Kiewit Building Group

I am a field engineer for a new project KBG is starting just up the street from the office. We are waiting for the signed contract so we can break ground on a new "Renaissance" Marriott Hotel. It will have 181 rooms, 20 story tall tower, with a 2 level underground parking garage and conference center area. We have a 2 year schedule to substantial completion. It will be a fun project for me as I will be there from the start. They told me my timing was perfect with this project getting ready to start. It is located just north of the Arapahoe Exit on I-25 in the South Denver Metro area. There are already 2 conventional cranes there working on another building we are constructing. You can see those cranes from everywhere so look for them when you are driving by and you will know where you can find me.

The construction will be what is called "cast-in-place" concrete. That means it is formed up and reinforced (with tons of rebar) and the concrete is poured into the forms and cured (hardened) in it's final restingplace. The building adjacent to it we (KBG) are also building, and it is a pre-cast concrete building. This means the concrete is predesigned, cast, and cured and trucked in. They use cranes to lift it into place and welders weld it into place using the metal pieces that were in it when cast. Pre-cast buildings are faster to construct but not necessarily cheaper. It just depends on the owner's schedule.

If none of that made sense that is okay. I will start putting pictures up when I have some to put up. One thing that is good about this 2 year schedule is that it will coincide with my cousin Spike Gatten's mission. The closer we are to finishing the longer out he will have been. We are excited to see my cousin Cassie and her 2 boys Cooper and Gunner this week. They are driving through in their new minivan on their way to their new home in St. Louis, MO. We also get to see her mom, Aunt Jean on Thursday when she flies in to drive the rest of the way with them.

We are also going camping next weekend. We bought some new camping equipment last weekend in preparation for it and are excited to get to use it. After doing some research online today I think we are going to go check out Devil's Head in between here and Colorado Springs. I am looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days and enjoying the mountains.

Car Troubles

I started the at the new office on Monday. I had to go drop off the truck at my old office and say goodbye to everyone before reporting at the Building Group. Janna and the boys followed me over and brought me back home. I spent last weekend getting the Honda Accord ready to go.

Unfortunately the electrical problems it was having before have gotten worse. I didn't have to worry about the problems when I had the truck, but now that the Honda is my primary form of transportation, it is a glaring mess. I replaced everything that I knew was part of the problem, but now other problems have surfaced. My battery is being drained by a grounded wire somewhere, so when I wake up it is dead and when I need to drive it during the day it isn't strong enough to start or even turn over the engine.

Thanks to Walmart's great warranty I replaced the 3 month old battery to eliminate the mechanic blaming the battery. I took it in to Ralph Schomp Honda yesterday and they are supposed to do a diagnostic on it and hopefully find the problem fast. All of the other shops I called wanted to start at square 1 and charge $90/hour til they find the problem. This place said they would do an electrical diagnostic for about $50, so I went with them. I felt better too, knowing they are a Honda-specific shop. I advised them to disconnect the battery until they could work on it since it was a brand new battery, but they didn't listen. I am hoping it is a quick fix-simple solution and not drain the bank account. I requested that they call me before charging me a small fortune.

As a result, I had to get the old '78 Dodge Van up to speed. I warrantied its battery also at Walmart and put air in the tire with the slow leak. It started up like the Ferrari that it is and is ready to drive. On a side note, when warrantying a battery at Walmart go to a one without an Auto Department desk. That way they cannot test your battery to see if it still has a charge. They just warranty it and send you on your way. This saved me a lot of hassle and discussion.

I believe nothing gets me more stressed than car problems.

Cherry Creek Reservior

Since we weren't able to go to the Newport Beach this year, we spent a day at the beach at Cherry Creek Reservior. The boys love to play in the sand and swim in the water. It would have been nice to be able to get a cheese dog from Jane's, but we had a lot of fun anyway.



















































Stone and Rusty love to "camp" on the lawn in front of our apartment. They bring out tons of blankets, pillows, toys and marshmallows.

HELP US CLEAN UP BLOGGER

I have an important piece of information to my readers and to those who have a blog on blogspot. I AM NOT YOUR MOM, JUST A FELLOW BLOGGER WHO WANTS TO HELP KEEP OUR MINDS AND COMPUTERS FREE OF PORNOGRAPHY AND OTHER DISTASTEFUL THINGS. I love blogger and love that I can keep up with all of my friends and their families through it. I want to make sure it continues to be a positive thing for us.

At the top of YOUR BLOG, (not mine, I removed it) you will notice a navigation bar with the link "NEXT." If you click on that you will be routed to any random blog. This is NOT a good thing. I accidentally hit it once and had a pornographic blog come up to my shock and horror. I have done some research along with my friend and former mission companion Ben B., and we (Ben) have a solution. We ALL NEED TO

1. email WWW.BLOGGER.COM and ask them to give us the option to remove it from our Navigation Bar and 2. until they give us this option, eliminate the Navigation bar from our blogs.

To do this you have to log in, then click on "Customize" in the upper right corner. Then click on the option "Edit html." Don't be intimidated when you see the code below. Scroll down the code and find where it says:

body {

Above that enter (just copy and paste it from here):

#navbar-iframe
{
height: 0px;
visibility: hidden;
display: none;}

Leave a blank line above and below it. If you are feeling lost, refer to this link by Ben: http://bennyz.com/navbar.html

Scroll down to where it shows: body {
and just above it you will see the text you are to enter that I showed you up above. After you have entered it click on the "Preview" button and see if it worked.

If it did, save your changes and good job, you did it. If you still see the navigation bar try it again and check your work against the link to Ben's page. It took me some intense coaching from the guru Ben to get it to work. If you still can't get it, call or email me and I will do my best to help you.

Because removing your Navigation bar also eliminates the New Post, Customize, and Log In Features, you will have to use http://www.blogger.com/ to log in and after you log in you will see these links to be able to Create a New Post, Customize, View Blog, and other helpful links to blog with. This is a MINOR inconvenience and worth every extra second it takes to use this route.

If we all do this we won't have to worry about garbage getting into our minds and onto our screens. I know I have nieces and nephews that are old enough to read our blog and I would hate to have something bad on their screen because of my blog. I will now step off of my Soapbox. Thanks for your time and for reading this entire post. Happy blogging.

A Change in the Air

It is official. I am transferring to the Kiewit Building Group. I didn't want to announce it to the world until it had been approved and I didn't want to jinx myself. It is bittersweet because I really like the office I work at, the work is okay, but the people I work with are great. That makes it hard to leave.

The reason I got back into construction and what drives me is not heavy-highway construction. There are some really cool projects that I have been able to see, but it is not what I think about when I pictured myself in construction. I have been able to see some large buildings, namely the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Qwest Center in Omaha, also downtown Denver and it's Qwest Bldg, Safeco Field in Seattle, Seahawks Stadium, and other various large & tall buildings. For some reason I cannot explain, these are what get me going. The 101 in Taipei was incredible. The sheer magnitude of the size and dimensions of that structure are phenomenol.

Kiewit Building Group does Commercial, Educational, Healthcare, and special projects. I have not yet been assigned to one, but there are great projects going on in each category. Beginning next year we will be doing the Union Station Project in Downtown Denver. If you aren't from Denver, this is a huge project that encompasses the old Union Station Downtown. I don't know all of the details yet, but I know it deals with hundreds of high rise condominiums as well as all of the train & lightrail lines that go through Union Station, and Union Station itself. The project is worth over $350 million last I heard and with escalation and time I could see it going for much more than that. I would like to work on a project like this because of its size and the huge impact it will have on the history of Denver. The Building Group also has built several types of Athletic Complexes and Stadiums, including Safeco Field in Seattle and the Qwest Center in Omaha, NE. I have been in both of these.

I start Monday. I lose the truck, but considering this office is less than 10 miles from where we now live and this is where I want to be, I don't mind driving the Honda. I will keep you up to date on how it goes.

Please take a minute and leave a comment so we know who is looking at our blog. According to our counter we are getting about 100 views a week, we would love to know who our audience is. Thanks to all of you for giving us a reason to blog. We hope it is worth the look.

Demolition at its Best

It is kind of a sad day in a small way for me. I came across this picture online this morning. They are finally tearing down the Deseret Towers on the campus of BYU. This is a picture of W Hall, which was right next to V Hall where I lived. It really is only sad though because I won't be able to show my kids where I lived my freshman year at college. Those tight quarters and 150 SF of living space while cramped, gave me some of the best memories. Farewell DT.

The Perfect Hamburger

After church yesterday we went home and ate a small lunch. I took Rusty with me to go hometeaching for church, and after we got back we spent the rest of the day together. Janna kept asking me what we should have and I said hamburgers. Since we didn't have any premade patties, she thawed out some burger and shaped the patties. I put the grill on the lowest heat, flavored them with onions and some seasoning and went to town. What we got was in Janna's words, "the best hamburgers I've ever had," or something along those lines. Stone barely eats hamburgers, and he asked for one. He put it away before I was able to get half way through my first one. They were so good I had to eat 2.This picture is proof that Van has a double chin. Elaine was doubting it, so I had to show her that he really does have one. Marisa, Van says bring on the double chin contest.This picture is one of my favorite of Rusty and Stone. Rarely do we get them to sit still and smile. My proof is in the picture below at the pool. That is how they usually are.We have gotten to know our missionaries over the past couple of months. They are working hard and we are trying to do our part talking to our friends and feeding them when we can. Elder Tuisku is from Finland (above) and Elder Ralph is from Oklahoma.

Water Park at 6 Flags

Today we went to the water park at 6 Flags/Elitch Gardens. It was hot and crowded. We were able to find a spot for the double-wide (stroller, not trailer) and some people let us have their chairs. First of all we need to point out that Janna only got to go on one waterslide and it was the kiddie one AND she got busted by the lifeguard for going down it. MODED!

As you can see to the left of the blog we have a new feature called MULLET CAM. We will do our best to feature some of the sweetest mullets in Colorado. This lady walked by our chairs and unfortunately we couldn't get the camera out fast enough. I sent Janna on a mission to take her picture but she said it was too difficult w/o being obvious. So I did it. I was right next to her when I took it and she didn't even know what happened. This is the sweetest mullet I have seen in the 6 months we have been here. Unfortunately the frequency of mullets has significantly decreased since leaving Idaho.

Van got a little sun yesterday at the park. We kept him covered today at 6 Flags. He hardly made a sound and slept most of the time. The boys liked the Wave Pool until they got hit in the face a few times. Stone said to me, "those waves come a lot faster than the ones at the beach daddy."

Happy-ness

Good News , the Zoo, and Double Chins

My friend's luck has changed. They got the test results back and they came back with a clean bill of health. Miracles happen every day. No more signs of cancer where they said it was and it had not gone into the lymphnodes and bloodstream like they thought it had. What a great day.

Scottie starts his radiation today. They put this fitted mask on him and then bolt the mask onto the table so he can't move. Then they blast specific points on his head with the radiation. My mom said she is bringing one of my dad's lead shields for Scottie to cover his body with during the sessions. They don't provide them with the patients and justify it by saying it won't harm them, yet they stand behind a 15" thick steel door when the treatment starts. Sounds a little fishy to me.
Janna and the boys are at the Denver Zoo today. When I called them they were looking at the Lions. I will put up some pictures so everyone can see how big Van is getting. He has a double chin now and his legs are filling out. I didn't know it was possible for my offspring to have a double chin.

Good Day, Bad Day

Work has slowed down a lot in the last couple of weeks. We have one more job this summer and my role is fairly limited in it. I am helping out where I can. I have an all day training session this Friday covering Grade Checking and Layout. Sounds fun, huh? It will be fairly close to home so my commute will be short that day.

Yesterday was cruising along and around 2pm my mom called with some bad news. A good friend of mine who I grew up with has skin cancer and it is not looking good from what I have heard. I won't say the person's name because it is not my place to spread the word, but it has really affected me more than I thought something like this would. This person has a family and is a great person and since we got out of elementary has been a good friend to me. I hate cancer in all of its forms.

While we're on the subject though, an update on my brother Scottie. If you don't know him or his story, he was diagnosed with Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) at the beginning of last September. It is pretty rare for a kid his age (14) to get it. It usually hits before age 11 or later in life. So his case is one many are interested in because of its uniqueness. It has also probably helped get him extra funding and grants to pay for his treatment I am guessing.

Scott is doing okay. His chemotherapy has slowed down and he is getting ready for radiation treatment to his head. His website with the best updates by my mom is http://www.ldschinese.com/scott/. His latest passion is bass fishing. Dad got a boat for them and after some mechanical setbacks it seems to be working fine. His hair is back for now and last I heard, he and Sam are getting along.

After a couple hot weeks, last night's thunderstorms have settled in and are cooling things down. It is a good relief from the hot weather. The thunderstorms in the afternoon are fun to watch. I've seen some of the best lightning ever here in Denver. That is coming from a guy who lived in St. Petersburg and Tampa, FL.

Date Night

We were able to go on our first date since little Van was born. We took him along with us but he slept the ENTIRE time. He didn't wake up til we were back home and the babysitters were safely home. We met the Stanclifts and Dickmans at a place called Costa Vida. This is the same place we went for my birthday. I like it better than its Utah counterpart, Cafe Rio. The pork is sweeter and the ice is better. After gorging ourselves and watching USA's U-20 team beat Brazil's 2-1, we headed off to the Bowling Alley.

Brunswick Zone was the bowling alley we went to. It was the nicest one of the 3 we've been to. It has laser tag, a pool hall, bar (which you know we just love) and a photobooth that Tim and Shannon loved. The bowling was fun. We had the lane for an hour and all 6 of us were able to get a game in. Marshall started off strong and confident. The rest of us were trying to get our bearings. Shannon pulled off a turkey with 3 strikes in a row to overtake Marshall midgame. Tim started catching up late with a couple strikes and spare of his own. Bree and Janna both had strikes and I was left entering the 10th frame down 30 pins to Shannon, who was the leader in the clubhouse.

I have to let you know that entering the 10th, Marshall was down 9 pins to Shannon. All he had to do was roll a strike or a spare and then have the extra ball to win it. He rolled what seemed to be a perfect ball when it left his hand. Unfortunately he left the 9 pin standing in the back. He just had to knock it down for the spare and ultimately the win. He was at the freethrow line and all he had to do was hit it for the championship. He let it go, it looked good, it rimmed out. He missed it by the slimmest margin. Marshall - 135; Shannon - 136.

I considered myself out of the running around the 3rd frame when I couldn't do anything. The ball rack was in the way of my normal starting spot. I couldn't get over enough and it was just not happening for me. I even tried a house ball with my old mark with no luck. I went back to my ball and kept trying new things. I threw a few gutters that wouldn't stay on, but on one I did roll a spare-strike.

So entering the 10th frame I was at 106-pathetic, I know. It was embarrassing as the one with my own ball and shoes to be doing that poorly. In the 9th frame I had made an adjustment with my feet to try and get over as much as possible. I stuck with that on the 10th frame as the path of my ball was as close to where it should have been as it was all night. I also pulled back on how hard I threw the ball. Anyway, 1st ball was a strike. 2nd ball was a strike. By this time Shannon was begging me to choke so she could win. I stepped up and threw a perfect ball. Hit the pocket just right and rang up my 3rd strike in a row. So although I tied for 1st with a girl, considering the circumstances I will take that tie.

After bowling we went over to Coldstone Ice Cream and had a nice visit. We are so sad that the Stanclift's are moving back to Utah. They have been so fun to get to know the past 6 months. We are secretly hoping they see the light and stay, but that probably won't happen. We're just going to continue to enjoy them while they are here. Thanks to the Dickman's and Stanclift's for a fun night!

New Cell Numbers

After much persuasion from Janna, we finally got new Colorado cell phone numbers. It only took 90 minutes on the phone to complete. What a waste of 90 minutes. They consider it a different market here in Denver, so they had to open it as a new account. Then of course they didn't have the same plan, only a more expensive one and a less expensive one that didn't have enough minutes. So anyway, if you don't get an email from me with the new numbers, just email me and I'll send it to you. I don't want to post the new numbers for the public to see.

Happy Independence Day

We had a fun 4th of July. After getting a full night's rest, I got up and fed the boys breakfast. They played in their room and then started getting restless. We had a flyover around 9am from either Buckley AFB or the Academy down south. Either way it woke Janna up. I took the boys to the gym with me and they played cars and kicked a ball around the place. Around 2pm our friends, the Dickmans and Stanclifts came over. We went swimming at the pool for a couple of hours and then went back to our place for a BBQ. We grilled steak, burgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob.
The food was great and the entertainment was non-stop. I got the crowd hooked on a new show on ABC called Traveler. We have all 6 episodes DVR'd and we were able to watch them all. It is better than 24 or any of the other shows on TV right now. Hopefully they'll keep it going after the summer. If you are looking for a good show on tv, check out Traveler on www.abc.com. You can watch the pilot episode on the website.
We went to see the fireworks and on the way there we saw about 5 other fireworks displays around town. Rusty didn't like them because they were too loud. He hid behind me and wouldn't come out. Just about every city in the metro area has their own fireworks display. Next year if we are here I think the way to go is get up above the city line and watch them all. Hopefully we will be at the beach house though.
On a side note, Monday night we went bowling again and it was the first opportunity to use my new ball and shoes. I had to change the board I start from as well as my target. The first 2 games I was all over the place, but by the end of the 2nd game I was starting to dial it in. The 3rd game I rolled 6-9's in a row, 8 in the game. So I am starting to feel it. I like the new ball and the shoes will get better as I break them in. Janna thought it was funny that I was bowling so well with the house ball last time and so poorly this time. I didn't find it funny at all.
Rusty got confused as to what holiday we were celebrating...