CRI's Pat Jennings at Connections 2010

On Friends, Family, and Seal of Approval - Pat Jennings Revs It Up in the CRI Booth at Connections

I spent a week in early September in Las Vegas, manning the CRI booth at Connections, a trade show and educational exhibition for the cleaning and restoration industry.  As anyone who has ever manned a booth at a trade show or similar event can tell you, the long hours on your feet take a mental and physical toll. The upside, of course, is that a trade show exhibit is the perfect outpost for meeting people and sharing the positive story about carpet, the Carpet and Rug Institute, and its Seal of Approval testing and certification program for carpet cleaning products, equipment, and service providers. 

For me, the Connections trade show is just what the name implies – an enjoyable opportunity for me to connect with the people I work with all year long – the manufacturers, distributors, and Service Providers who participate in the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Seal of Approval Program. 

This Connections was a special treat for me in that my husband John, who retired this year, was able to go with me. He took in the sights, rolled a few dice, and basically enjoyed having a little time to himself during the hours when I was at the booth. It was such fun to have him there -- we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a special dinner at TJ’s steakhouse,  shopped for pretties to take home to our 5 year-old granddaughter, and went to see the moving statues at Caesar’s Palace. 

John is one of those people who never meets a stranger -- he made fast friends with all my Seal of Approval pals, discovered several other “motorheads” in the group, and fascinated everyone with details of his latest monkey wrench masterpiece – a 1932 Ford Hotrod.

This is not a “kit car”, as he will firmly tell you -- John is building it from scratch. He has the chassis, has ordered the brakes from someplace in Texas, and is making a lot of the parts himself. The picture above shows you the 1934 model he built a few years ago. The current project is still just a pile of bits and pieces in John’s workshop, but he says it is going to be beautiful, and I have learned over the years to have faith.

The last day of the show, Gary Glenn from A-Town/Hi-Tech, LP came by the booth with a mysterious bundle in a ‘plastic give-away’ bag. “It’s for John,” he said.

When John opened it later we discovered to our delight, a colorful plastic replica of the ’32 Ford Hotrod – an M&Ms dispenser, actually. Two jaunty M&Ms characters (Plain and Peanut) are seated in the seats, and when you pull a lever, M&Ms come shooting out the trunk. Needless to say, we were thrilled with the gift, and so touched at Gary’s thoughtfulness.

At CRI, we refer to our Seal of Approval participants as a family of sorts, and this story goes a long to way to explain the truth behind that. This week’s activity -- where my SOA family made friends with my real one -- was worth all the tired feet in the world.

~Pat