In case I haven't mentioned it before, our customers in Venezuela are in the midst of building a giant, hydroelectric dam. Up until today, I've been working with the guys who supply the steel to go into it. That has been my focus. I haven't actually seen the dam. After the birthday lunch today, I casually asked the boss how the work on the dam was coming along. Since I've been sitting around waiting for parts, he offered to drive me up to see it. We drove along the protective dyke to the location of the work. (river on the right) I have no idea how to describe this. The earthern works holding back the Caroni river are enormous. The river is rushing along at a fantastic pace and there is nothing holding it back except this bit of engineering. Imagine the feeling of standing in a pit while knowing that you're surrounded by millions of gallons of rushing water that could envelope you at any minute if some engineer made a mistake in one of his equations. It is humbling and exciting at the same time. Robin Williams once described a protective dyke as a " large woman in comfortable shoes saying 'NO. Don't go over there!'". I hate to argue but it is much more. I think the most impressive thing is knowing that our machines bent and cut this massive amount of steel

To be honest, this job in Venezuela has really been getting me down. Things are breaking that I have no explanation for and I'm grasping at straws for solutions. The parts I need to finish are sitting in customs and aren't being delivered on time. I've got nothing to do and no tools to do it with. It can get very discouraging. It is so refreshing to be able to see the reason why I put up with all of this crap. This dam is a good thing and very reaffirming. It is one of a series of dams being built on the Caroni. There will be four more before they are all complete. The largest was built at Guri and it is currently the second biggest dam in the world. (It will move to number three when the Three Gorges is finished in China) It was completed around 1988 and they tell me that over 1000 people died in making it. Only three have died while making this dam. Granted, that number is three too many. However, it shows how much safety practices have improved over that time period. Our customers are very proud of this. The electricity produced from this will not only benefit this region of Venezuela. It will be sold to neighboring Guyana and Colombia, as well. It will provide a source of income for the local government, good jobs for these people, and economic development for everybody. Seeing this makes me realize that I can put up with this nonsense for a little while longer since it really does serve a higher purpose.