// It is very, very rainy here! Our house got ALL well... But here is a treat! James Bickford, the Project Manager for the 2007 Team is going to blog!!!! =D Here is James:

Hello everyone reading from home. It's been a blast being back here on the mall with another team representing the mighty Broncos. For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to come out and see the house, I can tell you that you should be extremely proud of this amazing team. In the course of a couple months they have pulled together a team, learned to compromise on design, built a beautiful house by hand, shipped it across the country and represented the University very well on the National stage. This team truly does inspire me, just as my 2007 inspired me then. There is something special in being a Bronco that transcends generations. I was very fortunate to join the team on the Mall today and to see the other houses. Santa Clara is very well represented with an impressive house, a beautiful design, and many comments from the fans. Now I am biased, but perhaps the best indicator that the Bronco house is amazing was the wait times for each house that are published by the DOE. Santa Clara even in the cold and rain today had a 20 minute wait, compared to the other houses judged to be about 10 by the DOE officials. That's a pretty neat stat. Hope you all are awesome and don't forget to vote for People's choice, this team deserves it. Text "House31" to 99503. :-)

// The weather has become truly bad with strong winds and a steady downpour. It is truly testing our home on how we can be scant with our energy use yet still attempt to condition the home. We've been very proud of our success so far, but the judging spreads have been so tight that we haven't been able to pull away. I believe we've now dipped into 2nd place because of our energy sacrifices, and it will be a real tussle to try and take back first.

But there is hope! Look at that picture: That is a young student looking at our kid's action plan for sustainability. There is no bigger success than perking the interest of the young minds of our future. So, I think no matter what is announced tomorrow, the solar decathlon's victory is already official.

// Today we weren't open to the public. So the majority of the team (while some very dedicated and appreciated few, Collin and Tim watched the house) went to Capital Hill to meet with Congressman Mike Honda, take a tour of the Capital, have a photo opportunity with Senator Barbara Boxer and talk with Senator Diane Feinstein! We talked about energy conservation and steps to take in the country, about Refract House and our experience in the Solar Decathlon. It was a great opportunity we were given! Thank you Mary Shields, Tom Douglas, Jim Purcell and many others that helped make it happen! We all had a great time.

Then we were finally given the opportunity to see the other houses (without lines). All the teams had an open house for each other from 5-10. It was amazing to get the personal and laid back tours from the other teams, as well as showing ours. At the end of the night our house had a large game of Catch Phrase going, Silo had a dance party and many other houses were having a good time as well. There are some really awesome houses on the mall. Every entry deserves to be there and I don't see how the juries make a choice on which house is better, because they are all so amazing.
We find out lighting tomorrow! Please cross your digits!

// Whew, we just finished our final tour: the nighttime lighting tour given by Tim and Annessa.

To review for our readers, there are five judged tours:

1) Market Viability: We placed third and it was given by myself and Victoria Watson
2) Architecture: We placed first and it was given by Meez Perkins and Annessa Mattson
3) Communications: We placed first and it was given by myself and Allison Kopf
4) Engineering: Score not announced, given by Ross Ruecker and Tim Sennott
5) Lighting: Score not announced, given by Annessa Mattson and Tim Sennott

They were exciting, scary, and fun. We couldn't have done well on any of the tours without our team's support. Sadly though, with the way the judging has been, the points advantage by placing well has been rather menial.

// We just got FIRST in COMMUNICATIONS!! We are still in the lead overall in the competition. Annessa and Tim had the lighting tour this morning, and Ross and Tim had the engineering tour. We will find out the results of those later in the week.

It was so exciting to get first in communications. When they were describing the recipient, we were all huddled together – shaking our heads because we didn’t think it was us. Then the announcer said “Team” (our heads perked up, we were given a little more help) “California” and we went wild!! It was such a rush, I think it still hasn’t sunk in for me yet.

We definitely have to thank our graphic designers for their help. Without them, we wouldn't have even had a chance to get 3rd. Everything from our website to the signage was designed by them. They are the unsung heroes: Noah Greer, Mike Hu, Siming Wong, and Bradley Wharton. An update for yesterday, we sent 1400 and some people through the house. We are trying to get a lot more today. Keep voting for people’s choice! Cross your digits for good weather! We are having a tough time with our energy!