19th Day of Project

So today we started on the Gas Absorption lab. The professor set up the equipment the day before and we finished all the plumming this morning. We had to connect one tube to carry Oxygen into a glass bulb, and another tube to carry carbon dioxide from the glass bulb into the fume hood. (inhaling Carbon Dioxide in large concentrations can be fatal - makes sense).

The whole point of the of the lab is to blow CO2 into water, then blow air through and measure the conductivity. It depends on how much of the CO2 dissloves, form carbonic acid, and how much of that dissociates into ions.

So, the professor gave me a little lecture on conductivity, resistance and resistivity before we started with the lab. The resistivity is the ability of a material to resist electrical conduction, and is defined using this equation:

p= R*(A/l)

p (rho)= resistivity, R=resistance of the substance, A= cross-sectional area of the substance, l= length of the material/substance

We then started by blowing pure oxygen into the water and I measured the conductivity. From then on we put .5 % of CO2, and 99.5% O2, and measured the conductivity. I then continued the experiment, varying the amounts of CO2 and O2 blown through the water from .5 to 1.00. After blowing through the gases I had to wait for about 10 minutes before measuring the conductivity, and then leaving it for another 10 minutes to take a second reading (to see if the conductivity had changed) before changing the amounts of the gases.

So, tomorrow we'll be continuing the lab with varied percentages of CO2 and O2.

17th Day of Project - May 25, 2010

I apologize for the late blogging on this day, the reason I din't blog on that day is because I wasn't feeling very well. So I thought I should write a little bit about that day.

So, Prof. Wainright and I discussed the data I got from all the separation experiments I have been performing. We had some data that had been simulated by UNIF, so we compared the data and graphs I had with the simulation data. The data I had collected didn't turn out to be what we were expecting them to be. The data we had was nowhere close to the simulation, and that could be due to two reasons: either the simulation data is not entirely accurate (which is highly possible, because this data is not based on real experiments); or the separations I was trying to do (the liquid-liquid extration ofm methanol/water/1-octanol) could not work. The professor decided that according to my data there was no way we could do the lab, it would not work and it would lead the students to start concentrating on parts of the lab that are not vital.

As you can imagine, I was crushed to learn that the work I had done for three works hadn't given the results that I had expected. But as the professor told me, atleast we found out the lab wouldn't work before setting up the lab for the senior students and realizing late that it doesn't work. And he reminded me of what Albert Einstein once said, "If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be research."

Also, Mr. Looney made a site visit. I introduced him to the two professors I have been working with and showed him around the labs. I also got to explain to him about the experiments I had been doing, and about the GC (with major help from Dr. Virnelson, he explained in detail how the GC works.) And Prof. Wainright explained the experiment we were strating - Gas absorption.

Besides not feeling well, it was a great day.

The Country Club

We met with Mr. Josey, the GM at The Country Club. The history and reputation of The Country Club is unparalleled. The members tend to be high end businessmen or doctors. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest club on the east side of Cleveland.
Country has been a family club since the beginning; Country does a beautiful job of combining high class service and family oriented programs. They even offer paintball on the golf course and overnights. With 247 members, Country is no doubt one of the strongest clubs around. After a recent remodel, the club is built for the family even more. Mr. Josey, "We put our money where are mouth was, we kept saying we are a family club but now we truly are." However, the club keeps its formality in the dress code and dining requiring gentlemen to wear jackets in certain parts of the club. Children under 18 can wear jeans outside and not in the main dining room.
Country is able to turn a small profit on food and beverage due to their high number of banquets that the stunning campus can hold. The kitchen is well located in the center of the clubhouse and ran by an organized crew. Country offers a variety of dining options from a snack grill to a formal dining room. Also, Country does a good job offering activities for the members over the winter time from paddle tennis, skeet shooting, wine tasting, cooking classes, and the fitness center.
Country has a 125 acre course ran at a terrific level. Despite having a great course they have no interest in a professional tournament because the members do not want to give up any more days in their golf season. However, there is rich history including a few amateur tours. The course has junior tees so kids can feel comfortable learning the game.
Country sits atop the club industry with its elegance and breath taking club house and course. The members keep it strong with the pride and prestige that can only come with the name The Country Club.

Quail Hollow Country Club

Quail Hollow is a unique country club because it is apart of ClubCorp. When we met with Mr. Ranney, he explained to us that ClubCorp is a large organization based in Dallas that owns and manages country clubs throughout the nation. All the clubs are interconnected and share profits and losses. Quail Hollow has done very well due to its low dues but has not been given the capital to expand because of losses to another ClubCorp club for example in Georgia due to a drastic flood. ClubCorp has a special niche of business members because they can attend other clubs while traveling. Quail Hollow is unique because the dues are extremely low compared to other clubs ($375 month). However, with a lower price comes less exclusivity with 25% of golf play coming from non members. With two courses the problem is less of an issue. The club is very young with an average age of 44.
Quail Hollow has an affiliation with the Quail Hollow hotel. For $184 a night, you can play the course for free. Travelers can stay at the hotel while on business and use their ClubCorp membership.

The economy has effected all clubs hard and Quail Hollow is no exception. ClubCorp is forcing all employees to take two weeks off unpaid which amounts to a 2% reduction in salary. They have cut a lot of jobs so a lot of detailed work is lost. ClubCorp has two major philosophies to their members: 1.) No food and beverage minimums and 2.) No assessments. ClubCorp is connected to major companies to get deals for food and golfing equipment at a cheaper price. While this helps keep the price down, sometimes the quality is not as high because there is no competition between vendors. It occupies a unique niche for high middle class families because of its affordability.

Thanks for the Great Reading Material and Your Hard Work

Jackie, Tracy, Greg, Brian, and Sally,

Thanks so much for posting so much information on your blogs. The work that all of you are doing is very impressive and your full engagement in your projects is exactly what we hope for as your project advisors. You make Hawken proud by executing your projects with such vigor and professionalism. Oh, and I'm glad that you are having fun with your work too! I am sincerely looking forward to your final presentations because the quality of your projects is high and the variety of work you are doing is incredibly interesting.

Check your email from both Mr. Breisch and from me within the coming days to be sure that you have your final sponsor forms, reports, and presentations finished and ready to go on
June 4.

Stay the course!

Second to last week at OTS

Lately at Old Trail, I have been working with Senora's class of first graders. During Spanish class, almost every day, I take a group of two first grade students out into a different room and have them read SymTalk sentences from their workbooks out. As they read certain sentences, I record them speaking on the Garageband podcast tool on my laptop. This will be useful for teachers and parents at Old Trail; Old Trail plans on updating its website, and can possibly put these recordings on their website in a section discussing the first grade Spanish curriculum. I'm really excited that my podcasts could possibly help enhance the Old Trail website, and am having a blast with the first graders (I'm pretty sure they're having fun recording themselves speak too!).



I also am still trying to help Senora in any way possible-- from doing errands to making copies of lessons, just to make her job easier! I can say that I'm quite a pro at the copy machine now, and it's gotten to the point where many other teachers will see me in the halls and ask me to do them a few copying favors as well. From time to time I attend class hall meetings (and today was put on the spot to give a speech about my alumni relations with the school!), and school meetings, where yesterday I helped Senora present awards for a Spanish contest that the middle school students recently participated in. During school meetings, I've also gotten to see the middle school play and band concert. Additionally, I've been in touch with Mrs. Vicki Henschen, one of the heads of the alumni office, and have helped correspond with my class about upcoming alumni events at Old Trail.


My wonderful sponsor has also found ways to help me learn some basic conversational Spanish! In the 7th grade class, I'm doing an "oral quiz" activity, in which I take out a group of two students at a time (and end up working with about six students in total per class each day), and I have a list of questions to ask them. They have to respond to the questions, and with the little Spanish that I now know, I judge the quality of their responses to the questions. It's a pass-fail quiz, so basically as long as they understand the question and show effort in answering the questions they pass. I've loved not only learning more conversational Spanish, but also getting to know the 7th graders one on one and learning more about them.

Furthermore, I've been helping out Senora's 7th grade Spanish class with some information on Hugo Chavez. Along with learning Spanish language, the students learn about Hispanic culture, and are currently learning about Venezuela. Senora wanted them to know some information on Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela, so for her class, I researched him and came up with a packet of information on him. In class, the students will read some of the paragraphs I choose out loud, and will write down notes on Chavez. Also, the 7th grade class has recently finished a project on a travel destination in the areas of South America and the Caribbean. They had to use Wikipages to post their information, and needed a lot of help with figuring out how to work with the websites and create their pages. Thankfully, I was able to be a big help to Senora and the 7th graders with their projects! Additionally, Senora likes to implement Spanish songs into her classes-- the kids are really enthusiastic about Spanish music and culture, and learn a lot of vocabulary through the songs. Recently, I've helped her find songs and lyrics from certain artists, such as Shakira and Enrique, and soon she will show them to the class.


And, of course, I've continued to work with my 4th grade friend, Juan Pablo. We're winding down and finishing up recording books, and lately I've been working a lot on editing the recordings and will soon be able to burn the recordings onto CD's. I can't wait to present the CD's to the kindergarten teachers!

Portage Country Club

We were told by a few of the clubs to see Portage Country Club to get a feel for a club in the Akron area. Unfortunately Mr. LeFevour couldn't attend but Mr. Alverez was kind enough to show us the beautiful club. With 538 members, the club is vibrant but very old in membership and facilities. The club was booming during Akron's prime with rubber industry such as Goodrich and Firestone who were both founding members of the club. Unfortunately for Portage, the average age hovered around 70- the oldest club we have seen so far with four members dying this past month of old age.
Food and Bev:
Unbelievably, Portage is able to turn a profit on their al la carte food. This is possible after cutting half a million dollars in labor cost without losing the exclusive value. Mr. Alverez taught us that with a hard working staff and everyone working as a team, the job can be done WELL with fewer people. Portage offered high and low dining including a men's grill. The dining room had a beautiful bar with a painting of two Indian's carrying their canoe overland 'portaging.' Portage philosophy on service is good attitude and good effort. Also, they are very careful when it comes to scheduling and portion control so no food is wasted.

Golf:
The golf course holds 11-12 charity tournaments a year. Members are proud of their course with the history of a famous pro such as Master's classic Espinoza. They have a thriving caddy program. The pro owns the proshop for now, but the pro is retiring soon and the club will take it over. The course is surrounded by urban activity, but still has great maintenance.
Portage is hoping to add a fitness center soon and is trying to adapt to the younger generation. It is eight minutes from Akron and very urban.

The Kirtland Country Club

The Kirtland Country Club was just terrific. If Canterbury is the Cadillac of country clubs, Kirtland is the Bugatti. Their hospitality and passion for their club was unparalleled. the word that kept jumping into our minds as we strolled through His heaven on earth was class, class, class. It was the complete opposite of our experience at Walden. Kirtland Country Club embodies the idea of a family club that is the home away from home. 80% of the members come from Cuyahoga County, when the club resides in Lake County. With most of its members living in Shaker Heights or Gates Mills, it really is a destination country club. Just off I-90, it is an oasis of glory. When we first stepped foot on this great club, we immediately felt like we were entering are own home with the welcome we received. Once we entered, we were stunned by the elegance and yet homey comforts of a mantioned built at the turn of the century for an old Cleveland family by the name of Everrett.

Kirtland is known to be a family club. Financially: Kirtland can be used by the entire family not just dad or who ever holds the membership. With over seven membership options and nearly 500 members, Kirtland has a plan for every family who wishes to be appart of this elite club. Also, Kirltand holds holiday events and parties to include the entire family. One thing that symbolizes Kirtland's commitment to the family is the four hole junior golf course so that youths can feel comfortable while learning the game of golf. The average age is from 58-60.


Golf:
Mr. LaRocca and Mr. Quigley were kind enough to escort us throughout the premises and the back nine holes. Mr. LaRocca claimed, "The back nine is one of the most beautiful nine wholes in Ohio." After seeing these nine wholes, we can only believe him. Not only is the course maintained at a championship level, the beauty of Kirtland's rolling hills was magnificent. It reminded us of Frodo's journey to destroy the ring and save middle earth. Kirtland is a non tee time golf course allowing members to just walk up and play.

The food and beverage at Kirtland centers around their kitchen, which is divided into two sections: one for banquets and the othe for al la carte. They offer a brand new club room, which we had the pleasure to enjoy a terrific lunch in. There is a grill room for a more relaxed burger or hot dog. Near the course is a men's locker house, which houses the men's only grill with a coed patio attached. Kirtland has enough room for decent sized banquets. The customer service is terrific because the chef has worked there for 30 years. A great feature to the club was that almost every employee has worked at Kirtland for over 15 years. They know every member's name and wishes.

Kirtland could not have been any kinder to us. Their passion for the club business was obvious and their respect for our project.

Signature of Solon

Signature of Solon is a 'for profit' club that is owned by Eagle Golf Corporation, whose management was an offshoot of club corp. Like Walden, Signature of Solon is a club designed around residential homes and the real estate market. The point of the club is to attract people to buy homes, and the membership comes along with the house. You can also buy a membership from anywhere including Hawaii.
The club offers various family oriented facilities and activities. From a kid's pool, equipped with a water slid and a zero entry baby pool, to baby sitting. There are 550 members with 310 being golf members. One of the strongest points of the club is its average being 48. They offer Thursday night ladies golf leagues and make sure to include the women in all aspects of the club.

Food and Beverage:
The main attraction to Signature of Solon is their upstairs banquet facilities. This is a world class destination to have meetings or social events such as weddings or proms. There is a kitchen and two bars to service the banquet aspect without interrupting the club atmosphere downstairs. This part of the club helps generate outside revenue through its use and popularity. Mr. Atkinson the GM emphasized how important it is to the club. There are dining rooms on the main level in which members can enjoy lunch and dinner.

Golf is very popular and quite beautiful around the residential area. It is new and fresh for the members. They do not have any plans to hold a big tournament, maybe a amateur. They hold charity events such as a Livestrong golf shotgun tournament. The course was designed by Craig Schriner.

Membership:
There is a full golf membership, Social/golf: golf 8 times a year. Social: All except golf. Cooperate: membership promoting the recruitment of members from your business. Mr. Atkinson said that every club had issues with the economy. However because Signature of Solon revolves around the real estate market, there was quite a hit. Their goal is to recover and grow and focus on their strengths such as the upstairs banquet hall.

Mayfield/Sand Ridge Club (Mayfield Location)

Mr. Welc set up a round table discussion for us with the Assistant General Manage Mr. Cosgrove and the head of golf Mr. Wood. We had a really interesting and fun conversation that went beyond our interview questions.
Many of our questions centered around the recent mergers: with Sand Ridge five years ago and Oakwood this past year. Sand Ridge was a simple acquisition because it only had golf facilities and fewer members. Oakwood, a historically Jewish country club, brought in about 200 members with all new wants and needs. With 815 members the Mayfield/Sand Ridge/Oakwood is "bursting at the seams."
Mayfield's number one goal is to continue to be a family club. There is a relaxed dress code to add to an atmosphere that kids and families feel like they're at home. They offer a kids camp over the summer along with many junior golf and tennis activities. Women have always been included in the club and are even on the board.

Food and Beverage:
Mayfield's food and beverage has experienced a huge change with the cultural change by adding the members of Oakwood. The Jewish culture uses the club's dining facilities especially for lunch to the maximum. Also by bringing over Oakwood's chef, the menu is in transition to appease the Jewish pallet. With such a huge increase in membership, the kitchen has been pushed to its highest capacity. Such a challenge was expected and has been dealt with an increase in staff. There is a dining room that is open six days for an upscale meal. Also a snack bar by the pool and an annex by the golf course. With 815 members, the club is able to turn a profit of the al la carte, because of the high turnover rate.

Golf:
Mayfield members can brag to their friends that they belong to a club that has two golf courses. The Mayfield Course $900,000 to run and more of a home course for the Mayfield members. The Sand Ridge Course is $1.2 million, but its country feeling requires more expenses. There are 750 golf members that belong to the club. The proshops are owned by the club and they turn about $700,000 in sales. They have held NCAA regional finals but don't want to hold any huge tournaments because it takes the course away from the members. Bert Way designed the Mayfield course along with the famous Firestone.

While golf is the main attraction, tennis is on the rise. It is cheaper in time and money so members are beginning to get back into tennis. Mayfield plans to build an indoor facility, similar to the one at Oakwood that the members loved.
Membership:
Mayfield offers various memberships. The Golf is 'all in.' Membership is everything besides golf. Clubhouse is the dining, fitness and limited golf. We discussed the idea of a semi-private club and Mr. Welc said, 'you're either private or not.' The average age was 53 before the Oakwood merger but now it has to be closer to 60. Part of Oakwood's failure was everything and everyone became really old.
Mayfield's location used to be prime and known as out in the country. Now in 2010 they wish the location was not so urban. However, the location does not really bother the members. Mayfield's goal is to keep the members and continue to adapt to the recent merger. Their staff is extremely knowledgeable and experienced, the future seems very hopeful.

Fourteenth Day of Project

Today I finished doing all the injections into the GC! and then I also finished recording the area under the peaks for all the graphs. After recording all the data I entered them on Excel and strated doing calculations to find the sum, the area of each component as a percentage of the total area. From then on I had to compare the percentages I got to the actual percentages (assuming that the solutions phase separated equally). I then made graphs out of the information, to compare it to the one I had made last week from the single phase separations, and to see if the UNIF had made the right assumptions in generating the data and graph I was using as a guide.

What's left is to discuss the graphs and the data with the Prof. and figure out the next step - whether I will have to redo some of the injections, or do some more data collection. :)

Thirteenth Day of Project

So yesterday was a bit challenging! I had to make up more solutions of methanol/1-octanol/water, but this time they had to be 2-phase solutions; which means that after I make them they should phase separate. I started off with the calculations, figuring out the percentage combinations that would give me solutions that would phase separate - and to help me with that I used the graph generated by UNIF (a program used to generate information without doing the actual experiments). After getting all the percentage combinations, I figured out the masses of the components I would actually need to make the solutions based on the percentages. The math didn't take that long, and so I went on to making the solutions. Obviously I wasn't getting the exact masses I was supposed to based on the calculations (they were pretty close though), so I after making up 10 solutions, I sat down again with the calculated and calculated the exact percentages of the methanol, water and 1-octanol I had ACTUALLY put in the solutions. (The I had to shake the solutions, and let them settle and phase separate)!

TODAY... I started doing the injections on the GC. So I have to make 20 injections (bottom layer and top layer for each solution). Each injection takes about 13 minutes..and then I have to wait for the GC to cool down to the initial temperature of 40 degrees celsius from a final temperature of 190 degrees celsius! So doing a total of 20 injections takes, pretty much, a long time. So, I did injections for 8 solutions, and I took some of the areas under the peaks in the different graphs, for the different layers of the different solutions! (I will at some point have to put the data on Excel and create some graphs out of it).

Lot of work...I feel like I am working as much as people who have "REAL" jobs!

Beechmont Country Club

We met with Mr. Downey at Beechmont Country Club. He was extremely kind and wanted to help us out. He began by saying that each club is very different culturally. Therefore, the wants of each culture is different so a general manager has to adjust. Beechmont is a primarily Jewish club so Mr. Downey says the main focus of his members is dining as opposed to golf.
Beechmont is a medium sized club with 381 members and Mr. Downey told us that there is a $5.5 million annual revenue. The economy hit Beechmont hard but not as bad as other clubs. He said that some members were even effected by the Bernie Madoff scandal. Mr. Downey estimated that Beechmont had a net loss of 20 members during the economic commotion.

Family Club:
Beechmont has an average age of 54. It really includes the children through the various activities and its extremely popular Camp Beechmont. They are involved in 'Super Clubs' which is a group of clubs around that have competitions in various sports, ranging from volleyball to golf, with young adults. Mr. Downey as a GM is very personal with the children through his involvement and passion with the camps.
Food and Beverage:

Mr. Downey explained that with a Jewish population the dining is the main attraction. Members look to their club as the number one option to eat and entertain friends and business. Therefore, the club has to offer the best dining facilities and accommodations for the members. The chef is very personal and has mastered the Jewish pallet, perfecting staples like brisket or matzo ball soup. Since the food dynamic is the focus at Beechmont it is hard to compare it to other clubs.
Golf is still an attraction to Beechmont. The course is extremely nice but could not hold a high end golf tournament. The expense is extremely high for the course but Beechmont claims that they are smart with how they spend their money. Mr. Downey says they know how to stretch a dollar but still offer a good value to the members.

Mr. Downey plans to eliminate the club's debt over the next few years. He wants to improve the club physically by spending money on the course and main building. He is pleased with how his club has handled the economic crisis and he believes in a good future. The people of Beechmont are proud of their club and should stick by it for a good while.