RichC | May 11, 2024
As someone who has spent their career in printing and publishing, I should know this, but why do so many creative people and graphic designers make reading magazines and some newspapers so painfully difficult? The typography in some is ridiculous. I enjoy reading in the evening when my eyes are tired and the lighting is […]
RichC | August 15, 2023
Having a customer for over 30 years is something that I should be super happy about (and for the most part, I am), but in August like clockwork it is a trigger for me that it is the end of summer and the beginning of a new printing year, at least with the Greater Akron […]
RichC | November 25, 2020
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RichC | October 1, 2020
While clearing out a little more garage clutter this past weekend in order to gain some space as the weather changes (things are getting too crowded), I finally ripped apart an old type galley cabinets that I hauled from my building in Cuyahoga Falls years ago. Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. wasn’t really an old […]
RichC | August 29, 2020
On Friday afternoon I stopped in to talk with Rick Benhase, the guy looking at the Packard transmission for me. He is a truly old car nut and can’t seem to get rid of his “fleet” once he buys or fixes them. This applies to more than just cars, too (read below if you must […]
RichC | June 20, 2020
A couple weeks ago I shared an old automotive link from MyDesultoryBlog.com on Twitter and one of my automotive buddies sent me a private message asking about the name of my blog (now nearly 7000 posts). The conversation had me contemplate the early decisions and thoughts .. or lack of thought .. when all of […]
RichC | May 31, 2020
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RichC | April 26, 2020
Some of us are fortunate in life to have had a few teachers take enough interest to make a difference. I suspect they inherently knew the positive influence a good teacher can make long after a student leaves their classroom. One such teacher, really an extra curricular advisor for me, was Doris Eggleston. Last week […]
RichC | January 17, 2020
Back in the late 1980s when I was starting in the commercial printing and eventually ‘small time’ publishing business (Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co), I didn’t realize how far ahead of the game we were when focusing on the subscription model. Early on we were able to capitalize on few people in the printing industry […]
RichC | January 16, 2020
While soring through my office file cabinet to make room for more current folders, I ran across an old lease contract and photo from an “almost happened” business decision. It would have been a decision and a location move that may have changed our future and had ripple effects even for the lives of my […]
RichC | November 8, 2019
We often use the term “Luddite” whenever we refer to people resisting new technology or mechanization. Recently a Wall Street Journal article detailed a timeline of changes as much of the world is faced with yet another wave of robotic automation and artificial intelligence (AI) changing career and taking over many of the jobs we […]
RichC | June 27, 2019
While cleaning out a few old files folders, I came across a couple Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. building photos in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio that my insurance agent took and included glued onto a policy folder. They are likely from the late 1980s and are worth archiving and using for a Throwback Thursday #TBT post. […]
RichC | May 14, 2019
It has taken awhile, but someone who enjoys Walleye fishing decided they wanted all my MayFly Lures. He made me an offer and so decided to give him a “buy them all” price. At least I’ve recovered most of my printing losses on this project from years ago and likely made a fisherman happy. He’ll […]
RichC | February 27, 2019
Since printing presses (and bindery equipment) is in my DNA, I can’t help but have a soft spot for this guy tweaking his equipment to spit out paper airplanes. Personally I would rather … and remember many-a-late nights … calculating $$$ as our sheet-fed offset presses mesmerizingly crank out piles of paper. 🙂
RichC | June 19, 2018
I generally do not read longer Facebook posts, but while scanning a few friends comments on Father’s Day remembering their dads, Kathy Pangborn (good friend and neighbor of my inlaws) reposted a story that had me remembering the different father-types that I knew. Neither my mother or father-in-laws’ or mother or fathers’ parents (my grandparents) […]
RichC | March 27, 2018
While cleaning out old Consolidated Printing and Publishing files and boxes stored in our basement, I ran across about 50 May Fly Lures made by a charter fishing company. We printed and packaged these in batches on demand for Darrel Rowh’s side company Misty Blue Tackle and a note on the box indicated these were […]
RichC | October 13, 2017
The early 1980s were challenging as manufacturing headed overseas, inflation ate up the buying power of every dollar and the cost to borrow was at an all time high. In fact, Brenda and I were giddy to have acquired a 12% mortgage on our first house in 1982 because our friends were applying for new […]
RichC | August 12, 2016
Change can be depressing, especially when it comes to losing a longtime client that I now think of as friends like the folks at SummitSWCD in Akron. In this case there isn’t anything I can do since as voters in Summit County approved expanding the county’s data center and information technology department. They will now […]
RichC | June 13, 2016
The death of an in-shape friend and someone who is my age, really hit me when I read Bill Gordon had died on Facebook Sunday afternoon. He was one of my Ohio Northern University roommates and according to closer friends, he was on a ride Saturday morning and collapsed. How can that be??? He was an avid […]
RichC | October 27, 2015
Great memories of busy days logging the register cash deposits from the walk-in trade back in my Cuyahoga Falls office. It seems like a lifetime ago … and yes, I do kind of miss it. Keeping the business growing was challenging as the digital age matured, but those early days gave me a sense of […]
RichC | October 31, 2012
The campaign mailings haven’t stopped coming, yet we’re already seeing holiday catalogs filling the mailbox each day. No less than five were in the mail yesterday … and don’t even know how many political flyers? They just head for the trash or get put in my newspaper recycling pile. If I were not in the […]
RichC | November 29, 2011
As someone who has spent a few days working with type (printing), I thought it apropos to share an interesting bit about the “origins of punctuation marks” from a G+ post on my blog … besides I’m too lazy to write something original today. Question Mark ? Origin: When early scholars wrote in Latin, they […]
RichC | July 12, 2011
A recent article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal highlighted what I already know about my line of work – the printing industry is losing jobs. Most of us working in printing and publishing business continue to struggle to stay a float and are wondering if business will ever come back. Thankfully I’m no longer a […]
RichC | March 4, 2009
YourFonts.com makes it easy to create a personalized font based on your own handwriting. I created one in about 15 minutes, including the scanning and uploading — very cool. After printing out the PDF template , I used a fine tip ‘Sharpie‘ to scribble in the letters and numbers as the very easy instructions describe. […]