past tense-road trip: where in the world is vmzinc? perhaps it would be better to ask, where in the world isn’t vmzinc. in the last couple of weeks, the united states team has been all over the country. here are some highlights from one of our teammates. we are going to protect his or her identity for now and only post what was written. the name of the author has been deleted to protect the not-so-innocent.
“okay. last three weeks or so? on fire -that’s where i’ve been. no, seriously. let me break down the gig for you.
“i went to minneapolis-st. paul. msp, if you will. i went on a sunday. early, if i recall it correctly. it was okay weather in raleigh when i left and a little blustery when i arrived in msp. don’t worry, former boy scout here: i took a heavy coat and gloves. the reason i left on sunday was so that i could have an early a.m. meeting on monday with the national sales manager for dri-design. we had planned this for quite some time and i was practicing stretching my stomach muscles in anticipation of a large glycemic load at ihop, some waffle place, or dennys… you know, a place that does breakfast food! this was supposed to be the kick-off meal and conversation that jump-started a week that was centered around the new reps for north and south dakota. then, all of a sudden, a fire arose out of the south and quickly consumed all such plans.
“so as it happens, i found out that in this particular case, a flight from msp to new orleans is less expensive than trying to reroute everything through rdu in raleigh. i cancelled the stomach muscle exercises, pushed the breakfast meeting to friday, and pushed all of our north dakota commitments back a day. i arose at 4:00 a.m. it was cold when i left msp. it was overcast and humid when i arrived in new orleans. don’t worry. i took a light shirt. no use showing up in a customer’s office to solve a problem looking like shamoo at sea world. um… you look a little, what’s the word… damp. i arrived dry and we took care of the problem with one of our best customers. mission completed, i went back to the airport, had some cajun food, and then got back on a plane for msp. it was late and snowing when i arrived. you already know about the coat.
“i picked up our new reps the next morning at seven bells and we hauled zinc towards the north dakota state line. surprisingly, it was sunny. all of our friends in north dakota had warned us that a blizzard was arriving soon and that there was some serious north dakota potential for detainment in the offing. no worries. one of our new reps, will pilkington, is a former british marine. as you will see in the photos that i am attaching, he is not only good with our clients, he is awfully handy when you plant the front end of a jeep in a snow bank. we arrived before noon and got straight to work.
“it did snow that night. it snowed enough for that snowbank to exist after the snow plows did their deed in the early morning of the next day in north dakota. no worries. i come from snow country, i was a former boy scout, and i arrived equipped with a heavy coat, gloves, a rented jeep and a former british marine who, in turn, was equipped with a collapsible shovel.
“our other new rep, dave rassmussen, already knew a lot of the local architects. i won’t list all of the architects that we visited, but suffice to say that we ran out of time and that will & dave will be making another trip to the big n.d. again. we spent two days in fargo and then spent a day in grand forks. between the two cities, we often drove fast, played loud music and enjoyed the time with the architects. we arrived back in msp under heavy sleet around 10:00 pm or so on thursday night. i dropped off the tired and weary cowboys and headed for my own little bunk house downtown -the hilton garden inn. don’t worry. i went prepared to sleep. (will and dave own the architectural product representation group, M3-SIXTY and it can be found at www.m3-sixty.com .)
“i got up early the next morning and remembered what real cold feels like. i can tell you now and without reservation: it is cold. cold enough that it might hurt to exchange air with the old lungs. it wasn’t that cold in msp this time, but cold enough. cold enough that i could remember real cold. cold and also sunny. but mainly cold. (fun fact for you: sunny days are usually colder in midwest winters. why? because a lack of cloud cover let’s any warmth reflected off the snow escape.) i went to meet our friend from dri-design for breakfast. fortunately, i had been eating well in dakota, and my stomach muscles were ready. no need to worry.
“we talked about a number of things relating to zincy goodness smothered in a dri-design panel and attached to award winning homes, commercial buildings, etc. when we were done, we promised to catch up again soon as he headed off to work and i headed towards the well-known (at this point) msp airport. i enjoyed the new reps and the people in north dakota. i am looking forward to going back there again. i arrived in raleigh late in the day on friday. the air was mildly warm and i was happy, fat and contented. (www.dri-design.com)
“on sunday, i went to philly. this was to see a man early monday morning about the thing with those people… you know the deal. black ops. double-secret probation. the usual. while there, i and our erstwhile colleague had the opportunity to spend time with super-rep and all around great guy, mike jung. (mike is an architectural products representative. his business is architectural metal resources of haddonfield, nj.) we got in on sunday and left on monday. i have to tell you that i am enjoying the city more and more and that there is some serious zinc in and around that town. fun!
“i then went to hotlanta, g to the a. 18 wheels and trucking. we’re going to do what they said can’t be done. yep. atlanta. straight from the city of brotherly love to the home of coca-cola, delta air lines and smokey & the bandit. i went to meet with our rep, phil marvel, or, as we know him now, philly-(wacca-wacca)-cream-cheese. the man! it was warm when i got there, but not overly so. no worries. i had switched one suitcase full of dirty clothes for another full of clean clothes. in said suitcase was another light shirt. all is good and right with the world. the mission was mainly to talk over some business. in between, we had the opportunity to look at a new church going up with quartz zinc on a great roof line, and also to look at the dawson county courthouse which sports a new dome in beautiful red zinc. very, very cool! (phil marvel’s group, pcm southern, can be found at: www.pcmsouthern.com)
“i then came back to raleigh and spent all of one-point-five days back in the saddle before heading off to city of washington in the columbia district. you know… north of ikea on the interstate. this roadtrip was for the annual aaf accent on architecture gala. surprise, surprise! they honored mayor nutter of philadelphia for his phenomenal work with city planning. that town is cool with a very big C. haworth –the company, and s.o.m. –the architects, were also honored with the good design is good business lifetime achievement awards. it was nice to see the legacy that our fellow citizens are leaving behind. inspirational is the word. inspirational and possibly black-tie. yep. this is/was a black-tie event. don’t worry. i have one.
“i returned once again to fair raleigh, and have been spending the last week catching up. don’t worry. i have a computer, a phone, and a cellular telephone device which, believe it or not, allows me to stay in contact with our friends and clients around the word. so, catching up, was and is really about planning, promoting and having fun with vmzinc. part of that fun was being able to attend the grand opening of the aia north carolina center in downtown raleigh. this is the building that we participated in with pigmento red zinc. frank harmon, faia, and other local luminaries were on hand. it was a warm saturday afternoon. again, i say, no worries. i had a clean white shirt on. it smelled freshly laundered. the shirt reflected the occasional and intermittent sunshine and swam in the warmth of this great building. you should have been there. fire, baby! on fire!” (www.frankharmon.com is the website of frank harmon, faia.)
until next time, enjoy -vm
Source: www.zincsense.com
repost from www.zincsense.com
