I had an email comment from a friend about the content of the blog. This installment will talk about that comment and maybe help some of the readers who don't know me.
The comment ( paraphrased ) I notice that you always write about how good and fantastic you are ( were )...that seems a little worrying.
So...here's the deal.
1. The stories are true as I remember them, they represent a small cross section of my life.
2. They were fantastic times, and I was surrounded by fantastic people.
3. These stories and adventures would have been impossible without the help, assistance and encouragement of others,
4. In those times and those places, we were fantastic. Those days are gone forever, and these are the stories..
5. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't take those risks, either personal or financial. I thought ( wrongly ) that going out on the razors edge of possibility would bring respect and love...and lead to constantly bigger and better things ( bigger and better love and respect ) ...in some cases that might work...in mine, I found that it really wasn't worth it in the long run.
I fought so hard against my dear old dad's advice to settle into mediocrity and behave myself, that I found myself way out on the pointy end of things with no one else there. To quote from Valdy's song..."I should have stayed home with a big case of beer."
6. I made a promise to myself to not tell horror stories and bleed all over the page ( screen ). Missing from these entries are epic tales of broken hearts and busted dreams. Two marriages, one phenomenally shitty divorce and 15 yrs of resulting grief, the death of parents, and the shit storm that resulted from that. Business partner problems, business financial struggles. Car crashes, motorcycle crashes. Heartbreaking issues with kids. Injuries...up to and including tearing my pec muscle right off the bone in a work related incident, accidental radiation overdose (equivalent of 400 chest x-rays). Fights and arguments over huge amounts of money in the blasting business and the sons of bitches that wouldn't pay. Fights with Kiewit managers over some of the decisions on cost, schedule and techniques, that likely took ten years of my life. Working with and around some truly unbelievable bastards... (I intend to go and piss on their graves when they kick off.)
Stories of deceptions, betrayals, thefts, scams, fraud and many other ugly slices of life are missing here, and those details will stay missing, because they don't represent what I want to say.
7. I want to get these stories down for the record and then move on to whatever is next. On some days I feel like most of my life was just one long drawn out beating, with a few shiny spots to give me hope. The stories you read about here are those shiny spots...and like the sun reflected off the ocean waves, they were fleeting and temporary.
Just to finish off in good style, here is Valdy talking about how his famous song came about. I saw him at the Yale blues bar a couple of weeks ago...he is a great performer.!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Eagleridge Bluffs Protests
So...in the interest of fairness and telling the other side of the story, I dug up a few Eagleridge Protest/Betty Krawczyk videos. You'll see some of the action at the Bluffs, and hear how the court system dealt with the protesters.
All the workers on the project were given written and verbal instructions to not engage the protesters at any level. We were instructed to stop all operations, call the project manager and wait for an official response. This was the first time that I had seen a protest up close and personal...never mind that it was directed at what I was doing!....This resulted in my curiosity about the passions of protesters...and the photos of anti-Olympics rallies, DTES marches, and the various anti-war/anti-poverty rallies at the Art Gallery.
I had a difficult time pulling TV news footage off the web...if any of you can do it...please forward it to me
All the workers on the project were given written and verbal instructions to not engage the protesters at any level. We were instructed to stop all operations, call the project manager and wait for an official response. This was the first time that I had seen a protest up close and personal...never mind that it was directed at what I was doing!....This resulted in my curiosity about the passions of protesters...and the photos of anti-Olympics rallies, DTES marches, and the various anti-war/anti-poverty rallies at the Art Gallery.
I had a difficult time pulling TV news footage off the web...if any of you can do it...please forward it to me
Threatened with Lawsuits and Playing Nice With the Neighbors
The Sea to Sky Highway project was a lightning rod for protests and meetings of concerned citizens. The Eagleridge protesters were concerned that their favorite backyard play ground was getting ruined and that the whole thing was a waste of tax payers dough. The local residents were worried about noise,dust, traffic changes and large scale blasting operations in their exclusive West Vancouver zip code.
Along the way, a group of people who lived nearest to the blasting areas, threatened the contractor and government with a class action lawsuit for disturbances caused mostly by the blasting operations. The contractor sent a consultant to meet with several members of the group. He ended up talking technical gibberish and worked really hard to infuriate the residents that he met with. One of the big stumbling blocks for this fellow was that the people he was talking down to, were accomplished, successful and smart businessmen. Having someone pat them on the head and tell them to just never mind...was a bad move. Worried people that turn into pissed off people, can make things ugly really quick.
I talked with our project manager about this one day, he mentioned the name of one of the men involved in the complaint. I thought I recognized the name, and asked if I could talk with the guy. I got the nod to go ahead, got the fella's number and dialed him up. I asked for a quick meeting to talk and figure out if I knew this guy. Turns out it wasn't who I thought it was. Same name, age and engineering background...but a different guy.
He was concerned that the blasting operations were going to do expensive damage to his house, and he also mentioned that the blasts were scaring the crap out of his wife, as well as the other neighbors. We were blowing the warning horns before the blasts, but they couldn't hear them. The noise of the Upper Levels highway and the sound proofing of the high end houses kept the sound of the warning horns from being heard. So out of the blue, a giant crack and boom, with a ground shake would catch them off guard.
As I walked around this guy's house, It was hard to miss the gorgeous cars in the the garage. It turns out that this retired engineer is a hard core auto nut, that has a 550 hp custom crafted Porsche as a daily driver. A photo in the shop shows the car and driver at a racetrack, cornering so hard that the inside wheels are lifting off the ground! We talked about cars instead of blasting for a while, before I invited him on a tour of the work site.
I thought that if he could see what we were doing and how we were going about it, it would ease some of the fears and animosity. I explained how the blasting systems worked and how we worked to control each blast.
I made a deal with this guy to call 24 hrs in advance of all our blasts, and to put seismograph monitors at the house. In addition, either myself, or another company rep would be at the house when the blasts were set to go. I extended the same service to the other near-by residents.
I arranged to be at this house for the next blast that was scheduled. It was kind of fun. I had communications with the blasters by cell phone and work radio. When the time was near to fire the shot, I asked the home owners if they were all good and ready. I radioed back to the blaster that Mr and Mrs xxxxx were ready, and go ahead with the shot. The entire Upper Levels was shut down and cleared of traffic, and on the "go" signal, the firing button was pushed.
You know, I've got to tell you, if you weren't ready for it....the noise and tremor would definitely ruin your day! The seismo readings were all well with in safe vibration limits, it was just the "seat of the pants" feeling that made it more dramatic than it really was.
So this became our new routine. Call the residents 24 hrs before the shot, and then 1 hour before. Anyone who wanted a company rep at their house, got one. We put seismographs at the nearest houses, and at the residences of the most "vocal" neighbors. As an added bonus, I would give them all copies of the heli photos that included their houses from time to time. On occasion, when they were getting comfortable with us, some of the near-by residents would make a request to come out and watch the blasting operations. If we had a 100% safe observation point, we'd make that happen.
In the end we had great relations with all the closest home owners and all the legal tensions were pretty much eased off. I went back to the car enthusiast neighbor to take these photos on my day off.
Here's a step by step outline of the process we took on that site.
1. Be totally open and honest with the residents
2. Show them, instead of telling them
3. Stand in their shoes, to understand their message
4. Take real and visible steps to reduce the impact on their daily lives
5. Treat them with respect, while moving the job ahead
6. We worked hard to plan and execute safe, productive and low impact blasts. Sometimes this cost the company a bit more money, but it eliminated legal hassles and potential job shut downs. Some of the blasts that were just across the highway from these homes were huge by West Vancouver standards. We shot lots of blasts in the 1000 to 2000 cube range. The closest "large" blast was a 9000 cubic meter nail biter, that went off with out a hitch. A bit further around the corner in Cut 4, we routinely shot 10,000 to 13,000 cubic meter ground pounders....the effects of which were tamed by the distance factor.
7. An important factor was that my boss allowed me to take these steps. In a multi-billion dollar, mega corporation like Peter Kiewit Sons, that doesn't always occur. This time, in this place...it worked out just fine.
Along the way, a group of people who lived nearest to the blasting areas, threatened the contractor and government with a class action lawsuit for disturbances caused mostly by the blasting operations. The contractor sent a consultant to meet with several members of the group. He ended up talking technical gibberish and worked really hard to infuriate the residents that he met with. One of the big stumbling blocks for this fellow was that the people he was talking down to, were accomplished, successful and smart businessmen. Having someone pat them on the head and tell them to just never mind...was a bad move. Worried people that turn into pissed off people, can make things ugly really quick.
I talked with our project manager about this one day, he mentioned the name of one of the men involved in the complaint. I thought I recognized the name, and asked if I could talk with the guy. I got the nod to go ahead, got the fella's number and dialed him up. I asked for a quick meeting to talk and figure out if I knew this guy. Turns out it wasn't who I thought it was. Same name, age and engineering background...but a different guy.
He was concerned that the blasting operations were going to do expensive damage to his house, and he also mentioned that the blasts were scaring the crap out of his wife, as well as the other neighbors. We were blowing the warning horns before the blasts, but they couldn't hear them. The noise of the Upper Levels highway and the sound proofing of the high end houses kept the sound of the warning horns from being heard. So out of the blue, a giant crack and boom, with a ground shake would catch them off guard.
I thought that if he could see what we were doing and how we were going about it, it would ease some of the fears and animosity. I explained how the blasting systems worked and how we worked to control each blast.
So this became our new routine. Call the residents 24 hrs before the shot, and then 1 hour before. Anyone who wanted a company rep at their house, got one. We put seismographs at the nearest houses, and at the residences of the most "vocal" neighbors. As an added bonus, I would give them all copies of the heli photos that included their houses from time to time. On occasion, when they were getting comfortable with us, some of the near-by residents would make a request to come out and watch the blasting operations. If we had a 100% safe observation point, we'd make that happen.
In the end we had great relations with all the closest home owners and all the legal tensions were pretty much eased off. I went back to the car enthusiast neighbor to take these photos on my day off.
Here's a step by step outline of the process we took on that site.
1. Be totally open and honest with the residents
2. Show them, instead of telling them
3. Stand in their shoes, to understand their message
4. Take real and visible steps to reduce the impact on their daily lives
5. Treat them with respect, while moving the job ahead
6. We worked hard to plan and execute safe, productive and low impact blasts. Sometimes this cost the company a bit more money, but it eliminated legal hassles and potential job shut downs. Some of the blasts that were just across the highway from these homes were huge by West Vancouver standards. We shot lots of blasts in the 1000 to 2000 cube range. The closest "large" blast was a 9000 cubic meter nail biter, that went off with out a hitch. A bit further around the corner in Cut 4, we routinely shot 10,000 to 13,000 cubic meter ground pounders....the effects of which were tamed by the distance factor.
7. An important factor was that my boss allowed me to take these steps. In a multi-billion dollar, mega corporation like Peter Kiewit Sons, that doesn't always occur. This time, in this place...it worked out just fine.
Monday, November 28, 2011
You Ate Coal Tar and Wood Pulp This Week
Coal Tar is what is sounds like...a dark brown or black, thick and sticky liquid that smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. It is derived from the heat or chemical processing of coal.
You know coal...that dirty black stuff that we tear down mountains to get...and then burn it...like some sort of Gucci suit wearing caveman.
Coal tar is a prominently listed ingredient in dandruff and psoriasis treatments. It is also used in head lice medications. Coal tar contains 10,000 different chemicals, of which about 50% have NOT been identified.
Other uses are pavement sealer and lipstick
hair dye and synthetic vitamins
skim milk and yogurt
Kraft dinner and Doritos chips
Mountain Dew and wasabi
candied fruit and orange colored cheese
Some breakfast cereals, chocolate pudding and some caviars
Wood pulp, in the form of "cellulose" is added to foods as a filler, a texture enhancer and a "fiber" additive. Cellulose is heavily involved in some beer making processes, and can be used as a foaming agent for a better "head" on the beer.
Wood derived cellulose ( it's also in plants and vegetables ) is present in
wallpaper paste and Kraft Parmesan cheese
ice cream and welding electrodes
barbecue sauce and brake pads
salad dressings and cleaning detergents
most fiber enriched foods and cereals
So it's not much of a stretch, that at some point, this holiday season....you will be chowing down on a chemical cocktail of coal tar and wood pulp.
I'm no dietary saint, far from it....but I think once in a while it's good to do a reality check on what we are casually tossing into our bellies.
I am personally pissed that there is coal tar and wood pulp in my two major food groups, ice cream and beer.
You know coal...that dirty black stuff that we tear down mountains to get...and then burn it...like some sort of Gucci suit wearing caveman.
Coal tar is a prominently listed ingredient in dandruff and psoriasis treatments. It is also used in head lice medications. Coal tar contains 10,000 different chemicals, of which about 50% have NOT been identified.
Other uses are pavement sealer and lipstick
hair dye and synthetic vitamins
skim milk and yogurt
Kraft dinner and Doritos chips
Mountain Dew and wasabi
candied fruit and orange colored cheese
Some breakfast cereals, chocolate pudding and some caviars
Wood pulp, in the form of "cellulose" is added to foods as a filler, a texture enhancer and a "fiber" additive. Cellulose is heavily involved in some beer making processes, and can be used as a foaming agent for a better "head" on the beer.
Wood derived cellulose ( it's also in plants and vegetables ) is present in
wallpaper paste and Kraft Parmesan cheese
ice cream and welding electrodes
barbecue sauce and brake pads
salad dressings and cleaning detergents
most fiber enriched foods and cereals
So it's not much of a stretch, that at some point, this holiday season....you will be chowing down on a chemical cocktail of coal tar and wood pulp.
I'm no dietary saint, far from it....but I think once in a while it's good to do a reality check on what we are casually tossing into our bellies.
I am personally pissed that there is coal tar and wood pulp in my two major food groups, ice cream and beer.
Drill Bits and Dynamite Part Seven...Sea to Sky Cut 9...Big, Bad and Ugly Cut 9
Cut 9, on the Squamish highway project was legendary before we even touched it. Steep, high, covered in trees and pretty much looming over the existing roadway, it was an intimidating sight. Approximately 185,000 to 200,000 cubic meters of rock needed to be removed, while keeping the highway and railroad far below, intact.
Cubic meters of rock...to put it into perspective. envision a two story, flat roofed house. 10 meters long ( 33 ft +/- ) and 10 meters wide, 10 meters tall...a cube 10x10x10 meters...that would be 1000 cubic meters.
A highway legal dump truck with tandem axles can haul about 8 cubic meters of rock...maybe more maybe less...but let's go with 8.
The point being...we had to safely and efficiently remove the equivalent of 200 two story houses, or 25,000 dump truck loads of rock from a ledge that was perched 100 meters above the existing highway.
This was a fun day for me. I had called Robin for a photo run in the helicopter earlier in the day. He was busy with Hydro, so he sent another guy to take his place. In the mean time, we were short on operators, so I took an excavator up to clear off the road. The guys in the powder truck needed to get as close as possible to the shot. While I was working up there, the helicopter dispatcher phoned to say that the helicopter had been re-routed and would be on-site in 10 minutes. ...So I bailed out of the machine and walked down the trail to my truck. Boogied down the haul road to the landing area and jumped into my waiting ride. As we flew by, on our way to the photo shoot. I snapped a few pics of my work site.
When we started to blast and remove rock in the area of the "two pole" site, the blasting crew started to be be concerned about the very soft and weathered rock that we were encountering. The rock was peeling off in layers and had very little strength. We said that if the slope needed to be laid back more, now was the time....because later...we won't be able to reach it.
There were two concerns with this idea. One, was the cost of moving the two pole structure back. Two was the added cost of the extra cubes that would be generated. It was decided by the company and the geo-techs to maintain the .25 to 1 slope, instead of going to .33 to 1... and use an aggressive bolting program.
More Cut 9 stories and pics on the way
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Cubic meters of rock...to put it into perspective. envision a two story, flat roofed house. 10 meters long ( 33 ft +/- ) and 10 meters wide, 10 meters tall...a cube 10x10x10 meters...that would be 1000 cubic meters.
A highway legal dump truck with tandem axles can haul about 8 cubic meters of rock...maybe more maybe less...but let's go with 8.
The point being...we had to safely and efficiently remove the equivalent of 200 two story houses, or 25,000 dump truck loads of rock from a ledge that was perched 100 meters above the existing highway.
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| We tried to get loggers in before we started....the heli-loggers wanted the highway closed while they worked...that wasn't gonna happen. Mini-tower guys wouldn't return calls...even at the promise of what ever hourly rate they chose. We ended up building the goat trail and then skidding and hoe-chucking to stock-piles. |
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| When Robin and I came back from photographing Seg 2 and 3...we came upon Tyson and Greg pondering their next move after the road collapsed behind them.....100 meters down to the road...rock wall in front and beside....and a rock slide behind them |
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| That kind of work-site is not for everyone! |
There were two concerns with this idea. One, was the cost of moving the two pole structure back. Two was the added cost of the extra cubes that would be generated. It was decided by the company and the geo-techs to maintain the .25 to 1 slope, instead of going to .33 to 1... and use an aggressive bolting program.
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| If you look just below the two-pole structure, you can see the silver backing plates of dozens of rock bolts...it was later also shot-creted in an attempt to keep the soft rock in place...myself, I really wish that the slope got laid back more |
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| part of the bolted wall fell off, lucky no one was around it when it fell |
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| Digging out from the berm at the bottom of Cut9 to articulating rock trucks. They were permitted to run on the highway during the project |
More Cut 9 stories and pics on the way
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