I was the one that had to rescue the chip for Gene after he got a call early morning in November 2005.
I was in a hole in the concrete for about 2 hours in the freezing cold trying to prize it free. In the end I had to tug out a big lump of the stuff with a frail loop of rope and take it away. He just stood there smoking and giving instructions
I got it down to a brick size piece and had to spend $200 to mail it home here. Took me another 2 months to get the chip out. He had someone else restore it for him but they did a real good job.