Opinion

RISI, a leading provider of information about the forest products industry, has announced the appointment of Wade Camp as senior wood products economist. Camp comes to RISI from the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, where he held the title of director of economic services. 

Camp's career spans three decades and multiple roles from production to economic modeling, working for companies and associations such as International Paper, Georgia-Pacific and the Southern Forest Products Association. 

As a result of too much good material and not enough space, here is a collection of semi-random notes from the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla.  


• Question: Does anybody really pay $99 a day for Internet connection — the asking price at the convention center? 


• I told my cab driver what I was doing in Orlando. 


“That’s funny,” he said. 


“Why?”


Lowe’s chairman emeritus Robert Strickland was inducted into the Home Channel Hall of Fame four years ago. As he approached the podium, he seemed as relaxed as you or I might be approaching the office microwave at lunchtime.


“I would like tonight to talk about A, B, C,” he began. And with those three first initials, he launched into a discourse that summed up the lessons learned from a career of successful retailing — or as close a summation as three words can get to a 41-year career.