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How Lean Principles Apply to End-of-Life Medical Care

A thoughtful segment on 60 Minutes recently explored the thorny issues surrounding the costs of caring for people at the end of their lives. It struck me that some of those issues relate to lean principles.

The story, reported by Steve Kroft, noted that last year, Medicare paid $50 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients' lives – and it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of those medical expenditures may have had no meaningful impact.

I was particularly struck by comments from Dr. Ira Byock of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., who leads a team that treats and counsels patients with advanced illnesses.

By law, Medicare cannot reject any treatment based upon cost. It will pay $55,000 for patients with advanced breast cancer to receive the chemotherapy drug Avastin, even though it extends life only an average of a month and a half; it will pay $40,000 for a 93-year-old man with terminal cancer to get a surgically implanted defibrillator if he happens to have heart problems too.
"I think you cannot make these decisions on a case-by-case basis," Byock said. "It would be much easier for us to say 'We simply do not put defibrillators into people in this condition.' Meaning your age, your functional status, the ability to make full benefit of the defibrillator. Now that's going to outrage a lot of people."

In lean operations, we argue in favor of standard work – doing something the same way every time. What Byock is arguing for is not exactly the same thing, but the principle is similar.

And before you argue that not all patients are the same – which is true – consider the words of David Walker, former head of the Government Accountability Office and how head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He commented in the story that this is not just about medical care, but what government pays for medical care.

“Let me be clear: Individuals and employers ought to be able to spend as much money as they want to have things done. But when you're talking about taxpayer resources, there's a limit as to how much resources we have."

One other lean concept I’d like to mention is that there must be complete information about what is happening in order to choose the best course of action. In lean terms, that typically means choosing the right improvement, and measuring its results. I mention the concept here in a slightly different way, in terms of choosing the most appropriate course of action based on a full understanding of the likely impact of that action.

The 60 Minutes report noted that studies have shown most dying patients and their families would prefer the last days be spent at home (though most end up dying in hospitals). But to make a choice, patients and their families must understand the situation – which is often not the case, according to another person interviewed for the segment, Dr. Elliott Fisher, a researcher at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy.

"At some point, most doctors know that a patient's not likely to get better," Kroft remarked.
"Absolutely," Fisher agreed. "Sometimes there's a good conversation. Often there's not. You know, patients are left alone to sort of figure it out themselves."

I was once involved in a difficult, end-of-life decision. The fact that the doctors involved were clear and honest about the situation was important and helpful.

Dealing with these kinds of issues is one of the toughest aspects of improving healthcare. Perhaps lean principles can help.

Culture Change is Key to Reducing Diagnostic Errors

Can lean strategies help doctors make fewer diagnostic errors?

Most healthcare process improvement efforts focus on preventing treatment errors – making sure patients are given the correct course of treatment after a diagnosis has been made. But diagnostic errors also occur, an issue I wrote about nearly a year and a half ago.

I’m revisiting that issue now because a new survey has shed some light on diagnostic errors. A group of researchers led by Gordon Schiff, MD, associate director at the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, asked doctors to describe – anonymously – diagnostic errors they had made or witnessed.

Their findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on the responses from the doctors, who reported 583 errors. An article in Physician Leadership News described the findings.

The two most frequently listed conditions involved pulmonary embolism and adverse drug reactions, including overdoses and poisoning. Lung cancer diagnostic mistakes ranked a close third, followed by colorectal cancer, acute coronary syndrome, breast cancer, and stroke.

The doctors failed to: order tests, report the results to their patients or follow-up when testing revealed abnormal findings.

As it turns out, lab and radiology testing errors, including test ordering, test performance, and clinician processing, accounted for 44% of the missed diagnoses, which was the greatest share.

Most lean advocates would probably suspect that system problems contributed to the errors, as much or more so than physician error. The article, by Heather Comak and Cheryl Clark, discusses that issue.

While the notion of overconfident, arrogant physicians being the cause of diagnosis error is not wholly wrong, those qualities alone are certainly not the reason that misdiagnoses are made, said Schiff. Other factors include spotty follow-up, time pressure, failure of physicians to share their uncertainties, malpractice fears, defensiveness, and inadequate feedback.

Schiff likened this last factor to the lawn sprinkler system that goes on automatically, regardless of whether it has rained that day. Instead of acting in a closed-loop system that provides feedback about whether diagnoses were right or wrong, often physicians work in an environment that does not allow for this follow-up or does not attempt to capture this feedback.

The article goes on to note that cultural biases and culture change – the most difficult aspect of any improvement effort – are at the heart of the situation.

Another way of thinking that has become ingrained in most physicians is the idea that an overconfident, perhaps wrong diagnosis is better than not diagnosing a patient at all. Most patients don't appreciate when their physicians don't seem decisive about a diagnosis, and historically, physicians have been more successful when they confidently make a diagnosis, said Croskerry. Additionally, physicians validate their ability to make diagnoses when they are confident.

"Physicians tend to place a lot of faith in their own diagnoses—most physicians think it's the most important skill that they have," said Croskerry. "It's a lot easier, if you give the patient wrong medication, to admit to something like that than to actually admit to your thinking processes having gone astray. People take that far more personally..."

Both Schiff and Croskerry agreed that more emphasis should be placed on physicians admitting to their patients uncertainty about diagnosis and that more work needs to be done at an earlier stage, perhaps in medical school, to introduce the idea of feeling comfortable with uncertainty to physicians. Additionally, Schiff said the question of physicians admitting a diagnosis error is first and foremost about a patient safety culture.

"This idea about patient safety culture—creating a system where people can honestly look at errors in a blame-free way, learning from mistakes and improving from those, rather than covering them up or having to defend them—is so central for us learning," said Schiff.

It is going to take a long time and a lot of work to achieve this kind of culture change. I hope this new survey will contribute to that effort.

Book Talk: Lean Safety

I’ve often heard people argue that the lean tool of 5S – whose five words are most commonly listed as sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain – really ought to be 6S, and that the sixth “S” should be safety.

Regardless of where you stand on that debate, if you believe safety is important in the workplace – and everyone should – then you may be interested in Lean Safety: Transforming your Safety Culture with Lean Management by Robert Hafey, a new book we are publishing next month.

Hafey, who has 40 years manufacturing experience and has been active in the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, emphasizes that building a top safety program requires building a world-class safety culture. He demonstrates how basic Lean tools are as applicable to safety as they are to Lean, such as the A3 problem-solving process and the facilitated kaizen blitz.

Additionally, he establishes standards and metrics for safety management that are clearly definable and measurable. That is also consistent with a lean approach, where any improvement should be definable and measurable.

Companies adopt lean strategies for a variety of reasons – improving time to market, increasing capacity, reducing costs. If your focus is on improving safety, then this book is for you.

Do you have a question or comment about a book(s) that you would like addressed in Book Talk? Email me directly at Ralph.bernstein@taylorandfrancis.com.

Do Benefits Come Out of Your Printers? They Will With Lean

Like IBM and HP, Xerox is a technology company that transformed itself from just being a hardware provider into a services company as well. (You may not think of Xerox as a technology company, since it doesn’t make computers, but what else would you call printers, copiers and fax machines?)

What is interesting about Xerox is that they promote Lean Six Sigma as an essential part of their expertise. There are plenty of lean consulting firms, but not many (if any) that are focused on document and information management.

Xerox understandably boasts about its accomplishments. I’m writing about them today not to discuss whether Xerox is a good company, but to note how lean initiatives can yield big benefits in regard to something as unglamorous as printing.

Procter & Gamble hired Xerox to manage its worldwide print operations. According to the Environmental Leader website, Xerox “has been able to help P&G cut operational costs 20-25 percent by helping control when and how printers, copier and fax machines work… At P&G, it’s predicted that the improvements will cut printer-related power usage by 30 percent and paper consumption by 20-30 percent.”

Earlier this year, Xerox issued a news release describing its work with KeyCorp.

The financial services company reduced operating costs by more than $6 million over six years, working with Xerox to better manage the volume of documents flowing through its 120 offices - and the costs associated with printing, sharing and updating them…

Using a Xerox Lean Six Sigma-based assessment, Xerox Global Services and KeyCorp evaluated employees' daily work processes to design a document management strategy that saves millions on print costs. By decreasing the number of output devices, like printers, fax machines, copiers and scanners, from 10,000 to 3,500, KeyCorp also boosted productivity, reduced paper consumption, decreased power usage and eliminated tons of landfill waste…

While I believe any statement in a news release should be taken with a grain of salt, I’m sure KeyCorp wouldn’t have agreed to the release unless there were some truth to what is being said.

Even the most ordinary or mundane operations can be improved with a lean approach.

Problems in Connecticut Hospitals Are Swept Under the Rug

Hiding mistakes is a bad idea, and definitely contrary to any type of lean or other improvement strategy. You can only improve if you know what you are trying to improve, which means having complete and accurate information about the current process and the problems that are occurring.

Not long ago I wrote about a positive trend among some hospitals to admit mistakes – to patients, amazingly enough – and try to learn from them.

But on the heels of that information comes a disturbing report from the Hartford Courant that information about “adverse events” in Connecticut hospitals is now rarely available, thanks to revisions lobbyists obtained in state law.

The legislature in 2002 ordered hospitals to disclose all serious patient injuries "associated with medical management." But after the first reports were made public, hospital lobbyists persuaded lawmakers to rewrite the statute in 2004, limiting the types of adverse events that must be divulged and promising to keep reports secret unless they led to an investigation.
State health officials had given assurances that the new law would shed more light on serious medical errors. But an analysis of health department records, death certificates, medical examiner reports and lawsuits shows it has had just the opposite effect.
Since the law was revised:

· The state has investigated dramatically fewer adverse-event cases, with about three out of four reported events now closed without a formal inquiry — keeping them hidden from the public — including more than 50 cases in which patients died.

· Narrower reporting requirements have allowed hospitals to keep more medical mistakes secret even from state regulators, with reports to the state immediately dropping by more than half.

· Even after lobbyists pushed for more narrowly defined reporting rules, some believe hospitals still are not reporting all incidents mandated by law, but the state has never attempted to determine whether or not hospitals are complying.

The article, written by Matthew Kauffman and Dave Altimari, notes that mistakes are indeed taking place.

The details of more than a dozen sexual assaults are concealed in the health department's files, along with at least 30 cases in which sponges or other objects were left in patients' bodies after surgery, a Courant analysis has found. Information on hundreds of serious falls is also kept under wraps by the department, as are the particulars of at least half a dozen cases in which newborns died or were seriously injured during childbirth.

I hope the Courant’s article will help prompt a reversal of the changes to the law.

Should Efforts to Improve Hand-Washing Include Posting Names?

We’ve all heard about efforts by hospitals to reduce infection rates by having employees wash their hands more often. But what are the best tactics for achieving that goal?

A recent article by Health Leaders Media describes the techniques used at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital (BJSPH) in St. Peters, MO. They succeeded in getting more people to wash their hands regularly. But I have mixed feelings about how they did it.

Basically, they used a carrot-and-stick approach: They praised people who had good hygiene and criticized those who didn’t – privately at first, then publicly.

The first efforts involved handing out “You’ve been spotted” cards.

For positive reinforcement, some of the cards were flagged for incidents where the receiver has been spotted using good hand-hygiene practices. These cards includes a $2 coupon good in the hospital cafeteria or gift shop—enough for a cup of coffee or candy bar, or they can be saved up to buy lunch. Funding for these coupons came from the infection prevention budget.

And then there are the other cards, which read, "We are putting you on the spot for not using hand hygiene."

The reason the cards look nearly identical is to prevent any sort of embarrassing scene for the people involved. It's impossible to tell from a few feet away whether you've received a positive card or negative.

This approach worked, but not as well as officials hoped. So they took it a step further by posting names of all spotted employees – the good and the bad.

To temper the negative reinforcement of posting names—which helped improve compliance as well—BJSPH added an additional, and very public, way of rewarding those who were spotted using proper hand-hygiene processes.

"Any [month] we meet or exceed our goal, we will take the names of everyone who was recognized as doing a good job, put their names into a drawing, and have a 'hand hygiene hero' drawn in the cafeteria," says Kathleen Dougherty, RN, MSN, manager of professional practice and leadership development at BJSPH.

The cafeteria is shared by staff and guests alike, so the congratulatory ceremony—including Bonnie Tyler's 1980s hit "Holding Out for a Hero" playing loud and clear—can be witnessed not only by staff, but also the people using the hospital and their visitors. There's a gift involved for the winner of the drawing as well (a $25 gift certificate) and, in months where the goal is exceeded, multiple names are drawn.

Winners' pictures are taken and posted throughout the building—even built into screen savers on hospital computers.

One could argue that we’re talking about changing behavior rather than improving a process, but I can’t accept that. Yes, we are talking about changing behavior, but hand-washing is also a step in hospital processes.

Is BJSPH using a lean approach? I wonder, because they are using after-the-fact feedback to achieve change rather than seeking to ensure that hand-washing occurs in the first place. Does this approach show respect for people? Are there other, better ways of making hand-washing an integral part of processes?

I’ve never been involved in process improvement in a hospital, so I can’t say. If any of you have thoughts on this, please add your comments below.

Book Talk: Critical Success Factors Simplified

What are the critical success factors for your business? If you’re not sure, a new book we are publishing later this month could be helpful.

Critical Success Factors Simplified: Implementing the Powerful Drivers of Dramatic Business Improvement simplifies the identification, measurement, and use of CSFs to successfully implement strategies, manage projects, and improve processes. It provides effective measurement techniques for tracking progress, highlighting problem areas, and facilitating improvements.

The book highlights key indicators for determining the appropriate course of action, then demonstrates how to use these indicators to achieve success in anything from deploying strategic initiatives and managing a process or a project, to recruiting, playing blackjack, or buying a house.

Critical Success Factors Simplified is written by Marvin T. Howell, also the author of Actionable Performance Measurement – A Key to Success. He is a professional engineer, a retired Lt. Colonel, USAF, in the Air Force Civil Engineer division, and a consultant with his own quality and industrial engineering company.

Do you have a question or comment about a book(s) that you would like addressed in Book Talk? Email me directly at Ralph.bernstein@taylorandfrancis.com.

IKEA Designs Products for Easy Shipping

Lean advocates often focus on linking the design process to manufacturing, with ease of manufacturing an important consideration when a product is being designed. I’ve also heard that ease of servicing should be (and for some companies, is) a consideration for some products, such as automobile engines.

But have you ever considered ease of shipping as part of your design process?

I saw a demonstration of this concept while watching a recent episode of the “Ultimate Factories” program on the National Geographic channel.

This particular episode focused on IKEA, the Sweden-based furniture manufacturer and retailer that makes and sells nearly 10,000 items in about six factories and 296 retail stores.

IKEA makes inexpensive furniture, often in pieces that the retail customer must assemble at home.

The company is constantly developing new products. And one of its requirements, the program noted, is that not only must the product meet IKEA’s standards of quality and affordability, but its components must fit into a flat box for shipping. This makes shipping easier both for IKEA and for the customer who purchases the product and takes it home.

I believe some food companies take this approach as well – not with the food products themselves, but with their packaging, so that the products can be easily shipped to, and displayed in, supermarkets.

Do any of you have experience with making shipping considerations part of the design process? Share your experience below.

Nurses Need a Dose of Lean in Battle Against Medication Errors

Nurses, who play a major role in distributing medication to hospital patients, are trying to take a leading role in stopping medication errors. That is the good news. The bad news is that they are focusing their efforts in the wrong direction.

A recent article from Health Leaders Media describes a study led by Linda Flynn, RN, PhD, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Flynn is also the project director and principal investigator of this Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI)-funded study.

"Nurses are the safety net that keeps patients safe from experiencing a medication error," said Flynn. "Our question was, what are the factors that impact this nursing safety net—what are the factors that help nurses in doing their job to intercept medication errors before they reach the patient, and what are the factors that serve as barriers to this safety net?"

The study looked at medication errors, and efforts to stop them, at New Jersey hospitals.

Flynn and her team interviewed 50 staff nurses from 10 hospitals, transcribed the interviews, and analyzed the lines of text for patterns and commonalities. They found that nurses take seven routine steps in the name of medication safety:

  1. Conduct independent review of the medication administration record (MAR) in comparison with the medication order
  2. Perform a focused assessment of the patient prior to administering medication
  3. Question rationale
  4. Prioritize face time with physicians
  5. Encourage patients and families to be the last line of defense for a medication error
  6. Advocate with pharmacy to ensure timeliness of medication delivery.
  7. Clarify orders/handwriting with physicians

Of these processes, Flynn and her team found that numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7 were significantly associated with fewer medication errors.

The problem here is that the focus is on “intercepting” medication errors, to use Flynn’s word. As any lean advocate can tell you, the focus should be on preventing errors from occurring in the first place.

Since I am not familiar with hospital processes for dispensing and distributing medication, I couldn’t say how you do that. But I’m sure a solid lean analysis of those processes could lead to improvements that would have a real impact on the number of errors that occur.

If you know what some of those improvements might be, please share them below.

Medicare Should Not Base Payments on Hospital Productivity

While I generally support financial incentives to drive improvements in healthcare – such as Medicare deciding it will no longer pay for treatment of certain medical mistakes – I’m concerned about an approach built into some of the reform proposals making their way through Congress.

According to The Wall Street Journal Health Blog, the proposals claim they will save $172.8 billion over 10 years by making productivity improvements a factor in increases of Medicare payments.

Every year, the feds adjust Medicare payments to hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities to account for inflation. The House bill would add in a second factor: productivity. Because workers’ productivity tends to increase over time, factoring in productivity increases would make Medicare payment increases lower than if they were tied only to inflation.

I can understand the thinking behind that idea. If productivity improvements reduce expenses, Medicare payments shouldn’t have to increase. And if payments are adjusted for productivity improvements industry-wide (I’m not sure whether that would be the case), that gives individual hospitals an incentive to improve their productivity.

The problem is first, productivity can be difficult to measure, and second (and more importantly), it’s the wrong metric.

What exactly will the government use as a measure of increased productivity? The number of patients served by a hospital? The staff-to-patient ratio? The number of procedures, such as X-rays, performed in a given time period?

None of these is a true indicator of whether a hospital is providing the best care to the greatest number of patients. Financial incentives should be tied to outcomes. Not paying for treatment of “never event” medical mistakes is one approach. Another might be to reward a hospital for a reduction in its rate of in-hospital infections – or in its mortality rate. I’m sure there are plenty of others.

I worry that tying payments to productivity will give us more treatment without better quality.

The New Surgeon General Lacks a Degree in Lean

There is a lot I like about Dr. Regina Benjamin, who was recently confirmed as U.S. Surgeon General. I just wish she had some background in lean.

Benjamin has long been dedicated to serving the uninsured and underinsured in the rural south. She believes we need more primary care surgeons and supports greater emphasis on preventive medicine.

She also seems to understand many of the financial issues in healthcare. She operated her own clinic, and kept it going after her office was wiped out by a hurricane – twice. She even has an MBA from Tulane University.

She served as president of the State of Alabama Medical Association, and is a recipient of a so-called “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation.

So what’s not to like? I see nothing in her experience that indicates any familiarity with lean principles.

Why does that matter? Interest in lean in healthcare has been growing at a rapid pace, driven by a strong movement to improve the delivery and quality of medical care in the U.S.

Lean can be a powerful means of helping to achieve that goal, as evidenced by the many healthcare success stories. The market for books we publish about lean in healthcare is growing rapidly.

As the nation’s top doctor, the surgeon general can be a powerful voice for spreading the word about the benefits of lean healthcare – if she were aware of it and knew what to say.

By the way, the same could be said about the secretary of health and human services. President Obama’s HHS Secretary is Kathleen Sebelius, a lawyer and career politician who most recently served as governor of Kansas. And while many people have praised her work as governor, I don’t see any evidence of lean knowledge in her background either.

Someone should hold seminars on lean for cabinet officers – with attendance mandatory.

Lean and Ergonomics: A Good Match

In case you missed it (and I almost did), October was National Ergonomics Month.

This designation was created six years ago by something called the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) with the stated purpose of focusing “on promoting human factors/ergonomics to corporate executives, students, and the general public by providing information and services to the community.”

Wikipedia defines ergonomics as “the science of designing the job, equipment, and workplace to fit the worker.” I don’t know whether that is a universally accepted definition, but I like it. It is concise and seems to clearly express what ergonomics is all about.

And while my knowledge of ergonomics is limited, I have long believed that ergonomics and lean fit well together. If you regard your workers as an asset, and you have respect for them as people – both lean attitudes – then designing the job, equipment and workplace to fit them makes perfect sense.

Ergonomic improvements can also improve productivity, by making it easier for workers to do their jobs.

Other people have expressed this in much greater depth. If you’d like more information, do a Google search for “ergonomics and lean.” I did, and came up with quite a few hits.

We don’t publish any books specifically about ergonomics, but some of our titles might be of interest, such as our books about Training Within Industry.

Have any of you gained benefits from making ergonomic improvements part of your lean initiatives? Please share your experience below.


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Collab Lab 17: Recap & Notes

Healthy Food Passport — Connecting Students to Food & Culture

Collab Lab 17 was a chance to further develop an idea that came out of our December session. One of the three projects proposed would engage students in real world issues around obesity and nutrition–  the Healthy Food Passport.  Participants in our December Lab noted that the specifics of the program would vary by age group, but the goal is to have students research a culture or cuisine and then craft a healthy version of the selected dish. Even better would be to have the students grow the ingredients. Inspired by the notion that “Food is how culture talks”, the team envisions a food fair where families are invited to sample the dishes, and stories about the dish may be shared.

Through the project, the team aims for students to gain an understanding the food production process (e.g. where food comes from), help build family connections to the school and increase exposure to different fruits and vegetables.

At this session, we used a version of the Lean Startup Canvas to guide our thinking and capture our assumptions about the goals for the project, and how it might be structured.  We started the process with a discussion of the problems we are trying to address through the project, and then stepped through the remaining sections of the canvas.  We closed with a discussion around the importance of starting with validation of the key assumption– that the problems we identified matter to the students engaged in the project.  The end result is available here:

Thanks again to The Commons for providing the space, and to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion:

Shelley Jurewicz,  Executive Director of FaB (Food and Beverage) Wisconsin

Marisa Wall Riepenhoff, Vice President of Education SHARP Literacy

For an overview of the Learn Startup Canvas, visit

Collab Lab 16: Recap & Notes

First, a bit of background…

In our conversations around makerspaces over the past year and half, we’ve heard several concerns around the cost of materials for student projects, and the effort involved to secure material donations.

Schools need material for student projects but:

  • They have limited budgets
  • It’s time consuming to track down potential donors
  • They can’t always find donors for what they need

There are a parallel set of concerns on the industry side. Companies are willing to donate material for use in schools but:

  • They don’t know always know what is useful
  • They don’t know who needs it
  • They don’t have a simple means to do so

We started exploring a model for getting excess material from industry available for use in area schools last January when we partnered with Betty Brinn to sponsor a challenge through The Commons.  That work continued over the summer and fall as we experimented with pulling equipment from Gooodwill’s E-Cycling stream for tear down events to recover useful parts.

The challenge of getting excess materials to educators has been addressed in the Bay Area through a non-profit called the Resources Area For Teaching (RAFT).  While they do a great job at pulling material in and packaging it up, the relationships that develop with donor companies are with RAFT.  Given all the efforts we see to help schools develop relationships with area firms and career based learning experiences (CBLEs), we see that as the wrong model for Milwaukee.

We’d like to see schools use up-cycling as another point of engagement with the companies around them.  The idea is to develop a network exchange model, where participants have access to materials their counterparts are able to pull in. That network could include not just K12 schools, but libraries, museums, and other organizations who can provide or use up-cycled materials for student projects.

In a network model, we need a way to create a view of inventory that is spread across nodes.  It turns out that a couple of the leading thinkers on network resource planning live in western Wisconsin. They have developed an open source platform that facilitates the kind of network we envision.  We’ve paired them up with a team of MSOE students who are working to tailor the application to see how it would work for us.  We’re starting with the simple stuff– let me see who is in the network, and what is available.

The model we proposed looks like this:

  • Non-Profit consortium
  • Supported by membership fees
  • Members issued credits used to purchase material
  • Members set pricing (in credits) for material/services they offer
  • Consortium sets membership fees/credit pricing
  • Supported by open source NRP platform

And now, the recap…

Up-cycling discussion at Collab Lab 16During Collab Lab 16, we walked participants through our model and had them beat up the idea in both small group discussions and a sharing out of key points to all participants.

Participants listed the following as key questions/concerns for each player in the model:

  • Liability for downstream use
  • Transportation/Logisticcs
  • Visibility of need — how do we know who needs what?
  • Impact on student learning

Aggregators/Distributors of Donated Material

  • Liabilty
  • Compensation
  • Sustainable model
  • Space limitations within schools

  • Getting the right stuff
  • Equitable cost structure
  • Ensuring equal access
  • Growing the network/community collaboration (share recipes)

We then prompted the discussion groups to think through experiments that could help validate potential solutions to these concerns.  That generated:

  • A commitment from Digital Bridges to provide laptops for a tear down event at one of the schools participating, and to document the lessons learned from the process.
  • Involve students in understanding how to acquire donated material by having them explore potential relationships with area firms.
  • Start the network, learn and grow:
    • Start with a simple catalog
    • Let participants work out transportation of materials
    • Skip the distributor role for now
    • 4 column spreadsheet for catalog
    • Promotion to potential network nodes
    • Communicate to actual users.
    • Next Steps

Quick & Dirty Has/Wants Directory

We like the idea of prototyping with a shared spreadsheet that can serve as a directory of folks at schools and other organizations that have material or skills that may be useful to others, or have something they are looking for and could use help finding it.   Here it is:

Feel free to add/edit/share.  We added attendees from schools as editors, but the link is set to view only for everyone else.  If you’d like access, let us know.

School/Donor Interviews

We also want a better understanding of how schools work with companies who make material donations on an ongoing basis.  If you have a such a relationship, we’d like to sit down with you and your contact at the company to walk through your current process, talk through what works, and what gets in the way, and what would help make the process better.  If you’d like to bring along a student who is, or would like to be involved in the process, we’d more than welcome that.  We have time to schedule six of these discussions between now and the first week of March.  If you’d like to be included, let us know.

Thanks again to The Commons for providing the space, and to everyone who joined us for the insight they brought to the discussion.  We had several folks from outside of K12 join us (thank you). For those who asked how you could find them, here you go:

Rachel Arbit — Senior Director of Programs, SHARP Literacy

Ben Dembroski — Open Lab Manager, MIAD

Kelly Ellis — CEO, Einstein Project

Jeff Hanson — Executive Director, Digital Bridge

Lisa Perkins — Re-Creation Station

Owen Raisch — Associate Director, Student Run Business Program, Marquette University

Collab Lab 15: Recap & Notes

How can we provide K12 students with opportunities to explore real world healthcare issues that have meaning for them?

We thought we’d try and find some. Last night we pulled educators from across the area together with healthcare researchers and professionals. We asked Brian King, a Collab Lab regular and former Director of Innovation for the Milwaukee Jewish Day School to facilitate.  Brian’s work with students to develop and launch student run projects with a social purpose help make him the right person to guide the group through what we wanted to accomplish. In short, to generate ideas for projects that:

  • are meaningful to students;
  • allow for the participation of students from multiple schools/districts;
  • allow teachers and students build connections to the broader community.

The thinking here is to get beyond programs that may link a single school or small group of students to a single organization.  Those connections can still happen through any of the project ideas that came out of the process.  We see a better chance to scale up the number of these connections with more open-ended projects that can grow and evolve as schools find their own ways to participate based on the interests of students, drawing in new community partners at the same time.

Participants started the evening with some Post-It Note brainstorming on the top five health related issues faced by school-age children. Three volunteers grouped these by topic.  We talked through each cluster, did a bit of rearranging and pulled out our blue dots for a vote on which topics were most important.

The result was three topics that would become the focus for the next stage of our work:

  • Stress/Mental Health
  • Physical Health
  • Obesity/Nutrition
Photo of Brian facilitating Collab Lab 15
Brian at work facilitating

Brian split the workshop participants into three groups to sketch out what a prototype program around each issue might look like.  The groups talked through our threshold considerations:

  • What aspects of your group’s issue would be most engaging for kids to explore?
  • Which aspects of this issue could kids realistically research or effect change?

And then addressed our guiding questions for their prototype:

  • Who are the students you would involve?
  • What goal(s) do you have for them?
  • What would they do?
  • Where/when would this happen?
  • Who are the partners you’d need to bring your project to life?

Here’s what we came up with…

Stress/Mental Health

Challenge: Screen Free for 24 hours

Recognizing that the use of social media can amplify the stress of school, this project challenges both students and staff to go screen free for 24 hours.  In preparation for the challenge, students/staff would lay down the ground rules for what counts as a screen, and develop plans to address tasks they currently use a screen to complete– how will we report attendance, how will students let their parents know they are ready to be picked up?

Both students and staff would document how they expect to react to a screen free day, the choices they made during the day when they otherwise may have used a screen, and a post challenge assessment of what it felt like.  The project will require the cooperation and support of student’s families. Media coverage could help spur participants to live up to the challenge and encourage other schools to participate.

Physical Health

Design & Build an Adventure Playground

This project would partner high school students with those in elementary grades to design and build playground that will encourage positive risk taking and problem solving.  Perhaps guided by a community planning organization, the high school students would work with a group of younger students to determine what the younger students would find engaging.

To complete the work, the project envisions connecting students to mentors who can help them with selecting a location, design, engineering, construction, marketing, and considerations for students with special needs.  The team also envisioned connecting the group to mentors who could help tie the project to curriculum goals and understand the impact of design decisions on the level and type of physical activity users of the playground were likely to engage in.

Healthy Food Passport

The specifics of the program would vary by age group. but the goal is to have students research a culture or cuisine and then craft a healthy version of the selected dish. Bonus points if the students grow the ingredients.  Inspired by the notion that “Food is how culture talks”, the team envisions a food fair where families are invited to sample the dishes, and stories about the dish may be shared.

Through the project, the team aims for students to gain an understanding the food production process (e.g. where food comes from), help build family connections to the school and increase exposure to different fruits and vegetables.

Interested in helping move one of these projects forward?

If you’d like to get together with others to flesh out one of these projects in greater detail let us know.

Screen Free for 24 HoursDesign & Build an Adventure PlaygroundHealthy Food Passport

During the school dayA weekday eveningA Saturday morningA Saturday afternoonA Sunday morning

Thanks again to Brian King for facilitating, The Commons for providing the space, and to our featured participants for the experience and insight they brought to the discussion:

Christopher J Simenz, PhD, NSCA CSCS*D- Clinical Professor,
Department of Physical Therapy- Programs in Exercise Science, Marquette University

Jennifer Tarcin – Menomonee Falls High School Healthcare Academy Coordinator; Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Community Memorial Hospital Healthcare Career Academy Faculty Liaison

Jonathan Wertz — Director of Clinical Risk Management, Medical College of Wisconsin

Kristina Kaljo, PhD — Assistant Professor and Co-Director for the Third-Year Obstetrics and Gynecology Medical Student Clerkship, Medical College of Wisconsin

Laying the groundwork for Forensic Illustration

Sometimes things just seem to fall into place

Over the summer we took a group of makers from area schools, Betty Brinn, and MIAD down to Goodwill’s E-Cycling facility for a tour of the facility and to do a bit of shopping.  After seeing the kind of material that comes through the E-Cycling program, we sat down with their folks to talk through the types of equipment that would have parts that could be useful to makers.  It didn’t take much time for Goodwill to set aside a pallet full of material for us to play with.

In August we held a pallet party at MIAD for a small group of educators and students to take apart equipment (typewriters, sewing machines, DVD players, old phones, etc.) that had come through Goodwill’s E-Cycling program.  The goal was to find the parts that would be useful in school makerspaces and return the un-used material to Goodwill’s recycling stream.  At the time, Ben Dembroski, our host at MIAD, suggested that it would interesting to see if we could engage Milwaukee area students to document how to take different pieces of equipment apart and where the useful parts are.

In September we took the equipment we had left to Maker Faire where we were mobbed for three days by kids wanting to take stuff apart. A number of educators who stopped by the booth asked if we could do something like this at their school.

In October we connected with Sharp Literacy, a local non-profit that uses the visual arts to build literacy and math skills.  Some of the schools Sharp is working in are looking at ways to incorporate makerspace activity.  They were intrigued by the idea of having students take apart equipment and illustrate it’s function within the device. AKA Forensic Illustration, AKA the first installment of Ben’s student-produced guide for how to take things apart.

We brought everyone together over lunch at MIAD and hatched a plan. We  bring the equipment, MIAD provides student interns to help coach tear-down and illustration work, Sharp Literacy opens time in their program for the effort and works with the students to guide the process. We hope to cap off the project with a tour of at MIAD where students can show off their work. Useful parts can stay at the school or go to another school that can use them; the rest get recycled.

Last Tuesday we went out to Thurston Woods where students took apart DVD drives, a circular saw, printer, keyboard, camera, and a few other odds and ends in our collection.  Today we were out at Browning Elementary to do more of the same.  We were thrilled to see the students dive in and work together with little more instruction than “righty-tighty, lefty-loosey”.

We knew from our experience at Maker Faire that students can get deeply engaged taking things apart.  Our goal for these two sessions was to get a sense of the time required to take apart different pieces of equipment, and what the students found most interesting.  We’ll use what we’ve learned so far to craft the approach we take when we kick off the forensic illustration project next semester.

Collab Lab 14: Recap & Notes

We put together our November session with help from Susan Koen and Stacey Duchrow from Milwaukee 7’s Regional Talent Partnership.  In their work to help develop the talent pipeline for industry in southeastern Wisconsin, they see a number of systemic issues that get in the way of effective career based learning experiences for students.  We set up the session with the aim of mapping out factors which contribute to successful CBLE’s and identifying the key places where collaborative efforts might make a difference.

For this session, we split the attendees across 5 tables, where each participant shared their thoughts on key goals, and came together as a team to share those the felt were most important with the entire group.  These included:

  • Help students find their passion
  • Students/Mentors develop relationships that allow them to know each other as a person
  • Students Stay in School
  • Students are able to build 21st Century skills
  • Teachers are prepared and energized

We followed this with a second round of where participants shared their thoughts on key factors which help reach those goals or stand in the way.  Again, each table came to a consensus on on the key factors to share out with the larger group.  These include:

  • Students are prepared for CBLEs
  • Students have a voice in their learning
  • Students have access to a number of diverse experiences
  • Students have the resources (transportation, etc,) to accept CBLE opportuntities
  • An organization wide culture within schools shift supports CBLEs (as opposed to a focus on college preparedness)
  • Teachers have the resources they need to deliver on their end of CBLEs
  • Policies (state & district) support CBLEs
  • Leadership embraces 21st Century skills
  • The level of collective will (in support of CBLEs)
  • CBLE is part of general conciousness
  • Employers recognize the benefit of CBLEs
  • Teachers’s ability to connect curriculum to CBLEs
  • Schools/industry have a common understanding of what a partnership requires
  • All stakeholders have an equal voice
  • Employers have program in place to support CBLE
  • Teachers are prepared to be coaches
  • Schools/partners have dedicated resources to make CBLEs work

As we talked through each of these factors in turn, we built up a map that gave us a first draft how these factors influence each other, and thereby, the goals we have for CBLEs.  We ended the session by having the participants identify, by placing dot stickers on our map, the factors they felt were most important.  The key items for the group as a whole:

  • An organization wide culture within schools shift supports CBLEs (as opposed to a focus on college preparedness)
  • Schools/partners have dedicated resources to make CBLEs work
  • Schools/industry have a common understanding of what a partnership requires

Next Steps

We’ll be working with Milwaukee 7 to pull together follow on sessions to drill into each of the top three factors and from that, identify where collaborative efforts could make a difference. Interested in participating in one of these sessions?  Let us know:

During the school dayA weekday eveningA Saturday morningA Saturday afternoonA Sunday morning

Middle School Math Workgroup: November 13th Session – Recap & Notes

Gabriella Pinter from UWM’s mathematics department joined us for our November 13th session. Gabriella runs a Math Circles program at UWM for middle and high school students ( as well as a second program for area K12 teachers. She gave our group a minds-on experience of the process.

The Math Circles approach is to explore a problem (which may or may not have a known answer) to see where the ideas lead, test whether a solution can be proven, and see what new questions those discoveries raise.  As with meaningful discourse, it allows students to collaboratively build their understanding of the problem at hand, drives students to think carefully about what they do and do not know, and, as the problem is discussed, makes that thinking visible not only to the teacher but the other students in the room.

For our exercise, Gabriella asked us to play a game within a 4 x 4 grid. The rules of the game are pretty simple: You may put a single diagonal line running from corner to corner in any cell of the grid, so long as neither end point of that diagonal touches an end point of a diagonal in any adjoining cell. Go.

It doesn’t take long for the question to surface– how many diagonals can one place in the grid? The group’s consensus, 10.

How about a 3 x 3 grid? 6.

2 x 2 Grid? 3.

1 x 1 grid? Well yeah, 1.

5 x 5? 15…. Are you sure?

Well it looks like we have a pattern of triangular numbers…

Grid Size 0 1 2 3 4 5
Diagonals 0 1 3 6 10 15

Take the last number of diagonals, add to it the next grid size, get the next number of diagonals:

0 + 1 = 1

1 + 2 = 3

3 + 3 = 6

6 + 4 = 10

10 + 5 = 15

So we have a pattern and that looks like a pretty good rule.  Is it a proof? er…. maybe?

What else have we seen?  Well, each diagonal we place uses up two potential end points on the grid.  On a 4 x 4 grid, if we mark these potential end points as alternating rows of blue and red dots, starting with blue, we will have 3 rows of 5 blue dots and 2 rows of 5 red dots.  With that pattern, every diagonal must touch a red dot.  There are only 10 red dots, seems like a pretty good proof that 10 is the limit for a 4 x 4 grid.

Ok, what about a 5 x 5 grid?  Now, for both blue and red dots, we have 3 rows of 6, and therefore an upper limit of 18 diagonals.  So what is possible 15, which we found, 18 which is clearly the upper limit, or something in between?  Please tell us how you found 16.

The wonderful thing to see in this process was how Gabriella slowly released a little bit more of the problem to explore just as the group thought it had arrived at an answer.  It was a very effective way of keeping engagement and interest high by continually adjusting the bounds of the problem to a point just beyond what we knew.

Gabriella pointed us to which has a wonderful collection of problems to explore for any grade level.

Up next for the group, math journals.

The Middle School Math Workgroup is a collaborative effort with Milwaukee Succeeds to explore practices which drive student performance and share ideas and experiences about bringing those practices into the classroom.

Collab Lab 13: Recap & Notes

Problem Finding

Bring King joined us for Collab Lab 13 to walk us through an exercise to identify problems worth solving at attendees’ schools.  The idea was to give participants the feel for a process they could use with their students to identify challenges students could take on as authentic learning experiences.  Thanks also go out to David Howell (MSOE/Epiphany Consulting) who, with Brian, helped us pull together the process (below).

Our participants look to take the process back to their schools to see what their students might come up with.  We’re scheduling a follow up meeting at the beginning of December to re-group and share feedback from the process, see what problems students are willing to take on and, and share ideas about how to help the students dive into a problem solving exercise.  If you are interested in joining in, let us know:

The Process:

Step 1: Rapid Fire Problem Finding

  • Break into teams of 4 to 8 participants
  • On their own, each participant writes as many “problems at your school” as they can think of on note cards– one note card per problem
  • Collect all the note cards and put them into the bag o’ problems

Step 2: Mix and Redistribute the Cards

  • Shuffle the cards and distribute them equally between the teams
  • Each team categorizes and notes duplicates
  • Each team prepares a categorized list of problems to share with the entire group on a white board or large Post-it sheet.

Mixing the cards ensures that members are exposed to ideas from outside of their own team

Step 3: Large Group Sharing

  • Each team reports on the problems on their list
  • Teams share anything noteworthy about their process
  • The team may refine the categorization and list based on feedback from the group

Step 3a: Optional — Identify More Problems.

If the teams had a hard time coming up with an initial set of problems, prompt for additional ones to consider by asking

  • Are there categories of problems that are missing?
  • Are we missing the problems of any groups at the school (teachers, staff, administration, parents, students, neighbors) or subgroups of those (new students, minorities, impoverished students, etc.)?

Step 4: Drilling Down

In teams, but remaining all together in the room, consider the following questions:

  • Are there any problems on the wall that are actually dilemmas?
  • Are there any problems on the wall that aren’t actually problems?
  • Are there any problems on the wall that would benefit from re-articulation?
  • How might we “triage” these problems?
  • Is it realistic for you/your group to actually solve the problem?
  • Are there new problems to articulate based on your reading of all the problems?

Each team then drafts a revised list:

  • Based on the drill down questions, narrow to 3-4 issues and write them on a white board or large Post-it note.
  • Put a circled D or circled P next to each issue to identify it as a problem or dilemma
  • Record any problems/dilemmas that need further clarification before decision/asking
  • Each group shares their revised list

Middle School Math Work Group: October 9th Session– Recap & Notes

Causal Loop Diagram for middle school math performan
Our revised diagram highlighting key factors and adding a couple of new ones.

This was the first working session for a group of educators focused on middle school math that is part of a collaborative effort with Milwaukee Succeeds. We began our October 9th session with a silent discussion: using post-it notes to determine what is missing on the causal map, and dots to determine what three factors have the most impact on student learning.  Our goal in doing so is build a model that can help us chart a course to improved student performance.

At the end of our first session we challenged the group with a reading assignment (Making Number Talks Matter: Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening Understanding) and to experiment with meaningful discourse in their math classes.  The group took a bit of time to reflect on what worked, what was challenging, and ways to we get past that.

What stuck with you

  • Process is important (engaging in routines and creating common language)
  • Temptations to resist (not putting words into students mouths)
  • Mindset check, reminder on what really does help a student
  • Actually prod student confusion, and allow students that space

If you had a chance to experiment, were you able to? What worked and what didn’t work?

  • Peer-peer convos, non-verbal responses, but students have a hard time explaining what they really mean beyond the algorithm
  • Number talks: intentionally planning these talks
  • Multiple ways of talking about the numbers
  • Thought patterns, find out where the kids are at
  • Kids ping-pong off each other to see each other ideas and ways of thinking about things
  • Kids being so ingrained in rote-memorization, have a hard time getting out of that, and that there isn’t only one way of finding the answer to the math problem

Exercise in meaningful discourse

For the bulk of the evening, Kevin McLeod from UWM’s Department of Mathematical Sciences led the group through a discourse session on a single math problem appropriate for middle school students. This helped provide context for the higher level conversation which ran in parallel around the reasoning behind the process. The problem and his notes are available to download here.

Collab Lab 12 Recap & Notes

Middle School Math – What should we be trying?

Yesterday’s Collab Lab was a joint effort with Milwaukee Succeeds.  We pulled together a small group focused on middle school math– what factors lead to student success and what gets in the way.  We’ll reconvene the group in October as they work as a cohort to implement the strategies we discussed. Notes from our session are below.

If you’d like to participate in a Math cohort like this, please let us know:

A visual recap of the discussion from Collab Lab 12 on middle school math.

Contributing Factors

High quality instruction*

  • Procedural vs. conceptual knowledge
  • Real world application
  • Productive struggle
  • Engaging/interactive content
  • Project based learning
  • Teacher approach
  • Facilitating math discourse/connections
  • Culturally responsive practices
  • Clear objectives
  • Small group instruction
  • Student-centered
  • Differentiation
  • Student goal setting

Committed leadership*

Teacher support (coaching/mentoring)

Culture of taking risks and experimentation

Parent engagement/advocacy/attitude

Common Core State Standards

Cross-sector collaboration and best practice sharing

Math enrichment programs

  • Coding

Growth Mindset of principals, teachers, parents, and students

Role models mirror students

Increase discourse in math class

  • Begin math discourse in early grades
  • Track student responses to ensure equity
  • Provide wait time
  • Try “Bounce back”
  • Use “Turn and talk”
  • “I notice, I wonder” stems
  • Pose open ended questions
  • Setting up the physical space to promote discussion

Build committed leadership

  • Brookhill (One day PD to show quality instruction)
  • Schools That Can Milwaukee

Predict where students may struggle and set them up for success

Continued Learning for teachers:

 Hindering Factors

Student and/or teacher fixed mindset*

Teacher content knowledge

Math licensure

Communication/language barrier

  • Low quality
  • Lacks rigor
  • Frequent changes
  • Lacks cultural responsiveness

No K-12 math scope and sequence within schools, districts, and/or the city

Metrics can be misleading

  • Emphasis on certain metrics (standardized tests or STAR)
  • Alignment between curricula and assessments
  • Data not triangulated

Teacher evaluations

Prior school experiences of students

Student motivation

Challenges at home

Students living in poverty

Reliance on computer instruction

Prior school experiences of adults

Lack of resources in the classroom

  • Technology
  • Materials

Absence of early interventions

“Tracking” students

Items discussed by the group
Items that were noted but not discussed
* designates strong support around the factor

Collab Lab 11 Recap & Notes

We held our final Collab Lab for the 2016-17 school year on Thursday June 15th, where the topic for the evening was “Creating a culture of innovation in schools”.

We prompted the discussion with three questions:

  • What does a culture of innovation look like?
  • What stands in the way?
  • How can you create one anyway?

Our notes from the evening are below.  Thanks again to all who were able to join us.  It was a great group and a really interesting set of conversations!

Big Ideas

  • Innovation (continuous improvement) works in a system that instills a feeling of safety and encourages risk taking as a dedicated team.
  • Look for cross disciplinary problems that have meaning for students
  • Permission from the top for bottom up innovation
  • Autonomy allows bright spots which can then spread
  • Culture needs to come from school leadership
  • Use the right metrics
  • Start with what inspires the student

What does a culture of innovation look like?

  • Inquisitive
  • Focused risk taking
  • Failure is ok — fail forward
  • Collaboration
  • High engagement
  • interesting/fun
  • Student ownership of learning
  • Authentic
  • Healthy level of trust within the organization
  • Involvement
  • Empathetic
  • Public — welcomes feedback
  • There is a purpose and time for innovation
  • Innovation days — re-energizes staff
  • Hackathons — new products/committed block of time
  • Everyone drinks the Kool Aid
  • Encourage the design process
  • Inquirey
  • Opportunistic
  • Curiosity
  • What education means
  • Innovation is a value & aspiration, it does not equal effeciancy
  • One can innovate around people, process, technology
  • Leverage other resources, get kids involved
  • Cross domains
  • Power to the edge
  • Teams w/autonomy w/in safety construct
  • What is the smallest thing to start w/to start a feedback loop
  • Autonomy “fails” all the time– acknowledge failure, know it, work past it.
  • More difficult/important problems typically get less $$, time, resources
  • Teachers develop understanding about what’s happening in industry

What stands in the way

  • Taxpayer expectations
  • Teacher training
  • Uncertain ROI
  • Implementation Fidelity
  • Not everyone is innovative
  • It’s tough socially to be an innovator
  • Building (e.g. school) climate
  • Schools are structured to resist change
  • Mental models (of what school should look like)
  • Expectations of students, teachers
  • We train to technology rather problem solving/leadership
  • Are we selling it well?
  • Structure — no time to see what else is out there/what is possible
  • Scaling 35 x 5
  • It’s a big ledge to jump off of
  • Lack of courage to go off script
  • Lack “well functioning” partnerships w/industry
  • Those in charge of designing the system impact the level innovation capability
  • [Feeling that] “we’re looking good already”
  • Parents

How can you create one anyway?

  • Play to strengths
  • Give permission
  • Visit other rooms/schools
  • Use different metrics:
    • Engagement
    • 21st century skills
  • Focus on problems that matter to kids
  • Start with problems in school
  • Find a one off opportunity and then do it again
  • Show that it is valued by school/district leadership
  • Ask for something small at first
  • Transparency– get ahead of perception
  • Start as elective then tie into curriculum
  • Look for bright spots
  • Focus on interest in problems and who students need
  • Acknowledge self discovery
  • Leadership action
  • Organize PLCs
  • Align goals w/innovative initiatives
  • Focus on the real problem
  • Assemble the right people
  • Incentivise problem solving
  • Create a “Vision of the graduate”

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text:
Custom handcrafted leather chopper seats by AnvilCustoms.Com

in Motorcycle leather

Hey folks i came across a really cool website WWW.ANVILCUSTOMS.COMand i called and talked to the owner Ryan who is a really nice guy about his leather items.  Since this Blog is about custom made leather i had to ask him if i could do a couple posts about his company. He is a really talented leather craftsman who makes the most awesome bike/chopper seats in all kinds of  leathers including exotic leathers.  His leather seats blow me away and he can customize them any way you like including adding your logo or a design or whatever image you want.  I would love a seat with my logo on it and will probably pick one up soon, anyway i will post a couple pics of his here from his website and show you a few samples.

Here are a couple of specs on his seats

  • Available in 15×11″ or 13×9.5″
  • Available in Teardrop or EggShaped
  • Built on heavy 10-gauge steel pan
  • 4 Mounting Bolts press-fitted into pan
  • Deep dish to sit down in
  • Nice kick-up in the rear

Like i said he uses all kinds of leather types so if you want a seat made of Alligator or Ostrich leather he can do that just contact him for any details.  Not only does he make beautiful chopper seats but also leather Tool Bags, Passenger Pads, leather and exotic leather Wallets, leather Belts, Clutch Bags, Holsters and more he also carries  seat parts if you need them.  Check out his site he has alot of great pics there and hopefully if you buy something you will tell him Ron sent you.  Have a good day and i will do another post about WWW.ANVILCUSTOMS.COM real soon so check back for updates.


text:
Sexy Leather Babes Volume 20

in Sexy Leather Wear

Sexy Leather Babes Volume 20

Slideshow. Hot celebs and models in leather. Pants, skirts, dresses, blazers and jackets.

Featured women: Angelina Jolie, Kate Moss, Rihanna, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart, Mila Kunis, Ashley Greene, Jessica Lowndes, Michelle Rodriguez, Diana Rigg and many more.

Music: Magic Wands – Warrior (The xx Remix)

Hey folks, i added another Sexy Leather Babes video this time Volume 20 .  The main purpose is to give the ladies some ideas for leather wear they might want to order custom made from us.  We can make pretty close replicas with quality leather in any size or color.


text:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Drowning Myself in Sweaters

Because I love them! I can wear them year round here and did I mention, I love them! I just need to get myself a few bottoms and tee shirts then I will be set for winter. I love thrifting!

Other than enjoying sweatery goodness, I am trying to get a few things done for my shops and a couple of upcoming events I will be vending at. I am giggling while I write this because for the last two years, I come up with the same plan for the holidays and usually fall short. Cross your fingers for me, I am diving into a big pile of leather and not coming back up until January!

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text:
Thursday, November 1, 2012

It Was a Good Day!

My Trick or Treaters, the witch and Spongebob taking a break from candy time.
It rained all morning but let up in time for the big event "Trick or Treat on the Plaza"

We got home just in time to put out our jack o' lanterns and watch them glow
 We had a wonderful Halloween and we hope you did too:)
Edolie's jack o' lantern

Ciaran's jack o' lantern

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(redirected from falling prey)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.
Related to falling prey: predaceous, fallen prey
References in periodicals archive ?
BEIRUT: General Security warned expatriates in Lebanon Monday of falling prey to fraudulent schemes.
Balakrishnan expressed concern over Indian students falling prey to fake Universities.
The embassy said it recorded at least eight cases of Japanese nationals falling prey to a criminal gang in 2000, and at least 15 cases last year.
after falling prey to ``The Simpsons'' and ``Malcolm in the Middle'' on Sunday nights) with a typically quirky episode.
THE success of a Coventry pilot scheme designed to stop pensioners falling prey to cowboy builders, was being discussed in the Houses of Parliament today.
ULSTER teenagers are falling prey to paedophiles and drugs because of a crisis in child support services, it has been claimed.
But don't count on Strand falling prey to a mainstream merger any day soon.
Progressives have no business falling prey to the dominant society's common view that the problem of racism is minorities feeling dissatisfied, rather than a lethal poison in the spirit and the body of our entire culture,", she concludes.
It is this sense of orchestration in her work that allows inanimate objects to take on personalities without falling prey to a purely whimsical anthropomorphism - dishes, if you like, are prevented from running away with spoons.


text:
Skylar & Plux: Adventure On Clover Island Right Nice Games / Grip Digital 2017

This is a passionate revival of the legendary 3D platformer genre with classic gameplay, playful gadgets, and a lighthearted story set in a gorgeous, colorful world reminiscent of our childhood adventures. Go on an action-packed adventure, collect gadgets helping you explore a beautiful paradise and save it from destruction. It's up to Skylar Lynxe, our nimble and courageous heroine, and Plux Owlsley, the trusty sidekick, to prevent the villainous CRT from conquering their newfound home and turning it into a wasteland. Traverse the tropical beaches, volcanic caverns, snowy mountain tops, and merciless desert of Clover Island. Fight an army of CRT’s minions, and find powerful upgrades expanding your abilities. Explore the island with the freedom-boosting Jetpack and uncover its mysterious past with the puzzling Time Orb. Are CRT's turret bots giving you trouble? Grab their missiles and send them back, turn their gatling fire against them and send his minions flying with the powerful Magnetic Glove. If you miss adventuring like it’s 2001, or just love colorful aesthetics, tasty upbeat music, goofy humor and collecting lots of shiny gems, this is for you. Wield a powerful mechanical arm and whack robots to your heart's content. Expand your moves with gadgets like the Jet Pack, Magnetic Glove and Time Orb. Explore every nook and cranny of Clover Island and rescue its natives from CRT's imprisonment.
Download: None currently available

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Sunday, November 17, 2013

maybe I'd still have you

Photo via: Alison Scarpulla

I am writing this because I need to get this off my chest. I met you four years ago after getting out of a relationship that at the time meant a lot to me. I consider you a godsend and you saved me in so many ways. We saved each other and only he would ever truly understand that.

We dated for awhile but at the time I couldn't give myself to you the way I wish I would have now because I thought I loved someone else. You told me things that you told no one else about your dad, we had a really special relationship and although it wasn't perfect, I wasn't perfect, it was good.

You made me feel loved like I have never loved before you looked at me in a way that you made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. You really were my prince charming you treated me with respect and like a girl always dreams of. I'm not really sure what happened, you said you lost feelings for me and broke it off all I know was there was a lot of drama caused from other people.

I not only love you but I love your family and I love being with them as much as I love you. You still to this day won't meet up and talk to me I'm not sure why. I wish I knew why. I can message you, but you won't respond, but if we bump into each other you talk to me and give me a hug.

Today I am married to someone else who I am not in love with who I just love. Someone who will always be second best to you. I dream about you a few times a week and I always still think about you and want you. I will always want you know matter what. No one will ever make me feel like you do and I would do anything to be with you. I know this is bad but I would even leave my husband for you and that is terrible that I am saying this.

I have really tried to get over you, but after four years you still have this spell over me. You have shown me things I have never thought I would see and feel and when I'm with you, I am better. You make me a better person. When I am with you, I am the person I wanna be. You supported me and pushed me to go after my dreams and you take all my pain away and give me this happiness like no one else. When I am with you I love myself and am happy with myself and you always loved me for me. I don't know if you knowing this would ever change anything, but I really do I have a connection with you like no one else and feelings for you that will probably never go away.

I wish I could have been the girl I want to be now for you maybe I'd still have you. I wish you knew the type of girl I am capable of being. I was just young and stupid and didn't realize what we had because of my first young dumb stupid love that I wanted over at the time. I guess you will always be the one that got away.

  1. that gave me goosebumps, beautiful. I hope he reads this, true love will always find a way xxxx

    Mollie xoxo

  2. I totally understand what your story. I went through the exact same thing two years ago. I met a guy after I broke with my boyfriend of almost 4 years. This guy was amazing. I never felt more like myself. But I ruined it. I was going through a lot at the time with my grandma's death and my father being really sick. I didn't know how to handle it. Your story really freaked me out when I read it because it I felt I wasn't who I could have been with him. I hope you find him again and it works out.Cause that is all I want myself.

  3. Shame on you for marrying a man that you will refuse to give your heart to fully. If you were to find out that he wasn't in love with you, and spent his time fantasizing about a life that didn't include you, how would you feel? Betrayed? You should, because what you are doing is worse than any physical infidelity. I suggest you put your selfish desires on a shelf and honor the promise you made and the man you made it to. Or be kind and leave.

  4. You seem to be living in the past. History has its way of repeating itself, maybe you're up for another "regret of your life" with what you're doing to your husband now.

  5. send him this letter.

  6. in my opinion, you are in danger... in the near future if you keep that way of thinking.
    hope you can share your story on kickgroup
    ( is a new social network for all people love blog, write, read, community with other and promote your blog, website... website just launch so we hope to have your story on kickgroup, thank you very much)

  7. just go on...

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Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Arvind Pandit Do Special Golfing Balls Make for Unique Putting Outcomes?

In other words and phrases a participant ought to use the comparable ball, so at least be comfortable with it all-around the eco-helpful.

This is entirely owing to the coating on the golfing ball. Primarily due to the fact a putter strikes the ball with these styles of minimal electrical power compression significantly just just isn't included. This will not suggest there will be a difference in actual common functionality, but as we know self esteem is a key aspect in any golfer's shorter match.

So the reaction most probably is to use the ball that satisfies your extremely prolonged been improved and fundamentally get utilised to that specific ball about the inexperienced. Most of the investigate on the matter make any difference looks to level out that there is frequently no variance in how a regular golfing ball will split or continue to keep the line. And any one who has played golfing for extremely incredibly lengthy can notify you the element we merely simply call really really feel is very incredibly significant, specially in the quick recreation.. But there is one variable that may potentially carry some importance, and that is that demanding to describe variable acknowledged as "feeling". Carrying out that is versus the golfing recommendations. Normally balls that Arvind Pandit are produced for distance will have a coating that is denser, and some people today believe the ball tends to leap off the putter confront or will skid forward of starting up up to roll. There is so substantially to do in Florida aside from subject parks: sunlight, seashores, golf and fishing. The quick-activity oriented balls will usually have a gentle "thud" when struck, while the more tough location balls for size will give off a superior-pitched "ting". Except if the ball is dropped or in any way can not be recovered, and people today have a penalty on their own, not getting component in with the correct golfing ball from start to stop carries a decrease of the gap in match participate in or two-stroke penalty in medal execute. As perfectly as the sound is possible to be a minor exceptional as adequately. Glen Wheaton is an avid traveler and creator now dwelling in Chicago.

Let us promptly get back again to the topic of altering golfing balls while savoring the similar gap. Also, locate out how you can guide tee instances merely, and often at a massive lower price. If this is reputable it maybe is a extremely insignificant component. But by continuing to swap balls or observe with balls that you perception added at relieve with on the environmentally helpful will pretty much surely by no means at any time make it achievable for you to get to a ease and comfort and ease stage with balls with denser surfaces.

We have talked about distinctive compression balls in how they effects the golfing shot, but what are the extremely ideal balls for placing? I have Arvind Pandit identified newbie golfers completely transform their golfing balls when they get shut to the environmentally friendly as if balls definitely complete a great deal much better for unique shots. But is there a little something that can make specified golfing balls a ton less complicated to putt?

We have listened to from Television set commentators that some balls get there off the putter deal with "hotter". Continually a thing to do

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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Proverbs 27:22

Though you grind a fool in a mortar,
   grinding him like grain with a pestle,
you will not remove his folly from him.

It is a sad situation to be in if you are a fool.

Those who are in Christ, when they are "ground" by the situations of life, will be sanctified by the process. They will go to God and His word, and the truth will sanctify them.

But not the fool.

Pray today that you are not this fool. Ask God to peel the scales from your eyes and let you see.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I Peter 1:21

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
I would like to pause on the very first phrase in this verse, the phrase, "Through him..." As I have continued in the faith over the past years, I have come to realize more and more that the "through him" is the most important part of the day to day existence.

I used to focus on the actions. I didn't believe that the actions saved you, and I still don't believe that, but I would focus on the fruit. I still believe that the fruit is important, and not to be ignored. In the world we live in, it is essential to observe the fruit of a person's walk. There are too many out there that live such a deceived existence, thinking that they are OK, when they are in a deep spiritual disaster zone. But I am digressing here, let me get back to the point:

Everything in life goes back to one thing, but that one thing isn't an idea, or a belief, it is a person: Jesus Christ. As we walk through this world, it is essential to understand the idea of LORD. We miss it so much, but it needs to be part of our daily life, not just some bullet point on our belief statement.

Is Jesus your Lord? How can you tell?

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

by Mean Mr. Jimmy Callaway

If you’re anything like me, you’re an atheist.

But even that doesn’t draw as many stares as the fact that I don’t celebrate Christmas. Disbelief in a superior power is a concept people seem to be able to wrap their heads around; not blowing every last dime on presents for people one doesn’t particularly like or not getting all misty-eyed during the Art Carney episode of The Twilight Zone, well, that’s just...wrong, somehow. And it’s even more difficult to explain that it’s not strictly Christmas I have a problem with. I have many warm Christmas memories, mostly having to do with Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. So it’s not that so much as my explicit refusal to observe outmoded traditions simply because they are traditions. That’s behavior fit for the likes of sheep or Exploited fans. Not for anybody with a brain.

I had a writing professor who had a really well-formed lecture on the formula followed by the average slasher movie. I tried to drum it up for reference on this little project, but no soap. However, his basic point was that these flicks tend to bang out like little morality plays. The victims tend to be guilty of various perceived sins like cruelty, substance abuse, lust, etc. The moral: be good or Jason/Freddy/Michael/whoever will chop you up. And on the surface, Silent Night, Deadly Night seems to follow this formula to the bitter end. But I would say that this flick tries to extend itself beyond the formula, so instead of just reinforcing commonly held moral beliefs, it questions the hypocrisy and futility of those who would impose absolutist “naughty or nice” modes of judgment and punishment. Basically, this flick says that if we try to pigeonhole human behavior into broad, polarized concepts like “good” or “bad,” we’ll not only fail spectacularly, but people will end up worse than when we started.

Don’t get me wrong, though. This is still a slasher movie, through and through. It’s got a low budget, not very good acting, painfully “witty” dialogue, and blood ‘n’ guts by the barrelful. It opens with young Billy and his baby brother Ricky and their lovely blonde parents off to visit Grandpa. Aw, isn’t that sweet? Thing of it is, Granddad lives at the Utah Mental Health Facility (which I imagine does some pretty brisk business). Grandpa is catatonic, or at least he is until he’s alone with Billy. Then he pipes up with all this nutcase stuff about how Santa Claus punishes all the naughty boys and girls. Then, as soon as Mom and Dad return, Grandpa’s back in dreamland. Aside from the Michigan J. Frog parallel, Grandpa here is obviously the first anti-tradition salvo in the story: the old guard passing on its deranged nonsense to the next generation, and scaring the shit out of them in the process.

Billy’s newly-minted Santa phobia is thoroughly cemented on the way home. Kindly Mom and Dad pull over to help a guy in a Santa suit who’s run into some car trouble. To express his thanks, Santa shoots Dad in the face and then rips Mom’s blouse off before slitting her throat. Billy is upset, and not just because it appears those Hot Wheels he’d been wanting will have to wait until next year.

But seriously, folks, these childish moral codes we drum into kids’ heads from this age should work fine, I guess, as long as crazy shit like the above doesn’t happen. And while you may not often hear about this exact sort of thing, how do you explain all the other random catastrophe that life is full of? What about when a hurricane knocks the house over on Thanksgiving? Guess you shoulda eaten your vegetables, kid. Oh, your uncle diddled your butthole, did he? Maybe if you’d brushed your teeth every night, that sort of thing wouldn’t happen (Oddly enough, not long after I first wrote this little diatribe, that guy in L.A. went on his killing spree dressed as Santa, kicking things off by shooting an 8-year-old girl in the face. I certainly feel bad for her now, but imagine all the bullshit she’s going to have to go through from November 1st to December 26th every year for the rest of her life. I almost feel like I should thank that shithead for driving my point home for me here).

Anyways, back to the movie. Fast-forward now a couple years, and we find Billy being raised in an institution renowned for its progressiveness and forward-thinking: a Catholic orphanage. When 8-year-old Billy draws a violent picture of Santa and Rudolph hacked to bits, he gets taken to task by Mother Superior, a typical (in these kinds of movies and, I’ve found, in life) authority figure: big, mean, and unwaveringly sure of her own authority. She’s gonna break Billy of this nonsensical “traumatization” of seeing his parents murdered, and if kindly young Sister Margaret thinks her hippy-dippy “child psychology” is gonna fly around here, she’s got another think coming. Amen.

It’s bad enough that Billy does something crazy like express himself artistically, but then he has the sheer audacity to innocently stumble upon a young couple fornicating. Nothing will twist a youngster’s mind quite like the sight of two consenting adults creating life. Mother Superior, thankfully, catches him and, quick to recall the Sermon on the Mount, beats the living shit out of him (Here also comes my first real problem with the screenplay. This scene does well to further meld sex and violence in the psyche of young Bill, so that’s all well and good. But who the hell does the deed in a Catholic orphanage in the middle of the day without at least locking the door first? This is never even kinda explained, like some of the later gaping plot holes. I can see that grabbing some afternoon delight in a House of God would be pretty hot, but still).

All right, fast forward ten more years, and Billy is a strapping young lad who drinks his milk and can’t act very well. Typical all-American boy. Sister Margaret, forever Billy’s champion, gets Billy a gig in the local toy store working for Gary’s dad from Weird Science. Sister Margaret, as the voice of reason in this story, really drops the ball here. I get that the toy store job was the last in town, but when we’re talking about a borderline psychopath with deep trauma related to Christmas working in a toy store during Christmas season? Maybe you wanna wait until after New Year’s, or even Presidents Day.

But Billy’s good at his job, working overtime for nothing while really bad ‘80s Christmas music plays. And of course, Billy is really freaked out by the merest sight of a Santa. And also of course, Billy is tapped to play Santa when the original guy craps out. What could possibly go wrong?

But despite frightening the kids a bit (and what department store Santa doesn’t do that every year?), things are going okay. Billy’s able to reign in his nearly palpable mental derangement, until he catches his Neanderthal supervisor, Andy, trying to rape the pretty, young Pamela. What follows is a no-less-than-3-hour flashback to Billy’s parents getting killed, and him catching the couple fucking in the rectory, and the beatings and blah blah blah. Just so we’re all on the same page.

So Billy snaps into action and, completely ignoring the advice of Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, attempts to be a hero. Big fella that he is, he’s able to pull Andy off Pamela and hang him with a string of Christmas lights. That’s bad enough, but then he leaves him up there until almost March, which is just tacky. Pamela, for some reason, is disturbed by this and calls Billy a monster while defiantly refusing to cover her boobs back up. Billy responds by gutting her from stem to stern with a box cutter. In Billy’s defense, though, Pammy was never that bright really, so there was a good chance she would have eventually tripped over her own feet and impaled herself on a box cutter anyways.

The narrative jumps track a little here to make room for more splatter, as Billy kills Gary’s dad and the other lady employee, whose only sins were being better actors than the dialogue given them. Then Billy hits the neighborhood proper. First, he kills a young couple for being all hot and horny, and possibly for their taste in music. Then, he whacks some other kid with a sled who was just kind of a dildo. Not the best reasons for grisly murder, but they work pretty well within the logic of the film. Also, there are more boobs.

By this time, Sister Margaret has alerted the fuzz, and they scramble to intercept Billy once they figure out he’s headed back to the orphanage, ostensibly to spread his brand of Christmas cheer. The cops are ordered to shoot Santa on sight. When Santa comes tromping up the path to the yard where the children play, Deputy Sheriff Mustache-Face, giving vent to frustrated dreams of Johnny Lightning ownership, lets a few rounds fly. But guess what? It’s not Billy! Oops, sorry, kids. But you know how the only way to solve violence is more violence. Turns out the Santa that Officer Quick Draw has dusted is the kindly old priest who, as Sister Margaret hastily explains, did not respond to the officer’s orders to cease and desist because—whoops!—he’s deaf. Man, you’d think the orphanage woulda learned their lesson with this sorta thing when that blind Easter Bunny hid all those eggs in the breakdown lane on I-70.

Billy does show up eventually, just in time to take an axe to the cop. But just before Mother Superior can be dispatched to meet her maker, some more five-oh burst in and plug Billy in the back. I guess they wanted to kill another Santa in front of the kids in case any of them had been tying their shoes or something the first time and missed out. As Billy dies, he urges the children to not be afraid because Santa’s gone now. But little brother Ricky (remember him?) is on hand to witness all of this, thereby ensuring that this cycle of violence and mental anguish will continue on well into the future. It’s a Christmas miracle!

So yeah, America, let’s keep adhering blindly to every backwards-ass tradition handed down to us by previous, even less educated generations going back hundreds of years, and maybe we’ll be able to produce even more social deviants and psychopaths.

And have yourself a merry fuckin’ Christmas.