Sunday, April 22, 2012

The trend is still our friend


It’s hard not to get excited over the latest numbers from the Architectural Billings Index.  We are now surely past fluke territory and onto a full-blown trend.   The ABI has now stayed positive for the 5th straight month and I am not about to throw cold water on it.  Positive, no matter how small, is still a step in the right direction.  If there is any worry at all it’s the ABI may not be the best or most accurate indicator of success.  Because the effect does not hit our industry for 9+ months and when it does it does not hit all at once, it really is hard for us to quantify.  But in any case news like this needs to be savored as we move from darker days forward.

Elsewhere…

--  Bob Leyland of Kawneer announced his retirement last week and it bummed me out.  Another true gentleman and class act leaving our ranks.  He will be a tough act to follow that is for sure and I wish for only the best for Bob in his next phase of life.

--  Lost in my excitement and glee over my alma mater making the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament was I never gave proper love to the University of Kentucky.  Big Blue did a great job in dominating the tourney and I had a few of my industry pals, gently remind me that I missed in honoring them.  So congrats to UK and their fans, enjoy the title!

--  An interesting list via the always-informative twitter feed of Heather West.  This one is the top 10 Cities with Energy Star certified buildings.

10. Boston (161)
9.  Riverside, Ca. (164)
8.  Dallas-Fort Worth (178)
7.  Houston (231)
6.  New York (261)
5.  San Francisco (270)
4.  Chicago (294)
3.  Atlanta (359)
2.  Washington, D.C. (404)
1.  Los Angeles (659 buildings)

The interesting angle for me is seeing Atlanta on there- obviously when that area was booming (seems like eons ago right?) they built the buildings right. 

--  With some high rise condos in Toronto going to a “protective mesh” to protect against fall out of broken tempered, how long before a push for all balcony glass to be laminated takes place?

--  Last this week.  The Glass Management Institute is coming back and kicks back off on June 5th.  Yours truly is actually teaching one of the courses, but before you dismiss it because of that, please take a look at the rest of the schedule.  All joking aside, this is surely a worthwhile piece of education.  If you and your company want to get ahead, getting the extra education insights and advancements via GMI will advance the push.  Anyway this is my third stint teaching the marketing course and I’m humbled and honored to be involved again.  Plus NGA has a tremendous new education facilitator in Lilly Grossman, and her addition will surely be a major positive for all involved.

LINKS of the WEEK

--  The story and the comments are great on this one… what happens when a guy hooks up with a gal and she wants more love than he can handle?  Run to the balcony!

--  And once again an effort to limit freedom on the Internet is afoot.  Here’s the details, wonder how long it will take the main media to cover this.

--  The most honest Obit you will ever see.  That had to be a very wild funeral.

VIDEO of the WEEK

I love Bacon… as I think everything goes better with it (Any “Man vs. Food” fan knows that) but now Burger King has come out with a Bacon Sundae.  Yep Bacon and Ice Cream- here’s a quick review of it from a very quirky guy.

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