Greg Carney on my mind

No question the biggest news of the week was the release from GANA on Greg Carney’s health. As you may know by now, Greg is fighting very serious health issues and as an industry we all need to keep Greg in our thoughts and prayers. It is no secret that I am huge Greg Carney fan. He has done so much for this industry… he has stood up and fought for what is right, he has helped develop technical documents and he has brought people from various backgrounds together for the good of the industry. Bottom line is Greg Carney is a class act and good man and now all of us need to send as much positivity as we can as he fights on.

Elsewhere…

-- By the way I am sure Greg would’ve preferred that no one know what he is going through, but he has touched so many people that it would be unfair to not spread the word and let people know that their friend and cohort is fighting. The more people who can send prayers and thoughts his way- the better.

-- I know I was not the only one who was sickened on the puff piece the Las Vegas Sun did on Chinese company Zetian. Journalism took a beating with that one sided piece that’s for sure… (It should be titled “Advertorial”) heck I am surprised that it’s not in there that Zetian can cure cancer too. I have already gone on and on with this issue but it just sucks that sometimes angles like this get justified when in my mind (and I think many others) they do not deserve to be.

-- Postage stamp rates are up to .44 now… but I saw you can buy “forever” stamps now at .44 and use them forever no matter what the price is then… and you buy these at no premium whatsoever… I guess the bizarre way our industry prices stuff is not that unique afterall…

-- Gas went up again this week… more than .20 on average nationally. I’m telling you we’re barreling towards $4 per gallon again and that is depressing.

-- And on that same depressing note… Downsizing the “Big 3” autos has a pretty severe trickledown… dealerships… closing… yikes… check out this story on an empty stomach.

-- The BIM push is back with a few releases in the last week propping it back up. As you remember last year BIM was smoking hot- USGlass had some tremendous stuff on it and basically everyone was planning on it… then BAM the trail went cold…until the few days… basically it was a combination of items that scared people off… the costs were high, and probably higher now that BimWorld was bought out, and there’s still a major question of usage by architects. So in times where you are tightening your belt, do you really want to spend money on a program that may not be used mainstream for a few years? Evidently a few companies do…

-- I am bumming that 24 is making Jack Bauer look stupid going into the finale next Monday… hopefully the end of the show swerve this week is just that and all will be right with the world come next Monday night!

-- Great blog post from Jim Plavecsky over at the DWM site. (Post is HERE) He writes about the explosion of social networking tools… amen Jim, amen…. I can deal with a LinkedIn but if you see me “twittering” it has to be an imposter….

Off to the LINKS!

Yes after a few weeks break, the Link Chick is back… hooray!

-- As someone who wears glasses, they can drive me crazy… but this idea to have “pierced” glasses is simply insane…

-- A great story on a very good deed…

-- Something I think you will more of in the future… instead of letting a house sit forever empty… tearing it down… its happening in California..

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Marg Webb sent me this one a few weeks back… if you have not heard of the singing sensation that is Susan Boyle, check out this video… an amazing back story to go along with an incredible voice. Thanks Marg for the video!