Real News

The big story this week was underplayed pretty big in my opinion. The back and forth between the Fox Business network and the folks at Serious Materials should’ve garnered big coverage. You had major accusations in flight and volleys being returned. The whole story had a very soap opera like appeal along with the classic “he said/she said” portion. Basically Fox said that Serious is involved in cronyism with close governmental connections, while Serious shoots back with a rebuttal steeped in dates and other evidence that supports their case. The entire scenario was very interesting and basically was due to happen because Serious has been so prominently featured nationally and politically that it was a matter of time before folks took shots. Unless something comes back around it looks like the whole story is dying off, and we’ll never know whose story is more real. But end of day this was fascinating stuff no doubt.

Elsewhere

-- Shame that we couldn’t get a consultant to opine on this and we could write a long piece that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Dang.

-- Very weird for me to NOT be at the International Builders show… I usually go and unfortunately this year I could not. It’s usually a great bellwether for the year ahead based on the mood of the floor. Supposedly this year’s show is smaller but optimism is high. And that is what most people feel for the residential side- a comeback of such in 2010. The big things will continue to be the banks and their lending strategy but also the many governmental programs that will push money into the system for things like weatherization improvements and so on.

-- And now some analysts are saying improvements on the commercial side (I hate when they call it “non-residential” it’s so demeaning to those of us in the industry. Do they call professionals “non-amateurs”)The improvements are due late 2010… again we will see… it is a mixed bag really some are saying nothing good til 2011. End of the day no one really knows for sure…

-- When I picked the Chargers/Cowboys Superbowl, I heard from my friends who are Viking and Saint fans to ask me why… I told them the best thing for them is for me NOT to pick their teams…. And it turned out that way… So now I have to choose between the two… ouch… it’s a tough call but I’m going with Vikes… something about the Brett Favre karma has me leaning that way… meanwhile on the otherside the Colts will win big over the Jets… Peyton Manning is way too cool, composed and in charge to let the Jets rattle him.

-- California just enacted a “Green” Building code. It’s for every new building that goes up after 1/1/11. But what about the older structures? Like noted last week, and I stand in agreement with so many out there that the priority should be in fixing the structures already up.

-- Congrats to Rob Struble and his group at PPG for their latest honor as their new blue tinted glass was named as a product of the year in 2009. Personally I think one of the reasons it won was the brilliant marketing campaign that had the glass samples sent out in CD cases playing off the cool “blues” musical theme. Well done and congrats to all involved there.

-- Last, not sure what my fellow 24 lovers think, but I for one am disappointed in the show this year. I know last year I had some issues but compared to the start this year, it’s no contest. Too predictable for me and just not enough to care about yet… 20 more hours Jack… c’mon brother I need that jump from reality in my life.

Off to the links…

The “Link Chick” back in the saddle this week with some good ones…

-- A big time investor sees the bubble about to burst… in CHINA!

-- This would be the definition of “Cold Case”… how about the Chicago Police investigating a murder from 1939…

-- Upsetting story here… H&M and Wal Mart are trashing unsold goods… this is crazy given the poverty in our world.

Video of the Week

College basketball and March Madness will be here before you know it… and if this shot was made in March we’d see it a million times… but since it happened now… well this maybe your only shot… game winner courtesy of Chandler Parsons…