Ebey Slough Bridge Project

Starting this next week, I will be spending a bunch of time out on the Ebey Slough Project, where I will be looking at the plans, monitoring the construction process, counting materials and employees, and basically crash coursing myself in the entire process since I have never done anything like this before.

Here is my typical work look now:

Hard hat - check. Safety vest - check. Bad boy glasses - check. Summertime beard - check.



You can see the old bridge on the left here. I was told it's the third oldest bridge in Washington State, hence why they are building another. On the right side of this photo are the steal girders that stretch over the waterway.

Here is another shot of the old bridge from the opposite side. Its actually pretty cool looking. In the earlier post there is a video that shows how this bridge operates.

Here is a side shot of the new bridge.

And finally, a shot of the bottom of the bridge from the water looking up.

To me, this is a very interesting project and I hope to learn a ton of stuff during the time I get to spend onsite.

A bit of my new job

If you aren't current on my new position, I am working as a Transportation Technician II for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Although I just started, and don't necessarily have clearly defined projects yet, due to a co-worker vacation I will be working at this Ebey Slough project for the next 2 weeks or so. I found this video on Youtube, starring my boss where he does a bit of expaining what this project is all about.



I cant seem to add my own pictures to this post, so I will add a follow up with my personal photos. Enjoy the video.

Mari turns the big THREE FOUR

Yesterday, July 9th, 2011 was Mariana's 34th birthday in this world. And to kick the whole thing off, she wanted to go to Krispy Creme and get some donuts and coffee.

Unfortunately, she had to work the afternoon shift at her job. So we sent her off to work while I spent the afternoon taking care of some true birthday stuff - like cake baking.

This is my first double layer cake I have ever baked. I bought two boxes of Pillsbury Classic Yellow cake and two containers of frosting, both chocolate and vanilla. I baked each cake, allowing both to cool. I frosted the middle with chocolate, placed the second tier, then frosted the entire thing in vanilla. I saved a bit of the chocolate for some artistry on top as you can see. It came out a bit lopsided, but overall, it looked terrific and tasted even better.

Mari returned home from work with a gift from her co-workers. We ate a bit, then changed to head out for the evening, aiming ourselves towards Seattle.

We headed over to the house of Mariana's friend Mariela where we met her new boyfriend Dirk, and shared some cheese and cracker plates, olives, speads and wines over some good conversation.

Afterwards, we headed down to Ipanema, where everyone was off work and waiting to see Mariana. We drank champagne, cut the cake, and had some drinks with friends.

Mariana had a wonderful time. She got presents, cakes, friends, and drinks. What else could she ask for. Happy 34th year to Mariana, hope it brings her some beautiful times.