// I ran into my first DC location quadrant mishap. I was looking for a Radio Shack to buy compatible headsets (because the ones that were ordered weren't compatible, which is another exciting story!), I was told it was on 12th and G. I assumed that meant I just went down 12th until I got to G. Well I was in SW, not NW, where the Radio Shack was. I went around 12th street multiple times, hoping that maybe, like in Harry Potter, the street would appear. But no such luck. I ended up calling a friend to find one. It was closed and so I was going to go back tomorrow. Then I had to find food for the team, for 25 people. I found a Chop't and got 25 salads, which were ready in under 45 minutes! I also happened to find two radio shacks (including the original one I was looking for). I got the correct headsets and started the trek back with my 25 salads. It was quite a site I imagine: a semi-lost girl, walking her bike as if it were a mule carrying 5 very full bags of food. Moral of the story -- know your squares and bring a mule.

// Hello again!
I'm back to blog! I got to Washington DC today, after a full day of travel I worked on our menu for the dinner party and then headed over the the National Mall to our house! Oh my goodness! I cannot believe how amazing our house is! We were the first house to be grid tied, which means we cannot use generators anymore, so it was dark around the house. We don't want to waste any energy before the competition, so I will get to really see our beautiful master piece tomorrow!

So imagine, you are walking down 4th SW toward the Mall. On your right you have the capital building. You turn to face the Washington Monument and continue walking for what feels like miles because the anticipation is constantly building inside of you. As you get closer to the monument, you see a sign that says 2009 Solar Decathlon. Oh boy! Your heart speeds up, as you enter the walkway that leads to this magnificent solar village. Houses are on either side of you, all equally stunning with so much hard work put into every detail. There are students working inside and out, tied to the roof and crouched under the decks. You smile at them, knowing you can relate to the wide array of feelings they have, putting their house together on the National Mall.
As you get to the end of the houses, there is a small tinge of fear that the house isn’t there but no, at last!, there is it, Refract House, on the right corner of the solar village. Wow! Your heart spins as the past two years of work, sleepless nights, laughter and love steep further into your conscience. This is our house! On the National Mall in Washington, D.C..
At least that was very similar to my experience walking to the house for the first time today. I was hoping those of you that can’t make it out to see us, can at least feel a little bit of the wild reality that the competition has started!

// Quick update tonight, it's already past 1 AM and very tired. I'll be getting back up by 6 to make the water delivery for the competition. We've started building the hand rails, putting up our redwood siding, and putting up the integration fabric. Side note: erica and I had to visit home depot again today to get new pipe. The one we got last time didn't meet sloping requirements so we had to do a redesign, and with literally a fielding of deja vu, and bring more pipe onto the metro! Sadly we left some velcro on there

// So the most important news of the day: Team California was the first team to pass its DC electrical inspection! Now we have completed AC,DC, and utilities inspections. On top of that, our racking and panels are almost 100% done now

We've started to fine-tune our tours with respect to what are apparently becoming our strengths and weaknesses. Allison and I were practicing our communications tour and we were very proud to talk about the fact that our project is student-run and designed.

Other news is that we've had some small issues with our virtual tour. We have a solution coming soon, but for those whose computers are requested to allow access from JavaFX (Searchcafe codes in this languge, this is a Sun Microsystems bug. I assure you our friends at SearchCafe are looking for a route around this and will have one shortly.

Back to the mall, we had our first provided lunch and it was good! It definitely gave us energy to finish the deck today. Rainwater catchment piping is also now fully leveled below, with a lot of subtlety involved.

// This is just a reminder to ourselves, and anyone who follows us, that there are many many people who have poured their hearts and souls into making this house. There are many heroes on this team such as Mikell Warms or Noah Greer or Paul Taylor who you might not see on too many videos, but they are the ones who keep going and get things done. Giving up summers, staying up late nights, getting yelled at by 'professionals who knew better than students', they've done at all and we are thankful for their dedication to the project. I only bring this up because while we are reconstructing the house for what was its intended destination, it is great to see everyone come together and work strong. With that though are the people who might not be doing construction, but are doing the equally challenging 'soft side' such as communications and graphic design. I applaud everyone

Separately, thanks for dinner last night California College of the Arts!