Dept. of Rushing, Rushing, Rushing

[kaffy_r]

 Just Two Things

• Happy almost-belated birthday to the estimable beamjockey; I hope your day was great!
• I hate Microsoft Outlook. That is all. 
• OK, three things: did you know that the art of fixing a water main is actually pretty darned interesting? No, you did not. But I know, because I learned about it today. And took pictures of a broken water main being repaired. I even got hit in the head by a small bit of rock that was being blown out of the hole by a huge water sucking vacuum. Physics, baby ....
  
• OK four things. Dreamwidth isn't letting me make bullet points tonight. Argh. EDIT: now it is. Yay.
• And four: my mouth hurts, Bert! 

Comments

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Outlook really does suck.

I hope your mouth feels better!

[kaffy_r]

I think a lot of my fellow reporters and editors are looking at unofficially using a network of private gmail accounts to keep in contact. It's a clunky workaround, but it may be what we have to do to retain at least a little functionality in our intra-newsroom communication. (Wow, that sounded like so much bureaucratese, but it's true.)

Sadly, my mouth is no better. It will eventually recover. Until then, I'm resigned to sounding like a drunk.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I have repaired wooden sewer lines and an non-reinforced concrete aqueduct but I have no memory of repairing a water main though one of my uncles probably repaired hundreds (Winnipeg has been the land of broken water mains some winters).

[kaffy_r]

Wooden sewer lines? The mind boggles; wouldn't they just fall apart too quickly to be of use?

(Winnipeg has been the land of broken water mains some winters).

That wouldn't surprise me in the least, since broken water mains and winter go together almost completely.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

I was working for the Greater Winnipeg Water District at in the early 1970s. When conditions didn't allow us to access the aqueduct (almost always because the fields around it were too wet to drive trucks on) we worked on other projects, mostly in St Boniface.

The wooden sewer lines were well over 50 years old at the time. They were basically planks fitted together to form pipes and bound with galvanized iron sitting deep in the heavy clay. The wood, surprisingly, was fine but the hoops had started rusting out. We dug out the lines, scraped the mud off, fitted them with new hoops then encased the section we had uncovered with concrete. This was only done in places where the lines had started to leak.

[kaffy_r]

Wow - this is so amazing to me that I'm going to mention it to the public works director in the village I cover. I think she'd get a kick out it, so thanks for telling me!

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Outlook is the worst thing ever. Meh.

Huh. Sounds cool. Except for the physics lesson. Less cool, that.

*hugs you close*

Hope you feel better soon, bb.

[kaffy_r]

The rock was so small that when it hit me, I actually laughed in surprise. Kind of a whoop, and then a giggle. Better than a scream of pain, all in all!

Dear god, I hope I feel better soon, too. *grumble*

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the birthday wish!

did you know that the art of fixing a water main is actually pretty darned interesting?

Given sufficient attention, anything is interesting.

[kaffy_r]

Given sufficient attention, anything is interesting.

And that, my friends, is the essence of most reporting, and all feature writing.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Urgh. Wow. Good luck with everything! ♥♥♥

[kaffy_r]

Thank you, my dear! ♥