Weekly updates from Warner Steel
16 years
by Mike Warner on 07/08/11
Earlier this week marked the 16th Anniversary for Warner Steel Sales, we opened the doors on July 5th, 1995.
A few people I owe "Thanks":
1) My wife, Amy Warner: Thought I was crazy, but always supportive.
2) Frank Alig: Frank owned the building at 425 Kentucky Ave, the site of our first shop. He let me rent the building for cheap. Warner Steel may not exist if not for Frank.
3) Fred Prine: Fred owns Westfield Steel. Although I had worked with Westfield thru my previous jobs, Fred took a chance on a young man with a dream and provided Warner Steel with competitive pricing and excellent service. They are still our main source of steel today.
4) Randy Cope of Reliable Trailers & Bob Marshall of Zimmer Welding: Randy was the very first customer of Warner Steel. 200' of 3" channel, that was our very first order. Bob followed shortly, within a couple of days. 16 years later, they have become more than customers, they are friends. Thanks guys.
5) Jay Rawlins: Jay was kind enough to purchase the first office equipment for Warner Steel. Almost sounds silly now, but 16 years ago, having someone supply a printer, faxmachine, etc was a VERY big deal. Thanks Jay.
6) Joe & Shirley Warner / Rod & Joan Rawlins: Our folks. Probably shook their heads more than a few times during those early years, but always supportive.
16 years. Thanks to any and everyone who made it possible.
Mike Warner
Open Most Saturdays
by Mike Warner on 05/21/11
I really suck at keeping up on this Blog thing. I just realized its been 6 weeks since the last post, Oh Well!
Now that the high school lacrosse season is over, Warner Steel will be OPEN on most Saturday mornings. I would still recommend calling ahead (or checking the website/Facebook) before just showing up. There may still be a Saturday or so that I don't come in. When open, I'll be at the shop from 7:30am til Noon.
Steel prices are still really high, maybe the highest I've seen them in 25+ years of selling steel. The high prices doesn't seem to have changed the buying habits of our customers, March thu May has been the busiest we have been in years. Lets hope everyone stays busy and we continue with this trend.
FYI: our shear will be down a day or so during this next week, 5/23 - 5/27. Not sure what day(s) yet, but we need to do a little maintenance and turn the blades. We'll try to get it back up and running ASAP.
Lastly, bear with us as we build back up our inventory. During the winter months, I allow the inventory to drop because I don't like to bring material in with all the snow and bad weather. The steel rusts so quickly when wet and even if the load is tarped, it still gets wet. With all the rain this spring, we've delayed buiding up the inventory. The weather is looking better and we should safe to go now. I apologize if we have been out of something, but I just don't like selling rusty material.
Hope everyone has a great week,
Mike Warner
New York and Boston
by Mike Warner on 04/01/11
Wow, what a fantastic time. My 17 year old son, Brock, wanted to use his Spring Break to check out some colleges on the East Coast. So....my wife, Amy, Brock and I headed out early in the morning on Friday 3/25/11 for New York. We spent a few days in NYC, then on to Boston for a few and then flew back home on Tuesday night, 3/29/11.
Here is a recap:
Day 1 - arrived in Manhattan sometime around 10:30am. We checked in to our hotel, The Hotel Roger Smith, dropped our bags, relaxed for a moment and then headed out to Manhattan College, our first visit of the trip. The hotel was located at Lexington and 42nd St, while Manhattan College is on 245th St in the Bronx. We rode the #1 subway for 200 blocks to 242nd St, its last stop. Our scheduled tour time wasn't for an hour, so we decided to hit up a eatery for our first taste of local flavor. Broadway Joe's pizza place was located at the base of the hill that Manhattan College sits on, so we checked it out. Brock and I tackled our first calzone of the trip, while Amy went with pizza. We highly recommend Broadway Joe's if you are ever in the area. We then toured the campus and, man, is it hilly. The campus is small, only 20+ acres, but includes 8000 stairs from building to building. We were testing Amy's recent knee replacements on the first day. :) Manhattan College was beautiful and we came away very impressed. Might not be the #1 choice of the trip, but definitely would be in the running if others don't work out. To end the day, we worked our way back downtown on the subway, making a few stops here and there to see things. We eventually got back to the hotel after dark and decided it was time to eat again. We walked around the corner from the hotel to a local pub/restaurant. Had a great time. The food was WAY overpriced, but we were entertained by a group of 15 guys around a huge table in the middle of the place. The were holding a fanasty baseball draft and every time someone chose a player that was already gone, they had to take a shot. The more the shots flowed, the more entertaining they became. The steps of Manhattan College caught up to us and we crashed when we got back to the hotel. I think the lights were out by 9:30pm.
Day 2 (Saturday) - we got up early and headed toward Grand Central Station to get breakfast. We picked The Hotel Roger Smith because it was close and an easy walk to Grand Central. Early morning at GCS is very interesting and entertaining. We love to "people watch" and this is a great place to get that done. We had a late morning tour of Wagner College, which is on Staten Island. The easiest way to reach Staten Island is on the ferry, which is about a 25 minute trip that takes you by the Statue of Liberty. Brock loved Wagner and if he chose today, would most likely be his #1 choice. The campus has beautiful views of Manhattan and the surrounding area. The college sits at about the highest point on Staten Island. After eating lunch at the school Union, we stayed and watched Wagner host Hartford College in a mens lacrosse game. I would find it hard to believe that any college sport complex has a better view than what is offered at Wagner. You really have to see it to understand. Brock is interested in playing lacrosse in college and this is a one of the reasons why we toured the colleges we did. The rest of the day was tourist time for us as we took in: Wall St / Trinity Church, Times Square, Chinatown, Rockefeller Center, etc.
Day 3 (Sunday) - Travel day. We took a 4 hour Amtrak train ride from NYC to Boston, arriving shortly after lunch. Only stayed in Boston a short time, but did get to experience the Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall and the great food offered there. We also took a stroll following the Freedom Trail. We didn't follow the whole trail, but did get to see The Old North Church, Paul Revere's house, and all the neat places on Hanover Street. We eventually rented a car and headed west to Worcester, the destination of two colleges for the next day.
Day 4 (Monday) - Big day, visited College of the Holy Cross and Assumption, both located in Worcester. All I can say about Holy Cross is: WOW! Extremely nice campus with lots of history, but just didn't have the "vibe" Brock was looking for. Assumption was the biggest campus we visited, at 185 acres. It is an old school, but most of the campus was destroyed by a tornado in the early 1950's, so some of the buildings were much newer than the other schools we visited. Overall, it probably ranked 2nd/3rd of the schools we visited. If you ever make the trip to Worcester, MA, I recommend trying Blue Jeans Pizza. I had my second calzone of the trip and it was awesome. :) I also suggest practicing how to pronounce Worcester, its not anything like you think it should sound. We ended the day with a short drive to Waltham, MA. In search of a local place for dinner, the gal at the hotel recommended checking out Moody Street. We found a place called Bison County and had some great BBQ.
Day 5 (Tuesday) - Last day. The last school on our trip was Bentley University in Waltham. Bentley's use of technology was impressive. The scrolling stock trader ticker and an entire wing set up to provide students with a real world experience of buying/selling stocks was outstanding. Bentley, like Assumption and Manhattan, is an excellent school and any of the 3 would suit Brock's need of a school with a strong business background.
Its kinda sad to say, but the highlight of the entire trip might have been lunch on the last day after the Bentley trip. While checking out Moody St the night before, we passed Heidi's Restaurant, which is only open for breakfast and lunch. Our Bentley tour finished at around lunch time, so we headed to Heidi's. In probably our best decision of the trip, we chose to belly up to the counter instead of sitting in the dining area. For the next hour+, we chatted, laughed, and genuinely loved our time sitting with the local men who were at the counter with us. George, who I'm guessing is the owner, was an awesome host. We were impressed with his knowledge of Purdue and Valparaiso Universities in Indiana. Amy, Brock and I lowered the average age of the place by 30 years, but want to give a shout out to: Pauly, Chuckie, Mikey, Jeffery, Peter, George and the other couple of guys that we didn't get your names. You guys were awesome, we only wish we had gotten more pictures to remember you by. We ended our trip with the short drive from Waltham to the Boston airport. We had plenty of time, so we hit up Fenway Park, Harvard Square and drove a litlle around downtown. We got home at around 10:30pm on Tuesday and, boy, does it feel great to sleep in your own bed. :)
All in all, we had a great trip. Brock got to see the schools he was interested in and learn more about each. I got eat more than I should have, thank goodness we walked 5 miles a day on the campus tours. And Amy got a few days away from work, pets and laundry. Life is good.
Mike Warner
March 10th, 2010
by Mike Warner on 03/10/11
3/10/10 - For me, a date I will never forget. It was a year ago today that Squeaky and I took a wild, tumbling ride down SR 135, just south of Indy. Squeaky is my 1998 Jeep Cherokee (or whats left of her).
I'm going to go back in time and start this story in 2004. Our oldest daughter, Whitney had turned 16 and it was time for her first vehicle. I wanted something reliable, safe and 4 wheel drive. We found a black 1998 Jeep Cherokee on a used lot and it seemed to fit our needs, so $4000 later, she was ours. It didn't take long, maybe a couple of months, and Whitney was involved in her first accident. With some fender trimmer and straightning of headlights, we were able to drive it home. It was a little beat up, but it had kept Whit safe and was still reliable transportation.
Within a year, a second accident happened. A driver cutting thru spots of a parking lot pulled out in front of Whit and tagged the opposite front fender from the first accident. Although still driveable, this time it took out most of the front grille, lights, etc and needed to be repaired. Again, it did its job and kept everyone from injury.
It was after the second accident that Squeaky earned her nickname. If you've ever owned a vehicle that has been hit a couple of times, you know what I mean, everything squeaks. While Whitney was gone on Spring Break a week or so after the second accident, I decided to give ole' Squeaky a makeover. A 3" lift, two new fenders, new grill, new bumper, new aluminum rims with bigger tires..... man, she looked great.
Over the next year or so, Whit and Squeaky went about their business as Whit finished high school. In the fall of 2006, Whitney headed to Valparaiso University on a softball scholarship. No vehicles allowed for freshman meant Squeaky spent a lot of time sitting idle. I would occasionally drive it to work, just so it wouldn't sit too long. I don't remember when, but at some point during one of those drives, I wasn't paying attention and rearended a Ford truck. Didn't hit him very hard, but did shove the front bumper back some. Not enough to worry about fixing, so on we went.
In May of 2007, Whitney would be finishing her freshman year in a few weeks and coming home. I decided to drive the ole' Squeakster a few days, just to make sure it was ready to go for the summer. Well, long story short, she was stolen from the shop at Warner Steel by a 17 yr old high school dropout and taken for a joy ride. While driving around, this young man saw a rival of his and decided: "Hey, I'm in a stolen vehicle, I'll use it to ram this other kids car." So, he did. Multipe times. He eventually ran Squeaky into a ditch and rolled her up on her top. I'll save the story of how we got Squeaky back for another day, but she was pretty beat up. The front end was mangled from the repeated ramming and the top was smashed down a bit from the roll. She still ran though and I actually drove it to the shop from the towing yard.
At this point, it was decided that the damage was too severe and that we would get Whitney another vehicle. So... Squeaky was put in storage at Warner Steel and sat for more than a year. I would occasionally start it up to charge the battery, but more just to see if it would still run.
In the fall of 2009, I decided that I either needed to junk Squeaky or fix her. I decided to fix her. So... a second set of fenders, a second radiator, a second bumper, grill, etc. I jacked the top back in to place and welded steel in for support, put a new windshield in her and away we went. She became my daily driver.
That brings us to 3/10/10. Driving to work that morning at just after 6:00am, a small Mitsubishi car pulled out in front of me while I was going 50 mph on SR135, close to Perry Meridian HS. I didn't even have time to hit the brakes. I hit his driver side front fender so hard, that with my bigger tires and lift, I drove up and over the fender and launched Squeaky into the air. It was like something you would see in a movie. Because I had jerked the wheel to the left to try and avoid contact, it sent me into a roll. Squeaky first landed on her top and we continued for two or three rolls in the center turn lane. My biggest fear during the whole ride was of being hit again by the oncoming traffic. Luckly, we stayed in the center lane and avoided contact. When we stopped, we were back sitting on all four wheels.
I remember sitting there for a second and collecting my thoughts when a passerby came to the passenger window. The first thought thru my head was that I didn't know where my phone was and would he please call my wife. Sir, I never got your name, but THANK YOU. Although in a lot of pain, I knew I wanted to exit the vehicle under my own power. I couldn't go out the doors or door windows, as they were crushed shut by the top. I then realized that the sunroof had been blown out during the rolls. I stood on the seats and was able to sit on the top. While sitting there, I remember asking if the other driver was OK. He was injury free. This was the first time that I realized how bad my head was bleeding and I took off a sweatshirt to wrap around my head. I continued out the top, slid down to the hood and off to the ground. Within less than a minute of hitting the ground, paramedics strapped me to a backboard and away to the hospital we went.
I gotta back up, just for a second. After we came to a stop, I realized Squeaky was still running. Although I have severe bleeding from the head, a fractured sternum, multiple broken ribs and three compressed vertebrae in my back, my concern was to shut the engine off before it overheated. lol
I could stop here and it would be a pretty good story. But... if you want to tag along, theres more to add.
After calling my wife, Amy, she obviously headed toward the accident scene. Before she left, she told our son, Brock (a sophomore in HS) that dad had been hurt in an accident and she would call him with an update. He was in the process of getting ready for school and turned on the TV as he normally does. It was on a news channel and the first thing he sees is footage from a helicopter of the accident scene and parts of Squeaky scattered everywhere. His day had just gone from bad to worse. :) Thank You to Principal Matt Shockley for bringing Brock to the hospital later that day.
While all this is going on, Whitney (a senior at Valpo) is on a bus headed to Kansas with her teammates when she gets the call. Her coach and the school decided that when they arrive in Kansas, they would pay for Whitney to fly back home. Her trip was to include a stop in Milwaukee and then connect to Indianapolis, arriving around midnight on the 10th. Well, it didn't go so well. Milwaukee had severe weather and after she got there, they canceled all flights out. Again, long story short, after multiple delays, Whitney arrived at the hospital at around 6:45pm on the 11th. About 19 hours after she was originally supposed to get there.
I'm not done yet, but we're close.
On the night of the 11th, it was also the night of the wrestling awards banquet for Brock. Knowing that Whitney was going to be there soon, Amy went to support Brock at the awards and would then come back. Well, it didn't go so well after Whitney got there. Within 15 minutes of arriving and sitting down, the stress of my accident and added stress of trying to get home caught up to her. We were talking and she slumped over in the chair and passed out. I'm frantically hitting the call button for the nurses and when they hit the room, they think its for me. It took a second, but they finally realized Whitney was struggling and rushed her to the emergency room. So.... how would you like to be Amy about now? She rushes back to the hospital to check on Whit. Poor Brock, all this happened before they ever got to the awards. In the end, Whit was fine, her body just shut down from the stress. I'm not sure when, but at some point our other daughter, Ali, a sophomore at Purdue showed up that night. Thank goodness, no drama with her arrival. haha
Wow! If you made it this far, I gotta give you a "Thumbs Up".
So... here I am a year later. I still have ole' Squeaky. Worked out a deal with insurance to keep her. I was injured, but overall, I think she kept me safe and I am glad that was the vehicle I was driving that day. I think her days of road driving are done, but I still fire her up now and then and drive around the property of Warner Steel. Oh yeah! she got a cool new nickname thru this whole deal - "Bio Hazard".
Check out the pictures on our Warner Steel Facebook page and you will understand.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Warner-Steel-Sales-Inc/110465275683522
Lastly, I have to thank a few people. Thanks to my son, Brock, and my nephew, Kainen Hall, for working at Warner Steel during their Spring Breaks. Thanks also to my daughter, Ali, for working when she could when home from Purdue. And my biggest "Thank You" goes to my dad, Joe Warner. He drove up from Columbus, In every day for three months to help in the shop while I recovered from my injuries. I love ya Pop!
Open on Saturdays for a few weeks - Feb & March
by Mike Warner on 02/17/11
The high school wrestling season has come to an end and lacrosse doesn't start until April, so........
The shop will be open most Saturdays from 2/19/11 thru the end of March. Our hours will be 7:30am to Noon.
I would still recommend calling before showing up to make sure someone is here.
Mike Warner
