A really big show

We are now just a month away from GlassBuild America in Las Vegas and I have been amazed at the momentum the show is gaining. Maybe it’s because I am in a different position in life (and industry) but the buzz for this show is gaining. Yes I think tight budgets probably will keep some folks away, but I am also hearing from so many that are going for the need to network, diversify, and stay ahead of the masses. I think the interesting angle here will be the actual buzz on the floor- especially regarding the way the industry and economy are headed. Shows like this and the BEC are great bellwethers for what’s to come.

Elsewhere…

-- The world of BIM continues to get that traction everyone was expecting a few years ago. The latest smart move came from Guardian Industries with their PR on their BIM Design support and program for the architectural community. BIM is growing and when an industry horse like Guardian steps up and into the fray like they have, it only bodes well for the future of the platform.

-- As many of you know I am a solar junkie, so I got a kick out of some of the news items at Glass Magazine last week. On one day there was a headline: “Solar Industry Growth Slower Than Expected” and then 2 days later another story that was titled “BIPV Market Gaining Traction”…. so continues that world of half the people seeing the glass full and the other half seeing it empty.

-- Still loving the fact that football season is here… hating that it means summer is basically over…

-- Next week is the GANA Fall Conference and that is always a super event. I hate the fact I’ll miss it, and the big thing I am bummed about missing is the energy codes update from Dr. Tom Culp. Those codes are going to be major players in our life and getting into the crux of them is a must. And no one can break things down like Dr. Culp. In addition, my good friend Helen Sanders of SAGE will have a presentation as will two guys I really like in Joe Erb of Edgetech and Chris McMahon of Technoform. Add that and the tech info and it’s a winner of a few days.

-- And no I am not sucking up to Helen, Joe and Chris and as I don’t think any of them read this weekly therapy session… but still they are super people with great presentations on tap for sure.

-- Is the BP Oil spill done? Cleaned up? Plugged? Funny how that story dominated for so long and then bam it just goes quietly away.

-- I am not a big golf fan, but the end of the PGA Tournament with Dustin Johnson getting a penalty after the round was pretty unreal. Goes to show that you always have to be thinking, especially if it’s the 72nd hole of a major tourney….

Links of the WEEK

-- This guy would fake seizures to get out of paying his restaurant bill… wow… simply amazing world we live in eh?

-- If you know me, you know I love Disney… so this story pains me some… a woman is suing the park because Donald Duck “groped” her… I mean seriously? I guess it could happen but knowing and seeing the characters like I do- there just doesn't seem to be any way this can happen.
　

Video of the WEEK

Classic Fantasy Football commercial from ESPN… and so true… though the player, Chris Johnson, was a dream last year… so I don’t think anyone got mad at him… but the first game where he doesn’t score a TD or run for 100yards or more and all heck will break loose…

No post this week

Taking the week off... Have great stuff lined up for next week though... In the meantime be sure to check out the very interesting blog post by Sahely on renewable energy....

Hope everyone is well.... Have a great week!!

And a Marketing guy shall lead them

So as the news trickled out that Arch Aluminum hired a new CEO, my e mail box filled with questions on how I felt about it and so on. Basically I had one feeling and that was one of bemusement since they hired a strategic marketing guy. It’s “inside baseball” stuff but trust me I chuckled heartily when I saw it was marketing exec as CEO. Outside of that, I really had no other thoughts aside from what I noted a few weeks ago about Arch and AGC both having new management teams in place. It should be a very interesting process to look back on and see what worked and what didn’t.

Elsewhere…

-- And yet a few more management members at Arch were let go with the news that CIO Kevin Aubuchon and the VP of Materials Management Donna Aubuchon were out. Again from experience these two were tremendous, and amazingly the work Donna was doing in controlling inventory was rough and unpopular, so that’s a massive shame she couldn’t see it all through. But like everyone else, I am confident that they will end up in a better place.

-- Another comical note this week… the DOE asked the NFRC for more research and testing on long term energy performance and so on. And the sad story continues with the DOE enabling the NFRC…. The reason it’s sad/comical is the guy from DOE who specifically requested this was Marc LaFrance. And Marc usually talks a big game about keeping the NFRC and their powers in check, but when push comes to shove, he buckles under. So much so that I have noted here in the past, when Marc “rages” at the board for their mis-steps (you know like ignoring consensus etc) they just totally tune him out. Oh well, the beat goes on.

-- You have a couple more weeks to get your entries in for the Solutia World of Color Awards… Click HERE for the website and more information. What an awesome c0ntest.

-- Do you realize this past weekend was the last weekend free of Football until November? My gosh time is flying by. Anyway 6 Sundays until the real stuff starts in the NFL.

-- Last this week, PPG came out with a white paper on their Clarvista ™ Shower Glass line and I have to say if I ever need a white paper about my life, I’m begging Rob Struble and his crew at PPG as they have a knack for those things. And if this white paper is even half as successful as the SB 70 one they did a few years ago, look out.

LINKS of the WEEK

Two great reads for you…

-- First up, the glass industry is filled with family businesses and when I saw this article linked by Tony Leto on my LinkedIn site, I knew I had to put it up here. Great read about the whole family business dynamic.

-- Super read on the “new” economy of America where even when you are broke, you still pony up the money to buy an IPad. This article gives tons of examples that make you just scratch your head.

VIDEO of the WEEK

This is just an awesome Sports related video… a great mix of music and words and just all of the pop sports action of the past few years. I am amazed at the ability some people have to put this stuff together. Good stuff.

Another needed boost

Very interesting that another price increase has hit the streets. Obviously, just like the last one, it’s pretty imperative for it to stick. It’s probably too soon to tell if the last one held, but this one-two punch of price bumps is crucial to the overall long term health of the industry. And yes I know that no one ever wants to pay more, especially when things are so tight, but hopefully this correction is yet another step in the right direction.

Elsewhere…

-- I saw the blurb last week on the new South Carolina glass manufacturer named “Super Duper Glass”… now I would love to know who they are… gotta admit, the funky name sticks… though there’s probably no truth to the rumor that “Super Duper Glass” beat out “Neato Cool Glass” or “Totally Awesome Glass”…

-- Another good guy out of work… Bill Rooks was let go on Friday by Arch Aluminum. Bill has been in the industry a long time, with most of it at Ford/Visteon/Zeledyne. Tremendous person who I know will land squarely on his feet and make some company very very happy.

-- Strong new issue of Glass Magazine is out… the digital version can be found HERE. Stuff to look at? The breakdown of the new codes that are popping up out there and a few great ads… two of them being yet another super star piece by Glassopolis… and Kawneer continues its recent run of good eye catchers with a piece on their new Clearwall™ Curtainwall System. (Gotta put the ™ or else I’ll get a nasty e mail from my pal Henry Taylor..) In any case, good reading ahead!

-- Looks like Cap and Trade is dead for now… which is good… and it looks like there’s now more focus on a more comprehensive energy bill… which if done right… with thought, discussion and care, that could be tremendous for the glass industry. Hopefully the hurry to get this bill done ahead of the November elections won’t bring bad things in the way of illogical additions or legislations. (or miss crucial needed items) I am confident that the folks representing us as an industry will be all over that though…

-- Last week I noted the LinkedIn stuff and made a comment about “mini blogs” and that prompted a good friend of mine to send me a note that said “Mini-blogs equal Tweets don’t they”…. And to that my answer is “yes”…. Obviously I swung and missed on that comparison!

-- The weather in DC in 2010 has got to be something to behold… terrible winter, now followed by a vicious summer. No doubt this gives the Global Warming or “Climate Change” folks some ammo in their messages.

Links of the Week:

-- You may have seen this story, but if not, worth the click… an Air France Flight Attendant arrested under the suspicion of stealing thousands of dollars from passengers!

-- ESPN did this piece of the safety of food at the ballpark… a must read before you go and buy… (look out for the mold in the ice machine… ewwwwww)

Book of the Week:

War at the Wall Street Journal by Sarah Ellison. Fantastic insider piece on when the Journal and its parent company Dow Jones was bought by Rupert Murdoch. I love those insider style books and this one had fantastic access. A very easy and engrossing read.

Video of the Week:

Couple quietly videotaping a Bison… yes a real live gigantic Bison… and when they go for a closer look… well…. Mr Bison wanted his privacy… and I get that as I hate when tourists try and videotape me while I am walking around my backyard...

The Good and Bad

Does anyone really know what is happening with the economic state of the commercial construction? I think for most people out and about, they will tell you the state is miserable to weak, but seemingly once every few weeks a report comes out that sings the praises of health and growth. (And yes I know there are various reports that say things suck too- but the “good” reports are what are baffling) So what is it? Personally I think it’s both… yes both… I believe that the economy on our side is very weak, but I also do see signs of life, but those signs are minimized by the overcapacity in our world. And overcapacity has led to pricing erosion that has never been seen before. So any bright spots are getting minimized, at least until the herd gets thinned out there and quite frankly you wonder if that will happen. So until then everyone keeps plugging along and all of those positive reports get to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt.

Elsewhere…

-- What a wild and wacky week that just passed. Again I am thankful and blown away by the support out there and there’s no doubt I look forward to hopefully staying as active as possible in our industry.

-- Also as I noted last week, Rick Silverstein was also let go, and on Tuesday, my brother Steve too was released. Since I am easier to reach being out there on forums like this, people have been able to find me, but for them it’s been tougher. And especially giving up phone numbers after so many years, that makes you almost invisible. Anyway, to contact Rick, hit him up at Rsilverstein13@gmail.com and for Steve Stevepglas@comcast.net

-- In the last few weeks I covered both the good news from Guardian and PPG as it results to Solar. Well I missed one other big one on that note which was Pilkington’s deal with Dyesol. That too has absolutely monstrous potential going forward. So proof again that when you have people of the level I have mentioned here and in the past in the solar game, that segment is not going to just go away. Plus when I wrote my first missive, I did get called on the carpet by Solar guru George Petzen, who set me straight on my comments there too.

-- LinkedIn has become a fun aside for me. Some interesting debates and links that I would’ve missed otherwise. Also daily I get to see who I consider right now the Kings of LinkedIn, the guys from Gorell Industries (Brian Zimmerman and Tyson Schwartz) as they are amazing in the way they positively spread the word about their operation and the industry at large. It’s like mini daily blogs from those guys and good stuff. Obviously it all depends on who you are “connected” to, so I guess I am lucky I am in their loop.

-- Lost in last week’s craziness was the fact I wanted to say I am sorry to everyone in Cleveland for the whole LeBron James debacle. My gosh, what a way to get your heart ripped out as a sports fan. The Cavs this year will be the first and only Cleveland sports team I could ever root for, as I hope they somehow find a miracle and do better than the Heat.

-- Football training camps start next week…. Which means Fantasy Football drafts are not far behind…

-- Last, two great industry events are right around the corner and coming up fast… GANA Fall Conference is just about a month away August 23rd in KC. Then the following month is GlassBuild America (along with the Glass Executive Forum) in Las Vegas. Have you made plans yet? During times like this, the better the networking, the better educated, and the better informed you are does set you apart from the masses.

Off to the LINKS

Man I have not done links in weeks… so I am probably rusty….

-- Time Magazine just did a list of the Top 20 reasons to “hate the airlines” and it was pretty good… though I could think of a few more.

-- Pepsi and Coke fighting again, but this time over Pepsi Max and Coke Zero. Umm what are those brands? Gimme a Diet Dr. Pepper anytime over either one…

-- Wild story on a town that instead of replacing the asphalt roads, is letting them return to gravel… geez I guess the stimulus isn’t helping them…

Video of the Week

In case you missed the ESPY’s last week (which were actually good in my opinion… Seth Meyers was tremendous as host) they did a pretty decent take off on the LeBron James “Decision” show. The skit could’ve been better, but still was solid and here it is in case you missed…

And a new door opens

So as of this past Friday I am no longer in the employment of Arch Aluminum. And as a buddy reminded me today it’s been like the line from the Grateful Dead… “what a long strange trip it’s been”. There is no doubt the past 7+ years had goods, bads, uglies and really uglies and I wish some things turned out different/better but it didn’t happen that way. Anyway it really is what it is and I am looking forward to my next stop in life. So now I am free to pursue the one job I really want… CEO of the NFRC. Yep no matter what I’ll still have a sense of humor. And by the way to my friends reading this, my phone number is now different, so best way to reach me is via email (maxbcat@aol.com) or via LinkedIn and as I get reorganized I’ll get my number out.

Last word or words on this (for now), a sincere thank you to the many people in the industry I got to get to know during my time at Arch. The last 7 years allowed me the chance to be heavily involved in the industry and be in tune with some of the best and brightest out there. I fully intend to stay involved but then again you never know where life takes you next. But I can say that I feel like the advancements that our industry made in steeling together was born from some (not all obviously) of the push I began in getting people focused/interested on things like NFRC. So that is a good thing to leave behind.

In the few days since this news broke, I’ve received such an awesome outpouring of support along with some great insight. One of my favorites was this:

Suck on the lemons, or make lemonade: what’s it going to be? Only sucking the lemons is like sucking on poison: it’ll only make you sick. Get on with it, the future’s the only great adventure…

Off to the great adventure I go!

Elsewhere…

I was not the only departure from Arch, as this morning Rick Silverstein also was let go. Ricky is a good guy who in the last few months did a tremendous job up against unbelievable circumstances. Basically times are a changing and I don’t think this is a major surprise that eventually an overhaul was coming. It now will be interesting to see how things progress, what changes and who rises and falls. Funny looking at it from an industry standpoint you now have two groups Arch and AGC that have basically new upper management structures in place, starting at virtually the same time, so this will be one to track for sure.
Obviously I am going to end this week’s post here. We’ll morph back to normal, or whatever “normal” is in my world next time out.

Solar is here to stay

Last week I had an item about Solar and the fact that Guardian and PPG had success with their various approaches. Then this weekend, the President announced 2 billion of funding for a couple of solar operations. While it still is a far way off, I really believe Solar will be a big part of the advancement of our industry. And while I agree with a lot of the arguments of the costs vs efficiency crowd, I just believe the need for this country to really get serious about renewable energy is going to win out. The delay of the overall success will obviously be tied to the ability for the economy to start rebounding and sadly that looks like it won’t happen until sometime next year. But still its coming and news like the stuff from last week along with the GANA symposium and the continuation of a solar dialogue at GlassBuild America and the Glass Executive Forum will only help keep the progression moving.

Elsewhere…

-- Hey the NFRC announced that the board is waiving fees to suppliers to get their components in the CMAST library. AMAZING! First off, there should never have been fees; it was yet another blatant money grab by those guys and pretty much now that 6 months into the program they need to do this says to me that they are having issues getting people to play along. Hmmmm…. maybe if they didn’t treat product manufacturers like pure pond scum maybe this thing would be further along. Ya think? As I said before if the NFRC would’ve chosen to work with (and listen to) the manufacturers instead of capitulating to folks like testing labs and consultants (who stand to make serious coin) a better program may have been created. Maybe one that would even be used voluntarily and not jammed down the throat.

-- Congrats to the great folks at Solutia for the grant they just picked up from the DOE. The grant came from the stimulus which was nice to see since this is one group (Solutia) that I know won’t fritter it away. (Especially since Stimulus spending is the only bright spot noted in these drab economic reports) Oh I need to note this is for the film side of Solutia where I actually know nobody… but I figure that if these guys are half as good as the PVB guys, they’re deserving of it.

-- If you missed the details from the recent ASHRAE 90.1 committee, please CLICK HERE. It is absolutely something to get caught up to speed on. There’s good, bad and ugly in there but it is still something to follow and stay aware of…

-- By the way I did pick Germany in the World Cup (I seriously did and am in a poll with some industry folks, so they are witnesses) so that said you know they won’t be winning this week….

-- Did anyone see the hot dog eating contest on the 4th? 54 hot dogs with buns eaten by the champ in 10 minutes. I love food and I love sports, but even this I can’t watch.

-- Finally this week, hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July. I am continually amazed that every year there’s tons of accidental firework accidents. This years doozy was a guy who set off a rocket that was supposed to be weighed down… after he lit it, because it wasn’t heavy enough, it flew sideways into his house and went kaboom…. No one was hurt but the house is damaged pretty good…. Unreal.

Links of the WEEK

-- Interesting story here on laws in other countries restricting names you can use for your baby…

-- From the travel files… An idea whose time has come… the UPS store is selling luggage boxes… and quite frankly it’s something that I have done on occasion… instead of checking my bags, I ship my stuff via UPS/USPS/Fed Ex ahead of time. Beats the mess of the airports and heck its almost the same price with the bag fees.

-- Long but interesting piece on the National Security folks in Washington and how they work to protect the country. Good behind the scenes reporting here.

Video of the WEEK

Once upon a time in a past life I was a sportscaster and one of the cardinal rules of being a sportscaster is “no cheering in the press box”… you have to be professional… well for the two announcers for Spain this week at the World Cup that rule went out the window…

Now this is a BIG DEAL

Well just when you thought we were in a quiet news cycle, Alcoa goes out and buys TRACO. Well that spices things up! This is a very interesting deal on many levels. Alcoa which owns the Kawneer powerhouse now has added a very prominent piece to their puzzle. This without question makes an already very good company, better and raises the stakes on the rest of the industry to see who does what next. Plus it also shows that even though the economy is tight that negotiations are going on and deals are being worked on. The other angle is now Kawneer gets to inherit the home of one of the main people who helped push the NFRC debacle on us. I wonder how that position will be going forward, though the damage from the NFRC side is pretty much done. End of the day though this is a huge deal and maybe the start of many others to follow…

Elsewhere…

-- I did take last week off… the first time that I can remember since starting this blog adventure that I skipped a weekly update. Thanks to all that wrote or called to see if I was still alive. The comical part is last Tuesday my phone went on the blink and if you called me you couldn’t even leave a message… so I had an air of mystery about me… no blog… no phone… etc. Anyway I am here still plugging away…

-- Did you happen to catch the depressing news on the ABI? A brutal May total has many scratching their heads… I think the interesting thing is to see if June bounces back or not… it’s a wait and see. Or maybe every architect just read Paul Krugman’s piece in the NYT that stated a third depression is imminent. Either way it’s one to watch.

-- Both PPG and Guardian both had announcements on their various Solar Mirror programs. To me that is a great sign that the solar side continues to move forward. Like everything in our world, things come out with a massive flash (Solar and BIM as great examples) and then they settle down quite a bit. But eventually if they are worthwhile efforts they bubble back to the top. We are seeing it with BIM and with last week’s dueling announcements I think we are seeing the start of it with Solar.

-- Speaking of Solar I wish I could be at the GANA Solar Symposium this week but I have jury duty… seriously… I wish I could get on a trial where some third party group is being accused of ripping off a manufacturer… anyway I am looking forward to doing my civic duty.

-- TV Alert- ESPN has this wonderful documentary series called “30 for 30” celebrating their 30th anniversary with 30 documentaries on subjects that happened in the last 30 years. The last two have been UNREAL. “June 17, 1994” and “The Two Escobars” are absolute much watches. You may be able to buy them from Amazon or rent from Netflix if you can’t find them coming up- but they are simply television at its best.

-- Lost in the shuffle of my week “off” was the announcement of the changes at the top of AGC here in America. I wonder what major changes will happen and how the culture will be affected. Also what effects to the product lines or fabrication side are in store? And how quickly will any changes happen? Hopefully one change is not yanking their folks from working with the industry trades.... It was nice to finally have some AGC representation at BEC this year.

-- Overdue congrats to two very talented gentlemen in our industry…. Kirk Johnson (now with Vitro) and Steve Martin (now with OldcastleBE) both have new gigs and both are tremendously talented guys whose new companies should be commended for adding them. Props to all involved and best of luck at your new gigs!

-- My daughter with her France pick in the World Cup proves that she needs to stick with horses… my gosh France was so bad you woulda though that I picked them!

-- Last, Happy Independence Day to all… and try during this holiday to send positive thoughts and prayers to those brave men and women fighting to protect our freedoms all over the world.

Let’s go to the links….

-- The Paul Krugman depression story… read this only if you want to be VERY depressed about the economy.

-- Interesting story on insider stock picking with Lenny Dykstra and Jim Cramer of CNBC

Video of the Week:

After reading the depressing Krugman piece we have to lighten it up and we’ll do so with this crazy video from some random Home Shopping network and watching a demo go sooooo wrong…. Let’s keep this guy away from all XYZ cutters too…

Kinda OK at AIA

AIA was last week and the reaction was that it was a solid show but not spectacular. Traffic on the floor from what I was told by several people was spotty to slow, but the quantity vs quality effect was in play. In most cases quality visits for a trade show a much more appreciated than a booth that is packed with students and other vendors. In any case this show had a lot of things working against it- slower economy, tough location and terrible calendar date, so for any positivity to come out of it, well you can count that as a win. Now the focus switches in our world to GlassBuild and I expect that show to do better than people expect. Vegas always attracts and I think the timing works too. In addition check out the line up for the Glass Executive Forum which is becoming a must attend event with the focus they are putting out. For more info on Glassbuild and all the good stuff, click HERE.

Elsewhere….

-- The April housing info came out with a ranking of the top 361… these were cities that were ranked based on the number of housing permits issued… Jacksonville, NC ranked #1 followed by Auburn, AL and Gulfport, MS (obviously everyone wanting to live near Greg Carney). The bottom 3 was Danville, IL, Wheeling, WV and Sandusky, OH. Now if you recognize Sandusky, that’s where the amusement park Cedar Point is… great park, but evidently not great enough to build a house near by.

-- The World Cup has been interesting… from those horns that make it sound like you are watching the game from inside a giant bees nest; to all of the pageantry it’s been cool. Though I have to wonder what hockey players think when they watch soccer. Afterall a hockey player will lose 7 teeth and still play through it, where a soccer player gets tackled and they writhe in pain like they’ve been shot. Still I guess that’s the charm eh?

-- Last week in the links I had the story on Washington State and the fact the builders are fighting the new green laws. Well amazingly the Governor of the state agreed with the builders and oh boy did that fire up the opposition. Check this out for the comments at the bottom… Worst part is all that will happen is that this will make the Seattle and Washington folks who abuse us nationally even madder…

-- And speaking of things that originate in the state of Washington… Major props to Nick Sciola and the gang from Hartung Glass after their latest maneuver - acquiring Holcam Sales. It’s a great move to allow an already very solid organization get that much deeper and better.

-- Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Cup… enjoy it but prepare for a return of the Pens next year!

-- And kudos to the gang at RavenBrick for making the pages of the New York Times! If you missed it the article on their windows can be found HERE.

TWEET of the WEEK

EricStangel- If you want pure quick Twitter sports related comedy, this is it. Stangel is the Head Writer/Exec Producer for David Letterman so you know he has the skills and his tweets are usually hilarious. Most have a sports theme to them but he does veer off to pop culture. Anyway it’s a great diversion from our normal lives…

BOOK of the WEEK

The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. This is a great, fast read on the history and start up of Facebook. Mezrich has written some of my favorite books, most notably “Bringing Down the House” and he delivers here again. Basically the insight on how Facebook went from being a lark to an extremely gigantic force is covered in pretty colorful detail with enough twists and turns to be soap opera like too.

VIDEO of the WEEK

This one sent to me by Greg Carney and it’s fantastic, it shows the building of a Southwest Airlines jet in rapid motion. (2:30 from start to finish!) Just an awesome view of how the whole thing comes together. Thanks for the video Greg!

A monumental moment

Well folks there’s a price increase on the streets which begs the question of… Will it stick? Will this much needed maneuver be properly accepted, passed on and built in to the crumbling pricing structure of our industry or will it be like so many others that came before it, ignored, bargained away or abused? So many times you’d hear the line “it’s just not the right time for an increase” and you’d see people buying into that theory. Well I gotta say if there was ever a “time” for one, it’s now. But the problem is it’s not as simple and clean as people want it to be. Competition is nightmarishly tough. Every job is a battle whether you are the biggest on the block or a Mom & Pop shop. So when this increase starts to trickle down, the paranoid mindset will be in full bloom. Thoughts like “hmm I wonder if my competitor is pricing this job with the increase” and so on will penetrate every bid. And in every market, every segment, every industry there’s always that “guy/company” that goes against the grain and does what they think is best and if that includes absorbing double digit pricing increases then so be it. This increase will be one too look back at when the end of 2010 hits. If it sticks and is successful this moment could be the start of the renewal. If it fails, this is the moment people will point to about when the dysfunction and inability to help ourselves did us in.

Elsewhere…

-- I was very saddened to hear of the Saturday passing of Bill Cully. Bill was the President of United Plate Glass in Butler, PA and helped drive that business to its current incredible heights. My condolences go to Bill’s sons Mike and Bart and daughter in law Joyce- All of who are first class and incredible people. No doubt they will continue doing tremendous work in honor of Bill. The glass industry just lost yet another great founder and my thoughts go out to all in the UPG family.

-- AIA show is this week in steamy Miami… will be interesting to see how the turn out is, and what the attitude is… the architects are supposedly busier, so this will be the first test of it. Though Miami in June may scare some people away and give off a false impression.

-- If you missed it… my daughter (post before this) made her Belmont picks Friday night… she liked “First Dude” but she also really liked “Drosslemeyer” and so I noted it…. And lo and behold the 13-1 shot Drosslemeyer came in (with First Dude finishing 3rd) Yep I think she is ready for a career at the track….

-- We’ll see if she can pick the World Cup like she does the horses… she is going with France to win it. Now if she pulls this off we are moving to Vegas. ASAP. And as for the World Cup- it starts Friday and should be a ton of fun… England and the US on Saturday is a pretty cool way to get things moving that’s for sure!

-- The GlassBlog entry from last week with Jim Benney as the guest writer was pretty interesting and brought a few decent comments. Though I did crack up that one comment was from NFRC’s PR agency… I guess for an easy 6 figure deal the least you can do is leave a comment eh?

-- The GANA Solar symposium looks to be a must attend if you have an interest in getting into that business. George Petzen is one of the speakers and I know he has a tremendous grasp of how that whole industry works and its integration inside the traditional glass world- so hearing him would be worth the trip. Good guy as well…

TWEET of the WEEK:

Shep Hyken

/Hyken or click here for Shep Hyken’s Twitter page. Shep spoke at BEC a few years ago and was easily one of our best speakers. (ever) The guy is just fantastic and now with Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, you can get plenty more of Shep outside of his excellent books. Basically now is the time to take customer service to the next level and Shep is amazing in getting you and your people there. In any case there’s a reason thousands of people follow this guy…

LINKS of the WEEK:

-- Funny one.. the Top 10 Things your airline baggage handlers WON’T say….

-- Quick and interesting article on the fact that beer sales are dropping but other spirits growing among other liquor related stats…

-- Builders are suing to stop the new Green Building law in Washington state… umm guys, Washington state is the home to John Hogan and the birthplace of all illogical evilness as it regards to construction… you won’t win… anyway the comments at the bottom of this story is what makes it…

VIDEO of the WEEK:

Thanks to my sister Marcie (who still actually reads this blog despite the fact she is now living very large at her awesome new gig) for this week’s video… you’ll only need to watch for a few seconds but its mesmerizing… a 4 year old kid playing the drums like no one could believe… this could be the next Neil Peart… (AKA the awesome drummer of RUSH)

Nat's Belmont Pick(s)

Will my daughter pick the Triple Crown?

For the Belmont, she is going with "First Dude" to win... but she was hesitant... she also likes "Drosselmeyer" so we will see if either comes in... but her official pick is "First Dude"

By the way, her Nana is also 2 for 2 in Triple Crown picks, but I won't be able to post those here as she doesn't make her picks until before post time... she has to look at the horses to get a flavor....

Have a good weekend everyone!

TV Reality?

NOTE: Going shorter than normal this week because of the holiday and quite frankly a dearth of news or commentable stuff…. Plus the Video of the Week is the best one I have had in a looooong time.

Saw this line on a TV show recently… an episode with a job hunting lawyer waiting in a busy room with other job hunters when another prospect said: “They’re not hiring, just taking resumes for 2011” and with that I think this TV show hit the nail on the head. So many folks see 2010 as a washout and that the real start of return to greatness will come in 2011. Heck even the ABI, if taken 9-12 months out put a good spin on 2011. So I guess that’s what we have to look forward to eh? Keep plugging along, doing all you can and try to get to the 2011 haven. Then again if you take cues from TV/Movies you would know the world is going to end in 2012… oh well… no matter how you slice it, we’re still in a daily battle but at least there’s hope… even if it’s in the form of a TV show…

Elsewhere…

-- Got tremendous reaction to my Q&A with James Bogdan. And like I told everyone I talked to, it was easy because he is an incredible guy. Also on that note, I did get some good food for thought on some areas of LEED we are missing on and I’ll have more on that hopefully next week here on the blog.

-- Hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend… and obviously a major thank you to all that have served this great country.

-- CONGRATS to John Griffith, AKA “Grif” for picking up a much deserved award from CSI. A class act and someone who always treated me much better than I deserved. I am big fan of both he and Alana (and quite frankly everyone at Empirehouse) and they truly deserve the props!

-- Last I loved the way 24 ended... I thought it was perfect and loved the Jack of the last few weeks... Now I can't wait for the movie. The last few weeks and the perfect ending made up for the awful start this year too.

TWEET of the WEEK:

/NatGlassAssoc – this is the feed from the NGA and it’s a great resource all of the good stuff they have going on. You can CLICK HERE to see it. Remember the more you know, the better off you can be…

LINKS of the WEEK:

-- My friend Pat Pickrell always wanted to move to New Zealand… I wonder if this was why… they have parents over there that are having their kids get into “brawls” settle their differences! Yep just like the good ole days…

-- I’m actually reading a great book about Tiger Woods right now (review soon) but this may be an interesting trend, “Tiger Radio” for liars and cheaters… now that’s a wild format switch.

-- And thanks to blog reader Brett… the 8 most unhealthy meals served in America… yep and I have not had any of them… yet….

VIDEO of the WEEK:

Well folks here it is… an absolute classic news reporter “fail” with glass involved… Sit back and enjoy!

Taking on LEED

( NOTE: It's a very "link" heavy edition this week... good stuff from all over!)

For the most part very few people pick on the USGBC and the LEED program, but last week in a powerful Op-Ed in the New York Times, they were taken to task. And quite frankly it was very interesting and about time. This group and program has had a free pass for the most part, and usually when dissent was raised the awesome growth and power of the USGBC shot it down. However you wonder if the pulpit of something as powerful as the pages of the Times will get more focus on the program and try to make it and the other similar efforts out there more effective for today and in the future. Here’s the Op-Ed, surely worth a read!

Elsewhere

-- How do you know you have made it as a glass company? When someone is trying to sell your glass on Craigs List… So if need some Viracon material, click here as someone is obviously trying to sell some leftovers…

-- Speaking of Viracon and all of my friends in Minnesota… saw it was supposed to be 91 degrees there this week… so my question is… did you even get Spring, or did you go right from Winter to Summer?

-- If you are not getting the WDWeekly then you are missing out. Even if you are not in the residential world, that newsletter always has something interesting with their section called “The Talk”… It’s a weekly mini editorial wrapped around a poll and then features live feedback from the previous week. Its good stuff… and last week there was reax to the Lead Paint stuff that was fantastic. So if you are not getting this every Wednesday, then click HERE and sign up… believe me it’s worth it.

-- A Happy Anniversary to my brother and his wife… I think they have been married something like 30 years… which is amazing because everyone thinks he’s 42 and I am 52…. Which means they got married at 12…. Anyway a happy one to them and may they have many, many more!

-- I spent a few minutes on the HPBCCC (High Performance Buildings Coalition) Briefing video stream today from DC. (Sponsored by Guardian Industries) Great use of my lunchtime, eat a sandwich and watch/listen to "Building Star" news… Obviously Building Star brings a lot of potential to help business in our world and hopefully it’s rolled out right and it reaches the tremendous potential. 3 speakers, very good stats and food for thought. The video and live Twitter feed is on GANA’s site HERE.

-- Finally this week… (so many links above and below, just went shorter than normal) a great documentary is running on CNBC called “Beyond the Barrel”…. I believe it’s on next Monday the 31st again, so check local listings but it is a fantastic look at renewable energy and some of the issues and adventures associated with the technology. Set the DVR, you won't be sorry…

Off to the links!

-- Classic story about the head of “LifeLock” the company that is supposed to protect your identity… he’s had identity stolen a bunch of times… oooops…

-- Man uses case of beer as a weapon….surprised this doesn’t happen more….

-- Faking your way through and around Harvard… guess you have to be smart to outsmart those folks right?

Video of the Week:

Very cool and mesmerizing video from our own industry this week…. Viewed from outside the windows of TGP, some amazing high wire acts. This sort of work must get serious hazard pay! Anyway a big thank you to Russ Smith if TGP for taking the video and sharing it…. Awesome stuff…

Cool look at the future

Growing up I always thought by the time 2010 rolled around we’d all be in flying cars and living like “The Jetsons” with space age stuff all around. Now that never happened but this week, 3 major architecture firms were asked what they see New York City looking like in 2030 and the answers/drawings were pretty cool. We don’t get flying cars but we do at least in one scenario get a ton of glass… so that’s good. Check it out for yourself HERE. It will be interesting to look back to see how close this comes to happening!

Elsewhere

-- Am I the only one who is not kinda blown away by the whole “living skin” of buildings. Basically it’s a trend the have plant life and vegetation grow up the entire side of the building. I just can’t get my arms around that concept. Saw it in Pittsburgh and now have seen some articles on it and it just strikes me as something that can’t be good for the building but evidently it is.

-- Saw the news on Solutia doing an awards program to honor folks (Architects, designers, fabricators etc) for their creative uses of colored laminated materials in exterior and interior spaces. This is a tremendous idea and a great way to promote not only their product but the usage of value added glass and glazing material too. So end of the day, it raises awareness and for our industry that is a very good thing. Kudos to the folks at Solutia who hatched this awesome plan… I wonder if my gold interlayer desktop can be eligible….

-- Last week we had another industry guy hang em up. Les George retired after many, many years toiling in our industry at places like Floral and Arch. Les was very helpful to me when I started at the company and was always very welcoming and positive with me- So I will always appreciate that. Les also was important in the raising of thousands of dollars for Cystic Fibrosis research. Every year a major CF walkathon was held with Les and his grandchildren (two have CF) as the inspiration to raise money. That incredible act and the money raised will surely be a part of his legacy.

-- Yes with proof of a Friday night post where my daughter somehow picked the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown by picking Looking at Lucky to win. So now she’s going for 3 for 3 in Belmont. She already wants to go to Vegas but she was bummed when I told her that they don’t offer the game “Gin” as one of the things you can bet on out there. (She plays it a lot with her Grandma and thinks she’s a pro!)

-- And yes my daughter is proving that she has the picking genes in the family….

-- Speaking of picking… I am done with hockey and hoops since all my picks are gone. Now it’s time to root and I am hoping that Montreal can pull off going to the Cup. Very happy for my friends at Walker and Glassopolis who are big Habs fans. While it hurt like heck to see my Pens lose, at least it was to people I like.

Tweet of the Week:

/Solarfeeds or click HERE to go to it. Solar Feeds is an aggregator of solar and energy news. Basically if you want to know what’s going on in the solar world- this is the place to find it… Some interesting stuff every day.

Off to the Links!

I had a few people ask me last week if they have a cool link, would I run it? And my answer is surely…. So if you run into a story that you find interesting, feel free to shoot it to me.

-- As someone that has a very cool Standard Poodle and loves dogs in general, I am aghast at this Poodle… he was entered in a creative grooming contest… while its creative… man it’s wrong… poor guy.

-- Thanks to Frank for this one..... Heinz is changing the formula/recipe of their ketchup! Wonder if it will still come out painfully slow?

-- Classic signs from China... And basically what happens when you try and mix the English language up… hilarious stuff.

Video of the Week:

This video left me pretty speechless actually… it’s a tiny little cannon…. And this video shows how its loaded and then what it can shoot. It’s wild. But then it makes you think, wow, what happens if this falls into the wrong hands? Crazy, crazy stuff…

Preakness Pick

Sorry this is late... but my daughter has chimed in with her pick in the Preakness.... using the theory that the "favorite" never wins... she is leaving Super Saver behind and going with "Looking at Lucky" to win...

And if she wins again we know she is verrrrry lucky.... and also quite possibly NOT my daughter because I can't pick a thing....

Step up and be heard

The most frustrating thing about being in business right now is all of the issues hanging out on the periphery. It’s hard enough to compete in a tough economy on the traditional parts of business but now we as an industry also have to deal with things like the EPA and the lead paint doctrines. The residential installers have been on this for a while, and now word via David Walker VP of the NGA, shows that these rules are headed for the commercial world. If it’s anywhere near as crazy as what the residential guys are dealing with, it will not be good for us as an industry. Get ready to break out the HazMat style suit to deglaze storefronts and curtainwalls and so on. Believe me it won’t be good. So now while you are out selling, running your business and fight fires all over the place, you may as well add this one to the list. It really is crucial for your voice to be heard, and now is the time to let it fly. So pick your flavor- whether it’s the folks at NGA or GANA or both, you need to get on top of this issue and be heard… or else you will be stuck with misery. And trust me you can ask many fine people in the State of Utah that are dealing with NFRC nightmares that wish they woulda got involved in that issue before it was too late.

Oh and while you are at it- check out this white paper on the new “Building Star” act. Again get up to speed and be involved!

Elsewhere…

-- If you need more info you can go to the NGA by clicking HERE. Also GANA just announced an advocacy website that can be found HERE.

-- A few days in the wilderness really did wonders. Shutting the phone and e mail off for 4 days may be killing me today but the clearing of the mind was spectacular. As for the trip, I learned that my son and I are GPS guys as we got lost in the forest using our compass… in any case I am thrilled I did not get eaten by anything.

-- Each day I see the use of Twitter growing. So as a new feature here on From the Fabricator, I am going to do a “TWEET of the WEEK” where I give props to a feed that you should be following. (For those of you unaware, Twitter is a “Short Attention Span” theater. Short blurbs, 140 characters that usually lead you to more information… it’s very helpful info from an information standpoint and not a major time user.) So this week’s TWEET of the WEEK is: @glassandglazing that is run by Greg Carney. (Click Here to see it) Greg does a nice job of making sure you are aware of what maybe happening from a tech or code side out in the world. Well worth the follow! As for going forward please feel free to send me your submissions for Tweet of the week and we’ll get em on here.

-- Upon popular demand later this week I’ll have my daughter’s Preakness Stakes pick. We’ll see if she can go 2 for 2….

-- For those of you that travel the merger between United and Continental is pretty depressing. Means more packed flights and less inventory. Yeesh… then again I do have to say that it is an industry that needed consolidation since no one was making money…. So a thinning of the herd… hmmmmmm… wonder what other industry could use that….

-- Shorter post this week because of all of the links above and their importance....

Links of the Week!

-- As someone who travels a ton, this piece was awesome! A flight attendant shows how she packs for 10 DAYS in her overnight bag. Brilliant step by step look.

-- Solar panels are the newest “hot” material to steal. See here for what people are doing to stop the crooks!

-- Crazy story... a woman wins the lottery 2 years after her brother won! Seriously? I mean that family is waaaay too lucky. Now I could say that my brother and sister both won the lottery when they got me as a brother… (a mistake for sure 10 years late- though because of me my parents did get air conditioning for the house, so there was that benefit!) but somehow I think they’d take the cash instead!

Video of the Week:

Last week the Round Rock Express minor league baseball team added a new pitcher… and the guy was a riot… check out the video and you’ll see “who” this guy is but can you imagine if you could ever have some fun like this guy does while playing? Funny stuff.

Taking a temporary pass

Obviously the biggest story of the week last week was the departure of Leon Silverstein from Arch Aluminum. And because of my very close proximity to the situation, my e mail box blew up with notes/questions/comments etc. Along the way many people wanted to know how I was going to handle it on here. And quite frankly that whole question has stumped me. I have a ton of thoughts and those who know me, know I am not a political guy, and I usually let it hang out. But on this one, I’m going to sit back for a while on it before I make my thoughts public. I have been burned in the past with comments or commitments too fast, and that among some other reasons is why my take will wait. It will eventually come, no doubt I will not let this pass for good… but for now we’ll let it simmer.

Elsewhere…

-- You know it is human nature these days that more people care about the inside story of a guy departing his business than what havoc the NFRC will do to your business. Kinda like the fact more people will read a story about Tiger Woods and his 121 mistresses than a story about Cap and Trade.

-- Last week I was lucky enough to happen by a major ribbon cutting ceremony for one of the newest Trainor Glass locations- this one in Ogden, Utah. Very nice event and it was a true ribbon cutting as the city supporters showed up with the biggest real scissors I have ever seen.
Congrats to the gang at Trainor on the opening and best of luck ahead.

-- Well my short run as someone who can pick games ended quick… let’s see I had the Capitals winning the cup… that’s done and I had the Nuggets winning the West in the NBA… kaput too. Yep back to being the “mush”… however thankfully it looks like my daughter did not inherit my crappy pick gene, as on Saturday she picked correctly the Kentucky Derby…. I think we may have to send her to the Preakness now to see if she can go 2 for 2.

-- Oh and speaking of the Capitals… only a hockey player would do this… on his way home from the game 7 loss, Capital Brooks Laich saw a car pulled over with a flat tire and a mom and daughter standing by it. He pulled over and when they told him that AAA was at least 40 minutes out, he changed their tire. Oh and this was on a very busy bridge too… so this guy, right after a heartbreak loss plays the hero… no way do I ever see a baseball or football player doing that. Class act no doubt.

-- The interesting angle to this who EPA lead paint gig is how many people have gotten into it, gone through some sort of training and/or invested in the equipment and material to handle it. Normally our industry moves slow, but obviously this move got to the right people and even though they did not like or agree with it (how anyone logically could is beyond me) they still are rolling with it… though each to a company hopes that saner heads prevail.

-- Last week I had the story on experts seeing improvements in the economy, then we had a tick upward in the ABI. Could all of these good signs mean anything?

-- AIA is coming… curious to see what the turnout and buzz will be… plus a tough time and location… June in Miami…

-- Last... I am taking a vacation at the end of the week… taking my son to 4th grade camp in upper northeast Michigan… yep 3 days with me and a bunch of 9 year olds in the wilderness. No phone, and obviously no lap top. These 3 days for me will be like 39 days for normal people on Survivor. So if there’s no blog next Monday night it’s because I was eaten by a bear or severely dehydrated… or both. Seriously this is either a recipe for disaster or a great future Saturday Night Live sketch.

Off to the Links!

-- Speaking of camping, I was never a boy scout (crazy I know) but now that you can get merit badges for video games, maybe I should go back. Yes , merit badges for video games… yikes.

-- Wooooooo…. The professional wrestler “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is now a part of a game from the North Carolina lottery… probably worth it to go to NC just to play it now…

-- A very cool townhouse “in the sky” that is pretty incredible…. And selling for the steal of 28 million… someday after I win the Ric Flair lottery maybe…

Video of the Week:

From friend and co-worker Dean Mead…. This I believe is him in the mascot suit (it’s what he does on the weekends…) check out this incredible basketball stunt… starting from a 16 foot ladder… awesome…. Deano is a playa...

Yikes, Here we go again!

For the last several years I have been among the folks sounding the alarm on the goings on at NFRC. Sadly the new program is here and we all have to deal with it, but at last week’s meetings stark reminders came out on who drives the bus and who makes the cash… so get ready, the hands are still out and waiting for all of you to pay. It’s bad enough that professionals dealing with professionals, with legal contracts are not good enough, but now coming soon, prepare to pay up even more. At last week’s meeting one of the labs, with support of the other testing labs made moves to have the database, which is like not even 6 months old or even close to being populated, regulated for shelf life. Basically, the labs, figuring that once everyone gets their materials into CMA, a part of their gravy train will be finished, so they now have come out and said “we need to test every couple years” you know to ensure the products are still performing the same way or are still viable…. Or in plain terms, we need to keep our cash flow going! And while you’re at it, let’s also include testing Spandrel in our little adventure… even though the brain surgeons making that call have no idea what Pandora ’s Box they are opening there. So the more things change, the more they stay the same. And judging from the outright confusion and frustration of the people that are being forced into this mess, it’s surely going to be an ugly road ahead.

Elsewhere…

-- I did laugh when I saw in one of the many press releases from NFRC last week that they raised a whole $420 for New Orleans during the meeting. Considering the windfall that NFRC and the labs and others stand to make from this mess, it sure seems pathetic doesn’t it? Especially when you factor in how expensive it is to even go to one day of meetings… $420? Really?

-- Switching gears… Congrats to Brad Austin on his new gig as President of Harmon. Brad is a tremendously talented guy and also a very strong industry person (a key player in the success of GANA among other things). No doubt that switching to the “other side” will be a challenge, but I am confident Brad will do very well.

-- Got a lot of good feedback to my e mail on the LEED and Frank Gehry stuff from last week. The key always has to be that energy efficiency and performance need to be the drivers and not certifications. Hopefully that catches on.

-- What is it with our industry and MIT lately? Last month Don McCann of Viracon spoke at MIT and now, I get wind of an awesome Sun Shade project that Doralco along with Karas and Karas did there. ( I am guessing you’ll see it under “Great Glazing on E Weekly one of these weeks) Sun Shades are one of those really cool products that continue to grow in popularity and it’s nice to see the folks designing at and for MIT get it. Kudos to friend of the blog Tom O’Malley and his gang on a job well done.

-- Cool blog alert! The Chicago Window Expert… you can find it HERE. Has some really cool interviews with real diverse characters. Doesn’t update it very often but when he does its quality stuff.

-- I am embarrassed to say I don’t know a ton about this ongoing lead and EPA issue, but the stuff I am reading is pretty frightening. The release from the NGA was very powerful and hopefully some action will be coming to right the wrongs. Obviously the main scary point for me is NFRC started this way, hitting more from a residential side before seeing the money stream and coming to commercial….

-- Last this week, the New York Times had an interesting piece over the weekend that basically said that the economy is ready to roar again… my gosh this would surely be a time to get a story right eh? Anyway it does paint a rosy picture and if you want to see for yourself, the story can be found HERE.

Off to the Links!

-- Interesting read on Facebook being the next big competitor to Google….And since I’m not a Facebook guy I guess I’ll never know what the fuss is about.

-- If you missed it, the world’s newest millionaire thanks to Powerball… and he worked at the store that sold the ticket!

-- I love Twitter but this is crazy… it’s now being used as a dating site… No doubt trying to get dates on Twitter is below the bar scene…


Video of the Week:

Back to baseball with this amazing play from the college ranks… basically the third baserunner does his best “Superman” imitation and goes high above to score the run… very cool stuff…

A legend and LEED

In the last few weeks world famous architect Frank Gehry has been in the news because of his stance on LEED. He has basically come out and said he is not a fan that architects are designing for the LEED seal of approval and not for the good of the building or project. He also said trying to get LEED can be a waste of time and money. As far as I know Gehry is the biggest architect (or “starchitect” as some people call him) on record noting his disdain for the process. The question now is will anyone care? Sadly, probably not. LEED has improved over the years but it’s still a program that more people follow for the wrong reasons and in doing so they probably step over good energy efficient or energy performing products in order to meet a LEED requirement. And when that happens no one wins. The complete article, with some interesting comments can be found HERE. Oh and as for the whole green product issue, check out the following quotes from another story… very interesting….

"While green buildings have many positive benefits, there is also strong evidence surfacing to suggest a direct correlation between new products and innovative design with building failures," says Paul Roecker, an attorney with Orlando, Fla.-based Roetzel & Andress, who focuses his practice on environmental litigation. "From a risk perspective obviously there are a lot of products coming to market very quickly that advertise themselves as green. Many of them have not been 'tried and true' tested," he said. "They are new so in their applications of their efficacy … their potential to actually create a risk is really unknown."

Elsewhere...

-- U Value vs R Value…. Slowly but surely more and more people are talking with R instead of U when discussing that part of the glass performance. R has always been used in other building products and really more from a residential angle. A quick look around the web at commercial players web tools and it’s still all “U” – wonder when someone will flip that switch. (and yes I am aware of how easy it is to figure the R from the U….but still…)

-- Stoked to share blogging space with guys like Chris Mammen, Bill Evans, David Walker and so on. Very interesting takes these guys take and you always learn something from them. Which is a different outcome than when you read my stuff….

-- Do you know when you have made it as a marketing genius? When your ad is sitting framed in a random glass shop in Idaho. It was there I saw the famous and awesome Glassopolis ad. (the one with the senior citizens working the jobsite). The folks at this shop loved the ad so much that it sits prominently, framed, on their reception desk. Yep, that is what you call a major marketing hit.

-- Some of the main Solar media must be closely listening to Apogee’s Russ Huffer as they are starting to echo a lot of his sentiments towards solar. Last week a few pieces hit the streets wondering if Solar really does have a future in the market. I am still a believer but I do also agree that the costs must come down to make this fly. I don’t think they have to come down as far as some folks think, but they do have to start tracking down, or performance has to really shoot up- and I don’t see that happening soon. All that said I did see the announcement where Architectural Glass & Aluminum (AGA) has partnered up to get in the Solar game. AGA is very well run company and I know they did big time due diligence here, so that is a very interesting sign.

-- The NBA Playoffs started this weekend, so I have to jump in and make my picks… in the East, it’s hard not to go with the Cavs… LeBron just too good. In the west, I am going to say the Nuggets… but it doesn’t matter who comes from the west, it’s Cleveland’s year.

-- Last, I gotta touch on the NFRC meeting from last week… but I actually am saving that for another post. Some very interesting notes that I received from the meeting and its coverage, so check this space either later this week or in next week’s schedule for those comments.

Off to the links!

So what do links on this website and the TV shows “The Jefferson’s” and “Private Practice” have in common? Hmmm…. Anyway on to some cool stuff!

-- Amazingly interesting story on the effects of the Volcano of 1815… and makes you think how the current Volcano we have right now may affect us in the future. A short must read.

-- Last week I experienced my first ever earthquake… it was minor, but still an experience. Obviously nothing like the massive one that hit China… and as for that quake, one person got out thanks to her ability to sleep through it!

-- The update to the big “Carry on” bag controversy. The Senate is stepping in. Wonder if they will fare any better on this then how they fared when they tried to stop the World Trade Center from using Chinese glass (same Senator involved and yes for the record that whole WTC thing still infuriates me)


Video of the Week:

Got several good submissions from last week and if you have a video that you think should be here, just drop me a note at maxbcat@aol.com … anyway the video of the week is the reaction to Whitney Houston’s comeback tour in Australia. Evidently she was really bad, and this report talks to people who went to the show… brutal!

And off and running!

Welcome to From the Fabricator… if this is your first time here, I’ll give you a quick primer… for those of you old hands at reading this, go ahead and skip to the next paragraph… Since 2005, this blog has been a week to week take on the glass industry with some smattering of other subjects mixed in. It’s a therapy session really as I get to tackle angles that could be positive or negative to your world and I also try to shine the spotlight on the good people in the industry as well. My pet subjects are China and the NFRC, but I also love to take on the DOE, code bodies, and bad trade show booths. Basically this is not a traditional blog but a lead story followed by quick nuggets, links and ending with a video that can help you not think about business for a couple of minutes. If you want to catch up, feel free to scroll below or click on the links on the right side… and if you have comments you can leave them, or feel free to e mail me direct at maxbcat@aol.com . So now in the words of boxing ref and judge Mills Lane… “Let’s git it on!”

Top story this week is the code battle that will have an effect on your business. If you have not heard about what is going on with ASHRAE and the move (among others) to cut down the square footage that glass could have in a building, you need to start boning up on it asap. A good breakdown can be found HERE. The main issue at hand here is that glass does not get the respect it deserves and now people are looking to take advantage of that. The positive news is the industry is pretty united in their efforts to work through these issues. The bad news is that we still are outflanked all over. The key now is to try and stop the bleeding… slow the crazier notions of anti glass crusaders (which include FtF fave John Hogan, who from his perch as an employee of the City of Seattle somehow has nationwide powers) and continue to grow new technologies that can meet the standards being set. Hopefully the industry efforts will keep from our square footage getting reduced anymore than it is, or else we’re all headed to the brick and masonry industry.

Elsewhere…

-- Nice pairing alert... Saw the announcement on the hook up between Agalite Shower Doors and Guardian and their ShowerGuard product. This is a great matchup without a doubt as both have tremendous reputations in the industry and both make a quality product.

-- According to a new report from Reed Construction Data, the construction materials market is now stabilizing. Hopefully this is a trend that will stick and not a blip that will be reversed 3 months from now. But it does bear watching….

-- Speaking of watching, there are not a lot of things better than playoff hockey… and that kicks off this week in the NHL. Sadly I don’t think my beloved Penguins have the juice this year to get it done… so the picks here (and remember I am now on fire coming off my Duke winner in the NCAA) are Washington and Vancouver… with Ovechkin and company raising the Cup in June… (yes playoff hockey takes 2 months!)

-- This week is the NFRC spring meeting in New Orleans (sponsored by the Chinese….oy) and I do hear several big players are going back to the meetings for the first time in a while. Hopefully I’ll get some feedback to share… the big issue is probably where the CMA program is now and where it’s going. Basically it’s still looking like the Titanic….lots of issues to be worked out there… woulda been so much easier if the program was allowed to have true input from the people who are stuck with it instead of grandstanding by labs and folks like John Hogan. Also woulda been easier if they rolled it out in parts and pieces and worked out the kinks… but that didn’t happen, that iceberg is dead ahead!

-- Check this out from my friend and former industry mate, Drew Vass. He has a pretty incredible music career coming along and he created this pretty awesome website to show off the talent. Click on it and check it out and you can say you knew him when he picks up his first grammy. Dude has serious talent.

Off to the Links!

The “Link Chick” on fire again this week… good stuff below…

-- Getting a house from the reality show Extreme Makeover, Home Edition does guarantee you can keep it… foreclosures are happening…. Yikes. Next up, I am betting on lawsuits from “Undercover Boss”

-- This better not catch on… paying for your carry-on bags… Spirit Air is doing it and the logic is just stunning.

-- Where are the world’s newest architectural wonders? Check em out here!

Video of the Week:

Baseball opened this past week and you won’t see many plays as good as this one all season… Mark Buerhrle of the Chicago White Sox makes an insane play… last year he threw a perfect game… this year this web gem! (and the mix of announcers going crazy, very cool too)

Schedule Change

Quick advisory... the weekly posts will now be here on Monday nights instead of Weds. So look for a new post starting tomorrow- April 12th.... and I'll continue to post when news and issues warrant... but the weekly one will now appear on Monday nights...

What a combo!

(Shorter than normal post ahead....)

What happens when you have two of the things that frustrate you the most meeting and teaming up? Your brain explodes…. And mine did just that with the news this week that sponsoring the upcoming NFRC meeting will be China Southern Glass! Yep the NFRC and China… together… a true axis of evil in my mind…. Unreal. The whole sponsorship of the NFRC meetings is severely hokey as it is, but now getting the Chinese involved is just pure insanity. Yep ladies and gentleman the Titanic now has the endorsement of China….

Elsewhere…

-- Last summer I predicted $4 per gallon gas… and was wrong (THANKFULLY)… this summer though $4 per gallon gas is a mortal lock… its over $3 in parts of the US and it’s not even prime travel season yet….

-- I picked DUKE to win the NCAA…. And was right for the first time since 1986. (Yes I keep track, 1986 was the last year I picked an NCAA tourney winner) The blind squirrel finds the acorn here…

-- Also speaking of sports… opening day in baseball this week… love it…. So my predictions since I am on a roll… The Phillies win the series in a rematch against the Yanks…

-- I write every week on people and companies who I think “get it” during these times. Companies that make moves to improve instead of turtle. This week’s example is General Glass. The news that they are creating a new architecture and design department is brilliant. Jumping on the trends and milking them… very shrewd.

-- Saw the piece on line that shows construction spending is at an 8 year low… No doubt things are ugly but I stand behind my comments that companies that are picking their spots, bringing in new people, and expanding their presence and offerings are the ones that will escape the mess first and be better for it.

-- Last, the rumor has it that when Viracon’s Don McCann spoke at MIT he was awarded a honorary doctorate. So I guess we all need to address him as Dr. McCann….

Off to the Links!

The “Link Chick” as always is scouring the interwebs for your enjoyment….

-- Look out if you live in the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain areas… a mass infestation of grasshoppers is on the menu for this summer… yikes.

-- Classic dumb luck story... baseball player hits a foul ball into the stands… and who does that foul ball hit? His Mom…. Oh no…

-- I’m a huge sportsfan as you know but not this huge… this couple named their kid after their favorite college… hmmm you know maybe I shoulda named my son Bobcat…

Video of the Week

Every year after the NCAA Tourney is done, CBS does a video montage called “One Shining Moment” and usually its awesome… this year was decent, but not as great as it used to be. In any case it does boil the tourney down to 3 fun minutes of video…

BEC Wrap 2010

BEC has come and gone and it was an interesting few days that’s for sure. Overall I think all of the attendees want/need more work and for the most part the attitudes were leaning towards a “can do” positivity. Still the major scary item that came out of this meeting is not one expert speaker had the recovery coming to our world before 2012. A few months back I ran a piece that said the industry would not bounce back until 2013… hopefully all of those pundits will be wrong. In the meantime there’s no doubt that people will be hunkering down to ride this storm out.

Other BEC observations…

-- Tremendous to see everyone I did… it was my first meeting in a while after missing Fall Conference and GlassBuild America…. Several solid speakers led by Russ Huffer… his speech was on Net Zero Buildings but he comes with so much passion and prose that he could probably read the instructions from a piece of IKEA furniture and it would sound interesting and engaging.

-- I enjoyed the keynote from Vitro’s Hugo Lara, he shared a ton of interesting info and made you think…

-- The code pieces done by Bill Yanek and Thom Zaremba surely hit many nerves and hopefully alerted the masses to the issues that are facing us now…

-- I am a big fan of Technoform’s Mark Silverberg and he and Al Stankus put on a very in depth piece on the future of high thermal performance fenestration… I actually learned a ton from that piece.

-- In addition I enjoyed learning about exciting future products from Dr. Helen Sanders of SAGE and Fred Millet of Pleotint… it’s products like those that will help this industry move forward.

-- Echoing Chuck Knickerbocker from his blog, the curtainwall piece done by Chris Fenwick of Kawneer was strong.

-- Also I loved by legal pieces but it was shame that attendance was low then…

-- The Mayor of Las Vegas was super… great story teller for sure.

-- As for the scene… the Viracon party was awesome as usual… I was thrilled to be invited… (then I was told EVERYONE gets invited… dang and I thought I was special…)

-- Saw the new trend in long sideburns from both Tony Mazza and Ken Werbowy. Not like 90210 original sideburns, but not Elvis mutton chops either… must be a new trend.

-- There were several 5 minute ads, but my props for best one goes to Tubelite… they stuffed War and Peace into 5 minutes and it was solid.

-- Enjoyed catching up with folks like George Petzen of LinEl, Julie and Claude from Solutia and the aforementioned Mr. Knickerbocker from TGP. Also someone was there from AGC! Yes for years I picked on AGC for not coming and the year I don’t host, Jon Hughes shows up… and it was good to meet him and tell him what he missed the last 4 years…

-- Of course I was very proud of Henry Taylor on his first time as host- he did a great job under tough circumstances… and it was great to see Greg Carney, looking trim and in charge.

-- Finally congrats to the folks at GANA.. Ashley, Brian, Sara, and Bill Yanek- a great job done by all… and all of them probably thrilled that they didn’t have to deal with me this year!

-- All in all it was a good weekend and good crowd under the circumstances. I know many people stayed away for many reasons but this event still has the chops and hopefully those who missed it this year will start thinking about coming next year. There’s no doubt times are tough but the information and networking done paid for itself and then some.

Non BEC thoughts of the week…

-- I picked Duke to win the NCAA because I am always wrong…. OK… they made the final four… I hope this isn’t the time I decide to be right… ugh

-- The story that USGNN ran on the City Center vs. its builder is a freakin great read. And that article only hit the high points of what should someday be an awesome tell all book. In any case I did venture over there to see the place and it is beautiful… the buildings with glass made and fabricated in the USA were nicer than the others… (as it should be).

-- At the airport coming home, heard the craziest announcement… they said that the plane had “limited water” so if you need to use the bathroom, do it in the airport and don’t wait. Evidently once the plane went through its water, the bathrooms would shut down… the flight was to Atlanta… I hope all those folks heeded that warning… that’s a long flight…

Off to the links…

More great stuff from the all knowing legend that is the “Link Chick”

-- A 13 year old COLLEGE student is claiming age discrimination… seriously… it’s a great read about a kid that is way too young (and waaaaay too smart) and parents who have no clue.

-- Your skin as an electronic touch pad… as Link Chick wrote to me on this was simply “creepy”

-- A guy gives mouth to mouth and CPR to a possum… wow, the effect of tons of alcohol at work!

VIDEO of the week

The video this week also courtesy of the Link Chick… and it’s of an amazing goal scored by a goalkeeper from miles away.. seemingly… check it out… awesome.

It's about time for BEC

BEC is just a few days away now and it surely will be an interesting time. In the past few years this conference had explosive growth but I’ll be curious to see how the weak economy and overall skittishness in our industry affects the turnout. The people that do attend will still be treated to a first rate show and an opportunity to hobnob with the industries best and brightest… and no I don’t include myself in the equation either. Anyway we’ll see what the pulse is and report back in next weeks post…

Elsewhere…

-- Gonna be odd to sit in the audience at BEC, haven’t done that in a few years that’s for sure. I am pumped for my friend Henry Taylor of Kawneer. He is going to do an awesome job.

-- Biggest miss of having to be in Vegas? Missing Wrestlemania with my son. Its an annual thing, but we’ll fire up the TIVO and we'll watch when I get back.. so no spoiling the results eh...

-- What’s this health care stuff I just heard about? Man wish there was some coverage about it… seriously though do you get the feeling that this thing got done to get done and not to fix anything?

-- I saw the blurb that Viracon’s Don McCann spoke at MIT over the weekend. Congrats on that honor Don… and I have to say that if Don did ½ as well there as he did when I was with him on a trip to the DOE, he probably slayed the crowd. That day at DOE where Don, coolly and calmly educated the DOE folks on the reality of the glass business was nothing short of epic.

-- March Madness… how about the Ohio Bobcats? Never thought they could beat Georgetown…. Great run… and amazingly my final four is still alive… not sure when the last time I had all 4 of my teams still alive at the sweet 16….

-- Congrats to Vitro on their recent round of hires. No doubt they brought in some significant players. Adding someone of the talent of Cathey Finney was a real coup for sure. And on that same note, Guardian added a tremendous guy in Jay Phillips. I’ve always been a big fan of Jay’s- he is truly a class act and I am happy for him.

-- Last, the ABI went up! Just imagine if lending would come anywhere close to normal and things could really bounce back dramatically. Next month will be interesting to see if this was a start to a positive trend or an aberration.

Off to the LINKS…

The Link Chick was late this week, which was unlike her… I think the last time she missed an assignment was 1983. Anyway, she brings some good stuff as usual…

-- Is this piece on the financial health of Greece good info or gold ole fashion fear mongering? You be the judge.

-- This teacher is eating a school lunch every day to prove a point… and she’s keeping a blog on it… she is a glutton for punishment…

-- And this one from me… Arnold Palmer with great advice for Tiger Woods… meet the press dead on and get it over with…(and evidently he now will be meeting the media on April 5th)

Video of the Week

March Madness rules folks and the best ending this past week in my opinion was Michigan State beating Maryland… 30 seconds, 3 possible game winning shots… no time outs… just daggers flying everywhere…awesome stuff… here it is…