You can’t turn on a television these days without seeing political ads or a news report about the latest primary (and don’t get me started on how Colorado doesn’t have primaries and therefore I personally had no say at all in selection of presidential candidates). As I write this, the presumption is that it will be a Trump-Clinton race in November. If you look around you’ll also see that people are googling how to move to Canada if one or the other candidate wins. I also subscribe to a site promoting Irish tourism, which has been telling me that there are more than a few towns there actually advertising that they’ll welcome Americans who want to leave the country after the election. Really? They’d give up on a whole country, a whole way of life, because of who is occupying the White House? I’m not sure I’m quite ready to throw that baby out with that bath water.

Here in Colorado, we’ve had a mild and rather dry winter. It’s been a bit too warm for my liking, with above-average temps for much of February and March, probably January too. While we had an above-average snowpack in January, it’s dwindled and could use some help about now. Not only do front-range communities look toward that to predict water supplies for the rest of the year, but we also need rain and snow to reduce our wild fire susceptibility. Plus the dog loves it. So, as I write this, during the last week of winter, we’ve started off dry and with nearly 70° F. Tomorrow the high temps are supposed to be below normal (I think we should call that “typical” instead of “normal”, don’t you?) somewhere closer to 30° F and we’re supposed to have snow. Of course, there’s always the chance that they miss the forecast, and tomorrow is sunny and dry all over again.

I’m very surprised that it’s already 2016. Last year evaporated before my eyes! Not only that, but January has come and gone and it’s mid-February now and it’s onward and upward for most of us.

Once again, I’m a day late and a dollar short. While contemplating a September President’s message (which turned into an October message and now possibly a November message if I don’t hurry), I was listening in on the September session of CSI’s Specifiers’ Practice Group. I think a lot about the fact that CSI is a well-kept secret in our construction industry, and it has occurred to me on more than one occasion that the practice groups are a hidden jewel within CSI. So, I was jotting some notes down about what the practice groups do, how the first one of which I was aware was the Product Representation Practice Group, how we all practice differently and yet the same. Then, as happens with most of us, Real Life took over and the notes were shoved into a Word document in a “possible president’s messages” folder.

Welcome to the new fiscal year at CSINext! If you’re not familiar with us, we are CSI’s virtual chapter – a group of construction industry professionals who happen to live and work all over the world. We share an energy and enthusiasm for what we do in our paying jobs and for what CSI has to offer the construction world.