Tag: kids

Basketball Season Has Come To An End

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This past weekend was one filled with many emotions in the Farno household. It was the tournament weekend for my youngest daughter’s basketball team, which I was the assistant coach for. This was our second season as a team, and we still had to learn a new dynamic this season because we added a player, and we were bumped up in our league after a strong performance in the tournament last year.

With that, came a season that did not have as many wins when you look at our record. You wouldn’t know it because of how these girls played for the full season though. Not once did we have a girl want to quit or mention that they weren’t good because we were losing. This is due to the families of our teams believing in them and our coaching position and style. Our head coach continually pushed these girls that wins and losses happen. Is it fun to win? Yes, is it fun to lose? No. What can we do about it when we lose? We can evaluate what went well, what didn’t and did we improve over the last time we stepped on the court. We didn’t sugarcoat every loss, we also didn’t tear down and focus only on the negative. Instead, we worked on skills and then we worked on their mental perseverance. When they would get out hustled or when fouls didn’t seem to get evenly called, we would remind them and ourselves that there are only two things they can control. Their attitude and their effort.

The standings shown here won’t matter past this weekend and that is something that is hard to convey to a 10-year-old.

When a player was getting upset, whether based on their mistakes or another factor, like an aggressive player on the other team, we simply reminded them of the tools they are equipped with and that all they can change is their attitude and effort on the matter. We would point out these skills they had forgotten they had in the moment. This wasn’t always easy, and we weren’t always perfect at doing it by any means. At one point in the season, we had a therapy session during practice and went through each player to tell them how we have seen them grow this year and what they should be proud of. This was just as much for their self-confidence as it was for our own.

As the assistant coach of the team, I really try to run support for the head coach and make sure our subs are ready. If a player during the game has a question or issue, I try to handle it. During practices, I would act as a defender, or just support whatever the coach was trying to teach. I distributed a lot of band-aids and several instant ice packs. I also tried to always encourage them on the wins that I saw while they were on the court. The fact of the matter was, I was there as support for the entire team and I would always try to look forward to seeing what was going to be needed and anticipating what I would need to do, whether it was a parent volunteer for a scorekeeper, a concussion check for the girl that just got hip-checked to the floor, or a high five for the girl that just made her first shot of the game, or the one that missed hers. No matter what, I tried to be prepared and anticipate what was coming. Sometimes this worked, other times it didn’t. How does this connect to EXAIR?

Early one morning, I got to use a ride-on floor scrubber to try and mop the gym. The sun coming in, and the peaceful situation really made me appreciate my situation.

Well, I do the same thing in my role as an Application Engineer. When someone contacts us with a blowoff need or a static electricity issue in their process, I immediately go to work trying to connect the dots in my wild mind to what they need and how fast can we get this obstacle conquered together. If a customer has a product that isn’t quite working right, I start the process of what could have gone wrong, and I try to be methodical in my process of troubleshooting. This all comes from experience and I have been doing this for 15 years now. I never thought I would be an assistant basketball coach since the last time I played was in 6th grade. Well, I also never thought I would be a Certified Compressed Air System Specialist, yet here I am, because there was a need and I filled the need that was presented to me, just like the girls on this basketball team did.

By no means do I get every single product selection, or assistant coaching task right. By no means am I perfect, and I don’t claim to be. I do, however, try to make sure my attitude is focused on achieving the task at hand, whether it be helping a player set a good pick or a customer select the right vacuum, then I make sure I exert the effort needed to get the answers and solutions that both sides need.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

A Good Example of Dedication and Commitment from the First Grade

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This year, my oldest daughter started First Grade.  My second daughter will be starting preschool two days a week, and the youngest, well she just has no fear and doesn’t see the consequences of her actions at this point in life.   To say the least, the past few weeks have been extremely busy, as I am sure it has been for most of us.

A Great Message For School. (Not On Our Schools)
A Great Message For School.

I went to the parent – teacher introduction night with my beautiful wife and we got to meet the first grade teacher who definitely has her work cut out for her.   The amount of effort and care this teacher has poured into this class is already apparent in the first week of school.   She sent us all her personal cell phone number, sends out updates through a smartphone app, and has even told all parents that if a child in her classroom is involved in an activity outside of school that she will attend one of these events because she wants to see the children in their element and see what makes them happy.  All of these “extra” things the teacher does, she doesn’t get paid for, and is strictly doing out of her love for teaching and the children she teaches.  She legitimately loves her job and wants to see each of these students succeed in life.

There are people who teach that go to their job and give the bare minimum to not get let go and to merely collect a paycheck.   There are also a great number of educators that go above and beyond every day of the school year.  When it comes to teachers, so far my oldest daughter has been extremely blessed.  She had an amazing teacher for both Preschool, Kindergarten, and now even First Grade.   Each of these has also been at 3 different schools where she has thrived and I could not be happier with our school district.  I even mentioned to my wife, who is a former primary teacher, that I do not look forward to the year that one of our three daughters has a teacher that she does not agree with.  (That is going to be an extremely long year.)

Just as I noticed the level of dedication from the teachers I have had the joy of meeting, I have also realized that in order to succeed and thrive, there has to be dedication and going beyond the minimum.  This is what I see everyday when I walk through the doors here at EXAIR.  Whether I am walking through the front offices or the production areas, we by no means have a single team member that gives the minimum.  Every person here cares about whether or not the other succeeds, and we all work together with the same goal, blow our customer’s expectations out of the water.  This is just one reason we continue to release new products, offer the best means to contact us, as well as ship stock products same day, and provide order confirmations and install support for every single order.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

Photo Credit: Jdog90 – Flickr – Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/awAXzv

 

 

If Only I Had A Line Vac When I Was A Kid

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I read an article earlier this week talking about the types of toys you played with as a child and what your career lead to.  Then I got to thinking, what if I had some EXAIR products and an air compressor when I was a kid?  What kind of madness could ensue?

The first item that came to mind for me was using a Line Vac.  This would not only be used to propel Hot Wheels a record breaking speeds into the loop of death or see how many full size cars the scaled car can jump.   Also what happens to a full size car when you launch a small die cast car into it?   Needless to say that is not all the ideas I have had for taking the orange track to the next level.

In case cars weren’t your thing, a Line Vac would be great to launch a parachute assault using your favorite G.I. Joe with a parachute, not to mention go quite higher than I could ever through it.  It could also help launch zip lines or remove excavated dirt out of bunkers.

When I was a child, I didn’t know what compressed air or an air compressor was other than that my dad used one to inflate bike tires.   Now, I work around compressed air every single day and I make sure to introduce my girls to it whenever possible,  especially how to use compressed air safe.

The point is, a lot of the toys I played with as a child kept me thinking about mechanical ways to do things and thus I ended up with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology.  Hopefully by introducing kids today to our products and the many uses they will help perpetuate the design cycles of Intelligent Compressed Air Products.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

How can you protect people that don’t protect themselves?

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

My sister-in-law and my nephews are traveling from Columbus to Cincinnati for a visit this weekend. My nephews are 18 months and 3 years old, and they will find any sharp, fragile, or flammable object within walking, crawling or climbing distance. Of course they don’t consider these things dangerous. All they see are fun new toys. Yesterday, I battened down the hatches for the nephew hurricane that will be barreling down Interstate 71 this weekend, and there were more dangerous or scary items in the house that the nephews will want to use than I could hide.

At EXAIR, we strive to provide products that intelligently use compressed air, but everyday we have customers who are using compressed air in unsafe manner. We try to educate many of our customers and the industry as whole of the dangers and that can be associated with compressed air. The chief concern is that compressed air may cause an embolism by forcing air into the bloodstream through a break in the skin or body opening. Because of this risk, OSHA has laid down several rules for using compressed air for cleaning purposes inside the work place. To quote the OSHA Instruction STD 1-13.1, “The requirements for dynamic flow are such that in the case when dead ending occurs a static pressure at the main orifice shall not exceed 30 psi. This requirement is necessary in order to prevent a back pressure buildup in case the nozzle is obstructed or dead ended.

An open pipe used for cleaning violates this rule. Yet everyday I speak to a customer who are using open pipes to remove chips, dust or water from parts. If a employees hand is trapped against the open tube, serious injury will result. EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles are designed with multiple openings and fins to protect those openings, so that air always has a path to escape.

 

Nozzle Lineup

 

The other safety concern with an open pipe is the noise level.  Open pipes can produce noise levels over 100 dBA which violates OSHA’s standard for maximum Allowable Noise Exposure for even 2 hours per day.  EXAIR Super Air Nozzles will reduce noise levels to create a safer more productive work environment.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW