Summer, 2005 - The Lombard Company

SUMMER 2005
50 Years of Service: 1956-2006
Big Oaks From Little Acorns Grow…
and Factories Grow From Farm Fields
T
B.H. Bunn Co.
he Lombard Company, in its
early 1960 beginnings, began
acquiring land in both the
villages of Alsip and Bridgeview.
From farm fields to industry, we were
an instrumental part of a rapidly
changing environment in the south
suburbs. We developed industrial
parks near the Tri-State Tollway’s
95th Street and 127th Street exits.
The Lombard Company offered
complete building design and
construction, financing and profesThe “Great Southwest” offered industry leaders low tax rates, accessibility
sional consulting to numerous
to major highways and ample labor from surrounding residential commucompanies. These clients also
nities. It attracted businesses such as….
demonstrated a great interest in our
precast concrete buildings; hence, the success of our
company’s precast division, which today is one of the
premier architectural
producers in the Chicago
area.
The Lombard
Company continues to
DeBoer Bros.
grow and diversify. We
offer our clients a
complete package of construction services. Our goal
was never to be the biggest contractor…just the best
contractor for your job.
Let us put our 50 years experience and knowledge to work for you when you’re contemplating
Ulbrich Stainless Steel
your next construction project. Just give us a call.
I Scream, You Scream, We All
Scream For Ice Cream!
The first ice cream cones appeared in New York City 100 years ago. They were
invented by Italo Marchiony, an Italian immigrant who sold homemade
lemon ice from a pushcart on the streets of New York.
After too many customers walked off with his
serving glasses, Marchiony started using
a paper cone to hold the iced treat,
and soon came up with the idea of
using baked, edible cups. He filed for
a patent for a mold for the ice cream
cone on September 22, 1903, describing his invention as “split in two like a waffle
iron and producing several small pastry cups with sloping sides.”
The ice cream cone was “reinvented” in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair by
Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian vendor who was selling waffle-like pastries next to an ice
cream booth. When the ice cream seller ran out of dishes, Hamwi simply rolled up
one of his warm pastries to create a holder. The cones, which Hamwi dubbed
cornucopias, became a sensation, and Hamwi went on to co-found the Cornucopia
Waffle Co. and, later, the Missouri Cone Company.
Make A Mess—And More Money
Are successful people more organized? Apparently not. The messier the desk,
the higher the income, according to a new survey from Ajilon Professional
Staffing, a New Jersey firm. It says 66% of those making $35,000 or less call
themselves “neat freaks,” compared to 11% of those earning $75,000 or more.
Younger workers are neater than older ones (60% of those 18-24 say they
keep their spaces neat, as opposed to 36% of those 55-64). Only 16% of college
grads say they’re neat. And women are more organized than men. “Some
people do work best in a controlled clutter environment,” admits Ajilon president
Neil Lebovits.
—from Parade magazine
Editing Your Own Writing
Career consultant Sarah White offers these tips on making sure your e-mails,
business memos, letters, and reports are as professional and well-written as possible:
1) Spell-check and read over your writing on the computer screen.
2) If possible, wait a few minutes before sending off e-mails and informal letters to
allow for re-reading them for errors. For longer works, wait a few days. “This
distance from your work will help you pick up problems you might have passed
over earlier.”
3) Print out your work. “I don’t know why it is, but you pick up different mistakes on
paper than you do on screen.”
4) Read out loud. “You’ll catch missteps in rhythm, words that are often repeated,
words that are missed, or concepts that just don’t seem right.”
Heat Up For Health
A German study has shown that people who visited saunas twice a week got
half as many colds as those who didn’t. One theory holds that the 80-degreeplus air in a sauna is too hot for viruses to survive. What’s more, a health study
summary published in the February 2001 issue of the American Journal of
Medicine indicated that regular saunas can lower blood pressure, improve lung
function, and alleviate the pain of rheumatic disease.
How To Learn
From Your
Mistakes
Many people tout “learning from
your mistakes” as an important skill.
But first, most people need to be able
to recognize a mistake. While this
might sound easy, often it’s not.
Most people probably need to
redefine what they think are problems.
It would be helpful to think of certain
experiences in the workplace as
mistakes rather than someone else’s
problems. In the workplace, when a
co-worker or someone else comes to
tell us something—and we don’t like
what we hear or we become too
defensive—we need to take note.
Redefining this kind of experience as a
problem allows you to deal with and
improve a greater number of negative
situations.
Take the initiative to ask yourself
and others what you could have done
differently. Explore options for prevention of problems with others.
Make a commitment and plan to
use your new knowledge in the future
to avoid making the same kind of
mistake again.
—from 1001 Ways to
Take Initiative at Work
by Bob Nelson
SPEED BUMP
Dave Coverly
Test Your
Smarts
1) Who was the last U.S. president to
pass away before Ronald Reagan?
a) Lyndon Johnson
b) Gerald Ford
c) Richard Nixon
d) John F. Kennedy
2) In what part of the human body
would you find the Eustachian
tube?
a) Heart
b) Ear
c) Brain
d) Kidney
3) In the TV cartoon, what type of
dog is Simpsons’ pet, Santa’s Little
Helper?
a) Great Dane
b) Greyhound
c) Labrador Retriever
d) Irish Setter
4) Rosie O’Donnell’s short-lived
“Rosie” periodical replaced what
long-running magazine?
a) McCaIl’s
b) Family Circle
c) Redbook
d) Self
5) In computer-speak, USB stands
for:
a) United System Band
b) U.S. Specification Board
c) Updated Sequence, type B
d) Universal Serial Bus
6) In July 1979, radio DJ Steve Dahl
staged an anti-disco rally at what
sports venue?
a) Fenway Park
b) Cleveland Municipal Stadium
c) Comiskey Park
d) Yankee Stadium
7) The gemstone known as an
amethyst is actually a purple
variety of what mineral?
a) Topaz
b) Quartz
c) Beryl
d) Zircon
Shelter From The Storm
If you see lightning and you’re a little worried about it striking you, here’s what
you can do to figure out whether you’re relatively safe or not: Count to 30 between
seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. If the span is less than 30 seconds,
then you should probably seek shelter.
When doing so, make sure that you’re not near anything large that could
fall on top of you, like a tree. Also, if you’re in a group caught outside,
spread out. If you begin to feel your hair stand on end, this
indicates lightning is about to strike. In such an event, drop to
your knees, bend forward, place your hands on your knees
and crouch down. Do not lie flat on the ground. This will
only make you a larger target. Other tips on what to do
include:
• Stay away from the shower or the bath. If lightning strikes
your house it may send a current of electricity across metal
plumbing throughout the house.
• Discontinue use of electrical equipment.
• Stay off the phone.
• Keep flashlights handy with fresh batteries, in case the power goes out.
• Also, know the differences between a thunderstorm “watch” and “warning”:
A watch is issued by the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., when atmospheric conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms. A warning is issued by
the local National Weather Service offices in affected areas and is usually indicated
by radar or large hail and damaging winds. If a tornado is spotted, a tornado
warning will be issued.
Decaf, Please
Coffee is decaffeinated by soaking the beans in water and using a carbon
filter to remove the caffeine. What happens to all that extracted caffeine? Most
of it is sold to soft drink companies, who add it to their soda pop.
—from mental_floss magazine
A Walk Through Shoe History
Here are some interesting facts and statistics about shoes:
• The first images of shoes were found in 15,000-year-old cave paintings in Spain.
• According to the Northhampton Museum in England, the oldest footwear that still
exists today is a sandal found in a cave in Missouri; it was made 8,000 years ago.
• Originally, shoes were made to fit either foot; shoes for left and right feet were
first made in Philadelphia in the 19th century.
• Platform shoes were first invented in the Middle East to lift the foot from the
burning sands.
• The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
reports that 8 out of 10 women say that shoes are
painful; 9 out of 10 admit they sometimes wear
sizes that are too small.
• According to a survey commissioned by
Woolite, American women typically own
24 pairs of shoes; 6% own 50 pairs.
• Nike says the average American boy
owns 10 pairs of sneakers.
• The most expensive pair of second-hand shoes was
auctioned for $665,000—Judy Garland’s ruby slippers worn in The Wizard of Oz.
• The boots that Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the moon are still
floating in space.
Answers:
1) c (Kennedy died in 1964, Johnson in 1973, Nixon
in 1994, and Reagan in 2004. Former presidents
Ford, Carter and Bush are still kicking.); 2) b; 3) b;
4) a; 5) d; 6) c (The old Comiskey Park was home of
the Chicago White Sox.); 7) b
We Didn’t Stay “South” of Chicago!
The Lombard Company constructed the Midwest office and distribution center for American
Hospital Supply Corporation in “north” Chicago. Inset: The warehouse roof was constructed
with poured-in-place concrete hyperbolic parabaloid roof. The Lombard Company performed the concrete work on this project with its own forces.
GENERAL CONTRACTORS & PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS
OF CONSTRUCTION
4245 West 123rd Street
Alsip, Illinois 60803
Have You Visited Our Website Yet?
Check it out at www.lombardcompany.com