A Real Tear Jerker, WorkSafe Macau and Upcoming Travels

Thankfully I have received my first gift from back home! After all my complaining about not receiving anything from anyone...this magically appeared in my email inbox. Now I know why Kylisha started crying when she got her stuff. This came from a not so good friend, Steve, the father of James and Frances McBride. Apparently he didn't send this with the kids' gifts because he didn't want me to start bawling in the post office.....how considerate, Steve. The piece of work is actually pretty good and I'm sure Leah's dad (your boss) would appreciate that you took 6 hours of company time to do this, Steve. I also noticed that the size difference between us is realistic, but you made yourself quite a bit more muscular than I remember!



OK, I'll have to admit that I am a safety geek, not meaning that I sit at home and read safety related material every spare minute, but every time I venture anywhere, safety is on my mind. That is just the life of a safety consultant! Here are some pics I've managed to grab of some things I've seen in my travels around Taipa.

This picture was from our building pedway that connects the 2 towers. This fellow is painting the steel columns and has one foot on the bamboo and the other on the railing. What you don't see is the gap between the bamboo and railing that leads 3 storeys down to the street.

I took this picture quite a while ago on my way home from the school one morning. This is the library at Macao University of Science and Technology. It appeared that these 2 guys were engineers or architects checking out the job site. They would just wrap one leg around the bamboo for fall protection! All the bamboo is tied together with nylon straps.
This is one of my favorites from the lobby of our building. Here, I guess they open a building, then complete the work...kinda ass backwards if you ask me. Anyways, they have a ladder on a 1/2" sheet of plywood with 2x4s underneath for support. Also under the plywood is a 2 storey fall to the basement corridor. I'm definitely sure they have some sort of lock out policy that will prevent anyone from turning on the down escalator!
In preparation for the Mid-Autumn Festival, city crews were busy decorating light posts near Senado Square. I think Pat was in a bank when I snapped this one. This guy is straddling a 10 foot ladder. Doesn't everyone know that is against the law??!?!?!? I know...I'm such a geek!
This was also taken on my way home from the school. These are 3 towers 40 storeys high, all surrounded by bamboo scaffolding tied together with nylon straps. You really have to see it to believe it!

Speaking of safety, I have not seen one car seat in any vehicle! I'm sure they exist, but I have not seen one. Whenever we take a taxi, Kaidyn always wants the window seat to look outside. There have been a few close calls with him flying into the back of the driver's seat on sudden stops!

Kaidyn's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and we are spending the weekend at Hong Kong Disney. Saturday will be spent at the park and we will stay in the Disneyland Hotel for the night. On Sunday, we have a character breakfast booked then we will do some sightseeing around HK. We have recently decided to purchase a DSLR camera so maybe we will check out some cameras in HK while we are there!

The last week of October is the fall break at TIS and you guessed it, Amanda and the kids have it off. The decision to move here was partly based on travel opportunities, so we have booked a week long trip to Singapore! Amanda knows where to find great flight deals and she found us all roundtrip flights for a total of just over $500!!!! We couldn't turn that down and are really looking forward to checking out the Singapore Zoo and Universal Studios among other things!

Also, my brother Jordan is coming here in December and joining us for our Xmas in Thailand. Before Thailand, I think I will try to join him for a week traveling through Viet Nam. Flights are expected to be dirt cheap and a 4 star beach resort usually runs around $40-60/night. He definitely wants to shoot some machine guns while we're there and he even knows of a place where you can blow up a water buffalo with a rocket launcher for the right price! If I value my marriage and life, I will definitely steer clear of that situation!!! Or may forget to mention it at all! Just kidding honey!

Until next time......