So, What do You do?

Whenever I meet people for the first time and they ask me what I do for a living I usually begin with something like “I’m a writer for a magazine.” Because then their response is something like, “Oh how exciting! Which one? Cosmo? Vogue? Time? Newsweek?”

“Goodness, no,” I say. “Something much more exciting that those pubs (by the way, that’s magazine talk for ‘publication’). I write for USGlass magazine.” Of course I next have to explain USGlass, and they start to think that maybe writing for a magazine isn’t so exciting.

“But you’re wrong,” I say. We have just as much happening in our industry than you could read in Time or Newsweek … lots of good stuff is happening and even the not-so-good … not everyone or every company is perfect, you know.”

“How true,” they agree. “So what have you enjoyed the most?”

Now, you might think this is something I would have to think a lot about, but I don’t. I say that as a writer, I have the opportunity to take a subject about which I know very little, explore it, research it and learn something knew. Then, I like the fact that I can take what I’ve learned and translate it into an article, people will read it and then (hopefully) they, too, will have learned something as well.

Of course the next thing people ask is, “So what have you learned?”

At this point you might think I try and shift the focus away from me and my job with a “Why don’t you tell me about what you do,” bit, but I don’t. Instead I think back to some of the articles I have written ... I’ve learned that architects like glass because it helps distinguish their designs, provides for energy-efficiency, safety and security. This is certainly something we hear a lot about today, but I wrote about it back in 2000 (http://www.usglassmag.com/USGlass/2000/0004/0004goingagainstgrain.html).

When I wrote this article some designers talked about installing plank glass flooring; today we’ve got a glass floor that extends over the Grand Canyon.

What else … how about energy … for years we’ve been talking about how coatings on glass can help save on energy costs. Those started out as passive; now we’ve evolved to glass products you can actually turn and turn off.

Speaking of changes regarding energy, just consider the fact that the Department of Energy (DOE) is working on revising ENERGY STAR criteria. At the last NFRC meeting in Nashville, Richard Karney from the DOE said one reason the criteria is being changed is because in some areas codes have superseded ENERGY STAR, and that ENERGY STAR performance needs to be above that of the codes.

So what does all this mean and what have I learned? I’ve learned that the glass industry is dynamically changing—and for the better. It’s not only trendy with sparkly, pretty products, but it’s trendy in that it’s a green industry, too. And you know how big that is right now.

By this point in the conversation with my new-found friends, they’re usually way into writing about glass. And I say, “Well if you think writing about it is cool, you really should talk to the manufacturers, fabricators and glaziers out there because they are the ones who are really doing all this exciting work.”