What are you doing right now?

[gmcunni]

just got home from company softball game (we won). reinstalling Windows XP on wife's computer since it keeps crashing.

[Greg]

Working from home with a sick kid.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wasting time at work..eating pretzals..drinking sugar free red bull..About to head out to 3 different cemeteries and check out some tombstones..a pretty normal day..

[drjeff]

Wasting time at work..eating pretzals..drinking sugar free red bull..About to head out to 3 different cemeteries and check out some tombstones..a pretty normal day..

To be serious for a second GSS, when you're checking out a tombstone, what are you looking for, style, stone type, weathering of the stone, just curious

[2knees]

trying to figure out just what my new job entails. I was just moved, laterally, to Manager of Analysis.

who comes up with these job titles?

I think my new job description shouldve been Report Bitch.

[Warp Daddy]

Yah and you now aspire to be VP of Haraassment

[severine]

Wasting time online. Not feeling very motivated today. I'll probably take the kids for a walk soon, though.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

To be serious for a second GSS, when you're checking out a tombstone, what are you looking for, style, stone type, weathering of the stone, just curious

Granite doesn't weather..marble does due to acid rain..most of what we sell are granite monuments but we also sell a bunch of bronze markers for memorial parks.

I measure the monument..length by width by heigh..if it is a slant marker I also measure the top, side, and front nosings..if it's a bevel marker...I measure the height in the front and the back..and on ornate monuments with lots of step-downs..there can be several additional measurements. I mark down what the color is and if it's an unusual color..I refer to a guidebook with dozens of different types of granite.

I mark whether the top is oval, serpentine or flat....whether the top and sides are polished or rough..whether the front and back are polished or steeled. Whether the carvings are flat carved, shape carved or sculptured. Whether there is lithichrome(a dye) in the recessed cavities. I take a photo of the monument and if the family wants an exact duplicate..I attach tracing paper to the face of a monument with duct tape and rub it with a tennis ball so our design company can make an identical stencil. It's actually pretty cool and we get alot of really nice $5,000-$15,000 orders with sculpture work, custom shapes and custom etchings and the occasional mauseleum which can run from $50k-$400K. In the past few years we made the Jim Thorpe statue which is about 18 feet high and the Bill Yank statue in center Square Hackettstown NJ which is 33 feet high we got really good exposure from NBC news. It seems morbid to some people but it allows me to ski alot.

[drjeff]

Granite doesn't weather..marble does due to acid rain..most of what we sell are granite monuments but we also sell a bunch of bronze markers for memorial parks.

I measure the monument..length by width by heigh..if it is a slant marker I also measure the top, side, and front nosings..if it's a bevel marker...I measure the height in the front and the back..and on ornate monuments with lots of step-downs..there can be several additional measurements. I mark down what the color is and if it's an unusual color..I refer to a guidebook with dozens of different types of granite.

I mark whether the top is oval, serpentine or flat....whether the top and sides are polished or rough..whether the front and back are polished or steeled. Whether the carvings are flat carved, shape carved or sculptured. Whether there is lithichrome(a dye) in the recessed cavities. I take a photo of the monument and if the family wants an exact duplicate..I attach tracing paper to the face of a monument with duct tape and rub it with a tennis ball so our design company can make an identical stencil. It's actually pretty cool and we get alot of really nice $5,000-$15,000 orders with sculpture work, custom shapes and custom etchings and the occasional mauseleum which can run from $50k-$400K. In the past few years we made the Jim Thorpe statue which is about 18 feet high and the Bill Yank statue in center Square Hackettstown NJ which is 33 feet high we got really good exposure from NBC news.

Cool stuff, I'd imagine that when it gets down to it, the possibilities with respect to design get rather large.

It seems morbid to some people but it allows me to ski alot.

Hey, you're talking to someone who funds the ski habit by sticking my fingers in people's mouths and then "stabbing" them with a needle

[riverc0il]

Just finished a Dogfish Head 90 Minute and about to grill up some BBQ Chicken