As you know, everything is under construction these days. Bridges, highways, homes, airports—you name it. And commercial office buildings are never fully built. As one tenant moves out, another comes in, demolishes the earlier construction and starts over. Most office towers have designated freight elevators just for this purpose.

We moved into a newer office building two years ago, but a year into our lease I learned that the outside construction was faulty and the building would have to be repaired. This meant cutting holes inside the offices to access the steel framework.

My corner office, being all glass, was not affected. However, the building name changed from "Time Warner Telecom" to "TW Telecom," and the outdoor sign hangs just above my ceiling. For a week or so, workers came into my office at 6:30 p.m. and worked above the ceiling until 6:00 a.m. I moved the furniture back from the glass and adjusted to the changes, knowing they were short-term.

I wrote this card to the building engineer who helped us through the process, and included a Home Depot gift card in the envelope.