The Road Back Begins
The road to being “back” took a major step forward this past week in San Antonio, Texas, at the TEXpo event there. The organizers and the incredible Texas Glass Association did a wonderful job with the setup and layout, and it was great to be back on a show floor again! The overall vibe from the crowd there was hopeful, enthusiastic and resilient. The market in some parts of Texas has softened a bit but that has not taken any energy away from the folks there. Everyone is still very focused and hustling like crazy.
The big obvious issue is labor; no one has nearly enough, and close behind is tightening of certain supplies, but the lessons of communicate and diversify (that I preach here a ton) are core values there, and so people are working through it. I’m obviously biased but one of the best parts of the show for me was hearing from so many folks how pumped they are for GlassBuild in the fall and getting our entire world back together in one place. And after this week, I’m bursting at the seams to be back in the ATL at GlassBuild!
Elsewhere…
Old Friends...
Another great part of this event is seeing old friends and meeting new ones! Obviously spending any time with the great Sam Hill of Oak Cliff Mirror and Felix Munson of Anchor-Ventana is simply off the charts. Those two treat me a ton better than I deserve, and I love their desire to always make our industry better.
It was also great to see Brian Savage of Velocity and Seth Madole of Viracon; I wore both of them out with my whining on certain glass types, but it was really nice to get to know more about Brian than just our weather banter on Twitter. Very good guy.
I love San Antonio because it means I get to see some great locals there. The Luna family from Champion Glass always make the day for me; such tremendous people and spending a bit of time with Kyle Sharp was an unexpected bonus (and he confirmed that project of the week on my last post was Azuria.) No trip to San Antonio is complete without hanging with the great David Shaw of CompleteLine Glass. Great person and friend.
...And New
Now to the new folks I got to meet and there were a bunch, and some awesome younger stars in the making! (Which our industry needs) Premier Glass Products has some just incredible up-n-comers. Josh Hemby, just an impressive guy, and a quick hello with Dylan Combs left me enthused about his skills. Davis Moore, a relative newbie to our world, (10 months in I believe) opened by telling me he enjoyed my podcast, and man talk about a way to make an impression on me! LOL. Three really good, focused, classy people there.
It was also super to run into the awesome Jacque Freeman of Binswanger. She’s so good and I love the way she keeps advancing in our world; sky is the limit there. Spending some time with Rick Newnom of Hou-Tex Glass & Mirror was fantastic; loved hearing his path to through the industry and the smart moves he continues to make. Joe Lambertson of Country Glass & Mirror also tagged me to chat for a second; good guy from a tremendous company. Hopefully I can catch up with him and team more down the line. And last seeing Matt Day and Joe Silva from Glazier Nation was fantastic. Matt’s energy and desire is off the charts and the plans these guys are putting into play are game changing in our industry. Very exciting stuff to come! All in all, a great couple of days in Texas and good vibes all around!
Podcast, Ep 5
The 5th edition of the “From the Fabricator” podcast dropped last week, and If you missed the links for it or haven’t gotten to it yet, please check it out! Great amount to learn and take in there. Video is here and audio here. I appreciate it and I do think the quality of the great guests is worth your time!
Last this week, an awesome one; our industry went viral over the past few days for some wonderful news surrounding a great person and family. Fred Jayson of Bendheim Glass celebrated his 100th birthday on the 14th. His son, Donald, posted that on LinkedIn and that incredible accomplishment went viral; more than 35,000 reactions, 2,400 comments, and more than 1.2 million views! That is awesome and deservedly so for a great man, hitting an amazing milestone and he was in at work on his 100th birthday making calls! The Jayson family are fabulous folks and here’s to a Happy Birthday to Fred and many more still to go! Here’s the link from LinkedIn if you missed it.
Read on for links of the week...
