I let Tim Morales know about my situation and the next thing you know he’s working on finding me a hotel in the area for the night. That remedy quickly was wiped off the board when an announcement was made that the roads in and out of the airport were impassable, plus there were reports nearby Interstate 10 was closed.

During my working years, I always have been one of the younger employees at jobs I’ve held. I barely was old enough to vote at my first regular job that took me through my last semester of high school and all four years of college.

In my report on the recent winter PVF Roundtable meeting in Houston, Supply House Times columnist and ASA Industry Analyst Morrie Beschloss used the signature sign-on line from World War II-era radio commentator Gabriel Heatter to describe the outlook for the industrial PVF industry.

One of my three beagle dogs recently lost a portion of her ear after an attack by a neighborhood dog. Fenway (my wife’s a huge Red Sox fan; we had another beagle named Boston) had to undergo emergency surgery to save/reconstruct the ear.

I trust everybody had a fun and safe holiday season. I know some folks north of the border certainly enjoyed theirs thanks to some outstanding customer service. Canadian airline WestJet had a virtual Santa ask passengers at airports in Toronto and Hamilton what they wanted for Christmas. Once those planes took off, WestJet employees went on a shopping spree and delivered the specific presents to those same passengers when they arrived at baggage claim in Calgary.

Back in my middle- and high-school days I was caught more than once substituting the sports page of the Chicago Tribune for a textbook. Three decades later I’ve fully embraced Twitter as a one-stop-shop for learning new things.

With Halloween having recently passed, I recall as a child going to a haunted house at our town’s American Legion hall. While other children were screaming, I looked at the costumed American Legion worker holding a fake chainsaw and gave him a “come on, now” look as I shook my head and walked away.

The process of buying a car isn’t likely to make too many people’s Top 10 list of things to do.

Over the years, I’ve had mixed success in negotiating the purchase price of a car. The first new car I bought featured contentious negotiations to the point of me yelling and getting up and leaving. I still bought the car, but didn’t get the price I wanted.