optimism Archives - Water Shapes

A Hopeful Holiday

Saying goodbye to 2020 has become an unofficial national, if not an international, pastime. As Eric Herman points out in his year-end homily, that's especially true now as the holidays approach and a new year unfolds with the prospect of better, hopefully virus-free days ahead.

Prolonging the Thought

Before I write my end-of-year blogs, it's generally been my habit to take a look at my last year-ending thoughts to get a sense of how on (or off) target I was and figure out what I need to do to refine my prognostications for the current version. For the most part, I usually don't find anything dramatic, but this year was

Stoking the Mojo

By now, most of us have noticed or at least heard news of the onset of a much- anticipated rebound in the economy. Most watershapers I speak with confirm that it’s true (although to widely varying degrees) and that they are indeed experiencing increases in business – both with new contacts and old leads that have come back into play. I write those words knowing that you may or may not be convinced that this is the real thing. After all, we’ve learned some tough lessons during this recession, not the least of which is to be wary when pundits offer predictions that they seem perfectly willing to adjust from week to week. At present, however, most of these economic gurus are

Greener Grass, Higher Tides

Last year in our May issue, I put a deliberately upbeat spin on market conditions that had prompted us at WaterShapes to switch temporarily to a bimonthly publishing schedule. The tack I took did not go unnoticed. In the aftermath of our announcement, of course, many of you let us know that you were four-square behind the magazine and offered to pitch in to do whatever you could to help – all of which was and remains most appreciated. But there were others who, in various ways, essentially told me that

Reasons to Believe

Although I’ve done it on a couple occasions through the past 11 years, I’ve always had trouble writing columns that welcome a New Year – even when times have been good and there have been reasons aplenty for lavish doses of optimism. I just don’t like clichés, and they’re amazingly difficult to avoid when you look to the future with