Innovation, Symbolism, and wanting to nap....

Goodness I have had a blast hanging here on Market Street in Corning NY. I must admit working out of the hotel room proved a challenge.

No matter how many lights I turned on, I still felt sleepy.

It was not for lack of sleep as we got to try out a Sleep Number Bed, which btw, is very nice.

This particular hotel room seems to be dark which in turn makes me sleepy!

Anyhow, I thought I'd throw up a few photos from my lunch time adventures.

This is the Little Joe tower. It is one of the first things you see driving into Corning along the sky line.

It was the first of it's kind in 1912 and was used to pull the long glass tubes for thermometers.

It's still there as a testimony to Corning Inc. and their ability to innovate. They felt the symbolism was important to their employees who work in the glass HQ building next door. Innovation & discovery is their day to day.

It has taken quite a bit to keep little Joe looking pretty as I hear the bats also think it makes a lovely home, but symbolism is important as we all know as scrappers.

Innovation is by the way is why Corning stopped making dishes. They were good at it, but it was neither new or innovative, so they passed the torch on to someone else. Same with PYREX which had resulted from a failed experiment!

Now, take a quick peek at that blue symbol up at the top there.

He is Little Joe the gaffer.

The real little Joe is on the ground at the base. Somewhere I have photos of very small Pratt kids and this statue. It has literally been YEARS since I have visited the base of Little Joe.




















The reason I stopped over was that I felt like I owed him a visit.

See, they put a beautiful new sign on our Corning Plant in the North County.

Perhaps you recall my intern layout?

Regardless, here is a photo of my kid and THE MAN in front of the new fancy sign.

I was so excited to see the building all freshly painted, with a new blue stripe and rockin' this sign.

UNTIL THE MAN told me that the old timers at the plant were pissed off about it.

Like really really mad.

They felt like it was a waste of money. Did not get the history or symbolism and basically were being haters.

Now, I get the fact our plant is five hours away from HQ and in the middle of nowhere. But, please, do not be mad about Little Joe.

Embrace the fact your plant manager brought a little slice of history and symbolism to your plant and be proud.