Flying into the dawns early light - Alan R. Mercurio

Alan R. Mercurio_3

The picture may not make a lot of sense without the story behind it. It’s taken from the window of the plane we were on going to Germany.

We left Newark, NJ around 7:00PM this was a 6 hour flight. So by all rights your mind tells you it should still be dark out. However after our long journey over the Atlantic ocean as we approached our destination Franfurt Germany I noticed I was about to experience something wonderful for the first time in my life.

I had flown out of the states night into the dawn of Germanys light. I’ll never forget that, or anything else I experienced on this beautiful journey with my friends. And most of all I’ll never forget that I owe thanks to so many of my friends in the industry for making this dream become a reality. God bless you all and thank you.

<img src="http://oiltechtalk.com/ISH_2007/flying_from_night_to_dawn.jpg">


Your friend in the industry,<BR>Alan R. Mercurio

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=408&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

Paul Pollets

Was it good for you??

I presume you really liked the experience...what impressed you most?

In 1997 when flying over to the show, I had a 4 hr view of the comet Hale-Bopp from my window seat.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Alan R. Mercurio_3

Paul, what impressed me the most?

Well for the plane trip I would say it was what I just posted. the other thing that I thought was awesome was being able to look out the window and see that we were flying above clouds that were at least 15 to 20 thousand feet below us. And when I raised my head to look above I could see the stars brighter then I ever saw them before. And the feeling of gliding between the two was simply amazing.

For the show the thing that impressed me the most was how enormous this show was. The group I went with took me right to building 8 where most the boilers, burners and accessories were. When I first walked in it was like dieing and finding out there really is a heating section in heaven.

I also learned from our host here that all of this (every building) would be cleared out in less then two days and another industry function would be set up filling as much if not more of the space. That’s impressive!

I did not have a chance to explore much of Frankfurt but it certainly has its beauty I found it interesting how many of the modern structures were mixed in with the older ones. The main train station is some thing no one should ever miss seeing if your there. Thank you Dan Holohan for suggesting I wander up there.

Denmark, now there’s a beautiful place with some of the most beautiful people on Earth especially the women.:) What impressed me there was how good they spoke our language and if a co-worker came up to them they could quickly revert back to there language and then back to ours.

I have probably said this a hundred times since I returned but my head is still spinning from all that have seen and learned while there.


Your friend in the industry,
Alan R. Mercurio

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

[Deleted User]

Multi-lingualism

On a business trip to Switzerland 12 years ago, I was quite impressed when listening to numerous conversations between folks at the company we visited. They seamlessly integrated English, French, Italian and Swiss-German into most sentences; communiction didn't appear to suffer from this at all.

In addition to English, I understand and speak kindergarten-level German along with very few words of Italian. Teachers say that there's a tipping point when one thinks in a new language, rather than in one's native language and translating the thoughts. That "felt" right, but my Swiss experience brings the concept into question.

Maine Doug_60

Thinking in 2 languages

does happen but it takes some time for it to be automatic. I was born in Montreal and raised in Quebec and we spoke both French and English all the time, often switching in mid-sentence to use the better expression. While living in Switzerland I also was impressed that almost everyone spoke at least two languages, many spoke three. The BP station where I got gas and oil changes etc. was run by an Italian who spoke French and Italian and German so we spoke French.
I found that doing math in one's head in another language was the hardest to learn but as I sit here have found myself thinking about the times tables and it is stuck, like that damn Disney small world song.