July/August 2003

Field of Vision
      from the editor
    pbeverage@glass.com

Summer Days
by Penny Beverage

It’s that time again—time for warm weather, barbecues, visits to the beach and amusement parks galore. Most importantly, it’s time for many of us to take vacations. Personally, I’m looking forward to an exciting vacation this year. 

On a whim, a friend and I found a cheap trip to Freeport, Grand Bahamas, so I’m counting down the next two weeks until we land on what I hear is a beautiful, tropical island right in the midst of the Caribbean. Here in Virginia, we’ve seen more rainy days than sunny this spring, so I have a feeling the 90-degree, sunny days are going to be a very welcome change.

As I look forward to the trip, I’ve been asking everyone I encounter about his own vacation plans, and it’s gotten me curious about what people do with their summers. So, I have a favor to ask. Please write me (or e-mail me at pbeverage@glass.com) and tell me about your own summer vacation plans—or even a favorite story from a summer past. Do you have a favorite summer memory from when you were a child? I’d love to hear any of these stories—and, for any of those of you who have traveled to the Bahamas, give me a call! I’m sure I’m going to want to compare notes with you upon my return.

To give you a little more incentive to send in your stories, for several months now, we’ve been working on revamping the “Rear End” section of AGRR, and now the time is finally here. We’d like to feature your favorite stories each month there, and the beauty of it is that the stories don’t even have to be related to auto glass—in future months we’ll be asking about your first jobs, your funniest memories, your favorite cities to visit or your craziest hobbies.

In this issue, we don’t yet have this fun section, but we do have lots of important information to share with you. In "Insurance Talk," contributing editor Les Shaver takes a long look at body shops that are starting to break into the glass business and what auto glass installers think about this invasion.

If you are involved in repair, please be sure to read our review of the National Windshield Repair Association Conference, which was held February 21-22 in Las Vegas. Personally, this is one of my favorite events to attend, and I hope to see many of you there next year.

In addition, we have a profile of Glass Surgeon, a repair-only shop in Norfolk, Va..

Finally, for everyone, Dale Malcolm of Dow Automotive/Essex ARG was kind enough to supply us with a review of the Detroit Auto Show, which was held in mid-January. In addition to informing the readers of all the newest glass developments in the car-manufacturing world, it gives us all a fun chance to see some of the latest cars out there.

Well, it’s almost time for me to head to lunch, during which I plan to buy sun block and Sun-In to at least keep myself dreaming about my trip. Hopefully many of you are already traveling the globe or at least heading to the beach, and I can’t wait to hear how much fun you have (or have had in years past). You can contact me at pbeverage@glass.com, or give me a call at 540/720-5584, ext. 114. I look forward to hearing from you. 

AGRR