Say What You Will

I hope you all will excuse me for abandoning my blog of late. I believe I mentioned that I have been called back to work. It will probably last for a couple of weeks and that is fine with me for now. Work has not been particularly hard; I guess I've just had trouble finding much time once I get home from work. Last night had to be an early one because we started pouring concrete at 5:30 a.m. Well, we were supposed to start then but the pump truck was late so I think it was more like 6:15. We are building dental facilities inside of an already finished and operational health clinic, so running a pump hose down the hall and through people's offices was interesting. And then it got stopped up immediately. And then the damn thing will jump when the first mud starts flowing out the end and you have to hold it down to keep it from banging into finished walls and such. It's a lot of fun.
Another fun thing is that the clinic is smack in the middle of a very bad part of Birmingham, so we have to be careful not to get shot. If you think I'm joking just read Birmingham's crime statistics. We try not to stay outside much unless there is more than one of us and you can't leave anything outside. They stole our wire mesh for the concrete. We laughed about that. We were not sure what they thought they might do with it, but they got it anyway. But the thing is, we are building this clinic for the indigent and it is a very nice facility with very good care.
Over the years I have been sneered at by a variety of people for being a construction worker in general. They're low-lifes, you know. I've mentioned this before. One day I'll have to tell ya'll some of the actual incidents. I've been sneered at for doing this work and wasting my college education by not fully pursuing the more astute and lofty ideals of a full-time artist. That's really contributing something to society, you know. I myself have, on many a freezing or broiling day, questioned my own sanity. But when I see the elderly and the children of various races come into our buildings to receive good care, that they could otherwise not afford, I think well, maybe I'm just where I need to be. But don't get the idea that I think I'm all that. I'm just one of a crew and we work together to build these things. I am proud however, that my company chooses to build these type of facilities and not things such as strip malls and other disposable buildings. We build many types of buildings for health care, education and industry. Things that help people. God forbid they ever bid on a Wal-Mart. I'll quit if we get it!
Anyway, I hope to get much work done over the long weekend and so will have something to post about. So much to work on it's hard to decide what to do first!


*Eric Clapton