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OK, so the Architecture Billings Index now has had two good months in a row. What exactly does that mean? As those of you who follow this blog know, I follow and comment on it monthly, and quite frankly, I find it vexing. When I finally see it stabilizing, it drops. When I think we’re in the midst of a free-fall, it pulls itself up. Seasonal logic makes no sense either. Architects were busy in December? A short month, at the tail end of budget planning? Obviously, I am missing something, but regardless, I am pleased with the progress. Now we wait 30 days to see how January plays out. If the ABI is up, it can be called officially a “trend” (three months of something puts it into “trend” category). And as the great philosopher Roger “28” Collette once opined, “the trend is your friend,” especially when it's positive. If that does happen, the projections of a solid 2012 will be looking much more possible.

Elsewhere…  

• Another positive trend: the housing report from December showed a third straight month of sales increases, and we now have the lowest amount of housing inventory since 2005. As you can see by this article, we’re not out of the woods yet, but the hopeful signs are coming into play. Gotta stay positive.
• Once again, I got a tremendous nugget of info from the twitter feed of Heather West (@HeatherWestPR). This time it was a critical rating of the effectiveness of building codes on the East and Gulf Coasts. It was a very, very interesting and surprising read. Check it out here. One comment: I am blown away that the great state of Texas scored so low and that South Carolina scored so high. Those ratings were shockers. In my limited experience, I would have thought those ratings would be flip flopped. Anyway, thank you Heather for the feed.
• Great news Internet-wise this past week: the highly controversial SOPA and PIPA bills were yanked from the floor of Congress. These bills were to put in tough federal laws against online piracy and copying of online intellectual property. Normally, I would be 1000 percent behind something like these efforts. But the bills, as with most of what DC does, were loaded down with seriously intrusive measures and were just out of control in the desire to control free speech. The electronic community led by groups like Google and Wikipedia came together to flex muscle that overwrought measures like this won’t be accepted. No matter what, I believe that eventually these bills will come back, but Congress will have to take a more even-keeled and fair approach. Otherwise, it will never work.
• It was a combination of two sets of some of my favorite people when the gang from RavenBrick spoke at the Colorado Glazing Contractor Association meeting last week. I heard it was lively and informative, and everyone had a great time. It’s always good when the good word about advanced technology is getting out into the marketplace. The CGCA, led by Rebecca Kaspari, and with awesome members like Marty Richardson of Metropolitan Glass and the model-like Cameron Scripture of Viracon really has the template down pat for well-run regional associations.
• Thanks to GH for the quality proofread of this blog, by the way. Brain sometimes freezes!
• Last this week… great creative marketing play by Terry Newcomb and the folks at Thermal Windows. They gave away 1,300 pounds of grapefruit last week as a “thank you” to their Tulsa customers for three decades of support. Just a well-done effort and gesture. Now, if they were giving away 1,300 pounds of M&M’s, I would’ve made the trip to Tulsa for that. ... I guess M&M’s don’t grow on trees though. In any case, very nice work folks.

Read on for links and video of the week...

The author is founder of Sole Source Consultants, a consulting firm for the building products industry that specializes in marketing, branding, communication strategy and overall reputation management, as well as website and social media, and codes and specifications. E-mail him at MaxP@SoleSourceConsultants.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.

 Most people are not aware of how their thinking influences them directly, or others around them. Following are two situations that I encountered recently.

I am a member of a local Athletic Endurance Team (BEAT). BEAT is a member of a national organization (USAT). USAT is conducting a competition, among its member groups, during December, January and February. Each team accumulates points from swimming (10 miles), biking (1 mile), and/or running (3 miles). All of these sports are individual sports, not team sports. As a matter of fact, each individual team member usually does his or her training alone and not as part of the group. I do my training alone,and I have a training schedule that I follow to achieve my goals. My schedule, for example, might call for me to run 5 miles on Tuesday. What I have discovered is that as I run the 5 miles, I start thinking about running an extra mile to help accumulate more points for BEAT. This is an interesting realization. An individual sport has become a team sport in my mind. Thinking about what I can do to help my team makes my individual workout easier and more meaningful.

The second situation occurred at Disney World in early January. I entered two races on consecutive days. Both had many, many participants. The Saturday race had 27,000 runners for the half marathon. It was evident to me before the start that it was going to be impossible to run a fast time. I made a conscious decision to adjust my thinking about the race. There were many first-time runners that had trained to reach their Big Hairy Audacious Goal of completing 13.1 miles. There were also seasoned runners. The first-timers were not aware of runner’s etiquette. For example, when they decided to stop running and walk, they did not move to the side, but stayed in the center of the road. Some seasoned runners did not appreciate the rookies’ lack of etiquette. Some seasoned runners complained aloud and to anyone in listening range. Their complaining negatively affected those who heard it. I, and many others, accepted the fact that we would not run a fast pace. We encouraged the first-timers throughout the race and talked to the volunteers and our fellow runners about meaningless yet friendly subjects. Just being positive and encouraging raised the spirits of those struggling to run the distance. Often, the encouragers were thanked by the struggling rookies.

These are two different situations. One is an individual setting and one is a crowd setting. Yet, a simple decision in both cases had a profound impact on the outcome. As a member of BEAT, the decision to go farther because of the team made it easier than running a shorter distance for me alone. As an individual in a crowd, the decision to adjust my thinking to deal with circumstances kept me from being frustrated and also made it enjoyable for me and those around me.

Always be aware of how our thinking influences our attitude; how our attitude influences our actions; and, consequently, how our actions influence others and their attitudes and/or belief levels.

The author is president of Evans Glass Co., and chairman-elect for the National Glass Association. Write him at bevans@evansglasscompany.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.