COSMIC EXCELLENCE
HANNAH HART - HOUSE LORD
SEMESTER 1
BLOG 1
Week 09/09/2019
This week I learned how to make scrunchies. It took me a few trials, but since I've got it down I've been able to crank them out in 10 minutes or less. My house got "first blood" and has been successfully selling the scrunchies that Kelly and I are making with a profit margin of about 90%. I started to learn how to make the bows for the scrunchies, but I'm not yet able to make them good enough to use, so my focus for next week is to get that process down pat as well. We're currently making lots of scrunchies in Foothill colors to sell at back-to-school night, which I think will go very well because I mean come on, who doesn't love to wear scrunchies and support their school? We also got our Instagram up and running, and it's going quite well. I have a lot of hope for this upcoming year and my team seems to be very solid so far, I'm very proud to be working with them!
BLOG 2
Week 09/16/2019
This week I learned how to change the URL of the credit card order page to accommodate different orders, which is super cool because we can now take credit card payments for DTech! Kelly and I also got all the scrunchies made for back-to-school night, but unfortunately only sold a scant few of the 90 we made. My thought is that it's because we were dealing with parents who aren't nearly as interested in scrunchies as students would be, so next week I'm planning on talking to Captain to see if there's some way we can market them for TikTok day nextFriday, as I'm assuming quite a few students will want them. We're also going to need to get going on an order for scrunchies for the girl's volleyball team, and after that I need to start designing the stickers for Fitz's laptops (which I'm unreasonably excited for).
BLOG 3
Week 09/23/2019
This week I made a signature for our house email using Adobe Spark, and I think it looks very professional. I also did a laser cut of our house logo after some of my house members did the file wrong so it didn't cut the whole thing the first time. In doing so, I learned how to manually set the focus of the laser cutter back to the correct corner if it gets messed up, something which I know will come in handy in the future. I also pitched the idea for a house bonding day to my house members, who were all on board, and we all agreed on a movie night to watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Personally, I think it will be good for morale and allowing us all to grow closer together, which will help us work together better, so I'm excited. I'm hoping to get started on the design for Fitz's Chromebook stickers this week, so I can get on learning the vinyl cutter.
BLOG 4
Week 09/30/2019
This week was a short week as we had a four day weekend, so I didn't quite get as much stuff done as I'd originally planned. We spent most of our classtime talking about the new systems that will be implemented into DTech like Trello and Homebase, as well as trying to figure out the "essence" of our houses and ergo our brands. My house was able to decide that our go-to is "cosmic excellence;" that we're focused on customization, as well as clean and modern designs. I was, however, able to get the initial design for Fitz's Chromebook stickers done This week was a short week as we had a four day weekend, so I didn't quite get as much stuff done as I'd originally planned. We spent most of our classtime talking about the new systems that will be implemented into DTech like Trello and Homebase, as well as trying to figure out the "essence" of our houses and ergo our brands. My house was able to decide that our go-to is "cosmic excellence;" that we're focused on customization, as well as clean and modern designs. I was, however, able to get the initial design for Fitz's Chromebook stickers done
BLOG 5
Week 10/07/2019
This week I was able to get the second and third layers to our house sign laser cut. Originally we were just going to have the one layer of acrylic on a wood background, but we realized that layering the acrylic looks much cooler and more professional. I also joined Trello this week and got our board organized and set up so that the rest of my teammates can use it easily in the future. I also was shown by Kelly and Jimena how to print designs for the dye sublimation machine and use it for fabric, hats, and mugs. I'm excited, because I know that we can tap into a whole new market once we get that figured out.
BLOG 6
Week 10/14/2019
This week was all about organizing our Trello. Lili helped me create a template for each trello card that follows a job to use (as per Dave Gross' criteria) and set up some colored labels so that we can see what each job needs without even having to click on the card. We also had a bit of trouble with the Nova site being reverted to an old save from a few weeks ago, as too many of us were going on at once and it messed up the save data. To solve this, I was able to go back into the site revision history and get back nearly everything. I also had a conversation with my house about us needing to communicate with each other when we go on/off the site to avoid this problem in the future, and it's been working very well so far. As a house we began looking for shirts to put our house logo on; we want to do purple shirts. We also all joined Microsoft Teams at Dave Gross' request.
BLOG 7
Week 10/21/2019
This week found some problems when I was going over my house's financial documents. I spent a few hours fixing and re-making them as needed and while far from ideal it did have the positive side of giving me much more comfort and ability in Google Sheets. I had a discussion with those involved and I think now we've established what will need to change and what will need to happen so we can avoid these issues again, and I'm hopeful for this next quarter now that quarter 1 is officially ending. Kelly and I also did our first test sticker for Fitz's Chromebooks, and I found that the vinyl cutter is actually quite easy to use. We've decided to alter the design and have the text be larger and along the bottle long-ways, as the words were too small the way we previously had it. I also, with the help of Miller and Kelly, drilled holes in our Nova sign and hung it up on the wall, making us the second ones to get ours up. Andrew from Atto even showed me how to format our Trello cards with larger, bold text to make them more professional-looking for which I am very grateful. Overall, it was a very eventful but productive week, and I'm ready to take quarter 2 by storm.
BLOG 8
Week 11/04/2019
This week was devoted to ironing out some of the other issues that were presented in the last week of class as well as some others that popped up. However, both Mr. Li and I have noticed immediate improvement in the attitudes and actions of those involved, and we are both very hopeful. My personal goal as house lord is to begin weekly discussion times with my group, only for 5-10 minutes or so, just to address where we are with current jobs, what we are/canwork on, and iron out any problems that may arise. I belive this will help us function better as a team as well as make it easier for me to keep tabs on what all my housemates are working on. We also as a house decided that it would be a good business endeavour to start designing earrings and ornaments that we can laser cut or CNC, and I was able to create a quick snowman design that I hope to get into test production soon as the holiday season is fast approaching.
BLOG 9
Week 11/11/2019
This week saw us finally getting our house shirts done. We used dye sublimation and it worked really well. Kelly and Anahi also tested using the dye sublimation to make custom Dodgers fabric to use for custom scrunchies and it's opened up a whole new slew of possibilities for us, maybe with holiday and/or seasonal themes. We also were introduced by Liz Donelly to the opportunities available for jobs with real estate agents, which is something I really hope we can get cracking on as a house. Next week Kelly and I are planning to finish up the final design for Fitz's Chromebook stickers and get into production, as we've been set back these past few weeks by everything else going on. I also want to make sure we get some good photos of the products we've been making onto our site so we can use it as a better platform to show people what we do.
BLOG 10
Week 11/18/2019
This week Kelly and I, with the oversight of Li, finalized our design for the chromebook stickers. I made the quote calculator and sales estimate, which I got signed by Fitz as well, so next week we'll be able to start right into production. It's only a 2-day week due to Thanksgiving being right around the corner, but I'm hoping it'll give us a good leg up on production for when we come back. We also were introduced to our upcoming house joust for Soldier Project awards, and I'm hoping that with Lilli, Anahi, Kelly, and myself we can come up with something really cool and get a job from at least one of the teachers involved. We've been doing good keeping a steady flow of jobs going, and I know that we'll have quite a few holiday-themed jobs and Christmas gifts to make for people as well. I have high hopes for us going into December and I'm confident we'll be finishing 2019 strong.
BLOG 11
Week 11/25/2019
Although this week only offered one class period, Kelly and I were able to get into production on the chromebook stickers. We got all of the stickers cut both for the bottles and the labels, so all we have to do now is layer them together then actually put them on the chromebooks. We struggled a little bit with getting the vinyl cutter situated, as for some reason it kept scrunching up the vinyl roll even though it was all in correctly and the clamps were down. Liam from Atto helped us change the settings to a little higher pressure and speed than we'd been told to use, and despite being skeptical at first it actually worked really well and we had no more issues. Doing mass production on the vinyl cutter was definitely easier having two people, one on the computer to start the area tests and cutting and one at the machine to move the origin around, and I'm glad that Kelly and I have been tackling this job together as we've both learned a ton about the vinyl cutter.
BLOG 12
Week 12/02/2019
This week I got all the label stickers onto the bottles, and then as a house we got them all onto the Chromebooks. For this job I've now completed my first sales estimate, quote calculator, and invoice so I've got the process pretty much down like the back of my hand. Lilli and I began working on cutting board designs for the three cutting boards my family members are ordering as Christmas gifts, and I think they came out really well. Next week we'll order the cutting boards and finalize the designs so we can hopefully get into production. We also on Thursday had our first of three lessons in our financial literacy crash course, which was about marketing strategies and I learned a lot of interesting things about the subliminal messages sent by adds and product placement, and I'm hoping we can possibly incorporate some of those ideas into our site, our Instagram, and the DTech Shopify once it goes up to increase our sales.
BLOG 13
Week 12/09/2019
This week we finished with the final two lessons of our financial literacy courses, from which I learned some valuable information about how investments work, the different ways to invest/store my money (with the pros and cons of each), and why it's a good idea to do a little bit of everything. Lilli and I also got our cutting board designs finished up and the cutting boards themselves ordered, so next week we'll be able to cut our final products and get them shipped. The two of us also became the first two DTech students to successfully laser cut on metal with the new metal spray which allows us to do so, and this has big implications for the class. Mr. Li wants the two of us to demonstrate to the class what we did to make it happen in exchange for house feat points, so I'm very excited! We will definitely be going into winter break with a bang, as already this quarter we've more than doubled our number of orders from quarter 1, and I'm incredibly proud of my house and all the hard work we've been putting in over the course of quarter 2--and it's not even over yet!
BLOG 14
Week 12/16/2019
This week I was able to laser engrave all three cutting boards for my jobs, help Kelly with engraving two cutting boards for her family, and help Lilli laser engrave a sign for a job she was working on. We had to troubleshoot with shipping my Uncle Donald's cutting board order to Florida because the Shopify isn't up and running yet, so as a solution I paid for the shipping separately out of my own money and he was able to pay the school just for the cost of the cutting board and then pay me just for the shipping. He was very understanding of us having to figure everything out, and it just shows me how much easier ​​
BLOG 15
Week 01/06/2020
This week I dealt with a lot of bookkeeping, making sure all the Trello cards are up to date, making them for new jobs, and making sure everything with our house financials is current and correct. I also made sure every job has the correct forms drawn up and completed as necessary, as this quarter is about to be over and I would like as few loose ends as possible carrying over into the new quarter and semester. Our designs for the Soldier Project awards were chosen by two or three of the five teachers so far, and I'm very proud of my teammates especially Anahi and Aidan for all the hard work they put into the designs and all the trials they went through. Lilli and I also started working on a design to make some La Conchita mugs (which is still very rough but shaping up nicely), as I know my mom wants to buy several and I'm sure I have plenty of neighbors who would also love to have them so it could very well shape up to be a pretty big job, for which I'm very excited!
SEMESTER 2
BLOG 1
Week 01/27/2020
This week saw the new semester off to a great start. My group won three teachers and four sets from the Soldier Project house joust, so we got started on production of the awards. I found that taping the wood kept it much cleaner for engraving, so I'm going to have the boys do that for all the wood when they cut the other three sets next week. Lilli and I also did our first successful test of our La Conchita mugs. We found that the 2020 needed to be a little darker and the images on the right side needed to be a little closer together and lined up more, so we fixed that in our design. Next week we'll be able to try it with the new design that hopefully will be our final one. I have a feeling that this semester is going to be a good one for getting jobs and making progress, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.
BLOG 2
Week 02/03/2020
This week was mostly about getting all the Soldier Project awards finished and distributed to their respective teachers. We also got their posters printed for them as part of the job. When I was putting the financial information from the quote calculators into the overall financial sheet, however, I noticed that the numbers looked completely off. I figured out that it was because there were some issues with the formulas in the quote calculator template, so I worked with Mr. Li and we got it all fixed up so it now works properly. He and I showed it to the finance ministers for the other houses so we all have the correct ones now. I've been distributing some of the finished La Conchita mugs and everyone loves them so far, and I have a new job to start working on designing sweatshirts for the girls water polo team so I'm really excited!
BLOG 3
Week 02/10/2020
This week Lilli and I got our basic design started and finished for the girls water polo team shirts. We'll be testing out the design next week to see if it sublimates well with all the colors and detail, then if all goes well we will begin production the following week (we won't be getting the final number of shirts and sizes until next Friday). Mug sales are still going strong, and I'm hoping to make some more for the La Conchita garage sale in May which could potentially be a huge sale, but it's too far in the future to worry too much about right now. One of my neighbors who bought a La Conchita mug might be able to bring us a job with the Santa Barbara High baseball team which would be really big, but we'll have to wait and see if they're even interested. Once we finish the girls water polo shirts, however, we might also be doing the swim team shirts which would be super sick as well. I'm hoping that at least one or two of these possible opportunities pans out for us, but I'm very excited for all the possibilities!
BLOG 4
Week 02/17/2020
This week Lilli and I made the final alterations necessary to the design for the water polo shirts and ordered the shirts, we're planning to begin production next week. I also talked to some juniors in Dynasty 3 from house Lodestone who have a few jobs they'd like to do so we're probably going to form an alliance. I'm really excited at this possibility because it'll help us expand our range of products and also bring more revenue for us as a house. I also helped out Shea and Emma from house Saaje with weeding some heat-press vinyl while they explained to me how that process works, and I'm thinking that it will be really helpful for doing the swim team shirts, as we just got that job locked down. I'm really excited to get going on that after the water polo shirts are done; they want long-sleeve shirts in a similar style to the typical Disneyland ones, which is why I think the heat-press vinyl will be the easiest way to get them done. Lilli also ordered some special vinyl printer so we can start making specialized contour-cut stickers, which could turn into a big moneymaker for us. We also got a new Glowforge laser for the program which is absolutely dope and has a lot of cool perks over our old laser even if it's a bit slower and works the same.
BLOG 5
Week 02/24/2020
This week we got going on the water polo shirts and got them all made. We had an initial issue with the colors being too dull on the original design, but once we upped the saturation on it the colors came out great on the grey shirts. All told, we barely wasted any ink and only had two shirts we needed to scrap, so I'd say the job was quite successful. The girls seem really excited about their shirts, and I'm really proud of all the hard work Lilli and I put in to make that happen! I also finalized our alliance with house Lodestone this week, which is HUGE for us, and we're already in the midst of getting a button job of theirs through the works. Next week Lilli and I will be getting the designs for the swim team shirts done, and maybe also fine-tuning the procedure for the contour-cut stickers, as she was able to successfully make a few. After seeing where everyone lies with revenue and profits, I've made it my goal for my house this year to beat house Atto, as we're basically at the same level as them currently. We're already ahead of Sail, and while I don't think we have much of a chance of catching up to Saaje or Sunday Inc, I think this gives us a strong goal to motivate us and would also mean that the three houses with girls in them are the three highest-earning houses, which would be incredibly badass.
BLOG 6
Week 03/02/2020
This week Lilli and I got going on our design for the LC chicks shirts. We've got it done for the most part, and hopefully next week we'll be all finished and ready to start silk screening soon. The swim team unfortunately doesn't have enough money to pay for long-sleeve shirts from us, but we're most likely going to sell them the design for the shirts (front and back) so it didn't turn out totally awful. I also made the difficult decision to remove the boys from my house. It wasn't easy, but at this point it just came down to the fact that they've only made about 10% of our income (less than $100 revenue collectively) whereas Kelly, Lilli, and I have made over $1000 in revenue. I really think this will help us girls to be more efficient without having to worry about pulling the boys along with us. Kelly is spearheading our part for the PFSO fundraiser gift baskets, for which I'm very grateful. The three of us also want to start experimenting with some 3D printed flower pots, which I think could turn out really cute and popular.