Safety demonstration

I just noticed that my computer believes that it is Saturday, January 10, 1970. This is intriguing. What if this were 1970? The record I'm listening to would have just come out, I think, (CSN's debut album) so I'm doing good--good and current in my musical selection.

We worked late today-- 7 am to 5 pm, then hung out a bit after work. The day was interrupted by a two and a half hour safety meeting--primarily on fall safety, but also all the other things. We have all the fancy equipment--that's Ben and Doug for you--good guys. Wright/Morrissey requires a lot, but not all the fancy stuff. The new guys were issued their personal harnesses and lanyards, and we got a little demonstration of the impact at which people hit ground after a fall of about four or six feet. For instance, a 170 pound person will hit at 3500 pounds from this height. The ropes and lanyards significantly reduce the impact, but only to about 800 pounds. Needless to say, falling in the harness would hurt anyway, but it's better than the alternatives. I suppose if this were 1970, we'd be wearing body belts (maybe? or nothing!) which would probably cause more internal organ damage than the fall itself, I mean if it didn't kill you to begin with. Anyway, these sessions tend toward the morbid, and being cautious myself, It just worries me. But Doug had me snapping pictures for the website, so my mind was occupied. After all, I know from falls, since I got 11 stitches in my forehead from the extension ladder earlier in the year.

Seth and I were on corridor framing all day, and this was after Paddy and I worked on it (late again) yesterday. I'd missed working with Pat. He says things like, "Check out those guns!* They're gonna rip your sleeves!" and "Ya gotta think like a raindrop," and he speculates about the loss of hydraulics in the lifts--when we're 60 feet in the air, in the lift. (*For the non-construction people, um, "guns" would be biceps, and when he directs that comment to me, it always makes me laugh, which also almost makes me drop whatever I'm carrying or lifting.) So yesterday, Richard starts calling Pat Bruce Willis ... in return, Pat calls Richard Danny Glover. And then he says: "So, Miriam is Elaine from Seinfeld!" I said, "Do I dance kinda funky?"

It reminded me of grad school, where we came up with the actors and actresses to play us in the movie version--perhaps "Richard Nickel Redux?" Anyway, we had Marty down for Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Johnny Galecki for Eric, Sandra Bullock for Elizabeth, maybe, Christina Ricci for Chrissy, and they chose Lili Taylor for me, who is probably a better match than Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, though I am by no means offended. I think the key is she wears glasses. And is funny, which I can be. Jay (Ace Builders) seems to think so--he's quite the wag himself, and started several outrageous rumors about me today. It's his way. I took some more pictures up on the deck, so hopefully I'll have them posted--you can see more of the work, and some of the co-workers.