Ferrari Mailing List: You'll never guess what's happening in my 'hood...

[Todd Walke (racertod]

	So the people that live down the block from me here in Kirkland got picked 
to be on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  On Wednesday they found out that 
out of 5 finalists in Washington, they were the ones that got picked.
	By 6pm our neighborhood looked like a disaster area.  Two full blocks 
around their house were blocked off.  The house is on the main street that 
feeds our area, forcing all of us that live north of the site to a big old 
detour to access our houses.
	As the street I live on is the first cross-street north of the blocked-off 
location, they decided to stage all sorts of equipment on our street.  Our 
extra-wide street is down to one lane with several 40-foot containers 
lining one side, a dozen large construction work lights, dumpsters, 
generators, front-end loaders and all sorts of other stuff.

	Today they filmed the "before" shots in the morning, then *poof* the house 
disappeared.  I left for work with 50 or so of their blue-shirted 
construction workers lining our street waiting to be called up for the 
destruction.
	By the time I got home, the house was history.  Even more equipment was on 
our street.  The black and gold EM:HE tour bus was parked next to my 
house.  The street was lined with metal fencing to keep spectators off the 
street.  There is a spectator area so people can watch the process.

	This is a 24-hour-a-day operation.  They run generators all night to power 
the work lights.  Due to the equipment staged on our street, the front of 
the house is lit up like daylight all night long - fortunately my bedroom 
is on the other side of the house.
	All the trucks arriving on site to deliver supplies go right past the 
house.  They deliver stuff night and day.  If a forklift is needed to 
unload a truck, they park the truck next to my house in the intersection, 
unload it and run the stuff up to the site.  Just freakin' lovely.
	You can feel the gentle rumble of the generators rocking you to 
sleep.  The beeping backup alarms sound eerily like crickets on crack.

	I'm hoping that the weekend doesn't bring out huge crowds to 
watch.  Fortunately, the big reveal (which you'd assume would bring the 
biggest crowds) is on a Thursday so I won't be home for that nightmare, 
thank heaven.  I feel really sorry for the people that live next to or 
across the street from the site, although I assume they are getting some 
monetary compensation for all the hassle.

        Pictures are at: http://www.pureluckdesign.com/makeover/

	So if any of you Seattle-area folks are all hinky for that dreamy Ty 
Pennington, he's up here.  Just keep off my lawn!