Conventions

The Classiest Driver ever. Especially when he says “Pen-knee. Nice to see you again” in his very special cute way.

All of you truckin’ fools needed to git on down to the bluegrass state and climb aboard that big ol’ rig known as MATS, or the 2011 Mid-America Trucking Show. This here is the annual forum for the heavy-duty trucking industry, providing face-to-face interaction between industry representatives and trucking professionals. Attendees were “driven” to MATS “because they could efficiently research the latest products and services to provide their business with a competitive edge”. Exhibitors participated in MATS to introduce new offerings, increase brand awareness, promote products and connect with suppliers, customers, and prospects. But this wasn’t just about a business, more like the love-affair between big, beautiful trucks and the men (okay, occasionally female ladies too) that only feel happy at the wheel of something that pulls eighteen wheels. If Martians had landed at the show, they’d have concluded that humanity thinks of trucks as its gods…

We’re out West again, and visiting with the WPMA. To you and me, that’s the Western Petroleum Marketers Association. Nervous looks and twitching hands seemed to abound at the show, and it wasn’t all because of last night’s losses at the craps table or roulette wheel. The petroleum industry has plenty to be nervous about right now, what with chaos ripping through North African and Gulf State oil-producing countries (guess which way prices went?); plus president-for-eternity Hugo Chavez in Venezuela honing his performance as the worst manager of oil wealth in the history of the Americas; and then of course voices on Capitol Hill beginning to nod resignedly at the mention of likely future gasoline taxes to dampen demand and curb “America’s dangerous oil addiction”. The only way this could get worse, some seemed to be saying, would be GM developing a wind-powered car…

SSPS is the Society for Protective Coatings. It bills itself as “The only Technical Conference and Trade Show specifically developed for key stakeholders in a protective coatings project”. Who? Well, that would be the “Painting Contractors, Facility Owners, Coating Manufacturers, Equipment Suppliers, Inspectors, and the Engineers focused on protecting critical assets and infrastructure using protective coatings”. The technical program went into issues like Standards Most Frequently Used, Suspended Scaffold Access, Green From Start to Finish (finish — geddit?) and Failure Analysis. Anyone got a protective coating to protect me from this weather?