Look back before looking forward

It’s time for part 1 of the Year in Review on the blog, but before we get to that, I think some focus has to be paid to what’s going on in the financial and banking markets. The looming threat of a recession is growing every day. In fact, the Wall Street Journal convened experts to discuss and predicts and its gory details are HERE. Anyway you slice it, 2008 will be a tougher year than 2007. I feel for the folks who may have went overboard equipment or space wise, because the pressure will be intense with a slower market. I just hope the commercial side does not hit the depths that the residential side is seeing… but I have a feeling… we will.

Further more the bigwigs at St. Gobain feel the same way. Click HERE. Though they do see 09 coming back. Best line in the article is:

"There can thus be acquisition opportunities to seize," he said.

Hmmmmmm…. I wonder who they could be talking about….. hmmmmmmm…

Anyway to take minds off what could be a cloudy future, let’s look back at the past.

2007, FTF Year in Review

January

-- AFG changes its name to AGC… which leads me to be very snarky about it. Has the name changed worked?

-- The last (for now) stand alone Glassweek is held in Sarasota- still an amazing event technically. Really the best around for that angle, but the days of socializing and doing deals are done.

-- I put out my top 10 issues to look for in 2007 and #1 was China…. And I have a feeling when the 2008 list comes out in a few weeks, they may be defending their title. Though our pals at NFRC could be challenging them.

February

-- I predict that the Colts will beat the Bears 30-16 and the final was 29-17… my last and only good prediction of the sporting year.

--An Architect is voted off the show “Survivor” and somewhere a manufacturer is getting ignored and abused because of it.

-- The International Builders Show is held in Orlando amid confidence that the housing situation will improve. As we know now, it did not… and this year’s show should be pretty interesting.

March

-- The best BEC to date is held in front of a packed Vegas house. Truly a tremendous event….

--The first annual From The Fabricator Power List came out… USGBC was top, followed by AIA, NFRC, GANA, IECC and AEC. I am sure they’ll be some movement and changes on this years edition.

--The Kansas City Star runs a feature on the new Arena in KC featuring all communist Chinese glass. And hopefully because of that they never get an NBA or NHL team. (Thankfully the Penguins stayed home!)

April

-- NGA announces at the upcoming GlassBuild show that they’ll be a pavilion for “Glass Containers” Sadly and comically, no bottles or jars showed up on the floor when the show was held a few months later. Darn… so much blog material ruined.

--ACH enters into a MOU to be sold to private investors. I would think that deal would be done soon but who knows.

-- Researchers call for “active” Hurricane season. If by “active” they meant, “How much exercise does Max get while watching football on Sundays” then they were right (answer is less than zero). Not a good prediction by the hurricane guys.

May

-- AIA show is held in San Antonio. Rumor has it some exhibitors are still trying to find their booths. The bizarre mazelike layout will be remembered for years…. Especially by the unlucky exhibitors stuck in the back rooms.

-- Cardinal sues Oldcastle over 6 different issues. And then nothing was ever heard again. Spooky.

-- USGNN first reports that Vistawall maybe sold to Oldcastle. A huge breaking news scoop.

June

-- NFRC sends one of their classic vague letters (never using any words associated with costs) to the AIA about the upcoming CMA system. Letter most likely has already been recycled and is now a part of a pizza box in Brooklyn.

-- NFRC also announces the proposed fee structure for the CMA… now known as the Titanic. Structure is panned by the industry and by the organizations who represent and protect the industry.

-- The world worst kept secret comes public as Oldcastle officially buys Vistawall.

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So there you have it… Part 1 of the Year in Review. And to end it, the most popular video of the 1^st half the year… the Beauty pageant contestant falling hard but getting right back up…