Staples, spiders, and a broken eye
To say the last 3 weeks have seemed like total chaos would be an understatement. What started as a date night for me and my sweetheart on June 29th has turned into little sleep, lots of work, and even some pain mixed in.
As we headed to BW3 that Friday night, I saw the storm clouds rolling in. Knowing that our water division manager, AJ, was headed to North Carolina for vacation, I told Tiffany that if the pouring rains and gusty winds led to flooded basements, it would be a busy weekend. We ordered our wings and waited for them to arrive, all the while chatting and flirting like we did when we first met. Until the phone rang. The boss. Ugh.
Fifteen minutes later I was en route to a Staples store. Having lost a big part of their roof in the storm, I was in full commercial project mode when I dropped Tiffany off at Gant's Pizza (her cousins own it, fantastic stuff, you should try it). This is what I do. Coordinate resources and assemble teams to get this retail store back open for business. When I arrived, I realized we were gonna need a lot of help. I was on the phone with generator and heavy equipment people, with my crew, with the facility maintenance department. And that was just the first night. I called in favors from old contractor friends, made runs to Kentucky to pick up supplies, and even pulled a rabbit out of my hat to get my brother's company there, rebuilding after the place was dry. I also watched carefully as one of our budding superstars ran the on site crews with the leadership of a veteran. It was a good feeling. They lost most their inventory and 90% of their roof. And we had them re-opened in 9 days.
Meanwhile at home, lil red was getting the pool all finished and I was able to spend most nights in the water after working long days. On Thursday the 12th, Ben's birthday, I had the boys over to swim and play.. As we were playing the dunking game, John-Michael tried to pick Ben up and toss him into the water. In the process, the back of Ben's head made full force contact with my left eye socket. The bone broke, and I was left with a terrible headache, blurred and double vision, and concerns about whether there was damage to the area where my surgery took place. By Sunday I was feeling ok, my vision was back to normal, and I have an appointment next week to address the break and the possible issues in that area. Praying for the best!
Flash forward to Friday morning. The boss and AJ flew to Florida, and I was just waiting for the big one. Every time one of them leaves town, we get hammered. Sure enough, when I walked in the door at 5 am the email was waiting for me. A family in a suburb of Columbus had gone to Africa for 5 weeks. When they returned, they found that a water line on the top floor of their five level home had burst. Water had run for weeks. Hundreds of thousands of gallons had destroyed their home. The mold is so thick it looks like carpet on the walls. Their ceilings had given way and fallen, destroying furniture and TV's and everything in the house. It was like a scene from Jumanji. The insurance adjusters, who combined have over 50 years experience, said it was hands down the worst loss they have ever seen. I agreed as I surveyed the damage and tried to figure out where to start. We will be there for weeks, removing items and taking the home to its basic framing as we try to restore their property and their lives.
As we were dealing with that, we got popped with several more jobs today. First a sewer back up, which is pretty standard. Next, a potassium cleanup came across. A first for me, and I had to research hazmat regulations before we could start. And now, as the icing on the cake, I have an appointment Monday to go look at a home that had a brown recluse spider infestation and needs to be cleaned. And they cannot tell me that the poisonous arachnids are all gone. Looks like the craziness just keeps on rolling. Why do I do my job you might ask? Cause I love every minute of it. Its what I do and, if I may toot my own horn, I challenge you to find anyone who does it better.
Thought I was going to have a quiet weekend with my sweetheart. Looks like I will be working a lot. maybe we can sneak away for a date night. Oh wait, better be careful of what I wish for.
Day # 473 and it is still good to be me.
As we headed to BW3 that Friday night, I saw the storm clouds rolling in. Knowing that our water division manager, AJ, was headed to North Carolina for vacation, I told Tiffany that if the pouring rains and gusty winds led to flooded basements, it would be a busy weekend. We ordered our wings and waited for them to arrive, all the while chatting and flirting like we did when we first met. Until the phone rang. The boss. Ugh.
Fifteen minutes later I was en route to a Staples store. Having lost a big part of their roof in the storm, I was in full commercial project mode when I dropped Tiffany off at Gant's Pizza (her cousins own it, fantastic stuff, you should try it). This is what I do. Coordinate resources and assemble teams to get this retail store back open for business. When I arrived, I realized we were gonna need a lot of help. I was on the phone with generator and heavy equipment people, with my crew, with the facility maintenance department. And that was just the first night. I called in favors from old contractor friends, made runs to Kentucky to pick up supplies, and even pulled a rabbit out of my hat to get my brother's company there, rebuilding after the place was dry. I also watched carefully as one of our budding superstars ran the on site crews with the leadership of a veteran. It was a good feeling. They lost most their inventory and 90% of their roof. And we had them re-opened in 9 days.
Meanwhile at home, lil red was getting the pool all finished and I was able to spend most nights in the water after working long days. On Thursday the 12th, Ben's birthday, I had the boys over to swim and play.. As we were playing the dunking game, John-Michael tried to pick Ben up and toss him into the water. In the process, the back of Ben's head made full force contact with my left eye socket. The bone broke, and I was left with a terrible headache, blurred and double vision, and concerns about whether there was damage to the area where my surgery took place. By Sunday I was feeling ok, my vision was back to normal, and I have an appointment next week to address the break and the possible issues in that area. Praying for the best!
Flash forward to Friday morning. The boss and AJ flew to Florida, and I was just waiting for the big one. Every time one of them leaves town, we get hammered. Sure enough, when I walked in the door at 5 am the email was waiting for me. A family in a suburb of Columbus had gone to Africa for 5 weeks. When they returned, they found that a water line on the top floor of their five level home had burst. Water had run for weeks. Hundreds of thousands of gallons had destroyed their home. The mold is so thick it looks like carpet on the walls. Their ceilings had given way and fallen, destroying furniture and TV's and everything in the house. It was like a scene from Jumanji. The insurance adjusters, who combined have over 50 years experience, said it was hands down the worst loss they have ever seen. I agreed as I surveyed the damage and tried to figure out where to start. We will be there for weeks, removing items and taking the home to its basic framing as we try to restore their property and their lives.
As we were dealing with that, we got popped with several more jobs today. First a sewer back up, which is pretty standard. Next, a potassium cleanup came across. A first for me, and I had to research hazmat regulations before we could start. And now, as the icing on the cake, I have an appointment Monday to go look at a home that had a brown recluse spider infestation and needs to be cleaned. And they cannot tell me that the poisonous arachnids are all gone. Looks like the craziness just keeps on rolling. Why do I do my job you might ask? Cause I love every minute of it. Its what I do and, if I may toot my own horn, I challenge you to find anyone who does it better.
Thought I was going to have a quiet weekend with my sweetheart. Looks like I will be working a lot. maybe we can sneak away for a date night. Oh wait, better be careful of what I wish for.
Day # 473 and it is still good to be me.
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