Wow. OK, I think this sets the record for the longest time without an update. Exactly one month has passed since my last update. Terrible. I, as always, plan to update much more often, but time flies when your super busy with work, so every week just blows past at an amazing speed. I almost didn't even noticed the time had gone until I looked at a calender.

So, this week the lead photo is of a very large black widow spider. It seems these are fairly common around here, and we have seen several of these spiders of about this size in a number of different locations around the building. These aren't the only life-threatening things around, since we work high up in heavy machinery every day, but spider bite is most definitely the most icky and actively avoided way to die readily available here at Building 8.

Speaking of ways to die, I was almost killed by the chute shown in this picture. While working on the roof removing windows, we had this chute (at the bottom of the picture) running from the roof down to the dumpster below. We would place each 30-pound window pane on the chute and let it drop into the dumpster. When it hit the bottom, the window would shatter and fling glass everywhere. Naturally, we were told to never mess with the chute, and to never hang around the dumpster when glass is coming down. We were also told to never hang around the backhoe, especially the 'stinger,' while it is running.

So once we were done with all the windows in one section of the building, we had to move the dumpster and the chute to the next section. By the plan we had for this action, we needed four people. Since the chute was so tall, we had two guys stand on the roof and stabilize the descent from above. A third man would chain the bottom of the chute to the stinger of the backhoe, and the fourth man would move the stinger slowly and steadily up off the dumpster, to the side to get around the dumpster and then down to the ground. I was the third man, chaining the chute to the backhoe.

In order to perform my task, I had to wait for the backhoe's stinger to get into position just above the bottom of the chute and from the inside of the dumpster wrap the chain around both the chute and the stinger's bucket. The backhoe was parked next to the dumpster on about the same spot the boom lift was in when the photo above was taken. From there, it reached way over into the dumpster right above the base of the chute. There, it paused and waited for me to do my job.

Once the chain was secure around the chute, I looped the chain around the hooks on the bucket, since I was told that would be grip enough to maintain a hold on the chute. As the backhoe raised the chute, the chain slipped off the bucket. The chute fell about a foot before catching back on the edge of the dumpster where it was situated before, only this time it was at an angle, and the guys on the roof had lost their stabilizing grip on the chute, since the top had fallen below the roof line.

Now, I knew better than to stand around the stinger while it moved around, so when I was done with the chain, I moved back to the center of the dumpster, right where the broken glass meets the sharp, pointy wood. (You can see this point clearly in the photo.) So, being at a distance, I casually observed the chute fall into its new, very precarious position and began to think about how we might remedy the situation. My thoughts were interrupted when the backhoe operator, one of the responsible adults who we look up to, shouted something at me. (This whole thing was his idea, by the way.) I couldn't understand what he was saying, so I walked over to the edge of the dumpster and yelled "WHAT?"

Suddenly, the chute dropped off the edge of the dumpster. It hit the glass at the bottom of the dumpster and began to slide along the bottom towards me. At the same time, the top of the chute slid down the side of the building at an angle. When the chute was about halfway between where I was standing and the edge it had previously sat on, the middle of the chute hit the top of the dumpster and the whole chute began a see-saw like motion with the top rocketing to the ground outside the dumpster and the the bottom coming up and still sliding forward. Before, the chute had been sliding at my feet, but now the chute was flying up at my face.

Intermission: This is a picture of an awsome cake had here at Building 8 that was given to us by some very grateful people. It was made by the wife of James M., one of the electricians working here. James will eventually take charge of all electrical work on the building as project manager. He had some free time one Saturday and grilled us some excellent chicken kabobs, most of which were bacon-wrapped. His wife and her sister made the cake, and also a bunch of other things including spinach dip, salad and this fruity jello casserole. It was all very good, and made us all very happy. And now back to our exciting tale!

Of course, I kept my cool and observed the arc the bottom of the chute was making, noting that at it's current path it would miss me by an acceptable margin (somewhere around 12 to 18 inches). With this knowledge, I decided to show off a little manliness and simply pose for the chute as it blew past my head. Once it had passed, I shot a smug look to the men on the roof and then did the same to the backhoe operator, who shouted "I was going to say 'Look out!'" With a nonchalant grin I calmly responded "Oh, is that what you said?"

After the chute passed by me, it fell out of the dumpster with a loud crash. I climbed out, surprisingly not at all phased by the accident. I was actually highly amused by the whole thing. Almost dying was truly the height of hilarity. It was determined that had the chute hit me, I would have probably never felt the impact. Oh, well. All's well that ends well.

On a much lighter note, I purchased a stove top espresso maker at an Italian deli a couple of weeks ago, and it is awsome. I also got two bottles of Monin flavor syrup: Vanilla and strawberry, along with a can of coffee. The coffee is already gone, but I still have the syrup. Since the project just got an ice maker, I hope to be able to make some really great frappés with the syrup and some real espresso.


That's all for this time. Be sure to tune in next week for a special report on the wonderful wildlife here at Building 8!