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National ERG Conference Dallas - 3 of 5
Sep. 16th, 2017 11:59 pmSaturday morning I got up about 5:30ish and got dressed for the Kaboom playground build at the Park South YMCA. I saw Patrick and Luis from Michigan in the lobby, and met a shortish dude named David. I boarded the bus and sat next to another, far taller gentleman also named David. We arrived around quarter to eight and were greeted by a drum corps performing in front of the building. I ran into Misael in the registration line. Once we were registered I headed inside for a couple of breakfast burritos, one with bacon and the other with chorizo.
At 8:30 we were herded into the construction area for another performance by the drum corps, some cheerleaders, and speeches by a couple of the AT&T folks, the Mayor of Dallas, the CEO of the Greater Dallas YMCA, the project leader from Kaboom, and a city councilman. During the speeches I was standing by Chavonne; Dominique, our young and muscular team lead; and a big black dude with a nametag that read "Toy", sort of like that giant friend of my brother Dave who was called "Tiny". After all of the speeches we posed for a picture taken from atop a ladder by Jonathan aka Buck, who with his scruffy beard and cameras around his neck, seemed the definition of "cub reporter". He wasn't the only one: there was also Shane, a little chunkier and dressed more casually in gray (Buck was all in black, collared shirt and slacks, and I can't imagine how he wasn't simply roasting).
We ended up following Dominique around the corner to put on work gloves (surprisingly, the one-size-fits-all stretch gloves actually fit me, although one dude even bigger than me had some difficulty) and pick up garden tools. I ended up grabbing a hoe instead of the rake I was expecting, but it came in handy for digging up the few remaining bricks and fragments from the demolition of the "drug houses" (in the Mayor's words) that previously occupied the property. Once those were largely cleared up, though, the hoe wasn't very much use in leveling the dirt so I switched to a rake someone else had finished using.
Soon enough the project leader came by and had us switch to our originally assigned task of hauling mulch. I gathered a bunch of rakes and delivered them to the end of the giant mulch pile, about a hundred feet long by maybe 15 or 20 wide by about 12 high. Then we started filling blue tarps with piles of mulch and carrying or dragging them from the pile to the base of the playground equipment under construction. I got pretty good at filling a tarp quickly with a rake instead of a shovel, but after carrying my first couple of tarp loads I felt like I was going to keel over if I kept up that pace. So mostly I kept on filling tarps and letting others take them away.
We were in the second shift for lunch, which was a box lunch from Panera with a small sub sandwich, chips, and a cookie, all washed down with sweet tea, unsweet tea, or lemonade. After lunch, Dominique and I chatted briefly over Popsicles before returning to work. At one point after carrying a tarp load I got so lightheaded I had to stop work and sit in the air-conditioned lobby of the Y to recover. At that point I began helping to knock down the top of the mulch pile, until I started sinking in a little too deep and returned to filling tarps and letting the kids get up there to do that.
Around two they came around and told us to stop with the mulch as it was too hot to work safely (plus they needed us out of the way of the concrete crew, I gathered later). This observation was borne out by the appearance and later departure of an ambulance from Dallas Fire and Rescue. By 2:30ish they were ready for a speech from U.S. Rep. Eddie Berniece Johnson, the ceremonial ribbon cutting, and another photo by Buck on the ladder. Then we all got back on the buses for the hotel, and I sat with Patrick on the way back.
Gary texted me he'd spent the day at the Dallas Zoo and was also returning to the hotel. He arrived just as I had stripped off my wet clothes and wood-filled shoes and was preparing to shower for the party in the park. Those plans went by the wayside fairly quickly. Afterwards I fell fast asleep for a good hour and a half, and by the time I was fully conscious again it was past seven.
We decided to skip the pricey Sēr (pronounced "sear") restaurant on the top floor, and went down to the atrium and had dinner at the Media Bar and Grill. We split an order of fried pickle spears, and each had a burger: mine was medium while Gary's was medium well. As we were eating, a blurb regarding the playground build came on the 10:00 news, and we ended up chatting briefly with two ladies who had participated and were passing by when we all saw ourselves (or at least our event) on TV. I texted Patrick to let him know not to expect us at the bars that night, and to enjoy them without us. After dinner we had a look at some of the artwork in the public hallways of the hotel before returning to our room and to bed.
At 8:30 we were herded into the construction area for another performance by the drum corps, some cheerleaders, and speeches by a couple of the AT&T folks, the Mayor of Dallas, the CEO of the Greater Dallas YMCA, the project leader from Kaboom, and a city councilman. During the speeches I was standing by Chavonne; Dominique, our young and muscular team lead; and a big black dude with a nametag that read "Toy", sort of like that giant friend of my brother Dave who was called "Tiny". After all of the speeches we posed for a picture taken from atop a ladder by Jonathan aka Buck, who with his scruffy beard and cameras around his neck, seemed the definition of "cub reporter". He wasn't the only one: there was also Shane, a little chunkier and dressed more casually in gray (Buck was all in black, collared shirt and slacks, and I can't imagine how he wasn't simply roasting).
We ended up following Dominique around the corner to put on work gloves (surprisingly, the one-size-fits-all stretch gloves actually fit me, although one dude even bigger than me had some difficulty) and pick up garden tools. I ended up grabbing a hoe instead of the rake I was expecting, but it came in handy for digging up the few remaining bricks and fragments from the demolition of the "drug houses" (in the Mayor's words) that previously occupied the property. Once those were largely cleared up, though, the hoe wasn't very much use in leveling the dirt so I switched to a rake someone else had finished using.
Soon enough the project leader came by and had us switch to our originally assigned task of hauling mulch. I gathered a bunch of rakes and delivered them to the end of the giant mulch pile, about a hundred feet long by maybe 15 or 20 wide by about 12 high. Then we started filling blue tarps with piles of mulch and carrying or dragging them from the pile to the base of the playground equipment under construction. I got pretty good at filling a tarp quickly with a rake instead of a shovel, but after carrying my first couple of tarp loads I felt like I was going to keel over if I kept up that pace. So mostly I kept on filling tarps and letting others take them away.
We were in the second shift for lunch, which was a box lunch from Panera with a small sub sandwich, chips, and a cookie, all washed down with sweet tea, unsweet tea, or lemonade. After lunch, Dominique and I chatted briefly over Popsicles before returning to work. At one point after carrying a tarp load I got so lightheaded I had to stop work and sit in the air-conditioned lobby of the Y to recover. At that point I began helping to knock down the top of the mulch pile, until I started sinking in a little too deep and returned to filling tarps and letting the kids get up there to do that.
Around two they came around and told us to stop with the mulch as it was too hot to work safely (plus they needed us out of the way of the concrete crew, I gathered later). This observation was borne out by the appearance and later departure of an ambulance from Dallas Fire and Rescue. By 2:30ish they were ready for a speech from U.S. Rep. Eddie Berniece Johnson, the ceremonial ribbon cutting, and another photo by Buck on the ladder. Then we all got back on the buses for the hotel, and I sat with Patrick on the way back.
Gary texted me he'd spent the day at the Dallas Zoo and was also returning to the hotel. He arrived just as I had stripped off my wet clothes and wood-filled shoes and was preparing to shower for the party in the park. Those plans went by the wayside fairly quickly. Afterwards I fell fast asleep for a good hour and a half, and by the time I was fully conscious again it was past seven.
We decided to skip the pricey Sēr (pronounced "sear") restaurant on the top floor, and went down to the atrium and had dinner at the Media Bar and Grill. We split an order of fried pickle spears, and each had a burger: mine was medium while Gary's was medium well. As we were eating, a blurb regarding the playground build came on the 10:00 news, and we ended up chatting briefly with two ladies who had participated and were passing by when we all saw ourselves (or at least our event) on TV. I texted Patrick to let him know not to expect us at the bars that night, and to enjoy them without us. After dinner we had a look at some of the artwork in the public hallways of the hotel before returning to our room and to bed.