Carl Fowler, co-owner of 3-D Inspection Reporting Systems, regaled us with the latest software innovations.  Now there’s Phone3D Video.  Works on Android and Windows phones, like the other 3D software and links to Cloud3D Services.  Not everybody got quality time with Carl at the show.  3D’s booth was at the back, by all the meal tables.  Except no meals were served there.  So Lorri, mistress of the Professional Learning Institute help desk, got show Carl problems that could use a tweak in the beta version     we’ve been field testing.  They’re all being fixed.  And Carl got to raise the curtain on what’s coming soon.  Updates in this week’s Report Writing class.

Steve’s not far from putting the finishing touches on his upcoming History of Home Inspecting.  Somehow, it does not look like the stars are aligned at convention time for it to knock Inside of a Dog (Alexandra Horowitz’s current #1) off the Bestseller List.  Maybe not even The Slight Edge:  Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness, Jeff Olson’s #2.   Come to think of it, those would be pretty cool topics for home inspectors too.  Hmmmm.  A class on “The History of Home Inspection” drew maybe 20 people — all senior inspectors even older than Steve — even though it was led by John J. Heyn.  John looked great, was sharp as a tack, and led a delightful session.  By most accounts, John Heyn was the first home inspector (working for a fee).  His first ad ran in The Baltimore Sun newspaper in 1968.  If anybody knows of any ad for a home inspector the same year or earlier, please contact Steve or the PLI office.

John Heyn, often credited with being the first home inspector, gave Steve a copy of his first brochure, from 1968.  The subtitle was “We Inspect Everything.”  The fee — in big red type on the back — “for the Inspection and report” — $35.  You read right.  $35.00.  “It can save you a lifetime of headaches and expenses!”

    John’s report was one page.  He used pay telephone booths to return calls (no cell phones back then). Reports were NCR paper — no email then.  He used printed City Directories to find houses.  You guessed it:  no GPS either.  Look for Part 1 of the History of Home Inspecting in the next issue of the PLI Newsletter.

Stayed at the “aLoft” hotel.  The concept is an affordable alternative for the tech-savvy, design forward crowd, from Starwood (aka “W”), with 60+ hotels in the chain already.  www.youtube.com/user/Aloft. There’s a new Aloft Hotel going up in Louisville now (opening 9/2015 downtown), so it was like a sneak preview.  It just gushes Sleek.  And svelte.  And modern, spare design.  The rooms are large, floors are wood, and cabinets skip money spent on doors and drawers.  Save those trees.  No lighting fixture in the nifty bathroom.  Instead, it’s a fluorescent pretzel.  Kinda cool.  Plugs were everywhere.  But when Steve plugged in his laptop — zap.  Gone for the duration.  (Geek Squad diagnosed a power surge shutdown the computer and resurrected it — back in Louisville.)  Maybe they oughta tweak that “techno savvy” thing a tad.