| Watsco, Incorporated Earnings Conference Call (Q4 2007)
Watsco, Inc., along with its subsidiaries, distributes air conditioning, heating, refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies in the United States. Its products primarily comprise residential central air conditioners; light commercial air conditioners; gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment and systems; and other specialized equipment. The company also offers various parts, including replacement compressors, evaporator coils, motors, and other component parts; and supplies consisting of thermostats, insulation material, refrigerants, ductwork, grills, registers, sheet metal, tools, copper tubing, concrete pads, tape, adhesives, and other ancillary supplies. Watsco operates through approximately 380 locations in 32 states. It distributes its products to contractors and dealers who service the replacement and new construction markets.
Contractor emerges as charity's Champion
Vandals destroyed the heater at the American Red Cross' headquarters on Sixth Street in Modesto last week, sending a shiver through the charity, but things began to warm up again Tuesday. Champion Industrial Contractors Inc. of Modesto donated the $2,500 deductible the Red Cross would have had to pay to replace the heating and air conditioning unit, said Rebecca Ciszek, executive director of the Red Cross's Stanislaus County chapter. Then the contractor installed a $5,702 replacement unit. The balance will be covered by insurance. By early afternoon, the place was heating up. "The classroom is nice and warm," Ciszek said about 1 p.m. "It took a little while because that room had been cold now for a week." The donation means the organization won't have to dig into its charity funds to fix the unit, Ciszek said.
Councilor objects to DIA contractor
A Denver councilman raised objections Monday about a contractor scheduled to get $13.4 million in work at Denver International Airport, saying the company has violated the city's prevailing wage laws and does shoddy work. Councilman Chris Nevitt ended up voting to grant initial approval of the contract for RK Mechanical Inc. of Denver, but he blasted the contractor as having a bad record on the wage rules for city projects. The contract is to repair cooling towers used in the air-conditioning system at the airport. Nevitt said he would vote to grant initial approval to the contract because the work is crucial for the airport. There isn't enough time to seek another round of bids, he said. "It just sticks in my craw," said Nevitt, stressing that in the future, he wants the city to get more contractors interested in projects.
Flooding in S.J. courthouse has caused over $200,000 in damages; cost ...
Last week's flood in the main San Joaquin County courthouse left between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of damage in its wake, officials said Wednesday.About 15,000 gallons of water poured out of a pipe into a construction area on the fourth floor of the Stockton courthouse Feb. 13, and water soon began soaking through the floor. It damaged the third-floor ceiling and poured down elevator shafts, and everyone in the building was evacuated.The exact cause of the flood is still under investigation, said Karen McConnell, public information officer for the county. Whether liability rests on the county or on contractors will not be determined until the investigation is finished, she said.On the morning of the flood, Safety and Risk Manager Richard Pietz said a pipe was left open in an area where the air conditioning system was being replaced.
Theater Reviews
Krausen's Desdemona seems modern somehow, not nearly so willing to kowtow to the Moor as we may recall from early readings. This is good. The biggest misstep of the otherwise ravishing production is the way Desdemona and Othello get so ridiculously high-strung in their final moments. I mean, you expect anyone who is about to be strangled to go a little dingy, but Krausen plays it in the style of a '30s Hollywood movie star —- rolling around on the bed and kind of begging for it. The scene has "erotic potential" written all over it, but in the end, it's not that hot. Though the Klimchak score is a little too "Exorcist"-like —- paranoid whisperings and bat-crazy blips —- Murphy's idea of putting all the action upfront on those three big beds is to die for. As dramaturg Sister Smith says so astutely in her notes, "Once a person is trapped in a downspiral of jealousy, voyeurism makes him an outsider, an audience, to his own marriage and desires." And Dirden's radical adaptation makes good sense and ought to be explored further, produced elsewhere.
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