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How Bad Company

So I haven’t written a blog update for a while. I have so many projects going on, here and there. I’m trying to finish up assignments at the firehouse, while trying to finish up two important projects up at Fanimation, all the while trying to stay true to the assignments at the tattoo shop. While, no one asks too much of me, and while I love all my jobs, I think I might need a vacation. By the time 7 pm hits, I feel like death.  I’m tired all the time, and so I planned a little vacation.

I hang out with a group of friends, whom I’ve dubbed, “The Bad Company” and as many of you know, the Indy 500 Race Weekend is coming up. “The Bad Company” will be making an appearance.

We’ll be the ones with some sort of funny shirt, (or no shirt at all) on. We’ll have buttons on that say “How Bad?” and “Bad Co.” on them. We’ll be wearing bandanas and coonskin caps. And we’ll all be sporting Aviator Sun Glasses. You can find us near the Pagoda on Carb Day and near turn three on race day. It’s an Indiana State Holiday, and we’ll be the ones celebrating the most.

Now you might think wow these are just a bunch of drunks, and I’m not sorry to say you’d be mistaken. While we might be partaking in some adult beverages, we will be mostly just having fun, without getting obnoxiously drunk.

After the race weekend, two members of “Bad Co.” will be setting their sights south to Florida. I will be joining them and their quest for pure relaxation. While I’m down there I will be meeting up with my dad, the man himself, Kim Frank. We will also be visiting another member of Bad Co.’s father. Hopefully a few Bad Company members of the 70’s and 80’s can show this new generation of Bad Co. a good time. Either way, it’ll be nice to be out of sight, out of mind from Indiana, but hey we all need a break every once in a while.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about when I get back from my vacation, and I definitely will have two projects from Fanimation to write about.

Ohh and please keep the “How Bad Company” in your thoughts and if you will be down at the track on this quickly approaching holiday, come meet up with us. You can’t miss us.

The concept of “Earth Day” may sound a bit grand or lofty to many people. What are some ways that the average person can get involved in helping Mother Nature? I have some ideas!

I have been a nature lover ever since my early childhood, when I would explore the Indiana woods with my parents in the springtime. We were “mushrooming,” looking for morels. I think that is when I learned to love the sounds of the birds and the smells of the forest. My hope in life was to be a ranger in a national or state park. Even though I studied geology and biology in college, that hope got sidetracked. Later I got more interested in identifying birds. It started out with putting out a birdfeeder in our yard and learning the common backyard birds of Indiana.

Then I found the Boone County Bluebird Society, which started me on a wonderful hobby.

A bluebird family

 Bluebirds need help with nesting boxes due to loss of their natural nesting habitats.
Within a day of putting up my first bluebird box, a beautiful bluebird pair showed up! I was hooked. There is nothing like the bright flash of blue of a male bluebird on a sunny day. Now I have been president of the Bluebird Society for over 12 years. We have a booth at local fairs, quarterly meetings and I do bluebird talks for interested groups. My bluebird trail consists of over a dozen bluebird houses around the county. I try to add some new ones every year. Some people have hundreds! Visit our website for more information and links to other bluebird web pages, including the North American Bluebird Society.

Three years ago I took a course with the Indiana Wildlife Federation (which has their office near Fanimation) to become a Wildlife Habitat Steward. The elements of a backyard wildlife habitat are food, cover, water and a place to raise young. Ed and I have a certified backyard wildlife habitat at our home. The city of Zionsville, Indiana, where Fanimation is located, is a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation because of the many certified wildlife-friendly areas, including town properties as well as individual homes that are certified.

As soon as I finished the habitat steward training, I started thinking about starting a wildlife habitat on the Fanimation grounds. This week we put up a bluebird house on the grassy area next to the building.

Ed Frampton installs the support pole for the birdhouse

We already have many trees and shrubs, so it won’t take too much more to become certified. Do you think Nathan, Tom and Ed would let me put in a pond? Something simpler would be to add a birdbath, feeder or small butterfly garden. Just around the corner from the office, I have another box that currently has a nest with 5 eggs in it. It’s fun to be driving to work and see the male bluebird sitting on top of the box on guard, as the female bluebird sits on the eggs inside.

The finished birdhouse located in Fanimation's adjoining field.

Even though I never became a park ranger or professional naturalist, I’m glad I have found these outlets for my interests. Ok, I will admit that every time we visit a national park, I still get a pang of jealousy when I see a ranger in their brown uniform!! I’m happy to have the opportunities to teach people about bluebirds and bird feeding, and how to make their yards or businesses more wildlife friendly. I still have a LOT to learn myself! Think about adding a feeder, a bird house, or native plants to your yard or workplace, you’ll enjoy it.

Visit National Wildlife Federation to learn about how to create and certify your wildlife habitat, and Wild Birds Unlimited to learn about birds and bird feeding. You can visit me at the bluebird booth at this local Earth Day event:

Z’GreenFest, April 22nd 2-5 p.m., Zionsville, IN

Celebrate Earth Day/Arbor Day at our 6th annual Z’GreenFest. The Friends of Zion Nature Center and Boone REMC are sponsoring this festival featuring over 30 organizations that inspire “green” living. There will be non-stop musical entertainment, hands-on activities, live animals, and games for all ages to enjoy. This event will take place at the Zion Nature Center located at 690 Beech St. (Rain location: Zionsville Town Hall, 1100 W. Oak St).

Submitted by Christy Frampton,  christy@fanimation.com

If you read my Carbon Footprint blog yesterday, you learned that buying local food is beneficial to the planet because it reduces the carbon emissions produced during transportation. If you decide to be brave and watch Food Inc. you will also discover that buying local food could potentially save your life (or at least add a few years to your life span). Although Food Inc. is a documentary, it follows a plot line typically associated with horror flicks. From the evil empire producing genetically altered baby chicks that grow into grossly deformed chickens to the mysterious strains of bacteria causing life threatening illness in thousands of people, this movie was almost as scary as The Shining. Before the credits started to roll, I vowed to become a vegetarian and eat only local, organically grown food. Unfortunately, like most emotionally driven resolutions made in the heat of the moment, my commitment slowly waned as my memory of this terrifying movie diminished. My new, more attainable, goal is to break some of the most environmentally damaging and unhealthy practices I’ve developed over the course of my 32 years on this planet.

Fear of death or serious illness at the hands of factory food has probably been the greatest motivation to change my food habits, but I’m also fortunate to be surrounded by family and friends that are committed to sustainable and healthy eating. My cousin Chris, friend Janet and their team of entrepreneurial food lovers recently developed Farmers Market, an amazing resource for finding local, organically grown food. In a nutshell, the mission of Farmers Market is to make fresh, local food as common in the American kitchen as frozen pizza. To accomplish this goal, Farmers Market makes it as easy as typing in your five digit zip code to find locally grown food in your geographic area. In addition to guiding you to sustainable food sources, Farmers Market also provides delicious recipes. My personal favorites are written by my friend Katie who is witty and fun to read and provides pictures, ingredients and step by step cooking instructions that make it possible for even the most novice chefs, like me, to tackle her recipes.

As you may have guessed from the title of this blog, today’s post covers carbon footprints. What is a carbon footprint, you ask? Well, the abbreviated answer is that it’s a method of calculating the greenhouse gas emissions that you produce each year.

In an effort to write this from a completely honest perspective, I calculated my own carbon footprint and was dismayed to discover that my estimated emissions are slightly higher than the U.S. national average of 27 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Considering the fact that I practice conservation methods like turning off my lights, using energy efficient bulbs and running my ceiling fan instead of blasting my air conditioner, I couldn’t believe that my carbon footprint is actually higher the national average!

After conducting more research, I discovered that it takes more than casual sustainability practices to diminish your carbon footprint. Here are some of the most interesting, an in my opinion feasible, practices that you can adopt to reduce your carbon footprint:

• Eat less meat – by simply reducing your meat consumption to 1 meal per day, you can reduce your carbon footprint up to 12 tons per year
• Buy local – eating locally grown food and shopping at neighborhood stores reduces the amount of carbon emissions produced when goods are shipped
• Get some exercise – transportation accounts for 33% of the emissions in the United States. So next time you are tempted to drive 2 miles to get ice cream, walk or ride your bike instead. It’s practically guaranteed to improve the flavor of your vanilla shake.
Not only will this improve your health, but can substantially pad your pocketbook. The average cost of owning and operating a car is more than $8,700 per year!
• Ditch the Dasani – the packaging and shipping involved in the bottled water process creates a huge carbon footprint. Investing in a water purifier and re-usable water bottle will ultimately save you money and help the planet
• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – I first learned about the three R’s in middle school science class, but as I shamefully admitted yesterday, have long fallen out of practice. With my new commitment to living a more sustainable life, I discovered a wealth of recycling resources simply by googling, “recycle Indianapolis”

Please visit our blog again tomorrow to learn about the local food movement.

I am sad and slightly embarrassed to admit that my conservation efforts peaked in 7th Grade when I attempted to form a local chapter of Greenpeace with my best friend. At the ripe old age of 12, we decided it was our mission to save the planet from evil doers who refused to recycle, re-use and reduce. We would meet at least once a week after school to conduct our “Kids for Environmental Consciousness” surveys which basically consisted of opening the yellow pages, dialing random phone numbers and barraging unsuspecting strangers with a series of questions about their personal commitment to environmental conservation. I fondly remember the sense of purpose those afternoons imbued in me and the unwavering belief that my efforts would surely inspire each person who participated in my survey to save the planet one recyclable aluminum can at a time.

Twenty years later, my friend was the chief editor of Green Piece Indy, an amazing blog about local sustainability efforts, and I was struggling to find time to recycle my own bottles and cans while working full time and adjusting to life in a new city. When I reconnected with her, I reflected on how far my life had come from the idealistic youth who believed her conservation surveys would inevitably change the world. Since that meeting, I have made a personal commitment to introduce some of that youthful idealism into my adult life and renew my commitment to sustainable practices. That being said, with Earth Day just a week away, I realized that I have only a vague understanding of the significance of this day, its origination and its global impact. Fueled by my reignited passion to positively affect our environment, I discovered the following interesting and educational facts about Earth Day:

• Earth Day was first proclaimed by the city of San Francisco on March 21, 1970 and with the support of United States Senator Gaylord Nelson became a nationally celebrated event on April 22, 1970
• The overwhelming national support of the first Earth Day celebration lead to groundbreaking environmental legislation including the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), the Clean Air Act and federal land preservation efforts
• In 2009, The United Nations designated April 22nd as National Mother Earth Day
• The Earth Day Network coordinates the global celebration of Earth Day and works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden and diversify the global environmental movement
• More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities making it the largest civic observance in the world

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog on easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Part III

I was told, when learning to paint the R/B Enigma that it would be one of the hardest things to paint, simply because of the large area and the way its painted, and of course the finishing touches which I will not be revealing how that’s done.

How I prep the Enigma will tell me how the rest of the paint job will go. I first take it all apart. There are a total of nine parts that need to be painted. I take the motor, and all the hardware out. I keep all of that together, if I lose any of it’s going to be a pain in the ass, believe me I had to find out the hard way. I sand all the parts, and then wipe them down with a shop towel. Next wipe it down with a tack rag and use an air hose to spray off any particles. I want nothing left behind, i.e.:  Dust, hair, etc. I then lay down my black. The black takes two days to fully dry. If I didn’t let it dry for at least two days and tried to put a second coat of anything on, it would wrinkle, or have an “orange peel” look to it. Little bumps will be all over the fan parts, and that my friends, is not acceptable.

The next coat will actually be the Red/Blue. This has to go on perfect or else the finish product will show my mistakes. Sometimes lines from the actual spraying of the paint will come through or if I spray too long on one spot the paint will run. I forgot to mention ‘runs’ when I was talking about the black. I get runs sometimes, all through out the painting process. It happens when I stay too long on one spot on a piece that I am painting. When I say too long on one spot, I mean more than a millisecond. When I paint, it’s quick. It’s not like painting a wall or a house. First off it’s coming out of a pneumatic (air) gun or machine…I don’t like the word “gun”. Guns kill things; I’m not killing the fan.  The air is pressurized at about 120 psi, but I set it so it’s only coming out at about 30psi, which is still pretty fast. Enough to take an eye out, then it would be a gun; not unlike a “Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time” which according to some moms ‘will shoot your eye out’.

Now back to the fan, I lay down the R/B, which is called an intermediate coat, I want to get this coat on perfect, and not leave any of the black undercoat showing. After I am done, I hang up all the parts and then leave them to dry. Really I could put the final coat (clear coat) on the same day as the R/B but I like to give it a day to dry.

The next day I come back to the parts so they can be clear coated. I have a certain clear coat that works best for me, and I will not be telling anyone what I use, however it wouldn’t matter, as I mix in other things. The clear coat is the easiest part to get ‘runs’ in and if that happens, just like the rest of the painting process it has to be fixed once it dries, but the problem with letting it dry to fix it, unlike the other two painting steps, it takes at least ten days to fully dry.  So if there are no problems with the painting process, I still like to wait a minimum of 10-12 days before I start my post-painting steps.

There are a lot of problems that can arise from, what some may say, a simple task, but in all honesty it’s difficult to get professional results when not paying attention to the details. That’s what it is all about in anything you do, whether you want to do it or not, you have to pay attention to the details, to get the desired results. This is my bread and butter. I love doing it, because it has become my muse, what I base everything else on. Everyone has a muse in every profession; decide what yours is and you too may be able to get the desired results out of anything you do.

Don’t forget to find me on Twitter and Facebook!

It’s Music Monday!!! I love music…all kinds and sorts. Right now I’m listening to “This Life” by Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers which is a very important song to me and listen to it almost every morning…just to remind myself of a few things. It’s also the theme song from Sons of Anachy. As I’m sitting here listening to it I realize that this song is what I call an every day, every situation song. It’s starts out by saying Ridin through this world, all alone, God takes your soul, you’re on your own. The Crow flies straight, a perfect line, on the Devil’s Path, until you die. That part means to me, and means other things to other people, but to me it means that no matter what you do in this life, no matter what you are doing right now, YOU are doing it. No one else is and you can’t let anyone take that from you. Whether it’s selling a fan to a customer, giving someone a tattoo or pulling someone out of a burning building…whatever you are doing you are the most important person. You get to choose what to do. You are in control.

Then the chorus hits…it gets me pumped every time! This life is short, Baby that’s a fact, Better live it right, You ain’t comin’ back. It says it all right there. Life is short, whatever you’re doing just make sure its what you want to do…cause theres no point in spending a short life of doing something you don’t want to do…

Gotta raise some hell, Before they take you down, Gotta live this life…Gotta look this world, in the eye, Gotta live this life, till you die. I love this part because to me it means doing something different than everyone else and when they question it…stand up for it. Don’t second guess yourself and just go for it.

You better have soul, nothing else, because when its business time, it’s life or death. The king is dead, But life goes on. Don’t lose your head when a deal goes down. Have your heart and soul in whatever you are doing. For me, it’s sometimes hard to transition from firefighting to painting, to the tattoo world. But I do it none the less and you can too. Take the heart you put into your family or hobbies and put that into your career or your passion and it will flourish. I like the part about the king being dead and not losing your head when a deal goes down…We’re all taught by someone to do some kind of trade, and when that person isn’t around anymore you have to do that job on your own and you can’t lose it, just because your teacher isn’t around.

Better keep your eye, on the road ahead, Gotta live this life! To me it means keep your eye on the prize, something my mother was constantly pounding in my head as I was growing up. Keep your eye on the prize no matter the obstacles in your way, and Just live this life the way it was supposed to be lived…one moment at a time.

Gotta look this world, in the eye, Gotta live this life, till you die. Just reiterating to stand up for yourself, Do the best you can at what you love…you are the most important person in every one of your situations!

What are your favorite songs? What gets you going everyday? Comment back!!! Love you guys!

http://youtu.be/nkm1yJpRt3U - Video for song

Have a great week…and look for Red/Blue Enigma part 3 on Thursday!!!

You can find me on Twitter and Facebook: twitter.com/espencerfrank and www.facebook.com/espencerfrank

One of the new and interesting activities that I’ve recently participated in since becoming a newlywed is the weekend phenomenon commonly referred to as, “House Hunting”. After diligently researching hundreds of properties on Zillow, my husband and I reduced the scope of our hunt to a 30 mile radius including suburban sprawl and urban adventure. As we carefully mapped out our route for the day, we discussed the features that our prospective new home must have. The conversation went something like this, me, “large kitchen open to the living room so that we can easily entertain our family and friends,” my husband, “I agree,” me, “decently sized backyard for our future puppy to run around in,” my husband, “I agree,” me, “lots of windows and natural light and a master bathroom with at least two sinks,” my husband, “I agree.” Okay, you get the picture. Great minds think alike or great mind is quickly learning when it’s easier to just agree with his wife?

With our google map in hand and the vision of our future home in place, my husband and I set out to join the intrepid band of house hunters. Our first stop was a suburban home with lots of square footage and a fenced in back yard almost big enough to entertain my extended family. This is no small feat considering the fact that my Dad has seven brothers and sisters and I’m pretty sure my cousins populate at least 1/3 of Indiana. After spending some time in the backyard imagining a little puppy joyously tearing it up while my aunts, uncles and cousins roam around with plates of barbequed meat, we decided to check out the rest of this expansive abode. Once inside, I began to notice some things that just didn’t sit well with me. Namely the BRASS ceiling fan that looked like it was installed in the mid 1970’s and forgotten about over the course of the next two decades! Aside from the fact that I work for Fanimation and understand that a unique ceiling fan has the power to transform the visual aesthetic of any room, I was slightly distressed that no one informed this home seller that brass has not been popular since the Ford administration. Almost immediately after spotting the ceiling fan, I urged my husband out the front door and on to our next location.

The next stop was a much smaller three bedroom home closer to the city. Despite the reduced square footage, my husband and I instantly felt a stronger connection to the home and the location. This home was in a walk-able neighborhood close to some of our favorite restaurants and friends. Not only did we love the location, but we also loved the interior. From the brand new stove top to the stone tiled and natural wood floors, this place exemplified a masterful combination of cozy and classy. When I looked up at the ceilings, I was pleased to see a stylish hugger ceiling fan in the master bedroom. Although it would need to be replaced with Fanimation if we ever moved in, it was clear these homeowners understood that a brass ceiling fan from 1975 just would not do. I felt compelled to write this blog and share our house hunting experience in the hope that it will enlighten home sellers everywhere. Trust me when I say that a minor investment in your ceiling fan selection could make a major difference in your home selling success!

Fanimation has gone through two painters for this color, before the job came to me. First they went with an automotive painter, but it just didn’t have the pizazz they were looking for. Then they found, another painter. An antique furniture refinisher and repairman by trade, he knew exactly how to give the Enigma that spark Fanimation was looking for. This ‘new’ painter was also my dad. A little background on Kim Frank, while he was an antique restorer and furniture repairman, he was also a firefighter for 21, almost 22 years. When I was in middle school he started collecting and restoring antique fans and, as a 13-year-old kid, I made fun of him…alot. As I got older and started to mature (a little) I started to realize his stuff were pure works of art.

Anyway, my dad started painting these Enigma’s, but also had other jobs on his table and after a few years of painting them, finally said he didn’t have enough time to do these and his other work. He got ahold of me and asked if I wanted to learn how to paint. It just so happens that I am also a firefighter and on my days off was already working for Fanimation in the warehouse. I love anything having to do with art and, folks, custom painting in any terms is surely an art. My dad agreed to teach me and since he is based out of Florida, I took off to Florida (you can imagine they really had to twist my arm as it was the middle of December). He took two weeks and taught be the basics of custom painting which isn’t enough time, but thats all we had to work with. I have since taught myself other techniques and ways to give my orders a professional look. I am still learning and the day I quit learning is the day I hang up my paint gun, turn off the paint booth and walk away…it truly is an art form all its own. So there you go, this has been a brief history on the Red/Blue Enigma and the people who have wrestled with this beast.

Fanimation, as many know, is an extremely unique company with many different styles of fans for all kinds of life styles. I’m sure that many of you have looked through the catalog as I have and thought wow that fan would look great here, and this one would totally give my kitchen what it needs.  Then I have looked through it and saw another fan and thought “oh that’s pretty cool, but I would change….(insert change)” . Well I know I’m not the only one otherwise Fanimation wouldn’t have a custom production department and I wouldn’t be typing any of this out.

A few years ago, Fanimation had an idea for something new, take something unique and make it more so. They took the one-bladed fan, the metro gray Enigma, and painted it Red/Blue. When staring at this color… its purple. There’s no way around it, its purple, of course until you shine light on it, (natural light is the best by the way), then it becomes something totally new, something totally different. It’s Red, no, no it’s blue! WAIT! It’s copper! When looking at this paint it’s something completely different, yet so simple. And once it starts spinning and spitting out these colors you’ll catch yourself resembling your dog or cat. Just staring at something, maybe your head cocked to the side? I know for me, my mouth is open with just a little confused twinkle in my eye…

Rememeber to find me on Twitter.com/espencerfrank