The J6 Journey: Year 2, Day 352: The Printing Press

Oh my poor kids. I dragged them to yet another field trip. I promised them that for every 20 or so field trip opportunities, I only take them to 1. I figured out today that I'm doing what I did when we went to PEI. I'm spreading my wings, exploring all kinds of fun places around town that I didn't try to find before because the kids were so little. And honestly, sometimes, the field trips are me. I've said it before, but I like to figure out how things are made or how they work. I should have been in production operations management, which was one of my favorite classes in business school because the teacher was passionate about it, and it's all about efficiency and safety and organization. Anyway, today we had the opportunity to join some friends and their co op towards the east of us and explore the printing press and the Greenfield Reporter out in Greenfield, Indiana. Yes, we are becoming very familiar with the cities directly east of Indianapolis, and I love it! In fact, we were on the same road that we were on for the live nativity last week, just about 1 mile apart from each other. We talked to some of the reporters and walked through the printing area. We had some awesome tour guides because they are the advertising and marketing gurus for the company. We had a large group of people, close to 50! We've never been to a newspaper facility before, nor have we really talked about how it works, so, I jumped on it. Plus, I knew there were going to be people I know there from gymnastics that the kids could connect with. I'll give more details about the whole thing below.

This week we are "counting the days" for homeschool, so we are finishing up a few things and reading aloud every day, leaving enough time for any Christmas prep and vacation prep we need to do. Santa dropped off some gifts today as well. I ordered them late Saturday night! I love Amazon prime! And I always pray and think about those in the shipping departments and truck drivers and delivery people because I know they are working hard and in over time this time of year. I explained to the kids today, once again, to not discount these kinds of jobs. If we don't have people working in factories or at printing presses or in a warehouse or driving a truck, we wouldn't have an economy like we do. I'm baffled at how some claim there are no jobs when there's always some warehouse needing dock loaders or some fast food restaurant needing people to prepare food. There are jobs, but not everyone is willing to work hard with their hands or at a less than ideal job and work their way up. Maybe it doesn't pay as well as what you went to college for, but it's a job, and you can pay the bills. I want my kids to know that any job they have is important and to work hard at it. One of our tour guides today had applied for the job at the newspaper but was turned down the first time. She asked why she had failed, and they told her that she talked too fast or didn't answer their questions fully. So she took those answers, worked hard on fixing her errors, and reapplied later and was hired the next time. Work ethic. We need it.

All the people we met today were super friendly and loved to talk to us about their part of the job. It was so sweet! Granted, all the reporters are used to talking to people, but even the guy in the room where they make the plates they print from was eager to explain what he does. And they were all young people! Granted, it's a relatively small newspaper outside of the big city, but they seemed to love their jobs! It was an awesome example to all the kids that work isn't something to loathe. I was thoroughly impressed.

We finished the day with a little bit of school and a lot of playing. Then Keturah put "Mr. Popper's Penguins" with Jim Carrey in to watch. Abishai did like the penguins as expected, but he mostly played with the toys that were out. I didn't sit and watch it because it's one that has been watched numerous times in our house so I can picture the scenes and dialogue in my head pretty clearly. I actually jumped in and finally worked on the rest of Jared's winter clothes and getting the closet squared away in a more final setting. I'm pretty pumped that I got all of his clothes, including summer and winter stuff, into his side of the closet. He only has one small drawer for other things, but no bureau. And mine is mostly out. I have a some shorts to go through and a few other things, but I tidied that up as well. That felt good to final tackle that mini project.

Be sure to click on the highlighted links!

Donkey or Reindeer? At church!

To encourage volunteerism, one of our tour guides ask one of the kids to come up and answer a few questions about himself. He was handsomely rewarded with a $10 bill! That made all the kids want to come up the next time he asked for a volunteer! He did hand out another $10 and then $5 for questions answered at the end of the tour. I liked this guy's love for kids and helping them become first responders! He does have twins that are 6 years old at home, but you could tell that they've done many a field trip group.

Some of our new friends!

We talked with all kinds of reporters. Because it's a small newspaper, they each cover a topic or three and there didn't seem to be much other support around them. Perhaps the rest were out in the field or maybe there's one other person to cover that topic. I should have asked. Some of the fields they covered were education, business, sports, crime, and the arts. This older woman was super excited to show the kids what she works on. I don't know how long she's been at it, but she told us she covers festivals, fairs, plays, movies, and everything entertainment. It was fabulous! The other reporters told us that yes, they have a BA in journalism and all worked on their high school and/or college newspapers.

How prints are made! This was from a 2002 newspaper, so I think the process has been upgraded a bit, but I can't remember how. There are 4 plates each containing the information for the 4 colors they use, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, just like your printer at home.

The biggest line they have. They print many more jobs than just their newspaper, including the Indiana Business Journal, a newspaper from Ball State, I think the Franklin Township Informer, and even a competitor! Not all newspapers have the facilities to actually print their publications. They run the presses 24/7 and can accomodate requests from 1,000 prints to 180,000 prints. They also do some other printing like the auto sales booklet you find around town. The newspaper itself was started in 1908 and this building they occupy was built in 1989.

The orange room where a person does the final check of a pdf file for missing pictures and headlines, proofreading etc. and then sends the files to this machinery. They have a program that breaks the file down into the 4 parts or 4 colors.

Then a laser etches on this plate the information it needs so it can be put onto a drum, inked up, and printed on the paper. There's 4 plates per page of the paper. The room is orange because these plates are light sensitive. They have a coating that is dissolved or comes off with water I think when it's been put on the printing line. I could be wrong in the details here, but point is, they have to protect these plates. And they can only be used once. They said that any paper they don't use or comes up wrong or these plates and many other items are recycled.

Lots and lots of different kinds of paper of different widths, strengths (thickness), and color (white to off white). Each roll weights 800-900 lbs and each has a different cost. They donate the ends of the rolls to schools, including homeschoolers. I don't think any of us picked some up, but now I know where to get some if I need it!

These are the containers of ink! Think of them as the printer cartridges at home. Wow!

Here's the different inks on the machine.

That's interesting how they roll the paper a certain way to make the 90 degree turn.

The magic machine that folds and bundles the newspapers. They didn't have any of the machines going while we were in there. I'm not sure if they stopped it on purpose for us, or they were at a stopping point. The tour was at 1, so maybe the day shift was on break. I'm sure it doesn't take a huge crew to keep it going, but there's got to be some workers somewhere.

Here's those auto catalogues. The guy was trimming them with a giant paper cutter. Just one guy handling all that. Pretty neat. We know someone in the book printing business, so I'm wondering if I could see how a regular book is put together. That would be neat. But for now, this reminds me of the mailers I used to help put together at my first real job before Jared and I were married. I remember that they also had a small printing press that was really loud as well. Doing the mailers were only for those who worked hard and knew what they were doing and was a privilege because it's a very precise job. I didn't mind it.

I see some newspapers! How cool!

Look! It's the funnies and the crossword! I loved this tour and would definitely recommend it others.

Back at the ranch, I think this guy is ready to eat!

Toddler Playtime

Grandpa was in a long meeting but they were supposed to have Bible class today. But instead, the kids talked for a long time with Nora and Everly, including Abishai. "Noree! Evie! I saw a donkey! (last night) I come your house! I play your toys!" He's pretty much in love with his cousins.

"I have a green hat!" Keturah said. And yes, she wears the Santa hat all day every day.

"Daddy, I drive you!" - Abishai. We have let Abishai steer the car a bit on our back street for fun. I love it when he recreates scenes from real life.