I worked remotely last week to keep an eye on my son Abe while he was off school. Amazingly, he played with toys for several hours by himself without disturbing me. Abe constantly imagines stories playing out between his toy vehicles and action figures on the fly. A dinosaur eats a truck and a barbie doll and he proclaims it an omnivore. Meanwhile, I try to play next to him, and I go through the motions. I get writer’s block, while he tells story after story. Abe builds with Legos and blocks letting a project evolve. He started building a jet ski and then when it seemed like it wasn’t turning out the way he wanted, the project became an electric boat, which he wanted to be aerodynamic, even though he just learned the word and wasn’t totally sure what it meant. Like most adults, I edit myself too much. I don’t let my thoughts just flow out. What if I could fearlessly come up with idea after idea fast like him and try them without stopping myself? I’d call new customers on a gut feeling they could help me with finding a machine. I’d create new types of videos…

I was driving down Governors Highway, a four-lane street I often take to my office, when I heard a loud thump on my right front tire. We’ve had tornadoes lately, and a lot of heavy branches were littering the road. The noise subsided as I reached the next light. As I stopped, I heard honking on the right side of the car. A young Black man was gesturing for me to open my window. He told me I had a big tree branch under my tire. I thanked him. Then he got out of his car, pulled the branch out and tossed it onto the grass. I was a bit stunned. He had done something really nice, totally unsolicited, and then he just drove off. I doubt I would have done the same for him. *** In my lifetime, race relations have changed a great deal. My parents fled our home on the South Side of Chicago because “schvartze” (Yiddish for Black people, with a negative connotation) were living too close. Today we live in a neighborhood where our Black neighbors watch our home when we are gone and have our keys. America has changed. We have changed. Last week,…

My guest today, Doug Rizzo, has been working in machine shops for over 55 years, and he’s only 62. Doug worked in his father’s company through good times and terrible, and did applications for Doosan. Now, he’s a plant manager by day and runs his own shop for six or seven hours at night. Doug says he loves all of it, from doing applications, to making fixtures, to cleaning oil off machines. He says it’s where he’s meant to be. It’s where he finds flow. ******** Listen on your favorite podcast app using pod.link.     . View the podcast at the bottom of this post or on our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Social and never miss an update! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarfcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarfcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/todays-machining-world Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmwswarfblog ************* Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion! Machinist Since Age 6 Doug Rizzo’s father owned a machine shop. He started on drill presses and Bridgeports at six. At nine he was running an NC-controlled lathe. Summer vacations, weekends, snow days. He was with his dad in the shop, Madison Sprocket and Gear. They ran Acmes, Brown & Sharpes, Wickmans. Many of those machines came from Graff-Pinkert, long before Doug and I ever spoke. Day job, night…