Education update: Next week's meeting and next year's PLT CEUs

Our regularly scheduled first-Wednesday general meeting is coming up next week - November 6th - at O'Gara's Bar & Grill in St Paul, MN.

From 5:30 pm to 7 pm there's social hour(and-a-half) and dinner will be available in the meeting room from a limited menu (if I recall correctly, we've got the $10 $15 chicken sandwich, $15 cheeseburger and $20 steak - the former come with fries and the steak comes with potato and salad - and I think you can sub a fish fillet for the steak).



The meeting will start at 7 - nothing too controversial on the docket, it should go pretty quickly - and then we'll have the education presentation, which is why I'm actually posting this reminder, because the November education is going to be really, really cool.

Once a year Mark Lundblad does an education presentation and it is always a real treat.  In addition to being a professional locksmith, Mark is also a full-time afficianado - a collector of locks, lock tools, lock stories and most particularly the antique and/or esoteric.

Folks, if you come to Wendnesday's meeting, I guarantee you'll see [a slide of] something you've never seen before and you'll learn something.  It may not be the sort of thing that makes you dollars starting tomorrow, but it will enrich you overall as a human being and make you more interesting at parties.*

This year, the presentation is antique lock tools.  Antique lock tools, people!

I'm looking forward to quite a turnout.



In other news, we've just added a class to the calendar for Wednesday, October 15, 2014 for a PLT CEU class hosted by Tri-Ed distibuting.  It's a great opportunity to meet the continuing education requirements associated with the Minnesota Power Limited Technician license - 8 hours, convenient location, very reasonable price and now with unprecedented anvanced notice!

PLT services website wasn't updated when I checked last, but I'm sure you can register now via the contact listed on the static page - here's the link to that.



*Especially parties with a high proportion of locksmith attendees.

UPDATED 12-9-13:  The chicken sandwiches went up to $15.

Friday Doorknob of the Day, October 25

Hand forged insolent punctuation.

It's the last Friday in October so we are featuring this door knob dressed-up for Halloween.

What is this door knob supposed to be?

A happy little ghost?
A mustache-and-a-half (with a twist, on the side)?
A Who from Whoville?  Or two?

Question marks?

Wait - is it sticking it's tongue out at us?  Is it insolent punctuation?

Very clever!

Somebody give that door knob a Bit-O-Honey.

Power Limited Technician (PLT) Preparatory Classes

Dana Lee - of Education Chair Fame - has received a request to bring the PLT preparatory class around again.

This is a 4-day class that prepares individuals to take the licensing exam for the Minnesota Power Limited Technician license.  It does not qualify for CEUs (Continuing Education Units) for people who already have their PLT and need to maintain it.

In the past, we worked directly with Ed Lethert and a required 25 student minimum.  At this time, within our chapter and a couple of neighboring chapters - we're hard-pressed to come up with 25 individuals who are potential candidates for this class.  Without droves of likely participants committed (financially) in advance, a 4-day class is just more than we can float.

Lucky for us, PLT Services has these classes whether we ask them to or not and they have several sessions in Shoreview, MN coming up in the first quarter of 2014 with space available. Click Here for more information on their website (www.PLTServices.net).

Minnesota Neighboring Chapter Events

The West Central Chapter of ALOA is hosting an evening training "Advanced Diagnositcs" on Wednesday, November 6. 

The instructor is Tony from Advanced Diagnostics, and there may also be a side training with an Automotive Lock & Key Manufacturer.

It is looking like the time will be around 5:30 or 6:00 pm until 9:00 or 10:00 pm.  Cost will be around $125.00-$150.00.  This type of training usually is around $250.00-$300.00 to attend.  A registration form with more information is pending.

PLEASE RSVP TO JANELL (CONTACT BELOW) IF YOU ARE EVEN CONSIDERING COMING.
Location and cost will be finalized once there is some idea what the estimated class size will be.

Janell Briggs CRL - ALOA
cvlockandkey@hotmail.com
Chippewa Valley Lock & Key LLC
706 E Grand Ave
Chippewa Falls, WI  54729
715-726-0687 shop
715-579-1138 cell

The Iowa Chapter of ALOA will have their next meeting on Saturday, November 9th in Waterloo, IA. 

They have also announced several upcoming education events for 2014: a presentation from the Master Lock Company on February 8th and ACE Class E001 Basic Electricity (P-13) plus PRP on Saturday and Sunday, May 10th & 11th. Link to the deets.

Friday Door Knob of the Day, October 18, 2013

Ne c'est pas une porte*

In our latest portrait of a classic, photographer/locksmith Dana Lee has employed an off-kilter affect causing the viewer to establish an unusual relationship with the subject. Where normally we would have a vantage looking down upon the knob, in a position of control wherein that object is clearly utile and we the utilizer - in this instance we are placed at an intimate, conversational angle with the apparatus. Our traditional relationship with the door knob is challenged by this and by the knob's position and texture in this composition: it is situated at the edge of the frame and appears made of water, as if any attempt to grasp it would meet with naught but damp palms and frustration. Combine that with the prominent taunting promise of the keyhole - inviting access, unlike the vitreous knob but, alas, too small to fit through. 

I pronounce this a desperate meditation on the weakness of mortal flesh, ironically writ large via the endurance of a mortal-flesh-made object of lovely art deco proportions and likely adequate function.






*It's ajar.

Door Knob of the Day Friday, October 11

Photo credit Dana Lee

"Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of
his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were
horizontal. The V motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down--from high flat temples--in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond Satan.”
-Dashiell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon

This is his door knob.

Door Knob of the Day

This door knob says, "Come in and  cozy up with a crocheted afghan and a nice big glass of gin to warm you up and listen to Cowboy Western dramas with lots of shooting and galloping-horse sound effects on the radio while the rain beats the window."

October Meeting

With pouring rain and thunder and lightning it was hardly a fit night for man nor beast but quite a few hardy souls made it to the monthly meeting at O'Gara's last night.

The meeting was very efficient owing mainly to a lack of new business and our successful cultivation of uncontentious agendas.  Link to October 2013 Minutes

Dana and Phil are knocking it out of the park again with the annual Learning Curve education weekend, for which we will return to the Best Western Kelly Inn, Plymouth, MN, February 21-23, 2014.

The Learning Curve will welcome back Bill Lynk, CML, CPS, CJIL, M.Ed. who will conduct a 2-day Masterkeying 1 class and Harry Sher, CML, CPS who will teach a 2-day Certified Professional Safe Tech Preparation class.  Seriously - this is going to be awesome!

The classes will be Friday and Saturday with a PRP sitting on Sunday morning.  Link to Learning Curve Brochure & Link to PRP Registration.  You must be a member of ALOA at the national level in order to participate in the PRP sitting, here's a Link to the ALOA Membership Application if you need it.

In conjunction with the the Learning Curve weekend, we will also have our annual Chapter Banquet on the evening of Saturday, February 22.  The banquet is organized by our amazing Hospitality Chair, Rosemarie, who has a real gift for throwing a party and it's always a blast - there's Barbeque dinner, great prizes (sometimes including Rosemaries out-of-this-world baked goods) and a high stakes poker match (understanding that by "high stakes" we mean a chance to win some really nice donated prizes from our manufacturer sponsors).

Alan Morgan with Speedy Keys (also our Chapter President) filled in for the education last night with a Transponder overview.  Alan is a walking encyclopedia of blanks, programmers, decoders, resources, imports, exports, that which is sold in Canada, which years the keys didn't work, all the weird things they did when Transponder technology was being introduced in the 90s and more blinking lights than you can shake a stick at.

If I could remember a fifth of that hour I'd be twice as smart as I ever was - thanks for another great presentation, Alan!

It was great to see everyone at the meeting last night - reminder that there is a PLT class October 23rd, details in the entry below from last month - and our next meeting will be November, 7 - and the particulars for that are under the meeting tab at the top of the page.

See you then!

MN Chapter of ALOA at the Doyle Show

The Minnesota chapter of ALOA had a booth at September's Doyle Security education weekend and trade show.

The event was well attended, the food was good and it was a great opportunity to connect with locksmiths from throughout the region with attendees from at least 4 states.

Alan and Pat man the chapter booth - speaking of which, that back-drop is courtesy of the clever Mr. Moseng and we're looking forward to seeing more of it at future shows.

And a suprise appearance from the Miracle on Ice gold medal from the 1980 Winter Olympics escorted by Herb Brook's son (who attended the Games with the team - he was 12 at the time  - what an experience!)

Thanks to Doyle Security for hosting a great event and we are already looking forward to next year.