BusyBeeNews - September 2020

september 2020

so, are most neighborhoods considered “school zones� now???

Did you know? – Labor Day Trivia Thee first Labor Day parade was held in New York City on September 5, 1882. It was organized by the Central Labor Union and attended by more than 10,000 union workers who took time off unpaid to participate.

The “no white after Labor Day” rule was created by snobby “old money” women in the 1880’s to embarrass new-money millionaires just entering society ranks. These types of arbitrary fashion rules were only circulated to those in the in-crowd so that they could laugh at the new kids when they showed up to events in the wrong colors.

Oregon was the first state to officially recognize Labor Day as a holiday, which happened on February 21, 1887.

Virginia passed the Kings Dominion Law in 1986, which forbid schools from starting before Labor Day weekend. The Virginia Amusement Parks by: shannon highsmith Lobby, representing parks such as Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion, may or may not have influenced the passing of this law through the donation of 324 free park tickets to lawmakers.

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS: Account Manager – Albuquerque Account Manager – Little Rock Factory Service Team – Central Texas (Austin or San Antonio) Warehouse Associates – Carrollton

dear

Dear Dan, Since so many of us are working from home, and our home has become an extension of our office, and DG is responsible for repairs in the office, when can I expect my home office to get repainted?

Also, I think “my office” needs some foundation repairs. When can we schedule that?

Signed, Island Dweller

dan,

Dear Island Dweller, You are correct. Your home is an extension of your office. Take care of it yourself!

Love, Drey

CHARLIE BERENS: THE FUNNIEST MAN

IN THE MIDWEST with Michael ‘Mickey Carmine’ Macchiaroli

Like many others, the ongoing lockdown has meant countless minutes surfing YouTube, looking for various videos to help pass some time. One day, I had come across a video titled “Neighbors in Quarantine.” Four friends named Charlie, Taylor, Penn, and Miles emerge out of quarantine and start taking friendly jabs at one another. It is among one of the funniest things I have seen in a good while, funny enough to begin following these guys on YouTube and Instagram (@OhhYouBetcha, @TheHoldernessFamily, @CharlieBerens, @DudeDad).

All four men are funny, but I have to say I got the biggest kick out of Charlie Berens. A native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin (located between Milwaukee and Green Bay), I couldn’t help but think of Charlie as a northern equivalent to “Larry The Cable Guy” in that he is the perfect parody of Midwestern tropes, complete with the catchphrase Keep er’Movin’. He’s super nice, to the point where he’ll clean out your gutter after he’s done cleaning his, he drove a guy to Dallas when he could’ve just taken him to the airport, and had two hour small talk with a neighbor; essentially “Midwest nice” on steroids.

His YouTube channel, simply titled “Charlie Berens,” is mostly comedy sketches aimed at parodying everything Midwest, ranging from people from other regions asking trivial questions about being from the Midwest, to how difficult it is to understand a Midwesterner’s dialect. Recently, Charlie has been doing a lot of drink mixing videos, but it is also home to a greater variety such as “Midwest Voice Translator,” “School of Ope,” and the “World’s Worst Cornhole League.” If sketch isn’t your bag, there’s also footage of Charlie’s stand-up comedy, which I find to be very humorous. In addition, Charlie also hosts the “Manitowoc Minute,” a spoof news segment where Charlie reports on-goings in the Midwest area…very weird on-goings.

It was a nice surprise coming across Charlie Berens’ YouTube channel. If you need a break from dancing cat videos and whoever the next top comic is, definitely check him out. Also, keep an eye out for “Husbands of Target,” another great video that he did with Penn, Miles, and Taylor. And definitely give it a thorough look. There’s something there for everybody. I, for one, might venture up to Wisconsin (and have some ice cream drinks) once this COVID thing blows over. Keep er’ Movin’!

click the images below to watch some of charlie’s videos

“Tails” from the

Outdoors

by Pat Armstrong

If you’ve know me for any length of time, you know that I love to fish. My brother Ben and I have fished all our lives with our dad (he really loved to fish, just not with two young boys, and I now get it!). Our grandpa, and our uncles, heck even my grandmother loved to fish!

This story takes place in Arkansas, on Lake Greeson, on a chilly winter morning. We had gotten out of school for winter break and we left Dallas as soon as my dad got off work.

Mom had the kids ready, car packed, road meals made and stowed, so that once dad got home, and took a shower, we were gone! We looked like the Griswold’s heading to Wally World, I’m sure, just with four extra kids. Since it was a five hour drive, in December, it would be too dark for us boys to fish, so we got all our stuff ready the night we arrived, so all we had to do was wake up, sneak out quietly and walk the mile or so down to “The Point”. It was a steep, rocky, winding road that was pretty easy going down, coming back up, with a heavy load of fish, was a different story.

So Ben and I woke up early, gathered our stuff, hunted worms, and off we went. Daylight was starting to creep up and a fog was over the lake. It was a little spooky looking, but we weren’t scared of anything (or so we thought). We had just got settled, with lines in the water, as the daylight started to make things visible. The fish were biting, the bull frogs were croaking, but other than the bull frogs, it was very still and quiet.

Then, all hell broke loose! We were fishing in a cove and across the cove we heard dogs running and barking, they had flushed out a deer from the woods and in to the clearing across the cove. Just about the time we saw the deer, three pickup trucks slide to a halt behind us on the road, five guys jump out, and start blasting away at this deer that was at a full run 400 yards away across the cove.

They didn’t hit the deer (shocker right). After all the firing stopped, one hillbilly hunter looks down the bank at my brother and me, fairly frustrated, and actually said these words, “WHY DIDN’T YOU SHOOT HIM???”

I looked up and said, “CUZ WE’RE FISHING!!!” Now I like to hunt as much as the next guy, and have killed many deer in my lifetime, but that morning we found ourselves rooting for the deer. These guys were firing right over our heads with 30-06’s, .30-.30’s, and it even sounded like a .7mm magnum. They were just throwing lead as fast as they could. The chances of them actually hitting that deer were so small, that if that deer had dropped, I’d have ran for cover because lightening was about to strike.

So these “yahoos” hop back in their trucks and take off back up the road. Finally some peace and quiet!

We caught lots of fish that day, but Ben and I still laugh about that… “Why didn’t you shoot him?”

“Cuz we were fishin’!”

Stay safe and have fun!

Pat

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO YOU! SEPTEMBER

John Medellin Buck Kott Brad Hoeler Trey Shanks Victor Plascencia Dan Banaszek Ryan Hurst Mark Hendricks Donald Lewis Laura Nash Aaron Reeves Alec Cooper Debbie Dingess Kim Parrish Tyrone Bass

9/3 9/6 9/6 9/8 9/10 9/12 9/17 9/19 9/21 9/25 9/29 9/29 9/29 9/29 9/30

Aaron May - Group Manager What a year it has been in 2020! Entering the 4th quarter, there are many uncertainties that lie ahead: an election, football season, trick-or-treating, and John McCulloch’s sanity, just to name a few (just kidding Johnny). The only certainty, I know, is that HMC will find a way to be successful in adapting and continuing to pursue excellence as we navigate through this unprecedented time.

The PlumbingMechanicalGroup has added a jolt of youth to our sales team in 2020 with members of our mentor group taking on account manager roles. Patrick Fleming has fit in nicely covering Northeast Texas, as well as Northern Louisiana. Patrick’s humble sales style has already proven to be very well received by his customer base out east. In addition, Carter Lilly has made the move to Lubbock to handle our West Texas customers. Carter’s quiet confidence will serve him well in the Hub City as he begins to build relationships throughout the territory. Peter Eddinger has taken on some account responsibility in DFW, as well as some of the rural markets. Peter’s experience on Teams 2, 5 & 7 provide a good foundation as he transitions into his new role. Nick Vallorani has also begun to take on some PSEAM accounts in Oklahoma, while continuing to work with Gary Dyke and Dennis Lally in DFW. Anyone who has earned the respect and confidence of Gary and Dennis certainly has a bright future within our PSEAM team. We look forward to continued success for these young men as they grow into their account manager responsibilities.

Our team continues to push forward and find different ways to meet up with our customers.

Whether that is meeting for breakfast, lunch, dinner, at a golf course, on a job site, or in a Buc-ee’s parking lot, we have found opportunities to get in front of people. Six months ago, we would have never predicted (and we did not) that the demand for product would continue to be so strong, and in many cases exceed that of a year ago. We are truly BLESSED to be in an industry, and part of the country, that continues to stay busy and with so much opportunity moving forward!

winner ! - nikki kirkpatrick

the best defense

against spam

is an educated user by: Debra Dingess

Wikipedia defines Email Spam as: Email spam, also referred to as junk email, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming).

The name comes from a Monty Python sketch in which Spam is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and repetitive. Email spam has steadily grown since the early 1990s, and by 2014 was estimated to account for around 90% of total email traffic.

Since the expense of the spam is borne mostly by the recipient, it is effectively postage due advertising. This makes it an excellent example of a negative externality.

The legal definition and status of spam varies from one jurisdiction to another, but nowhere have laws and lawsuits been particularly successful in stemming spam.

Most email spam messages are commercial in nature. Whether commercial or not, many are not only annoying, but also dangerous because they may contain links that lead to phishing web sites or sites that are hosting malware - or include malware as file attachments.

Spammers collect email addresses from chat rooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups, and viruses that harvest users’ address books. These collected email addresses are sometimes also sold to other spammers.

As spam has evolved, so has the industry in trying to contain it. With everyone getting their email on the phones and iPads, who has time to delete them all.

Then there are the hackers who send emails embedded with Trojan horses or URL’s, trying to get your personal information off your PC, or transmit your keystrokes of your PC. To combat some of this, Hugh Cunningham subscribes to a service, SolarWinds MSP. Daily you should be receiving an email, giving you a report on email captured as spam.

But it does do a lot more. You can enable it to block emails you receive. Or if an email is blocked all the time, you can release it.

To access SolarWinds MSP visit https://my.swmailassure.com/ . Login. Everyone with email has one. On the dashboard, you will see a protection section. From there you can add to the sender whitelist (allow) or sender blacklist (don’t allow). These are your personal lists.

Your supervisor or IT can assist with the login information.

solving problems with creativity by shannon highsmith

There’s a solution to every problem if you are creative enough!

Dr. Neil Jordan, a conservation biologist from UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science, came up with a radical (and cute) idea to protect both lions and cattle in Botswana. Ranchers in Botswana don’t like to kill the endangered lions who hunt their cattle, but they can’t afford the losses the lions cause.

Dr. Jordan noticed that lions will immediately stop stalking an animal if they think that their prey has seen them. In fact, he knew that Indian woodcutters would often wear masks on

the backs of their heads to keep tigers from attacking them while they worked. These observations inspired Dr. Jordan to approach a local rancher in Botswana to help him study his idea, which he dubbed “iCow”. His team got permission to stamp eyes onto the rear ends of half of the rancher’s cattle in hopes that lions would be fooled into thinking that their prey had spotted them. Since that initial small study, the team has expanded to a herd of over 2000 cows and not a single one of the 683 iCows has been killed!

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” –Maya Angelou “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” – Albert Einstein

MY TOP

FIVE

ES

VI

MO

by: michelle roche

newsletter committee - back to school photos

adam merritt

michelle mitchell

aaron may

michelle roche

pat armstrong

shannon highsmith

michael macchiaroli

cynthia henderson

debra dingess

jonathan bunch

by: Elaine Self by: Pat Armstrong

Can you figure out who the subject is this month? It’s basically like “20 Questions” and you, the reader, has to guess who the subject is. Here’s how the process worked. I listed all the employees on an Excel spreadsheet and then had Excel assign each one a random 5 digit number. I excluded myself, obviously. Last month’s subject (revealed at the end of this article) was asked to select a totally random 5 digit number and the person whose number matched closest was chosen as the subject. I reached out to “said person” and under the cloak of secrecy, asked him or her 20 questions. Can you guess who it is? Their identity will be revealed in next month’s “Guess Who” article. So here we go: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

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20.

What year did you graduate high school? 1985 Are you married? Yes Do you have kids? Yes What was your first car? Volkswagen Bug Favorite vacation spots? Beach, mountain, plains? Beach What’s an all-time favorite movie? Tombstone What kind of music do you listen to? Christian and Classic Rock Favorite snack food? French Fries and Ice Cream Do you interact with customers regularly? Not always This may be a weird one, but would you ever consider changing your hair color? Yes –

and I have Are you an ‘active’ person? As much as I can How tall are you? 5’8” Do you have any special talents or skills that might give the readers a clue? Not really Who was the President when you were born? Lyndon B. Johnson Do you do a lot of cooking? Not as much as I would like Would you ever consider going ‘catfish noodling’? Absolutely How many teams or departments have you worked on/in at HMC? 1 What’s your favorite time of year? Spring Who’s your favorite author? Stephen King What’s your favorite pro sports team? Chiefs

Last month’s subject was... Aaron Reeves

WHAT THE HIVE CAN TEACH BUSINESSES ABOUT

LEADERSHIP, EFFICIENCY,

& GROWTH LESSON #8 - STAY IN TOUCH THE WISDOM OF BEES by: Michael O’Malley, Ph.D. Use measurement and feedback to closely monitor the market environment and the current state of the organization to react accordingly.

Nothing may be more essential to the survival of the hive than ongoing feedback. Without doubt, it is a necessary condition of survival. How else can organisms react to changes occurring around them unless they have the means to remain intimately connected to their environs?

However, organizations sometimes lose touch with their customers and competition, and this isolation from reality is a recurrent source of corporate failure. The hive is like a very busy distribution center: trucks (foragers) pull up to the docks where the goods are unloaded and stowed by workers (receivers) on warehouse shelves.

Now suppose that a trucker pulls into the center and cannot find a bay to discharge his goods. Delays take their place. This would be like receiver bees turning away foragers who are bringing the precious nectar.

Problems arise when the company begins to focus on internal metrics that take precedence over the demands of the marketplace. Companies that take quality out of products by replacing good components with cheaper ones, that understaff or replace knowledgeable sales personnel with less expensive, inexperienced personnel or that install a severe, no returns policy may be pushing customers out the door through inferior goods, longer lines, limited expertise, or inconvenience.

Honeybees use what may be considered the “Holy Grail” of feedback. Their feedback contains the wonderful feature of directly uniting external conditions and the state of the colony to their activity.

The colony is constantly monitoring how it is performing and what it must do to improve. It isn’t easy for companies to conjure such elegance in measurement and feedback, but it can be done.

Bees are constantly taking in data that specifically and immediately inform them what it’s like outside the hive. What’s more, based on the information, honeybees know how to react. Feedback is most helpful when it conveys what you can do, starting now, to become more successful in your field of activity. The more directive the information, the better the feedback is.

The closer a measurement is to behaviors you can implement, to produce a desired outcome, the more useful is the feedback obtained with that measurement.

Recipe: Electrolyte Water

By: Adam Merritt

Whether you’re trying to rehydrate after being in the heat or working out, or maybe you’re battling a hangover or a stomach bug, everyone knows the value of drinking something more than plain water. Pedialyte is marketed to worried parents and Gatorade is marketed to athletes who need to recharge. They are actually a lot alike and are advertised to do the same thing. Let’s look at the nutrition labels and see what ingredients are the most important to each. An 8oz bottle of Pedialyte has 6 grams of sugar, 240mg of Sodium, and 180mg of Potassium for a total of 25 calories at a cost of about $1.20. A 20oz bottle of Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar, 270mg of Sodium, and 80mg of Potassium for a total of 140 calories at a cost of about $1.00. Pedialyte is relatively high in electrolytes while being relatively low in sugar, Gatorade is just the opposite.

For being a “healthy” drink, it has a lot of sugar and few electrolytes.

Let’s expand these numbers to gallon quantities. In a gallon of Gatorade there are 218 grams of sugar for a whopping 896 calories, 1728mg of Sodium, and 512mg of Potassium for about $6.50. A gallon of Pedialyte contains 96 grams of sugar and 400 calories, 3840mg of Sodium, and 2880mg of Potassium for a cost of about $18.69.

Now for our shopping list. You don’t need these brands, but I’m using these specific items for cost comparison.

NoSalt Original Sodium-Free Salt Alternative (11 oz) $4.94 on Amazon.com Morton Salt (78oz) $11.35 on Amazon.com Domino Sugar (96oz) $17.27 on Amazon.com Why all the math in a recipe? Because I want to emphasis not only how quick and easy this is to make yourself, but also how cheap it is in comparison.

Let’s start with an empty gallon jug. To this we will start by adding an inch of the hottest tap water you can get. The hot water will help dissolve the dry ingredients we are about to add. Now add 1.5 teaspoons of table salt and 1 teaspoon of NoSalt (or any other brand of Potassium Chloride salt alternative with zero sodium). Put the lid on the jug and shake vigorously to dissolve the salts. Now we’re going to uncap the jug and add half a cup of sugar. Recap and shake again. Finally, uncap and fill with cold water from the tap. You’re already ready to serve.

The final product is a gallon of fluid that has 96 grams of sugar and 400 calories (just like Pedialyte), 3540mg of Sodium, and 2560mg of Potassium. Far more electrolytes and less sugar than in Gatorade, and within 10% of the electrolytes in Pedialyte.

Now let’s consider the cost of our hydrating solution: Gallon Jug - it’s free since you’re going to reuse an old milk jug.

Water - $29.00 for 2000 gallons of tap water in Carrollton means the gallon of water itself is about 1.5 cents.

Salt – 1.5tsp is 6 servings of the 3399 in the $11.35 pack from Amazon. That’s about 2 cents.

NoSalt – 1tsp is 4 servings of the 239 in the $4.94 pack from Amazon. That’s a little over 8 cents.

Less than 12 cents and only a few minutes to prepare! Far less sugar and calories than a sports drink and essentially the same rehydrating properties as the expensive pharmacy item.

September in Texas means we still have 100 degree days ahead of us and (social distanced) tailgate parties for football games (cross your fingers) are right around the corner. Stay hydrated!

drawing by pat armstrong • color by cynthia henderson

BIG LOU’S 42” PIZZA - SAN ANTONIO, TX

SPOTLIGHT ON: FactorySupportTeam Every single day, whether at home or at work, all of us are expected to represent our beloved HMC Companies with the utmost professionalism, courtesy, and loyalty. This month we are spotlighting four individuals that personify these qualities. Hal, Jim, Buck, and Adam make up FST – Factory Support Team, managed by Mark Kois.

FST is our modern day equivalent to the “Ghost Busters,” because when a manufacturer has an issue with a product or an account manager has a product issue or booster startup… “Who you gunna call? Ghost Busters!” Their position within the company is to SUPPORT THE PRODUCTS WE SELL. Much of that support comes in the form of contractor and end user training. Other support is product trouble shooting… what’s wrong? Is it the application? Is it the product? Was it a bad batch? Are there any outside variables affecting the performance of the product? They ask a lot of questions.

Bottom line is… these guys are smart! They are highly trained, mechanically inclined, and have sharp observation and deductive skills. I’ve said for years that if you wanted to beat HMC, you’d better get up early and bring your lunch, cuz you’ll be there all day, and you still won’t be able to! I am very proud to be associated with these fine men!

Hal Haas (with son Matthew) -Director of Training/Technical Support Hire date: 07/04/1991 What did you want to be growing up? National Park Ranger (can you imagine Hal in a Ranger outfit).

What did your parents want you to be growing up? Whatever I wanted to be. They provided me with whatever they could to help me reach my goals.

What’s your favorite pastime? (Golf? Fishing? Yoga?) I don’t call it golf, I call it hitting a ball around the pasture, but I guess it is a favorite of mine.

If money were no object, what kind of ‘fun car’ would you have?

1966 Mustang Shelby GT350 Coupe

Tune in next month for our next Team Spotlight.

Will it be the team you’re on? What questions will I get asked?

Jim Fouts (with wife Shawanna) - FST Support Hire date: 03/08/1994

What are you most passionate about? Family and friends.

What is your favorite meal? My mom’s tuna casserole.

If you didn’t have to work for a living, what would you be doing? Living in the mountains enjoying the great outdoors and everything she has to offer.

We all love the folks we work with, but what do you enjoy most about your job? Getting my hands dirty on products out in the field. Whether it’s doing startups and commissioning’s or servicing products that have some kind of issue operating as designed.

Either way, I just love fixing things.

Buck Kott - FST Support Hire date: 04/01/2018 1. If you found yourself in a Zombie Apocalypse, what weapon would you carry? And why? Model 94 .30-30. Shoot it well.

2. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookie dough.

3. How do you like to spend your weekends?

Apartment living has me a bit cuffed, but if I had a garage or a shop, I’d work on projects…trucks, welding, etc.

4. What’s your proudest moment? Professionally/personally?

Professionally: getting my Journeyman plumbing license at a fairly young age of 23.

Personally: at one time being a nationally ranked shotgun shooter and winning a bronze medal at the Junior Olympics.

Adam Merritt (with wife Britton) - FST Support Hire Date: 07/04/2016 What makes you smile? My beautiful wife, my basset hound, and my garden. Not always in that order.

What are you most passionate about? I’m passionate about learning and sharing what I’ve learned.

What is your “life philosophy?” What sets your path? Where I’m going isn’t even there yet. Be open to accept life as it comes to you.

What is your favorite meal? Bachelor chow featuring veggies from my garden and meat from an animal that I harvested myself.

wellness tips MANAGING YOUR ENERGY THROUGH SELF CARE by: Michelle Roche These days our energy levels are being taxed even more than before. On top of our everyday routines, we are now dealing with social distancing, hand sanitizing, virtual learning for our kids, and virtual communications with our coworkers.

So how do we keep our energy levels up? Here are six functional wellness tips to boost your energy and manage your stress levels at a foundational level rather than just dealing with the fatigue and depression that come from lack of energy.

1)

Eat a healthy nutritious meal packed with proteins and vegetables and stay away from processed foods and sugars. This will keep your energy levels up and help keep you away from that crash half way through the day.

2) Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated helps keep your metabolism steady and helps

your body detoxify.

3) Get plenty of sleep. 7-9 hours of sleep a night is optimal. If you have trouble sleeping,

try a hot bath, meditation, or calming/breathing rituals to help you relax.

4)

Manage your stress. Staying in a constant state of stress is exhausting! Find ways to take a time out from the things that are elevating your stress levels. And remember, stress comes from many aspects of life, not just work and home. Overdoing it at the gym and poor nutrition put stress on the body as well. Create a balance in your life.

5) Movement – get up and move! Take a walk. Dance with your kids. Do yoga. Find

something that you love and do it every day. Even a quick walk at lunch can make a

huge difference in your day.

6) Take your vitamins and make sure you are getting needed supplements. Work with

your doctor to make sure you are getting enough Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. Both

can help with stress and fatigue.

GOOD of the DAY!

GOOD of the DAY!