San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 01, 2012

With spring being a popular time for people to complete home renovation projects, Palatin Remodeling is offering discounted prices on all full kitchen and bathroom remodels. Palatin Remodeling has serviced Southern Californias home remodeling needs for years, and with the coming of spring look to ramp up kitchen and bath remodeling at a popular time of the year for home renovations.

We are very excited to bring Southern California homeowners their dream bathrooms and kitchens, said Palatin Remodelings owner and founder, Gil Palatin. With the current economic climate, it is important to stay competitive and offer homeowners an affordable solution to transform their home.

Everyone wants something changed about a particular space in their home, this is especially true for older homes that are in dire need of kitchen remodeling in Southern California and bathroom remodeling in Southern California. At Palatin Remodeling we are offering our customers the chance to make their dream bathrooms and kitchens an affordable reality, while also connecting with a contractor who is there to meet all of their needs, said Palatin Remodelings Head of Marketing, Brandon Dillon.

Palatin Remodeling has been servicing all of Southern Californias home remodeling needs for over 20 years. Palatin Remodeling offers roofing services, room additions, foundation repairs, driveway paving, kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling and more with a proven track record of high quality and timely finishes. For more information on what Palatin Remodeling can do for your home, as well as home improvement tips and suggestions, visit http://www.palatinremodeling.com/ or call toll free at 888-434-2303.

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Palatin Remodeling to Offer Discounts on Full Kitchen and Bathroom Remodels

SYLMAR, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE: TPC - News)(the Company), a leading civil and building construction company, today reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended, December 31, 2011.

Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

Revenues from construction operations were $1.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, as compared to $688.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net income was $24.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, as compared to $18.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Diluted earnings per common share were $0.50 for the fourth quarter of 2011, as compared to $0.40 for the fourth quarter of 2010. The increase in operating results from the fourth quarter of 2010 primarily reflects the contributions from acquisitions the Company completed in 2011.

Revenues from construction operations were $3.7 billion for the year ended December 31, 2011, as compared to $3.2 billion for the year ended December 31, 2010. Net income was $86.1 million for 2011, as compared to $103.5 million for 2010. Diluted earnings per common share were $1.80 for 2011, as compared to $2.13 for 2010.

The decrease in operating results from the year ended 2010 primarily reflects the substantial completion of several successful, large public works and hospitality and gaming projects and increased interest expense associated with our senior unsecured notes, term loanand borrowings under our revolving facility, offset by contributions from the acquisitions the Company completed in 2011.

At December 31, 2011, working capital was $556.8 million, a decrease of $36.1 million from $592.9 million at December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had $297.0 million available to borrow under its credit facilities. The Company believes its financial position and credit arrangements are sufficient to support the Companys current backlog and anticipated new work.

Backlog at $6.1 billion

The backlog of uncompleted construction work at December 31, 2011 was $6.1 billion, a decrease of $0.3 billion from backlog reported at September 30, 2011 and an increase of $1.8 billion from the $4.3 billion reported at December 31, 2010. The $1.8 billion net increase is attributable to backlog acquired through acquisitions of $2.6 billion, and new awards and adjustments to contracts in process which added $2.9 billion, offset by revenue earned during the year. Additions to new work during the fourth quarter of 2011 include a $176 million airport runway expansion project in Florida, a $64 million contract for electrical work on a mass transit station at the World Trade Center site in New York, a $31 million electrical subcontract for a central energy plant in Texas and a $31 million medical office building and parking garage in Mississippi.

Outlook

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Tutor Perini Corporation Announces 2011 Results and Guidance for 2012

28-02-2012 12:20 This is a SBS of my current 1/16 project based in Normandy 1944. The Germans are playing cat and mouse as they are pushed further back toward the fatherland. The scene will depict a Mid Tiger (321) waiting in a ruined church. This has so far taken 8 months to build and is part 1 of 2. The 2nd part will show the SBS of the church construction which is now complete. It is time to paint the Tiger and add the 6 120mm figures!! keep watching !

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1/16 " TIGER IN WAIT" NORMANDY 1944 MY STEP BY STEP MOD - Video

Posted: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 5:32 pm | Updated: 12:32 pm, Wed Feb 29, 2012.

Johns Flooring and Welcome Home Furniture, previously Johns Flooring, opened its new, 11,000-square-foot showroom Monday, Feb. 27, at 7436 Highway 47 in Union.

The new location is located directly next to its old facility which was 8,000 square feet.

The Washington and Union locations have been consolidated into one store, according to John Moss, owner. The Washington showroom closed mid-February.

Weve been talking about expanding (with the addition of furniture) for several years, said Moss told The Missourian. We just got the opportunity.

Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of furniture.

Flooring and furniture just go hand in hand, said Moss, adding that he will have brands such as Simmons, Serta, La-Z-Boy, Ashley and others. Additionally, he will carry complete bedroom outfits, kitchenettes, mattresses and box springs.

Were looking forward to the furniture aspect of the business really enhancing the floor business, he said, noting furniture can be delivered.

Moss will continue to offer many flooring options including carpeting, ceramic, porcelain, laminate and wood with brands like Shaw, Mohawk, Columbia, Armstrong Mannington, Somerset among others.

Additionally, the store offers a lifetime warranty on flooring installation and has financing options for both flooring and furniture.

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John’s Flooring Opens New Showroom

Two businesses are poised to open in the retail space left vacant by the closure of Borders in Sand City.

A third business, yet to be identified, is expected to round out the new establishments.

The marketing coordinator for Tilly's, an Irvine-based surf and skate apparel retailer, confirmed Wednesday the company is opening a store in a portion of the empty space.

The marketing coordinator, William Marquis, said the store is slated to open July 3, and the company is opening stores in a number of other new markets this year as well. The company has 120 stores in 11 states.

"We are really excited to be opening in Sand City," he said.

Tilly's, a privately held company that says it caters to "the ever-evolving generation of active lifestyles," also has a new store at Harden Ranch in Salinas, which opened last November.

The Orosco Group is the Monterey company that bought the 25,000 square-foot site in the Edgewater Center after the Borders chain shut down last year.

Patrick Orosco, a vice president, said construction on the site began several weeks ago. He said he couldn't name or confirm the identities of the retailers his company is negotiating with.

"There'll be three tenants, each well suited to the local trade area," he said.

Ulta Beauty is a second business set to open in the old Borders building, said Steve Matarazzo, city administrator of Sand City. The company's website says it was founded as a discount beauty retailer in 1990.

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Sand City to get a skate apparel retailer in former Borders' store

Glasswerks Inc., a leader in commercial and architectural glass fabrication, is pleased to announce the opening of its newest tempering facility at 4111 Kesslersville Road in Easton, PA. This new plant is the fifth in Glasswerks Catalina Tempering family and expands the companys Eastern US offerings.

South Gate, CA (PRWEB) February 29, 2012

As the third Eastern US location of Catalina Tempering, the Easton plant officially opened for business on February 20, 2012. This development adds tempered products for residential use to the already diverse line of products and services offered nationally by Glasswerks and its subsidiaries.

The location enables Catalina to expand our growing footprint in order to better serve our national customers, as well as provide a robust contingency interruption program that allows Catalina to service any eastern customer from any location and still meet all of the customer-specific needs and requirements, says Todd French, Catalina Temperings Eastern Regional Manager.

Rob Schilling has been appointed general manager of the PA plant. Schilling has an extensive glass manufacturing background, with more than 18 years of experience in both float and residential markets.

Founded in 2005, by Glasswerks Inc. of South Gate, CA, Catalina Tempering quickly became the premier tempered glass provider of southern California and Irving, TX. In the last three years, Glasswerks has opened additional Catalina Tempering plants in Ohio, North Carolina and, now, Pennsylvania.

Learn more about Catalina Tempering at http://www.catalinatempering.com.

About Glasswerks Inc.

Glasswerks Inc. is a leading commercial and architectural glass fabricator headquartered in South Gate, California. Glasswerks Inc. produces architectural glazing products, glass furniture, mirrors and decorative glass; specializing in the production and fabrication of laminated, tempered, insulated, bullet-resistant, hurricane-resistant, and high performance low-e glass products. Born out of the competitive construction landscape of Los Angeles in 1979, Glasswerks Inc. operates from eight U.S. facilities located in Southern California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Catalina Tempering and Avalon Glass & Mirror are subsidiaries of Glasswerks Inc. Visit http://www.glasswerks.com for more information.

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Glasswerks Inc. Opens New Tempering Plant in Easton, Pennsylvania

MANCHESTER

For the past several days, a crew has been stripping plaster and lath inside the John Olds house, revealing oak and chestnut framing and the enduring art of 18th-century craftsmen.

With its fluted pilasters, varying cornices and elegant fireplace mantels, the house is a statement and an investment by a citizen of the new Republic.

"You walk in there and you're impressed," says Steven Bielitz, an old-home restoration specialist overseeing deconstruction of the Tolland Turnpike house. "It was well-thought-out."

Bielitz, owner of The Glastonbury Restoration Co., has a permit to dismantle the home, which sits on property of TGM Associates, owner of the adjacent Waterford Commons apartment complex. TGM has wanted the vacant house gone for several years, to be replaced with a small park for apartment residents. Local preservationists and town leaders have delayed demolition, but their efforts to save the home in place have come to naught.

"We regret the fact that there was nobody in town, or the town itself was not interested in preserving this important historic house in Manchester," historical society President John Dormer said Wednesday.

Revolutionary War veteran John Olds built the house in the late 18th century, possibly in 1776, but Bielitz says more likely in the 1780s. The Yankee farmer is known as the father of Manchester for leading the movement to separate what was then known as Orford Parish from the town of East Hartford. He and other settlers succeeded, and Manchester was founded in 1823.

TGM Associates bought the property in June 2008 and announced plans later that year to tear down the farmhouse. Town leaders scrambled to save it, but rejected TGM's offer to sell the property for $500,000.

Bielitz said he has started advertising the house and hopes to get $120,000 for it. He and his crew are labeling each post and beam, mantel and moulding. The pieces will be loaded on trailers and carted away.

Bieliz said Wednesday that he hopes to finish the job by May 1. He said he would like to find a buyer in Connecticut, better yet in Hartford County. Dormer said he still hopes the home can be reconstructed somewhere in Manchester.

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Old Manchester House Coming Down, Piece By Piece

More than 70 years ago, five physicians founded Monroe Clinic. Doctors Nation Bear, W.G. Bear, Leurner Creasy, W.B. Gnagi and John Schinder opened their doors Jan. 1, 1939 on the second floor of an office building in Monroe, Wis.

It was not long before these same physicians approached the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes, inviting them to Monroe to build a hospital. St. Clare Hospital, now known as Monroe Clinic, was built soon after. Additions followed in the 1950s and 1970s, but as time and technology changed, the mission of Monroe Clinic to focus on patient needs and care needed to change. The quality of care would remain the same, but patients needs, and to incorporate the changes in technology, forced Monroe Clinic to look at their options

In June 2009, Monroe Clinic unveiled construction plans for its new hospital. A groundbreaking ceremony for the $83 million, 225,000 square-foot, four-story facility followed on December 2009. Despite uncertain economic times, plans continued for a new hospital that is designed to support modern health care and efficient employee and patient flow while accommodating for the environment.

Growth For The Future

The new hospital is set to open for business on March 24. The mission for Monroe Clinic in building this new hospital was to create a healthier environment for patient care. Wednesday, officials from Monroe Clinic hosted a press day to unveil the new hospital, which adds to the existing campus that includes the clinic and what will be the St. Clare Center, which will be created at the old hospital.

Talking to the crowd and giving the tour was Mike Sanders, president and CEO of Monroe Clinic; Dr. Mark Thompson, chief medical officer; Steve Borowski, director of facility services and Paula Elmer, vice president clinical operations and chief nursing officer.

Sanders said they are in the final stages to ready the hospital for the opening date. He said the objective in building the new hospital was to keep up with changes in health care, look at growth and create a campus to meet the health care needs of the community it serves.

The last addition of the existing hospital took place more than 40 years ago, and a lot has changed in health care since then, Sanders said. We had great support for the 28-month $83 million project, which was financed through savings and investments. We set for a spring 2012 opening, and we are pleased that the project has gone smooth, on time and on budget.

Healing Environment

The new hospital is designed with the healing environment in mind. The tour unveiled a nature-inspired atmosphere, built around the latest innovations in health care. Green technology and sustainability was a primary focus. There is an expanded emergency department, with a helipad and heated ambulance garage. There is convenient lobby level access to surgery and a procedure center with a private exit. The chapel has a meditation garden, there is an expanded family birth and womans center, updated cardiology and imaging services, a cafe with sweeping views and outdoor seating, and most importantly, there are all-private inpatients rooms, which Monroe Clinic had before.

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Monroe Clinic unveils new hospital

Last month, IGN's Ryan Clements reviewed Final Fantasy XIII-2 and awarded it an 8.0. Editors at IGN and 1UP have had the opportunity to spend some time with the game since then and have a wide range of opinions. Here are their thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII-2's positives, negatives and everything in between.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is easily among the shortest numbered Final Fantasy games, and the story is definitely lacking any kind of cohesive vision. There are some great story beats, but the game is all over the map; I often lost sight of exactly what my ultimate goal was, and felt very "meh" about the lack of closure in the end.

XIII-2 is far more accessible than XIII was, and I've enjoyed all of my time with it. Still, it's frustrating that it could have been so much more.

Yet for all these improvements, the game still has major issues. Namely, the script. It's bad. Not laughably bad, just bad. It's a real testament to voice actors Laura Bailey and Jason Marsden that they managed to turn what would have been CRINGINGLY bad dialogue into something likable.

So do I hate Final Fantasy XIII-2? No, in fact I'm quite enjoying it. It's much better than XIII or X-2. It's just a shame that character development (of which there is almost none) and a sensible storyline got shoved out of the way in favor of QTEs and a weirdly convoluted attempt to avoid linearity.

Sadly, the thread begins to unravel the moment you leave the battlefield. The open-ended time travel conceit that the game is built upon presents itself with the promise of freedom, and yet too often treats the player as a pawn, forcing you to travel down the linear path that the game wants you to. Had FFXIII-2 treated the grandiose concept of time as the player's personal toy, the game may have been something truly special. So when the curtain raised after the much discussed cliffhanger ending, I was left feeling nothing. The story I had just experienced was told with a lack of confidence that just never quite allowed me to engage with the world beyond a superficial level.

What I found most enjoyable about XIII-2 is that, like the similarly minded X-2, it approaches series gameplay conventions with a sense of experimentation and whimsy. The Hystoria Crux interface provides a fun twist on traditional exploration with seamless jumps into the timeline and the ability to rewind time. Additions like monster raising, coliseum battles, and a variety of uses for your moogle provide plenty of content for those wishing to really dig in. Also, the CG cutscenes are still absolutely stunning. This is top class animation, whether talking movies or games. It's a shame, then, that Final Fantasy XIII-2 never really comes together as a sum of these parts.

If you enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII even somewhat, you deserve to give XIII-2 a go. For those who left XIII with a bitter taste in their mouths, this could still be that much needed palate cleanser. However, for many like me who grew up with Final Fantasy in our blood, this will likely be another reminder that the series isn't really geared towards us anymore. However, if it means that a new audience gets to discover the gameplay and fantasy that hooked us years ago, then maybe that's okay.

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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Second Opinions

Instead of addressing the real issues with the current wild-card system, Bud Selig and MLB are electing to double down.

AP

Back in October 2010, in the wake of a Yankees/Rays "race" for the AL East title that both teams treated with little care, the idea of a second wild-card slot in each league was floated. After a CBA negotiation and lots of waiting, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported Wednesday that the plan will be put in place for the upcoming season. An additional wild-card team will be added to each league, and the two wild cards will play a single game to advance to the Division Series. At the time of the original idea, this is what I wrote in my newsletter. Nothing has changed.

* * *

Maybe the Padres had their run a few years too early. In the wake of the Yankees/Rays non-race in the AL East, in which both teams made it perfectly clear that the division title meant little versus getting ready for the postseason, there's a movement afoot to implement a rule change that would force teams in similar positions to value the division title more than it was valued this year. The most popular of these involves allowing a second wild-card team from each league, and having the two wild-card teams meet in a very short playoff, either one game or a best-of-three, to advance.

I called this idea "unimaginably stupid" on Twitter, and trust me, I was underselling its problems. The idea is to make winning a division more valuable than winning the wild card, so much so that a team will have to try to win its division. What it effectively does, though, is make winning a bad division valuable. To use the 2010 AL season as an example, the Twins and the Rangers, both inferior to the Yankees and Rays, would have been free to rest their regulars and set their rotations, because their divisions couldn't produce a viable challenger. Meanwhile, the Rays and Yankees would be fighting for a division title to stay out of the Coin Flip Game. Despite being objectively better teams -- both of them -- they would both be disadvantaged relative to worse teams. A system that metes out punishment and reward in inverse proportion to quality is a bad system.

Let's play it out, though. The Yankees and Rays bust their humps all month, win a few extra games, maybe 99 for the Rays, 98 for the Yankees. With a "second wild card" to play for, the Red Sox make a couple of small additions, pick up some wins in September and get to 91. One of those extra wins comes at the expense of the White Sox, who fade a bit faster, enabling the Red Sox to lock up their spot in the Coin Flip Game heading into their last series of the year.

Now, the No. 3 seed and the No. 4 seed are preparing for the playoffs, while the two best teams in the league are playing for the right to not be dropped into this unimaginably stupid Coin Flip Game against a team that, because the sixth-best team in the league is far enough behind the fifth-best, is itself resting! Moreover, after proving itself to be eight or so games better than than its divisional partner over a full season of play, the second-place team is now, after losing its run at the division title, forced to beat that inferior team one more time despite being disadvantaged in the run-up to the game.

The second-best team in baseball could go from fighting for a division title and the best record in its league to a one-game playoff against a team it was miles ahead of for six months. It may sound far-fetched, but it is not that far removed from what we would have had this year had the rule been in place. It's pretty much what you would have gotten in the AL in 2005, where the Yankees and Red Sox tied for first place while the "second wild card" would have been the Indians, five games clear of the A's for the #5 seed.

This is a really bad idea. It's one thing to throw away September because you're looking for easy cash on the heels of being tagged for $280 million in CBA violations. It's another to set up a system that has the ability to turn your regular season results into a bad joke because you didn't listen the first time. The scenario that people want to avoid, the September we just watched? It happens when two great teams play in one division together. If you force one of them into a Coin Flip Game, you will always be invalidating a great six-month season in a single afternoon, which is no way -- no way at all -- to run a sports league. The Coin Flip Game isn't "making the playoffs" any more than the play-in game in the NCAA's is "making the tournament." No one confuses Tuesday in Dayton with Friday in Charlotte, and no one will confuse Monday afternoon at Suncoast Dome on MLB Network with Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium on TBS.

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Joe Sheehan: Additional wild cards won't solve problems; they'll compound them