It never gets dull

Last week was a very interesting in the glass and glazing world. We had positive news from AIA, a major player getting sold, a big time promotion, and a melting Toyota Prius- blamed on glass of course. In any case, never a dull moment in our world any more. Plus this post may set a record for most “name drops” ever. First up is the AIA report that called for “substantial” growth for 2013. Obviously if this forecast is even close to being right, that would be an amazing event. The hesitation that everyone has is that we have been teased with the heavy positive reports many times before only to be let down, and in some cases let down dramatically. I believe many people are pointing to the election and figuring momentum will come from that as well. So as we all plug along here in the winter of 2012, we have something to absolutely look forward to in 2013. At least according to this report.

Elsewhere…

-- Congratulations to Garret Henson who was just named Vice President of Sales at Viracon. As many of you may know I am a huge fan of Garret’s. I think he’s a tremendously talented player in our world. He’s a guy who in my opinion “gets it.” His continual move up the ladder is well deserved and shows Viracon does value talent. Pair this with their previously excellent move of Bob Randall as VP of Marketing and Business Development (which I was asleep at the wheel on commenting about- sorry) and you have two very well put together guys in the primes of their career. Anyway I figure I better keep buttering them up, because now that they are both major bigwigs, they’ll never take my calls again! Congrats Garret and Bob.

-- Friday of last week the news hit that Solutia is in line to be sold to Eastman. What effect that will have on the day-to-day business of Solutia and Southwall (recently acquired by Solutia) is far from being seen. But rumor has it; the key part of the deal for Eastman was getting Julie Schimmelpenningh on their team.

-- PPG hit a home run again with their latest trade magazine ad. When you see it, you’ll chuckle and remember it. Rob Struble is really on fire creatively lately.

-- If you missed the story about the Prius melting supposedly because of the sun reflecting off the high performance low e windows, here it is. The best part of the story is the comments. Sometimes a good window just can’t catch a break from being blamed.

-- Saw the Washington Glass Association named its Board of Directors and was excited to see such a strong slate of people and that it included Bill Coady of Guardian on there. I had the honor of meeting Bill once upon a time and was impressed by his approach. Plus I like Maryanne Howell as she was nice enough to comment on here on a past story. Someone like that willing to associate his or her name with mine is a brave soul!

-- For my fellow travelers, this story on the world’s worst airport terminals is a hoot. I agree with many on the list, including Newark’s fabled Terminal B. However the good news there is that terminal is getting remodeled and with some of the glass from folks like GGI in play, I can guarantee you it will be better!

-- I had been skipping picking football this year as between the Steelers losing and me posting on Sunday mornings, the timing never worked. Plus I am always wrong. But it is the Super Bowl, so I have to make a call. A few weeks ago I noted how I hate the Patriots and immediately I heard from a few people on that. I failed to mention that I hated the Ravens worse- so I was glad New England won. Unfortunately here I go again… because in the big game, I gotta go with Eli Manning and the Giants. I feel a kin ship with Eli. We both have a brother that’s bigger, better, and classically talented. Not to mention ironically both of our brothers had severe neck issues too. So based on that- I’m going G-Men in an exciting 27-25 game.

LINKS of the WEEK:

-- There are certainly folks that are not fans of sites like Groupon. Now this story about Groupon actually peddling snake oil? That will make em howl!

-- Not sure if this is good or bad… the day of the resume is starting to end. Firms want different evidence of you and your achievements. Yikes.

-- Just a great piece on how old media spent a ton of cash supporting the on line piracy bills and lost to the world who spent basically nothing. Wow.

VIDEO of the WEEK:

If you happen to be a fan of the show Survivor like I am, then this video is for you… a preview of the newest season, starting up here in a few weeks. Some day I am going to do that show… and the comedy that comes from it… well that will be epic.