When the door to the central bay (100 feet wide, 150 feet high, 600 feet long) stopped creaking upward, and my eyes had adjusted to the gloom, I could barely make out two abandoned VW Bugs tucked into a mountain of garbage. They were listing at crazy angles with smashed-in windows and fenders all dented, but the essentials were all there: the motor, wheels, and floor plan. I looked around me. If people could enclose such a vast expanse, and make the overhead crane capable of lifting a hundred VWs, surely I could modify a Bug.Friends helped strip windows, fenders, bumpers, doors, hood, trunk, seats, and running boards from the car. In our enthusiasm we pulled out all the wiring, only realizing afterwards that some of the wires were probably important. From the mountain of trash, we recovered three ignition wires and the oil and generator lights. Then using an air grinder, Sawzall, tin snips, can opener, and finally a corkscrew, we cut the top off the car. Now only 33 inches tall, the VW was the right height for a table base, but at 12 feet long, it threatened the roundness of the table. So in a moment of brash confidence ("we''ll just spend a few hours welding this thing back together"), we chopped the car in half and threw away the middle four feet. Now we had a big problem. The car was in two pieces, and no one knew how to weld.

Before food manufacturers will consider using the valves in depositors and other processing equipment, SSOE Gateway must manufacture a stainless steel version of the valve. "Currently, there are no sanitation issues with the design, but because the food industry is so in tune with food safety, they want a stainless steel body," Richardson explains.The dairy segment has been the traditional mainstay of pump manufacturers, and sanitary design is a consideration at the outset of any product development.

My friend Geoff is a classic Abel. He is one of the sweetest, most compassionate guys you''d ever want to meet, but ask him about Phil and his eyes go all flinty and he takes you back to a day in Florida about five years ago on one of the trips that the three of us had been making with five other guys for 19 years.Geoff is playing with Phil when, halfway through the round, Geoff notices something:"As everyone putts out, it registers that though Phil was closest, he didn''t pick up the flagstick and replace it. So I pick it up. At the next hole I notice he leaves it again, right at his feet. In fact, he''s gotta step over the flag to leave the green. As we walk to the next tee, it occurs to me that I''ve never seen Phil actually pick up a flagstick. As the day goes on, I keep a running count. Zero. Then I think back to previous trips ..."

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