…Plyboo!

Thanks to everyone who voted for a name for our kitten.

Plyboo

For those of you wondering where we came up with the name Plyboo, Plyboo is laminated bamboo plywood.  It is an eco-friendly product we use for some of our projects.

Brian Harrison:

How long have you been with TSI?

A little over 4 yrs.

What did you do before you started working at TSI?

Attended Southern IL University.  Then worked as a Ninja.

What do you do at TSI?

Plant mgr, artifacts, model maker, Ninja assassin

What do you like best about TSI?

The people, the creative work, martial arts.

What’s your favorite TSI project?

World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial

Why?

I enjoy history so recreating WWI tranches, the bomb crater, the battlefield, and all the elements pertaining to that project was personally satisfying.

What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?

There is much they don’t know; I’m a Ninja.

What’s your favorite part of your day?

The part of the day when I’m fully immersed in whatever project I’m working on and time seems to slip away…or 2:13.

I just got back from Arkansas where my teams presented Design Development for Jacksonport and Logoly State Parks.  Our designs for each of these parks are substantially different, as they should be, to represent the uniqueness of each site.  The teams are also different.  Jacksonport’s story is driven more by artifacts and Logoly’s is more natural history.  Both teams are passionate about their sites.

Jacksonport Renderings:

Jacksonport State Park Gallery Intro

Jacksonport State Park Prosperity Exhibit

Logoly Renderings:

Logoly State Park Entryway

Logoly State Park Sound & Discovery Exhibit

We really enjoy working with Arkansas State Parks for many reasons:

• They are passionate about their parks.
• They understand interpretation and work hard to educate and engage their visitors.
• They keep us on our toes by asking tough questions during the design process. This helps assure a successful project.
• They are polite and fun. We feel at home and comfortable working with these teams.
• Some of their staff members have worked in Arkansas State Parks for 40 years. This means they know their stuff from how durable an exhibit needs to be to what will keep a visitor enthralled.
• We love visiting Arkansas! It’s beautiful country with great people, lots of parks, lakes, streams and 2.6 million acres of national forest.
• They have very special stories to tell, from the only diamond mine in the world open to the public to having the oldest national park (Hot Springs).

I really love working with the folks in Arkansas and hope to continue this relationship for years into the future.  Many years ago we designed and fabricated exhibits for Crater of Diamonds.  Within the next year we will install exhibits at Prairie Grove State Park.  Plus, we will continue our work for Jacksonport and Logoly.  I highly encourage you to choose Arkansas for your vacation.  What a beautiful state to meander through.

Unfortunately, the two year old cat we brought from the farm had to go back to the farm.  Steve, just couldn’t adapt to office life.

Now we have a kitten that needs a name. Please vote for your favorite by June 28th. We’ll announce her name on June 29th.

Thanks for participating!

Betty’s cousin, Joe, sent an email yesterday describing his girlfriend’s remarkable experience running in the The Bighorn Trail 100 Mile Run.  This is Wendy’s story:

Just thought I’d let everyone know that Wendy finished the 100-mile Bighorn Trail Run this weekend.  She finished in 33 hours and 53 minutes (7 minutes before the cutoff time!!).  The race started at 11:00 am on Friday and she finished at 8:53 pm on Saturday.  She placed 95 out of 157 starters - she was the last one to finish (62 people dropped out during the race).  It was truly amazing watching her come up with the determination and ability to finish on time.  After running for 92.5 miles she came through an aid station and they told her “there’s no way she can finish on time.”  This really hit hard.  Erika Holland (who ran with Wendy for the last 52 miles - no small feat in itself) ran up ahead of Wendy to the last check point and told them that Wendy was coming and to let her try to finish on time.  She came into the last check point 20 minutes late (7:50 pm) and feeling MUCH pain.  She only had 1 hour and 10 minutes to somehow complete the last 5.25 miles.  They let her continue, but told her she probably wouldn’t be able to finish before the cutoff time.  Erika Holland, refusing to let her quit and refusing to let her believe that she couldn’t do it, encouraged Wendy to push through it and finish on time.  Wendy somehow dug down deep, got in “the zone,” and just started running as fast as she could.  She ran the last 5.25 miles at a 12 minute per mile pace (5 mph).  Pretty amazing considering she just ran 95 miles continuously for the last 33 hours, she was out of energy, her I.T. band was shot, and her muscles were ready to quit.  It was like a scene out of a movie - seeing her run that fast and finish that strong when she had nothing left in the tank.  She finished with 7 minutes to spare and a huge smile on her face!

On top of this all - you need to see this course to realize how incredibly tough it is.  The starting elevation is 4200′ and the highest point is 9100′ with grueling steep climbs, muddy and rutted single tracks, long hard descents, and cold weather while running over-night.  Here’s a brief description of the run:

“The Bighorn Trail 100 Mile Run is an arduous trail run that will take place in the Little Bighorn - Tongue River areas of the Bighorn National Forest. Starting time for the event will be 11 AM, Friday June 18, 2010, with a 34 hour (average pace of 2.94 mph) time limit to finish the event. Runners must be prepared for potential extreme temperature variation and weather conditions during the event with possible temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the day in the canyons and being well below freezing at night in the mountains. The course is wild and scenic traversing territory inhabited by elk, deer, moose, bears, cougars, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes with the potential for wildlife encounters with runners. Crew access points on parts of the course are limited and the runner should be prepared to participate with a fanny pack and other necessary equipment to ensure their ability to safely traverse difficult remote mountainous trails in potentially unpredictable weather conditions. The course is an out-and-back consisting of 76 miles of single track trail, 16 miles of rugged double track jeep trail, and 8 miles of gravel road with approximately 17,500 feet of climb and 18,000 feet of descent.”

What Joe failed to mention in his story is that he also ran the last 25 miles with Wendy and he hadn’t done any training.  What an amazing accomplishment for both of them!

Have you ever refused to give up on something even though you were told it couldn’t be done?  What was the outcome?

Meet Michael Hall:

How long have you been with TSI?

10 years

What did you do before you started working at TSI?

Scientific/Medical Illustration

What do you do at TSI?

Structural Models

What do you like best about TSI?

The creative atmosphere and the variety of projects.

What’s your favorite TSI project?

Audubon Insectarium

Why?

Big, Amazing, Fun

What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?

If they don’t know by now…they shouldn’t!

What’s your favorite part of your day?

Morning

I love summer and now that it’s upon us, I’m spending as much time outside as possible.  Last weekend I was in Missouri for a family reunion.  My husband is fortunate enough to have grandparents who owned a farm and his grandma still lives on some of the property.  We stay with her when we’re in Mexico. (Missouri, not the country.  Yes, it’s a real town in the middle of the state.)   There’s a pond on the property stocked with catfish, bass, bluegill, and a couple other varieties of fish, plus a few snapping turtles and I’ve been told several snakes.  While nothing was biting this weekend, it didn’t keep us from spending several hours Sunday afternoon sitting comfortably under a shade tree casting our lines over and over.  It was the perfect day.

This weekend we plan on camping in Indiana.  Canoeing, fishing, and eating are about all we plan to do for two whole days.  We’re going to one of the smaller and lesser known state parks.  We’re hoping that translates to fewer people!  By choosing a smaller park, we realize we’ll be giving up amenities like a convenience store and an interpretive center.  In the past, I don’t think I would have given a second thought to the interpretive center. However, after being in this industry for a while, museums and nature centers have taken on new meaning.  Now, not only do I keep an eye out for them, but also I view them in an entirely different way.  I look for the central theme, the traffic flow, how visitors respond to the exhibits, and how things are built.  I still don’t read every word of text, however, and can usually zip in and out in half the time as my husband, who reads everything.

I read Lori Rackl’s Sun Times blog this morning about various spots in Illinois in which to camp and thought the timing was fitting, for me anyway.  A wide range of camping options are discussed for locations throughout the state, including parks that have interpretive centers.  I grew up in Southern Illinois, very close to the Shawnee National Forest, so Giant City State Park and Ferne Clyffe State Park were frequent hiking locations for me.  Crab Orchard Lake and Rend Lake were favorite boating and swimming spots as well.  One of our current projects is a design-build job at the new Rend Lake Visitor Center.  We install in October and the building opens sometime in December.  For anyone looking for a new interpretive experience, put Rend Lake on your list.  As for this summer, I hope to visit a couple of the parks mentioned in the blog.

Where are some of your favorite summer getaway spots?

Posted by: Kara

Betty with little sister and a friend on Buck

Growing up on a farm is a rare these days.  I feel fortunate to have had the rare opportunity to be raised on a farm.  Here are a few things it taught me.

Problem Solving - When I was about 15, I drove a tractor to a field an hour away from our home.  The tractor overheated.  I had watched my brother and father fix it before and used my water to fix it.  When you are out working on your own you learn to solve problems.

Perseverance - When you have livestock, you have to feed them everyday no matter how cold or hot it is outside.  I would climb the silo and scoop silage down onto an elevator and into a pickup truck in the winter.  Then I would have to empty the truck into the feed troughs.  It could be well below freezing out and you would sweat in the silo.

Responsibility - Having a variety of pets teaches responsibility.  I had horses, bunnies and a variety of animals that were my responsibility on the farm.

Humility - We had cattle.  Cleanliness is not top of mind with them.  They can stick their tongue all the way up their nose.  I think dealing with dirt and grossness can be a humbling experience.

Hard Work - There is endless work on the farm.

Cool and Calm Under Pressure - When you have lots of animals you have accidents, births, deaths and illnesses.  As a kid, I pulled calves out of cows, took care of hurt animals until a vet could get there, and rushed people to the hospital after farm accidents.

Betty with one of the cows

High Pain Tolerance - On the farm you often get cut, bumped, scraped and bruised.  It’s not that big of a deal.

Reliability - I got a job cleaning stalls at a nearby stable when I was fourteen.  The owner often traveled and counted on me to take care of her horses.  Once she was out of town during a huge snow storm that blocked all the roads.  The horses needed water and feed.  My father and I drove a tractor the ten miles to get to the horses.

Personal Finance - I think farm kids often start earning money at a young age.  They might sell their 4-H steer, sweet corn, furs that were trapped, etc.  My parents also taught us how to save, not to buy more than you earned and how to manage a checkbook.  At my horse stable job, I was paid by the stall.  I had to invoice my boss every two weeks.

Growing up on a farm also gave me a love of nature and animals, an independent nature (self reliance), a sense of humor (we did laugh a lot), a strong body and an entrepreneurial bent.  I wish more people grew up on livestock farms.  We would recruit them.

Lisa Brochu recently wrote an excellent post about how effective communication between client and contractor can prevent confusion over changes to project deliverables. Her suggestion is attaching a grid system to the project contract to track approvals and requested changes.

We could not agree more with Lisa on this one. We keep clients updated with many informal reviews throughout the process so that hopefully they won’t want us to change much on the final deliverable. However, with every project deliverable (such as a design book) we submit to our clients for formal review, we include our own sign-off form which is very similar to the grid system Lisa recommends. We list each component of the deliverable and ask the client to approve it as is, not approve it, or approve it with listed changes.

Posted by: Katie

Marc Dams, Model Shop Lead:

How long have you been with TSI?

10 years

What did you do before you started working at TSI?

Worked for an art firm called KXI

What do you do at TSI?

Model shop lead

What do you like best about TSI?

Cool Work

What’s your favorite TSI project?

South Florida Museum

Why?

It turned out well.

What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?

I like comic books.

What’s your favorite part of your day?

Sculpting