Slammed

I was perusing the Kindle store when the title Slammed caught my eye. I saw a documentary last year about poetry slams: people writing poetry and performing them on stage.  Mostly kids, putting their feelings, emotions and selves out there.  It was so raw.  I was in awe.

I downloaded the ebook by Colleen Hoover and started reading.  I didn't stop throughout the day, except for the dogs.  A brief synopsis: Late teenage Girl's dad dies and mom must uproot Girl and brother from Texas to Michigan.  As they are moving in to new home Boy (early 20's) who lives across the street spots girl.  The rest you will have to read about.

What I loved about this book is that it isn't pretty - it is life.  Down and dirty.  Most of us didn't have to learn about the down and dirty part in our late teens/early 20's but the characters in this book did.  I have written before that my mom died when I was 21.  This book almost stopped me in my tracks but it was so beautifully written I kept going.  To use Oprah's phrase I went to the ugly cry place.

I finished the book but it stayed in my head.  I looked up the author's name and found that there was a sequel - I love when that happens! (Remember Outlander A?)   I downloaded it immediately and started to read A Point of Retreat. 


It picks up with the same Boy and Girl and continues on with their lives.  As the story progresses other characters are introduced including a neighbor girl, Kiersten, who at 11, in my opinion, has an old soul.  She is being bullied by kids at her school and the brothers of the Boy and Girl stick up for her.  When she is introduced to slam poetry she decides to write and perform a poem for talent night. With the horrible and sad suicides of teenagers around the globe due to bullying, this resonated.

The one thing you need to know is butterfly is a euphemism for cuss words - any and all.

A slam poem by Kiersten, a character written by Colleen Hoover

"Butterfly.

What a beautiful word.

What a delicate creature.

  Delicate like the cruel words

that flow right out of your mouths

and the food that flies right out

of your hands.

  Does it make you feel better?

  Does it make you feel good?

Does picking on a girl make you 

more of a man?

  I'm standing up for myself

Like I should have done before.

I'm not putting up with your 

butterfly anymore."

"I'd like to extend to others 

what others have extended to 

me."

"Butterfly you, Mrs Brill." (hands principal a hand made butterfly)

"Butterfly you, Mark.

Butterfly you, Brendan.

Butterfly you, Colby."

"I have something to say to you.

I'm not referring to the bullies

Or the ones they pursue.

I'm referring to those of you

that just stand by.

The ones who don't take up for

those of us that cry.

Those of you who just...turn a

blind eye.

After all it's not you it's 

happening to.

You aren't the one being bullied.

And you aren't the one being

rude.

It isn't your hand that's

throwing the food.

But...it is your mouth not

speaking up.

It is your feet not taking a stand.

It is your arm not lending a 

hand.

It is your heart

Not giving a damn.

So take up for yourself.

Take up for your friends.

I challenge you to be someone

Who doesn't give in.

Don't give in.

Don't let them win.

In the next paragraph Mrs. Brill is moving to the stage as soon as damn comes out of Kiersten's mouth.  SERIOUSLY!  Please tell me there aren't principals like Mrs. Brill in charge of our schools.

I loved this book series for so many reasons.  I loved it because we, all of us, struggle with our selves at different points in our lives.  I know as a teenager I only ever wanted to fit in but as an adult I have come to realize it is our differences that make us unique.  Our strengths and weaknesses make us unique.

Right now there are a lot of people converging on London.  A lot of people competing, in the spirit of sport.  A lot of different people.  

Being different is cool.  

Be cool.

Always learning

Hillsborough County schools open in 3 weeks.  I don't have children but I know this because I provided doors, frames and hardware to two Charter Schools that are almost at the end of the construction process.   Most of my work is done except for the occasional phone call from the job superintendent about something that has gone missing.  Happens at the end of every project.  


Both jobs went smoothly but one ended up being a big learning lesson for me and I wanted to share it in case anyone else runs into this. 


I was bidding 4 schools at one time but there were only two floor plan prototypes.  All four projects were being built by the same General Contractor, who is one of my favorite companies to work with.  I had been part of two other charter school builds the previous year so everything was pretty standard.  I was awarded two of the schools and they happened to have different floor plans.  Both were being built at the same time so I wanted to make sure I kept all the paperwork and communication separate.  I didn't want maple doors showing up at the school that was supposed to get birch!


All the hollow metal frames, wood doors and hardware had been delivered and installed at one of the schools when I had a call from the project manager. They were seeing an potential issue and wanted to see if I could come up with a solution.  The issue was that the corridor doors were designed to open almost back to back leaving a small wall between them.  

It was impossible to use a wall or floor stop to stop the doors from hitting one another when opened.  And lets be honest - kids barrel through classroom doors when they hear the bell. (Is there even a bell anymore?).  The architect didn't notice it during the design process, the GC didn't notice it when reviewing the plans and I didn't catch it either.  The fix was relatively easy.  I supplied stop closer arms for all the classroom doors and this solved the issue. 


In my humble opinion this wasn't any one person's fault and hopefully all of us involved learned a lesson that will be applied to future projects.  I am glad I was able to come up with a solution that didn't cost a lot in either time or expense.


One thing about this job is I am always learning something new!

I Need An Analogy

Last evening I was measuring doors at a hospital for a 2nd shift customer.  When walking these types of facilities I always look for door educational opportunities to share with my customer.  I know doors isn't exactly on the top of  most folks list of what they want to learn about.


My customer walked me up to a restroom wood door and said we need to replace this.  I recognized this door and knew we had replaced it within the last 2 years so I asked why.  He opened the door and it was evident, the door was split on the door edge by the top hinge.  I knew exactly what happened.  The door has a closer on it and the cleaning crew used a broom handle or some object to prop the door open time and time again.  While that may be good for my sales it is definitely not good for my customer.  As I was measuring the door I offered several suggestions on ways to educate the staff to treat the doors and hardware properly in order to get full use out of the material.  My customer shook his head and said nothing will work. 


As I was driving home I wondered how could I reach an employee who probably makes minimum wage at a thankless job.  Ultimately the replacement door or any other material that doesn't last its normal lifetime comes out of an employees paycheck by not receiving raises due to ever escalating operating costs.  I wondered if an analogy would work but so far haven't been able to come up with one.


Thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome in the comment section below.


Thanks very much for reading!
Ginny

Red White and Blue

I have learned how to celebrate Fourth of July differently since my current two dogs joined my household.  I have never had dogs afraid of loud noises before but these two are and my heart just broke the first July 4th they spent at my house seven years ago.  They trembled, panted and barked for hours.  So today my sole job is to keep them happy and exercised in order that tonight they will sleep (with some help) through all the noise makers who live in my neighborhood as I watch Sherlock Holmes on my DVD turned up to full volume.  


I did buy some red white and blue food today however for my quiet celebration.

www.pinkberry.com

www.drozfans.com

  

www.bartlettsblueberryfarm.com

With some stars thrown in! 

natureisawesome.net

Thank you to all the men and women, past and present, who with their families keep this country and it's citizens safe and more importantly free.  


Happy Fourth of July!


Ginny

Wimbeldon 2012

longislandtennismagazine.com

In America we celebrate our country's birth next week.  Red, white and blue is prevalent throughout the neighborhood.  I am very grateful to have been born in this country.  

However there is something I am not grateful for this year and that is for the first time in over 30 years I am unable to watch Wimbeldon.  I am a huge tennis fan.  I have always watched the 4 major tournaments on TV and attend matches as I can.  To me it is better than a golf tournament.  

NBC lost out to ESPN in the bidding for the exclusive rights to Wimbeldon last year.  I remember hearing this and thinking surely there will be a way for me to watch via internet.  Nope or if there is I haven't figured it out yet.  

I gave up "basic cable" three years ago because my means didn't meet any longer.  I currently pay 90.00 for a land line, internet & 24 TV stations, 6 of those stations I never watch.  Giving up basic cable was difficult at the time.  I was heavily invested in dramas and dvr'd them to watch on the weekend.  Surprisingly I don't miss it.  The quiet was more of an adjustment.  The past few months I have gotten even better about rarely turning the TV on.  Case in point I had no idea Tropical Storm Debby was at my door.  Probably should watch the news at least ;)  

Yesterday morning while driving into work I hear that Rafael Nadal lost to Lukas Rosol in his second round match.  WHAT! How could that have happened?  This morning I wake up to find Roger Federer was two points away from the same fate though pulled it out in a "thrilling fightback".  Wonderful!  I would have loved to see it.

Part of what makes America great is free enterprise and ESPN, fair and square (I hope), beat NBC out.  Wimbeldon has the right to take the highest bidder.  

Shouldn't I, as a consumer, have the ability to choose the 24 channels I want to watch from the local cable provider for a service I PAY for?  

Just saying.....

Composing a Life

On my wish list for any town I live in is that there is a university or college nearby.  I am lucky enough to have two in Tampa, the University of South Florida (go Bulls!) and the University of Tampa.


It was through the University of South Florida that I heard Maya Angelou speak several years ago, an experience I won't forget.  


This last April I had the pleasure to hear Mary Catherine Bateson speak, also at the University of South Florida.  To be honest I had not heard of Ms. Bateson before my friend and yoga instructor asked if I would be interested in going to the lecture so I did some research. Ms. Bateson is the daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson - that alone made me sit up and take notice.  What a fascinating life her early years must have been.  


Ms. Bateson is also an author of several books, two of which specifically called to me:  Composing a Life and Peripheral Visions.  I have mentioned before that I turned 50 this year and it seems a good time to pause and take stock of my life.    I have been asking myself the typical question: am I happy both in my personal and professional lives?  What could I change to make my life more fulfilling?  I have always said there is no such thing as a mid life crisis, to me a person has many crisis's throughout their life - it is a means to grow and learn.  In researching Ms. Bateson I found this quote on her webpage: "We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."   Bingo!  I definitely wanted to hear this woman speak!


Ms. Bateson specifically was lecturing on inter-generational communication, aging and the life cycle.  The audience was diverse in age which is always a good sign.  My notes on the lecture are such: 
      
Active wisdom
Listen to the wisdom of others
Good observers
Process of communication must complete the loop
Participate and learn
Don't be spiritually deaf

I have these notes written on a piece of paper stuck on my wall at home.  I am curious what your thoughts are on them?  Where are you at in your life journey? 

As a final note in case anyone at USF reads this post - the parking for this lecture was terrible.  I ended up at a metered parking spot that cost .25 per 10 mins and the maximum time was 1 hour.  I constantly worried I was going to get a ticket.  

Crating - It's Important

It doesn't matter how fabulous a wood door manufacturer is if, during transit, one or more doors are damaged.  All the hard work from getting the door swings correct, reviewing the acknowledgement & having the doors ship on time go out the window with door damage.  Since wood doors are typically one of the last items to be installed on a job it can cause a real issue on a jobsite.  


We have a system here that as soon as a truck pulls up and the guys in the shop realize  wood doors are being delivered they come and get me.  It doesn't matter what I am doing I grab my iPhone (w/camera) and head outside.   We off load via forklift and I watch every single move.  After the forklift has picked up the door load and it has cleared the truck the crate is raised so I can see underneath. In this case the door manufacturer put two sheets of thick cardboard between the pallet and the finished door not hardboard and this is what often happens.

Material can be loaded and unloaded 4-5 times between the time it leaves the door manufacturer and arrives in my shop.  Speed not care is often the driving motion with freight companies.  As you can see the cardboard didn't stop a forklift tine from putting a nice big scrape in the door.  This damage was done at some point along the travel route.  The customer for this particular order paid extra for a 3 day quick ship so he wasn't happy when I called to inform him the door came in damaged.  Before I placed that call I had already talked to the door manufacturer and sent pictures.  A replacement door was in the works but, in my opinion, we failed the customer.


I had had several freight damage issues with this door manufacturer over the past several months and it was agreed upon that a note would be attached to my account so that every quote included an extra crating charge to prevent damage.   Because of this I had been documenting each delivery with photos and even a video of unwrapping a single crated door.   


I typically work with smaller manufacturers that provide great products and even better customer service.  At this point I was very frustrated that no hardboard was being used and expressed this to my inside sales rep. on several occasions.  I have a 2nd door manufacturer whose doors were not getting damaged in transit and was seriously considering my options.  This is what their crating looked like.

You can see the hardboard used on top and there was also a piece on the bottom.  The sides are fully crated - not cardboard corners and stretch wrap.  This is a good crate and what I expect from all my wood door manufacturers. 


I have to say my inside sales rep. came through for me.  She took all my emails, pictures and the video to management and kept the conversation going.  To their credit after much discussion within the company the president emailed me apologizing and thanking me for my input and documentation.  Their policies and crating have changed and so far (knocking on wood doors) I haven't received anymore damaged doors. 


As a lead lined wood door manufacturer we also ship out wood doors and my Production Manager gave me a tip: don't use nails to build a pallet use screws.  Because of the rise and fall of a trailer through the course of travel a pallet made with nails can come loose and separate.  That won't happen with screws.


Of course this is just my take if you have further suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comment section.


Thanks for reading!