Hey Jim,

As an almost Baby Boomer I got out of college in 1964. We may have been self-centered and narcissistic, but we pretty much played by the rules and paid our dues. So cease the mea culpa! It has become much worse since. Now we have college students who can't even go apply for a job without Mommy coming along.

Regards,
Peter Angevine
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

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Jim,

Other names for the "me" or "entitlement" generation you wrote about might be the "it's not my fault" or "I want something for nothing" generation. I am continually astounded at what people expect compared with what they are willing to pay for. Our country's focus on lower taxes, in my judgment, has left our infrastructure in serious disrepair. Witness the bridges and levees that have failed or are failing in New Orleans, Minnesota, and now Iowa and along the Mississippi River. Many of our highways need work as well. We in California are arguing about how to pay for improvements in our levee system rather than committing to doing something. If it fails, food prices across the country will be affected.

It would be such a treat to see a politician look for the truth about what we need to do about infrastructure, what it will all cost, and how we can pay for it.

Bill LaVallee
San Jose, California, USA

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Ah, Bill, taxes are high enough and are not the problem with infrastructure maintenance. The issue with maintenance in government is just like maintenance in the mill--no one sees immediate benefits. However, it is much worse in government than in industry, for a politician does not want to have their picture in the local paper standing beside a bridge with the capition: "Look, we just painted this bridge." This is especially true if one of their constituents is in the background taking a flyer off its highest point due to just receiving their tax bill.

Take a peek at what is paid for by federal gasoline taxes, supposedly a "trust fund" set up to maintain the federal highway system. Money has been sucked out of it for all sorts of photo-opportunities.

The issue is maintenance is not exciting until something fails.

However, Bill, we here at Nip Impressions try to help out our readers any way we can. I suggest you check out Travis Hale's "Closing with Creativity" column at the bottom of this issue.

Jim

***

A couple of experiences came to mind in reading your "it didn't hail here" that I (we) had.

In 2002 we stayed a week in an apartment owned by a working couple in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland . A contract was completed by email and no money exchanged. It was several days after we arrived before we even met the couple and paid them with cash.

The other experience is one that we don't see much of today. I was employed by a company in Wisconsin for 7 years (for 4 different bosses) but then was asked to leave (fired!). I was told that I had time to obtain other employment before resigning. About 6 months later I resigned and started with another company. In my final time at the company I outlined what projects I could finish (and did). The big plus was that I could also use this time to demonstrate my skills and improve on them. Because of the way I handled my projects, my boss essentially said I could have stayed.

As an aside, I didn't hide the fact that I was fired and discussed it openly with just about everyone, something that would be impossible in today's world. That seemed to be a positive experience, helping to overcome an adverse situation.

Chuck Green
Webster, New York, USA

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The Reeses Comment on the Riddle (edited):

Most of the lettuce grown in the Southwest is field packed, meaning that the product is harvested, packaged in the field, and shipped to market with no further processing. Because most lettuce undergoes so little processing, it is essential that the product be free of insect damage and contamination at harvest.(aka it undergoes processing, however little)

But how about bagged? Tainted? Old? Sneezed upon? Washed (that's
processed)?

Umm... canned AND pickled?!?!?!?!?!

And if it's not frozen, why do they call it iceberg?

Diana Reese
Jeff Reese
Loveland, Ohio, USA

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Jim,

I enjoy your newsletter every week.

I have a comment on this week's newsletter. Although the roofers and neighbors were taking advantage of the insurance companies, which I fully agree was wrong, the insurance companies themselves were also at fault. An alert adjuster would have seen that the roofs were not damaged by hail and would have raised an alarm with the other adjusters.

I have personal knowledge of a similar situation. My ex-in-laws live in Oxford, Alabama. They have a very high occurrence of severe storms and lots of tornados. That corner of the state has more tornados for the area than the infamous Oklahoma and Kansas area. My ex-father-in-law told me a few years ago that he has never paid to replace the roof on the house he built about 1950. I've seen the aftermath twice myself.

As an aside, they had a '83 Dodge Aries (Chrysler Corp. K-car to car buffs) that was well peppered by hail. Their old '74 AMC Gremlin was parked beside it and didn't have a mark on it. The AMC was built with much heavier sheet metal like the cars of the '60's.

Keep the good advice coming. Maybe some people out in the industry will put it into practice.

Thanks,

Donnie Coody
Greenville, South Carolina, USA

***

More arguments on outside seeds:

Jim,

I am just getting caught up on emails from the past week and was reading the answer to your "fruit with the seeds on the outside" riddle. There is one other answer and that is the cashew. A cashew is not a nut but rather a seed and it grows on the outside of the apple.

Gerry L. Craig
Brownville, New York, USA

***

My guess for your question is "watermelon", but I am a little shaky on knowing my fruits and vegetables. They are not part of the Pulp Mill's four food groups: Coffee, Sugar, Pizza, and Soda.

In your feedback column, you have hit on the two main issues with the industry: insanity and personnel. Most days are like the movie "Groundhog Day" with the same thing occurring over and over. Tighter rules on environmental, management and financial are pressing the diminished resources available in the production departments. Every day parts, personnel, and money are all unavailable for various reasons. Success is often defined as not losing anything, rather than the improvements it used to be.

All the discussion on personnel is based on attracting young people to the industry and the reasons why they are not attracted to pulp and paper. I have noticed a more critical trend lately, the middle experience people (5 to 20 year) are leaving the industry as well. And this will hit the industry much sooner than you think. A lot of this loss because of the insanity.

Thanks for providing a place of sanity and for saying the things needed said.

Chris Powers
Duncansville, Pennsylvania, USA

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Chris

Time for y'all to change your diet or you will end up like your neighbor from Buffalo--Tim Russert.

Jim

***

Jim,

I’ve been reading Nip Impressions for several months now and I like your commentaries. This [week's] about cheating and downright stealing from the insurance companies was pretty sad. I only hope I can continue to provide honest service to my company and its customers and not fall prey to shady dealings.

The only fruit/vegetable I can think of that might fit the riddle's category is the banana.

I work for a pretty big corrugated/paperboard company, so I don't know if they would take advantage of the Siderolls website. But in case they would I am sending this newsletter to our paperboard procurement manager so he is at least aware of the site.

You say you are going to be in Indiana sometime in August? If you are in the Indianapolis area maybe you can stop by my place of business on the northwest side and we can visit and have lunch. I met you at IPST recently. I'll call you later to see what your schedule is like.

John Rutherford
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

***

Jim

Re: Riddle - Lettuce?

Re: Why am I getting this? Because you don't want to be clueless? I almost fell off my stool.

Re: Fruit seeds on the outside. It's like we tell students, if you find a test question with the words "always" or "never", it's probably false.

Re: Environmental realism. If folks like the environmental fellow who wrote last week don't stay in the business and make the cause for more realistic environmental regulations, who will?? Suggestion - Change the approach. Become an known expert. Get to know the regulators and the local politicians. Pick a specific cause and stick with it. Persistence is one of the few things that win in politics.

Re: Roofing. It hailed here and we got a new roof several years ago. The old one was only about 1/2 way through it's life cycle so we didn't win the lottery. And with the deductable, it wasn't free. However, we came by it honestly. One car needed hail damage abatement. I agree with you on the "no cost" mindset. There is no such thing as a free lunch. I am worried about what the tornado damage repairs in this area are going to do to our home insurance costs next year. But then we were fortunate to not have any damage, so there's a silver lining.

Ivan really hit Pensacola and the insurance costs there today are terrible. So we pay the price eventually.

Peace

Gene Canavan
Prattville, Alabama, USA

***

Hard to believe the homeowners' insurance companies did not have reps to verify the loses. They are not in the habit of arbitrarily writing checks. It sounds like the gypsies (which we used to call these people who normally had Florida tags on their nice new trucks) found a gold mine in your neighborhood with willing accomplices. We had a hail storm come through about 10 years ago where virtually everybody required a new roof. My insurance company had a rep here and we went up on the roof together to inspect the damage before they signed off on the job. (My only lament is the storm was 3 years late as I had replaced the original roof myself. I should say I paid to have it done as this one is too big for me to tackle where I did the one in our house in NJ which was only 45 squares.)

Pray for rain.

Bill Hohns
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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Bill, your last line, "Pray for rain" nicely ties together several of our letters this week. As you know, we need rain here in Greater Atlanta because Lake Lanier, our watering hole, is still far below it's normal level. In some ways this is a maintenance issue (see Bill LaVallee above). It is also a "not my fault issue" (see Peter Angevine) and it is an environmental issue (see Gene Canavan above) for my local state representative tells me that the state has sites purchased to build new reservoirs but they can not start construction because of environmental lawsuits.

This all leads to a couple of further comments:

1. Environmentalists and environmental advocacy groups are wearing out their welcome with their "do nothing" attitude about any new construction, exploration and so forth. At the current gasoline prices and other blockages they have created, expect a huge backlash soon. Their forty years in the sun is about to leave them cooked. We need pragmatic, not dogmatic environmental approaches.
2. Concerning energy, I have a new idea on how the pulp and paper industry can help (and hopefully profit) in the current energy situation and will cover it in the opening editorial in PaperMoney next Tuesday, 1 July 08 (www.globalpapermoney.com) or click on "More" below after noon USEDT, 1 July 08.
2. As much as I love my roofing manufacturing customers (Steve, you know who you are) and want to see them prosper, I have to say the way roofs have been replaced in our community is not the path to success for them.

Jim

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