In a time of record high unemployment, there is one segment of our country’s work force that does not worry about job security. Nor are they concerned about out-sourcing or the loss of benefits and diminished salaries. These dedicated workers who have never filled out an employment application, composed a resume, or taken a career development course, are on the job every morning, bright and early. Rain or shine, they lean into the harness and willingly display a work ethic that would impress even Horatio Alger.
When Mike told us Dirty Jobs was filming on Mackinac Island, I took out a map. When he exclaimed over the breathtaking beauty of the island, I added it to our list of places to visit someday. But when he mentioned that there were over 600 horses on the six-square-mile island in Michigan, I started packing.
I’m one of those adults who has never outgrown her childhood passion for horses. People are drawn to Dirty Jobs for a variety of reasons, but for me, the most gratifying episodes are those involving horses. Mike gives me a ‘heads-up’ before they air.
“Be sure to watch tonight’s show, Mom,” he‘ll say. “It’s a horsy story for my horsy mother.” Read More...
From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:
Where would we be as a society without the nuts and bolts that hold everything together? I don’t mean that figuratively but literally. Our country is literally held together by nuts and bolts which means those nuts and bolts had better be up to standards. That’s not a problem for the Click Bond Inc., a family run manufacturer that has been cranking out fasteners for over forty years. Check out this profile of the company. Collie Hunter, the company’s CFO has the money quote: “We have to get vocational education back in the schools and teach people what it means to go to work, and what skills they need and that those skills must include English and math.” Amen to that.
LOCAL CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY: NUTS AND BOLTS KEY TO SUCCESS FOR CLICK BOND by Ray Hagar
Click Bond Inc., would be an easy business to overlook in Northern Nevada. There is no sign in front of its Carson City headquarters. It sits at the end of a road next to the Carson City Airport. There’s not much landscaping. Or parking.
And at first blush, Click Bond products don’t sound too exciting. “Basically, it’s nuts and screws,” said Collie Hutter, the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Yet people who travel in trains, boats, planes and helicopters the world over can be thankful for Click Bond’s intricate, patented aerospace fasteners. So can the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, since Click Bond fasteners are also instrumental in the development of the F-35 joint strike fighter, the next generation fighter for the United States and its allies.
Hutter runs the company with her husband, Charles Hutter. They have been married 39 years. He is the inventor of the aerospace fasteners, with more than 70 patents to his name. He carries the CEO title and runs the engineering department. He was inducted into the Nevada Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993. Yet Collie Hutter has the business moxie. She is the real boss because, “I have the checkbook in my bottom drawer,” she said with a smile. Read More...
Watching the sunrise from the balcony of our vacation rental was a morning ritual. Long before the noisy pleasure boats and jet skiers hit the scene, it was just the ocean, the sun, an occasional pelican, and one lone fisherman. 
Now there’s a man who takes his hobby seriously, I thought, day after day as he tended four long rods at the edge of the water. Probably a retiree who loves peace and quiet.
One morning I walked to the beach to search for shells, as well as to satisfy my curiosity. The fisherman was never still, I noticed. He moved from rod to rod, reeling in lines, replenishing bait, and casting far out beyond the breakers. His leathery skin was brown from the sun. “Do fish bite better in the morning?” I asked. “Or do you just love the solitude?”
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