Greenbuild Recap

Greenbuild last week may have hit its plateau after a rough outing in Toronto. Traffic was down, which was shocking considering the location being the first time in Canada and all. Worse yet was the layout of the show floor. There were two halls separated by a 15-minute walk. Most attendees went to the one hall closest to the street and didn’t make it to the other. The other question was would more decision makers fill the floor and that answer was a resounding no. Younger associates and students still were in the major majority. The show moves to San Francisco next year so it will be very interesting to see if that site, which excites many, brings in the crowds.

Other Greenbuild musings…

-- The city of Toronto is very busy building wise. Something like 131 high rises are in various phases of construction there and there’s these things called “Cranes” all over town. (Haven’t seen many of those since 2006/07!) Funny though when you compliment someone from our industry who works the Toronto market, they get all sheepish- look down and don’t want to acknowledge it out of fear of maybe jinxing their positive fortune right now.

-- On the floor… Dorma’s booth was epic, good to see Rich Albright there- he is always on the ball. I liked Southwall’s booth, I was impressed by their R-20 window. Spotted Tom O’Malley of Doralco from afar, but never got to catch up with him- just too popular. Speaking of popular, the folks at Viracon, were in typical high demand. Got to see the always awesome Farrah Hoffman, and watched Garret Henson do several media sessions, I now wonder how long until Garret has his own PR team. Visited with Tom Herron of NFRC and Kerry Haglund of the Efficient Windows Collaborative and both were very nice to me- much appreciated… they are class folks. And I got to meet in person for the first time, an industry PR legend in Heather West. That was cool.

-- Not cool? This devastating and depressing tidbit… I made my annual stop by the PPG booth and was greeted rudely and shunned. I guess the guy working the booth must not read the blog (stunning I know) or realize I’m a fan of the company. Hopefully Mr. Miserable treated the other attendees better than me. PPG deserves better.

-- Last note on the show and town… Toronto has the worst traffic ever. Simply miserable trying to get anywhere quick. I have a whole new respect for my friends that live there.

Elsewhere

-- The news Friday that Solutia was buying Southwall was very interesting. Solutia is a very good company and very shrewd. Obviously the details are pretty preliminary at this point so this will be a deal to watch going forward.

-- As those who know me know I love the Rocky movies. They are my favorites. So I tell you with great excitement that the new movie “Real Steel” has some serious Rocky like qualities. It’s almost like the “Rocky” for the new century. Great flick.

-- Last this week, congratulations to Greg Landry on his new gig at Agalite in Anaheim, CA. Great guy with great company, sounds like a nice marriage!

LINKS of the WEEK:

-- Absolutely wild and interesting story about a baby crying so loudly that he and his mother get kicked off the public bus they were riding because the driver couldn’t focus. Plus this was late at night and in an isolated area. Wow.

-- Pretty cool story- hidden operations all around us- hiding in plain site.

-- OK check out this story- this couple avoided restaurants and grocery stores for a whole year- just ate off the land. Interesting, but I’d love to know what they do for income- because feeding yourself sounds like a full time job!

BONUS: You know I like Twitter, but you have always be careful what you write…

VIDEO of the WEEK

My brother sent me to a treasure trove of videos. This one is the classic- Man vs. Glass variety. Look on right side of the screen. Oooof!