Wednesday, 6 June 2007, 10:47 pm
I just wanted to send a quick email with some more pictures of what I am doing in Salt Lake. I found a way nice condo and moved in some time last week and managed to find some cheap furniture on Craig’s List. I have been working like crazy and learning everything I can about engineering, construction and inspection.
The pictures and their descriptions:
Chris – Chris and I have been friends since we were way young, like in kindergarten and did scouting together and everything. We last saw each other after high school graduation four years ago. He went to the Air Force Academy and just graduated. He stopped in Provo on his way home to California.
Condo – This is my bedroom. The big dresser is hidden in the closet and that is my room. I was going to send pictures of the rest of the place but will have to do that another time. We have marble counter tops and all new appliances. My roommate is from Washington DC and is doing his medical residency here in Utah. The condo is only two years old and my roommate owns it. I also have my own private bathroom! I have NEVER had my own private bathroom. Since Richard and I are never home, the place stays ridiculously clean.
Demolition – This is a picture taken from the 18th floor of the Key Bank Tower looking down at the south side of Block 76 and the demolition of what was know as the Crossroads Mall. The two buildings in the upper left corner will NOT be demolished.
Desk – My company just bought an brand new office and laboratory a block away from the construction site. The desk to the left is mine. This is before we moved all our things into the office but it very nice. We also have another table (not shown) that we keep all our blueprints on.
Key Bank Tower – This is the Key Bank Tower and I took many pictures from the 18th floor where I have been doing some work. This building will be imploded on August 18th. Rooms at the Marriott Hotel next door are going fast! It should be spectacular to watch this building come down.
Plan – In our office on the 8th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, we have a huge model of the future City Creek Center. To the left you can see the existing temple square. The tall tower to the right will be 32 stories tall and you can’t really see the majority of what is going to be built, and because this model is not yet complete.
Raining – Today it was raining really hard in Salt Lake and I had to be in the rain for four hours observing and inspecting the installation of some micro-piles. A little before noon we finished and I made my way back to our Regent Street Office. You can see my nice and new ATV with my yellow rain suit. It snowed in the mountains today… It was cold. I was wearing two shirts, two coats, my yellow rain suit and then my safety vest.
Temple – This is a view looking north at Temple Square. Down below is the first wall I got to observe and watch be installed. You cannot really tell, but that is a 16 foot drop down to the current level. We still have to go down about another 60 feet.
Tunnel – Did I tell you we were also building an underground tunnel? This is connecting the Church’s underground parking system to the ZCMI underground parking. Once again, you would never know that we were building this huge tunnel under temple square right underneath South Temple and Main Street, but we are! I have to observe the reinforcement and also test to make sure the concrete used in the tunnel is to the specifications on the plans.
Construction – This was taken today. You can see that they are getting ready to build a diaphragm wall. I would love to explain how we are going to make that wall. Off to the left they are using some really cool saws to cut away at part of the foundation of that building.
I am really sorry about this long email. If you made it this far, and are still interested, I have hundreds of pictures and have been learning a ton about all the different things that are going on in this project. This internship is amazing. I am really liking engineering and cannot wait until I get my degree.
I better be getting to bed, but have a great night and hopefully I will get to talk to you guys some time soon.
Farook