Personal

Editing My Writing

by

I went back through the ECC blog the other day, looking for a post that I wanted to reference to someone. Of course I reread it to be sure it said what I remembered. Yeah… it did… but I also found two grammatical errors. Ugh! That’s SO frustrating! When I post one of these, I generally read it a couple of times and if possible, read it out loud to myself before I post it. Unfortunately, both errors appear to be the result of previous editing where I apparently changed part of a sentence, but not the rest.

I struggle proofreading my own work. I know what I wanted to say and often gloss over my mistakes, apparently self-correcting them in my head. This is just the opposite of what I do reading other people’s writing. When reading someone else’s article, blog, etc., once I run across an error, I reset to proofreading mode and find myself looking for additional errors in lieu of absorbing content.

That said, let me throw this out there to my lurkers. While I don’t like it when I or others find errors in my writing, please don’t hesitate to tell me about them. Yes, I will be embarrassed, because I try my best to avoid them, but better that I’m told and correct them than let them continue to stand for others to stumble over. This blog celebrated its 12th Birthday in May. There are 178 pages of posts! No Kim & Ginny, I’m not going back and removing all the double spaces after periods! Ha! I’ve corrected that from when I learned I was in error, but those are going to stay in the older posts.

I’ve also chosen to write like I talk, so proper English often loses out to colloquialisms. While it is technically Easterday Construction Co., Inc.’s business blog, I often use it as a personal forum to vent about things that aren’t worth arguing in public. Some examples of that are here, here and here if you’re interested. Judging by the limited comments, I’m probably talking to myself most of the time here… which may be for the best! If you made it this far, thanks for “listening”.

Graphic in the top paragraph was borrowed from The Princeton Tutoring Blog

Strange Days Indeed

by

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed

John Lennon from Nobody Told Me

The above lyrics are a bit of an understatement lately. Everyone’s anxiety is showing. Stress levels are high.

Personally, I’m not stressed about getting sick; I’m stressed about all of the other craziness surrounding Covid-19. The disease itself currently has a surreal feel to me. It has not touched me personally closer than a friend of a friend’s friend. I am cognizant of the threat because my parents are in their eighties. Dad has had heart problems. Both of my siblings have had lung issues. There are health issues with Becky’s family as well. The threat to them is real… but still surreal…

Apt Blds 100 & 200 at The Paddocks are weathered in

The current top stress for me though is taking care of employees. Construction is considered an essential service and three of our current projects are for businesses that are essential services. Fortunately most of our work is open air at this time, which minimizes the risk. On The Paddocks project, we have multiple buildings under construction. We’re striving to separate the subcontractor crews into different buildings and are providing separate temporary toilet facilities for each building to help with separation. Everyone wants to work, but there is starting to become an issue obtaining materials. Aside from that, the biggest drag on the projects is discussing the virus. That’s probably cut productivity by 10%-15%! Despite being considered essential today, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be considered essential tomorrow. The changes have come fast and the rumors preceding them have varied. Everyone that is still working, is concerned that the next day could be their last.

The other stress right now revolves around what is being imposed by various politicians, government agencies and bureaucracies. (I wonder how many of them understand the thinking behind “Chesterton’s Fence”…) I am averaging one webinar or call per day discussing what has changed since the day before, i.e. what is being done to us. I’ve navigated the SBA morass to try and figure out PPP, both here and for Berger Audiology. I’ve sat in on conference calls with businesses that have been shutdown. I’m buying lunch once a week for employees to try and support local businesses. Some of the stories are heartbreaking and some of those businesses may not survive this.

I’m also very concerned with the three to four trillion dollars in debt that the Federal government assumed with the various virus bills over the last few weeks. It always helps me visualize that when I write it out, so $3,000,000,000,000 That’s a lot of zeros. And that’s on top of a $1,000,000,000,000 deficit already projected for this year. (An interesting/depressing article here.) That debt is real and may well affect me personally in retirement as well as the livelihoods of future generations.

The Constitution of the United States of America

And then there’s the more existential stress. What are we allowing to be done to us out of fear? Businesses are being told to close. Churches can’t hold services… even with social distancing. We’re not allowed to gather in groups greater than 10? The Bill of Rights, Article I, states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Is the loophole here that the State Governors and City Mayors are ordering and enforcing a prohibition on assembly, not Congress? That’s not the way that usually works.

Stress is high all around. We can’t succumb to the fear though. Things CAN be worse…

Merry Christmas!

by
Merry Christmas!

Here’s wishing everyone in Easterday Construction’s extended family of past and present employees, suppliers and subcontractors, & decades of clients a Merry Christmas and a very Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!

Larry Lindvall

by

Easterday Construction lost another friend from the past earlier this month. Lawrence “Larry” Lindvall, Jr. passed away.

I knew Larry as the salesman for Wickes Lumber in Argos when I started here. Wickes is no longer there and Larry retired from there before Wickes shut down.

Obituary from the Pilot News

Larry was the salesman that would find you anything. If Wickes didn’t carry it, he would find someone who did, set up an account with them and get it for you. If he found something for you and for some reason the supplier didn’t want to work with Wickes, he would go ahead and give us the contact information, so we could get it on our own. He wanted us to be successful. He was a bulldog about making sure his clients had what they needed and were happy. With most salesmen, after they have looked a bit, they give up and move on… usually without letting us know they’ve given up. With Larry, if I didn’t shut him down, he might pop up a month later with a quote for an item, saying, “I finally found this! How many do you need?”

His previous experience as a contractor often meant that he had advice (good advice) on how to do things. This varied from suggesting materials and techniques for completing the tasks or specific tools that made the job easier. He would not only stop here at the office, but also stop in the field to speak to the superintendents and try and address their needs. This was also valuable in that he was constantly learning. He would often ask what I had in mind and then say, “I saw it being done like this on So & So’s project. It looks like that might be a better option.”

In the end, Larry was a friend as well as a salesman. He occasionally came around to say hello long after he retired. He was always welcome.