Spring Break 2008 Follow-up

A little late, but here's a wrap-up on our trip to Texas. Everything went well, from flights to rental car to hotels to food, etc. We had a great time. Spent the first two days in Austin (to avoid the NCAA Final Four mess in San Antonio). Kellie is a big University of Texas sports fan, so we visited the campus a few times. Went to the top of the UT Tower (great views). The LBJ presidential library is on the campus, so we visited it. Went to Lady Bird's wildflower park one morning (a very hot day to walk around and look at flowers!). Austin has some great, quirky restaurants, and we were able to visit a few. Leaving town, we drove to the LBJ Ranch and took the tour. Very interesting, and a lot of history in the area.
Finally made it down to San Antonio! Our hotel was right on the RiverWalk, so we rode the river taxis the rest of the week. Visited the Alamo downtown, and also two Spanish missions south of town. Of course we hit the trinket shops, and Kellie bought something for each of her 3rd grade students in her student-teaching class. Again, we found some great restaurants (mainly Tex-Mex). It was fun to sit along the RiverWalk and sip a cool beverage (even Mom had a couple Margaritas!). We drove out to the west of town, and visited some sights, too.
Overall, it was a great vacation. It may have been the first vacation ever that didn't involve being near an ocean!

Spring Breakin' in Texas!

It's spring break time, and this year we're heading to the Lone Star State, Texas! I didn't realize that the NCAA Final Four was going to be in San Antonio until after I booked the airline tickets (oops!). Anyway, we fly into San Antonio, but then head north about 70 miles to the capital, Austin, for a couple days. Kellie is a big University of Texas fan, so we'll enjoy the campus. We have reservations to tour the infamous UT Tower (remember the shootings of a few decades ago). On Tuesday (after the bball crowd has left), we'll head down to San Antonio. Weather should be about 88F every day, so a few cold longneck Lone Star brews will be in order. We'll have a full slide show (if I can ever figure out this blog setup) when we return.

Blood Drive

Both Kellie and Ken regularly donate blood. Ken usually participates at work, with the Red Cross drives. Kellie usually donates at KSU or at local churches near K'saw. We had our blood drive at St. Matthew's last week, so we joined fellow parishioners after mass at the Life South bloodmobile. It's an hour of your time, which makes you feel great because you know a part of you will go to help others.

Laurel and Hardy

If you like to visit things off the beaten path during your wanderings around Georgia, try the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Harlem (yes Georgia, not NYC!). It's just off of I-20, about 15 miles from Augusta. I've seen their sign on the interstate for a few years, and decided to visit during one of my business trips to the Carolina's. The museum is packed with memorabilia, and they show videos of L&H movies. I arrived at the museum five minutes before they were to close, but the very kind woman turned the lights back on and proceeded to give me a 20-minute tour. How wonderful of her!.

Harlem is a typical small, old southern town, with a few very nice old homes. The railroad runs right through the center of town.

Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia. His father died when he was an infant, and his mom and siblings moved to Milledgeville. He became active in local theater, and actually attended UGA for a while. He hooked up with Stan Laurel, as a team, in the 1920's, and remained good friends until Hardy passed away.

Blog Drought

As you have noticed, I haven't written anything for a while. No, I don't live in a cave! But it seems I spend more time reading everyone else's blogs than I do on building mine. More to come, I promise.

The fun part of work

I've been working, as an engineer, with plastics for over 30 years. When you work a job associated with manufacturing, the hours are usually long and you don't always get every weekend off. But the rewarding part of the job is seeing products, that you helped develop or produce, out in the marketplace or used in various industries. Over the years, I've worked with a variety of plastics (polymers, to the technical types) in a variety of shapes and enduses.

Our largest customer is Carestream Health (formerly Kodak Health Imaging), and we produce the base film for their x-rays. The next time you break an ankle, we probably made the x-ray.

My last company made plastic mesh products. I worked on the team that developed the orange safety fence that you see everywhere.

The next time you are in a coal mine, look up at the ceiling. The plastic mesh supporting the rock above you was patented by yours truly. (the longest day of my life was spent a half mile under Bessemer, Alabama, in a coal mine!).

Our team just won an award for the new packaging for the Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookie line. You grab the tab on the top, pull the package open, grab 5 or 6 cookies, and then quickly reseal the package. Amazing!

A few large companies are trying to go 'green' with their packaging products. We are working with a large snack company to convert their snack bags over to a corn-based film to replace the multi-layer packaging currently used. This will reduce the decomposition period of the packaging in a landfill from 40 years to 6 months. Go Frito Lay!

Yes, people still use microfilm (believe it or not)! Thanks to the U.S. government and the Mormon Church for keeping this product line alive.

Your new LCD tv probably has 7 layers of our film inside.

Your bottle of Bud Light or juice drink has our shrink wrap label around it.

A thousand and one uses for plastic!

But the thrill of the above is quickly evaporated when you have to visit customers who aren't fully satisfied with your product. This may be why I don't like to fly anymore, or to make 5-hour drives, after dark, through the storms, like my trip back from Charlotte tonight! Oh well, it's not fun all the time.