I may have a little more to say about the Dominican Republic, including an answer to Will's original query. But first, a report from Miami.
Financial collapses take some time, you see. And so, this 28-story condominium is still going up within spitting distance of the Sawgrass Mills mall, on the very edge of the Everglades. Turns out that the architect screwed up the specifications for the awnings, which needed to be bigger. And so, who you gonna call?
Right! My older brother, pictured above, in the sunglasses. (You can also see the back of my cousin Larry's head.) My brother runs a contract air-conditioning company based in Fort Lauderdale. Larry and his brother Jesse started the firm and still own it: South Florida in the 1970s was the right place at the right time to start installing AC systems; they soon moved into service followed by contract manufacturing. (How d'ya think I found out about the Trinidadian air conditioning industry?) When I was a teenager, I spent summers cutting fiberglass for them at $5.00 an hour; $9.37 in today's devalued money.
And so, when you need to airlift a 2000-pound slab of concrete 28 stories in to the air, Thermal Concepts is the place to go.
That helicopter was built for the Army during the Korean War. More below the fold.
Here's the laying of the glue:
The flying in of the slab:
And the saving of my cousin's ass by my brother, quite literally:
That's how to spend a Sunday morning!
That is truly kewl.
Snarky comment for the day: IBM. EPA. Big Blue has DEFINITELY got the blues now. Bidding impropriety? My, oh my!
O:)
Posted by: Will Baird | April 03, 2008 at 08:33 PM
2000 pound slabs are _glued_ to a building in hurricaine country?
Posted by: Dennis Brennan | April 03, 2008 at 09:20 PM
>When I was a teenager, I spent summers cutting fiberglass for them at $5.00 an hour; $9.37 in today's devalued money.
About five seconds before I read this sentence, my husband commented "I wonder how much our house has been devalued." Ugh.
The story and pictures are fascinating, though. Gary would say I just like the helicopter, but honestly I do like (quasi-) behind-the-scenes stuff like this.
Posted by: Marcia | April 05, 2008 at 11:50 PM