Lefse, Skiing and Beaches

[uwmcscott]

Hey AGF:

I took a new job back in January and have been pretty much AWOL from here ever since. Looks like you have all been keeping the lights on just fine and some new(old) faces have also returned. Hoping to catch back up with all the happenings soon! I will also be heading out of the country to Norway to meet my team over there for a couple of weeks in May/June so maybe I can track down HarryBowner or whomever that guy was - wasn't he from Sweden or someplace like that?

I've pretty much transitioned 360 degrees or more from being a work-at-home analyst under strict COVID protocal ( healthcare ) to working back in an actual office for a company that never really even shut down. I'm manging US operations for a company based in Norway that does Bio-Refining of paper industry byproducts. ( Lignin ). We have a factory in Florida on Amelia Island and I was there for a week in March but too busy to seek out any of the florida AGF crew ( sorry @mickey , @tonebender , @Floridian FX ).

@mickey - still have to take time to watch the DVD you sent, will make time. No new guitars at all to speak of, but believe it or not I might be joining up in a brand new contemporary worship band being started at my church which would be an absolute first for me. Not even sure what instrument -maybe guitar or even Bass - I have one so I guess that qualifies me based on the people putting things together

@LightWingStudios - I saw your message about domain renewals and pitched in for the cause, thanks for keeping things up and running.

I also have found another place to spend money and geek out on gear, we purchased a season family pass at our local ski resort as my kids were getting into it. I used to ski a lot back in the day but haven't for years. Well, about 5 grand later we are all re-outfitted and have been doing a lot of skiing actually. @tlarson58 - my kids want to go out west, maybe you can set us up with some recommendations for places to go next winter.

[mickey]

Guess you are not familiar with Floriduh geography? Amelia Island is about a 4.5 hour drive from here & even further from the other guys.
Can't imagine skiing up there where you are. I would think the water was too cold even in July-August? And most of the year too cold to even put the boat in the water!
Good to see you back!

[uwmcscott]

Guess you are not familiar with Floriduh geography? Amelia Island is about a 4.5 hour drive from here & even further from the other guys.
Can't imagine skiing up there where you are. I would think the water was too cold even in July-August? And most of the year too cold to even put the boat in the water!
Good to see you back!

Yeah, Amelia island is about as far north as you can get in FLA. As a matter of fact, the offices in our production facility look out north and are directly on the shores of the Amelia river. You can see Georgia from the office I was using there. Having said that I had a rental and driving a few hours is no big deal if it ever came to that. I will likely be back multiple times in the future.

And regarding the skiing, I was referencing snow/alpine skiing of course Having said that, there is a lot of waterskiing up here and believe it or not it's pretty summer like for at least 3 months of the year or so.

[Partscaster]

Norway is one of the only places I want to travel to see and ski at again. I love nordic skate skiing up in its highlands, big open rolling lands above tree line with groomed x-c trails that go on for 100s of kilometers. Seems every town in the valleys had trails or even ski lifts to get up into that high open space between valleys. Up there is like heaven for me. Wide open, endless skate skiing.
I've been to Norway about 7 times, all for WC telemark ski racing, back in the day.

[Spike]

Great to see you back and that things are going well!

[redman]

Glad things are going good and nice to see you posting.

[tlarson58]

@Partscaster I consider myself somewhat healthy and keen on winter activities, but skate-skiing is well beyond what I am willing to do to my lungs and body. Kudos to you for taking it up/keeping with it.

@uwmcscott Hailing fro WI and growing up in Oregon with a father in the industry, I put myself through college working at the local paper mill (I can still smell it in my mind). There were some pretty nasty byproducts that we did a good job of filtering. It would be interesting to hear what role your company plays in the process (using small words and a laymen-esque description).

[LightWingStudios]

@uwmcscott Thank you sir!

[uwmcscott]

@uwmcscott Hailing fro WI and growing up in Oregon with a father in the industry, I put myself through college working at the local paper mill (I can still smell it in my mind). There were some pretty nasty byproducts that we did a good job of filtering. It would be interesting to hear what role your company plays in the process (using small words and a laymen-esque description).

So I would be very much considered a Layman when it comes to this industry as I just started a few weeks ago When I first started college I did pursue a "paper science" degree ( basically chemical process engineering ) but that only lasted about a year.

The company I work for is global, but our claim to fame is that we are the worlds most advanced "bio-refiner". Our production and research facilities are in many cases similar to petroleum refineries ( Lots of pipes, tanks and vessels and chemistry going on ), but our raw material is usually a natural/bio product. In north america, we mostly focus on Bio-polymers. The product array is very large, and our end products are sold it both powder and liquid form, but we have stuff that goes in lead acid batteries, concrete additives, agricultural, petroleum drilling, cosmetics, the list is very long.

As far as the paper industry connection, both of our plants in the US are located on premise next door to a paper mill. And specifically paper mills that do sulfite pulp processing ( vs Kraft ) which are few and far between. Our raw material is basically all the leftovers from the pulping - and it's a brownish liquid that contains a lot of the solids extracted from the wood. Kind of looks like cloudy maple syrup. Pretty amazing really, the plant here has been doing it since the 1950's.

[honyock]

Glad to hear the job is working out, sounds like an awesome work experience

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