Journal rdewald's Journal: The Gates: Monitoring Day 2 & 3, Satire 8
Gates Satire. Funny.
February 24, 2005 - Day 2
I arrived at the BoatHouse a little late. I wasn't looking forward to the pre-work ritual. During installation I always showed up early to drink coffee and hang out with my crew. I liked talking to them. During monitoring, I wanted to spend the smallest possible amount of time with my crew, so I was trying to show up right when I had to, and not a moment earlier.
As I walked in the door, the Gates project scheduling queen, whom I like, walked up to me and told me that one of my old zone supervisors (from the installation week) had requested that I be moved to their section but that this move depended on another worker showing up. I thanked her for that and assured her that I would cooperate no matter what ended up happening.
So, I stood for a few moments on the periphery of my group waiting for the news. It was so symbolic, the rest of them sitting at the table, talking amongst themselves, avoiding eye contact with me. I felt as though I were living in a badly directed school play. Then I got the good word--I was transfered. Everything changed.
The supervisors for whom I had worked during installation wanted me back in their section. There was good reason for this. I worked hard. I poured my heart into the job, I did everything I was asked to do and then I did things I knew they wanted done but hadn't asked me to do. I read the website. I read their biography. I studied the project technically and I learned it's detailed history. I came early and stayed late. I brought my best game.
It was so nice to be back among people who noticed it.
I picked up every last bit of trash in my section of the Park. I mean every cigarette butt, every pile of dog feces, every indistinguishable decomposing pile of paper, every bottle cap. I got it all. Then, I went around and adjusted the base covers on every Gate so that they lined up flush with the steel base. I greeted every single person I saw, I handed out swatches of fabric. I even had an encoutner with a famous TV Star or two (three, actually).
It was fun to give it everything I had to give. The weather was fairly calm, if cold. There wasn't snow to shovel. My section of the Park was not busy, though there was a steady stream of visitors. The other worker in my section was a very pleasant young woman from Brooklyn, DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), to be exact. She was fun to talk to when we crossed paths
The day went well, but I have to admit that I missed the number of people I encountered in the other section of the Park. So, while I enjoyed my co-workers up here more, this area of the Park didn't as thoroughly satisfy my appetite for talking to people about the project. It was a trade I was happy to make, but I did miss something about the swath of the public I encountered in the other section.
February 25, 2005 - Day 3
I had never shoveled snow in my entire life before today in spite of the fact that I have lived in New York City for more than five years. I made up for that in one day. I shovelled snow all day today. I got my PhD in snow removal--Piled high and Deep.
Thursday night and Friday morning New York City experienced a "Major Snow Event." This is something between "getting some snow" and "a freaking blizzard." Everything I did and everything I went through was worth the 15 minutes I spent in the Park this morning at sunrise. I was in the area of the Park near the Boat Basin, near 72nd and Fifth Ave, and there was eight inches of fresh snow on the ground. The Gates were magnificent in the golden early dawn light. They were framed in white, just brushed now by the brown-grey of the tree limbs, every surface, including the tops of The Gates and the tops of the tree limbs, was coated in brilliant white. It was awesome. I walked around in a cricle shouting "This is AWESOME" until a woman came up behind me and broke up my solitude with a quiet "hell yeah."
I ran into a young couple in the Park who asked me for a swatch. I didn't have any, I had not reported to work yet, and I told them that they were seeing the project in the most beautiful context I had every seen it, and that this was probably the most beautiful it was ever going to be. The three of us just looked around and drank deep. I told them to come back for a swatch later in the day and they told me that they were going to catch a train and this was their only chance to see it. I told them they were lucky, because it wasn't probably ever going to look any better than it did right then. I was right. It didn't. That was awesome.
I have never been a property owner in New York City. I am a renter. The landlord was responsible for shoveling the snow. Until recently, I have been too out-of-shape as well. A couple of years ago shoveling snow would have been dangerous. Until today, I had never shoveled any snow at all. I was a complete beginner.
Because I started off the day as a novice, I was unaware that I was missing an important tool as I reported to my area to shovel. I only had an inexpensive, plastic, snow shovel. Thousands of people were walking over the snow I was trying to move. It got compacted. I had no way to break it up. I didn't know I needed to break it up. I was on a steep hill and a steep learning curve at the same time.
I was supposed to be sharing the snow shoveling duties with another worker, but my partner was a woman of retirement age. She was remarkably energenetic for any age, but I was not going to trade off shoveling with her unless she admantly insisted on it, and she did not. So, I shoveled snow all day.
In the morning, because I lacked a way to break-up compacted snow and ice, mostly what I accomplished was levelling off the compacted snow so that it was a relatively flat surface upon which to traverese. This did make the walkways safer, it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it didn't feel like much of an accomplishment.
Then, as I applied intellect to the problem, I noted that the snow on the periphery of the walkways was still shovel-able, so I cleared all of that down to the tarmac so the sun could make it's contribution by heating up the pathway. This accellerated my progress, and I went to the early lunch at 11:30am.
After lunch I saw an ice chopper, which is really just a simple hoe, a paint-scraper looking blade on the end of a stick, outside the Boat House. Immediately I knew that was what I needed, so I took it. It wasn't mine, but it belonged to the project. I had work to do, so I took it.
When I got back, I had all of the ice and snow cleared from all of the steep hills on the pathways in less than 90 minutes. In the next 90 minutes I cleared the rest of the snow from any incline, and I almost go the the rest of the snow from the flat areas cleared, but not quite. If I had started off with the proper tools I could have spent the second half of the day walking around. Instead, because I was new to snow removal, I worked half a day very inefficiently, even if the results were very pretty.
I am now a seasoned journeyman when it comes to snow removal. I have some things to learn, but I've got some game. I've also got some sore shoulders and arms. That was pretty much Day 3. I shoveled snow.
don't knock the free cardio workout! (Score:2)
Exhibit B [ap.org]
Exhibit C [planetavp.com]
The people rest.
(Thanks elmegil [slashdot.org]!)
Re:don't knock the free cardio workout! (Score:2)
Thanks elmegil!
Major Snow Event? (Score:1)
shoveling It (Score:1)
Sorry to here that cliques are an ageless happening... wonder how the Nursing Homes fare.
Re:shoveling It (Score:2)
I definitely felt all of the muscles in my arms and across the tops of my shoulders in a new way.
You shoulda called (Score:1)
Enjoying your running comentary. How goes the deconstruction??
Stay safe,
C
Re:You shoulda called (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)