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Tim McElwain runs the Gas Training Institute in Warren, R.I. I don’t think there’s anyone better than Tim when it comes to teaching about gas. He’s been at it for decades and is an industry treasure.

It sounds like pie in the sky, yet one of my clients is considering implementing extensive automation to avoid the ever-escalating costs of labor. His vision would still involve some people, not a totally peopleless warehouse - one in which, day and night, all physical movement of items is handled by automated equipment controlled by software.

Traveling to Washington in the spring is an annual tradition for millions of American families and businesspeople.

After walking miles and miles through Chicago’s McCormick Place at the 2012 AHR Expo and hitting virtually every HVACR-related booth over a continuous eight hours to the point where I could hardly stand, I welcomed the opportunity on the second day to sit through several programs put on by manufacturers - but I was one of the few. Later in the day, there were only two of us in the room to listen to a couple of very interesting presentations on products that I had missed on my walk the day before.

NetworkASA 2011 in Las Vegas was an all-out success in terms of offering participants phenomenal sessions and an abundance of opportunities to meet business leaders that just aren’t available at any other industry event.

Back in my rep days, the vice president of our company was a flashy guy with a gold lion’s head ring the size of a golf ball, an even bigger, fancier watch and a Cadillac that had a three-body trunk. He replaced that car every two years, alternating between an all white one and an all black one.

I keep a file folder labeled “article ideas.” After writing an abundance of articles, I have to be careful not to be too redundant, although you know I do have some favorite topics! My writing style has always been to be less formal and more personal.

Last year, at this same time I wrote that experts at the 2011 AHR Expo warned there might be severe refrigerant shortages and price increases due to the lack of a key ingredient, fluorspar from China. Although there have indeed been some drastic price increases, especially when it comes to R22, the shortages simply didn’t happen. Why not? Well, according to one source, everything became available for the right price. Need I say more?

Numbers can be quite revealing - and educational. For instance, since 2006 nearly a quarter-billion people in the United States have been affected by a federally declared weather-related disaster. Think about that - four of every five people.