Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Real Jim


I am still in a state of disbelief that Jim is gone.  I mean, it is not as if he was not at risk of dying at an early age!  Jim did love risk.  I only listed about half of his professions yesterday.  Back in 2009 Jim was the building engineer for a 22 story luxury condo building in Koreatown in Los Angeles.  I went to visit him and he proudly showed me all the things that he was in charge of, including fire systems,  alarm systems and emergency diesel generators for electricity, and security systems.  And then he said: "You have to see the helipad on the roof!"  So up we went to the roof, and we then climbed 30 feet more to the mesh landing pad which is used for emergency fire rescue.  So we are standing there in the center of the helipad, and Jim says: "Let's have a contest to see who can walk backwards and get closest to the edge of the helipad."  So since I am always so easily influenced by Jim's great ideas, I took him up on the challenge.  Here is the photo I took of him at the edge.  Keep in mind, that if we fell off, we would only fall 30 feet to the roof, not 22 stories to the street.  So then it was my turn.  I will let you readers judge who got the closest to the edge!  Man, WHAT was I thinking!



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ken, The photo of Jim captures a great spirit in him as he is suspended over LA. It's a great contrast to you, perched on the edge of the helipad looking quite concerned. Good paring of pictures. A nice remembrance.
Stan

Ken Spencer said...

Hi Stan: Thanks so much for your observation of the differences in our photographs! Jim had a great spirit, indeed! He would help those in need at the drop of a hat - his was such a generous spirit.

Anonymous said...

My stomach does flip-flops looking at these pictures! But I love how different your poses are - Jim is "piece of cake" and Ken is
"okay, I did it". I do remember seeing a photo of you on this roof in the past. Nice of you to post exciting memories of time spent with your friend. bsk

Ken Spencer said...

Betsey: You have a great memory! Back in 2009 I did post my photo on the helipad! I posted it again to compare my demeanor with Jim's. Jim wins in the enthusiasm department!