I went to Whistler this past weekend. I had fun on the first day, learning how to downhill mountain bike with an instructor. The second day did not go well.I went off a jump. When I got to the end of the jump I thought to myself ‘this is way bigger than I want’, but it was too late. I got out of shape and crashed to the ground. Mostly on my face. The next thing I remember is feeling the wet of mud on my face. Turns out it was mud and blood.
Due to excellent planning, I was wearing a full face rental helmet and suffered no concussion, no broken bones and no broken teeth. In spite of this planning I still got hit pretty hard, cutting my lip and nose, leaving me with some nice lumps on my head and whiplash. I had a “concerning” laceration in my mouth that required the expertise of an oral plastic surgeon, but he said that surgery wasn’t necessary. So, I’m in one piece and recovering now, but it’s not pretty. While I am feeling quite lucky emotionally, I’m not feeling too good physically with the whiplash. Click the photo to see more.
Dan after his accident
Crystal and Ken showed up shortly after I tried phoning Dan, Roger or Shawn, and the landlord. Roger said everything should be well grounded because of the UPS, so we did what you are technically never supposed to do (without insulation, anyway) and unplugged all the electronics and tried to get them out of the way of the pipe, which was pouring warm water and had collapsed a corner of the ceiling. It was a couple of inches deep on the carpet by then. We set up some pots and buckets to catch the still-pouring water, which was trying to get around the pony wall to Dan’s desk, and started drying what we could in the hopes that the hardware could be salvaged if left to sit long enough. To no avail.
Dan came in somewhere in the middle of this — I can’t remember exactly when. I hadn’t got his email about the accident, so I was certainly surprised by his appearance when he came in! Quite possibly the worst Monday ever for him.
As there is no shutoff for the pipe, it kept pouring all morning and partway into the afternoon before the plumber managed to stop it. And now we’ve had fans and plastic dividers in the office all week.</p>
<p>When the water was eventually turned off there was nearly two inches of water in some places. Most of the workstations and electronics. The two wooden desks that Dan built appear to be fine, since he used plywood and real wood and not particle board. As of yesterday the restoration company gives their best estimate of four weeks for everything to be repaired.</p>
<p>We are still open for business. Dan’s computer is now in front of our Organization Board. Ken and Crystal have moved into the board room. Except for a slight delay to re-organize our work stations, it is business as (un)usual!</p>
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