Critical Path

During the last week of the Fall 2010 semester, the windows were finally being installed in the new Learning Resource Center under construction at Feather River College. If you have followed the sequence of previous LRC posts, you may realize that the building was originally to have been completed this month and occupied next semester. Sadly (and expensively) the plan was disrupted by some two-bit criminals.

What happened was that metal thieves stole the aluminum from the window manufacturer that was supposed to be used in the window frames. The manufacturer had to re-order it. Since no one can afford to hold any inventory any more, the custom-made aluminum had to be redone (and probably shipped here on a slow boat from you-know-where). Of course with no windows the building was open to the weather, so the interior finishing work could not begin. Also as it turns out, the flashing could not be installed without the windows; and the design specified that the flashing had to be installed before the roof could be finished. So now that the windows are finally here, things can proceed.

But wait, it is not that simple, because now the crappy-rainy-snowy-cold weather is here. Not the kind of weather you want for roof installation. The ideal weather occurred three months ago, exactly when the windows would have / should have been installed.

[Insert tongue in cheek now.]

So some guys with a hacksaw and a little time made a little money at the expense of education. Of course, it's not really their fault. This was the fault of the environmentalists! Those people who want to sustain the only planet we have, have built an infrastructure to encourage scrap of all kinds, especially metal, to be recycled for reuse. Furthermore they pay people do what people ought to do for free, make the small effort to recycle things that actually are scrap. So these entrepreneurs have made a business of creating scrap. Brilliant in that the only capital equipment needed was that hacksaw (which was probably acquired with a five-finger discount coupon from an unsuspecting supplier). So they are not criminals. They are just small businessmen creating jobs and helping to reduce unemployment. If they are ever caught, they should be praised for doing their part to beat the recession and kick the economy someplace, and they should be released rather than incarcerated. In the unlikely event that they are caught and convicted, we no doubt will punish them severely by providing them with comprehensive medical coverage, three daily meals, housing, and an immersion course that will teach them how to take their business to the next level upon their release. [Remove tongue from cheek.]