All good things must end. Sometimes not just the way you expected

I taught my last professional development class at the college I work with last Friday. It didn’t start out that way, at least that was not my intent when I began the session, but the reality of the world we live in caught up with me at the end of the session. A little background. […]

Who planned this anyway???

No excuses The campaigns are all over. The last vote was cast. Falling nine votes short of victory means you go home and think about what happened and what you could have done differently. But second place in a two person race is still first loser. There are no real excuses. There are some reasons […]

A different kind of adventure – Public Office

Up until today it’s been all talk and lots of opinions. But today is different. I join many others in this great experiment called the American Republic by publicly beginning my candidacy for election to a public office. In this case, it is a candidate for Sewickley Township Supervisor. I have no delusions about what […]

2017 – What a great year.

2017 was quite a year There have been a lot of changes in my life the last year. Health events, career events and just general life events have all added to the mix. Some of the events have been surprising to say the least and frankly you could look at what happened in 2017 and […]

The Bedford boys of Company A of the 29th Infantry Division’s 116th Infantry Regiment never had a chance.

There is an old truth known by military men that no military plan survives contact with the enemy. This was never more obvious than what happened at 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944, when the invasion at Omaha Beach began. Allied bombardments and a massive air campaign that went awry had failed to eliminate or […]

How well do you know Eric Holder?

Warning – Warning – Warning Purely political rant coming on!!! "In 1997, Holder made history … when President Clinton nominated him to be the deputy attorney general. Holder was quickly confirmed several months later by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He was the first African-American elected to the position" Every Senator who was […]

Elizabeth Home-coming Centennial Celebration ~ July 1, 1934

The first day of the Elizabeth Centennial Celebration in 1934 started the same way as the previous days had … hot. The entire country had been sweltering in an unseasonable hot weather pattern and the people in Elizabeth were not exempt. The four day program began on July 1 with an 8:00PM Union religious service […]

Elizabeth Pennsylvania … 178 Years of Freedom and Liberty

The boroughs and townships of Western Pennsylvania are a patchwork of communities that have evolved over the past several hundred years. Elizabeth Borough is one such community and has a story typical of many of the river communities of old. In 1934, The Great Depression was working its way around the country and the globe. […]

Built Like a Mack Truck

How many times have you ever heard the expression Built Like a Mack Truck? For most people in the US, that is one of those old expressions that symbolizes strength and endurance. The trucks that were designed and built by Americans were once the pride of many trucking fleets and rightly so. The story of […]

Searching for Superman – why CI/Lean initiatives often fail (Part 2)

Failure is not an option… but most of the time it is assured One common set of factors that can affect success or failure for a Continuous Improvement/Lean Initiative is the recruitment, selection process, and use of a CI/Lean leader. Leadership at all levels has an impact on every initiative but this becomes more critical […]