I don’t believe the HVAC industry in which you work and the publishing business which The NEWS plays in have very much in common. There is one fairly significant similarity though: We both need to be where our customers/readers are at all times.

The HVACR industry headed south in big numbers for the three-day Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Exposition (AHR Expo) recently. According to show promoter International Exposition Company (IEC), the 2013 Expo broke the all-time Southwest record for the event.

It might be late in the game, but Heating, Air-conditioning, Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) is going for the win, not the tie. On Jan. 25, HARDI filed a motion responding to the proposed regional standards settlement filed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the American Public Gas Association (APGA). HARDI has no problem with the furnace aspect of the settlement, but still wants to fight the air conditioner standard.

There are two main aspects of complaining about the government — it is easy to do and it feels good. Sometimes I feel there is a degree of piling on that is not fair. Then there are other times when you think all that complaining is not nearly enough. The regional standards issue is one of those cases.

Strategic thinking, technical issues, and employee compensation were a few of the issues tackled in the break-out sessions during the 69th Annual Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) Convention.

Fun in the sun with the correct mix of business and pleasure was on the agenda when the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) traveled to Palm Springs, Calif., and hosted its highest attended annual meeting to date, as more than 600 people attended the three-day conference.

I love free stuff. You should too.

It was a good year for geothermal, and much of that credit must go to Doug Dougherty and his staff at the Geothermal Exchange Organization (GEO). Well, if you can call the 1.5 people working for the GEO president and CEO his “staff.” Those accomplishments are the reason Dougherty was named a 2012 NEWSmaker.

I have recently had the pleasure (and I use that term loosely) to meet a plethora of candidates looking to fill some open positions on The NEWS. Let’s just say I have a new respect for all the HVAC contractors out there who continually need to fish in a rather shallow labor pool.