You can read a full account of the groundbreaking at the GlobalFoundries microchip factory in tomorrow's paper, but here's the brief version.

My first observation, upon arriving at the site, was that it is one huge clear cut. You know that it's a 223-acre site, but you can't really conceive of what that means until you behold it in front of you.

I saw a similar clear cut when Skidmore College constructed its Northwoods Apartments, and I remember having a similar reaction, but this project is a whole order of magnitude larger. The giant skidders, graders and dump trucks moving around the site looked as small as Tonka toys from the press conference site.

A retention basin could swallow The Saratogian whole -- and no, I'm not talking about the Sunday edition, I mean the whole building.

Based on words spoken at the event, the project's economic impact in the area should be equally mammoth. Here's hoping!