Project Engineers' Guide: General Notes

Fieldwork No. 31

Good Morning Class. We have poured concrete on 4 columns on Dec. 4 and today Dec. 6, 3 columns. The construction plans normally have General Notes to give details on the materials and its properties and design parameters.

f'c = yield compressive strength of 4,000 psi concrete for columns, beams and suspended slab, while 3,000 psi for the footing and grade slab.

fy = yield tensile strength of Grade 40 (ksi) steel bar - 40,000 psi for 10mm diameter and 12mm diameter.

While the concrete is tested for its compression wherein we collect cube or cylinder samples, the steel bar is tested for tension. Samples of 10mm diameter and 12mm diameter steel bar will be taken from a batch of deliveries and then taken to the testing center. The device will clamp on both ends of a piece of steel bar and pull it slowly apart until it snaps.

In analyzing the reinforced concrete, although the steel has considerable compressive properties, the concrete will bear the compression while the steel, tension, thereby giving a safety allowance.

Fieldwork No. 32

Good Morning Class. We have started pouring at our wall footing as you can see above. We will connect the shear wall composite to the column at A2 so that the shear wall will bear the shear and the bending forces.

As you can see, there will be 3 stages of concrete pouring at the shear wall. 1 is the terraced wall where will cast our 2 stair risers so that it will be supported on that side and 3 the rest of the shear wall. Imagine 150mm of hardened concrete with 4000 psi strength. Those mma guys chop 25mm (1 inch) of concrete hollow blocks with 1000 psi strength. However striking a mortared wall is ridiculous as it will break your hand.

The stairs will be designed as a one-way slab.

We will lay the hollow blocks above the Finish Floor Level FFL.

Fieldwork No. 33

Good Morning Class. The concrete pouring continues as illustrated above.

We have pulled the dowel and straightened it out to splice with the horizontal bars. The starters of the vertical bars on the wall footing will be 2.5m and 3.5m dowels cut from 6m-long steel bars and will be installed alternately.

I am working on my shear wall and stair design. I consider it as a cantilever beam. That is how you transition from strength of materials to designing. You design structures to withstand shear and bending (flexure) moments. Analyze 1 meter strip of slab and wall. Say 12mm diameter bars spaced at 200mm for the vertical bars and 400mm for the horizontal bars. I still have to check though. Obviously i am not much of a structural designer. When i was young i met this lady in an interview. We are both applicants. We chatted and i gather she designs houses but she is not a registered engineer. She talks to registered or licensed engineers to stamp their seal on the plans. I was on the other hand was a licensed engineer but i know shit about design. I should have told her, Hey i have a license, teach me how to design. We can trade. Anyway that was 20 years ago. I'll get my textbooks and design this shit. I used to eat design for breakfast. I am exaggerating. I guess i have to take the refresher course in Besavilla Review Center. I learned a lot from the Cebuano instructors there. My favorite is the Design instructor. He says "In your imagination, anything is possible."

Man With A Gun 1988 [Book Review]

Deputy Police Commissioner Phillip Keefe was a media correspondent appointed by the Mayor. He had previously taken police training as he was a reporter who was mostly based abroad in France, Italy, Germany, Lebanon, among others. The Police Commission Timothy J. Egan was an idealistic man. His training programs in the police academy was still being implemented and more of his ideas now he was PC. His first agenda was to pressure the Chief of Patrol to resign. As an appointee of the previous mayor his loyalty was in question. In this case Chief O'Brien retired. Being new to the police force, Keefe familiarized himself to patrol procedures by tagging along the policemen on call. He was fascinated with a Sergeant Eddie Rainey a patrolman who was promoted to headquarters. He became his mentor. On the way to meet his sweetheart Sharon, Keefe spotted a flatbed truck with Cadillac parts. It was hot. Sergeant Rainey has approved. Keefe called Lieutenant Craighead to investigate. Sharon was a soap opera producer who later became an actress at the said show. He was the apple of the eye of the director named De Forest. Lt. Craighead reported that this was the truck of number one car thief Hot Harry Hammish. Triple H. Keefe told him find his hideout. He must have a warehouse somewhere. They found it and Keefe devised a way to make the department look good. He was to bring the media with them in the raid. PC Egan okayed the bust and they arrested 9 men including Triple H. In the arraignment at the courthouse 8 of the defendants were bailed out while the 9th defendant a certain Joshua L. Brown was raging. Assistant District Attorney Anne Christianson handled his case. Brown paid 800 US Dollars. The gavel sounded. Later Joshua L. Brown was holding a cleaning woman at gunpoint in the courthouse.

Keefe has the habit of responding to calls so he went there. He called for the PC Tim Egan but he was held by the Mayor and the Cardinal in a party. Operations Chief Denis Kilcoyne did not bother. The procedure was let the lower ranked officials handle hostage situations. Now the Chief of Patrol replacing O'Brien, Al Gold will wait it out until the situation concludes. Keefe was stuck with Sergeant Rainey, Lieutenant Craighead, leader of the Auto-Theft Squad and Sergeant Carmichael, leader of the Stake-Out Squad. Brown's demands was to bring in Judge Baum who took his truck and 800 US Dollars or else he's gonna kill the cleaning woman named Lavinia Spencer. The negotiation went on and Brown recognized Keefe's voice. He was to replace the hostage. Armed with a gun he nervously entered the courtroom. The violent man was inconsoleable. Keefe heard a gunshot and he fired in return. Joshua L. Brown was dead.

Asst. DA Christianson bugged the judge to give this case to her. They will indict Deputy PC Keefe for the killing of Brown. She arranged for a meeting with Senator Buckner who heads a commission for police brutality. She thought he can influence the judge and the DA. The trial came and Keefe was acquitted. He was hailed as a hero having saved the cleaning woman Lavinia Spencer.

There are many references to the Philippines and the USA here in the novel written by Robert Daley, himself a former Deputy Poilice Commissioner and mediaman. Sharon (Cuneta) of course is the Megastar. Nora (Aunor) the Superstar, whose character is the wife of Sgt. Eddie Rainey who was seeing this young girl Flora (Gasser), wife of one of the best newscasters the Philippines ever had Harry Gasser. Who can forget Eddie Garcia is a comedian like Flora. Phillip Keefe in itself the Philippines while Lavinia is the character of Cherie Gil in one of Sharon's iconic movies. I told you there is a pipeline between Eastwood and Hollywood. Spencer meanwhile is Robert Parker's character in his novels.

Let us leave characterizations aside okay. I will side with Asst. DA Anne Christianson here. The PC Tim Egan and the Mayor are just as accountable to Keefe's actions. He is not competent as Deputy PC. Chief Kilcoyne is right. You let the low ranked officers handle the situation. They are prepared physically, mentally and emotionally for this.

Brown demands Judge Baum, his truck and his 800 US dollars. Give him a truck. A black Hilux truck is a black Hilux truck. Give him 800 US dollars. He probably takes the offer and drives away. You can arrest him later. I know it is 20/20 in hindsight but we're talking of ideas and procedures here. For real. Where was Judge Baum anyway?

Joshua L. Brown was a retired sergeant of the US Army. His sons have quite a following: one the Deputy Borough President of Bronx, NY, another one a Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force, another a beer salesman and last a grade school teacher. Christianson should have called them to air their side. Keefe also went to Mexico. She should have tailed and wiretapped him. Why has Brown bailed himself out? This was a sign that he is not part of the gang, if not the sign of his innocence. Keefe has a history of breaking rules. The PC should have known his nightly rendezvous as a policeman on the beat. The Mayor should have known the PC was grieving for his bestfriend.

With the facts presented the jury will decide.

My Life So Far

My mom tells me that Senator Cynthia Villar is planning to convert agricultural lands into commercial usage. Did you know that the land in Ayala Avenue costs 1 peso per square meter in ancient times? Thus it is understandable that agriculture must pave way for development and infrastructure. In that sense we have to convert back abandoned towns and cities into agricultural lands. The metro needs forests and havens. Demolish the unliveable structures with heavy equipment and level them down.

As a builder and a farmer these field of thoughts are in stark contrast. You poison the soil on one side then you fertilize it in the other. Soil Poisoning is necessary so that termites wouldn't thrive. Termites however were in the lower food chain when there is vegetation.

Culture of Policing

My current read is Man With The Gun written by Robert Daley. The city of New York has a new Police Commissioner. He chooses a First Deputy Commissioner among his other deputies and secretaries. They call 16 department chiefs for a meeting - the Chief of Patrol, the Chief of Detectives, the Chief of Planning, the Chief of Traffic, the Chief of Intelligence, the Chief of Personnel, the Chief of Internal Affairs, the Chief of Operations, etcetera.

The Philippines has to embrace a culture of policing. Based on these statistics there are 160 policemen per 100,000 people in the Philippines as compared to the USA which has 284.

My personal experience with the military is that my father was a World War 2 veteran and has probably killed opposing soldiers in the warzone. My two uncles, an Air Force Major and a Policeman did not kill anybody. It was not necessary in peace time.

That is why i am urging the citizens to apply at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) where policeman are trained and the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) where soldiers are trained. Policing is an honorable profession.

We now deliberate on the giving the cadets a monthly stipend so that they can send money to their families.

The Valley of Fear [Adaptation]

The Valley of Fear written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted for motion picture by Luis Voltaire Castillo

Sherlock Holmes lived of course while Professor Moriarty met his end. But there are his associates who will avenge his death. Colonel Sebastian Moran the shooter and the man they call The Jackal Fred Porlock. We will toggle the present and the past to narrate the singular tale of John Douglas aka Jack McMunro. As you know cinematic license is the right of the writer to alter scenes that would make the story more compelling. I decided to start the movie with The Tragedy at Birlstone in which a Mr. Douglas was murdered and how Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson was entangled in this mystery. Chapters 1-6 of the present will be distributed as applicable and the past stays as it is.

Sequence

Present
1 - The Tragedy at Birlstone, Darkness, People of the Drama, The Dawning Light, The Solution

Past
2 - The Man
3 - The Bodymaster

Present
4 - The Warning, Holmes corresponds with Porlock on the cipher message
5 - Sherlock Holmes Discourses

Past
6 - Lodge 341, Vermissa
7 - The Valley of Fear. Guns rule the Wild West as analogous as Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp. Roses are laid to those who rest in peace.

Present
8 - People of the Drama
9 - The Dawning Light

Past
10 - The Darkest Hour
11 - Danger

Present
12 - The Empty House, Holmes traps the sniper Colonel Moran
13 - Porlock Gets His Due

Past
14. The Trapping of Birdy Edwards

Present
15. Epilogue

The Beat-Iran Project

Gilas Pilipinas Pool

PG LA Tenorio 5-9
G Jason Castro 5-10
G Paul Lee 6-0
PG Alex Cabagnot 6-0
SG Scottie Thompson 6-1
G Stanley Pringle* 6-1
SG Ricci Rivero 6-1
SG Marcio Lassiter 6-2
F Arwind Santos 6-4
SF Matthew Wright 6-4
PF Beau Belga 6-5
PG/SG/SF Gabe Norwood 6-6
PF Troy Rosario 6-7
PF Ian Sanggalang 6-7
PF JP Erram 6-8
PF/C Christian Standhardinger* 6-8
PF Japeth Aguilar 6-9
C June Mar Fajardo 6-10
C Kai Sotto 7-0
C Greg Slaughter 7-0

F Calvin Abueva 6-2

SF Allein Maliksi 6-4

SG Jordan Clarkson* 6-5

C Andray Blatche* 7-0

SF Anthony Semerad 6-4

Okay here is the Gilas pool and those hibernating. We are allowed only one naturalized player indicated by the asterisks. The reason i want to include Anthony Semerad in the pool is that he has the weight and speed to match up with Iran's NBA-size team. It would be a bummer if he is not eligible to play. Okay who shoots the best between our forwards on the practices will get the positions. I figure we can make Iran play defense with our shooters. Andray Blatche and Jordan Clarkson would beef up our line-up but we can take only one of them as the FIBA ruling says. 

Project Engineer's Guide: Procurement

Fieldwork No. 26

Good Morning Class. We continue our column formwork installation today. We have a combination of wood, timber and pipe scaffolding. The wood bracing will push and pull the left side and the right side of the panel to get the alignment. The H-frame and the A-frame are pipe scaffolding systems. It resembles the letters H and A. They are anchored to ground by adjustable jacks - metal plates with threads to adjust verticality. To make the scaffolding stable drive timber anchors and pipe bracing with c-clamps. The pipe frames are joined vertically by pipe connectors. The scaffolding are attached with steel platforms and ladders.

Fieldwork No. 27

Good Morning Class. We poured concrete on 4 columns today. Concrete hardens in one hour so you pour concrete within that duration. The workers know when its pouring time that breaks will be irregular as the concrete pouring takes precedence. They eat after the batch of concrete is poured.

Let us talk about concrete pouring preparation. You inspect the columns with a flashlight to see if there are debris on the bottom. Fish it out. Pour grout on the surfaces. Grout is a mixture of water and cement and is poured so that it clogs the openings since grout hardens. You can also spray waterjet and blowers to remove debris. When the surface has moisture it minimizes water loss on the wet concrete that prevents honeycombs or hollow spaces inside.

Check the supports and braces - push, pull, kick them to make sure they are stable.

Fieldwork No. 28

Good Morning Class. We poured 4 concrete columns today. Concrete is designed for compressive forces okay so that is why we derive the shear diagram. Steel is designed for tensile forces okay that is why we derive the bending moment diagram. Concrete shears. Concrete does not bend. Steel bends. Steel does not shear by loads. That is why i am pondering my my stair design.

Fieldwork No. 29

Good Morning Class. We had no work on Nov. 30 as we observe holidays. Last Saturday we poured concrete on two columns. After we have finished the first lift of the columns we pour concrete on the wall footing.

We now canvass the materials we are going to use. We cover the grade slab with Polyethylene Sheet. It is necessary so we minimize water loss and wastage of concrete as we pour into a gravel bedding.

Fieldwork No. 30

Good Morning Class. We installed column formwork today. I procured Concrete Hollow Blocks (CHB) so blocklaying follows after the wall footing is poured. Note that the shear wall indicated will have a special formwork. These blocks are 1000 psi or less but the mortar (palaman) to fill the hollows should be 2000 psi. That would be cement sand gravel ratio of 1:3:6. Our mortar would be 1 part cement and 9 parts sand (3+6). It is not load bearing meaning they are not designed to resist the forces. The suspended slab, the beam, the column and the footing bears the loads. The grade slab 3000psi is independent but it is designed for shear. Say when you drop a heavy equipment or tool, the floor slab should not break.

The China Solution

We've been gullible but now we know better. China has built illegal structures on Philippine territories and occupied them. They bully the fishermen and the media. The Philippines will take back its territories. That said all transactions that endanger Philippine sovereignty will be declared null and void. That is an executive command.

We will disengage from the co-exploration of the West Philippine Sea because that gives China access to Philippine waters. We have a prior agreement with Israel anyway. I propose a trade embargo to China to dissuade them.

In the future the Philippines will safe guard its coastlines with patrol boats and ships.

With regards to Filipinos of Chinese descent they are Filipino citizens.

Fantasy Sports

Hello guys. I am here to help you in fantasy basketball because it is the start of the NBA season. I already graduated from this game so I will share you my playing technique. I know there are people who have like fifteen trophies or more but I have won two titles in one year so it is up to you to hear my advice. I'd say the draft day more or less defines your season especially leagues with minimal trade activity. But stranger things have happened like injuries, benching, coaching adjustments and such so all is not lost.

My style is I do not care much about the categories that are up to chance meaning Field Goal %, Free Throw % and Turnovers when picking the players cause on a good day, bad shooting guys can shoot on a high clip. In a standard league, there are 9 categories including the three above so I focus my team on the remaining cats - Points, 3Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals and Blocks. I named my team once the Bricks N Dimes, cause like I said I do not care much for percentages so I picked awful shooters who are multi-faceted; and dimes cause I like the assist category.

I also put premium on the hard to get statistics like steals and blocks. Because normally managers tend to pick the high scoring players so I think in reverse cause there are versatile players who fill up the stat sheets.

The chart below is a helpful tool cause you estimate how much stats your players will produce. I forget where I get this. For the uninitiated its a chart of how many games the teams will play in weekly matchups and from this you derive how many games your players play. Like you feel confident when your top players play 4 times a week. That kind of thing.



High risk, high reward
High risk, low reward
Low risk, high reward
Low risk, low reward

These are the principal concepts floated around by fellow managers in dealing for players. You watch some scouting and prepare for Excel files. I won two championships the same year - one in Rotisserie or Roto and one in Head to Head.

Basically I have same lineup for the two teams. In roto you must know that there are maximum 82 games for every position so planning is more important. I trailed half the tournament but I know I was doing fine cause others they were maxing their games while I pick my games carefully. So after the midway season of the NBA, I get the lead and never relinquished it.

The Head to Head League is a contrast, because there is a playoff here unlike the roto league. I have to survive three 5-4 series matchups to win the crown. During the finals, I even congratulated my opponent because the score stands 5-4 and I was ahead barely by one assist in the last category. He gets another assist, I lose cause he has the higher seeding meaning I lose the tiebreak. And his only remaining active player is a point guard throwing dimes. So the halftime of the game, I gave up and congratulated my opponent. Holy shit! The player gets benched in the second half. I won. My opponent writes a rant on busersports about a Cautionary Tale.

My team is the Mach3 Nomads.

Project Engineers' Guide: Construction Methodology

Fieldwork No. 21

Good Morning Class. We have installed 4 column formwork today. The method of construction of aligning the formwork is to fix one side first. We install scaffolding to brace and support this panel. We install the opposite panel next and the third side. We then brace the steel bars to align with the formwork. The concrete cover is 25mm on all sides. We will also embed dowels (abang) to connect the horizontal bars of the CHB wall.

We will offset from Gridline 1 to align horizontally while vertically you use the plumb bob.

Give this dowel drawing to the Steelman and say give me 300mm and 35mm on the bend. I have never met a Steelman who cannot measure.

Fieldwork No. 22

Good Morning Class. Check the dowel size. It is 45mm on the bend. The dowel also serves as a spacer. My Japanese Supervisor taught me this method so as not to damage the formwork. I modified his L-shape into this U-shape so that the Vibrator can fit inside the column..

We will pour 4 columns today. 8 workers will do the concrete pouring while the Steelman and Helper fabricates. The scaffolding of good lumber will brace and support the column up to 2 meters. Another scaffolding on one side will be H-Frames with ladders and platforms. Make sure they are stable. One worker is the top, one at middle ground and one on level ground. One will operate the 2-Bagger Cement Mixer while 4 workers carry the buckets of wet concrete. Provide a ladder at the opposite end. Use the vibrator at 5 buckets interval. Poke the corners and sides with a 12mm dia meter steel bar.

I calculated one column will need 2 cement bags. In the ratio of 1:1.5:3 (4000 psi), the workers will use the cement sack as measuring tool. That would be 3 bags of sand and 6 bags of gravel.

Fieldwork No. 23

Good Morning Class. Yesterday we have poured concrete on 4 columns. We have installed 5 column formwork today. Tomorrow we pour concrete again. My Carpenter has learned the use of the Nail Gun. It is better than hammering. But the fabricated panels have bolts and nuts so they can be detached easily. We would remove the formwork after 5 days. It can be a hassle when the concrete has hardened.

Tools and equipment are necessary to make the work more accurate and faster. The Flatbed Truck can transport materials such as cement, sand, gravel, steel bars, tools, equipment and manpower.

When you order Ready-Mix Concrete from the Batching Plant, consider the location and terrain the Cement Truck has to travel. Its capacity is 6 cubic meters but since it is heavy we order less 5, 4 and 3. Say you blocked out for 10 cubic meters. That would be two truck loads of RMC. Estimate how long you gonna pour the first truck load of 5 meters and advise the Batching Plant the interval they gonna send the second truck load.

Fieldwork No. 24

Good Morning Class. We poured concrete in 4 columns today. Now and then i will use construction terms whether in English or Filipino and explain it later okay. Block Out means the area prepared for concrete pouring. When you install formwork you block out the structural member. Say our beam or slab is blocked out at this point.

Fieldwork No. 25

Good Morning Class. We installed 3 column formwork today. The steps in installing these panels are aligning one side then the opposite side then the third side. Tie the dowels at the specified height of the CHB horizontal bars to reinforce tension or pull. When the concrete has hardened you carve (sinsil) the dowel from the casted column.

The formwork will warp and will be dented upon removal that is why the Carpenter will repair it. When installing warped formwork you have to brace the left and the right side of the panel, where it is warped, to make it square.

Katawan by Hagibis [Song Lyrics English Translation]

Katawan by Hagibis

La la la la la la la la la-hoooo (2x)

Lingon agad 'pag may babaeng dumaan (Turn our heads when a woman passes by)
Lalo na 'pag maganda ang katawan (Especially when her body is fine)
At saka, nakakalokong tingnan (And crazy beautiful)

Kaming lahat ay binata pa naman (We are all bachelors)
Wala kaming mga asawa't nobya (We have no wives and girlfriends)
Hindi pa rin naman kami pumapalya (We're still not breaking down)

[Chorus]

Mahilig kami sa magaganda (We love beautiful women)
Katawan na aming nakikita (Bodies we see)
Lalo na yung kaakit-akit pa  (Especially those who are charming)

La la la la la la la la la-hoooo (2x)

Lumalabas ang aming pagkalalake (Our machismo shows)
Pag meroong magagandang mga babae (When beautiful women are around)
Lalo 'pag mga katawan ay gumigiling (Especially those twerking like Miley)

Kaming lahat ay binata pa naman (We are all bachelors)
Wala kaming mga asawa't nobya (No wives and girlfriends)
Hindi pa rin naman kami pumapalya (We're still not breaking down)

[Chorus]

Katawan katawan katawan katawan ohhh katawan (2x) (Body body body body ohhh body) (2x)

La la la la la la la la la-hoooo (2x) 

Katawan ingatan ang inyong katawan (10x) (Body mind your body) (10x)

[Chorus]

Katawan katawan katawan katawan ohhh katawan (5x) (Body body body body ohhh body) (5x)

Katawan ingatan ang inyong katawan (4x until end of song) (Body mind your body) (4x until end of song)