With the new spring we start toward the end of our year. With barely two months remaining, we still have more exciting events ahead. I have to put the Indianapolis 500 race at the top, but I can’t bore you all with details of the planet’s greatest motor spectacle of the year. Instead it’s the news of what lies ahead for all of us.

As I write this column we are preparing for the newly added seminar titled Adventures in Building Science on April 16th, which will be presented by John Straube, an engineer and professor of building science. I understand he speaks a lot around the country on various topics in building science, so I expect the program will be very informative.

The next meeting on May 6th is our annual tour. This year Standard Structures will host a tour of its manufacturing facility. If you have never been on this tour, please try to make it. And even if you have seen it before, Chuck Young says that the tour now includes the story of how LEED project manufacturing procedures are complied with. Come out again and join us. We’ll finish at Charlie’s Grill for socializing and dinner.

The Institute’s annual convention is scheduled for May 11-14 in Philadelphia. It’s not too late to plan to come, however, I hope you can find an affordable plane fare. Six members are planning on going, including our next two presidents, Steve Pestell and Rob Cox. I was in Philly in the month of July once. I loved the city and all its history and architecture, but I did not take well to the hot and humid weather. May should be very nice, so I added two days to play and enjoy the local sites. If you can’t make it this year, then start thinking about going to Chicago next year. I attended the convention there a few years ago, and I found Chicago to be a very exciting and interesting city, which has numerous famous skyscrapers.

The annual awards and installation of new officers and directors dinner is set for June 3 at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country hotel. Jennifer Alexander and Terry Reap are planning the event, so we know it will be a lot of fun. Our chapter has accomplished a lot this year, because of a lot of volunteer effort. I hope you can come out and help celebrate our successes and applaud the volunteer efforts.

I want to thank everyone who voted and completed a survey. The information we gained in the survey will help us in planning for next year. Speaking of planning for next year and helping, there are a lot of ways and opportunities to chip in on committees and events. If you are interested in helping and can make some time, please contact Steve Pestell or myself. We have fun too, so it’s not all work.

Stay tuned for the announcement about the second annual chapter BBQ at Steve and Diane Pestell’s house in Windsor. It’s going to be on one of the last two Saturdays in June. Last year was great fun and we’ll figure out some ways to improve on it. The best thing would be if twice as many people attended.

Lastly, I want to thank Jim Gonsman, Craig Peterson, Cecil Spencer, Jim Daniel, and Michael Chambers for their efforts in putting on the Construction Technology Expo in March. Several good changes were implemented. The event was otherwise very successful, in spite of the tough economy that made filling the booths and tables impossible. We added several new members as well, many of whom made it to the new member meeting last month. Thanks to Karen Collins for organizing the new member recruitment program and the new member orientation.

I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming events.