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Morning Lineup – January 17

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Thursday Morning – Smooth Skating Ahead

I have to admit that I missed it yesterday.  One of our readers good-naturedly reminded me that the 16th of January is Frank Zamboni's birthday and he would have been 122 yrs. old.  If I had known that, I could have been wearing my Zamboni belt buckle all day, but to be honest with you I have never been aware of his birth date before.  And unless you are either a hockey fan or a recreational ice skater, you likely have never been aware of who Frank Zamboni is, either.  He is the inventor of the ice cleaning machine that is used to resurface  ice skating rinks world-wide.

The son of Italian immigrants was born in Utah in 1901, grew up in Idaho, and moved to southern California to join his older brother after he grew into adulthood.  Frank and his younger brother bought an ice-making plant and built a successful business.  But with the advent of the home refrigerator chipping away at his business of selling blocks of ice, he built an indoor ice rink next door to the plant in order to keep his equipment running and profitable.

Frustrated by the excessive and wasteful time and manpower required to clean and resurface the rink periodically, Frank set out to invent a machine that would get the job done more quickly and with just one man instead of the five it was taking previously.  Using the chassis and engine of an old Army Jeep, he built his motorized resurfacer and received a patent for it in 1953.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Frank was quite the inventor and was still creating machines and devices up until his death in 1988.  The skating rink now known as Paramount Iceland is still operating and remains under ownership of the Zamboni family.  You can read a more detailed biography of Frank Zamboni in Wikipedia HERE.

Unfortunately, the Zamboni firm doesn't sell those gorgeous bronze belt-buckles anymore, so I'll have to take good care of mine.  But… they still sell about 45  or 50 other souvenir products including T-shirts, caps and all sorts of stuff through their WEBSITE HERE.

Okay, it's time to get our own equipment checked out now, so let's get buckled up and start in on that.  I'll skate over to the Bunn-O-Matic and get my favorite morning chore done before we meet back in the day room.  See you there.

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A Brief Video History of the Zamboni Machine

 

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Posted by on January 17, 2013 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

Morning Lineup – March 6

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Tuesday Morning – Let's Follow Somebody

A few times in the past year I have illustrated some of the strange practices of businesses who have installed some sort of program in their computers that automatically directs their Twitter account to start following websites or blogs that post articles with designated key words in them.  The champions of this practice are still the local businesses in Asheville, North Carolina, where seemingly everybody is plugged in to promote their hometown and businesses in this manner.  After posting a few articles about a tragic LODD in Asheville last year, I had a steady stream of followers signing up for a while (including an auto detailing business).  See our Lineup from this past August 14 HERE.

But last night I picked up a new follower who now holds the record for Fastest Follower.  Within three hours after I posted last night's story about the nursing home meth lab fire (HERE), I began to be closely watched and followed by a firm that claims to be:  One of Maryland's premier healthcare facilities, we offer comprehensive nursing and rehab care to guests from all walks of life. Take a tour today!   I might have to pass on that  invitation.  If they are willing to take "guests from all walks of life," they just might be setting themselves up for the next meth lab ka-boom, and I wouldn't like that very much.

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Speaking of LODD's,  Dave Statter has been giving extensive coverage on the sad case in Wisconsin where the roof of a movie theater collapsed on a group of firefighters in Abbotsford just as they were evacuating the building.  The young volunteer firefighter who perished in the collapse was also a local deputy sheriff.  Dave has compiled a good selection of photos, videos, and updated information onto his website STATter911 and I recommend that you take a few minutes to click over HERE and check it out today.  There are several postings, so start at the top and keep scrolling down.

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I have some more non-fire related hockey news to pass along and the Lineup is usually the best place to share that with you.  Instead of our usual commenting  on the National Hockey League, today we will take a peek at a local rink in Apple Valley, Minnesota, where a youth league was waiting for the Zamboni driver to clean the ice for the next round of games.

As the youngsters were looking on, Zamboni operator Joel Bruss, 34, who was pre-loaded with an alcohol blood count of 0.32, cruised onto the rink and showed the kiddies his expertise and driving in wavy lines.  It got so ridiculous that one of the moppets got ahold of a cell phone and recorded a brief video of the road ice-e-o.

 

Turns out to be convincing evidence for his upcoming trial in April.  The Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote:

Joel K. Bruss has been charged in Dakota County District Court with four counts of drunken driving. Three of the charges are gross misdemeanors, one is a misdemeanor.

According to the complaint filed by the Apple Valley city attorney's office, a police officer was sent to the Hayes Ice Arena shortly after 8 p.m. Jan. 30. Witnesses said Bruss, a part-time rink attendant, was driving erratically on the Zamboni and hitting the boards while attempting to resurface the ice between youth games.

The complaint said that when the officer entered the arena, the Zamboni machine was partly off and partly on the ice while the driver was trying to get it unstuck. Once Bruss got off the machine, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath and noted that he was "extremely unsteady" and was hanging onto the Zamboni to keep his balance. Bruss was slurring his words and mumbling and his eyes were red, watery and bloodshot, the complaint said.

Gosh Joel, we're trying to keep our kids' childhoods as innocent as possible and you're making it very hard for some parents to do that.  They take their youngsters to an organized youth event in order to do just that, and what do you do?  This is inexcusable and I hope the judge tacks some extra time on to the sentence and makes you serve it.

Ok, let's tack on some time to get this equipment checked out now.  I need to get some more coffee going before we meet back in the day room.

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Do You Have Your Firegeezer Travel Mug Yet?
(Fits Most Zamboni Cup Holders)

This is the perfect travel mug to get you to work in the morning and
keep you coffee’d up on the drive back home.
As you expect with any Firegeezer product, this is top-quality and will give you long and faithful service.

Whopping 16-oz. cup, double-walled and insulated.
Keeps your coffee hot for more than an hour (we tested it!)

CLICK HERE to see all the details and to order yours!

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Posted by on March 6, 2012 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: ,