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Crossed this bridge heading towards Nauvoo on the 21st.  $2 to cross/25 MPH.

Time for an update, I suppose.  Today was our first day of "work" at the temple.  We showed up at 8:30 AM and met with President McArthur, the temple president, to be set apart an Asst Engineer (me) and a temple missionary (Arlene).  From there, we went our separate ways.  I went off to do engineering things and Arlene got to do ordinance work.

I was issued my radio, my lockers, a tie, my schedule till the shutdown in mid-April, also for the rest of the year, my earpiece to keep things quiet in the temple from the near constant squawk of the walkie-talkies, and people asking me, "Oh, you must be the new engineer, are you lost?"

I mostly was given a couple of tours of the temple areas as other engineers came and went.  And believe me, there are lots of areas to look at.  Highlight of the day was to get up into the tower on the top and see the bell that is rung hourly during the day.  There are stairs going up into the very top of the temple and, since I am an engineer, I will be doing that as soon as it warms up a bit.  It was pretty chilly today and I have a set of keys to get up there on my own.   I'll need to do that pretty soon as once summer comes, we'll be too much involved to do much of anything else.

After all the tours, 2,000 pounds of of salt (in 40# bags) for water treatment came in so I got to unload that from the back of a pick-up into an elevator and stack it in the basement...in whites....nice way to start out, huh?  Then I got to help work on a switch that failed for their internet phone system for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors.  I was supposed to go home at 2 but that was interesting so stuck around to see that finished.  'Course, I had to find where I left my stuff earlier in the day and that was probably the real reason.  The temple is so big and I haven't been able to find my way around yet....

Tomorrow is another day and we'll start at 8:30 to get in and get my early morning rounds completed before the patrons start coming in.  One item is to start up the organ in the chapel 1st thing in the morning.  The chapel is really nice and a good place to think prior to a session.

More to follow...if we can ever get this Internet thing fixed and consistently running right.

The view of the temple from our apartment, in the center.