Rick Damato

I will now admit that I did not vote for the man who will be our 44th president in a few weeks. My main reason for not voting for him was his lack of experience, and he leans just a little far in one direction for my tastes (I am just not a fundamentalist kind of guy – and that goes for both sides of the political spectrum).

How do you define success? That is a question I have asked at the conclusion of more interviews than I want to think about. For some reason it stops most interviewees in their tracks. I have become accustomed to patiently waiting on a response.

Little did Steve Gotschi know that a project with his son’s Cub Scout pack would blossom into an annual ritual for his growing roofing and exterior remodeling company. Gotschi is owner of DryHome Roofing & Siding Inc., which is in its 29th year of operation in northern Virginia.

A lot of folks in the building material supply chain are holding their breath these days. The skyrocketing prices of finished petroleum products including asphalt roofing over the past year have reached a peak and appear to be headed for what could be a rapid downward spiral.

A few months after his inauguration as our first president, George Washington issued "Presidential Proclamation Number One,” declaring November 26, 1789 as a national day of “thanksgiving and prayer.”

If I want stock in Ford or GM I will go out and buy some. I had some stock in AIG and lost my ass on it a few months back. That was my deal and I took the hit and I’m not asking the taxpayers of this country to bail me out.

You may want to stop and read Roofing Contractor editor Chris King’s blog dated November 7, 2008. Chris brings your attention to some pending legislation that may, on the face of it, not seem to hit so close to home.

Aesop was writing about business in the 21st century in the 6th century B.C. Wonder if he knew? His fable about the tortoise and the hare has just been played out between a pair of banking giants. And the tortoise won again.

Kay and I officially became “empty-nesters” a little over three years ago. Right around that time we sold off our big house in favor of a townhome. The yard (the official size of our lot is 1/20 of an acre) and other exterior maintenance is all done by the HOA. Since we were never that big on landscaping or yard maintenance we generally subbed that out even when we were at the big house, but this really is easy.

I am no learned professor or expert or guru of any kind. But I can read. The several issues with the banking crisis and recession and stock market correction(s) are not really all that troubling to me.