Just who the hell is Dan Gardner anyways?

Mikey P

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boy, 3 hots seats in one week...

I must be bored..

Chavez was asking what I knew about you and other than the obvious (into music, engines and MSDS ) all I could come up with is what a great member you are.

a Google inquiry only came up with a post on that other forum from 2009 where you introduced yourself as a new part timer with a portable...

so..


  • What have you done with your cleaning business since 2009 that allows you to be on MB so much during the day?
  • No Website?
  • Tell us about the current size and scope of Dan's Carpet Care..
  • Phoenix is a highly competitive area for this racket. What are you top five new customer generators?
  • Still on the other forum?
  • Favorite vacation spot?
  • How does MB help you?
  • Why the MSDS interest?
  • What ten songs do you want played at your funeral?
  • Cars, bikes?
  • Death Row meal...?
  • Wife? Kids? Pets?
  • JW or Mormon?


Thanks Dan!
 
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dgardner

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You think you're bored now - wait till you wade through my response! I will work on it - stay tuned....
 

dgardner

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Just who the hell is Dan Gardner anyways?

Before I type my story out, your title reminded me of a (supposedly true) story I read a couple years ago:

There was a long line of passengers waiting at the check-in counter for a particular flight, and tempers were getting short. An executive-type was obviously in a hurry and just forced his way to the head of the line. The ticket agent feared there would be a riot. She told him "sir, you need to get in line and wait your turn like everyone else". He turned red and said " I need to get on this plane NOW! Do you know who I am???". The ticket agent picked up her microphone and calmly announced "ladies and gentlemen - we have a problem up here and we are asking if any of you can help. We have a gentleman here that DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can identify him, please come to the podium!"

The crowd applauded, and the man quietly went to the end of the line.
 

dgardner

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You asked for it..... ;)

What have you done with your cleaning business since 2009 that allows you to be on MB so much during the day?

I mostly visit MB during downtime, bathroom breaks, lunch, on the phone, etc., originally via TT and now browser on my Samsung Note 3.

No Website?

No, and that’s on purpose – see below.

Tell us about the current size and scope of Dan's Carpet Care..

After the economic crisis of 2007-08, layoffs were rampant at my corporate employer. The technical team I was on literally went from more than a dozen to two people. I spent most of 2009 helping out at our Las Vegas branch because Phoenix had no work. I feared that if things didn’t improve I would soon be shown the door. I decided if I was laid off I wanted to try something completely different, and decided to look into carpet cleaning.

I found a couple boards online including this one, and with what I learned I started accumulating some equipment and chems. I did a few jobs for free for folks I knew to get my feet wet, and gradually (by word of mouth) built up a few paying clients, some resi and a couple commercial accounts, including a place of worship.

Well, I was never laid off. I like my day job for now. I keep my current loyal CC clientel – it allows me to continue to learn and try new stuff. I am keeping my options open – a luxury I have at this point. If/when I get tired of my day gig or management ticks me off one too many times I will be well positioned to go CC full time – thanks in no small way to what I continue to learn here!

On a technical note, almost everything I do at my day job has a parallel in the CC world. It’s almost spooky. I do process controls. I measure liquid flows, air/gas flows, temperature, humidity - I control pumps, blowers, chillers, heating equipment, generators – I size ducts for airflow, pipes for waterflow, only on a very large scale (my solution pump might be driven by a 450 hp motor, for instance). I build, program and troubleshoot electronic controls. It’s why I am so drawn to the technical side – It’s what I do!

Phoenix is a highly competitive area for this racket. What are you top five new customer generators?

I don’t have any! At this point I am refusing new customers – and won’t accept any until I am in a position to properly serve them.

Still on the other forum?

Haven’t logged in over there for 2 or 3 years.

Favorite vacation spot?

Lake Powell baby! We have a little 20’ vee hull we fill up with camping gear and find a secluded cove to camp in. Some of the most beautiful country there is, along with good fishing and the usual watersports.

How does MB help you?

The only thing I could use in addition to MB learning-wise would be a ride-along with a great cleaner or two. Everything else is here. The technical knowledge here is immense, and I learn about new tools/chems/etc. just about instantly, sometimes even before they are released to the masses.
Typically before I can even order something two or three folks here have tried it and reported back – I know whether I should even bother trying it. I have learned that if Marty hates it I should immediately order 2! I can safely put that part in because I know he won’t read this far down…..

There is also tremendous info here on marketing/business. While I don’t use much of it now, believe me I am soaking it up for the future.

Why the MSDS interest?

That’s a funny story. I recently had to sit through a four(!) hour class on the GHS conversion, where MSDS’s will become SDS’s, and I regularly have to coordinate with various industrial (day job) site safety officers before my team can come on their site, so MSDS’s are almost a daily thing for me.

Here, it started out as me posting a couple of sites (OK – 3 or 4) to show a certain chem manufacturer that posts here that it was OK to reveal his MSDS’s to the world like everyone else does. Apparently he is convinced that if he puts his MSDS info online we will all steal his formulas and start making our own pixie juice.
Once I did that it seemed like a cool thing to have it all in one place, so I quickly found a few more. Someone suggested that it was beneficial, so I spent a little more time and found all the ones I could think of. Now, when someone mentions a chem I was not familiar with in a thread, I just go see if they have an MSDS site, and if they do I add it to the list. No longer trying to make a point – just trying to be helpful and give something back. Okay – I may be a tiny bit OCD about it – I think I got that from Bawb…
What ten songs do you want played at your funeral?

You know what? Whatever gives my family some comfort or makes them laugh. I don’t care – I’ll be dead.

Cars, bikes?

Over the years I have been a big off-roader – dirt bikes, ATC’s, a V-dub sandrail (taught the kids how to drive in that one before they were 12). I have supported an offroad race team (Baja, Mint 400, that kind of thing) for a short stint back in the late 80’s.

Worked as a mechanic for a while a long time ago, kept all my tools (mostly Snap-On), continue to do all my own stuff. I love fabrication - own every kind of welder there is just about - stick, MIG, TIG, Oxy/acetylene. Lathe, mill etc. etc.

We currently just have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and do a little trail running, but all the cycle talk here and pictures of Mikey’s trips have given me the bug again – currently shopping for a nice KTM. Oh boy….

Death Row meal...?

A shot of a fine Kentucky Bourbon and let’s git this over with…..

Wife? Kids? Pets?

One – Two – Two

Been married (to the same woman) for going on 37 years, Jerri deserves some sort of award for putting up with me for so long.

Two boys, we lost David a little over three years ago to complications following a brain tumor. Think about him every day. The reason for my absence here for a couple years. The oldest has been a process engineer at Intel for around 10 years, followed in his dad’s techy footsteps

We currently have a beagle and a mix breed that is a pup of a dog we rescued.

JW or Mormon?
I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The little acronyms you come up with continue to crack me up!
If anyone actually read this far you deserve an award!
It is a pleasure to be part of MB, Thanks!
 

jcooper

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Been married (to the same woman) for going on 37 years, Jerri deserves some sort of award for putting up with me for so long.


You both deserve an award!

Well done, Dan. How did you end up in AZ? The wife and I lived in Scottsdale for about 4-5 years, loved it!
 
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dgardner

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How did you end up in AZ? The wife and I lived in Scottsdale for about 4-5 years, loved it!
We went from Pocatello, Idaho, where dad was in the Navy in their nuclear propulsion program, to Virginia. When he got out, we moved to Cali (North Hollywood, not a bad place back then) where he worked as a nuclear instrumention engineer on a research reactor in the private sector (probably why I'm a techy). He quit that racket and moved us to Phoenix where my uncle lived, they partnered up and opened a body shop together. I spent summers sanding cars while all my friends worked at McDonalds, thus my interest in cars/mechanics.

Some of the best restaurants I have ever been to are in Scottsdale!
 
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Mikey P

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well hells bells, that was one of my favorite hot seats yet, honestly.



and here I thought you were a David Gargan type running 3 or four trucks.


Very cool story.

So are you socking away all your CC income or tithing it all away?


When you were fearing for your day job, how did you pick CCing? Did another brother mention it to you?
 
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jcooper

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It's the first question anybody asks in AZ or CA, where you from?

Be happy you got some of dads brains! Holy cow, bet it was nice to go work on cars after all that crazy stuff!
 
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dgardner

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So are you socking away all your CC income or tithing it all away?
When you were fearing for your day job, how did you pick CCing? Did another brother mention it to you?

Oh, it manages to get spent somehow - a little fuzzy on that one.... :dejection:

The how is a little bizarre - I do everything I can myself, hate to hire others if I can learn how. My wife tried and tried to remove a stain and couldn't get it out - asked me to help. I started Googling to see if I could figure out the 'secret sauce' the pros must have to tackle the problem and read up on Bridgepoint, CTI, Prochem - anything I could find. I paid $20 for a stain guide from Jeff Cross I think - which I later found for free. Anyhow, after reading up I ordered a tube of Power Gel. I gently worked it into the stain and it magically disappeared before my eyes! I sprayed clear water on it from a spray bottle and vac'd it up with a shop-vac. Hey! I can do this and people will give me money! It was during my research I found the boards. After more reading I bought a little equipment and the rest is history....
 

Zee

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Nicely done Dan.

About the welding: Do you weld a lot? I love welding too...I am certified with Oxy/acetylene and stick. I used to weld pipe lines (gas and water) even in place with mirrors in corners.
 

dgardner

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Zee, yes, I seem to weld a lot and enjoy it greatly. I've done a little structural welding, but no piping to speak of. A lot of fab around race cars, small tanks, etc. I'm currently trying my hand at fittings like Greenie used to make (only in stainless) as part of my TM project. Great fun!
 

dgardner

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I take it you are a technical scientist of some sort
Yeah - that's me.....
MadSci.jpg
 
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Larry Cobb

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Dan ;

Merry Christmas . . .

Thanks for being here and contributing . . .

We need more technical types to debunk all these "CC theories" . . .

On the SDS issue , I will continue to allow them to customers only . . .

Larry
 
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Able 1

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Zee, yes, I seem to weld a lot and enjoy it greatly. I've done a little structural welding, but no piping to speak of. A lot of fab around race cars, small tanks, etc. I'm currently trying my hand at fittings like Greenie used to make (only in stainless) as part of my TM project. Great fun!

Well, I'm interested in some of those!! I would like a 2.5' elbow for the top of the waste tank, or 2 2"to 2.5 Y, and a 2" Y for cleaning upholstery. Not sure why you want to make them stainless over aluminum, but I'm down!!
 
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dgardner

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Greenies were aluminum, but he had them hard anodized. I didn't want the hassle and cost of having them anodized, and I wasn't sure how they would hold up without. Since they dont stay constantly immersed like an aluminum waste tank I'm probably being overly cautious. Maybe I'll try aluminum as well. I'll let you know.
 

Able 1

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Should be a good market either way... Take his place, he had it real good for a while, and no one has stepped up! I was just thinking of expense of stainless,if it's the same, or close go for it! I would say if you can get a weld inside the inside of the V of a Y it would be an improvement(I always get stuff hanging up there).
 

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