CDT Exam Review Classes to Begin

CSI Long Island will be conducting review classes to help candidates prepare for the CDT exam to be held at the end of March. Read More...

CSI Voting is Going green

All CSI voting will be done electronically this year. Members will receive notices via email. If you do not have email or require a paper ballot you must contact Institute and they will mail you a ballot: http://www.csinet.org

Show Me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine!

by Ralph Liebing, RA, CSI, CDT
Wouldn’t it be interesting if, instead of a specification competition, we had a “specification comparison”? Something a little lighter, for a change, but still productive and interesting! Read More...

Mike Davis on Membership

Greetings, CSI members!

I don't know about you, but I am glad to see 2009 come to an end. I have been involved in the construction industry since 1969, and 2009 had the most damaging impact to our industry that I can remember. The company I work for had projects cancelled and was fortunate to end the year with only a 50% reduction in our volume of work from previous years. Read More...

Travelogue, part 1; Cathedrals and Churches

by Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA

My wife and I had so much fun on our European Vacation that I can’t help but think about it every day. It was such a wonderful, inspiring experience that it may have made me less curmudgeonly - at least for a while. In consequence, I will occasionally set aside the Curmudgeon’s Corner, and recall some of what we saw. Read More...

Curmudgeon's Corner; A Dickens of a Tale

by Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA

Scrooge was an old man, set in his ways. And why not? He had been doing things the same way for many years, and the resulting success was sufficient evidence of the wisdom of continuing in that path. Whenever it was suggested that change might be a good thing, “Bah, humbug!” was his response. “I like things the way they are! I started this business, I’ve been doing things the same way for fifty years, and I don’t see any reason to change!” Read More...

Curmudgeon's Corner; Sensible stimulus

by Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA

infrastructure: the roads, bridges, rail lines, power grid, and similar public works that are required for an industrial economy to function


The subject of my last article, “Return on investment”, was the ancient buildings I saw while on vacation in Europe, and how they continue to be useful today. This month, we’ll look at more recent construction, particularly the infrastructure that supports our lifestyle. (Incidentally, I received many comments in response to my reference to our European vacation. Read More...

Curmudgeon's Corner; Return on investment

by Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA

maintain: to keep in an existing state of repair; to preserve from failure or decline


To celebrate our sixtieth birthdays, my wife and I took a three-week vacation in Germany and Italy, beginning in mid-September. Before that, our foreign travel had been limited to a trip to Puerto Morelos, Mexico in 1998 and a CSI/CSC convention in Winnipeg in 2006. Our longest vacation had been ten days, so this was quite the adventure for us. Read More...

Curmudgeon's Corner; A rose is a rose…

by Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
William Shakespeare


On your next Institute ballot you will be asked to vote on elimination of the Professional, Industry, and Associate Member categories. Other than a vague suggestion that the result “better reflects CSI’s core value of building teamwork” - a questionable proposition in itself - I’m not sure what the justification will be, but I don’t believe the benefits outweigh the cost. Read More...