35 Windows And $25,000

Flickr.com

I had almost forgotten about this interaction, but finding a business card in my pants pocket reminded me.

About a week ago I ran into David C. Samuelson, "architecture and construction management." Here is his website, though nothing is there but a "coming soon" notice.

www.davidsamuelson.com

He was near one of the houses on Fourth Street, looking quite responsible and official, and so I thought I'd pull up in my crappy car and find out what was up...

He was waiting for his insurance adjuster. I guess he trusted me from our conversation, because he showed me around inside the house, which was wonderful inside...though some things needed to be finished. One little piece of information David gave me really stuck in my head.

Thirty-five broken windows. Repaired at the cost of $25,000.

I asked him why the house still had one broken window on the second story. The poor guy. It was obviously a source of annoyance. It turned out one of the windows got broken during installation. Isn't that a pain in the posterior?

Like I wrote elsewhere...modern civilization is made of glass.

And to erect glass is an act of faith. Especially in my neighborhood.

I know I came off as a bit suspicious and security-oriented when I spoke to him. Dave is such a cool character, he almost comes off as slick. But he's alright in my book. I found out the "For Rent" signs had the number of Dave's cell phone, which he held up in his hand in response to my question. I thanked him for that, saying "exterior contact information is SO HELPFUL when you want to get in touch with somebody about a situation at one of these houses."

I told David if I saw something going wrong at his building, I'd call him. I pointed out the garage across the street, which I'd secured with my last nail...but now it was boarded up with an "official board." It was actually during this interaction with David that I noticed it.

As I was leaving, I heard David tell the insurance agent he was meeting a neighbor, and that he had "a good neighbor."