Mid Term Test

We are just a few short weeks away from a moment that could have a massive effect on our business lives. Like no other time in my life, the mid-term elections are something to follow and hope that whatever the outcome, positive movement for business happens. It’s seemingly every month that the ABI totals mention the icy cold credit markets, which is pretty much hampering a large part of our industry. Will the outcomes in November be able to get things to thaw? I hope so. Regardless and sadly we are headed for a very cold winter that’s for sure. I do look forward to what the analysts and experts in our industry predict for 2011 and I’d expect to start seeing some of those comments soon.

Elsewhere…

-- Hey did you see that construction spending went up 0.4% in August? Break out the champagne! The increase was led by government projects… you know like there’s anything but government projects these days…

-- One of these years I’m gonna have to get to glasstec. Just reading all of the coverage makes it sound so unreal.

-- Saw at glasstec the announcement of a new warm edge spacer technology. The material from Infinite Edge Technologies was founded by Eric Rapp and I think it’s just tremendous to have Eric and family back in the day to day grind of our industry. I’m a big fan of the Rapp clan and quite frankly when the Glass Hall of Fame opens; Eric Rapp needs to be a charter member. Best of luck guys!

-- We had winners in Solutia’s awesome World of Color Awards. The winners were very cool, so unreal uses of color and style. To view the winners and some awesome runners up, you can click HERE. Kudos again to Solutia for a great concept.

-- The whole “Death Ray” glass theme that played all over the network morning shows was comical to me. Everyone I know outside of the industry sent me a link to it, asking me about it etc. Only in our industry can we get the oddest publicity ever. I do have to say though having been at many Vegas pools during the summer, that if it was even hotter than normal, it must’ve been insane.

-- The inane Donald Trump window order debacle is sad and infuriating. There is no doubt several people could’ve supplied windows for his building instead of going to China, but at the end price won out and he played the supply card. It’s the same thing that happened on the bottom floors of the new WTC when the Port Authority took the money and ran, then made a ton of excuses to cover their behinds.

-- Hockey starts this week!! And I am so looking forward to it… and I am sure you are looking forward to my picks to win it all… I think the West will come down to Vancouver and the Red Wings, with Detroit going back to the Cup yet again. In the East, it really is time for Ovechkin and company to take it and they’ll get there with an epic 7 game win over the Pens. (It hurts to even type that) And the Cup will go to DC, with the Caps winning in 6. And yes I’d be thrilled to be wrong.

LINKS of the WEEK

-- Funny link… Top 10 songs that make men cry…. And I have to disagree with some of these but fun none the less. I cry at the end of movie's like Rocky or The Natural... not at songs.

-- This is awesome… ever see the commercials with the “Most Interesting Man in the World”? It’s for the beer Dos Equis and the commercials have reached cult status… well this link introduces you to the actor who plays the role and his background just cracked me up!

-- Remember that crazy US Open Tennis video from a few weeks ago with the fight in the stands? Well the young guy who was in the middle of it, just got in trouble again.

VIDEO of the WEEK

You may have seen this, but it’s from Australia’s Top Model and the announcement of the winner goes woefully wrong. The big question is do you think this was an honest mistake or a plan… because the coverage they are getting from this screwed up announcement is bigger than ever. (At about 50 seconds in you see the host change the decision. It’s like trainwreck)