2025-01-2 ... YouTube Content Creator
A few days ago, Debby and I were looking at some YouTube content from Steven Smith on his MyLifeOutdoors Channel.  He was doing some serious gear testing, both in the field and in controlled conditions with some fun testing equipment he made himself.  He was doing just the kind of stuff we are interested in ... testing both performance and chemical contamination.  We decided we should get in touch with this gent.  Turns out, we didn't have to.  He contacted us on New Year's Eve.  Looking forward to speaking with him!

2025-01-01 ... People ... New Year Reflections
Usually I don't post on the Big Days.  But today, I am.

This isn't directly wool-related, but I've been thinking about how so many people I've "met" (frequently only by phone or even only by email) through work and business have become friends.  Also, many people met in social settings become colleagues, employees, contractors ...

Yesterday, we got the news that a customer-friend had passed away very unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, which was also his birthday, about 70 years ago.  Tim had been a customer for several years, and really liked our wool.  He did some testing for us, and gave us a lot of suggestions.  He'd even been in touch with other customers.  We'd interacted with his family a little because they gave him a bunch of our gift certificates.  He was waiting on me for 14 backorders.  Always good to hear from Tim.  A co-worker once said to me NOBODY HAS A LOCK ON TOMORROW.  Indeed.  Our sympathies to Tim's family.  And to Tim, Hail and Farewell.

Friends / colleagues / friends has been a constant theme for me.  And, given that my work prior to WeatherWool was all about the paycheck, my co-workers were doubly important.

I was a disaster as a student, but my roommate from freshman year was just the opposite, and landed a great job at a top Madison Avenue financial magazine shortly after graduating with degrees in finance and journalism.  Fred got me a try-out as a part-time figure-clerk, and this was my first white-collar employment.  None of the real journalists wanted anything to do with that work, so they let a disheveled but friendly Greenwich Village hippie take a shot.   It was a great opportunity for me.  I learned some very important things there.  My boss eventually let me write the column that accompanied the figures.  I'm still friends with Tom, almost 50 years later.  It took me probably 20 years before I realized Tom was happy to let me write about my numbers ... one less chore on his plate ... and editing my writing was easier than doing the writing himself.  Plus I learned a little bit about editing.  One of the first things gleaned at the magazine was a professional perspective -- DON'T BE AFRAID TO SET YOUR OWN COURSE -- that is fundamental to WeatherWool.  As a result of that job, we have our DOs and DON'Ts page.

About three years after starting at the magazine, although still doing a monthly column for them, I was working full-time at a financial services company with offices on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center.  That was, by far, the best building I ever worked in.  And I doubt I will ever look at the Manhattan skyline without feeling rage.  It was a fantastic company and just as wonderful a place to work.  My sophomore-year roommate was hired there when I told him about an opening, and he had a wonderful career-run with them.  He and I often laughed that he never even showed his resume.  They hired him based on the interviews.  The Towers had huge, 55-person elevators that zoomed from street-level to the 78th floor in about 30 seconds.  One day in the elevator I saw a friend from the magazine.  Jackie was looking for work, and she was a perfect match for a sales-job opening on the 104th floor.  She stayed something like 15 years, said it was her best job.  My last piece of writing for the magazine was about nine years ago ... a contribution to a remembrance of Gil, the founder/owner, that I felt honored to provide.

Two months ago, I attended the wedding of my freshman-year dorm next-door neighbor.  Bob (really, it was Angela's doing!) threw a real bash ... Debby and I were almost completely away from work for more than three days.  I still haven't caught up!  Bob is a real-estate developer, and when I noticed that he used WEATHER in the name of one of his projects, it hit me that WeatherWool would be a great name for this company.  Bob's graphic designer did our logo.

Another friend, Bob Krause from Morgan Stanley days of 30 years ago, is an owner of WeatherWool.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an interview with Elon Musk's Mom.  She said Elon tries to do good things, and he does not try to make money.  If we make great woolens, we will be doing good and we will make many more friends.  We will try.