Kowalski Heat Treating Blog - Kowalski Heat Treating

Live From New York

October 11, 2024/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, TV /by Steve Kowalski

Ever since I can remember, and mostly during my teen years, Saturday nights were reserved to watch) Saturday Night Live (SNL), an iconic American television show that has had a profound impact on popular culture, comedy, and television since its debut – it first aired today on October 11, 1975… can you believe almost 50 YEARS!! Created by Lorne Michaels and originally titled NBC’s Saturday Night due to a naming conflict, it was envisioned as a live comedy show that would blend sketch comedy, political satire, and musical performances, presented by a guest host each week. Like many of you growing up, there are SO many skits and characters I’ve fallen in love with. But there’s still something about the original cast, referred to as the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players”, including comedy legends like Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman. What they did on live TV had never been done before. They set the standard for what would become a launching pad for comedic talent and a fixture on Saturday nights. As you can imagine, there is a “ton” of information and memories about the show (Wikipedia alone lists twenty separate write-ups broken into 5-year segments. I’ll do my best to hit some of the highlights of the “early” days. Special thanks to Google, Wikipedia and YouTube for the info. Enjoy!!

Cheesy

October 4, 2024/0 Comments/in Cheese, Food, Friday Afternoon /by Steve Kowalski

Cheese, glorious cheese. I think I just about like every cheese I’ve tasted. I like it cold, gooey warm, and piping hot. I put it on top of food, eat it on crackers (nothing quite like a slice of cheese, a piece of salami on a good cracker with a glass of my favorite vino!), love cheesecake, melt big slabs on my burgers and even go for those little corn curls that make my fingers turn orange. Yep, I’m a cheese lover. I did some digging and found it’s one of humanity’s oldest culinary creations. Research says cheese has been around for nearly 4,000 years and comes in more than 1,800 varieties. Here’s a “sampler platter” of facts about everybody’s favorite dairy product. Thanks to interestingfacts.com, youtube.com, Wikipedia, and Facebook for the info – Enjoy!

Red Tape

September 27, 2024/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon /by Steve Kowalski

Bureaucracy. Seems like it’s everywhere we turn these days. It’s in the news all the time, especially with big organizations (and the government), years and years of processes that are just followed, and seldom analyzed and improved upon. One of the great things here at KHT is how my teams truly challenge themselves to “cut through the red tape”, with patience, focus, process mapping, asking the tough questions, and the building a new way to help solve you PIA (Pain in the @%$) Jobs! As I’m usually the culprit who puts the roadblocks in place ( You know 20 steps to complete a project is always better than 5, right ?????) I’ve found over the years that it’s best to “let my gang” have at it, come up with better methods and then test them – and WHEN they work out, we all win. I came across an article that got me thinking about this that I think you’ll enjoy. I also wanted to see how today’s AI would recommend reducing “Red Tape” so I asked “gemini” to give us all some advice on how to teach best practices when challenging “red tape” situations. I hope you enjoy! Special thanks to historyfacts.com, knowledgemagazine.com, Google Gemini and YouTube for the info.