While I was working on my Kyrgyzstan Embassy project today I felt like there was someone behind me.  I turn around and sure enough the Chief Operations Engineer of the building (not affiliated with our firm, that’s just his title) was standing behind me with a laser sight, pointing it over my head at the far wall.  I asked what he was doing and he said, “Aww, what the hell, you’re working hard, you deserve a shot,” and handed it to me.  I pointed it at the far wall and the screen on the back gave me the distance in real time.

We started talking about technology and how when he was a kid he ordered a kit from the back of a magazine to build his own laser and it melted through a frying pan.  He then asked me what I was working on and I told him where it was.

“Kyrgyzstan?  You working for the Soviets?”

Before I could answer he launched into this discussion (whether I wanted to take part or not) about ex-KGB terrorists and international espionage.  At one point I remember him saying “What about all those guys out there than know how to snap your neck so you don’t even make a sound, or the guys who were trained to hide a body?  You don’t forget that kind of training.”

And then he just kind of abruptly left before I could get his name.  I never found out what he was taking measurements for.