Publishers Note:  From time to time, Graniterock publishes in RockBlog and Construction Update, articles from guest authors to provide information that our customers and readers may find helpful.  Our publication of guest articles is not in any way an endorsement of any product or service the author may describe or provide, or of the content of the article.  The guest author is solely responsible for the content, opinions and recommendations contained in the article.
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By Greg Wilkinson, Graniterock Research and Technical Services
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Ed Bowles was born in 1936 in Eagle Pass, Texas, just over the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico. Ed’s dad was a border patrolman for the U.S. Customs Agency, his mom was from Mexico, and Ed grew up bilingual. “We’d talk to Daddy in English and Mama in Spanish.” When he was ten, Ed’s parents decided that California would be a better place to raise a family, and they moved to Aromas. Living near the Quarry, Ed and his friends would swim in the lake at the top of the hill and use the showers by the old Quarry softener house. He also remembers swimming with friends in the Pajaro River. “We used to dive in and ride through the culvert pipe near the Quarry. We’d hold our breath, the current would shoot us across and we’d come out the other side.”
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 By Robin Steudler, Account Manager
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Professor Dean Chemers, Vice-Provost and Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has studied organizational leadership approaches and has a strong mastery of research and literature on the subject. In September, 1998, Bruce W. Woolpert summarized some of his thinking for Construction Update readers. What was written then holds true today.
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Everyone who drives our area highways passes commercial big haul trucks on a regular basis. But do we think about their drivers, the loads they carry or the importance of safe driving while we share the road with these big rigs? Graniterock transportation drivers recently talked about the challenges of safely navigating our area roads as they deliver construction products to our customers. 
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Surely one of the most exciting events in Graniterock’s history took place twenty years ago, in 1992. That was the year the U.S. Department of Commerce named Graniterock a winner of the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.  In December 1992, a lucky few Graniterock Team Members were able to attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C. where President George H.W. Bush presented the award.  
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A“tender” asphalt mix usually refers to a mix that is difficult to compact. It may have a tendency to shove under the roller wheels and/ or leave longitudinal cracks at the edge of the steel drums. Either a lack of friction between particles or a lack of shear strength in  the mix essentially causes tenderness. Both these problems can be the result of many factors, the most common of which we will discuss. 
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In its “A Basic Asphalt Emulsion Manual”, the Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association and the Asphalt Institute describe a fog seal as a “light application of slow-setting emulsion sprayed on an existing asphalt surface.” Properly applied and applied at the right time, a fog seal can be a valuable aid in the maintenance of an asphalt pavement. The question is, what is the proper application and when is the right time to use fog seals in a pavement maintenance program?
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When an organization extends over more than one hundred years, many opportunities arise to reflect on the achievement.  I am often asked, “So what lessons are there from the last 112 years for you and Graniterock People?”  It’s a good question.
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