Saturday, July 29, 2006

Cool site....

Poking around on other blogs today I ran across this. Very cool....just move your mouse around.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

CPR Part 4

I was on the second floor with 4 of my superintendents and my boss, the VP for Healthcare, studying on a problem at stair 6 when the call came in over Jaime's radio "Jaime, come help me, there's a man at the gate who is having a heart attack."

We all bolted for the exit, ran down the stairs, and sprinted across the parking lot toward the gate. As I was running I called the office, told the secretary to call 911, and then radioed to one of the project engineers to grab the AED and meet me at the gate. By the time I had crossed the parking lot Casey was pulling up in the truck, and Jaime, who had outrun all of us, grabbed the defibrillator from her and ran over to where a young man was sprawled on the sidewalk, writhing around and clutching his chest.

As Jaime pulled the AED and pads out of the satchel, Bill knelt down in front of the guy and checked him out. He checked to see if he was breathing, and he was. He asked if it was all right for him to hook him up to the defib, and the poor guy grunted an OK. As Bill was hooking up the defib I saw the ambulance coming down Campbell drive, just passing under the turnpike. I headed out to the road to flag them in, relieved that they had gotten rolling so quickly.

A small crowd had gathered - a few folks from the jobsite and a couple of guys that must have been walking by on the sidewalk - and we all watched as the paramedics unhooked our defib and connected their own, more elaborate unit. They ran some tests, checking the scratchings on the prinout as it spooled out of the machine. After a few minutes they decided that he wasn't in immediate danger of arrest, I guess, and loaded him onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.

It turns out that they guy worked at a construction site across the way, and had called his mother to come pick him up because he wasn't feeling well. They had gone a few hundred yards when he had the first hard pains, and either he told her to stop or she panicked and pulled over. She was too upset and talking too fast in broken English for me to understand exactly what she was saying, but the look of gratitude that she gave Bill and Jaime as her son was loaded in the ambulance was unmistakable.

This is the fourth time that we've had a cardiac episode like this on this project. The first time the man died almost immediately, and I doubt that if we'd had an AED at the time it would have made any difference for him. I'm thankful that we do have one now, and that we've had 4 CPR classes on site and trained more than 30 people in CPR and AED use since that first tragic event.

You never know when or where something like this could happen. Look at the first person you see after you read this, and ask yourself, if that person needed CPR right now would I know what to do?

Monday, July 24, 2006

Dog deficit

I miss the company of dogs. Yesterday afternoon I stopped at a friend's house on the way to the boat, and it turns out that earlier in the day he'd gotten a dog for his kids from the animal shelter. They named him Samwise, which seems to fit both his demeanor and the role of faithful and trusty friend that dogs fill in families with kids, but I bet before too long it'll get shortened to Sam or Sammy. The kids were enthralled, of course, and Samwise was soaking up the attention. When I stepped out of the bus he came bounding over to check me out and to recruit me for a game of tennis ball.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but that immediate and unrestrained trust, acceptance, affection, or whatever, that dogs exude is good for the soul, you know?

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Good night....

Dreams


I took this picture a couple of days ago, and last night I had a dream that I was on that boat.....

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Sunday reflection

Hey. Time for bed now, but I thought I'd bang out a few thoughts before cashing in for the night. I just caught my self thinking "if I'm in bed in 30 minutes I can probably get 4 hours of sleep tonight", and believe it or not that was a comforting thought.

Anyway....instead of moving Reprieve around to the ocean side of the island I've decided to leave her in the bay. I moved the mooring a little closer to the dinghy dock so it'll be much more convenient to get out to her when the weather's nasty. As I was heading in for the day I met a fellow sailor who's catamaran is anchored near me. Martin's probably about 60, born in Germany but has lived here in the States for 15 years or so. He built his cat in a friend's backyard just outside of Jacksonville, and since launching her in the St. John's in 1998 he's cruised from Maine to Texas. He rode out the hurricanes of the last two seasons on the boat, although he said he did take shelter by tying her up in the mangroves when Wilma came through. "All I had to do was get plenty of beer, you know, because you can't be out in the dinghy running for beer when there's a hurricane, ja?" Gotta love it. Yuri, the guy that lives with his red Chow on a dismasted Allmand 31 in front of Snook's, says Martin's crazy, and it's a miracle that his boat didn't sink under the weight of all that beer.

Today was a great day for sailing. Nice steady breeze, sparkling clear blue sky, and the bay a thousand shades of turquoise and green. Ham sammys and a few cold Newcastles for lunch. A very satisfying minor flirtation with a passing kayaker. I've gotta get out more.

Since I spent Saturday at the jobsite, watched Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one) on TV Saturday night, and spent today on the boat, absolutely no domestic chores got done this weekend. I'll be digging deep into the closet to find clean stuff to wear to work, I guess.

So, there you have it. Another weekend draws to a close. Hope yours was a good one, too.

Good night.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Appreciation



We had a barbecue lunch at work yesterday, an effort to thank the 450 or so men and women who are toiling in the heat and the rain, lifting, toting, welding, painting, running conduit, fitting ductwork, putting down flooring and finishing drywall to get the building ready to turn over. The numbers are staggering - if you laid each piece of drywall that's been put into the building so far side by side it would cover more than 20 acres. Over a hundred miles of wire. 26 thousand cubic yards of concrete - enough to cover 5 acres of ground 3 feet deep. And untold tons of paper. With about 4 months to go we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway - here are a few more shots from the cookout.....















The past two years here in Key Largo have gone by mighty fast in a lot of ways, and in some ways Denver seems a lifetime ago to me. I'm still up in the air about what to do next. Right now I'm still treading water with the JOB, and every time I think about what to do next my mind wanders through so many adventurous possibilities that I get kind of a daydreamy brain freeze. And sometimes, out of the blue, a feeling of panic comes up and I feel like something big is passing me by. Mid-life crisis? Crisis of conscience about sticking with a job where money's really the major motivation? I do get some satisfaction out of putting these projects together - they can be interesting puzzles, you know. I just think about all of the other things I could have done in the last two years instead of this and wonder what if.......

Planning for the future isn't something I've ever been good at. My course through life so far has for the most part been guided by a combination of colossal mistakes and spur of the moment choices, and although I've had too many occasions to feel the whipcrack of shame about some things I've done, I've also been lucky enough to have met and made friends with some really good people and had some great adventures. I've done a few things that I'm proud of. Along the way, I think I've started to develop an appreciation for what is good and important, so maybe the next adventure, whatever direction it takes me, will be one that brings a little bit more satisfaction.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see what the future brings, huh?


Monday, July 10, 2006

Signs of the Apocalypse...

Here's a definite sign of global warming. Those poor bastards in Kansas are about to be overrun.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Rainy day photo...

For some reason the Blogger host isn't retaining the rainy day photo on the original post. Let's see if posting this way makes a difference....

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Rainy day in Paradise

Today was one of those rare overcast and rainy days here in my little island paradise. Not the squally kind of rainy day that comes in fits and bursts, either, but the kind where the stagnant steel gray sky just dripped from dawn to dark. I putzed around the house waiting for inspiration that never really materialized, picking at the guitar, flipping pages in a novel. I did manage to take a nap, a rarity for me. About dusk I went to Publix for some grub, and stopped and took a few shots on the way. This one is looking east from the Port Largo canal, and I think it captures the mood of the day with the sluggish swells on the water and the looming clouds. After I took the picture I watched the folks in the dinghy continue heading out, disappearing out of sight heading north. Where in the heck could they be going?

 

This one is the laundromat downtown.


I miss going there now that I'm in a crib with a washer & dryer - there were almost always interesting characters to shoot the breeze with while the clothes went round and round. Lots of cruisers come in to wash their grimys before heading back out, and their stories always fueled my desire to pack up and head out. The fact that I usually did laundry and heard of their adventures on Sunday evenings, as the freedom of the weekend was dissipating for me, made their tales about open ocean crossings and peaceful moonlit anchorages all the more seductive.

But......as romantic as the sailing life sounds it's just not time yet. Heck, I had the whole day to myself and didn't get out to Reprieve at all because I thought the weather was too soggy. There will come a day, mind you, but for right now I'm content to continue my current gig while The Plan simmers on the back burner.

Lemme know what you think of the photos.

Speaking of that kind of thing, but changing gears entirely, I read today that the Rainbow Family may be organizing itself in response to pressure (or harrassment, depending on who you talk to) from the Forest Service over permits. It turns out that Forest Service regulations require groups of more than 74 persons camping together get a permit. Now, that seems like an awfully arbitrary number to set as the threshold for when a group needs to formally register their presence and state their intentions to the keepers of our Public Lands. Heck, it's a mighty arbitrary number to pick as the dividing line between a tropical storm and a hurricane now that I think of it. Coincidence?

Anyway. I'm sitting here in the Crazy cave all day pondering over when, where, and how I'll make my break from my tradition and strike out in a new direction. Sail off on Reprieve and bar 'n beach hop through the islands or get into a bit bigger boat and head for the far horizon? Waiting until after hurricane season is a big part of my thought process, when the magic number 74 is less of a factor for an old fart in anykind of boat bobbing around on the Atlantic Ocean. Turns out Zeus and Barry Adams have been studying on the same thing, only for them 74 could be a catalyst for transforming the Rainbow Family from a leaderless gaggle of hippies into a federally recognized spiritual group - a religion. Coincidence?

I just hope that for me and the Rainbow Family the journey is exhilarating through the storms and calm and cool in the peaceful, moonlit anchorages or quiet forest campsites.

Peace out, brothers and sisters.