I am lucky to be alive. Each year for the past 11 years, we have spent
Christmas outside the US - usually in either India, Oman or Thailand.
Exactly one year ago, from Dec 22 - 28, we were on
Phi Phi island, south
of Phuket. The year before, we were on
Coral Island about 10 km south of
Phuket. Four years ago, we were in Port Blair, in the
Andaman Islands and snorkeling at
Sylvan Sands. This year, for whatever reason, we decided to
have Christmas on Jekyll Island, Georgia and then continue to
visit Ellen's mom in
Plant City, Florida.
It is unusual to have spent time in a number of geographically
different places - but all touched by the tsunami. Thus the events
from last week have touched me in a special way.
Here is the bridge update. When I returned from Florida, I see that PBC
has added the 14th set of edge girders to the east
platform - nearing the end. My dream is to be up close and personal on the
day that they erect the final pair of edge girders from each side. Thus
far, I have
been extremely lucky - with the help of SCDOT and PBC of course!
Not much changed on the west side during the
Christmas holidays that I can see. On the east side, though, the
14th cable bundle (the first anchor on the triple anchor edge girder) has
been built.