Journal Entries
Th'Real Irons
Posted Jun 18, 2006
I'm away most of the week on a bit of a jolly. Midsummer in Paris, no less. Tough life, but someone's got do it.
It's a steel rolling conference. Correction : it's THE Steel Rolling Conference. The biggest in the world till 2009. That next one in the series, moreover, will be held in the UK. It'll be under the auspices of the IoM3, the professional organisation of which I'm proud to be counted a member.
In amongst all of this time's glitz and tech, then, there's a promo-job on our bash to kick off. And for obvious reasons, 'kick off' is going to be quite a theme of this week's international gathering.
Our 2009 welcome poster is discreetly red with a hint of navy on a pure white ground. A colleague has (possibly unwisely?) offered a small inducement if I can get a few hundred delegates singing "Rolling's Coming Home" at some point in the proceedings.
Now that sounds like my kind of challenge. Watch this Space...
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Latest reply: Jun 18, 2006
American Tourist Gazetteer
Posted May 28, 2006
Foreword :
There are lots of places in the World for you to visit during your vacation. Some countries merit a whole day. All of them ought to be grateful to America, and a number of them welcome US nationals. Unfortunately, these tend not to be the ones with proper catering.
Foreign travel can be stimulating, and is reasonably safe as long as you heed the following basic rules :
• Avoid anywhere ending in “stan”
• Avoid airlines whose check-in staff wear headscarves
• To be on the safe side, join a class action against the tour operator before you leave home
Here are the more popular destinations. Some places that are not on the list may also be visited, but they cannot be expected to have developed a retail infrastructure...
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Latest reply: May 28, 2006
List of the Damned
Posted May 20, 2006
I've decided that I need an anti-Friends List. Not an Enemies List (who needs that on h2g2?), just a list of hopeless cases who'll never get it.
But it would be churlish to make my own nominations. People will have to volunteer.
To get things started, I've just posted a very serious point on an earnest current thread, including the phrase "Hitchhikers' Guide to the UNIVERSE" instead of "Galaxy". When some pedant points this out, instead of saying something useful, they will become the first name on the List (provided they have a track record for missing the point too. There does need to be some subjective disretion in this enterprise).
Watch this space
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Latest reply: May 20, 2006
Funder Road
Posted May 7, 2006
A little story about capital growth.
One of a hundred local firms, each given fifty quid to invest How much can you give back to the charity after three months?
An evening lecture at the metals society acquires a raffle. The fund grows fivefold. Five teams across the company have fifty quid each.
Start simple. Tea-trolley and dripping cakes make a comeback, like the drawing office of old. Lunchtime diversions; sponges dropped from the second-floor balcony, targetting wastebaskets in the foyer below. A little eBay activity.
Apprentices twist arms at brewery. Charity ale launched, and it's good too. Bashes laid on for suppliers, who reciprocate with gift-prizes. Quiz night at hotel, specialists hired to do it, swish and professional.
Commemorative sculpture, a tree in iron, fire-forged. Fifty quid a leaf charged to the original hundred. To fit an alcove in the charity's centre, and it will grow in future time, more leaves added to remember those who touched this cause.
Duck race down the flumes at an international swimming pool. Part-time staff taken on to chase corporate sponsors. Local dealer donates a car. Kids' TV celebs agree to launch it. Twenty-five thousand rubber ducks procured via China arm of group.
How much in the end? Dunno. Pushing six figures, possibly. Everyone wins, though. Deserving cause, and a firm feeling good about itself. We all grow, along with the money, finding out what we never knew we knew. Like somebody might gift you a car, but only if your heart was in the dripping cakes and sponge-drops in the first place.
Well done, Jon. A great boss and a true leader. You've recharged more batteries than you know.
Do it again sometime? Wrong. Just do it every day, every hour, the heartbeat of our working lives.
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Latest reply: May 7, 2006
Steel City Stuff
Posted Apr 29, 2006
Anyone who caught the duck-nonsense (last journal Entry) might have realised that there's a fundraising drive going on for a local cancer care centre.
In another manifestation, some enterprising colleagues have persuaded a local brewery to make and distribute a commemorative beer. The draught version is called 'Hop Metal' (witty, eh?) and is right now coming available in several of the city's hostelries. There's a bottled version by the case, too. I better hadn't try overt selling on the site, but if you want to know more, just ask.
Anyway, the local paper want a launch photo, with metalworking connotations. They want it in a pub, though, which is a bit tricky on health and safety grounds. Very few victuallers are licensed for smelting.
Someone came up with the idea of re-enacting the poses and equipment of the Meadowhall statues of crucible steelmakers (minus the molten steel), meaning we suddenly had to procure a set of teemer's tongs and a crucible. This was in the middle of a Friday afternoon straight before a bank holiday weekend, mind.
A friend at Kelham (still a friend, I hope, but I sense that she's finding me increasingly taxing) came up magnificently with the pot itself and a tongs-variant - a set on wheels. The push-around way of doing it came late to the industry. Very sensible and practical compared with manual brute force, but not nearly so romantic and not familiar to the public. The photo's pretty pointless, of course, unless the scene is instantly recognisable.
So, though authentic, our current implements don't match the statues set-up, still leaving us in a bit of a hole (pun for all you crucible steelmakers out there; I know you're listening).
Therefore : anyone in the Sheffield area with access to a pair of teemer's tongs, similar to the ones used by the Big Bronze B*ggers in Market Street, please pipe up pronto.
(I might throw a few more of these charity stories into the Journal as things progress. There are some unusual ones, right in keeping with the quirky spirit of this wonderful city)
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Latest reply: Apr 29, 2006
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