It's really.. really..COLD

Greetings from the frozen upper Midwest… not sure but I believe the Polar Ice Caps have reappeared but they are now located on a farm in suburban Minneapolis. Anyway as we freeze all is pretty quiet on the industry front. Next week is the International Builders Show and that should be an interesting gauge for what is going on and what people see happening next. The other item of interest came up this week for me while I was talking with the “Glass Pundit” Kris Vockler. She asked what I thought about the downturns effect on new technology. Sadly I think good products will be downgraded because of costs. We are already seeing projects that are continuing slashing their budgets and forcing the GC to use different materials in order to get costs down. Maneuvers like that are not healthy and hopefully will only be short term. It really does become the classic “cut your nose to spite your face” deal. The smart and savvy will know to not scrimp… let’s hope they win out.


Elsewhere…

-- Maybe it’s the weather but I was having severe writers block… and ever since I started this blog, I rarely ever had writers block. (The bi-monthly USGlass article is a different story) Anyway I mentioned this fact to my friend and blog reader W. Cash and he hopped on the soapbox and gave me a treasure trove of topics… and instead of me talking on it- this is what he wrote… tremendous, passionate stuff!


Let's talk about shows like 24 and others that scare the wits out of folks who can't tell fiction from reality. Let's talk about how the government could have given every tax payer in the United States $20,000 to put back into the economy instead they bail out businesses who steal the money and pay themselves and the government is clueless as to where the money went. Let's talk about how the U.S. was built on mom and pop type business to now to be run out of business because of big business. We can talk about how all across the country large corporations are laying off thousands while mom and pop business's are trying to show loyalty to there workers and finding ways to keep them employed. America needs to go back to their roots.
I think that article you had on your blog about the Russian Economist although a little far fetched actually has some extremely good points. The Myan Calender has our world ending on December 21, 2012 and nobody has taken that seriously. Now NASA is talking about a solar storm that could cause the world to lose power for up to 2 months but you here nothing about that. Why can't the news talk about something positive instead of negative. My opinion is the News Media has created more problems in this country. The 1st amendment right needs to be looked at seriously. Again we need to go back to our roots and foundation. That is a good topic for you.



-- WOW… here is the link on the NASA Solar Storm… they are calling it the “Space Katrina” Yikes.

-- No doubt where has it right is the greed from the corporations and the lenient attitude towards it. Why isn’t Bernie Madoff in jail? Why can Wall Street get the bail outs but have basically no restrictions on its use of cash? Check out this story on the bank that got money and won’t lend it!!


-- As for the media, I have always believed bad news sells papers and that’s why the focus. Anyway thank you my friend for taking a shot!


-- If you have watched the first 2 episodes of 24 then keep reading.. if not skip to the next paragraph. I love 24… it really is one of my faves… but this year I have one huge beef… the President’s conundrum is between saving millions of Americans and preserving our infrastructure or saving a small civil war torn foreign country. Umm maybe I am jaded but how in the world is this a decision? Cmon… seriously? Regardless I have a huge man crush on Jack Bauer.

-- Friendly reminder on BEC… one of the presentations will be given by Henry Taylor of Kawneer. It is about LEED and green and for my money, Henry is the best LEED person in the US (with Beth Hockett of Trainor following in 2nd). If you want insight on LEED, it’s worth the trip just for that. Sign up today, and they'll squeeze you in.. no problem!


-- And speaking of my friend Henry… the President’s husband on 24 this season is named “Henry Taylor” man the guy gets around eh?

From the LINKS!

Surely check the link above on the Solar Storm.


-- How is this for a Mom and Pop shop getting hammered by stupid big business. Yep a Café is told to stop playing their CD’s unless they pay up!
And what kills me on that one is that this owner would’ve kept buying CD’s but now has been run off.. affecting the economy in their own small way.

-- Great quick piece from TIME via the Link Chick on the fact that the “Green” car is actually dying… amazing huh!


-- A Florida girl sent 35,000 text messages… LAST MONTH! That’s like one a minute… wow..

Books of the Week



If you like overweight comics with horrible drug problems… check out “Too Fat to Fish” by Artie Lange (known now from being on the Howard Stern show) and The Farley Show which is about Chris Farley’s life. Both books are great reads… in fact I read the Lange book in no time at all.. just hard to put down. The Farley book really covered his life and how it all fell apart thanks to so many battles with drugs/alcohol etc. Anyway good reads!





Video of the week

My sister comes through again… a great video set to Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire” that takes you through 50 years of events. Someone actually took the time match the song to actual pictures! Very cool. Love the song.. love the video…