Jack Relaxing...?

You never know where blog material will come from. Jack's daughter sent me this to post as "other side of dad." She wanted to make note that "he does actually relax (drink coffee and catch up on world news) and take care of two fluff balls :) "

If you know Jack at all you know that he is 100 mph all the time. We've heard stories of him relaxing but just chalked those up to urban legend. Like the Yeti, Sasquatch, and UFO's... people have claimed to have seen them but there is no conclusive evidence. Well, we can scratch "jack relaxing" off the urban legends list and stamp it confirmed.

side note... the authenticity of this photo has been proven but the relaxing part of the story is still in question. Jack is reading the Sunday paper and given the remote location it was probably a 30 mile bike ride into town to just get the paper. That's hardly relaxing in my book but considering he rode 200 miles last month I'll consider it relaxing for him.

Brian L.

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MERGE

The first (hopefully annual) MERGE fashion event was this past weekend. The event was put on by our local chapter of the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) and WP was well represented thanks to remarkable volunteer efforts of Jeff, Kim, Tom, Yingxi, Lauren, Amber and Brian. The Fashion show consisted of gowns made from materials donated from some of our product reps... carpet tile, vinyl wall covering, textiles, solid surface, and ceramic tile. Each team was given their materials upon arrival and given 2.5 hours to assemble a wearable gown that a team member had to model. THANKS LAUREN!!! It was a great team effort with each member chipping in to put their touch on the dress. To top the evening off we WON the top honor of Judges Choice. Well done team!!!

Jeff and Kelli cutting countless triangles of MDC wallcovering which were then folded and attached to the dress

Tom and Kim HAND SEWED the corset top using Momentum Textiles.

Lauren and Yingxi making the structure of the skirt out of an old belt, irrigation pipe, staples and muslin... that is some creativity!

Brian and Kim gluing the mosaic pattern of Crossville tile to the corset with only seconds to spare.

The finished skirt awaits its model.

That's Amber making a few last minute tweaks to the dress. We didn't have time for a test fit so it was all or nothing when Lauren came out of hair and makeup to try it on for the first time.

The Team from left to right Kim, Tom, Yingxi, Lauren, Amber, Brian and Jeff.

A little shimmy in front of the judges before throwing them bouquet of flowers made from the origami pieces from the skirt.

The corset top was hand sewn and laced up with ribbon

Lauren ROCKING IT on the runway!!!

Other submissions below

-Brian L.

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Greg the Designer...!?

Although he is the CEO of our company, dealing more with numbers and spreadsheets than sketch paper and chip board, Greg was an award winning designer at one point. That point in time just happened to be in circa 1975ish when he was in high school. These are some old pics of a residential competition he was involved in. He won all 3 years he participated (he is very proud of this... as he should be). Some one get this man a pen and turn him loose!!

-Brian L.

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Who Ate My Lunch?

Let me set the scene... It's around 12:15 and Jodie walks back to grab her leftovers for lunch. Since I sit within earshot of our break room I heard her stunned laughter as she says "somebody ate my lunch". She couldn't believe it. About the same time an email goes out to the entire office from one of our newest employees.

"Hello all, I just ate someone’s lunch box due to the same food in the lunch box. I am sorry about that. Please let me know if your lunch box has been eaten by me. I would like to buy you lunch at your convenient time. Thanks"

I couldn't stop laughing and when Jodie read that she couldn't either. Apparently they cooked the same thing the night before. This is a true story... you can't make that up!

As you may imagine, responses to the "free lunch" were quick to come in from everyone wanting a free lunch.
"Hey, that was my lunch. I’ll take Sushi tomorrow for lunch thank you." - Dan
"Jacky… No problem.. that was my lunch. Replacement lunch tomorrow at Ruth Chris’s works for me." - Greg
"Wait a minute, I think that was my lunch!!!!" - James

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