Thanks for the warm welcome and a "pay it forward" offer

[slippery73]

Group W,

If you ever have a problem with your spray booth or need parts and filters, drop me a line.  I am a GFS distributor for new equipment, and I am certified on almost all of the product lines out there.  Gas fired burner?  No problem.  If I cannot help you fix it over the phone, I have good friends in the area that can help.

Mike

Send me a PM with your contact info, we are moving into a new space and will be setting up a new booth there.

[gran398]

It is great to do business together here at the house

[HIFLUTIN]

Wow Shi-Poke You guys are a livin legend on skinny water boats on "left" coast of Fl.
I will swing in. Have a 17 Iam doing & are going to be ready to "shoot" in a couple weeks(Months)
FYI have a Millwork Business know what you are going thru etc

[Group W Bench]

Hiflutin,

Swing on by. I'm actually in your neck of the woods at East Bay and Missouri in Largo at least 2-3 times per week. Closing on the sale of the old Hospice office building is scheduled for the first week of November, so hopefully, I won't be going by to check up on the property ever again. Closing can't come soon enough, as that 33,000 square foot albatross has sat vacant since Schiller University relocated to Ulmerton a year ago.

[seabob4]

Hiflutin,

Swing on by. I'm actually in your neck of the woods at East Bay and Missouri in Largo at least 2-3 times per week. Closing on the sale of the old Hospice office building is scheduled for the first week of November, so hopefully, I won't be going by to check up on the property ever again. Closing can't come soon enough, as that 33,000 square foot albatross has sat vacant since Schiller University relocated to Ulmerton a year ago.

I've often wondered whether Schiller was a "real" University...

And then they move to Ulmerton.  Remember my days at Intrepid.  Ulmerton is by far one of the worst roads to travel in Pinellas... :x  :x

[Group W Bench]

Seabob,

Schiller was/is a real university that historically served a particular niche in the international education space. It was established by a truly amazing man and mentor of mine named Walter Leibrecht. He passed several years ago, but I will always remember his sage advice and counsel. I am still involved in settling his estate. The operating entity know as Schiller was sold in 2006 to a private equity group.

Dr. Leibrecht was a German immigrant who was arrested for vagrancy the first time he came to Florida as a salesman. He later earned a Ph.d. from the University of Chicago. While teaching at Univ. of Chicago in 1960's, he closed his first big real estate trade. He realized if lots in certain suburbs were 1/2 acre or larger, the municipalities did not require the same horizontal improvements as the more traditionally spaced lots. He put on option on a big parcel that could be subdivided into 1/2 acre "estate lots" and presold the subdivided parcels to other faculty and staff at the University. Pretty damn clever for a religion professor.

As a professor, the good Doc was often approached by Americans with folks serving in Europe about studying abroad. He came up with the concept of a German school utilizing an American system of higher education making it possible for American students to study a term in Germany without losing any time or academic credit due to any differences which existed between the American and German academic systems.

In 1963 he established the first campus of Schiller College at the medieval castle of Ingersheim Germany and named it after the famous 18th century German poet, Schiller. The college was a success when colleges and universities all over the US chose Schiller as their study abroad venue in Germany. A second and third campus were opened in Germany and in subsequent years the good Doc opened campuses in Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, London, and Dunedin. Basically, he would acquire real estate with significant capital appreciation potential in different cities, and expand the study abroad concept to that city. It may not seem so innovative now, but remember that study abroad programs were not common in the early 1960's.

You are probably familiar with some of the Schiller campuses like the old Fenway Hotel overlooking St. Joseph Sound in Dunedin. He basically acquired the entire block off Edgewater Dr. and cashed out in the 2005 boom when a group of developers were going to convert that 1920s building into a condo/hotel (uh-huh). Not bad for a guy who started in FL by getting arrested for vagrancy.

[seabob4]

Eugene,
Thank you for a very informative education!  My education comes from the more traditional methods and schools, University of Illinois, University of Central Florida.  Quite different, although not "better", than the learning concept developed by Dr. Leibrecht.  Industrial Engineering was my major at first, then accounting/business management.  

I talked to Scott this evening, would be very interested in talking to you.  PM me for contact info if you want...AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!  

[gran398]

Good stuff. Making acquaintances...nothing finer.

[Mcdiver]

Mcdiver,
Thanks for the kind offer. I wish I knew about you back when we had to buy all new fusable links, tanks, supression control box/thingamajigger, etc for fire supression in the booth. Y'all sure are proud of those parts. The fire marshal is happy though. I feel like you get punished for going through the process of applying for proper occupational licenses and hazmat plans with the City and Fire Department. The previous owner of the spray booth somehow made it for nearly a decade without a spray booth inspection tag. I submit docs to the City, and the Fire Dept. is riding my ass like Brokeback Mountain. Actually, the Fire Marshal is a good egg and a fisherman to boot. It's just that a decade of deferred maintenance repair to a booth doesn't come cheap.

I don't deal with fire systems, but I do have a good fire guy that takes care of that for me.  Like me, he will go just about anywhere to help a good person.  Glad to hear they are happy though.  As I said, If you need anything from filters to parts in the future, just drop me a line.