I passed a truck full of bags this morning.

(Insert your punchline here.)

These were big, heavy, completely-loaded bags.

(Go on, get it out of your system.)

A flatbed with dozens of them.

And I thought: “Are those Transformer Bags?” Full proper name: PIG® Transformer Containment Bag—one of our newer products, made for safe handling and transport of electrical transformers.

Who knew those things are filled with mineral oil that acts as coolant? (also known as transformer oil, I’ve learned). Next time you see a transformer hanging on an electrical pole, you’re looking at something a lot like a drum of oil. When they need repairing or replacement, these bags of ours come in handy: to say they’re strong and have absorbent capacity is an understatement.

Anyway, on the door of this truck that I was passing was the name of a local landscaping supply company. So instead of transformers, these bags must have held mulch or gravel or something.

Oh, well. At least you got it out of your system.

A notable topic in many meetings around here lately is our friend aluminum. I’ll explain why another time.

For now, I just want to note that it wasn’t all that long ago that I found out that most of the world outside of the U.S. spells and says aluminium ( the extra letter “I” makes it al-yoo-MIN-ee-um). It never fails to amuse me.

“You’re saying it wrong!”

“No, YOU’RE saying it wrong!”

Terms matter when offering products to particular audiences. It was a pretty big deal around here years ago when we switched from saying “sheets” to “pads” when referring to pieces of Mat in stacks (ahem, bales) like you see below, because we learned that “pads” made more sense to more customers for these products.

For the same reason, there was a point when we switched from “wipes” to “wipers” when referring to these thingies:

But recently when I mentioned to a friend outside of work that we sell Wipers, he was momentarily confused because he thought I meant these.

Ah, fun with words …

That arresting sound you heard last weekend wasn’t a vuvulela at the World Cup.

It was Noël Jamet of Normandy winning the annual Pig Squeal Contest in Milzac, France, for the third year in a row.

Gotta love that costume—oops, uniform? And that conqueror’s passion! Ooh la la.

He’s been training to dominate these contests for seven years. Let’s hope for his neighbors’ sake that his championship facility is lined with these.

If not, the neighbors must be equipped with these or these or these or … well, you get the idea.