This week, the Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) class across the hall invited us to join them for a couple days of wiring. The exercise of connecting lamps and switches taxed some very different mental muscles from those required to calculate angles of hip and valley rafters. It was challenging and mildly terrifying, but ultimately exhilarating, when the lights flashed on and no one screamed in pain.

Thank you to instructor Barry (at the white board, below) and HVAC student Benny for their tireless patience in teaching us how circuits run. I will think of you guys every time I flip the 3-way light switch in my kitchen.

And how awesome is that industrial-chic mobile in the background (below) featuring various air filters and fixtures? Almost as awesome as this sign advising on HVAC school attire…There’s some elaborate new ink among my classmates. (Philippians…Ouch, that’s a lot of letters.)Meanwhile, back in the Building Construction Technology classroom, we started learning how to cut stringers to build staircases. For step-by-step stairway math, check out this post from earlier in the week.Classmate Maher continues to dazzle us with his carpentry skills. He has a new baby, so this week he brought in some wood he salvaged from old shipping crates and started crafting this beautiful crib (below). I continue to be so inspired by Maher’s skill and creativity in woodworking that I bought my own jack plane (below). Maher taught me how to use a plane when we were making garage doors in the fall, so when I stumbled upon this old Morhand at an estate sale, I couldn’t resist. (That’s my dog.  She’s not very handy with tools.)