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RustedRail's Ramblings is where I share some of my favorite photos along with other thoughts on life.
Union Cotton Mills Mural
This is the way to welcome someone to your town isn't it? My wife Patrice Christian (be sure to check out her FLICKR) took this picture as we were driving on our way out of town after our photo-walk in downtown Union, South Carolina this weekend. At one time this mural must have been really stunning to see, but the closer you look now the more you realize it could use some TLC to get back to it's original glory. Shout out to Patrice: Speaking of Patrice Christian, we met through photography back in the days of Google+ where we were both part of the large photo community on there. She's a great photographer and has her own style of images which are really great. It's wonderful to have a partner in life who shares a passion with you! She's also my "editor" on the blog and helps me be clear in what I'm trying to say here and communicate more clearly! I told her yesterday that she really is my "VP Editorial and IT" for all the great advice she gives me on here. That advice extends way beyond photography to all aspects of my life. It's great having someone in your corner who isn't afraid to tell you what she really thinks. She's the reason I enjoy taking outings like Saturday's to Union! I always am amazed at how we can both be in the same place but see completely different things while we are there! I can't wait for our next road-trip on the backroads of our life together! Besides her FLICKR account where she shares most of her photos, she's also now on Instagram! I hope you will take the time to check out her work and give her a follow on IG where I hope she is going to be more active soon! Photo Credit: Patrice Christian Quick take: Union SC
Quick trip yesterday over to Union, SC which is about an hour east of here to check out the downtown with my wife Patrice and her mom. So here is my first "QuickTake" post, which will be initial opinions and some quick edits of pictures. The Coca-cola "ghost sign" caught my eye in an alley off of the main street. Even though faded and hard to read, I still prefer original "ghost signs" to well intended efforts to restore them which destroys the original work. One of my favorite South Carolina artists, Jim Harrison (the artist, not the writer) got his start painting Coca-Cola Sign like these. I'm all for murals and street art, but there are plenty of walls you can paint on without erasing a piece of your history! Union has a cool train mural that is in desperate need of some loving care now. They also have a NS (Ex-Southern) depot which appears to be used by their MOW crews still. Wouldn't it make a great spot for a train museum a block off of mainstreet! Nice little downtown but really dead on a Saturday afternoon. I don't think one business was open. Even the local museum which said open until 4pm, was locked at 3:45. Good reason for a trip back someday soon. Many of the businesses downtown in Union are for sale or the buildings are at least empty. The old mill still stands on the edge of town, now for sale, empty of the workers that used to shop downtown after the whistle blew on Saturday afternoon. Union is the home of the Bantams of USC-Union and of course it is summer break, and the Walmart's parking lot is full outside of downtown. I hope the town can find a way to attract those people back to the street on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in June. What was that?
What is that? Today's true story from work. Walking out on the floor this morning, I stopped to talk to one of the team members about the project he was working on like usual. Out of the corner of our eyes, we see something that looks like a large "dust bunny" move on it's own. The fans were not on, so both of us kind of looked at each other in a "did you see that moment". We watched and it moved again... Walking over, I realized it was a frog covered in dust and lint that had somehow made it into the building. I scooped him up and asked him nicely, "Please don't pee in my hand!", removed the lint, opened the side door to let him go in grass. As soon as I opened the door, he hopped off as if this was just a normal occurrence. I'd love to say, he stopped and turned around and waved, but no.. I think the little guy was just happy to be back outside and have the trash of the day off of him. Much better start to the morning than the pebble in the door yesterday though. Moral of the story: Sometimes we all need some help to shake the trash of life off and get on with life.
A pebble can cause all sorts of problems
I usually get into work around 6am. This morning when I arrived, I saw a sign on the glass doors in the lobby saying "Use Side Door", I figured the lock was just being temperamental.
The Daily Puzzle or a day in the life...
When I was a kid, I really enjoyed doing jigsaw puzzles with my mom on the kitchen table. Even though I haven't done a real jigsaw puzzle in years, I still enjoy trying to make all the pieces fit, but now I get to do it everyday in my day job working with production planning at FlexQube. Production planning is a puzzle of trying to fit different orders into a limited space, that we call capacity. The pieces are different sizes (based on order size and complexity) and different colors (based on priorities and ship dates). To make it even more challenging, each puzzle piece is also made up of smaller pieces including purchased parts and subcomponents which have to be manufactured before the piece can go to production (you can think of those as other mini-puzzles within the pieces). Each puzzle piece also has stakeholders (Customers and Salesmen) who are interested in their pieces, but not really the board as a whole. So even small pieces can change priority (color) at any time. The board you build the puzzle on, the plant floor, also has sections with their own variables. Each section, call them production cells, has its own capacity based on hours, staffing, and efficiency. You can increase the size of a section by adding additional staffing or hours (overtime), but the cell can decrease if someone is absent that day. As you plan out a day, week, and month it's a never ending game of matching the order pieces to the sections and hoping you can complete the entire board by the end of a week or month. Luckily, you can see how you did in hindsight by KPI's such as on-time delivery and plant efficiency (how many resources were used per piece versus the plan). Like a jigsaw puzzle, the more you play the game, the better you get at it, but it is a fun challenge every day.
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