Snow in Issaquah

So Monday night was the 2nd snowfall of the year here in the Puget Sound area...with the first one being on Sunday. My jobsite was closed today, but the office people still worked, so I drove on in...but had to park at the bottom of the hill along with others without 4-wheel drive.

I walked up the hill to get to the office!..Yay.

Here's a pic looking East while on the jobsite. The two workers are finishing a concrete deck that we poured on Monday but weren't able to complete.

The crib is ordered

Well, after several stores and many hours over the past month trying to find the right crib, we've finally made a choice, and only 2-3 months til it arrives! The crib is "Serenity" by Baby's Dream, and it meets our requirements by being convertible to a full-size bed.

We chose the cherry finish (this pic shows honey) and we also got a dresser/hutch and rocker/ottoman to complete the nursery room furniture.

Bellevue Crane Collapse

Last night at 7:45pm a crane toppled over in Bellevue, WA...and one man died while in his apartment, probably watching tv or something.
I used to look out the window at the jobsite where it happened. It was abandoned at the time, I guess the owner had run out of money so construction stopped when they were still working on the underground parking garages.

Stories and video at www.king5.com

They're investigating the cause. We have two tower cranes on our jobsite, I wonder if it was hard for the operators to climb those stairs to the cabs this morning.

How to Win Pens and Influence People

toot toot

At the 8th session of the 12-week Dale Carnegie class that I'm taking, I finally won a pen for "Breaktrough Performance." Our two-minute talks were an update from week 3 and how we increased our enthusiasm by a factor of 10 in a certain part of our work.

My speech was on my new-found enthusiasm for meetings, and I was the last speaker to go; it was clear that I made a good impression on everyone. It felt good to win.

I had hoped for the 2nd to last pen (in week 12) so I could say that I had won the penultimate pen, but that's OK.

Wet Wet Wet

Sunday and Monday carried some of the most intense and continuous rain that I've experienced since moving to Seattle. It started raining hard on Sunday afternoon and didn't let up until Tuesday afternoon, when it actually stopped. My jobsite suffered, we sent the crews home at noon on Monday because it was hard to get work done.


The project is on a sloped site, so water cascades from above and of course builds up where we have walls.

Wednesday morning is supposed to be sunny, but there is still a 70% chance of showers for the day. Joy.