Couple two-tree things to share with ya...

Howdy, mates.

My Australian friend's lingo is wearing off on me. I hope your Easter season is going well.

Not a whole lot to blog about, at least not until the last week or so. Last week I was able skoot to Houston for a few days. It was cheaper to send me there than to pay me for being in Peru while pile driving was shut down for the holiday. Fantabulous trip! As always, a great time with friends. Ate some good grub and got in a long run with my buddy Johnny. I'm grateful to have been with with friends for the Easter weekend.

The piling project has regained some momentum and production consistency which is a welcome change. The contractor is back into a routine and driving piles about every 3 or 4 days. They're still up to their late night shenanigans, though. Last night they were supposed drive piles at midnight. I got woken up with a phone call at 3:15 am this morning and they told me they'd drive at 4 am...blurry-eyed and despondent to be up at 3:30, I readied myself for the task ahead. 4 am came and went...they didn't start driving until 5:45 am. What are 2 extra hours of sleep anyway? Missed breakfast too...Listen to me whine!

The contractor has performed and is performing well below what I expected. Their engineers flabbergast me on a daily basis. I can only shake my head, double check the numbers and do the best I can technically. There are lines between the practical and theoretical to walk on projects like these...walking too far in either direction can lead to trouble...throw in an ever-changing dynamic to the client's approach and sentiment, and you have yourself some added potholes to navigate through while walking on those lines. Not to jinx anything, but the Golder team I'm a part of has been damn solid throughout. We not only identify where the potholes are, we're doing our best to make sure they get filled too.

I gave a demonstration on how to use the new spinning bikes at the site gym Friday night. A few people showed up and it was good to get on a "bike" again. I'll probably give folks a hand with the bikes in the upcoming weeks and come up with a few spinning routines for folks to try out.

I found out that there is a rule onsite that you can't wear shorts or sandals in the site cafeteria.
Are you kidding me? It's over 80 degrees outside and humid as a mug. I guess I can't complain because I only stay onsite every now and then, but good grief. They say it's out of courtesy that they don't want shorts or sandals. That's fine and dandy...are the same people that police the shorts and sandals law going to write a citation for every time a four-letter word is dropped? What's more offensive? Someone wearing a pair of shorts or Welshman Smith cracking a litany of profanity over steamed rice and leathery chicken? Maybe I'm missing something here.

I suppose the main headline is that my full-time rotations here in Peru are about end. I'll fulfill
my one-year commitment at the end of April and I'll be heading back to the Seattle metropolitan area. I was able to score an apartment in the same complex that I left a year ago. No long term lease and the rent is cheap...can't pass it up and it'll allow me move out pain free if I find a house or condo.

Aight, kids. That's it from here. Take care.