Sunday, August 21, 2011

News of all makes and models....

An absolute rollercoaster of a week news-wise… We had good news, sad news, surprising news, and what could possibly be considered depressing news. And we had glass still falling from the sky as well…. Really it was all over the map, so let’s take a look at what happened…

-- We’ll start off with the sad news in the passing of John Neunlist, President of Admiral Glass in Houston. John was one of those consistent, classy industry guys. He always supported our industry, was a fixture at BEC, and simply a force in his world. Our industry lost a very good man last week and thoughts and prayers go out to John’s family.

-- The week also saw more rough numbers out of the Architectural Billings Index. For the 5th straight month the numbers were down. So it is surely now an official “trend.” However I am starting to question he whole methodology involved based on last year to this year. Our industry is currently a ton busier right now than what the ABI predicted 9-12 months ago. And while I think this burst of business was sorely overdue, I am still taking ABI’s latest downward trends with a grain of salt. If our world is dog slow in August of 2012, then we’ll know right?

-- Good news is that remodeling numbers are nowhere close to being down or depressed. That segment has been going hog wild for a while and will continue to do so. The era of “spec” buildings is absolutely toast, and with years of inventory on the markets right now, the remodel, retrofit segment looks very promising.

-- Surprising news on the decision in US Court dismissing the lawsuit against the United States Green Building Council. I really thought the suit would have more legs, but in the end, the judge attacked the logic behind the suit and sided firmly with the USGBC. The fine folks at BuildingGreen.com have a great recap with insights HERE. I don’t think this is the end of attacks on USGBC. There’s still a lot of people have issues with their programs and the overall value to true sustainability in our world. Will be an interesting one to continue to monitor.

-- Glass keeps falling off of buildings, the newest round is in Toronto and that news has been bouncing around the Internet like wildfire. The bad thing in that once again this can be used as a negative mark against glass as a building product. As an industry it surely would be nice to have at least a little run without someone beating on us.

Elsewhere in the very busy week that passed…

-- A hearty congrats to my pal Rich Porayko and his wife Tricia on the birth of their son Levi. The kid I am sure is already taking after his Dad and hustling like crazy. Levi is their first child… Congrats!

-- A wish of good luck to Joe Krusienski as he heads off into new pastures, whatever they may be. I had the absolute honor of working with Joe for several years and there are not many who are better. They just don’t make guys like Joe anymore that is for sure. Hopefully we’ll have a Joe K sighting at GlassBuild in a few weeks.

-- Many thanks to Ted Knopp of McKenzie Glass in Oregon and James M. who noted on last weeks blog I mis-heard the wording on the video that I posted. I appreciate the catch and now know exactly what I did- I heard what I wanted to hear- what I assumed was said and just mixed it up. In any case, thank you guys for reading and for taking the time to post it. Much appreciated!

-- And also thanks to Tish Oye of Glassworks in Seattle, WA for an awesome link about Architects love of glass. You can read the piece HERE, and to get you going this was the first line:
Architects like to build with wood, masonry, concrete and steel, but most really love glass.
Oh my is that not cool or what!

LINKS of the WEEK

-- Awesome read inside the mind of one of the world’s best hackers. Scary.

What happens when your finely tuned marketing campaign gets thrown by a real life issue? In time this story will give us those answers…

On of my past co-workers is a HUGE Jersey Shore guy. I wonder if this story will make him shop elsewhere for his clothes.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Ok I am still not into football yet but getting closer… this clip from the Canadian Football League made me chuckle… what a wild celebration after the touchdown…


1 comment:

Rich Porayko said...

Thanks Max! Much appreciated! It sure has been a crazy couple of weeks on both sides of the desk!

Luckily Little Levi is pretty laid back for now however that surely won't last long! We're just trying to take it all in.

Also good news, while confirming GBA today I noticed many of the hotels are booking up fast... I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there!