Well, you’ve made it to the half- way point of the year. Congratulate yourself that you are still above ground and hopefully making a good living in a profession you enjoy. So many are not, includ- ing a much-beloved icon of our industry, Armen Tavy, the irre- pressible inventor and founder of Tavy Enterprises LLC. Read a bit about his impact on the industry and his legacy in this issue. Last month, there was SO much to see at the Coverings show. We at TileLetter and NTCA were posting from the show on Facebook and Twitter with #ntcaatcoverings18, so if you fre- quent these social media outlets, see what was hopping in Atlanta. For the rest of you, we’ve pro- vided an overview of many of the happenings at Coverings and a smattering of the kaleidoscope of products we saw there. By the way, it was wonderful to meet with so many of you in Atlanta! It made my heart sing! Remember to add Coverings to your 2019 sched- ule – April 9-13, in Orlando, and let’s visit again, among the rest of the excitement and education the show offers! Though training and education has always been part of NTCA’s charter, NTCA is taking these oppor- tunities to the next level with the Members Only Regional Training Program instituted this year, and the ongoing network of free work- shops that crisscross the country. Get a bird’s eye view of these offerings in both our new Training & Education section with Connie Heinlein’s “Riding Shotgun,” and the NTCA University Update story that details our Members Only Regional Training opportunities. The respirable crystalline sili- ca issue is not going away, and compliance with OSHA’s recently established regulation safeguards workers’ health – and keeps your operations legal. Learn more about this issue in our Tech Talk section where we view some of the information presented by iQ Power Tools’ Joel Guth during a Coverings conference session. How lucrative is tile setting any- way, and how does it compare with other trades? Take a look at EDITOR’S LETTER Lesley A. Goddin “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 14 TileLetter | June 2018