Latest / The Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast / 015 - Amanda Muller

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015 - Amanda Muller · The Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast

• Paul: And welcome into the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast. I am your host, Paul Finley, and we're on our way to being the world's number one concrete podcast. And we are so proud to be brought to you by our very first premiere sponsor. They got the whole month of October all to themselves. Southern Concrete Machinery. We're talking Chris Davenport. We love you, brother. If you're not familiar with Southern concrete machinery, our good buddy Chris is out there representing the Aztec brand of batching equipment. We're talking on the concrete side, because we don't care about the asphalt stuff. On the concrete side, we're looking at the conico. And the conico brand, the conico line. That's what we all know and love, the low pro. How many, how many of those are running around right now? Got the BMH custom series, everything from a single silo to like hardcore gravity fed stuff. You really like can't even imagine some of the tech is being placed in some of these custom series. Go check them out at Southern Concrete Machinery.com. You can see not just the stationary plants, but they got their mobile line too. RexCon, we all know and love. Yes, some of those are stationary. But for the most part, we recognize RexCon's mobile plants. We see them out. And about Southern Concrete Machinery dot com will also tell you what areas they focus on. So, Chris, happy to serve you for a long time now in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and the Alabama market. A couple years ago, he bought up another distributor of the Aztec line and he has expanded further north. All you gotta do is follow the Mississippi River all the way up to Michigan. Just about every state and locality on the way to the left and to the right. Chris is gonna handle that. Give him a call. You can find them on the website, Southern Concrete Machinery dot com. Ask for Chris Davenport. Tell him we sent you. Very excited to have our first premiere sponsor. He makes this thing possible. Each and every month, the show gets a little bit better, a little bit tighter. A little the you know the cameras are better, the microphones are better, we're gonna be live in different places. And it's all thanks to our wonderful, wonderful sponsors. It also allows us to get cool stuff like this. So if you're on the YouTube, all five of you that are on there, I don't know why you are even on there, but thank you for being on there. if you're on the YouTube, you can see this beautiful hat. That is a leather patch laser engraved slump monkeys trucker hat. Rissar Richardson112, if you know, you know. Wonderful hat. Very excited. That is a limited run. We will be handing those out to guests on the show when you're at Concrete Works. If you're following us on the Slump Monkeys Instagram, you've already seen that hat. That's at Slump Monkeys on Instagram. Hat's not a surprise to you here on right now watching this on YouTube, but that wonderful hat will be available at Concrete works while supplies last. Shirts are coming in too. we sampled a few different types of shirts, found the one that we like the best, slapped our logo on it, and those are on their way. They will be in time also for Concrete Works. Look forward to handing those out to all of our wonderful listeners. Concrete Works is October 16th to the 18th. It's in Nashville. We'll be broadcasting live from booth number 501. Thank you so much. To Vince Hagen for letting us park ourselves there. You know, they haven't, it's not just letting us park ourselves there. They've like contributed to making this show so much better than it ever would have been without them. So I cannot wait for you guys to see that. The content that's gonna kind of there is crazy. We've already got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten people, eleven people signed up to be on the show live. We have another. That we're considering, but I don't know how many people can we even squeeze in. If you're one of the folks that would like to be on the show live in Nashville at Concrete Works, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram at Slump Monkeys. That's M-O-N-K-E-Y-S. You can email admin at slumpmonkeys.com and you can find us on LinkedIn. Enigma. Marion Webster's dictionary defines Enigma as something hard to understand or explain. I was perusing my favorite construction news site, Construction Dive. You can find them, constructiondive.com. You can find a link to that on the slumpmonkeys.com website, but I digress. They had an article in their top section. it was listing the top construction trade shows of 2027. I said, I wonder where Concrete Works is on this list, because I love the NRMCA Concrete Workshop. It's my favorite show of all the ones I've been to, and I've been to more than I care to admit, it's my favorite. Because you get somewhere between a thousand to two thousand people show up, but the people that are showing up are decision makers. There are people who really want to move the industry forward. It's in conjunction with a lot of the in N RMCA meetings. You have, you know, all the people there that are gonna do the right thing for the industry and want to see it do better. And then at the same time, we can exhibit and see new technologies and new things, new discussions. Love it. It's my favorite show. The construction dive list of top construction trade shows in 2027, a listed 28. shows. Number one being World of Concrete. Where do you think Concrete Works landed on the list? Spoiler alert, it's not on the list. What kind of list of top construction trade shows ignores this one? But they included something called SmackNA. Nobody knows what SMACNA is. They included the construction risk conference. Risk? You tell me a bunch of lawyers running around about how are we going to sue or not to sue or not to sue? That is the question of the construction risk conference. I've never been so upset with construction dive in my life than when I pulled this up and realized how woefully inaccurate this thing is. It may not surprise you either that a giant chunk of these are in Las Vegas. It's incredible. How many of these are in Las Vegas? but construction dives in time out. I love to promote them. I think they do a wonderful job. they do not just aggregate news stories from other sites, they go out, they do original reporting, and that tickles me to death personally. And now they've kind of lost faith a little bit. Like, how do you how do you leave off concrete works and and now I'm still supposed to like trust your opinion? I don't know. Seems weird. Also on the YouTube, if you see this beautiful Yeti mug, thank you to our premier sponsor for sending this. If you want one, email Chris. He he sells them. And I don't know. He gave me this one, but also sponsors. Whee. Mm. Mmm. That is excellent decaf coffee. We are coming in later than normal. I got the kids going to bed, tucking them in. We're getting this show ready. For you, the wonderful listener. speaking of another Enigma, not just construction dive losing their mind. the ESPN College Pick'em. Slump Monkey's college pick'em contest presented presented by Vince Hagen. That's right. We got a five hundred dollar cash prize and a wonderful trophy coming at the end of the season here. we've somehow managed to knock me out of the top ten. I That's the enigma. That's the enigma. How did I invite people that are this much better than me at picking against the spread? I don't know. We have four people in the group that are in the 99th percentile of all ESPN pick folks. Congratulations, JT's crystal ball. Don't trust Texas, H and H and Joe Buck yourself. You guys are crushing. Elvis left the room. P's fifth entry and backdoor cover, they're all in the 96 percentile. These people are multiple standard deviations above the mean. So fantastic, wonderful guys. I'm down here in 11th place. But you know one thing that I haven't failed you on here is the lock of the week. We are crushing on the lock of the week. So get in. Make your picks for the week right now. I'm going to tell you the one we this is the third week in a row, and we're going to hit it three weeks in a row of picking a team that's favored by 13 and a half. I don't know. Is that our magic number? Is that what we're looking for now? Tennessee going on the road to Arkansas, minus 13 and a half. This doesn't feel like a like like a value. Like I when I made this pick, I just did it based on How I view the games and the knowledge that I have and the things that I've seen and heard and read. And Tennessee is a much better ball club than Arkansas. In fact, I think my 11-year-old co-ed flag football team that I coach might stand a chance against Arkansas right now. So the fact that Tennessee's only favored by 13 and a half is very surprising. I think they're gonna win by 27. the only question is Fais on Brandon or Brandon Faison, whatever his name is, the quarterback of Tennessee, is he gonna throw it to his team or the other team? Is he gonna throw it into the dirt over the guy's head? Or is he gonna use all that talent and actually complete some passes? That's the only question. He may not have to. Give Bishop the football and let him run for 250 yards. Worked last week. You think he can't run on Arkansas? Absolutely he can. Tennessee by 27. Why that doesn't feel like a giant value is apparently eighty five percent of you also agree with that take. so take it for what it is. Lock of the week, Tennessee. I am also on Indiana, UCF, South Carolina, Texas, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon, Kentucky, and Alabama. I don't actually know that Alabama's gonna be able to beat Georgia. but I just couldn't with the game's one and a half point. Bama's a one and a half point favorite at home, so Certainly in it when that situation I can't pick against the tide. but hey, it might be a hurricane there. So who knows? Speaking of more enigmas, can we talk about my eleven year old, my eleven you flag football team? It just does anybody care? 'Cause I care. You know what I I think I'm I'm the coach that's trying too hard. And that's how I feel. I think I'm the coach that's trying too hard. But then when I talk to the directors of the league, they're excited because I care. The problem is we don't get enough practice time. In fact, the first three weeks of the season got completely rained out. It was raining like crazy up here. So, you know, if you're watching on the YouTube I'm gonna bring it in right now. I got all I got all my kids these like wristbands. I diagram these plays for them. You might hear the Velcro there. Diagram these plays for them. So we're in the huddle. Me and my offensive coordinator, who's a 12 year old kid, one of the brothers of the other teammates that I've coached before. And he's aged out because of 11 years, so he helps me out. And you know, we're calling in plays from the sideline. And all the kids are huddled up looking at their wristbands. But I got a real problem. They're eleven, so they can't throw very well. That was what I the twelve year olds, my O. C. You know, he just turned twelve. I thought he was gonna be able to play this fall. Dude's got an arm. It's and he was accurate. So I we were putting we were lighting people up last year. now you know, I don't have I don't have a quarterback real you know, I think they can like really throw it. So Probably gonna have to go to like a wishbone offense. If you guys know any like good flag football plays for wishbone style offense, I got a couple of kids can run. So I'm pretty excited to install those new packages. So, you know, wish me luck. 11 U. We're wanna know. We've been been rained out three weekends, but we're one and no right now. We're ready to dominate absolutely everyone. This show is going to be very interesting. We're going to be transitioning into the the the conspiracy corner that is the fan favorite around here. Conspiracy corner is what everybody lives for on the Slump Muggies Karky podcast. We are we always have four goals here. It's to be smart, original, funny, and authentic. And if we think we can achieve those four things, that you'll stick around with us. So that's always our goal. one of the things that makes this Fun and original is I don't know any other concrete podcasts that have conspiracy corner. So we're gonna bring on our chief conspiracy officer, Josh Harry. and then we're gonna get into our interview today. We have Amanda Mullen from NRMCA. Amanda is wonderful, very happy to have her on the show. in charge of member engagement and she is so focused on making this industry better and adding value to the folks that are members of the NRMCA. So it's really interesting to get her take on what that looks like. what value does NRMCA bring to our industry? And I didn't realize how much the NRMCA can do for its members. So it was really educational for me. So I really appreciate it. And she's great, of course. So I am going to flip this over to conspiracy corner. Hope you enjoy. And welcome in to the most requested segment of this beautiful, wonderful show. We have Josh Hare with us for Conspiracy Corner. Thank you, Josh. Josh: Back again, back like I forgot something. I enjoy this man. I look forward to doing this kind of stuff. Paul: Appreciate that. As as the resident chief conspiracy officer, we look to you for guidance and why we should be suspicious of the current landscape of the day and also the historical landscape. And today we're gonna get in a little bit of history. So I first want to say thank you. An audience member, a listener of the show, turned us on to the mysterious case of Rudolph Diesel. If that last name sounds like a familiar word, you would be correct. Reference to the diesel engine and diesel fuel. Did you know, dear listener? That is directly attributed to one man? That's right. Rudolf Diesel, who lived from 1858 to 1913, was the creator, inventor, seller, patent holder of what we call the diesel engine. Now you've heard of Nicholas Otto, who developed the four-stroke internal combustion engine. How about Mr. Daimler? Mr. Maybach. Pioneers high-speed gasoline engines. How about Carl Benz? yeah. Hyphenated with the good old Mercedes. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell. These are inventors and pioneers all around the same era as Rudolph Diesel. And we know who these folks are. But we don't know about Diesel. Why did his name not live on? The name lived on in terms of the What we call the engine and what we call the fuel, but Rudolph did not go along with it. Why was he erased from the history books? And as you dig into that, Josh found that not only was he erased from the history books, but he may have been taken off this earth on purpose. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the death of one, Rudolph Diesel. Josh, tell the people it's conspiracy corner. Educate us. Josh: The ironic thing about all of those people that you listed, when I w you know, when I hear all those famous inventors, pioneers of their time, and then you compare the and they were all more well known than Rudolf Diesel tends to be. the ironic thing to me is all of those gentlemen, their inventions have been at least improved by or completely replaced by modern technology. And what's interesting to me is a diesel engine's still a diesel engine. you know, there's been advancements in in fuel injection technology and turbo technology and obviously throughout the course of, you know, the Industrial Revolution in the the twenty first century. Metal casting has gotten better, but the overall fundamental way a diesel engine compresses fuel and makes the the high torque and that they're known for it it's still the same as it was when Rudolf Diesel was pioneering this this technology back at the turn of the century during the Industrial Revolution. So it's it's just amazing the longevity that this man's invention has has had. And the interesting thing is most people don't know. Why diesel is spelled with a capital D. You know, it's it's it's Rudolf Diesel's invention, which is, you know, pretty pretty crazy to me. And most people don't realize, well, people are starting to realize it now with the economy of the way it is, but every ship, every submarine, every truck on the highway, if you want something delivered somewhere, it is 95% of the time powered by a diesel engine. and it has been for a long time now for good reason. Paul: So what let's start let's start with what is the difference between a diesel engine and a gas powered engine? Josh: the way the fuel's used. gas powered engine uses a spark plug to ignite the air fuel mixture in the the c in the cylinder and that's what creates the power to move the piston in the lower rotating assembly and and essentially, you know, make your your kinetic energy. But with a diesel it actually compresses that fuel in the cylinder. and What makes that advantageous is diesel fuel compared to gasoline is very stable. You know, if if you have a gallon of gasoline and you shoot it with a flaming arrow, you're gonna get a big boom. And it's it's fun and all that stuff, but but diesel fuel is very much a s a stable fuel and it's actually well it used to be, not so much anymore. But on paving projects and things like that, guys would spray their shovels and and the paver screeds and everything. They would spray it down with diesel fuel for like nonstick and I'm sure there's precast guys out there that know how well diesel fuel could be used. Paul: Well we we just we just went through that on another episode. Josh: But yeah, so diesel fuel is is a much more stable fuel and it's compressed rather than ignited. and there's you know a ton and you wouldn't know it by looking at the at the prices at the pump, but it's also cheaper to refine and produce than gasoline. The reason it's more expensive than gasoline now is taxes. That's that's why the government is sticking it to the trucking companies and the the shipping companies, but diesel is cheaper to produce and refine than Even your lower eighty seven octane gasolines. Paul: So so we just described the differences it between an an automobile that we're all familiar driving, but there was a difference back in the day in how boats and ships were powered because b before diesel's engine technology came along, they were all steam powered boats. Am I right, Josh? And Josh: Yep, no, that's right. and coal coal was the the fuel of choice. And a group of poor fellows used to be down in the shiphole just shoveling coal into giant furnaces all day long to create the heat, to create the steam, to create the power. And you know, there's some steam locomotives and stuff like that nowadays, but it's all antique off for show stuff. There's no steam engines powering anything of importance, that's for sure. Paul: Yeah, but Josh, don't you know when the new technology came along, we displaced those poor coal shovelers' jobs. I cannot believe we did that. Folks, technology comes along. Josh: Paul, if if if this turns into an AI if this turns into an AI episode, I'm gonna have to leave early. Paul: No, no, no, no. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So D diesel comes along, displaces those poor coal shovelers, jobs. They have to go do something else now. And we get highly efficient, incredibly powerful. So it's funny that he didn't not he didn't just take like a a cleaner engine, but the boats suddenly travel twice as quickly across the water. It's just absolutely hilarious that the that that was the case. And then so we we we have a true pioneer. Like this guy's a true inventor who has invented something nobody else had come up with. but it it wasn't easy for him, right? Like he did it wasn't like he invented this and everybody said, you're the greatest. Let's all buy diesel engines. Josh: No, for sure. you know, Rudolph Diesel he he grew up I believe he was born in Paris and grew up, you know, disadvantaged I would say, in in a family that that didn't really have you know, any means to speak of. He was fortunate enough to where his uncle actually, you know, funded his way to I guess you would call it a boarding school now. he was able to kind of explore and and build on his kind of natural engineering gifts that he seemed to have as a young man. but you know he didn't he didn't come from much and I think the process of him actually developing the diesel engine to the point where he could patents patent a working prototype was it was about a a twenty year project for him before. Paul: Dude, some of the first engines he sold, people didn't even he sold them at like at the World's Fair or like a you know trade shows and people bought a couple of engines and they just like sat them in the corner and didn't Josh: Yeah. Paul: even didn't even put them into use. They were just like sitting over there, like, that's an interesting idea. And you know, it's crazy that I I wanted people to hear that because something that's so lasting and enduring in our in our lives. The guy who started it, it took him a long time to gain traction and to convince people, like, yeah, this is the way to go. It's got higher torque, it was cleaner emissions at the time and a lot safer. It it was just everything about it was better. And he still couldn't gain traction for more than a decade after it was invented. And and so now we've covered the backstory a bit. Josh: Well one one thing, Paul, let me stop you there. One thing to note, and it's important, and please don't turn this into an AI thing, but what happened was the tech the what happened was the technology caught up with his idea. When he first started developing the diesel engine, metallurgy, iron casting, gasket materials, things of that nature, people were still using Paul: yeah, that's right. Josh: ropes and leather and you know, casting technology was basically a brand new thing and throughout Paul: Yeah, 'cause the blocks were cracking the blocks were cracking under all the torque and pressure. That's right. Josh: Right, well and and the the pain point for a lot of diesel engines is right at the head gasket. You know, right where the head meets the block. You know, you have all of that combustion strength in the cylinder and if you don't have a good seal and if you're not working with good metal with solid gaskets and and strong head bolts, then that thing's liable to to come apart on you. So as he was working on his diesel engine, the technology caught up to his idea and enabled him to do some things he couldn't do when he first set out. Paul: Well, that was a good job not veering into AI by you, 'cause don't want to be a hypocrite on this show. Josh: You can you can make a y yeah, you you can make a comparison to where there's a lot of people out there with big ideas that AI is is enabling them to go a little further on, but we'll we'll save that for another episode. Paul: Yes, we will. So let's now give a little bit of backstory about this guy, Rudolf Diesel, grew up a little bit underprivileged, got thank God had an uncle that came along and said, Hey, you're pretty smart. We should probably pull you out of the ghetto and give you some actual schooling. he took that and the knowledge he learned at university as well and decided to he could invent a better engine. It does eventually take off. He eventually becomes one of the wealthiest men in the world. spends most of his time later in his life again, born in 1858, dies mysterious circumstances in 1913. So he's 55 years old. And those last like five ish years. He was fully retired and but he was he was the kind of guy like he couldn't just sit around on his hands. And so he was always traveling and always talking about his engine and always promoting it and always helping and doing whatever he could to to advance things. And then s suddenly, out of nowhere, on one of his voyages he disappears. What In the world happened. Josh: He was on his way from Belgium to Great Britain and as the story goes he was traveling to England to co-found a company to supply engines to the British Royal Navy. This was right before World War One began, and with with any great tool call you know, a hammer can build a house or it can destroy a house, right? So, you know, with any great tool comes great responsibility and there were people after this diesel engine let me back up. His initial his initial plans for this diesel engine, what he had envisioned in his mind was to enable people in rural areas to have power, to be able to manufacture things, to be able to power farm equipment, to be able to produce things, and you didn't have to be right in the middle of a large city. Getting the ability for rural areas to produce in in kind with major cities. He wanted he envisioned the diesel engine to be able to run on plant based biofuels, which you can still do today, but it's a little bit more cumbersome than just filling up with diesel at the pump. But he was he was a pacifist. You know, Rudolph Rudolf Diesel was a pacifist and as this as his engine, as his invention grew legs, it caught the attention of people wanting it wanting to use it for military purposes. Especially for submarine U boats at the time to be able like as you as you explained earlier, to be able to go longer distances in shorter amount of time with way less manpower, 'cause you didn't have to shovel all that coal. twenty four seven to keep the thing running. So it was a high priority for military Intel to, you know, get a hold of the patents and the rights and you know, enable them to use Rudolf Diesel's engine. So he found himself between a rock and a hard place in that he had a lot of people coming to him to utilize that engine's utilize his engine for things he didn't want it utilized for. So he had to pick a side. And he wasn't a nationalist, he didn't have any ties to where he grew up or where his family was from. So he was trying to pick the best the best partner. And when you find yourself in that situation you always leave somebody left out and the throes of war, those people who are left out tend to be a little bit more aggressive on how they handle that. Paul: Wow. So what what we were talking about World War One's going on during this time or is it about to kick off, nineteen fourteen, nineteen eighteen, right? So Josh: Yeah, yeah, so it was right at the precipice or not precipice, right at the beginning of World War One. You want me tell you who did it? Kaiser Wilhelm the Second. Kaiser Wilhelm, Paul: Ha ha ha Josh: let me tell you about Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. He w He was getting after Rudolf Diesel for years now, and you know, he just happened to have some guys on this ferry that that Rudolf was taking from Belgium to Great Britain and you know, he wanted it for you know, Great Britain's Royal Navy. You know, he wanted these these Diesel engines for their submarine U boats. And you know, Diesel wasn't about the German nationalism, so he became he became suspect number one if if Rudolph even died at all. Paul: okay. So so let's let's set this up. the mystery is that allegedly he got on the boat, had dinner on the boat, went out for a walk on the boat at night, and never came back to bed. And then was never seen again. That's the story we're told about his disappearance. But you're saying. Maybe it wasn't a death experience. Maybe didn't go overboard. What what are the other options here? Josh: There's lot of inconsistencies with the story. The the biggest thing is it was a it was a dead calm night. Seas were calm, the the best waters you'd ever wanna wanna sail on. When they found his hat and his jacket and his clothes up on the deck by the rail, they were neatly folded on the bench. So there wasn't there was zero signs of struggle of any kind. and then other consistencies were financial in in a way. his wife Martha, who he had been married to for you know, since I think he got married in his late teens, I believe, he left her with an overnight bag. He gave her the overnight bag a week before the departure on the ferry, and they o and he said, you know, don't open this for I think it was a week or ten days, said, you know, this is the date you can open this bag. Well that date happened to be the day after he went missing and it had two hundred thousand Dutch marks in it. That's about one point two million today. And right before his disappearance, he had cleaned out his bank accounts. Got a he got a lot of things set up financially for both himself and his companies and his family before he went, quote unquote, missing. And there's a theory, a popular theory, that British Intel retrieved him from this ship at night and took him to Canada for safe passage away from the Germans and away from you know the The hotbed of what would turn into World War One at the time, and that's where he lived out his remaining years, you know, helping British Intel with their naval fleet. The primary piece of evidence that supports that claim is right around that time that he went missing, all of a sudden there was a massive amount of progress made in the submarine maritime construction. at a a very popular a very popular military port in Montreal. There was a New York Times article alleging that someone had seen Rudolf Diesel around that area in Montreal. There was one article published and then after that, Radio Silence. So, you know, you you can put some puzzle pieces together and really make a good argument that the British helped him escape where, you know, they helped him live out his remaining days without threat of violence or whatever threat he thought he was under at the time. He helped them, they helped him, and and Martha Martha came away with a little bit of money and and eventually rendezvoused with him. He left a note for Martha as well in this overnight bag. It was not a suicide note, but it was very cryptic. Talking about financials, talking about real estate properties, you know, business dealings, things of that nature, but it wasn't it wasn't a suicide note. It didn't talk about his death. It talked about plans and actions to take once it was made official that he was missing. Paul: I love it. I love that much more than the other. I heard a third theory as well. third theory is that his competitors, who were absolutely the most ruthless people on the planet, may have been the ones that had him disappeared. You know, diesel still today competes with gasoline and standard oil. Trying to take over the world and they wanted gas-powered engines to be the dominant force on Earth. And here comes along a guy who says, What why would you deal with a flammable liquid when I have one that doesn't combust very easily? And by the way, the engines are more robust and more powerful. So what do you why would we use that material? And he was Josh: Yeah, well I mean, John D. Rockefeller was the most famous Robert Baron of of all time and that was pretty much in his heyday and he had the means to do it. so I I certainly wouldn't put it past him. Paul: Could you imagine being diesel and you've got the Kaiser who you're on his bad list? You got Rockefeller, you're on his bad list, and you think that at the age of fifty-five, the best deal you've got is to hand over your patents to the British Navy and s secretly disappear off to Canada. Wow. Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Paul: Ooh, that's rough. One of the one of the things about like him that bolsters your theory about him being a candidate that I read is in Montreal, like the problem that he solved was so advanced that like that had to be the creator. And I thought that was really interesting because we've all been around guys who were like so experienced and so good at what they did that even the people that they had trained and who were also like experts. Like s we like we'll sometimes we'll be stumped on a problem and you gotta call that guy, the old Josh: Yeah. Paul: head, and be like, Can you please come look at this? And they're like, yeah, I know how to fix that. Or they figure it out. Even if they don't know right away, they figure it out. You're like, God, how did you figure that out? And I've been around that a few times and I bet you that's exactly what happened. They called in the expert and said, Man, can you please come take a look at this? Josh: Yep. No, it's that's where my that's where my mind goes. As much as I want to blame rich, powerful guys during that time for being nefarious and they probably were in their own right, I think that Rudolf Diesel went off to Canada and he wasn't he didn't commit suicide and he wasn't assassinated. I think that he fled to Canada and lived out his remaining days where you know that that's the more likely theory in my opinion. Paul: He it he would have to literally be the ultimate, you know, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist guy because he he forewent the fame and the glory. Yes, he was already wealthy and he was willing to give that up. I don't know if it was to preserve himself, was it to preserve the technology? Was it to perverse preserve his his family? But today in twenty twenty six, none of us know his name. We know his engine, we know his product. We had no idea that the word diesel was linked to a man, one of the greatest inventors of his era, right alongside Thomas Edison. Erased from the history books and he might have done it voluntarily. Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Well I mean your alternative there's a there was some other I gotta talk about my boy. I think I talk about Nicola Tesla in every episode so far, so I'm gonna keep her going here. you you look at what the likes of of JP Morgan and John D. Rockefeller and other other Robert Barons of the time did to Nicola Tesla. He was one of the most brilliant men of that time and he died penniless and alone in a New York hotel. I mean guys back then were ruthless and they could ruin somebody. So, you know, Rudolf Diesel came along just a little bit behind where Tesla was as far as dealing with those those types of higher end intel officers and such. He might have seen the writing on the wall. And like like I said earlier, he was a pacifist. He probably he probably realized a long time ago that his original intention for his diesel engine wasn't gonna be met the way he had envisioned it. So, you know, he might have cut his losses and said this is this is the best choice for me. Paul: More power to him. I Josh, really appreciate you stopping by today on the podcast, educating the masses that we need to be aware that there are conspiracies afoot. The world is not always as it seems, and they rewrite history. They rewrite history without you even knowing it. Rudolph Diesel, hats off to you, man. Thanks for all your work. Josh: Sir. Couldn't have said it better myself, Paul. Thanks for having me, man. See you on the next one. Paul: It's all good, brother. See ya. And welcome into the interview portion of the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast. We have the wonderful, the one, the only Amanda Muller of NRMCA. Her title is a mouthful. That's her words, not mine, Vice President of Member Engagement. Thank you, Amanda, for being on the show. Amanda Muller: Thanks for having me. Super excited to be here. It's I kind of a fangirl a little bit. I always watch the stuff online. Paul: We really appreciate that. When you know it's we just started an Instagram account. So everybody, if you got Instagram, you want to be at Slump Monkeys on that. You were one of our first people that we followed. So we are also fans of yours. It's mutual. Amanda Muller: Perfect. I love that. yeah. Subscribe, do all the things guys. This is a great place to be. Paul: Well well said. I'm clipping that. That's gonna go out. Amanda Muller: Yeah, perfect. Paul: we are excited to be at Concrete Works. That's coming up. So this episode will go out roughly October 8th. The Concrete Works will be the week, the weekend like after that. So the 15th, 16th, like the weekend going into that. So people have about a week to listen to us, and then it'll be time to be live. What are you? What are you most looking forward to at Concrete Works? Amanda Muller: man, the National Mixer Driver Championship is probably one of the best things we do here at the association. I think this will be my seventh championship watching and I still kind of get the goosebumps, you know, when they come down the red carpet at the banquet, like you're like, something's in my eye. It's just a really great place to celebrate kind of the frontline of everything we do when it comes to our members. so that's probably number one for me. we've got some exciting stuff I think to celebrate our big 20th anniversary when it comes to the championship. I don't know if you've heard about ESPN the Ocho. Paul: Well let's hold on, let's jump into that. So ESPN the Ocho is a real thing. It it's Amanda Muller: Is a real thing. Paul: it started out as a joke in the Dodgeball movie back in the day. And the ESPN made it a real thing. And they they broadcast like off the wall sporting competitions or any competition. and now they're coming to the national mixer driver rodeo. What more details do you have about ESPN? Amanda Muller: Yeah, so we are part of the family now. We're very excited about that, and they are gonna be recording during our championship this year, and it will air, I believe, in August of next year. they do all of the recordings usually kind of this time of year, and then they start slating it out for the rest of the next calendar year. So excited. So this isn't the first time, and it's not gonna be the last. So get excited. Maybe put on your dodgeball uniforms if you want to get in there. I in fact, not to call out Ben Oleen from Dickinson ReadyMix, but he may have ordered a dodgeball outfit to wear at the championship. Paul: that's great. I mean, hey, if you want to get on TV, I mean, make it happen, Ben. Looking forward to it. Amanda Muller: I know. Yeah, so yeah, the championship is number one. But for me being in membership, just seeing people is kind of always at the top of my list. you know, some folks you only see once or twice a year, but having the opportunity to kind of sit down and catch up about how their business is going, you know, what maybe has changed for them in terms of, you know, things that are priorities, all of that stuff changes. But I think the exciting thing is membership committee itself. We're revamping the entire committee. Approaching it a little bit more like a social club is what I'll say. we've got some exciting stuff planned for our annual convention in Louisville. maybe a bourbon trail situation is a teaser to that. So we're excited. Paul: That is good. What is what what went into the revamping of the committee? How'd you how'd you come up with that? Amanda Muller: so for me we do a lot of repor I think on a lot of our committees, I'm sure you've sat in plenty of yourself, is sometimes you find a lot of reporting out and a lot of our committees have adjusted their formats, but A lot of hey, these are all the great things NRMCA is doing instead of it being a conversation. And that's Paul: Mm. Amanda Muller: something I'm pretty passionate about. I mean, I why talk at you for the next hour and a half when I could do that over a Zoom call? Let's spend this time a little bit differently. So for membership specifically, we spend a lot of time talking about membership stats and performance for the association, but what about the stuff that really matters and people are committed to, which is kind of growing the association and lot of that. Paul: Yeah, well so you revamping that, I I'd say Amanda Muller: Mm-hmm. Paul: in the last couple of years you've you've really expanded, I don't say revamp is kind of a big word, but expanded the opportunities at things like concrete works, where it's not just come have a technical meeting, walk around a trade show floor, but hey, if you're exhibiting, we're gonna have a chance to essentially have like lunch and learns on one side of the conference hall and we're gonna have demonstrations on a stage. on another side of the conference hall. And now we're adding speed dating, which was debuted last year. It looks like it's gonna really be ramped up this year. these are as a person who's exhibiting, so so my company is exhibiting, not the podcast, but the company that is I would say is my my normal day job. the first one of the first things I did as the head of sales and marketing for that company is I said we're going to Concrete Works. And I got us a booth and When the speed dating came up, I was like, this is absolutely perfect because I've done that at a mining trade show before. And it was the best way to introduce yourself to people you might not always be able to get in front of. And as long as they're willing to hear you out and you get five minutes of their time, that was the most valuable five minutes that I could get. And so when I think about like the NRMCA driving value to folks who want to participate. Those five minute interactions could change the course of a company. Amanda Muller: And that's happened before, actually. So last year first networking, if you're looking for romance when it comes to vendors, you wanna go to the speed networking event. I think it's on Sunday. I don't Paul: we're not supposed to call it speed dating? Is did did a memo go out? Amanda Muller: What's popular anymore? You know, speed dating, speed networking, romance. It's all the Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: same these days. But we had a huge success story. It was the first time we ever did it, and we had one of our ReadyMix producer members walk away saying, Had no idea this person existed. but we went with them right after that and it's been a successful relationship we'll say since then. So that's been a big piece of kind of some of the changes, the demo area in terms of different products, getting very hands on it. In fact, I think I might remember you being on the stage very early on in the demonstrations. Paul: Yeah. Well, I don't know if it was early or not. We've certainly made a a bunch of commotion. that that's Amanda Muller: Ha ha. Paul: for sure. I I think Yeah, yes. We were on that we were on that stage. And then you took in the flyer that went out for Concrete Works this year on the like twentieth page of the brochure, the very last page, there was me on the stage with a picture of me holding a mic. And I I think you owe me some money. I don't remember signing off. Amanda Muller: I just want your autograph to be on it. So whatever whatever gets it done we'll we'll make it happen. Paul: That's great. So the the the demonstration area was great was great last year. And I I would encourage folks, it's what we we actually probably had the biggest audience over there, but we that's not a it's not a brag. It was like, how did that happen? Well, we did something like nobody else did. We actually made concrete, and then the other thing was we told everybody under the sun about it, and it was like, would you please like you know, just come support us because we saw some of the some of them were a little sparsely attended and we're like, man, we have something cool to show. Like let's see how many people we can get to come support us. And it was really interesting. It was like b like a snowball effect. Like once one person came, everybody's like, Huh, well more people are gathering. I'll go check it out. More people are gathering and I'll check it out. And then we gave things away to the audience as they were sitting there. So I would encourage anyone who is gonna be on one of these demonstration stages Make sure you tell people because not everybody's looking at that demonstration lineup Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: and making note of it. So you really want to get the word out there and then do your best to interact with folks. And it it can be tough, but there were a couple of successful ones last year. So I'm excited to see how well everybody does this year. Amanda Muller: Yeah, so bringing that back in and then our learning labs, that was a big thing. You know, a couple of years ago we did the education kind of breakouts where people disappeared from the hall. but what we heard from a lot of our members is that man, we really gotta stay in here. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, depending on the speaker. Like I and so Jessica, who runs our meetings and events team, absolutely incredible. She made some of those changes and I think it's been pretty successful when it comes to driving attendance into the expo hall. I mean, last year was the first year we did it and it was kind of rave reviews. We had to work Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: on some like sound issues. You know, there's always something that you gotta learn from and Paul: There's all Amanda Muller: adjust, but we'll be back in the hall for those learning labs. And you know, thinking about some of the committees we were talking about, BAC, our business advancement committee, has a very heavy section related to AI, which is something that's been very, very heavy when folks are talking about it. Paul: Bringing the learning labs into the hall was certainly a good move because you could just feel there were you could just feel the presence. Something about being in a ballroom when it's full of people, when it's not, there's energy and then there's not. Like the it's you can really feel it in the air. And last year you could just tell there were there were more people interacting inside of the ballroom. I think you guys bringing the learning labs in w was a testament to that. As so we're have you're doing that again, you'll have the disp the demonstration stage. Again. Amanda Muller: Mm-hmm. Paul: And then is the speed dating inside the the ballroom? I Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: was looking at the map, Manny Tejano sent me the map asking me he's a yeah. Amanda Muller: Yeah. per perfect. Love Manny. yeah. So you can find love still in the expo hall do during speed dating. so yes, we did move that inside the hall so I think we're trying to keep the Expo Hall kind of the heart of what's going on during those open hours and not send people as everyone knows if you've been to the Gaylord Op Freeland, it is a very large venue that is very easy to get lost. So keeping everybody consolidated will be probably way better for everyone's feet when it comes to running around that property. Paul: Well, you keep having these at the Gaylords. I mean, those are fantastic properties. So nobody's upset when they see like, Amanda Muller: How cool? Paul: we're go we're going to another Gaylord property Amanda Muller: Yeah. Well did you see that the San Diego property opened? Yeah. So no, unfortunately Paul: No, I did not. Is that for next year? No. Amanda Muller: not. It's a I think twenty eight. I well because I want you to come back. Paul: Then why are you getting me excited about it if Well where do you already know where next year is? I'm not only too far ahead of her, so we're Amanda Muller: Yeah, yeah. So we'll be back in Orlando, and then we'll we'll go to San Diego and then back up to Denver, for those shows. Paul: Or Orlando Orlando was really great though. Like I took my family to that one. So when we got done we got to go do some stuff like out in Disney and all that. So it's it's a great location. Amanda Muller: Do yeah. Do you do the gator feeding in the lobby area? Paul: No, my daughter wanted to, but I was working. So did my wife take I don't know. Maybe she did. I did I Amanda Muller: I don't know, you'll find out. Paul: didn't see I didn't see very much 'cause I was I was busy and then once the show ended I was able to actually hang out with them. But now we have a little baby. So they're not they're not coming this time 'cause he's he's too much he's too much right now. So we'll s we'll see them we'll see them next year. Amanda Muller: Okay. All right, we'll pencil them in. Paul: Pencil that man. So you got this show, but this is is this the only show this isn't the only event that NRMCA puts on, is it? There's an annual meeting event and look Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: and then what what else is it? Just those two or the the two events? Amanda Muller: Yeah, so yeah, so we have our two large national events, which is going to be annual convention and then our concrete works show in the fall. there's some educational stuff that will take place kind of throughout the calendar year with like a semester series or a pop-up class here and there. but those are our two core very ready mixed, very NRMCA focused events that we put on right now. Paul: And there are state chapters though. So we're you work for the National Ready Mixed Concrete Amanda Muller: Yeah. Yep. Paul: Association, but how what's the relationship between NRMCA and then the state ready mixed concrete associations? Amanda Muller: First of all, shout out to all my state associations. so we're all partners in this together. they're great. So each state operates a little bit differently in terms of who they represent. but we come in as a partner, you know. not every state is blessed to have a very large staff or a large offering. A lot of them are focused on advocacy when it comes to promotions or just, you know, the government affairs aspect of it all. So we come in and help layer that with education. are large conferences because that's a huge opportunity. And sometimes we go to their events too. So if anyone follows me, I I'm around the world, I feel like a lot of the time. So I end up going to probably about a dozen state association meetings a year. And then Joanna, who's on my team, she kind of picks up another dozen or so herself. That's Paul: Shout out Joanna Kirby. Amanda Muller: that's what's up. Paul: I usually when I think about either one of y'all, I usually think about y'all together, like walking around together. Amanda Muller: Yeah. Yeah. a lot of people will ask if we've like started a a sports team of any sort because we're both tall women and don't ask Joanna about her her gift when it comes to sports. She's not very sporty when it comes to things. So we'll pretend that we're starting like a basketball team, but you'll never see us play. Paul: No. Well did you play sports? That is a that you know what that's a fair Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: questi that's actually a fair question. You guys are like six feet tall for real. So did did you play sports? Amanda Muller: Yeah. Well that's usually what I ask women that are tall like me that I'm like, hey man, what sport did you play? And very rarely do I across come across somebody that's like, no, I never I never did that. And I said, What? I'm confused. But yeah, no, I totally played sports my entire life, all the way through college. Paul: So was that volleyball or track or what's what was your Amanda Muller: Yeah, so I played basketball and volleyball through community college and then I took a scholarship to play basketball at a Division Two school in Hawaii. Yeah. Yeah. Paul: holy cow. Hawaii. Why in the world did you not stay in Hawaii? What are you doing here? Amanda Muller: if you know me, I don't love humidity and it gets very humid there. especially where I was at located first school. So some of some of you are probably like, This this chick is crazy, but Hawaii is a place I vacation too. I don't think I could live there. sorry Kirk from Hawaii. that's our state association rep. But would love to visit any time, but it's I like the dry climate. Paul: trashing Hawaii. No, you don't hear too many people doing that. I'm just joking. You weren't Amanda Muller: I know. If we lose members after this podcast, I'm gonna need you to pull it. Paul: if you don't lose members and it wasn't a successful podcast. That's the way I look at it. But if we're gonna trash another Amanda Muller: There we go. Yeah. Paul: place, how about the place you just left? you were living in Washington, DC for a while. Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: I mean, it gets super humid. People don't realize how humid it also gets. In DC now you've moved out to a more arid climate. So good for you. Good for you. Good for you. Amanda Muller: Yeah. Yeah. No, I i it was fun on the east coast. Love the history aspect. as they said I left them and moved to Colorado where it's quite lovely. You know, it was forty seven degrees this morning. I can't I can't really complain about that. Paul: My gosh. It was 61 here and it felt freezing. And so that's why I've got long sleeves for anybody watching the Amanda Muller: Yeah, well me too, yeah. Like yeah. We got the blanket on the side in case, you know, I got a little chilly later with the window open. Paul: That's great. Yep. Colorado's a good spot. It's a good spot. You know, but you got the same problem that I have. Well, I don't know if it's a problem. You have the same situation I have where why does it even matter where you live? 'Cause you're on the road constantly Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: and it's like, well, we never see you in the office anyway. So yeah, I guess you can live wherever you want. Amanda Muller: Yeah. And and honestly I think it's allowed me to kind of better support the membership because I can get around a little bit easier. When I was in D C it's like, Amanda, can you come out to California for this event? And I was like, Man, that's gonna be an entire week. Now it's like, I can make that happen in forty eight hours So it it's been a good thing, at the end of the day and yeah, I am never home so it doesn't really matter. Paul: Let's let's back up for just a second because we dove into like the relationship of NRMCA to state chapters like the Georgia Rady Mix Concrete Association, the Carolinas, and like what that's like. But maybe we should back up and talk about what is the NRMCA? Why does it even exist? Like what so National Ready Mix Concrete Association, what is it? Why does it exist? Amanda Muller: It's a loaded question, but we'll we'll do my best to dissect that. Paul: This is hold on. This is two interviews in a row where the guest came at me about my Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: question. What is going on here? Amanda Muller: it's a tough place podcasting, I suppose. Paul: Well, we on the on the Instagram, the first two comments that we received on the Instagram were nobody should give this guy a microphone and and Yeah, Amanda Muller: my Paul: and and I forget what the I now I forget what the other one was, but it was also like super negative. Like who are these people and they don't know anything and Amanda Muller: Man. I'm I'm one of those people that definitely likes to stir the pot. So you shouldn't have told me about that. I'll need to like get a a fake Instagram and maybe go poke the bear a little bit, but Paul: Gonna be a burner. One of them one of them deleted their comment. I was gonna reply, like, thank you for listening and I didn't even get a chance. They deleted their Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: comment. The second one wasn't as bad, so Amanda Muller: Just a shame. So back to the sports references. I'm gonna say, you know, if we're watching basketball, we're that sixth man off the bench. And what I mean by that is we have all the resources and benefits you could probably imagine. And it's just one of those things that you've got your starting five in. What do you need next? And is it to give you, you know, your point guard over an operations a break and tag somebody else in with some, you know, resources there? i it's the education. We do so much and I think that sometimes gets lost is a lot of these other associations when you think nationally they they focus on like maybe one, two or three things. I can't even begin to count on one or two hands how much stuff we do at the association. So I think a lot of people kinda get lost in the sauce when it comes to what is the NRM CA. I already get that from my state association. There's so much more that we do. whether it's our national events, the networking aspect, the classes in education, the certifications. You got Andrew in government affairs up on the hill doing all the good things for the industry at large. You name it, we do it. It's just one of those things that it it's hard to figure out what the roadmap is for the association. And I think, you know, not to to jump ahead, I think in the conversation, but we have a new president on board. We're very excited about that. So he can help us use our new strategic plan and drive everything we're doing as an association so the value proposition is very clear for why you should be a member of the association. I don't know that that really truly answers your question, but I mean we've been around for almost a hundred years. We must be doing something right. Paul: Well, I think it's great that you have new leadership. I think being super Amanda Muller: Mm. Paul: clear on the objective, like what is NRMCA trying to accomplish? And does that align with what the industry needs? Is it adding value, the cost to join the association? Is there value being added by getting everyone together and getting them on the same page in some way? I don't know that you're ever gonna meet everyone's needs all the time. But if there's critical mass and you're meeting critical needs, then there's a reason to have an association. For me personally, what I thought was fascinating was the number of companies that you could touch should they want to join. So yes, it's the Ready Mixed Concrete Association, but it's not just for ready mix producers. It's for everyone that touches ready mixed concrete. Including me, a worker at a newly formed company that's gonna sell C supplementary cementitious material, it was advantageous for me to be a part of the organization because there are so many touch points with Ready Mix producers, other supplementary cementitious producers, cement suppliers, different people that I want to be in contact with. And what better way to network than to use NRMCA as the nexus? for those interactions. And I couldn't be more policed as that type of person. And and I don't know when you just hear N RMCA if everybody says if if if that's what everyone else sees is is the value to all the people that just touch the business. Amanda Muller: You know, in my title is the word engagement. And that definition looks a little bit different for every single butt person that is involved with the association, whether it's their company or them as an individual. And I think that it's a two-way street. Obviously I'm here night and day to help you figure out what we can do to help you with your business, but you know, if you're giving back and giving us input and going to committee meetings and talking about the issues your business is facing we get that much better as an association in terms of offerings or solving problems. I mean, honestly, without the members we wouldn't be here. I think that's pretty self explanatory, but they're the ones that drive everything we do at the association. If they weren't if there weren't problems, we probably wouldn't exist. But as you all know, business tends to have problems here and there and we're here to help that. And, you know, it It's such a pleasure to do my job because it no day looks the same. Whether it's teaching people about the association, it's it doesn't get boring. I will say that. Paul: I was involved for a time with the Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association. So I don't know if that's like directly affiliated with NRMCA, but they come to think yeah, PACA. Yeah, yeah. Amanda Muller: Packer, yeah. Yeah. Paul: Yeah, they're they're great. They're great. And one thing that I noticed early on was they were helping local folks with like technical problems. Like the local folks would Amanda Muller: Mm. Paul: have like technical, like my concrete, I'm having this issue with the concrete. Is this something you're seeing in other places in the state? Can you recommend how would I fix this? Nobody seems to know how to solve the problem. Like, what would you do? And you know, you got Jim Casilio up there, and he's seen everything and done everything. So I mean, he's an amazing person to have as an as an engineer and a former concrete business owner. Seems to if he doesn't have the answer, like he knows who to call or how or how you might go about solving it. And that's really, really valuable to people in Pennsylvania. Is there any type of technical arm like that for NRMCA? Amanda Muller: yeah. yeah. so we Paul: Or who Amanda Muller: have our lab actually. I don't know if you've had a chance to go see it. Paul: No, I I've I love Colin Lobo and so I don't know where he fits into this, but he's like one of those like super smart people that I'm always talking to when I'm when I'm out and about. Amanda Muller: Where doesn't Colin Lobo fit in? he you know, I always appreciate him because he dumbs it down for me. And that is like so appreciated. he's one of the smartest guys I know. so we have our lab across the river through the woods in Maryland. Yeah, College Park, I think is technically the address to it. Paul: is it in Silver Spring? Is that the Yeah, yeah, yeah. okay. Yeah. I s I think is that where you host the short courses at that same building or? Amanda Muller: So we used to have our HQ building in Silver Spring. Paul: Okay. Amanda Muller: So we used to have kind of an educational center up there. Paul: Yeah, that's where I did did the short course and I did the durability course there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amanda Muller: Okay. Yeah. Paul: So maybe I might be that was I'm a that was at least a decade ago or more. So I'm aging a little bit. I don't know when you guys moved. Amanda Muller: L let's not talk about it 'cause that means I'm aging too. yeah, so we've got our lab up there, but we've got, you know, folks that are constantly running tests, whether it's for members or industry at large, you've got Colin, Glenn Schaefer who's now on our team, who are kind of our rock stars when it comes to being that member support arm for the associate 'cause we used to get I get calls or questions all the time. Shoot, I'll get a text of like, Hey, we're having problems at the time it was one L. And it's like I know not to like step step into that. Delete delete the Paul: gosh. gosh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna we're gonna get Yeah, this is not that podcast. Amanda Muller: No. No, but you know, a situation like that where they're like, I don't even know where to turn to ask these kinds of questions And I'm like, Well Paul: Yeah. Well fair fair. But well and also are you seeing this in other parts of the country, which would be a nice, you know, national question. Because you couldn't a when you asked the cement company, I got lots of friends of cement companies, they all I think they were all caught a little bit surprised that it wasn't taken as well, like the market Amanda Muller: Right. Paul: didn't take it as well as they thought it was going to, because all the like the like the small batch tests leading up to conversion, Amanda Muller: Well Paul: they were all like really positive. And I was there and I was around it and everybody was really excited and then when the switch happened, it seemed like every cement plant all at the exact same time in twenty twenty two just all magically flipped the switch at the same time. And it wasn't like this flawless conversion that we all thought it was going to be. And it still it still isn't today. Like people are still mad about it today. So yeah, my gosh, I can't I Amanda Muller: Yeah, yeah. It's Paul: didn't even think about like what that was like for you guys. Actually Amanda Muller: Hot yeah, a little bit of a hot button situation and like rightfully Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: so. I mean, it makes sense, you've no a lot of you know, we won't get in the weeds on some of this stuff, but that was one of my questions when I was running around the country that I would ask kind of from state to state is what's your experience like? Where are you at with it? some states I'd find like, we haven't even touched it. there were some places that were like, until it's forced on me, like I'm not Like I'm not interested. And so it was kind of a an odd rollout across the country in terms of what our members were experiencing. But we used to get calls all the time that and Colin would be one of those people that could kind of help problem solve through those situations and say, Here's what I recommend, or let me put you in touch. And that's what's great about our national events is that people would meet people from other areas of the country that might be experienced the same exact situation. It just looks a little bit different depending on climate and things of that nature, that they could call up Bob and say, Bob, it's your time to shine. Tell me what to do in this situation. And you know, the networking part of the association is probably if you were to poll our members today, probably top three in terms of why people are are members of any association, but especially ours. Paul: It is really interesting that people all around this country make concrete every day and they have things that they think are problems and other people have just lived with it. So I got a couple of really funny examples. one that's not funny is like the type one L. But there are people who are using type one L that were having a great experience and didn't understand like why is everybody so upset? And it was it was surprising to them. And then there are people right now That are making concrete with 100% manufactured aggregates and they've been doing it for 20, 30, 40 years. And all these people that need to use bandsand, they don't understand, like, what do you mean you're having a problem? Like, we've been doing that forever. You don't need additives for that. Like, just, you know, here's our mixed Amanda Muller: Mm-hmm. Paul: design. Why can't you do it? Like, what's wrong with you? And then my favorite one, and so sorry, some listeners probably heard this story before, but it's just my Favorite story. Amanda Muller: I haven't, so please continue. Paul: the former co-worker and co-host on the other podcast, Joey Bell, was called by a friend who worked what used to be Lehigh Smith out there. He said, he said, Hey Joey, I got a guy up here who's has a change in aggregates and he really could use some help. Could you come out here? He might be able to use the product you sell, but I think you could help him out. So Joey flies out to Washington State and he meets this ReadyMix guy. And the Ready Mix guy says, Yeah, my aggregate source is going away. I gotta switch this other stuff. I'm having a horrible time. Someone said that, you know, you might be able to help. And you know, so Joey went in there with his consultation hat on and pulls up his all of his spreadsheets and the tarantula curves, and he's ready getting ready to dive deep. And he says, All right, well, show me your aggregate. The guy says, Well, forever I've been using this coarse aggregate, this round river rock. And it was just like this beautiful multicolored round river rock. He said, And that's going away. And now I have to switch to this cubicle limestone. And I don't know how anybody makes concrete with limestone. It's impossible. And Joey just laughed and laughed. He he just Couldn't believe what he was looking at. This guy had like the most perfect limestone you would ever want as a number 57 stone to make concrete with. The same thing that all you know, and the majority of us are using around the country, but this guy in his little pocket had never seen it before. And it was an absolute nightmare. So no, Joey didn't sell him any fancy additives. He just redid his mixed design and said, You just you just weren't accounting for the shape. Here's here's your new design and and all and off he went, batching concrete. But we all have things that seem normal to us that other people might be struggling with. And that's my favorite example. Amanda Muller: That's beautiful. Paul: So the NRMCA exists to solve pro not just be a networking association, but also solve problems. So you can solve mixed design problems with Colin and his people on that team. What other what other problems Like if someone's a member of N R C A and they have an issue, like what's a type of issue that you guys might get a call about that you you could help people work through? Amanda Muller: Yeah, the lab is primarily probably the ones that are doing most of the problem solving, but occasionally you'll run into situations with our safety, environmental, and operations arm. So Steve Lindley leads that for our association. And, you know, you might get, you know, a rare situation where someone might be in a lawsuit and it has something to do with drivers, and all of a sudden we're called in to kind of be Not necessarily a witness, but help support them with some of the documentations and resources we might have to help hopefully the member in that situation. so we we've done that in the past. you know safety is always number one for us so we're always talking about that developing programs you know some of our you know I love a mid to a small size producer those are the folks that you know they really can utilize a different a lot of different things from us because they don't have you know someone just wearing an HR hat or just a plant manager They can kind of tap into us to help be that kind of HR person or that operations focused or help develop trainings for their program. So safety, you know, not everybody has a fully flushed out safety program, but they can reach out to us and say, hey, we'll use a different name besides Bob. We'll say Mark. Mark calls. Bob's got a lot of problems. Mark calls Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: and you know, hey, you know, just started at this company. They don't have a safety program. I used to work. in kind of a sister industry so I don't have anything ready mix specific and you know not a problem. We'll put you in touch touch with Steve and he'll kind of walk through all these different things that he would recommend in terms of a plan. These are the free resources that when it comes to the association. Hey by the way you shouldn't get engaged here come to our safety or SEO safety environmental operations meetings throughout the year because you're gonna get a lot of different resources. Within that space too. There's a lot of one pagers to help you out. So we kind of become that toolbox for Mark when he calls in. and he kind of gets up and running with that. And then He Mark might encounter another problem and he might call up and say, We won't use the one L cement situation, but I haven't hired a plant manager yet. And we're getting ready to put up a new plant. There's all these tests we need to run and these certifications we need to process. This actually is a real example of something that happened in the last year. And our folks back up at the lab were like, we can help run all these tests for you. You gotta send us the materials and do these things for you. We'll be able to help certify this. And You know, there's things like that that are kind of the niche things that we do that not a lot of people know about. But I always tell people, Paul: No. Yeah. Amanda Muller: don't be scared. If you've got a problem, just call. Worst case scenario, we don't have the exact answer or solution Paul: Mm-hmm. Amanda Muller: to your problem, but I bet you there's at least two people on staff that are gonna either send you in the right direction or give you bits and pieces to start your journey. Paul: That's super interesting. I wonder how many people don't know. Like don't know that like all the services are available. Or maybe they go to like their state chapter first and and call them first. That could also be it could also be part of it. But you mentioned education and I was it last year or the year before you hired like a brand new person to like take over and completely like revamp all the Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: education materials. Could you could you tell me? I forget exactly what the mission was there. Could you tell or maybe you could just Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: fill in every as you remind me, we could tell we could tell everyone and tell us where we're at now with that mission. Amanda Muller: Yeah, no, absolutely. So our education program has fully evolved and is continuing to evolve. I'm I don't think it's we're in a place right now where we're like, okay, we're in a good spot, we can stop with this evolution. I think we got you know, unfortunately with a lot of our our members' businesses, you know, the wheel's not broken, don't fix it. Paul: Mm-hmm. Amanda Muller: So we didn't really, I think, spend too much time taking a look at our education and modernizing it. Like, here's these giant three inch ring binders. Go out, have a good time. by the way, study up tonight instead, you know, we've introduced iPads to our learning Paul: Mm. Amanda Muller: instead of these three inch binders. we have, you know Higher quality slide decks that are more interactive. we go through a process of vetting the folks that teach our classes. I think it's just raising the bar when it comes to our education and in a way kind of being current with the times, if not ahead of the times. So Jill Roth, she's right now in charge of our entire learning and development space, and she's got a lot of really big, big ideas and revamps. We just, you know, rolled out our first kind of 2.0 of the Developing industry leaders program. So that cohort is gonna graduate at Concrete Works. I'm in that cohort, so shout out to my class. yeah, yeah. Paul: go. Let's go. Amanda Muller: Yeah, so we're the first kind of class to go through the new 2.0 program, but I think there's a lot of a lot of changes in terms of just making the curriculum better. And I think there's this urgency around, hey. I can't send my guy or my gal over to Texas to take this class. We're from Washington State. They can't be gone that long. We're taking a a harder look, I think, at online learning and figuring out how we're gonna be able to facilitate that. We kind of got a taste of that during COVID. but I think there's a need for it more and more. And that's something where Jill has hired another person on her team named Ta Taylor. She is actually specializes in this area. So looking to maybe enhance our online learning piece. Paul: That's interesting. The online learning's tough with concrete. Yeah. It's tough. Yeah. Amanda Muller: It is. Well, I mean I think we're all guilty of it, especially if you've got more than one monitor, you've got something going on over here, and maybe you're listening to what's going on. So I know I'm not great with online learning. Paul: It it's really tough when it's all day, every day, multiple days. We had one with like the ImSHA mind safety folks, like when you Amanda Muller: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Paul: you have to do some of their all day things, they you could do those online and they did a pretty good job. they had to I mean they were policing, like so if your eyes weren't like on the camera or on your screen or whatever, like Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: They they got you and you wouldn't get the certification. So they were they were screen Nazis. Yeah. And yeah. Amanda Muller: Well, yeah, or you look one direction and they think you might be cheating. I knew somebody who recently went through like a project, a PMP certification and they're like, Yeah, the the online tests, like you think that would be the easier route? He goes, Absolutely not. I'm gonna go take the test in person, like I'm not gonna be accidentally called out for cheating on something when I'm not. Too much risk. Paul: Yeah. The well the NRMCA short course tests are pretty tough. So if if you're taking the level two and the level three, you know, they let you have open book in that. And when you get to the level three, like you're pretty thankful that you got the open book. Yeah. Amanda Muller: Yeah, I s I I'd like to think I saved the day for Colin Lobo one day when a shipment didn't make it up to Baltimore. So I I drove up from the office with all of the stuff and dropped off all this at the time probably binders and books. And he's like, You should stick Paul: Wow. Amanda Muller: around and like check out this short course And I'm just in the back being like, The folks who do this job and go through these certifications do not get the respect and acknowledgement that they deserve. This is tough stuff. Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: And some people might be laughing like Amanda you'd be just fine, but that is some tough Paul: No. Amanda Muller: stuff and shout out to everybody who's past the short course. yeah, that's I kind of my silent heroes right there is the folks that do that kind of stuff. Paul: Well, you know, it I I mean it's it seems tougher than it is. I I think if it's something that you're doing daily, like you're working in it all Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: the time, it's a lot of times it's just putting a formal structure around what you already know. and then if you're folks like I got I you know, I graduated from the CIM program at MTSU. So it was like they took a four year degree that I had gotten and shortened it into four days. So it wasn't Amanda Muller: Sure. Paul: It wasn't th that bad for like somebody like me, but I had just been educated for years in that and Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: hadn't been out of school but a couple of years when when that time came. So they did a they did a good job. Colin was leading the way when I was there, so it was a lot of fun. Amanda Muller: Yeah, shepherding everybody through that. Speaking of CIM, do you know my background with CIM? Paul: I do not. Amanda Muller: Okay. so I used to work for the Chico State program. That's how I got into the industry. Kind of fell in love with the people. You know, that's one of my favorite questions is to anyone is how did you end up here? so Paul: yeah, yeah, yeah. Amanda Muller: yeah, I I worked for Chico State. I was one of the first student recruiters outside of MTSU. And so worked for Chico State CIM for like six years. went to, you know, I remember going to my first con expo, Cont Ag, where it's just like you're in the cab, your face is like against the glass and you're like looking up at everything. It's like This is crazy. Like I went to world Paul: Yeah. Amanda Muller: of concrete. This is nothing. Nothing like that. yeah. Paul: man. Yeah, Connax Connax's crazy, yeah. Amanda Muller: so yeah, that's where I fell in love with it. And big fan. In fact, I'm the liaison from NRMCA to the national steering committee for CIM. Paul: that's great. Well, they they always need they always need industry support. They could you know, CIM wouldn't exist without the industry support that it started with and you know, it needs to grow and grow every year. I love the I love the program. It did it's done so much for me in my life. I went to the MTSU one. you're the first person. Amanda Muller: I like to think we're better. Paul: No. You're the Amanda Muller: Ha. Paul: first per you're the first person I've met that was like involved with the Cal State Chico program. Amanda Muller: Really? Okay. Paul: Yeah, you're the first one. I mean, you know, Ryan, Dr. now Dr. Ryan, what's his last name? Pen Larrick? Pan Larry, yeah. Amanda Muller: Pi pen lyric. Yeah. Paul: Out in Texas State. He's done a good job like putting Amanda Muller: Yeah. Paul: his kids out there and putting himself out there and making Texas State known. You know, so I wonder if if Cal State Chico or South Dakota State or New Jersey Institute of Technology have They if they all had their own Ryan running around being like the mouthpiece for this day, we'd probably know a lot more about them too. Amanda Muller: Yeah, Orion is he's very loud and I'm very appreciative of that. you know And I can o I can say that. I feel Paul: Very loud. That's the best compliment you could give him. Amanda Muller: like he's gonna call me later or something, you're like, what did you just say on this thing? I love all of our Yeah, you know what whatever gets Paul: Well, he's gonna be mad at me that he's gonna be mad at me that I forgot his last name, so you know, we're gonna Amanda Muller: you, you know, well you watched it, so that's you know, good for for the metrics, I suppose. yeah. Paul: Good for the number. If I wish we were doing this just for the numbers, the numbers are just a happy byproduct that people care. So we appreciate the people. Amanda Muller: No, it it it's an honor to be here. But yeah, no, it's yeah, Ryan is a good friend. I I know all the executive directors very well. But yeah, he's he's incredibly passionate. He's really, you know, grown that program significantly in terms of when I was going, to Chico's program that I think they're not to put numbers in my mouth, but I think it's like two fifty or they're getting close to it, something like that, which is rivaling yeah, MTSU's Paul: That's a lot. Yeah. Amanda Muller: program. So you know, I like to say Chico State's the best, but sometimes I say behind a closed door maybe Texas State's the best. I don't know, it just depends. Yeah, I'm probably Paul: Wow. Two fifty. Amanda Muller: gonna get, you rocks thrown at me by the executive directors. they'll all be at concrete works, actually. We We bring in about thirty five to forty students from all the schools and they they get to see the show and go through like CIM student education that we put together for them. It's a really nice time. Paul: that is cool. yeah, I've I've I had on the other podcast we had a couple of Texas State's kids come on Amanda Muller: Okay. Paul: and they were very a couple of them were very impressive. way, way way more impressive than me. Yeah. Yeah, I know I I know I wasn't. Amanda Muller: They they are. I was like, I don't I don't think I was that strong. Yeah, well I was like, I was I that like confident, I don't know, at like twenty two years old? I don't I don't think so. You're looking me in the eye and you're shaking my hand. Paul: I know I wasn't. I I remember it probably wasn't until I was twenty two that I even thought that I knew anything. Like I and then Amanda Muller: Right. Paul: even then you get out into the real world and you realize like you didn't really know you don't really know anything. It's not it's funny because you know a lot, but you don't realize how what you've learned in that degree will inform you because you get into the real world and it's like, my gosh, I didn't learn any of this. Like, okay, we gotta get like we have to get good at a job. And then then once you get good at your job and you start to realize like, okay, now I realize that what I know. from an academic standpoint, is giving me a leg up. And then in fact, some Amanda Muller: Mm-hmm. Paul: of these other people might not even understand exactly what's going on, you know, beneath the surface of this concrete the way we understand, because it was drilled into our head for years and years. So very, very thankful for Dr. Heather Brown and you know Amanda Muller: Mm. Paul: John Huddleston and and Sally and everybody over there that at MTSU that helped me out then and still help me out today. Amanda Muller: Yeah, it you know that program is like a family. I always said that, but even our industry, it's very family oriented and that's how I treat it is we're all in this together, but you know, we're all neighbors, we're all friends, distant cousins maybe. you know, maybe you shouldn't be at the speed networking event for for love, at the expo hall, but yeah, just just great people. I think everybody that is That's why I still do the job I do, it's the people. Sure, concrete's great, love it. But it's really the people at the end of the day. Paul: It is the people and one of those people is you, Amanda Moller. Thank you so much for coming on the Slump Monkeys Concrete podcast. How can people if people want to connect with you after the show, where can they go to find you and engage with you? Amanda Muller: Yeah, well I'll be running around at the show. Absolutely try and stop me if you can. I've long legs, so good luck catching up with me. but yeah, LinkedIn, I've got, you know, the standard NRMCA email, smoke signals, whatever works best for you. I'm I'm pretty reachable. And if it's something about, you know, just curiosities about NRMCA and where you might fit in, don't hesitate to reach out. I wanna make sure it makes sense for you. Paul: Absolutely. Well, we appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast. I hope you do connect with Amanda. Reach out to her at the very least. Let her know how much you loved or hated this episode and Amanda Muller: Yeah, she brought up 1L Cement we're out. Paul: man, yeah. So if you so please take the time to subscribe, rate, review the show. Five stars only, please. And we will catch you on the next one. Thank you, Amanda. Amanda Muller: Thank you.