As previously discussed here, ECC employees were randomly awarded $5 for participating in Red Shirt Fridays. A matching contribution was given to Bugles Across America at the end of 2014. Please use the link if you would like to know more about the organization or contribute to them.
Easterday Construction
Warts and All
I haven’t been posting as often as I would like the last few weeks as I’ve been working on getting another project up in our portfolio. (Not to mention dealing with the holidays, Will and Kathy’s retirement, etc.) Yei-Yei’s Game Room is a project that we’ve been working on since the summer of 2013. We expect it to wrap up this Spring. The project is unique. It is an underground game room with two bowling lanes as the center piece. The challenges of the underground structure adjacent to a lake with the associated waterproofing along with learning a plethora of bowling alley minutia were something out of the ordinary. Anyway, I thought I would include the link to the draft here for anyone who wants to watch the creation and editing process as it goes. I don’t want my lurkers to get bored!
I’m attempting to create some slide shows to illustrate some of the sequencing like I did with the Logansport Library page. I did a slide show for the stairs there. (I’m always amazed when I see how many pictures I’ve taken and yet don’t have the one I want.) There is an issue with the program where it doesn’t like more than one slide show on a page, so I’m attempting a work-around on that.
If you go there and find errors, feel free to let me know. I’m still considering it a draft until I put it in the portfolio link structure so you can find it from the main website menu.
Happy New Year!
Well, here we are heading into 2015. Happy New Year!
It’s going to be interesting starting the new year here with Will and Kathy‘s retirement. We wish them the best. We also lost several friends who passed away, including former employee Dave Epley, and two long time clients, Don Neidig and Richard Ford. They will be missed. Dave was a carpenter with Easterday Construction who was responsible for a lot of detailed work of which we’re quite proud. A fair amount of Dave’s work was performed for Don and Richard, both of whom appreciated fine craftsmanship.
There’s no doubt that the new year will bring new challenges. We can only hope they are ones that intrigue us and help us grow. 2014 brought us a mixed group of clients. Some of these were repeat customers that we consider friends and some of them new clients where we hope we have created friendships. Some of our work has been fairly mundane but necessary like replacing roofs, while others will be memorable such as the new Veterans Memorial at Fletcher Cemetery and the bowling alley we helped install in Yei-Yei’s Game Room. For all of it, we thank our clients for their trust and confidence in us.
On the lighter side (hopefully), I ran across this article from Dorkly about all the things we should expect in 2015 per past science fiction movies. None of the films they cite show rosey pictures for 2015, but at least we’ll finally get flying cars from Blade Runner and that cool hoverboard from Back to the Future II! Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger cloning himself is a bit scary.
Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2015 to all our friends and clients!
Kevin
Image Source: Will & Kathy by Julie Heise
Image Source: Terminator Arnold borrowed from giphy.com
Fond Farewell
Today is the last day for Kathy and Will Pearson at Easterday Construction. They are retiring and moving on to another phase of their lives. Talk about the end of an Era! Kathy has been here since 1976. 38 years! Will has been an employee off and on totaling about 25 years. I knew them long before I started working for Easterday Construction.
Will and Kathy moved to town when Will took a job running the Inn at what was then Culver Military Academy. Dad likes to tell the story of hiring them:
“Kathy applied for a job with us. I was impressed and decided to hire her, but told her, ‘You won’t be here long!’ None of the previous Inn managers had lasted more than a few years. Unfortunately the same was true for Will. But by then Kathy had proven herself so valuable that I had to hire Will to keep Kathy! Guess she proved me wrong.”
When I was looking for someone in the office a few years back, I knew Will was unhappy where he was, but I was concerned about history and I was concerned about Will and Kathy working together in the office. I asked Dad his thoughts on the subject:
“Will was always a good employee and I can’t imagine that has changed. He wasn’t always the fastest estimator, but he stayed until he got the job done. He was always loyal, conscientious and always did the right thing. I don’t know that you can go wrong with him.”
Dad was right in both cases. I don’t know that he could have done better than hiring Kathy and I have been pleased that I chose to hire Will.
I discussed their exit with the crew and they agreed that they would like to do an Open House for them so that the community, clients and friends can wish them well. Unfortunately (or fortunately for them) the Pearsons are headed to Alabama for a few months of warmer weather. We’ll have to postpone the celebration until they return. Keep an eye out here for a date sometime in March… but if you happen to catch them before they hit the road, please be sure to wish them well. Everyone at Easterday Construction does… Most of all me… I am not just losing employees, I am no longer going to see two good friends every day.
Kevin
Calvalcade Thank You
It was nice to get a hand written note from the Cavalcade Staff. Believe it or not, I still have my Cavalcades, though they are not regularly referenced. I know the work that went into producing the 2014 edition will be under appreciated by their classmates now, but no doubt appreciated greatly in the future.