Millers Blog

September 2007 - Posts

• Gorilla Country!

  Miller’s lab in Pittsburg is situated close to the Pittsburg State University campus, making it convenient for students who are employed here to get back and forth to their classes.  Like our business, we take our sports seriously here in GORILLA country!  Through the years, we have been fortunate to have many talented athletes work with us.  Currently, there are five team members who made names for themselves at PSU and upon graduation decided to stay here at Miller’s.  The drive and dedication they brought to their sport, they now willingly share with all of us.   Pictured above from left to right are:   Herbert Harris - PSU Track and Field.  6 MIAA Conference medals and MIAA Conference Championship in the 4x4.   T C Chatmon - PSU running back.  Ranked #7 in PSU Career Rushing Leaders.   B J Butler - Two-time NCAA Division II All-American and 9 time ALL-MIAA sprinter.   Brian Hutchins - Three year starter at QB.  NCAA Division II Championship in 1991. Inducted into Pittsburg State University Hall of Fame in 2001.   Stacy Butcher - 2 year starter PSU Football.   Posted Sep 28 2007, 11:06 AM by admin with no comments

• Columbia Area United Way

  The Columbia facility just completed our annual United Way campaign. Miller’s has a long history of supporting our local communities and I’m happy to report that our team members also share that view. For the upcoming year, our team members pledged over $14,000, which we’ll collect via payroll deduction, to support the Columbia Area United Way. That’s an increase of almost $1500 from last year, which was itself an all-time high for this facility. One of the cool ways we encourage these donations is by matching 25% of the final total (beyond any corporate contributions). That 25% is then given back to our team members who donated at our annual Christmas Party. The DJ stands up front with a microphone, calls out names, and hands out $100 bills! Thank you to all who donated!    Posted Sep 25 2007, 10:39 AM by Jason Becking with no comments Filed under: Charity, United Way

• Columbia Happenings

  I’d planned on giving everyone another construction update, but we’re awaiting most of the steel delivery before the next phase can begin.   Some steel made it this week, but the bulk should arrive soon. The remainder of the steel and the trusses are scheduled to arrive early next week (read: two weeks ago), so hopefully I’ll have some better pictures of progress by then. The construction has required us to move some things around, particularly in the mount area, so that group is even cozier than normal at the moment. In other news, if you tried to reach anyone in the Columbia lab mid-afternoon today, we apologize as most everyone was out in the parking lot for a minute or two. It turns out that if you use a heat gun to remove glue, it can create enough smoke to set the fire alarm off even if you’re working in a room with a venting system. (And we apologize especially to the few customers that were lucky enough to hear our fire alarm screech across the phone lines.) Posted Sep 20 2007, 03:11 PM by Jason Becking with no comments Filed under: Construction

• Tailgate Fun

  We try to do at least one "fun" thing per month inviting each of our team members and their families when possible. One of the more popular events at both locations (so popular we do it twice in Columbia) is a tailgate and football game.  We bought around 200 tickets for last weekend's Mizzou game, plus food and beverage to go around, and a good time was had by all. Below is a picture of the recent festivities.   Posted Sep 17 2007, 04:12 PM by Jason Becking with no comments Filed under: Silliness

• Instant Karma Got Me

  One of the benefits of our two labs being so close together is we can share resources.  Whether it’s going down quickly for a meeting or doing something out of the ordinary in order to solve a production problem, it’s not that big of a deal to hop in the car and drive.  I’m in the habit of doing so once a quarter or thereabouts for the joyous topic of health insurance.  Another gentleman always makes that trip with me and we go down through the Lake of the Ozarks area, down into Southwest Missouri and then across the border to Pittsburg. Others think there are quicker ways to go, but that route is the most fun.  It also shows off the Ozarks' natural and man-made resources, which we like.  While it really can be a beautiful drive, especially in the fall, there’s always an odd assortment of sights along the way as well.  With the blog in mind, I set out yesterday morning around 6:00 with camera in hand, prepared to take a picture of the dead fire truck storage lot, pop-up junk yards, funny signs, and miscellaneous assortment of “stuff” along the route.  I was quite prepared to make fun of lots of things along the way. I now have two kids in daycare, which means I have more than my fair share of germs coming my way.  The combination of my planned meanness and those germs bit me somewhere past Camdenton.  The karmic calamity forced us to turn around and cancel the trip (the sight of me on the side of the road was not picture worthy), rescheduling for another day, and sending me home for the day to find our daughter also home sick.  We both laid around and grouched at each other about which cartoons to watch while the other two members of the household got as far away from us as possible. So, we’ll make that trip again in October.  At that time hopefully the trees have started to turn and I’ll snap some shots of the real beauty.  Not the head-scratching Ozarkian-wonders I was planning on sharing!   Posted Sep 13 2007, 02:20 PM by Jason Becking with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Silliness

• Speaker Team

  Everyone at Miller’s is excited about our Miller’s Speaker Team—a group of successful photographers who periodically share their knowledge at photographic events, both large and small. Many of these speakers are in very high demand while some are just starting out. Some offer programs for the sheer joy of teaching while others are working toward a PPA degree and need the speaking merits. We are proud sponsors of all of them! We have always sponsored speakers at conventions but this more organized approach makes it easier for the different venues to find speakers. All an event chairman has to do now is refer to Miller’s Speaker Team on our website to find one who fits their needs. It is definitely a win-win situation for everyone involved. If you are interested in this program, please contact me at arnieb@millerslab.com. All that is required is a program to present and a willingness and desire to promote Miller’s. Thanks for visiting! Arnie Burton   Posted Sep 11 2007, 09:55 AM by admin with no comments Filed under: Speaker Team

• Custom Wedding Album Design

  We are pleased to announce the addition of a Custom Album Design Service here at Miller's.  This is a request we've heard frequently at conventions and the like, so we're excited about this new offering. The design service will be available for all page sizes of the Assembled Albums we offer.  All you have to do is send us your files on a CD/DVD (to Pittsburg) and tell us what Album, what size and what number of pages you need.  It is that simple! The service includes creating custom background pages, changing opacity, changing selected images to black & white or sepia, and album layout.  Upon completion, we will send you a proof via e-mail or CD for your approval.  You may request changes at no additional charge for the first two proofs sent.  The service will be available for only $6 per page and should be available within the next few days.  Of course, our normal retouching and digital art service are also available at their normal rates. Posted Sep 07 2007, 09:45 AM by Jason Becking with 20 comment(s) Filed under: Albums

• Construction Update -- Sept 5

  My experience with construction projects tends to be:  Wow, they're moving fast.  Ugh, things have really slowed down.  Man, that looks small.  Holy cow, that's a lot bigger than it looked before.  They're moving really fast again!  Yuck, seems to be going slow again.  Hooray, they're done!  Oh no, now I have to move boxes.  Maybe it's just me, but every construction I've ever watched daily follows that pattern. With our Columbia expansion, we're now complete with such exciting touches as a new sewer line.  As for more visible work, below is a picture from the entrance to our new dock which also shows most of the foundation work for the new addition.  (And a little rain!).  This new dock will serve a storage room that will be used almost exclusively for Mount supplies.  This will undoubtedly help the Mount crew, but their happiness will pale in comparison to the programmers'.  (Try to imagine what it sounds like to have 20+ pallets of mount boards unloaded and stacked next to your office and you'll understand their point of view.)   Posted Sep 05 2007, 10:23 AM by Jason Becking with no comments Filed under: Construction