The Biggest Civil Project

(Original Text Posted June 2007 by Gary E. Geraci)
The biggest civil project that I’ll ever build…

In the modest role as the carpenter’s apprentice, I completed construction on a monumental, Austin “civil” project today.  No, this project has nothing to do with wastewater, water treatment, or highway transportation corridors or is anything like any other privately or publicly financed civil project that I studied during formal engineering school or permitted during my brief stint as a government employee. 

Today, I proudly completed construction on a structure sure to serve the civil masses of Austinites and visitors for years to come…. a rather unassuming, single level cedar faced deck structure abutting the old converted gas station located on the northwest corner of Lamar and Barton Springs Road now owned and operated by the Barton Springs Saloon.  

It just so happens that this famous Austin intersection gets a ton of daily traffic, one of the highest counts in the city according to local store owners.  So I am immensely satisfied in forecasting diverse people of all kinds and social status gathering here to unwind, relax, and socialize -many on top of this very structure, to later leave served, renewed, refreshed, and, well yeah, maybe a little drunk too.   

A tangible product that is honest and full of potential; resulting from a combination of creativity, management, capital, materials, and labor is just like any other civil project of the day.   

What a joy it is to see a couple of patrons already relaxing on the fresh cedar planks placed just moments ago.

 Now working as a carpenter's apprentice and living in a tent camper after divorce and a failed, year long court battle with the banking industry sent me into hard times. Gary Geraci, June, 2007