Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Stylin' in Las Vegas

The 2008 West Coast Art & Frame Show was a visual feast. Thousands of framing and art industry professionals met in the Las Vegas Hilton to trade ideas, launch new products, and to develop and strengthen relationships to meet the challenges of 2008.

I will try to cover some of the exciting new products and their implications in a later post, but I wanted to capture my impressions of the fashion statements being made by convention-goers and other Las Vegas visitors.

The image at the top shows statuary in the lobby of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas which affectionately portrays the high rollers who were the basis of the original Las Vegas economy.

While a few Las Vegas visitors still carry on the grand tradition of wearing glitz and glitter that rivals onstage performers, most of the visitors I saw presented a vastly different appearance.

Gene Eichner, Co-Chairman of Framerica, one of the major exhibitors at WCAF, provided one of the best examples of understated sartorial elegance at the show. Impeccably tailored, his passion for his company and his customers comes through at first meeting.

There were so many stylishly dressed buyers examining art in the Convention Hall that some areas looked like a gala gallery opening. These smartly turned out men and women gave the WCAF convention a distinctively cosmopolitan flavor.

Booth personnel, on the other hand, were dressed in a wide range of attire from business suits to T-shirts.

Essentially, they were dressed for work and their attention was on presenting their service, like Tami Elhart, a marketing manager at Kandu, a non-profit organization in western Michigan which employs the handicapped.

The vast majority of convention attendees were dressed for modern airline travel: jeans and sneakers, with an occasional sports jacket crammed with literature. These were mostly small business owners and they came for information, not to put on a fashion show.

Many of these attendees looked just like me and cousin Martin Picard, seen here dining at the California Pizza Kitchen in the Mirage Hotel. From our attire, we could have just as well been sitting in the Blue Ridge Restaurant in Floyd, Virginia.

Speaking of airline travel, there are few vestiges of the fashions that prevailed when I first started traveling for business in the mid-Sixties. We travel in jeans and sweats now and flight attendants rarely present the visual delights that stewardesses did in the early days of air travel.

Huge jets and demanding schedules have demanded a different skill set for airline personnel and you rarely see someone who looks like this charming AirTrans flight attendant any more.

That's a pity. We need beauty in all aspects of life. We all need to be stylin' in one way or another.

(stylin': 1. (sti-lin) slang. meaning looking good or in fashion.) from the Urban Dictionary. http://www.urbandictionary.com/

It's showtime in Las Vegas

I'm off to Las Vegas this morning to spend a few days at the West Coast Art & Frame Show at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The picture framing industry is supposedly taking a beating from the entry of big box retailers into the field and from the slump in the housing market so it will be very informative to get some firsthand information from new and established framing shops which are still doing well.

I've signed up for six seminars given by experts in the picture framing and art publishing fields, but I will make time to visit a few of the 600 exhibitor booths at the show.

The attendees at WCAF include retail frame shops, galleries, wholesalers, and production framing companies.

An industry in flux presents enormous challenges and interesting opportunities. It is not always an advantage to have your livelihood tied to processes and practices that have been historically successful.

Processes and materials are continually evolving and computers are appearing in many shops for the first time.  Used wisely, these can enable a small outfit to outperform a much larger and older shop that is wedded to manual processes.

In the same way, a small shop which is fully aware of the importance of maintaining excellent customer relationships can operate successfully even in the presence of big box retailers. It's all a matter of choosing a market niche where you have an advantage. Big Box retailers have an enormous price advantage, but in most cases, they offer minimal customer support because they sell commodities.

As a new framer, I am one of the smaller firms that will be attending the show, but I have been following industry forums and it appears that this field, challenging as it seems right now, is being infiltrated by people retiring from corporate roles and taking on the challenge of a custom framing shop.

Many of these new shops are independent and do not operate as conventional retail shops. The availability of computerized equipment and internet exposure is changing the ground rules so that a small framing operation can provide a professional service without all of the trappings of a conventional storefront.

Control of costs and reaching new customers effectively is critical to surviving in a tight market. I hope to find some useful information on this as well as new designs to bring back with me from this show.

The Chimney Sweep was here...

It's a little after 10am and Rick Eanes, our local chimney sweep, has been here, done his thing, and has left me with some peace of mind about my woodstove.

Rick removed the chimney cap, swept the chimney flue, separated it from the stove and thoroughly cleaned the important bits of the stove. He was efficient and thorough and the entire process took about an hour.

I had noticed some discoloration of the chimney cap the last few weeks, but had no idea that the creosote had built up to the extent you see here. (click on the images to really gross yourselves out.)

Some of it looks feathery and some of it looks like tar, but it is all crystalline and shatters at the merest touch. A closer look at the chimney cap shows that the creosote buildup was  getting fairly thick.

As you can see, Rick really works the stove over and I got to see how much crud our stove had accumulated.

I put the fire out just before Rick arrived so that his brushes wouldn't melt during the cleaning, so I appreciated the fact that he relit the fire as the last activity of his visit.

As he drove off, the image below shows how our stove is operating  now. The fire burns cheerfully and the draft is visibly better then before. I was very pleased with the work and the price was quite reasonable.

If you live in this area of Virginia and need your chimney looked at, you might want to give Eanes Chimney Sweep a call. The phone number is 540-382-7760. He is located in Pilot, but covers quite a wide area. They are working on a web site and when it is complete, I will add the link here also.

Waiting for the chimney sweep

It's 15 degrees outside and the wind blowing out of the North has fangs of ice. The world outside our well-built modular home is dark and bitter cold at this early hour, and it is sucking heat out of our living space at every possible point of weakness.

This is the tightest and warmest house I have ever lived in and yet it is barely holding off the effects of this weather. We are running our trusty woodstove at full tilt most of the time to stave off the cold.

Our woodstove has been burning nonstop for weeks and ashes trickle from every door. It no longer resembles the "Home Beautiful" photo I posted so long ago on this site. It is a battle-hardened veteran of several winters and is surrounded by a daily litter of ashes and wood chips, even though we take turns sweeping up the debris between firings.

It is keeping the house in a temperature range of 70 degrees at night to 80 degrees during the day, but I have been increasingly concerned that we have not had the flue inspected and cleaned by a chimney sweep. We burn mostly oak logs, but they are not always thoroughly dry and this will contribute to a buildup of wood creosote in the chimney.

From Wikipedia: Creosote has fairly high ignition temperature, and most wood stoves utilizing natural air convection do not have a high enough combustion temperature to ignite the vapors. Consequently creosote just vaporizes from the burning wood, floats up the exhaust pipe with other exhaust gases, and then condenses onto the cool interior lining of the chimney.

When a wood fire is kept blazing for days at a time, chimney temperatures can get high enough to ignite the creosote and you get spectacular and frightening results.

I remember a chimney fire in our childhood home which produced a thunderous roar and a jet of flame out the top of the chimney like a giant Roman candle. It actually shook the house until my father put it out by throwing something on the fire. The chimney fire was caused by creosote accumulating in the chimney from the pine logs that we burned in the fireplace. This was in Massachusetts where we had many pine trees on our land and there were few hardwoods we could use for firewood.

In a few hours, we will have a visit from a local chimney sweep we discovered yesterday and immediately signed up for an inspection and cleaning. I will try to post some pictures of the process.

We have a triple wall chimney with a stainless steel lining that goes from our stove straight up through the roof, so it should be relatively easy to clean.

I heard recently of some folks in Floyd County whose house was damaged by a chimney fire which cracked the tile flue and set the house on fire. I do not wish to chance that or anything like it.

We have a 3 year supply of firewood ready to split and stack. I want to make sure that we are able to use it all without any problems. More later...

The inside story on Phoenix Hardwoods of Floyd, Virginia

I have been writing about Bill and Corinne Graefe and their distinctive furniture for several years and now they have finally  launched a brand new website which tells their story better than I can and shows many examples of their fine handcrafted slab furniture.

I never knew, for example, that they were inspired by George Nakashima, an artist from the 50’s who made furniture using slabs of wood with the natural edges left intact.

They have spent the last 8 years developing and refining their designs and techniques until it is hard for me to see much resemblance between their source of inspiration and their current products. They are true artists in their own right and they make a significant contribution to the community.

Their new website was constructed in one day by Corinne Graefe, who had never built one before. She created an entertaining and easily navigated portfolio site which shows off their products and answers frequently asked questions.

When you make products that look like theirs, you can bet there are many questions. They answer them all, including where do they get the wood they use for products like this headboard/room divider.

They have a refreshing response to the question why they are still building furniture when the Chinese can build it so much cheaper. I think they must be on the right track because their backlog is steadily growing.

Drop by and check out their new site. It is both a website and a weblog, so feel free to welcome them to the Internet by leaving them a comment or a question

Unmoderated comment section available nearby

Those of you who have read this blog for any length of time have probably noticed a shortage of uncivil comments.  That's because this blog frowns on ad hominum remarks, unless made by this blogger, of course. The main focus of this blog is on facts and on improving the quality of life.

This approach seems to be popular with most readers, but it leaves some irate commenters feeling that they have not had a chance to be heard. Well, there is a solution. There is now a place where those whose comments are not being posted here can say what is really on their minds.

The Blue Ridge Muse, owned and operated by good friend Doug Thompson has some of the most spectacular photography and provocative articles of any blog in the area.

He is also a public-spirited blogger who hosts an unmoderated comment section where conflicting views are discussed with no holds barred. So, if you ever feel that you are not getting all of the story here, visit the Blue Ridge Muse.

If you like excitement, arguments, and an insight into the hidden stories of Floyd with your morning coffee, you can get it all there, hot and steaming right out of the tap.

Genial host Doug keeps the discussion from getting out of hand, but just barely. So, if you want to kick start your day with a little excitement, visit the Blue Ridge Muse.

Sunday Morning in Floyd

Yes, that's just the way I feel like this morning. It was 10 degrees outside a little while ago, the  wind cuts to the bone in seconds, and I have things to do. Up here next to the Blue Ridge Parkway, we are beginning to have real winter weather.

I thought I would "season" the picture to convey the way my body feels at the prospect of going outside and splitting wood this morning.

Waxing  philosophical, I think of days spent loafing instead of storing up against hard times. More thoughts of how a single year is a pattern for life. Those who prepare early can relax during hard times and old age, etc., etc.

Then, I brighten up and realize that I have work to do and time's a wasting. I will fire up the tractor, split wood, haul it, stack it, and then deliver some finished work to clients who have been out of town.

But, first, another cup of coffee.  Old habits die hard.
Must always take time to smell the roses...or the coffee!

Let's all go have a good day.

Student Art Exhibit at the Jacksonville Center

The third annual Student Art Exhibit is now on display in the Hayloft Gallery at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd, Virginia. It includes work by adult and youthful students.

This 8x10 foot "Sunburst" quilt by Barbara Murray filled the South end of the Hayloft Gallery with light.

The equally striking "Quilt with Dolphins" by Sally Johnson held my attention immediately. The contrast of supple dolphin shapes and the angular geometry of the main quilt pattern was striking.

Linneya Cooley executed one of the most appealing pieces in the show in my opinion. Her mosaic self-portrait conveys a universal message. Her artist statement says, "This piece of art has a spirit in it. The ghost is me."  Linneya is 9 years old.

The exhibit features the work of 27 students who have taken classes at The Jacksonville Center. The exhibit includes work done in class as well as work inspired by having taken a class.

This exhibit will close January 26.  Try to see it before it closes.

A disaster in the making

We have a local gas station, Floyd Express, where some of the pumps don't work and unsuspecting motorists can get threatened with arrest by the local sheriff.

UPDATE: you can avoid having this happen to you by insisting that you get a receipt for your credit card purchase of gas. See my latest article on avoiding problems at the gas pump.

Background data: In Virginia if you drive away without paying for gas you could lose your driver's license and receive a fine of up to $250.

In Floyd Express, at least some of the gas pumps doesn't work. You put in your card, get authorized, pump the gas...and then you don't get a receipt.  Some times you get a message to see the cashier.

So what you say, you don't need a receipt, you paid and got the gas.

What you don't know is that they may not have recorded the sale and they may call the sheriff and tell him you drove off without paying.

The authorizing message that shows up on the pump was initiated by one of the clerks inside, not by a computer. You have no way of knowing whether they recorded the sale or not.

I have been buying gas there at least twice a month and have received receipts about 50% of the time. Sometimes I have seen the message to see the cashier and have gone inside to find out that the printer was out of paper. Other times I have just ignored the message and went on my way. I did not know how lucky I was.

My wife, Gretchen bought gas there today, swiped the card, got the authorizing message and pumped the gas. She was in the local coffee shop fifteen minutes later when the sheriff's deputies arrived to arrest her. Her friends in the coffee shop were convulsing with laughter as Gretchen was giving the deputies a piece of her mind and local columnist Tom Ryan was busily making notes for his next Enquirer article. Gretchen was not amused.

She went back to the Floyd Xpress, accompanied by two sheriffs deputies, and summoned the manager after the clerk behind the counter said she had no record of the sale. Things went downhill from there.

The staff finally admitted that all of the pumps allowed people to pump gas without authorization and sometimes the transaction doesn't go through.

There is no warning that your card has not been approved, other than the fact that you have received no receipt. Since the printers are often out of paper, how can you be sure?

Would you like to gamble that you might lose your license because Floyd Xpress doesn't record your credit card purchase properly?

Make sure you get a receipt for your gas purchase.

Seems like they should fix the pumps. They know they have a problem but have not fixed it.

UPDATE:

This topic came up at the dinner table last night and someone suggested that Floyd Xpress might be trying to save money by not getting the upgrades necessary to get immediate authorization from the credit card company.

Such is the power of the Internet that a probable answer came with the first comment from Michael Kohne. Read it and decide for yourselves.

UPDATE #2:

I appreciate the effort that people are making to present both sides of how this situation should have been handled, but I do not allow more than one personal attack from a commenter, so if you would like to make a point, try to keep it factual.

Several people felt that the store was in the right and that customers do not have rights. That is their prerogative, but when a gas pump gives misleading information, whose fault is that? The authorizing message on a gas pump, followed by a message to pump gas is universally understood to mean that your card is being charged. The absence of any other message does not give a consumer a clue.

The store should upgrade their software as has been suggested elsewhere or post a sign on the pumps that patrons must come to the cashier to confirm their credit card charges. Then the problem becomes public knowledge.

We customers are not always right, but we are customers and pay money for purchases and for good customer service. If a merchant feels a patron has left without paying and knows who the patron is, it is a simple matter to call the patron and ask them to return and complete the transaction. Calling the Police or the Sheriff's office instead of the customer is assigning blame to the customer instead of working to find a better solution.

Bottom line: the pump/billing system appears to have been known to be faulty by store personnel for some time and yet no care is being taken to make sure that customers are warned of the problem. False arrest or the threat of arrest is no joke.   In a more litiginous part of the country, the store would have been sued long ago.

When I hear that something has been done about this, I will post all of the information here.

I hope it happens soon.

The joys of working at home

We are finally experiencing a decent snowstorm. The schools are closed. Many roads are impassable except for 4WD drive vehicles and even those proceed with great caution.

Those of us who commute on foot with a coffee cup in hand can still make it to work handily.

All over Floyd County there are artisans and other self-employed business people who are out in their workshops and studios turning out products. The radio is on and the stove is keeping the place toasty while work is being done.

The phone is ringing, of course, with people rescheduling appointments and reporting accidents, but in most cases work goes on. It is a comforting feeling to be able to get production done, even under adverse conditions.

We are just beginning to get the snow that other parts of the country have had for months. Right now, the snow is still falling so I will probably wait to do any shoveling.

I am looking forward to seeing how well my little tractor performs in this snow. I think it's too small to be useful as a snow plow, but I hope it can drag its trailer loaded with firewood through several inches of snow. If it won't handle this winter weather, I am in for some real exercise.

Update: It seems to handle snow very well. Chains and a rear weight give it sufficient traction. Steering is problematical because the front wheels slide if they are turned sharply.

UPDATE: For those of you who don't have to work at all. Here is your mascot for today.