...and so much for an apolitical corporate blog
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Merrowing Advert
Merrowing Advert
Originally uploaded by merrowmachine
This weekend I was using the Google Book search and came across an old Merrowing advert. Pretty cool...
You can find it here
if you're interested.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
MDCCCXXXVIII
Merrow was established in 1838. One Hundred and Seventy Years Ago...
Today we publish a little esoterica from the year MDCCCXXXVIII...
In 1838 Sam Houston was president of Texas.
The Pastry War got Santa Anna out of his rocker
and the Man with the Freakiest Wink died with an oddly ironic name and a nickname that aged as poorly (Bunyan of Wales)
--
for more on 1838
read on
Today we publish a little esoterica from the year MDCCCXXXVIII...
In 1838 Sam Houston was president of Texas.
The Pastry War got Santa Anna out of his rocker
and the Man with the Freakiest Wink died with an oddly ironic name and a nickname that aged as poorly (Bunyan of Wales)
--
for more on 1838
read on
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
soft launch
well -- we've rolled the site out internally. we should be testing all week and readying a soft launch on friday. (that is a launch without the party....)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Labor Day
for us September is the beginning of the season. Europe comes off holiday and everyone begins preparing production for the Christmas season.
....and we're now days away from launching the website. all told, it should be a great season for Merrow.
....and we're now days away from launching the website. all told, it should be a great season for Merrow.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Friday, August 15, 2008
movies
there may be no oscar in our future... but today and this weekend the video pages get done and the video processed.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Product Pages.... almost done
the product pages -- what we make, what it does, why it matters....
are // almost // done
sneak peak of the zigg pages
are // almost // done
sneak peak of the zigg pages
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Needle Configurator
I can't get tired of saying ' i just built a needle configurator'
Sounds a little Dr. Who? It isn't.
It is infact all Merrow. In an effort to make our products easy to undestand we've built a tool using MIT exhibit technology that organizes and cross references our needles.
It is ... well, awesome.
Sounds a little Dr. Who? It isn't.
It is infact all Merrow. In an effort to make our products easy to undestand we've built a tool using MIT exhibit technology that organizes and cross references our needles.
It is ... well, awesome.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Sunday, August 10, 2008
t minus ....
the origin of T minus Fritz Lang's 1929 film Frau im Mond
how about the website
today we built the agent stores. why is this cool? because the merrow store is getting better every day and now anyone selling our products can have their own branded store...
that's right -- we've built stores for hundreds of agents. custom stores...custom content, custom everything...
it started off as a novel idea-- how can our website help people sell.
Most everything we've done with the website is try to help people understand what we do. So on a lark we tried building a store for an agent... and that's when the *ah-ha* thing happened.... we can do this for everyone. or everyone who it would matter to.
So now as long as the agent signs up and agrees to customize the content we'll release a custom storefront for them.
How's that for innovative...
And the blank stare says 'when are we gonna see it.... ' . Right.
on its way....
how about the website
today we built the agent stores. why is this cool? because the merrow store is getting better every day and now anyone selling our products can have their own branded store...
that's right -- we've built stores for hundreds of agents. custom stores...custom content, custom everything...
it started off as a novel idea-- how can our website help people sell.
Most everything we've done with the website is try to help people understand what we do. So on a lark we tried building a store for an agent... and that's when the *ah-ha* thing happened.... we can do this for everyone. or everyone who it would matter to.
So now as long as the agent signs up and agrees to customize the content we'll release a custom storefront for them.
How's that for innovative...
And the blank stare says 'when are we gonna see it.... ' . Right.
on its way....
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Saturday, August 9, 2008
3 month rest
for three months we've been readying our new website. 3 months inside with fluorescent light and very little else.
This blog has suffered -- as I resolved to not post until the new website was released on ...cough,cough.. june 4.
so that didn't turn out so well. now it's august 9th and we're almost there.
this is exciting stuff. we've invested thousands of hours into this project with the modest goal of releasing the best site in the industry.
----
the new blogeresolution will be to post bits about the site until it goes live --
While you wait check out some of our stitches on flickr
This blog has suffered -- as I resolved to not post until the new website was released on ...cough,cough.. june 4.
so that didn't turn out so well. now it's august 9th and we're almost there.
this is exciting stuff. we've invested thousands of hours into this project with the modest goal of releasing the best site in the industry.
----
the new blogeresolution will be to post bits about the site until it goes live --
While you wait check out some of our stitches on flickr
Saturday, April 26, 2008
the second shot on flickr
[365]154 - 4.20.2007
Originally uploaded by vintagestitches
the second of the aforementioned pictures
Friday, April 25, 2008
Merrow pics of Flickr
4.20.2007
Originally uploaded by vintagestitches
We put up some pictures of our machines on flickr and a quick search found two cool shots of old Merrows....
MG2DNR1
MG2DNR1
Originally uploaded by merrowmachine
A picture of our Pearl Stitch machine (or purl stitch...??).
This machine will be available from Merrow in the fall of 2008. Handbuilt in the USA.
Stitch samples are available upon request
Adding machine pictures to Flickr
Here are some machine glamour shots loaded to flickr for public use
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Buying Travel
Sometimes as i'm hunting for tickets I run across great sites and kick myself for not having known earlier.
Here are a couple
for hotels
a great google map mashup called mapchannels
I read about it here. For an overview take a look-- but I bet that you end up using it so long as the business model of providing great information free (thank you click through advertising) holds.
for airfare
another aggregator or meta search called momondo
Here are a couple
for hotels
a great google map mashup called mapchannels
I read about it here. For an overview take a look-- but I bet that you end up using it so long as the business model of providing great information free (thank you click through advertising) holds.
for airfare
another aggregator or meta search called momondo
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Merrow
The purpose of this blog is to keep anyone interested, updated about Merrow. In this case it will be just a bit reflective
This post is a short excerpt from a letter drafted for the Management at Merrow.
__________
After traveling for close to two full months i've learned a lot about our business.
On the train several days ago I met a lebanese businessman and his son. They were curious about Merrow and we talked easily about our challenges and theirs. After a time the fat one asked if we had considered partnering with a company in the textile business who needed distribution worldwide and brand credibility (we haven't).
He went on to clarify his point, that these are things that cost millions to develop and more valuably take years and years to do. Operating in a global environment is one of the most expensive and challenging elements of the modern business.
Most companies who are not global simply cannot afford to build or operate the sales structure that Merrow has.
He had correctly seized on two of Merrow's major assets. There are others. A list of six:
1. management (our team is talented & ambitious)
2. brand recognition (151 countries visited Merrow.com in the last year)
3. product design (high quality, diverse range)
4. customer base (our customer list reads like a whose who in textiles)
5. global distribution (trained distribution in every major market in the world)
6. history (170 years in business)
I could as easily list sixteen things that Merrow needs to work on. In fact I think we spend most of our time (as we should) focused on the areas needing improvement.
Which is why I took the time to write this. I encourage everyone to take a step back, enjoy the things we do well as a company.
______
Over the next two months we will explore on this blog some of the things that make Merrow unique. As much to echo what i've heard over the past two months as to introduce new ideas. Again, perspective is important and I think our customers, our company and our distributors will benefit in the process.
This post is a short excerpt from a letter drafted for the Management at Merrow.
__________
After traveling for close to two full months i've learned a lot about our business.
On the train several days ago I met a lebanese businessman and his son. They were curious about Merrow and we talked easily about our challenges and theirs. After a time the fat one asked if we had considered partnering with a company in the textile business who needed distribution worldwide and brand credibility (we haven't).
He went on to clarify his point, that these are things that cost millions to develop and more valuably take years and years to do. Operating in a global environment is one of the most expensive and challenging elements of the modern business.
Most companies who are not global simply cannot afford to build or operate the sales structure that Merrow has.
He had correctly seized on two of Merrow's major assets. There are others. A list of six:
1. management (our team is talented & ambitious)
2. brand recognition (151 countries visited Merrow.com in the last year)
3. product design (high quality, diverse range)
4. customer base (our customer list reads like a whose who in textiles)
5. global distribution (trained distribution in every major market in the world)
6. history (170 years in business)
I could as easily list sixteen things that Merrow needs to work on. In fact I think we spend most of our time (as we should) focused on the areas needing improvement.
Which is why I took the time to write this. I encourage everyone to take a step back, enjoy the things we do well as a company.
______
Over the next two months we will explore on this blog some of the things that make Merrow unique. As much to echo what i've heard over the past two months as to introduce new ideas. Again, perspective is important and I think our customers, our company and our distributors will benefit in the process.
Monday, March 17, 2008
from Firenze
decaf cafe american.
that is UHMEHRIH-CAN KAWFY
I don’t do this often but sitting next to a table of 7 americans ordering desert in a lovely little spot in florence at 10 odd PM is amusing and i pulled my laptop out.
Whereas the chinese tourist orders in a confused way, the uhmehrihcan orders as though the waiter is both retarded and deaf
why?
I don't know.
Couple of suggestions:
1. sometimes ordering from a menu in a foreign language is difficult. If you don’t like a type of food, learn the word for this in the local language. Unfortunately if english isn’t spoken well at said restaurant, when you loudly and with much hand waving try telling the waiter that if he serves you nuts you’ll die, he may simply think you’re nuts and probably serve you pistachios.
2. Also, unless someone tells you otherwise, or your eating at the new cooking school for veterans of heavy artillery, the waiters don’t have a busted tympani, they speak EYETALYIN. You took the time to buy a ticket, pack and travel to a new place. Why insist that it is the olive garden?
________
A guilty footnote. I only speak english. And while a trained monkey would be more impressive speaking Italian than I, I’d like to think that the waiters don’t feel like circus animals themselves after I order. Then again I utilize a repertoire of six italian words like it was the OED (OID?). Maybe this is worse.
Who knows -- i’m actually looking around right now to see if anyone is writing a blog entry about the foolish american who is writing about americans.....
that is UHMEHRIH-CAN KAWFY
I don’t do this often but sitting next to a table of 7 americans ordering desert in a lovely little spot in florence at 10 odd PM is amusing and i pulled my laptop out.
Whereas the chinese tourist orders in a confused way, the uhmehrihcan orders as though the waiter is both retarded and deaf
why?
I don't know.
Couple of suggestions:
1. sometimes ordering from a menu in a foreign language is difficult. If you don’t like a type of food, learn the word for this in the local language. Unfortunately if english isn’t spoken well at said restaurant, when you loudly and with much hand waving try telling the waiter that if he serves you nuts you’ll die, he may simply think you’re nuts and probably serve you pistachios.
2. Also, unless someone tells you otherwise, or your eating at the new cooking school for veterans of heavy artillery, the waiters don’t have a busted tympani, they speak EYETALYIN. You took the time to buy a ticket, pack and travel to a new place. Why insist that it is the olive garden?
________
A guilty footnote. I only speak english. And while a trained monkey would be more impressive speaking Italian than I, I’d like to think that the waiters don’t feel like circus animals themselves after I order. Then again I utilize a repertoire of six italian words like it was the OED (OID?). Maybe this is worse.
Who knows -- i’m actually looking around right now to see if anyone is writing a blog entry about the foolish american who is writing about americans.....
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Italian Tubes
a system of clogged tubes.
The Italians, I maintain, are terrific people. Not the nicest, not the most outgoing.... but terrific.
I don’t like midwest nice. Never have. The Italians don’t suffer from the Indiana Accommodation Anxiety. IAA. Defined in degraded centers of learning as a relentless drive to please. This is not an Italian gene.
Now why bother with cheap psychology? Because I still can’t get online and I need to Explain this somehow.
I really think the Italians don’t care out of the generosity of their own culture. Italians have a lot more to do than check email. And if you’re here (which incidentally doesn’t really concern them either), then the internet isn’t what you should be looking at....
Or. And this is just as plausible. Ted Stevens was the consultant hired to develop their IT backbone:
It is much more entertaining to watch it set to music once you understand how absurd this is
The Italians, I maintain, are terrific people. Not the nicest, not the most outgoing.... but terrific.
I don’t like midwest nice. Never have. The Italians don’t suffer from the Indiana Accommodation Anxiety. IAA. Defined in degraded centers of learning as a relentless drive to please. This is not an Italian gene.
Now why bother with cheap psychology? Because I still can’t get online and I need to Explain this somehow.
I really think the Italians don’t care out of the generosity of their own culture. Italians have a lot more to do than check email. And if you’re here (which incidentally doesn’t really concern them either), then the internet isn’t what you should be looking at....
Or. And this is just as plausible. Ted Stevens was the consultant hired to develop their IT backbone:
It is much more entertaining to watch it set to music once you understand how absurd this is
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Istanbul
don't have much time -- have taken hundreds of pictures (unfortunately i think there is likely to be a blog post sometime in the not to distant future with the backlog of pics).
i leave for milan today
couple of quick thoughts on istanbul
1. the flag is spectacular. was on the bosporus by boat the other night and over the hagia sophia there was a 1/4 moon -- within the frame of the camera there was also a monster sized, hilltop perched and brightly lit up deep red turkish flag (which is a crescent & start).
2. could attaturk possibly be offered in more curious poses? Every picture of the man ever taken regardless of circumstance (he was standing in line at the post office...) is posted throughout this city -- they adore this man -- the most sincere adoration as well. His bust is everywhere, his head is everywhere, and these strange pictures of his every public move are 2X3 and 4X5 (feet) framed and hanging
3. the history of the city will make your head explode. a lightening tour of a museum could cause serious medical issues
4. traffic is horrible
5. the city is more modern than i imagined. it's like a european san francisco in places (and in others like sprawling LA apartment blocks
6. there is stagflation
7. we can do a lot of business here
8. i'm sorry to have to leave
i leave for milan today
couple of quick thoughts on istanbul
1. the flag is spectacular. was on the bosporus by boat the other night and over the hagia sophia there was a 1/4 moon -- within the frame of the camera there was also a monster sized, hilltop perched and brightly lit up deep red turkish flag (which is a crescent & start).
2. could attaturk possibly be offered in more curious poses? Every picture of the man ever taken regardless of circumstance (he was standing in line at the post office...) is posted throughout this city -- they adore this man -- the most sincere adoration as well. His bust is everywhere, his head is everywhere, and these strange pictures of his every public move are 2X3 and 4X5 (feet) framed and hanging
3. the history of the city will make your head explode. a lightening tour of a museum could cause serious medical issues
4. traffic is horrible
5. the city is more modern than i imagined. it's like a european san francisco in places (and in others like sprawling LA apartment blocks
6. there is stagflation
7. we can do a lot of business here
8. i'm sorry to have to leave
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Merhaba
It is saturday. I am working and this is terrific.
One of the differences between travel & working and the alternative (which would be work) is the subtle time shift. The workday becomes something unrecognizable.
For instance there is no defacto day-off. If one wants a break one must force it.
And the hours of operation are always odd. Some days, as I did yesterday, the traveling starts at 6AM and ends at 5:30PM. In between are three hours where I wrote 30 odd email. At the end (the 5:30 side) I met with our Turkish distributor and spent the next 6 hours with them at the office and then eating.
Once back I tried to spend time on the phone with the office wrapping the day up around midnight.
In turkey Saturday is not a day off (in the Arabic world it is Sunday that people work taking friday off) so my workday will follow the pattern of behaviour here with the grand exception that afterwards I'm sure i'll spend the evening eating and drinking our good friends and business partners. If one doesn't consider this work they haven't done it....
Perhaps this isn't an appropriate place to illustrate the type of schedule is kept while traveling. But on the other hand I'm not sure what works on this blog and what doesn't.
What is important to note is that as a result of the effort the improvement of our relationships to the distributors in Europe is marked.
One of the differences between travel & working and the alternative (which would be work) is the subtle time shift. The workday becomes something unrecognizable.
For instance there is no defacto day-off. If one wants a break one must force it.
And the hours of operation are always odd. Some days, as I did yesterday, the traveling starts at 6AM and ends at 5:30PM. In between are three hours where I wrote 30 odd email. At the end (the 5:30 side) I met with our Turkish distributor and spent the next 6 hours with them at the office and then eating.
Once back I tried to spend time on the phone with the office wrapping the day up around midnight.
In turkey Saturday is not a day off (in the Arabic world it is Sunday that people work taking friday off) so my workday will follow the pattern of behaviour here with the grand exception that afterwards I'm sure i'll spend the evening eating and drinking our good friends and business partners. If one doesn't consider this work they haven't done it....
Perhaps this isn't an appropriate place to illustrate the type of schedule is kept while traveling. But on the other hand I'm not sure what works on this blog and what doesn't.
What is important to note is that as a result of the effort the improvement of our relationships to the distributors in Europe is marked.
Friday, March 7, 2008
local SIM cards are for crazy people
The problem with a mobile phone.
Or there isn't a problem at all i guess if you don't care about what it costs. I do, and consequently researched phones and local rates before this trip.
My strategy: buy a SIM card in each country i visited. In this case egypt, poland, turkey and italy. I looked at the local rates etc. and set off to assimilate seamlessly into each locale by adopting a local number and benefiting cleverly from low costs.
The whole thing was/is a bad idea
Aside from my phone only working when i'm in the country with the SIM card (eg. not in any airport en route somewhere else), my number changing every 3 days, and the absurd prepay situation, THE ABSOLUTE WORST are the directions in Polish. Arghhh.... the hours i spent trying to figure out what Witamy Cie w swiecle SIMPLUS! DZIEKUJEMY ze dolaczyles do NAS. meant.
The mobile phone instructions are all in english, but the SIM card is all in polish. A friendly Pole wouldn't be able to make heads or tales of the phone and obviously I wasn't doing well with the polish.
To get voicemail i would push a 'messages' button. This was the last station for english all stops ahead were polish. I'd hear a menu, guess a number (though i was never sure if the announcement was offering a choice) listen to polish techno music and end up in another menu with a patient but cryptic sounding polish woman who may or may not be offering to play me voicemail messages. I'd offer a '3' and perhaps be rewarded with familiar sounding voice wondering why i wasn't returning my calls. More likely I wouldn't, so I apologize if you have called me and i've not called back.
How did end up here, without any distinctive advantage to my clever strategy?
I'm not sure. But please don't try calling me to discuss, my phone doesn't work in prague.
Or there isn't a problem at all i guess if you don't care about what it costs. I do, and consequently researched phones and local rates before this trip.
My strategy: buy a SIM card in each country i visited. In this case egypt, poland, turkey and italy. I looked at the local rates etc. and set off to assimilate seamlessly into each locale by adopting a local number and benefiting cleverly from low costs.
The whole thing was/is a bad idea
Aside from my phone only working when i'm in the country with the SIM card (eg. not in any airport en route somewhere else), my number changing every 3 days, and the absurd prepay situation, THE ABSOLUTE WORST are the directions in Polish. Arghhh.... the hours i spent trying to figure out what Witamy Cie w swiecle SIMPLUS! DZIEKUJEMY ze dolaczyles do NAS. meant.
The mobile phone instructions are all in english, but the SIM card is all in polish. A friendly Pole wouldn't be able to make heads or tales of the phone and obviously I wasn't doing well with the polish.
To get voicemail i would push a 'messages' button. This was the last station for english all stops ahead were polish. I'd hear a menu, guess a number (though i was never sure if the announcement was offering a choice) listen to polish techno music and end up in another menu with a patient but cryptic sounding polish woman who may or may not be offering to play me voicemail messages. I'd offer a '3' and perhaps be rewarded with familiar sounding voice wondering why i wasn't returning my calls. More likely I wouldn't, so I apologize if you have called me and i've not called back.
How did end up here, without any distinctive advantage to my clever strategy?
I'm not sure. But please don't try calling me to discuss, my phone doesn't work in prague.
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