Rainy Aftermath

So on the new project I'm working on, we are doing tons of drainage stuff and well, rain is not good.

This is supposed to be a check dam and the water isn't supposed to be flowing.... oops. This caused for flooding in a different part of the project. Serious problems on this site.

Taken Wednesday August 7th.

Dangerous Weather

On Wednesday, our dirt work operations were stopped due to the rain. Then, as you'll see in the video, our crane work was stopped due to lightning.

(And yes, that was a seriously lucky shot. I was just recording rain and bam!)

Clouds Behind Four Winds' Tower

Even while doing something as boring as measuring pavement markings, it's important to look at the world around you.

Big Hole

This hole is really big. The engineer that designed to keep all the soil and sand out didn't anticpate this much weight though and... well... the steel started to buckle. All work had to stop, and people were fleeing. Not much work can get done when workers refuse to go where they need to do the work.

They could legit die if just one panel was to break. Each panel is 1/2 inch of steel.

Yessssss

This makes my inner nerd surface!

A excavator lifting an excavator (well... technically it's a backhoe, but it excavates... so...)

A W E S O M E!!

Just a Little Girl

Sorry for the long hiatus, but work as been a source of depression this last week. I want to just write silly posts judging bathroom and oogling at big equipment, but sometimes this job gets serious, and team members don't work together.

What happened is the kind of thing that makes women scarce in this field. It's the stereotypical danger in hiring a woman. It's what all that sensitivity training that people roll their eyes at is for.

I was yelled at and disrespected and harassed. [If you want the story, message me.] Long story short, I talked to my supervisor after trying to brush aside the whole thing, and I got removed from the jobsite (at my supervisor's advice and to my agreement.)

Problem solved! Yay right? Nope, I've been on boring projects ever since, and even though there is a need for me on that jobsite, they have to overwork a different co-op to cover my absence.

The worst part is now I feel people are watching me harder, like judging my personality or the way I approach others to see if I could have brought this harassment on myself.



Today I was at a jobsite, and I was working with a new engineer and two inspectors. The engineer was female, and one of the inspectors was an old MDOT employee. The engineer said talking to the inspectors, "I had lunch today with your boss." And the old MDOT guy said, "Oh, did you sleep with him?" She was embarrassed at his comment, but she just continued on the conversation. It's just obnoxious. She's a married woman and a mother. She's their boss for goodness sake.

Sometimes I have to really remember why I am going into this field, filled with idiots who will never respect me, no matter my title, education, or experience.

Eric Bridgman Cafe Closet Bathroom

Now, sometimes I just weird.

I went into the dollar store to use the bathroom (since I needed to buy dollar store items) and because it was an old downtown building, there was no bathroom. Err, well, there was a bathroom? The back of the store had a door to go upstairs since it built in a time when people lived above their shops. So it did have a bathroom, it's just someone's... house.

I was being really not social and I just wanted to use a bathroom. I bought my items and left with as little human contact as possible. Only, I really needed to go. Like terribly so.

I dropped my items into the car, and dashed to the nearest building that might have a bathroom. It was a small cafe: Eric Bridgman's.

Now, when I mean small, I mean tiny. It was a really kozy place for old people. Well, I had lunch waiting in the car and little time to be away from the job site, so I quickly scanned the room for a door or hallway, and the woman across the room (maybe 30' away) asked if she could help me.

"Do you have a bathroom?"
"Do we have a bathroom? Well, sure we do. *sighs* It's in the back of the kitchen."

I dashed as fast as I could, but was stopped in order to sqeeeeeeeeze between the kitchen applicances and few workers. It was the size of a bathroom. Then as I'm almost a foot away from the back exit, I see this less-than-normal sized door leading into a room truly smaller than a closet. Found the bathroom!

I think a port-a-potty would have been bigger. I will say it was cleanish though. Hot, no air, so it was really hot and sticky in there. When I got out, there was an old man standing in the kitchen half-smiling at me, waiting to use the bathroom as he was pinned against the wall between the cook trying to wash a dish or two. As quickly as I had entered I made a mad dash. I knew I wasn't going to buy anything. I thought about giving them a dollar or two for using their bathroom, but I thought that would be more weird, and the lady who greeted me was busy.

I was very thankful for the bathroom even though I probably seemed like the biggest weirdo.

Yes, I straddled the toilet on one foot to take this picture.

Yes, I sat on the sink to take this picture.

Verdict: Not going back. Waaaay too small for comfort and I embarrassed myself with my hit-and-run, so I don't want to show my face around there again.

Lawton Backroom Bathroom

Sometimes in a town it's hard to find a bathroom. There aren't any fastfood places, and the gas stations are too... rustic looking. So I have to get creative or go back towards the highway to find some of my usual places.

In Lawton, I decided to check out the local hardware store, since it looked recently built compared to the rest of the town, so it would have to live up to more modern building codes.


So I'm walking up and down the store for this bathroom, trying to weave in and out aisles not looking suspicious and I see this:

Legit.

It didn't say "employees only" like most back doors do, so I adventured in, and tada! Bathroom.

It was kinda gross looking, not gunna lie. Like the bathroom on the side of an uncompleted man cave in the basement. It was true to the hardware store theme though, complete with random cabinet on a wooden bench/molding thing. The workmanship was good on the wood pieces. Spacious.

Verdict: If I'm ever in Lawton, I might come to this bathroom again, especially if I need something from a hardware store (since I always buy something from the place I go to the bathroom....) However, its far from the best bathroom I've seen.

Big Pipes

Look how big these pipes are! That's what's going underneath I-94 right now that required the crane.

Pipes in a row

Standing next to the row

Communicating by hand signals to the crane operator

Back filling the pipe area

Now we'll be prepared for the worse storm of the next 150 years. (Seriously, that's how engineers figure how big the pipes should be for drainage.)

Owwwies

[From Tuesday, July 16th.]
I got an injury.... Tying my shoes. It was extremely painful. Then sand got in it doing density.

Owww....  All fixed!

The occupational safety guy at the office fixed me up! Everyone was so nice to me, but definitely didn't spare a chuckle when I said I did it tying my shoes.

Counterweights

I love counterweights. I was enamored when I saw the big boom under the bridge. I stared and stared at how it was possible that such a small machine held the weight of an entire hydraulic scaffold under half the length of a bridge. It was so heavy, and yet it moved on it's own power! I wish I had pictures. It was marvelous.

Today, another awesome machine was used on site. It took probably 30 minutes just to set up, but I watched this crane travel on the highway and transform into a beautiful weight-lifting marvel.

It's lifted off of the ground. I wish I understood completely the mechanics to why it needed to be lifted off the ground. How it is possible that those four pillars are suspending it and all the weight? I kept wondering why they put down those metal squares (which, what are those made of?) and I know see it's to distribute the weight. Gahhhh does my college offer a course in just hydrallics and counterweight systems?!

I wish I had footage of the entire pipe installation process using the crane, but alas, I would be deemed weird. Some of the goodies of construction will be kept in my eyes only.

(This was taken when the boom was raised from parallel with the ground to in the air, right as the machine starts to set up.)

Too High!

Getting density on the structure backfill. Density is pretty simple, but getting to the test site sometimes isn't. Yay scaling concrete barrier walls!

I'm on top of the world!

Some of the places on the wall were low enough to haul my huge butt over, but other spots... Not so much. That's why we are engineers though.

One slip, and a face of concrete.

Climb to the top of the car and walk over!

Lots of testing.

I had to wear gloves when lifting the gauge up and over my head. Let's pray for no radiation.

McDonald's Did Something Right

McDonald's has the best bathrooms of any restaurant, consistently. They are always spacious, clean, and well maintained.

Literally today, I saw three workers from an independent consultant sanitizing the corners of the cracks of the bathroom. The two were training a new employee. Excellent.

Bridgman - Before ever setting foot in it, I could count on it being clean. My go to place to clean a wound.

Bathroom Rating:
Berrien Springs: Excellent
Bridgman: Excellent
I eat at McDonald's simply for the bathrooms.


If you've encountered a bad McDonald's bathroom, I'd love to hear about it! Write about it in the comments.

I Saw a Saw

Sights and sounds of construction.

That dust is really terrible for your lungs and he should have breathing protection. Dust is everywhere on projects.

Taken July 2nd, 2013. Saw cutting the new concrete approaches for rubber joint pouring.

Bush-whacking

Usually I never complain about the tasks of a job, since I could be doing a lot worse things, but man, this sucked. 

Before I even rant about what I did today, let's look at the weather:
Average temp: 82 F
Humidity: 88%
Feels like: 89 F

It's one of those dog days of Michigan weather, when you can't tell if it's sweat, or your body collecting moisture from the air. Sticky hot mess.

My task of the day: Measure Right-of-Way fence.
Now many of you probably have no idea what that is. I'll break it down for you. Right-of-Way is the land owned by the government on either side of a road. So yes, the land at the end of your driveway isn't yours, it's the township/city/village's. You just kindly mow it for them.

On the side of highways, the government doesn't like people (or animals) to randomly stumble through the woods (usually drunk) and start walking onto the highway, so they put up a fence. Makes sense. They also want to mark their ROW. Makes sense. But think about how often a fence way the hell on the side of I-94 is maintained. It's not. Why maintain it, it's way the hell from the road?

Next time you are driving down a highway, try to find the ROW fence. Sometimes you can't; it's covered in vegetation.

Now back to the narrative of my day: I was told to measure the ROW fence. In this weather. While it's covered in vegetation. And ticksssssssss. With a boisterous laugh, my task-giver finished his assignment with, "Make sure to bring extra tick repellant! Hahahaha."

The land of tickssss

It was awful. The total length was over 18000' (over 3.4 miles). I had to jump cross a small creek, walk in mud (more like slip-'n-slide), squeeze between the fence and trees, crawl underneath a pine tree spiky with new growth, toter on a concrete bridge drainage slope, scale a dirt hill less than a foot from 70 mph truck traffic (I got honked at twice from semis and countless swerves), climb the fence of thin wires twice, get whacked in the face with branches, and lunge over stumps, all while holding this little metal end of measuring tape and a can of spray paint.

The WORST part? Rose. Bushes. Like monster rose bushes. With thorns about two inches wide and four inches tall. FOR A MILE. (No pictures, because I wanted to get the hell outta there.)

I took some pictures of my journey, but not where it was terrible. Places with enough space to take my camera out, and where I didn't need two hands to squeeze, fight, and climb.

Finally a clearing!! Yummy hot forest.

I would have to search for these marks, stop, make sure the tape is not caught on anything within 200' of me (yeah right, it was caught almost every five minutes) and stand there until I would hear a yell in the distance or see a hand signal to find the next mark.

The tape used to measure was 200', so we would count the number of 200' places we went by making painted lines. I was in the back, thank goodness, so the guy in front cleared the way for me. I was very thankful for that. He also helped me over some of the harder parts of the task, like jumping the creek and the fences. I love working with awesome people! It made the day a lot better.

Hill! I was level with the overpass road. Look at the little cars muhahaha! (This was really scary, cars/trucks couldn't see me if I slid to the bottom into the road, super steep and slippery, don't do this children.)

Little gem at the top of the hill.

And while this was awful, I still prefer this to doing nothing. I like having purpose. It was so nastily hot. I at least sweated and worked off some weekend calories rather than sitting on my bum while sweating. Sweat was inevitable.

Going home to shower. Aww yeah.

This was super lame, but someone has to do it.


EDIT: I forgot the best part! I hardcore parkour'd today. I ran across I-94 and put my hand out, grabbed the top of the concrete barrier, and jump/swung in one fluid movement. It was totally bad ass. I hope the cars enjoyed the awesomeness they witnessed, and find a new-found respect for the MDOT worker.

Pouring Concrete

The sights of construction. Pouring concrete, first with a machine and setting it by hand. This is concrete drainage area near the new concrete median barriers.

Safety

This is an iron worker on a structure, but you get the point. It's literally like this everyday. One mistake because you are too distracted or because you've done it 1000x a day, and bam. Death.

"A paycheck don't do you any good if you're dead."

Safety matters: Proper training, proper equipment, and proper technique at all times.


Today, I almost pulled out in front of a car going 70 mph. I just wasn't paying attention. Later in the day, a car in the construction zone was going 50 mph and almost ran into me as I was standing outside of my car. He saw my car, but not me. Luckily I saw him in time, and dodged. Always be aware of your surroundings.

New Buffalo-oh oh my!

 

New Buffalo is a really ritzy, tourist town. Filled with little shops and pretty streets, it's a great place for that Illinois resident looking to dip into some pure Michigan. Now, I went to Redamak's to eat, but then I had a milkshake to go, and I felt weird taking the milkshake to the bathroom with me, so I waited until I went to the local variety store to use the restroom.

Man, it was disgusting. I can't even describe how nasty it was. If it had a reusable towel, it would fit in with the rest of the bathroom.

Let's just go on a photographic journey together:

Wha-? Why and what is dripping and crusted on the door? The DOOR?

Why is the sink dirty? Water is right there. Add soap and scrub. We are in a variety store. Soap and brushes are in aisle one.

Can we just-- I can't even.

So what have we learned? Just because you own and sell soap, doesn't mean you ever use it.

Bathroom rating: Fail. I will never go to this bathroom, or store, ever again.

Loading

The sights and sounds of construction. Remember that just moving things around to load and unload take time and special equipment. Construction takes a while, because it just has to sometimes. There's a lot more involved than people think.

Also, that woman should be wearing a helmet as per MIOSHA standards. Hardly anyone wears a helmet on this site.

Profiling

Whenever the police come around it's great. Lots of people slow down and give us plenty of space. Yet, some people, if they don't see the cop, are still speeding. But the cop doesn't stop them, they go merrily on their way. Why? It becomes obvious after a few state troopers that they aren't here for the speeding tickets, they are here for the drug busts.

Yet until like the speed gun, there is no drug gun. There is no way of telling who has drugs until you pull them over. People sometimes forget that when they hear about these great big drug busts on the news; a lot of people were pulled over to get that one drug smuggler.

A white dirt worker said it perfectly today, and it struck me in a certain profound way, especially for how politically incorrect most construction workers are:
"Damn, I wish dem cops start pulling over people speedin'. I understand they out here catchin' people carryin' drugs, but it makes me sick to watch 'em. Just last week I seen dem pull over 20 cars. But you know how they pick 'em? They pick the hippies, and the blacks. The mexcians too. I seen them take out the dogs on 'em and sniff their car all over. Almost all of them have campin' supplies with 'em. I wish they'd pull over a rich white person. Damn it ain't right. It just ain't right." 

 

This is a video of the traffic on I-94. Spoiler, they won't slow down.