Welcome to plastics.com

Main | February 2005 »

5 posts from January 2005

January 30, 2005

Me and Plastics - circa 1972

or... How I ended up as a plastics engineer

I planned on becoming an oceanographer and applied to the University of Hawaii. I had some backup colleges but thats the one I wanted.  I had trouble qualifing for many as I didn't have the language requirement having gone to a trade high school, rather than a conventional high school.

Anyway, I got accepted and my mother intercepted and destroyed the letter. (She never should have confessed that! I still have issues)  I figured they didn't want me and decided to go to Lowell Technological Institute, now U Mass Lowell as an undeclared engineering major student. (Undeclared as to which engineering degree as they all take the same courses freshman year).

So they had this thing called freshman seminar where upperclassmen from different majors would come talk to you once a week, and one week a senior from the plastics engineering department showed up.

I had been thinking of mechanical engineering as my major and had a strong interest in chemistry too, and as I listened this kid said that the plastics program was a cross between a mech eng degree and a chemistry degree. I sat up, started listening.  Then he said it was a very cool place where you were often on a first name basis with your professors and they even took tests for one class up at a local bar (sssh don't tell anyone).  Now I was listening intently.

Then he said, "Oh and we've had 100% placement and the highest starting salary among all majors since 1954!"

That was all I needed. After class I went right down and signed up. The rest is history, as they say.

Anyway, about the Hawaii thing... I'd have never made it in that environment. I had trouble staying out of trouble in Lowell, Massachusetts never mind Hawaii, with the beaches, and the weather, and the girls.

It all worked out for the best. Otherwise someone else would be running plastics.com today!


January 28, 2005

Giggidy...giggidy...giggidy

I've always wanted to say that. Few among you will derive the source, but it has one.

And I say that to demonstrate the answer to a question I've been asked often in the last 48 hours by several of my plastics brethren, namely... "Whats a Blog?"

And my first answer, albeit flawed, is that a blog is where you can say anything you want to say.  Hence my title. But more seriously I shall answer that question a bit more.

from marketingterms.com...

blog Definition

blog
A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.

Information

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.

Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files.

Additionally, there are 3 common types of blogs;

  • personal; mostly like a diary
  • journalistic; topical writings similar to a columnist
  • corporate; kind of like a new and improved 'what's new'

There can be much crossover within one blog of all three types. For example, plastics.blogs.com will contain personal musings, not strictly a corporate dialog. 

You hear much talk of blogs on the news, pro and con, as bloggers (those who blog) contributed to spotting the bush national guard papers as forgeries and began the publicity of Kerry swift boat veterans.

Anyone can blog. There are places you can setup blogs for free or almost. actual blogging is easy, software does all the work. You don't require skills much past typing. Blogging is fun. Bloggers are a bloody incestuous lot, they link back and forth, back and forth!

Blog software sites:

Some sample Blogs:

How To Blog For Fun & Profit!  A blog on how to blog
Stumpy-p.com  A personal blog from one o me boys
Procrastination.blogs.com  A topical blog, topic self explanatory
2004weblogawards.com A list of award winning blogs

So my friends, I hope I've helped shed some light on the blog topic and in closing I say... Giggidy...giggidy...giggidy (because I can)

 

 

January 27, 2005

Call for Bloggers!

Plastics.com wants you... to blog!

Bloggers love company and we're inviting bloggers to join us in blogging on plastics.com and have your words seen by the most plastics people possible!

What types of bloggers?
Individuals, Companies and Topics.

  • Individuals who wish to muse, mostly about our industry, on wide ranging topics.
  • Company blogs, keeping us up to date on happenings at your firm.
  • Topics blogs, based on specific topics of interest and may include multiple authors.

Why blog here?
Easy, a blog associated with plastics.com will see dramatically more traffic than a stand alone blog. We will bring the power of our traffic to ensure our blogs get a great audience.

Where will the blogs be?
Right here, see the heading "MORE BLOGS" on the upper right? And the blogs will be linked to from all over plastics.com and promoted on our email campaigns as well.  Click here to see a sample blog

If interested, call 978-342-9000 x303 or email Greg at [email protected]


January 26, 2005

Me and Plastics - circa 1962


Vacuform_1It all started for me around 1962 when, as a nine year old, I was given my first plastics production machinery, a thermoformer.  I was delighted to be able to mass produce toy boats and carelessly sail them down the stream, carefree in the knowledge that I could just go home and mass produce more. And so it started.

Just One Word...

Ok, ok so there's more than just one word here, but if it was just one word, it'd be...

PLASTICS

And unless you're young and uninformed, you know that that phrase comes from "The Gradaute" starring Dustin Hoffman.  But do you know WHO said it to Benjamin? Characters name, not actor's name.

Everything starts somewhere. This is the start of blogs for plastics.com.

We'll be adding more blogs from other people and other companies so... stay tuned.

 

Subscribe


Clicking here will bring you directly to the www.plastics.com main page

About Greg Koski

Share/Save/Bookmark


Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Categories

 




Partnerships :: click for details

    Discussion Forums Index
    Click to see ALL the forums