So Denis and I have just ordered dinner and are sipping the foam off our beers. Denis remarks, in his typical style, "You know Kent, this was a good day. Very productive." When his phone rings. It is Slava. There is a fire at the office. Everyone was working dilligently when someone looked out of the window and sees fire trucks all around the parking lot and a fireman is about to forciblibly remove Eugene's car from the parking lot. It is obviously in the way and needs to move. "Eugene, get to your car, quick!". Eugene looks out the window and bolts down the stairs to the parking lot. Returning in minutes Eugene says that there is a fire in the building. He has spoken with the firemen, they are everywhere. Eugene says that it is going to be bad.

Now everyone is pouring out of the building and looking up a the spectical of the burning building. For some reason the consensus amongst the on lookers is that it will not be that bad. But Slava, the senior manager on site is not so sure. The place is teaming with fire trucks and firemen.

Enter our heroes. Slava makes a fast and what turns out to be very good decision. He turns to the team who are all around him as says, "Let's get all the equipment out fast!"

	The crowd gathers at the base of the entrance. The smoke is thick.
	The team pulls together moving all the computer equipment out of the office down four flights of stairs and into cars waiting below. Equipment for 20 people was evacutated in 15 minutes. (We are talking grace under pressure folks.) A new twist on extreme programming.
	From a distance we can see the fire burning on the roof.
	Check out the vintage fire truck.

By 10PM when I called Denis it is clear that the office will be rendered unuseable. Denis is already making preparations for relocating each of the teams. Contacting internet service providers and making arrangement to minimize the downtime. I have to say I was amazed at how hard and efficiently everyone worked. Denis and Slava worked through the weekend making arrangements and driving to minimize downtime on all projects. By monday morning temporary office space in the building is secured and setup has begun. On tuesday the Alstad family makes a trip into Riga to survey the damage and see the new location.

Denis smiles for the camera while we examine the old office. The fire did not reach our office but there is substancial water damage. Denis coins a new twist on an old adage, "Whatever does not kill you makes you diabled.". This may or may not apply to more than just Denis.

I climbed up to the roof to see where the fire had burned a hole into the top floor of the building. You can see on the left roof the bulk of the fire damage.

Now, in retrospect when Denis said, "You know Kent, this was a good day. Very productive." I don't think he had the whole picture. But as the days go by and we see how well the team has responded. How we have supported one another. I believe he may right after all.

Today, Wednesday (the fire was on last Friday), as I write this blog entry all teams at Diatom/ESG are up and running an we are back on task. Great work in a bad situation everyone!!!