Now that we MRC engineers in Iowa City were affiliated with Westinghouse Learning Corporation (WLC) - a member of the huge Westinghouse Electric Corporation (WEC) with a central R/D Facility in Churchill, PA, and staffed with hundreds of Ph.D's, scientists, engineers, and technicians - we were expected to coordinate our local R/D and product development efforts closely with the central WEC R/D facility (who supported WLC's goals in R/D). Accordingly, in my role as Engineering Manager of the WLC/MRC facility, I made numerous trips to WEC-Churchill, but my first one in 1968 - recounted in this little tale - was the most memorable. Speaking frankly, I was not all that impressed with the 'hands on' assistance that they could (or did!) render us on our niche projects related to OMR scanners. Yet, every year I was required to submit my R/D plans to Churchill on a 'budget ladder' funding basis that would consume a significant portion of my local MRC product development budget