couples wearing similar shirts before, or wearing similar shoes, it has already been a normal trend to see these days. This Valentine's day, if you still have not decided on what to give to your special someone, perhaps you would consider using stylish couple watches.

Celebrate the day of hearts with gift ideas with these Ulzzang simple high school students porous popular watch with a simple yet stylish design not quite seen with watches. With leather straps and mineral glass material, these watches are an elegant display of togetherness in style.

If you are looking for an affordable yet stylish couple watch for this Valentine's day, the BYL compass Wheel Gear watch pointer is also a good option. The 3.7cm alloy watch (female watch) is strapped in stainless steel.

PROTECTING YOURSELF ON THE BEACH: USE RASH GUARDS

It’s another summertime and people will be crowding on beaches to refresh themselves from the scouring heat of the sun once more. The dry, hot sand, combined with the blazing heat of the sun - these are all a part of the beach vacation most of us look forward too.

However, people now do observe proper clothing in order to protect themselves from any injuries or later problems. It is a matter of fact that people are already concerned with skin irritation due to too much exposure to the sun rays.

So instead of wearing skimpy bikinis which are truly nice to look at especially with so many different colors reflecting with the sparkles in the water the sun rays themselves, more people prefer using longer clothing. I don’t mean using jeans and cotton shirts in this case as the fabrics may hinder one to enjoy the beach adventure.

Rash guards are already getting more popular for basically all beach goers, no matter which activities they intend to do. Men and women of all ages, small kiddies are seen wearing their cute rash guards even.

With rash guards, one will surely be protected from sun exposure. For the type of person who would just enjoy the water, and no deep diving, boarding or skiing to do, rash guards would still fit their activities. Asians who wanted to keep their complexion while enjoying the sun might as well wear long sleeve rash guards in order to protect themselves.

For the exterme adventurists like those boarding or diving, rash guards are also the best recommended wear as they not only protect one the sun but also from any possible injuries they might encounter. Having to wrap yourself with a truly flexible material will keep you safe from any foreign objects that might hurt you in the water.

NAVY BLUE rash guard

NEON GREEN rash guard

And from the name itself, rash guard, it is easy to understand why these suits were ever invented. Not only from the heat of the sun but there are some things n the water which can totally give swimmers rashes. Some beaches may have jelly fishes or see weeds floating. Although not all are itchy, it would be safer to have your whole self protected against these water inhabitants so as not to spoil your vacation.

As I prepare for the great beach bash, I procured rash guards for my family. And since they are quite conservative, both of them chose to buy something long. I bought their suits online and delivery is in perfect timing. The suits came in four pieces:
                      a. a long sleeved zippered shirt,
                      b. long pants or (long leggings for the other), 
                      c. an underwear, and 
                      d. a swimming brassier 
for the good price. I've chosen those shirts with zippers to be able to have them removed easily. I also think these are the styles seldom found in shops and stores.

Although they are items sold internationally, the delivery was prompt and the price is just right for the quality, beauty and comfort. Great material, stylish look, price worth it!

A FAMILY REUNION NOT TO REMEMBER BUT TO REMINISCE

December 2017, while enjoying the holiday seasons with our relatives, a great news broke out that there will be a grand reunion where the Quiniones clan, the Ronquillo families and Cabading clan will all meet together on the end of January. Preparations were made, food committees, program committees, travel buddies, what to do, what to eat, where to stay and so many things were planned. The first gen (that is, the oldies) scouted for a nice venue, reserved a nice spot at San Fabian beach and officially announced that the reunion will take place on the 27^th until the 28^th of February.

Quiniones delegates were asked to wear red on the event and Baguio members started the travel. With the clan in charge of carrying the food along, 2 vehicles were used, the pick up, carrying the food and some families, packed in together for the carpool and the SUV fully packed as well. The schedule of trip was set on the 26^th right after the students get home; a night earlier for the preparation of food for the whole multitude of people to be arriving.

We stayed at Grey Sands resort, located at the end point of the beach. The way to this resort is kind of strange for business as there is only two access roads to the area located on both ends straight to the highway and cars need to drive around 500m or more on the shore to reach the resort. The reserved place is a dormitory type room where 15 double mattresses are prepared. Each family took a mattress reserved for sleeping.

The SUV arrived at the destination almost around 8pm. Everyone feeling tired and hot especially hungry. As we unpack our things, the other vehicles arrived - the pick up also coming from Baguio city, the jeepney type van carrying the Cabading troop and two other vehicles, a car and an SUV from Manila. Everyone at the place, everyone catching up, everyone noisy and everyone hungry. Some boys started preparing dinner while the others welcomed Lolo Bart, the initiator of the event with drinks, most women, helped in food preparation and arranging the room. Our dinner … dinuguan! All ate, hungry and tired but not sleepy.

Papu looked for me and told me that I was asked to meet lolo Bart. We have already met a few years ago when we had a Skype conference. He was scouting for a residential plot in Baguio city where he intends to build his Baguio residence or have a boarding house for income. I kind of feel shy to meet him in person so when we came to see face to face, a hug is a more preferred greeting than mano for me. I get to say a few greetings and words then here comes another elderly man with antie Nila. My aunt, I still recognize well, and because of her I recognize Uncle Nitoy. I hugged my uncle and its pretty obvious from his face that he has got no idea on who I am. I asked him a couple of times to try to remember about a girl in Baguio city that he often visited before but all attempts failed. I gave up and told him "I am Sharon" and he was so surprised and so remembered everything.

I was not able to sleep well and although I went to bed at midnight, I was already up by 5:30. I excitedly started changing to my rashguard, shook my daughter with me to wake up and refreshing for the day. I would like to capture the sunrise! After a few pieces of pandesal and a cup of hot coffee, and after the kids are ready, we rushed to take some early morning pictures on the shore before I need to rush to the market to prepare for my games.

The day was pleasant, the sun was not out that Saturday, it was a very nice day to dip into the beach. Children and some relatives enjoyed the beach, strong waves near the shore but totally low tide experience. Before lunch, some bunch went boating routing to the mangrove. As a safety precaution we wore life vests and divided our group into two going to the two boats. We get to see mangrove and oyster farms but unluckily, we have to walk back home as our boats propeller dropped off the boat while on our trip back to the resort.

 

Red team with their Thank You Carol

After lunch, the program began, invocation given by Albert, welcome remarks by mamila and opening remarks by lolo Bart. A part where each family member should be introduced was also squeezed in the program because the big number makes us unable to recognize everyone especially those who were added to the family by marriage. Then games, games and more games where the couple empowered the laughter. When the laughing and the fun subsided, each family had their thank you carol to lolo Bart and in return he distributed tokens for each family. The program ended with our dinner and when everyone has packed up the Cabading family started t go on their way. Who were left on the evening were the Quiniones and Ronquillo.

Yellow team giving their thank you messages

Sunday morning was time to take group pictures on shore. Everyone wearing their rashguards walked straight to the beach and swam then left for the pool after a few hours. With the checkout scheduled at 12noon everyone get to the shower by 10:30 to prepare for the travel home.

 

After the sumptuous lunch, everyone bid goodbye to each other. Lunch ended around 11:30 but it took 30 minutes for everyone to say their goodbyes and take last minute pictures. It was so hard to part ways. We went out of the resort and headed to the parking and again took half an hour to talk about things and say goodbye.

I asked lolo Bart what he would do after his visit in the Philippines. He said he would get back to work as he was never really fond of the word “Retire”. He said he’ll get back to managing his real estate then continued saying “We will have another reunion, probably after 2-3 years. I will plan again and ask those from Hawaii to join us.” After that, he gave me a tight hug.

HOW TO HELP YOUR KIDS EXCEL

All throughout time, the mother will always be the first one to meddle with her kid's life. They would want their children to be at the top of everything definitely! One can notice this easily on the end of the school day when parents (that is, moms) group together and wait for their little darlings to come out of the class. Topics will always be what they were doing right before they went to pick up their kid or a million topics where they make a hero out of their teenie babies. The story with a very simple topic will be unending as one after the other, mommies will be boasting on how her baby made it through.

Mothers like to give everything to their babies. They do as much as they could, in their best, to provide everything. Sometimes, this might even be misinterpreted by the others as spoon feeding, but this is just how mothers are.

 

courtesy of langleychildren.com

However, in education, the system has already revolved. If you noticed, there is some time allotted to individual work. As the government already addressed the issue of homework over the weekend for children to relax after the long 5-day stressful week, schools also started training the children to work on their own. School heads add to their faculty meetings to let the parents understand that they are to help the students with their homework by just guiding them on what to do and not to do the task for their kids.

With this new system, it is just limiting the influence of the parents on the child’s learning, however, parents could still work on helping their kids.

Be an example. Just like what the popular quote says, “Action speaks louder than words” it is best to show your children on how you handle your own tasks. With my two part-time jobs, I usually make every minute worth spending over things which could help me and my kids. I keep on reminding them to prioritize things. I allow them to do whatever they like, weekdays or weekends, they can still watch TV, check videos and chat with friends, however, they have to make sure that they have finished their school tasks and studied. It is all on how they discipline themselves. They should know on when they got enough and when they need to stop. So, when they did something more than they can handle, all I get to say is, "I told you so."

 

courtesy of Huffington Post

Be resourceful. Employed in the education industry, I would always need to update myself about those things I teach in my classes. I do research and check on different ways on how to have better or faster results.  Living in a very stuffy small house, my children witness all these methods I do at home. I remembered my niece and nephew (now grade 9 and college) borrowed textbooks in history for their classes but I never saw my daughter (grade 11) looked for or used the book. I wondered and asked her, then she just answered, “I don’t need the book anymore, I searched over the net and got so much information and even the summary of the story. That's all I needed.”

courtesy of felesteen.ps

Think outside the box. This is something that you should let your children understand. Although you are not there to help on their tasks, you can guide them on how to start their projects or writings. I never got satisfied or happy submitting a 2-D poster when I can work on making it a 3-D. As long as I abide by the rules given to me. That is why I always make sure that the rules are clear. Whenever I get to talk about working on projects or competition exhibits, I tell my kids that they should think about something unique. First, they think about a project and then analyze on how many of their classmates think the same. If they think that even one of their peers has the same idea, then scrap it out and move to a better one. My children are not yet experts on their works and I see much improvement to be done but I think they already are on the right track on how to brainstorm.

Be confident. I was a working student in college and was fortunate enough to join a seminar about quality living. After the seminar the company of hundreds of employees planned the anniversary party making me and my fellow scholar the emcees. There is no reason or excuse to shy out or give excuses because one quality discussed was to be proactive. Proactive means thinking it through at the lighter side. This principle I always teach my kids. Once in second grade, on their Christmas party, my daughter wanted the prizes so much but too shy to join the games. I told her in a big harsh voice that it is impossible for her to have any of the prizes without winning any contest. Amazingly that worked. From that time on until now, my girls are confident enough with what they do. They get invited impromptu to be part of church readers or go on stage and give speeches, they go voluntarily.

It is not bad to make our babies feel like babies, but it would be better to train them be better more successful persons than we are now. My kids are moving to their tertiary education so my story is yet to be unfolded. Perhaps when they are truly successful after a few years, then I can let everyone know of my Effective Methods of Training my Kids.

BASIC GEOMATICS: VERTICAL MEASUREMENTS

Vertical distances will be measured by leveling instruments as it would be impossible for surveyors to use the tape to do the procedure. In order to have a hands-on real idea on how the procedure is gone through, students are given the dumpy level in order to focus on just the vertical measurement right after horizontally leveling the telescope.

 

courtesy of John A. Dutton e-Education Institute

The preliminary study lies on the definition of terms which would be encountered in the procedures. The route will be divided into segments and each of these stations may either be called the following:

1. Benchmarks - the stations which are of more importance to the procedure. Most often in the field work, students will be using only two benchmarks (BM-1 and BM-2) although, in practice there is not any limitation of setting out the number of benchmarks in surveying.

2. Turning Points - stations similar with BMs, however, these are stations with lesser importance. They were set up in order to have equally divided segments along the course.

The procedure covers students to read elevations from two stadia rods, one at the point of origin and the other as they move to the point of destination.

1. Backsight reading - the elevation reading from the point of origin.

2. Foresight reading - assuming students determined the flow of surveying, this is the elevation reading going to the point of destination.

3. Intermediate foresight readings - there are leveling methods whereby other readings are taken surrounding the course. These readings are used to map out the terrain of the area.

Different leveling techniques shall be used based on accuracy of data, the purpose of surveying, or the terrain of the area. The most basic is Differential Leveling in which the course are set out and students simply take backsight and foresight readings on field. The different alterations of this method are:

a. Double-rodded which uses two stadia readings (lower and higher) to make more precise elevation data.

b. Three-wire which makes use of the different hairs observed inside the eyepiece (upper hair, crosshair, lower hair).

Click here for Vertical Measurements Notes in PDF

When the surveyors are more concerned with the topography of the area, they implore the other methods of leveling:

a. Profile leveling in which they need to take numerous intermediate foresight readings to plot out the configuration of the surrounding terrain.

b. Rise and fall method is a similar surveying procedure as profile leveling however, the computation depends on the discrepancy of elevations thus rise or fall.

Reciprocal leveling is used specially if the elevations to be determined are on points laying between ravines or wide rivers. Since this situation will not allow surveyors to have readings on the water or ravine, they need to implore a different working method both on field procedure and computation.