Growin' Up Gregory

Tuesday at Rotary, we heard from Steve Aldrich, the Director of Manufacturing Operations at Haemonetics about the new expansion at their production facility here in Union.  If I recall the statement correctly, they will be adding 100+ total jobs in several different areas to fully staff the new expansion.  It was also mentioned that Gestamp and Standard Textile are continuing to look for more workers as well.  And there is also a groundbreaking scheduled for Thursday on a new 100,000 square foot spec building that the County will be marketing towards bringing another large business to Union. For the first time in a long time, likely since many of the textile mills were running strong, Union is not hurting for jobs.  We are hurting for workers.  There are many good jobs in Union County.  If you live here, I encourage you to go look for one.  If you live in a neighboring county, I encourage you to look for one here.  And then if you like it, I hop...

There are many foods that require one main ingredient that if it's missing, the entire entrée is just lacking.  It requires each ingredient to make it special and to set it off, but there's typically that one ingredient that truly makes it.  And leaving that main ingredient out can sometimes be disastrous.  Take the morning I turned my coffee pot on after attending a concert and as I poured from our stainless steel pot, I noticed that there one major thing lacking - COFFEE!  That hot water just didn't have the same kick. When we try to play sports without the right equipment, some things can be substituted while others simply cannot.  Thomas and I have propped up old wooden pallets in the yard to substitute as soccer goals, but we have to have a ball (the main ingredient) to kick.  And when businesses or companies are evaluating potential employees, they are reviewing resumes for certain requirements.  They want to see your education, your experience...

Garden Tools After getting seeds planted in our garden a few days ago, we are now patiently waiting for those first little specs of green to start popping through the soil.  Unfortunately, right behind those first good plants typically come unwelcome visitors in the form of weeds.  Grass and other weeds can be a pest and take away vital nutrients that our veggies need to flourish.  But there's a solution - a well trained gardener, or even a young child with a minimal instruction, can actually use a tool, a garden hoe, to eliminate the weeds with a few swift swings.  Their skill and desire  to improve the garden make the soil cleaner and the plants are allowed to grow stronger and flourish.  But the opposite is also true.  If someone was to become angry at you, they could sneak into the garden at night and use that same hoe to destroy all of your precious veggies.  You see, the garden hoe is merely a tool in the matter, completely neutral and at...

I have the opportunity in my profession to work with a number of different people who vary in a wide degree in age, education, and income levels.  What makes some people so "successful" while others just never seem to make it?  I believe that there are three factors that determine the difference between who you are today and who you will be in 5, 10, or 20 years. 1.  Intelligence - Education - Brainpower.  Whatever you want to call it.  Your mental ability to put skills you know into practice, and to learn new skills, will be a major factor in your future success.  For some, book smarts and intelligence just comes naturally while others have to study their tails off just to get by.  I honestly don't know how much intelligence is genetic, but I do know that numerous studies show the positive effects of reading to children from birth to age 3 when their brain is developing at a rapid rate.  But we cannot let our learning stop there.  No matte...