What the 4th graders taught me.

Last Wednesday, I was honored to be a part of Career Day at Highland Lakes Elementary.  I was there to talk about the path of "Maker" and maybe "Entrepreneur". Dr. Allen started the day with a remarkable speech about work vs. jobs vs. careers, and as I groped toward something that might stick when I spoke to I arrived at 2 points:

I found myself quoting Bertrand Russell:

Thinking Is the Hardest Work There Is, which Is the Probable Reason Why So Few Engage In It.

I then found myself begging the kids to do this work. Explaining how I feel like the luckiest guy on Earth because I wake up stoked to do what I want instead of what I feel I have to. I painted the alternative vividly: Forced to act happy and slog along because of the cost of life.

The other thing that surfaced was this:

You can out-work anybody. Nobody can out-work you if you decide so.

 It's up to you in the best way possible. You get to be as great as you care to be. This is such a gift!
Try thinking - start today!

Good patterns may be counterintuitive.

This is a process shot of a car showcase room I did back in 2006. The design was overlapping circles with colors evocative of pavement and countryside layered over the 12 parking spots cut into the floor. I varied the finish from in the spots to out and distressed the stain a bit along the lines. The point is, I think it worked better with the two very disparate patterns layered than any one pattern could. 

Why we won’t order concrete in 2016:

Framers and trim carpenters both work wood.

There are great framers, but we are the concrete equivalent of trim guys.

Builders need both; one is not better than the other. 

We tried “framing” half a dozen times, and we couldn’t do it fast enough, and only got it to our own standards once (because we are like trim carpenters). 

So, from now on, when a placement job comes along (a lot do) we would like to refer them to someone built for that. 

If a staining, polishing, countertop, or overlay job comes along it is referred it to us, we will pay 4% for it.

We will continue to make any slab look good. We know how hard that other job is and just want people super-happy in the end. 

No workaholic beverages beyond this point.

"People intoxicate themselves with work, so they won't see how they really are." - Aldous Huxley's Spandrell character (the first slacker?) in Point Counter Point

Not me. 

I think I “over-work” because I see how I really am. Yesterday, someone bid me farewell for the weekend like this: “Be good…and if you can’t be good, be busy.” She is very insightful. 

Is it possible to be unrestrained and not at all monstrous? Is being truly natural overrated or the secret path? The Ten Commandments seem to be written on all of our hearts, yet how natural is it to occasionally covet our neighbors stuff? 

How natural is it to worship marvelous things rather than the unseen? 

How natural is it to dishonor our parents as teenagers? 

How natural is it to tire of our spouses and commit adultery  at least of the heart? 

But then, how natural is it to admire the strongest restrainers of these natural impulses?

I was taught that contradictions do not exist: they were error codes directing me to check my premises. 

Premise 1: I decide what I believe in and what I want from life. 

Premise 2: Some beliefs serve us (I believe I am a force for good), and some limit / harm us (I once believed I was bad at math). 

Premise 3:  The more aligned my goals are with my deepest desires, the more effective I will be.

Premise 4 (The Kicker): I can’t escape the belief that many of my natural desires are opposed to what is good. 

I’ve heard this called The Spirit vs. the flesh. It seems that all spiritual practices are aimed at the undivided self. If anyone can explain to me how to get there without destroying "the flesh", I would love to hear it. 

So what does all this have to do with creative work with concrete?

Concrete fossilizes our intent. The day we cast is captured in the casting. Our hands must ultimately betray our hearts. The world puts its mark on it as well: the heat and water in the air, the wind, the leaves that fall in, the animals that track across…it’s all there for our grandchildren to later find. 

That’s why we put element7 in the concrete. We battle on, and lose ourselves in the fight when we are weak. 

“Work for work’s sake” gets a bad rap because it is a retreat from the harder work of meaningful relationships. At least for me it is. The side affects of this “addiction” are financial abundance for dozen of other families and mine, popularity, skills, self-esteem, and fun. Frankly though, parts of my heart get more numb every year. I just hope I can become what I am suppose to be before my clock runs out. I hope that for all of us. 

Thank you for reading. Let's get together for coffee if you have something to share.

Mise en Place

That's French for "put in place". I learned it as bastardized noun from a talented and salty old cook. "Got your Mise-en-Place?" meant "I see you standing there, is your shit together so I don't want to smack you for being lame when the rush comes?"

Before I dove into business, I was a vested member of local 226 Las Vegas Culinary Union. There I was taught that unless you are cooking or interacting with a guest, you are preparing.

Before the throng comes, you had better have your veggies diced, your station clean, and everything ready to go so you could provide 1st class service no matter what.

That concept carries over well into decorative concrete, and probably everywhere. I was told be an utterly defeated rival yesterday that we are hard to compete with. My pride swelled for a moment, but I realized the reason for that is nothing more better preparation.  While they sleep, we plan and plan and plan and get ready. We care more, try harder, and have this insight. Hopefully now you do, too.

Tale chasing as art (an abstract digression).

I once heard that many professionals are like olympic tails-chasers. We improve our nutrition, get coaches, learn the newest techniques to go faster, be more effective, etc.. Some of us spin with astonishing speed. Others are beautiful in our spinning. Others are surprisingly effective at just catching their tale; showing skill and flexibility, they barely spin, and they are able to give themselves a nice bite on the base. We are all just chasing our tails, though.

This reality has weighed on me for years. I’m kind of OK with it. Truthfully, I have fun chasing my tail. I’m thankful for the freedom to do it (stray dogs don’t do it - their world is too dangerous).  I know I will die someday. So, I might as well make the most of this time. Most of all, there are frankly parts of my life I am less comfortable with than my tail-chasing exercises. We seem to be built for pursuit of some sort. The truest pursuit may be spiritual, but to assume that one cannot be reached by those forces outside of a specific bodily position seems demeaning to said forces. I feel like my dharma now is to just go. I hope I am doing it right.

Thank you for reading.

101 stuff

About Shiny Concrete.

There are two ways to make concrete shiny: mechanically and topically. Mechanical polishing is more durable, easier to maintain, and arguably prettier when the colors are to be muted. 

Concrete that is made shiny by a material on top (sealed or coated), will be very stain resistant, but prone to scratches and scuffs. Solvent based sealers are OK outside as the solvent melts the scratches, and the smell goes away quickly. However, these floors inside are a bad idea.

That’s right - the industry standard for stained concrete interior flooring (sealed or coated; maintained with mop-on floor finish) is a bad idea. It’s dumb because some day it will all have to come off and get re-done, and in a finished space, that is a mess.  There is a third option to consider, though. 

Paste wax richens color like nothing else, and is very easy to re-apply. Because it goes into the concrete (rather than just on top), owners can go years (usually 3-5) before re-waxing. Some of the wax stays on top, and will buff extra shiny at first, but this is not the point of the finish. These floors wear in like unwashed jeans: They start off stiff. Then they get a line in them. They work into a very comfortable and attractive color and texture over time (arguably less “sharp looking”, but attractive). 

So, the point is some “shiny” is more sustainable than others. Some is worth it (full time janitorial staff at schools, airports, malls, etc.). Some is not (over-application of floor finish in homes). For interior floors, we install diamond polished and paste wax because we know concrete should wear like blue-jeans.

Thank you for reading.