Travis

Forget about the beer and food for me and send me a round trip plane ticket (I'll settle for coach) and a decent room for a couple nights and I am there.

Batch, thank you for the story. I think our government tends to be a double edged sword. For the most part it starts out with the best of intenetions but generally turns out bad. I got an email the other day that shows just how reliant the government has taught us to be. It doesnt have anything to do with signs (sorry) but it does go along with the way the last few posts of this thread, and it is just a sad story that shows just how screwed up a 'good thing' can get. Read the whole thing. Sharon Jasper has been victimized. Sharon Jasper has been rabidly wronged. She has become a Section 8 care case "the victim of ever changing public housing policies. Sharon Jasper has spent 57 or her 58 years dedicated to one cause and one cause only, and has nothing to show for her dedicated servitude. She has lived in Section 8 housing all but 1 of her 58 years. It was a legacy passed down from her parents who moved into Section 8 housing in 1949 when she was six months old. She has passed the legacy down to her children, but fears they may have to get jobs to pay for the utilities and deposits. She laments about her one year hiatus from the comfort of her Section 8 nirvana, ' I tried it for a year..you know, working and all. It's not anything I would want to go through again, or wish on anyone in my family, but I am damn proud of that year.' Sharon was moved out of her St. Bernard housing project after hurricane Katrina and into a new, yet albeit, substandard quarterage. As can be noted from the above photo of her new Section 8 home, it is repugnant and not suitable for someone of Sharon Jasper's seniority status in the system. 'Don't be fooled by them hardwood floors,' says Sharon. 'They told me they were putting in scraped wood floors cause it was more expensive and elegant, but I am not a fool "that was just a way to make me take scratched up wood because I am black. The 60 inch HD TV? It may look nice but it is not a plasma. It's not a plasma because I'm black. Now they want me to pay a deposit and utilities on this dump.' 'Do you know why?' She has held her tongue in silenc e through the years of abuse by the system, but it came to a head at the New Orlean's city council meeting where discussions were under way about the tearing down of the St. Bernard projects. When a near riotous exchange between groups opposing the tearing down of St. Bernard and groups wanting the dilapidated buildings torn down and newer ones built, Sharon unleashed verbal hell with her once silenced tongue. The object of her oratory prowess was an acquiescent poor white boy in attendance. The context of her scathing rebuke was, 'Just because you pay for my house, my car, my big screen and my food, I will not be treated like a slave!' and 'Back up and Shut up! Shut up, white boy! Shut up, white boy!' Recapping from the mental log of the city council minutes in her head, Sharon repines, 'Our families have been displaced all over the United States. They are being forced to commit crimes in cities they are unfamiliar with. It is a very uncomfor table situation for them. Bring them back, then let's talk about redevelopment.' Sharon directs the reporter's attention across the street to Duncan Plaza where homeless people are living in tents and states that, 'I might do better out there with one of these tents.' She further lamented her sentiments about her situation,' I might be poor, but I don't have to live poor.

True, Mr. Solo is indeed the cooler of the two. However Skywalker is the one that always makes the winning shot! I just noticed the banner on the front page, they really got you wound up dont they. I would imagine you could be one to make some noise about it too with the resources you have at hand. F**ckin awesome, Viva Le Resistance!! I had actually come up with a few questions and discussion about the topic at hand but damn it I plan to be an ultra busy day dealing with folks and I wanna stay in a good mood as long as I can.

Now I am sure that 20-30 of those views are from me. I am always getting caught up in running out of time when typing a long winded response. Erik, perhaps you are the Luke Skywalker of our generation in the sign industry. I think regardless of the improvements that we 'may' see with LED's (which I will say doesnt do a thing for me as I tend to live in the now and for some odd reason tend to have good common sense that has always told me that LED companies are full of shit and recently have been proven so by neon folk doing their homework as well as obvious LED failures and short comings, simply put they have not been the saving grace they have been said to be by a long shot, but I guess we will see how the future unfolds) we have more to deal with than LED manufacturers, government and such. We also have the general public that has a big hole in their cheeks from the big ole fishing hook that has been cast. I think all would agree that the sign industry is quite small compared to the general public. Unfortunately we have industry associations that are paid to act in our best interests and for the most part we let them do what they want. How many association member actually do more than send in their monthly check. As you, Erik, have been saying without a loud voice no one will be prompted to do anything. Why should they, no one is fussin so lets do it. As for fussing on a web site, it is certainly a great tool to get info out to folks looking for it. As the dude that is buying a new dedicated server mentioned, he is picking up on a lot. And as Gary mentioned, what is he going to do with this new found knowledge? Here we are again, this is third time I have started to reply to this and have ran out of time. Even though I feel my comments are incomplete and ramblish I will post it just so you folks will know there is someone else concerned about this and also looking into it.

Dont forget the duh!

I know that we are well insured but I do not know of us having any particular licensing. There are a few cities around us that require us to become licensed by the city which as I understand is filling out some paper work for the city that lets them know who we are and that we are indeed insured. Are you guys talking about electrical licenses, installation licenses, business licenses or what?

Thats a good one there. Fortunately I did not (at least I dont recall) asking this. But I have been asked a couple times.

Smooth move Batch, you have just invited another topic change to the original post ironically enough by bringing up,,, topic change. However I would say that the current conversation has plenty to do with the original question of basically why is everyone so quiet and unwilling to become active for the bettering of our nitch in the sign industry (thats how I took it anyway). I think one of the great things about this site is that we are all having a conversation about particular topics. Fortunatelly most all of the time we are all basically civilized throughout, even though the topic may go off on a tangent, the conversation. West Coast Sign Guy posted a question and Gary (and others) have given their take on it. Fair enough I would say. Personally WCSG I think the majority of us are basically lazy and feel belittled and ignorant by things of regulation (myself included). The ole "whatever I think say or do wont do anything" feeling is the way I feel about it. It all takes time, effort, knowledge and a network of contacts to get things done on the grand scale of regulation. Already my time is spread thin, I have to prioritize my efforts, I know only a little bit of what I want changed and I do not know any of the people that can help me get what i want done. **Now keep in mind these are general thoughts and just my take on it. Now this mercury ban in Vermont and other states coming soon was a total let down to the neon section of the sign industry. This ban has opened the door for other states environmental whackos to join in. And where has been and will be our beloved sign associations? They werent there in Vermont, why would they take care of me even though I have been a loyal 'paying' member since spot was a puppy? These associations are paid to take care of their people and didnt do it. Now that everyone is bitching do we start to notice them to start stepping up to the plate. Now on the flip side of that, what about the neon makers in Vermont? I dont recall hearing of any protesting rallys going on during the legal process of the ban. Laziness is what I get from all that, but who the hell am I here in Illinois. You didnt see me protesting in Vermont, all you saw from me was complaining online. I am a real go getter I tell you. I kind of went to rattling there. Personally I would like to become part of the better good for my industry and I am taking steps to do so but in the meantime until I feel that what I think or say can do any good, I wont be the person to change the world so to speak. I think what Gary noted about the younger generation has alot of valid points. My take on this is I have personally seen these spend 5 grand and I am a sign man put my father out of business. I have seen a fella spend a few hours in the fires only to put down on his resume that he is a glass bender (I snapped on this guy when I found out about that one). I have seen younger people spend more time figuring out the most effortless way to do something than it would have taken to do it the 'hard way'. I have seen signs basically ruined and mostly need redone because the advice of the old timer was not taken becaus it was just to hard and time consuming. I have personally seen LED's and digital prints, for example, ruin a sign and cheat the customer out of money because they paid to much for a sign that cannot properly compete with other signs around this customers business. So for these reasons, and many more I am sure (I dont really know because I am still a pup by old timer standards), old timers carefully choose who they share with and everyone in the industry should take not of this when choosing the right sign to offer, the right materials to use and so on. In a perfect world we would all feel free to share our knowledge with anyone that asks. But then again in a perfect world none of us would be dumb ass's and would all have good common sense.

And how should someone expect to contact you or this sign supply should someone wish to inquire about the product being liquidated?

Gary this is probably none of my business but what exactly, and in great detail, did you have to do with the first two? I agree, congratulations to you and your wife. Just thinking about it brings me a warm fuzzy feeling to remember the hatching of my two children.

If you are using X3 Freddy is correct, you will have a little red shape at the bottom left after you 'fit to path'. Left click on this and you will be able to put the text anywhere along the circles path. Keep in mind that if you select 'shift' before moving your mouse the text will stay on the original circles path otherwise the circle will shift larger or smaller as you move your mouse around. Once you get the text where you want it use the mirror tab at the top to flip the text and then use the red shape to finish if needed. Of course this assumes you are using X3. I dont recall it being this easy in earlier version. Or better yet I just didnt know about this feature in earlier versions. I am sure there is a whole lot of stuff on this program that will never even thinks of using or need.

Why cant I have nose candy? I'm not diabetic or anything.

Seems like that kind of goes along with the 'introductory' sales pitch. Such as the special introductory pricing or quantities and so on. Everything is exactly as you want it to start but once you get settled in pricing goes up, quantities reduce, quality goes away.

I think that is a no brainer there.

You think they would have came up with something better to scam folks with than being a neon guy. Fo example they could have claimed to be,,,, oh i dont know maybe and LED guy or something

I would take a look at the 'save as' box and the 'sort type' box which you should see on the export screen. If this doesnt help detail your procedure and I may be able to better help.

This is basically what we are doing now. However our images are rather genaric compared to your images and what I think you are going for. I could see doing something for big clients that a sign company really wants to impress. When we want to impress we put the illustration on photo paper. I know what you all are thinking, but even we can be high class from time to time.

Fortunately this is one of the few sites that I have actually remembered my screen name and password for. But I am also having to log in everytime I come to the site. For awhile I was having to log in everytime I came to the front page even after logging in at first.

I agree, you would think that in a public setting a fixture or explosion proof container would be code.

Was it my birthday? Another year come and gone. They just go by faster and faster as I get older.

This is the first time I sat down and read the entire story. First off what a f**king moron. When the dude was a toddler did his mother give him these $30 gloves, I doubt it. What kid doesnt try to put their fingers in the wall outlets? The lady got herself $300,000 by raising her son to be a dumb ass, good job lady. To me this is like the lady that sued the tabacco company because she got cancer from smoking for 30+ years.

My dad always used to tell me if I could figure out how to recycle vinyl I would be rich biatch!

You know it, one day on the service or install truck and then you are certified to run a truck on your own.

Neon is the Gold Standard for over 70 years, I like that.

A happy birthday is nice but I think for John, he needs a little buttering up. Something like 'you look pretty good for 61. I would have never guessed you a day over 22264 days old. Should get you a free sample.