Where Airplanes And Tires Are Born

I was back in the wonderful city of Akron again this week. I figured, I had such a bad taste in my mouth from last time, I was going to find the redemption this time. I think I came pretty close...

First of all, I know the last time my big complaint is that Akron was where all the obesely overweight and the absurdly angry people go to, well, kill each other. I guess maybe it was the winter thing, or maybe they all read my blog, but I felt as if this time, the whole lot of them had slimmed down a bit and maybe gotten some Vitamin D and Happy Pills in their diet as they were a lot more pleasant as well. PHEW! Its much nicer going someplace where they're pleasant.

Second - I found some claims to fame for the Akron area....

This is where Goodyear Tires are born. Its a pretty sad looking plant, but apparently when the business stayed in Akron, it saved the city so - ugly or not - this building is helping to keep Akron, OH on the map.

And then, coming around the bend one day, I saw the craziest looking place right off the highway. I can't even describe what it looked like. There were probably about 20 storage unit looking things that were built on a hill so they went up one side and down the other in a perfectly symetrical line that looked like the proverbial lines of a house roof in ever kid's drawing you've seen. Then, as I followed the road further, There was this massive blue dome looking thing - it was freaky looking - like something from the X Files. When I got to the front of the whole place, there was a sign that said Lockheed Martin. I just looked it up on-line and it is one of their Civil IS GS (International and Global Security) sites.

This was one of the exhausting weeks that went on forever - it seems as if all my time in Akron is exhausting. Its a nice hospital system, but they're very demanding. I spent every day from about 6:30 a.m. until about 5 p.m. running between 4 sites and on my feet and running tests and trying to make pleasant small talk with managers and directors and processing personnel. My back is killing me right now....

So, here's a little snapshot into what I do. The picture below is an instrument washer. What I do in implementations and trials, at least one piece, is to hook our product up which means that I need to purge the old product out of the lines and our product in. It involved going through the control panels to prime modes and then finding the right pumps and then standing there holding a prime button - old out and new in. Its tedious and a lot of times, boring.

Here's another interesting shot I thought I'd share.... Hope it doesn't gross anyone out. So the new surgery thats all the rage and tons of hospitals are adding is called daVinci. Its a robotic equipment piece that performs all kinds of surgeries. Basically, its a Game Boy or Nintendo or whatever is cool that the surgeon plays operating games inside you on. Its crazy. Its expensive. Its in high demand. A lot of the pieces are actually disposable so instead of processing the pieces, they discard them. The blue head of that long black shaft is a forcep thats used in most of the surgeries done with daVinci. Take a look at the link and you can see those crazy surgeon surgery games - its wild!

http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/products/

And now to end on a relaxing note..... I was back in the land of the Cuyahoga River so I went back to the paradise trail, Cuyahoga River Trail.... the one with the old canals and stuff. I had to drive 25 minutes to get there but I love that place so much that I'd get back to my hotel room at like 6 pm and then quick change into my running gear, jump in my rental, drive 25 minutes and get on the trail a little before 7 and then just run my brains out. Its the perfect trail because even when its really hot, its so covered that the sun doesn't come through and bake you -- thats what cuts my running time down, the baking process when its sunny. The trail at home is murder because its so exposed. This trail - I ran for so long that I had to make myself stop because I knew I had to run that whole distance back. There were actually quite a few people out walking and biking, but they either zipped past you or you zipped past them so it wasn't really overbearing.

And here's a commentary on the Runner's World..... Its funny how runners universally acknowledge each other on trails. You give that nod and understanding smile of "ya, we're running". Even with the headphones and the sunglasses, you can still always see the gleam of happiness in a true runners' eye.... I love it!

Take the trail less travelled - and keep your Nikes or Adidas or Sauconys moving - don't be afraid of getting them coated with stinky sweat and dirt - it just makes them feel more loved :)

Happy weekend!