June 7, 2006: Sailing with Lewis with Michael and Timmy hammering
while Smokey is fishing.
Our sailing vessel
which had good company - the Queen Mary - 2
Sparky got up early and made some really good shots
and all purpose Lewis - when last seen was burning a hole in the P-12
template
and with a smile
Michael back at work, unbuilding the core of P-something
hammering away
with a pattern for efficiently unbuilding the core
Here is Michael doing a bit of maintenance.
and Smokey fishing
and he caught something
hmmm -
and Michael is back working on P-something
With Kim driving, Ken, Chris and I return to the dock. In the background,
Michael and his 1250 on steroids, Smokey and the divers.
Bye Bye C-3
Bye Bye Timmy
again - bye bye
Bye Bye unbuilding worksites
and back at the port, bye bye Grace and Pearman superstructures
Post Script
After leaving Ken and Chris, I stopped by the trailer to say goodbye to
Ponch. I opened the door and there were Steve Testa and Ken Canty as well
as Ponch Billingsley. We had our goodbyes and shared some of the fun
we have had together on the unbuilding project.
Later this evening,
Steve DeMello (the super Dale Earnhardt fan), Jackie Foley (the gourmet
wine expert) and Michael Hebb (master of steroid-enhanced 1250s)
came over to our home on their Harleys. I don't know
what it is about Harley-Davidson machines, but Wade Watson of PBC also
had a Harley. Anyway, the guys came over and we talked about the project,
our families and what happens next. Joshua Hebb phoned (probably Tina),
as well as Bob McCabe (from
Mississippi) and Jackie's sister (from Boston) phoned - spontaneously during
our time together..
For me, these guys and their families, and many other
of the PBC / Testa / Cashman team became part of our extended family. We
will continue to talk by phone, to communicate by email and most likely,
our paths will cross again. For me, these past 3 years have been
the best of my life.
One last observation. Sparky and I have discovered the delight in
curiosity. At MUSC, and now at Duke - Singapore, I focused on creating
an enabling Internet infrastructure. The main idea was to provide a way
for faculty and students to share ideas, not only among themselves but with
the world. The bridge building and unbuilding projects provided prototypes
that helped me understand ways to share.
Clearly our focus on an enabling IT infrastructure created
people interactions that would not have happened without the Internet.
Our curiosity led us to photographically capture the construction
of the Ravenel Bridge and the unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges.
Sparky is another example of a friendship that was triggered by our
Internet sharing of our photos. Sparky and Tesie and their kids have
joined our family and probably our paths will cross many times in the future.