Evironmental Newz

As some of you may have noticed, it's been a hot second since my last blog post. That would be because my office has been working CRAZY hours the past month to complete a massive three-part project for Hurricane Sandy relief. Not kidding, two weeks ago i worked TWELVE! hours on SATURDAY and NINETEEN!!!!!! hours SUNDAY! I started work at 8:30 am and left at 3:30 am the next day. I invented my own emoticon to express how that weekend made me feel. See if you can guess the emotion I'm trying to convey:

T---   ~  ~  ~    X-(

If it isn't inherently obvious to you (although I have no idea why that would be) you are staring at a gun on the left, a bullet zooming through the air in the middle, and a dead person lying in a pool of blood on the right. I'll admit, maybe not the best emoticon ever, but whatever, I'm sure that it'll catch on. Anyway, I know those kind of hours are considered a normal work week for all my investment banker friends, but seriously, how can anyone do this to themselves on the reg? I barely made it through myself, I will admit to several mental breakdowns throughout that weekend. Fortunately my hours have returned to normal, although not so for some of my colleagues. People are definitely starting to crack (I can hear my supervisor singing manically as I type).

Unfortunately many are still experiencing Sandy's wrath

Anyway, I saw this article on the New York Times website the other day. It's a heartbreaking piece about those whose lives were forever changed by the storm, and subtly references the project in which my office has been tirelessly contributing. We've been putting together detailed and time consuming Environmental Site Assessment reports (ESAs) for home owners interested in government subsidized programs to buy or remediate their damaged properties. The woman in this article chose the buy-out option. Our reports help the gov'ment understand potential environmental concerns associated with each property. #helping Check it out, it's worth a read!

(Oh god, now my supervisor is speaking in depth about his "wacky jacket". He seriously needs to get some sleep!)

Photo credits: Grease 

A Moldy Mystery Concluded... For Now

This post is the exciting conclusion to a previous entry. If you have not read the prequel, I highly suggest that you read it NOW.

In all seriousness, don't be that jerk who cheats and skips to the end of the mystery. It's no fun hanging around you when you're acting all smug and smart, "It's soooo obvious what's going to happen, you guys! You *still* haven't figured it out??". Yeah dude, because I'm going along for the ride and didn't check out the end!

Okay, at this point I'm assuming that nobody wants to be "that guy" and we're all caught up with the back story. Conclusion time!

So, it turns out the whole hideous situation actually WAS mold! Below are the results for the dirt-like substance pictured in my previous post: 

So I guess that's what a smuts/myxomycetes infestation looks like. Try pronouncing that name three times fast!

Even though the thing was far from pretty, fortunately for the family (but not fortunate for the story teller), the mold isn't a particularly dangerous or harmful or even a rare variety. It's a mild allergen, but it won't like, kill you or anything. Bo-ring. :-/ One fun fact is that myxomycetes aren't technically a fungus but are considered a "slime mold" due to their life cycle patterns (don't ask me to explain the difference, let's consult the NYC Mycological Society!). FASCINATING! #NowYouKnow #KnowledgeIsPower #YoureWelcome

The End.

Feeling the Lurve

This past week I've really been feeling the love at the office! I have experienced, count 'em, three! instances of MG appreciation over the last couple of days. I guess people are finally starting to recognize my awesomeness and are treating me accordingly. Geesh, about time!

I have to make a confession. I have a mega crush on one of my company's lead inspectors. This coworker is a fifty-something year old guy with a rather colorful past. Let's just say he spent five years "on vacation" over at Rikers Island. We shall refer to him as Tony Montana. 

*Le sigh* I've always had a thing for bad boys

This guy truly has a heart of gold. I mean, one time he went to Katz's Delicatessen for lunch and brought me back the second half of his sandwich. Anyone with an once of sense knows it's a big effing deal to willingly share a Katz's pastrami on rye! Anyway, having seen my sorta flourish, sorta dying cactus garden, Tony brought me a new plant for my desk! Not only did he bring me a couple of bamboo stalks from his own garden, he brought a vase and decorative stones as well. Ugh, I just knew my bad boy had a softer side! And what a tasteful eye! 

Just like your struggling bamboo plant, I can nurse your heart back to health too, Tony! <3 

Like last Friday, today featured a pleasant surprise as well. I've mentioned before my coworker who works weekends as a professional baker (Seriously, visit her website! I'm not kidding, her stuff is so effing good, not to mention absolutely gorgeous! My future wedding cake will be made by this lady, no question!). Today I received quite the auspicious phone call at my desk asking if I' was going to be around this afternoon at 3 pm. I'm like, uhhh, yeah...? My coworker's response was a simple, "okay, bye!" followed by the sound of the dial tone. Well! This is what went down at 3 pm:

That would be a chocolate cake with layers of dulce de leche and peanut butter icing, topped with marshmallow meringue icing, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows :)

Every once in a while she brings in goodies using left over batter and icing from other projects. As someone with a serious sugar addition and no sense of shame (don't laugh, addiction is a disease you guys), I am by far my office's most eager dessert-eater. I take my baked goods very seriously and do not give out the MG seal of approval easily. It therefore really says something when I say that I could never ask for a more awesome coworker :)

And last but not least, this morning I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from one of our labs asking me to lunch. I've been officially asked out on a business lunch! Woohoo! The lab didn't ask my CEO or my office manager, or even my other coworker who uses them probably as often as I do. Serious VIP over here, and don't you forget it. Here's hoping it's not horribly awkward or whatever. Who am I kidding, I'll be there so of course it'll be painfully awkward! :)  

Awkward turtle

Photo credits: Scarface, http://thatplaceinmyhead.wordpress.com/

A Moldy Mystery

Oh. My. Effing. Gee. What a week. The past few days I have experienced one of the most bizarre inspections of my career as a mold inspector. Let's break it down day by day:

Tuesday

I receive a phone call from a hysterical pregnant woman living in the super chic neighborhood of TriBeCa. Privately I think to myself, here we go again, another psycho rich person with way too much money and time on their hands. It 's difficult understanding her description of the situation, I can't decide over the phone whether she actually has a legitimate mold problem from her strange description. She asks me several times if I can come by that day (I can come, but I'm really not in the mood. And more importantly I'd miss ice cream celebrating somebody's birthday at the office), so I say no hoping she would be calmer the next day. We finish the conversation with her asking, "Is it safe for my family to stay in the house? Or should I bring the kids to my sister's apartment?!?!?". My response, "Ummmmm, do you have another bathroom?... Okay, great. Just use that one... I don't think it's quite necessary for an emergency evacuation at the moment...". Yeah, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's inspection .

Wednesday

I arrive at the apartment. Of course it's breathtakingly gorgeous and spacious. The resident (also gorgeous) leads me to the bathroom. For the first time ever, I truly empathize with a mold  freak out. The *thing* is just so weird, and for lack of a better word, icky. 

A growth had somehow come through the grout on her bathroom wall and had developed on the slate tile both inside and outside of the shower area. This was a nice apartment and was well maintained. Not your typical situation to find visible mold growth with no known water problem. 

I see the *thing* and reason why she had called my company for a mold inspection. At first glance I quickly come to the conclusion there is no way it can be mold. First of all, it doesn't look like mold. Mold grows and develops in a hundred different ways, colors, shapes, etc. but it usually looks something along of the lines of this: 

Small, ugly, dark, spotty dots. Yay mold!

In addition to appearing dissimilar from mold growth I typically observe, the resident said the *thing* developed FAST. According to her, nothing was visible in the bathroom on Monday, and she had watched the *thing* clearly develop and grow drastically bigger during the day on Tuesday. I have never experienced a situation in which mold grows this quickly. First of all, I RARELY ever even see visible mold growth. And when I do, it's usually because a leak situation was never properly remediated or a bathroom was left neglected. This bizarre material exploded in a matter of hours. Blech! 

Considering the speed of growth as well as the appearance, I think to myself that it has to be a chemical reaction between wet building materials. On rare occasions I've seen plaster bubble as a result of water damage. It looks gross and scary, but is not mold. 

NOT MOLD

In this case, the growth was bright yellow. Plaster is white. And it looked kind of rusty too. There were redish-brown drip stains coming from the growth. Grossly, the resident mentioned that the day prior during the development period, the growth was soaking wet. "You could scoop it up with a spoon". At my investigation, the wall is dry as is the growth.

Day Zero (resident's photo): Bright yellow, wet, icky, growing faster than the US economy

Approximately 24 hours later: lighter yellow, dried out, still icky 

Now here's the real twist in this mystery! As I mentioned, I thought there is no way that this thing could be biological. It just grew wayyy too fast and didn't look right. BUT! As I get all up in it to collect a sample for the lab, I expect the chunk will be light and fairly easy to collect. I think it will come off in the wall in one large foamy section. Nope. Wrong. I learn that the growth is very difficult to remove from the wall. It is extremely dense and is difficult to remove. It comes off only in small chunks. I'm a bit disturbed to realize that the interior is not yellow like the outside. It's brown on the inside. What's more, the sample disintegrates quickly into a grainy substance. It looks like I threw a handful of dirt into a bag. 

HOW DID THAT YELLOW FOAMY THING TURN INTO THIS?!?!?!?! I AM SO CONFUSED!!!

At this point, I kinda freak out a little bit myself. I change my mind and think that it MUST be biological. Why else would it be brown on the inside? And disintegrate like that if it wasn't?? Following the sample collection, I am a bit nauseated myself thinking about whatever I just touched and hoping it wasn't some toxic naturally occurring infestation of anthrax or something. 

The woman's superintendent does not stop exclaiming that he can''t believe I touched it. I was wearing gloves you know! He goes on and on about his days in the army and all of the biological and chemical weapons he had learned about. Not helpful. I am starting to wonder whether I should have put my respirator on the second I stepped foot in the bathroom...

Returning to the office I immediately call our laboratory for sample analysis suggestions. They have no idea what I'm describing over the phone. They say they'll take a look at the material and then decide how to test. Nobody in my office has ever heard of or seen such a thing. So, so effing gross. 

Thursday

The lab calls me. They had performed a simple test to determine whether the sample is biological in nature, so that it can be analyzed by the correct department. It turns out the sample IS biological. Ick. So it is a living organism... Great.

Friday

I eagerly await results this afternoon. I have never been so excited to receive lab results before. Stay tuned...

Photo credits: Dilbert

Perigrinating to Poughkeepsie

Last week I received a request to do a mold investigation upstate in Poughkeepsie, New York. The journey involved a two hour train ride on Metro North's Hudson Line. The expedition was breathtakingly beautiful and relaxing. It had been so long since I had left the concrete jungle of NYC and I thoroughly enjoyed the air's clean and refreshing scent. Unfortunately my mold inspection was quite the opposite. Thank god the apartment's resident wasn't home during my investigation - the entire place wreaked worse than a dumpster you'd find behind an Arby's on a 90 degree summer's day. Not sure I have any desire to meet the person who chooses to keep their house in such condition... Anywho, below are some photos taken along the way. Enjoy!

Couldn't have asked for a more gorge day!

Necessary bridge shot

This looks like a scene from the Lord of the Rings. I kept hoping to catch sight of a hobbit or two.

Andddddd this is the sticker I found on a banana I ate today

Hurricane Sandy

Hello all! As pretty much everyone is aware, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has wreaked havoc in the Tri-State area over the past week. Power stations have exploded. Fires have started. People have been without electricity or heat for days. Homes have been lost. Subways aren't running. The list goes on and on. It has been an absolutely crazy few days. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected. I am so, so grateful to have been only mildly inconvenienced during the past week. I have much to say on the aftermath of Sandy, but I'm too exhausted from walking eight, yes eight, miles today from a relative's apartment in Midtown Manhattan where I rode out the storm, to my own place in Brooklyn. It breaks my heart to hear the news stories of the devastation Sandy has caused, although I just saw this article and couldn't stop laughing. I thought it was a needed remedy to all I've been hearing and reading. Enjoy, and I hope everyone is okay!!