Taxes... TAP's office is located in donated space on the 91st floor of the Sears Tower. We arrived at 9am and proceeded to be trained to use tax software. During the course of the morning we got to meet the staff. Most of who have been in Americorps Vista or NCCC programs. Bob the founder started TAP when he was 22 in 1994 and can be safely described as a type A personality. I gather he likes analogies, baseball, fast cars and beer. No doubt I'll be describing more of TAP in the near future. From about 5 till 9pm we set up 20 laptops at a local high school and helped 50 people file tax forms. It was hectic to say the least.

Welcome to Chicago! We have arrived in one piece. In case you want to google earth our address its 1151 Waveland IL, 60613 (we do not receive mail at our apartment so keep using the Denver one). Wrigley field is visible from the front of the building. Our living accommodations are unbelievable two floors, six bedrooms and two baths for the 10 of us. I feel extremely spoiled since the rest of Americorps is working for FEMA and living is large red tents... Ok, I'm over it!



-Housing is provided by our sponsor TAP



-Living room and Dan (he's that guy in high school that tried to get in every picture in the year book).



-One of the single rooms

Tomorrow we will begin six weeks of doing taxes for immigrants and poor Americans in the metro area. After that its fire season in CO!

On the road again. We get 5 dollars per meal for road trips. McDollar menu! Some of our activities have been the classic Mad Libs, playing with the government radios, ipod transmission (music), 20 Questions (this little machine that can guess what your thinking and it really works, weird) and reading books or Cosmo.



-couldn't have described Nebraska better myself

Chicago. First day on the road. For safty each driver can drive a max of 2 hours at a time. The van can only drive for a max of 8 hours a day. Today we made it to Aurora, Nebraska.

Graduation from training day. Yuppie!



-Dorms freshly straightened for inspection before leaving for Chicago

Team positions. Each team member is given a choice of jobs with in the group. Varying from spike grocery shopping to writing daily reports. My official jobs are Vehicle Specialist and Photographer. Both of which I think I can handle.

ISP (Independent Service Project). While in Chicago and over the course of the year we are required to implement 80hrs of ISP. Basically all we have to do is work with non-profit organizations. Some examples are food pantries, habitat for humanity and tutoring.

Quote of the day: Be flexible from the "F" to the "E".

Unit hike. The entire Earth Unit went for a hike today at Rocksborough state park.

BIG news. 80% of the Americorps NCCC recourses and projects are being routed to hurricane Katrina. Teams from all of the campuses are being pulled from scheduled projects. As for me it seems that I'll be still in Chicago. Word has it that the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, requested that our two wildfire teams not be pulled to the coast.

This doesn't reflect the views of NCCC. I feel that the head of NCCC is making an effort to gain media attention by moving the resources to the coast. In coming months look for coverage of some school openings and large habitat of humanity projects in Louisiana.

Finally found out where I'm staying in Chicago: Waveland Ave. near Wrigley Field. Awesome! We are getting YMCA membership as well as an unlimited Metro Pass.

REI. Denver has the mother of all REI stores. The building used to be a train station now it has three floors of outdoors gear. Spent the day in and around the city.

Welcome to Nederland. A small hippie town which I will call home while working for the forest service. The wildfire crew visited the facilities and got a tour and preview of the months ahead. Things such as navy "sewl" workouts and chainsaw appreciation days. All the full time fire fighters used to be smoke jumpers or hot shots. That means they kick ass and take names. I didn't have time to take pictures. I should be able to take some soon.

Final Teams! All of the final teams and first round projects have been announced. Details on the project I've been assigned to are as follows.

Location: Downtown Chicago area. 91st Floor of the Sears Tower.
Project: One day a week helping the less fortunate with tax forms for TAP (Tax Assistance Project). Four days a week traveling to local low income area high schools and promoting FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).
Living arrangements: None yet
Perks: Unlimited metro pass, gym membership and lots of PT.
Departure: Should be the 25th

Summary of last few days... Continuing class work. Lots of PT (Physical training). Played a new card game for wild fire training. Here is how to play:
1) Shuffle a deck of cards and split into two piles
2) Set the piles 50 yards apart.
3) Flip the first card over. Do military sit-ups according to the corresponding card (jacks 15, queen 20, king 25 and joker O)
4) Sprint to the other half of the deck. Do push-ups corresponding to the cards.
5) Sprint back and repeat process with team members.

Food bank. Rob check out our super cool uniforms.




Note: green shirts indicate a team leader or "TL"

Now for the good news or the "other" news?
GOOD-I've been accepted into the Earth Unit in the wildfire team. Being a part of wildfire will change my experience. Instead of traveling to spike projects I will be traveling to fires. The teams are two crews of 10. Since we are a special exception the powers that be told us our first project. It involves doing taxes for low income family's in Chicago while we train for the fire season. I guess since I'm low income I can do my taxes at work.

OTHER-The Bush administration has chosen to cancel funding for the Americorps NCCC program starting 2007. I'll be posting more information as the Denver corps members take action. Since I'm a government employee I can't express my opinions or those of Americorps NCCC. However, you can. I'll be posting more information as it comes my way. Keep in mind congress has a chance to over ride the Bush changes.

Loveland. Today was reserved for snow. The ski resort Loveland peaks at approx. 13,000. The trails run high atop the Continental Divide. Its only an hour away from campus and on this day had six inches of fresh powder. Reminiscent of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Forgot my camera but trust me it was unreal. Superbowl cleared the slopes around noon. Go Pittsburgh!

FIRE! Wildfire team tryouts today rain or shine. The try outs involve a mile run, 2 minutes of push-ups and 2 minutes of sit-ups. I would say about 50 corps members turned out to cheer. I'd post some pictures however I was busy running. Results will be posted on the 7th.

I'm all caught up with posts now! That's all I have to say. Wish me luck in the fire tryouts.

PT baseline. That means a 1.5 mile run, 1 min push-ups and 1 min sit-ups. Lets just say that smokers were passing me. Not looking good for the fire tryouts.
14 min run, 35 push-ups and 52 sit-ups.

Cup half full? Leaves room for plenty of improvement.

Welcome! As some of you may know I arrived in Denver on January 24th to begin working with Americorps NCCC. In brief, Americorps is a community service and disaster relief program. NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is an entity of the public trust. That means you are paying for me to be here in Denver with your tax dollars. Our motto is "getting things done" or as we say in passing "Get-R-Done!". Please feel free too bookmark this page and check up once in a while to see what I'm up to and where your tax dollars are going.

More info on Americorps NCCC is available at http://www.americorps.org/about/programs/nccc.asp

PS This site is a work in progress so be patient as pictures and posts will get added irregularly.