Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Posted on: 9:32 pm, January 6, 2014, by Stephanie Moore, updated on: 10:22pm, January 6, 2014

The sub-zero temperatures are keeping furnace repair shops busy.

Mike and Mickey Wellendorf of Des Moines are trying to stay warm. It was cold, I got long johns on right now, says Mickey Wellendorf.

The couples heat stopped working yesterday.

Last night I called my wife about 8:30 and she said, my nose is cold, so I sent her over to check the thermostat and it was reading 52 degrees, says Mike Wellendorf.

Mike was at work and came home to find the furnace out of commission.

I think it was down to 46 today before we started the fire up, says Mike Wellendorf.

He called Schaal Heating and Cooling who sent out a technician to pinpoint the problem.

Service Technician Justin Bailey says in these frigid temperatures most furnaces just cant keep up.

Most furnaces are sized for a zero degree day so when it`s negative ten degrees out, they`re going to be running 20 out of 24 hours a day, says Bailey.

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BROKEN FURNACE: Working To Restore Heat

Hundreds of students in the Twin Rivers Unified School District returned to their classrooms Monday with only portable space heaters for warmth.

Grant Union High School is so cold that students regularly wear blankets with sleeves, such as Snuggies, to stay warm inside classrooms, said parent Sascha Vogt. At Woodlake Elementary School, students huddled under blankets and sleeping bags after a copper theft in October damaged the heating system, she said.

Concerns about frigid Twin Rivers classrooms escalated in December when temperatures dipped into the mid-20s and Sacramento experienced its coldest month since 1990 based on an average of overnight lows, according to the National Weather Service.

District officials acknowledge that many of their classrooms lack functional heating systems and attribute the problem to aging facilities with units badly in need of repair and replacement. They say they are doing their best to keep up with repairs despite a lack of facilities money in the north Sacramento area district that serves 31,600 students.

During particularly hot or cold days, teachers have taken to emailing pictures of their classroom thermostats to their union leaders, said Kristin Finney, president of Twin Rivers United Educators. One photo from early December reads 44 degrees. Another from Grant Union High School in September shows a 91-degree temperature.

Anger over the lack of heat and air conditioning in classrooms peaked after parents learned the district had organized a 100-day celebration of Superintendent Steven Martinezs tenure in November. The invitation-only breakfast was held at the Aerospace Museum of California in North Highlands.

Vogt brought a petition to the school board on Dec. 10 with some 800 signatures under the heading Before you have a party, please provide heat for all our students.

We are going to make necessary repairs, Martinez said before winter break. The district has hired an outside company which is working around the clock to fix the problem, he said. Were not trying to make an excuse.

The district fixed the damaged heating system at Woodlake Elementary in mid-December. On Friday, district officials reported that about 80 heating units had been repaired over winter break, lowering the number of classrooms without heating units to 30.

Its wonderful news, said Kim Barnett, interim chief business officer for the district. They have been working really hard for the last three weeks.

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In Twin Rivers schools, some wear blankets for warmth

With an associate degree in mental health technology and an extreme fondness for seniors, Kettering resident Laura Wilson has started a business that not only fills a niche but also gives provides her with the fulfilling career she has always wanted.

What the business does

Your Errand Lady is a service business that does all the things you need to do so you can do all the things you want to do. I offer transportation for people who need to go to the doctor, shopping, run errands if the weather is bad or just get out, Wilson said. People can also just give me their grocery list and I will go out and get them their items.

Wilson also helps her clients get organized and for older clients, she often becomes regular companions. I am someone who just spends time on a regular basis and just listens to them, she said. I pretty much spend as much time as they need me to spend. She also offers services for busy professionals, such as house sitting, pet sitting and shopping at holiday time.

How the business started

Wilson spent the bulk of her professional career in a busy sales job and was constantly juggling her time as her mother got older. Im an only child and because I had some flexibility I was able to take my mom to appointments during the day but I met a lot of people didnt have that same flexibility, Wilson said. I realized professional people needed to hire someone to do all this stuff while they were working, especially if they had seniors in their lives.

Wilson said she noticed while waiting with her mother at medical appointments that many other seniors were left unaccompanied and had to wait to be picked up. I thought it would be nice if they could have someone to wait with them, she said.

Wilson tried to start her business while she was working full time but quickly realized that the need was greatest Monday through Friday from 8 - 5. I decided to take a leap of faith and start the business, she said. And in September of 2012 Wilson officially launched Your Errand Lady and has loved every minute since.

What I truly love most about it is I feel like Im helping people, Wilson said. These people are so happy when I leave and they have really become my friends. Its truly a service people love and once I took the leap I found out there is a great need for the service.

Future plans

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Kettering woman is the Errand Lady

KUCHING: The absence of gutters on the roofs will make it difficult for environmentalists to practise the green initiative like harvesting rain water.

Secretary-general of Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda), Sim Kiang Chiok, said the green initiative was very much encouraged by the government and in the case of rain water harvesting, its clearly a green initiative for it had something to do with water conservation.

If gutters are not installed on the roof of houses, then it will be difficult to conduct rain harvesting, he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Sim explained that the collected water could be used for daily activities such as washing, adding that the use of harvested rainwater would certainly help to save the amount of treated water used for daily activities.

Although the state Building Ordinance requires gutters to be installed in all houses, there are certain local councils which allow houses built without gutters mainly for aesthetic reasons.

For developers, it is acceptable for houses to be built without any gutter installed on the roof.

The Health Ministry recently proposed that new housing projects are prohibited from installing rainwater gutter on the roof to curb the rising number of dengue cases.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya said the move was necessary as Malaysians were still unaware that gutters which were not properly maintained could become breeding grounds of aedes mosquitoes.

The Health Ministry also proposed that Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry amend its existing regulations so that all rainwater gutters in existing houses would be removed for effective eradication of aedes mosquitoes.

Assistant Housing Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, when contacted on Tuesday, said an in-depth study and referral to those in the construction industry should be conducted before coming up with measure to prohibit new housing projects from installing rainwater gutters on the roof.

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No gutter, how to collect rain water?

09 January 2014| last updated at 11:46PM

KUALA LUMPUR: PEOPLE who frequent the Lembah Kiara Recreational Park in Taman Tun Dr Ismail are unhappy with the upgrading exercise by the National Landscape Department (JLN).

The development which started in August last year is causing many changes in the natural environment of the park.

A jogger who wants to be known as Lim said that he is not happy with the current condition of the park.

"I was told the budget allocated for this park is about RM7 million.

"With such a huge amount allocated for upgrading the park, why aren't they fixing the faulty suspension bridge on the hill side of the park before proceeding with other developments around the park?"

He said that joggers are ignoring the fact that the bridge is faulty and are still using it.

"Joggers are at risk of an accident every time they cross the bridge to finish their round."

Peter Goh, 68, said that the JLN should build more toilets at the park.

"Due to the size of the park, I believe that more toilets should be built to cater to the needs of the park users.

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Park in dire need of repairs

Current Owners: Templeton Investment Assets, Inc. Listing Price: $5,200,000 Beds: 6 Baths: 8

Not every home in the tony La Jolla neighborhood can boast sweeping ocean views, but that doesnt stop many properties from commanding multimillion-dollar price tags.

The estate at 6397 La Jolla Scenic Drive South sits over a mile from the coast, but is just a few blocks from Soledad Park, nestled in the wooded Muirlands neighborhood on the western slope of Mt. Soledad. Built in 1958 but completely remodeled in 1990 and remodeled again with an expansion in 2011, the home features six bedrooms, eight baths, and over 6300 square feet of living space.

Huge wood-and-wrought-iron double doors lead to the grand entry from the street. Inside, exotic solid merbau wood flooring covers much of the home, with bronze accents embedded in the entry foyer and a basket-weave border pattern of merbau and travertine in the office.

There are two master bedrooms (plus three more with private baths) the largest is nearly 400 square feet without counting the bath, which features a Kohler jet tub, his and hers toilets, showers with jets, and separate sinks. The bronze floor accents continue in the master bath as well. The bedroom itself features a granite slab fireplace made of Typhoon Bordeaux granite imported from Brazil.

The kitchen features cabinetry from noted La Jolla designer William Ohs, along with professional-grade appliances including dual chefs ovens. In addition to the kitchens dining area, the home boasts a formal dining room and two outdoor gazebos with formal and casual outdoor seating options. The home also has two bars, one poolside and another adjacent to the living room.

A large game room upstairs leads to a separate guest suite, also equipped with its own bath and a private balcony with views of the surrounding hillside.

Outside, the half-acre estate features a unique palm tree fountain, a grassy yard with full complement of childrens playground equipment, and a lounge area with fire pit in addition to the aforementioned gazebos and poolside bar with built-in barbecue.

Tax records show that the house last sold in 2003 for $1.8 million, though there is a conflicting listing that shows the home as having sold for $2,650,000 in 2006. There is, however, a transfer noted without a sale price in December 2006, with the buyer, a Templeton Investment Assets, Inc., paying cash for the property. Both of these sales would have occurred before the most recent round of renovations, as the living area at the time was listed at just 4258 square feet, nearly 2100 less than at present.

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No ocean view, but the place is still worth millions

The Walking Dead - Part 9: Mending Fences... Literally
My suspicions are raised when bandits shout cryptic messages at us.

By: ninjaconor86

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The Walking Dead - Part 9: Mending Fences... Literally - Video

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Newswise Imagine you are building a house. You would need a team of specialists, including an architect, a general contractor, carpenters, an electrician, a plumber and many others. Now picture yourself leading an effort to develop a new therapeutic drug or device. For that, youd need a very different kind of specialized team.

The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has a research program designed to support this team-based approach. NEIs Translational Research Program (TRP) on Therapy for Visual Disorders provides a lead investigator with up to $1.75 million per year for up to five years in order to assemble a multidisciplinary team, and moveor translatepotential new therapies beyond the research lab and into clinical trials.

In addition to bringing together an expert research team, investigators can use funding from the TRP to recruit experts on navigating the drug and device approval process overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They can also use TRP funds to seek help in patenting new therapies. These steps are no less essential than lab work for bringing new therapies to patients.

The program enables investigators to assemble multidisciplinary teams that can tackle scientific, technical, and regulatory issues that are beyond the capabilities of any single research group, said Neeraj Agarwal, Ph.D., who oversees programs in research training and workforce development at NEI. The TRP began in 2000, and has funded one or two projects each year since.

Eyeing new drugs for retinal diseases

Krzysztof Palczewski, Ph.D., professor and chair of the pharmacology department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, received a grant (EY021126) through the TRP in 2010. His goal is to develop new drugs for diseases that damage the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

Vision begins with cells inside the retina called photoreceptors. Chemicals called retinoids, which are derived from vitamin A, play a key role inside these cells. One type of retinoid, when combined with a protein called opsin, acts as a light-sensitive switch, converting light into electrical signals that are ultimately sent from the photoreceptors to the brain.

Unfortunately, the supply of retinoids is limited and they need to be recycled. Moreover, the recycling process isnt 100 percent efficient. Dr. Palczewski has found that it can lead to the formation of a toxic byproduct called all-trans-retinal (atRAL), which may contribute to some diseases of the retina, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt disease. AMD is a leading cause of vision loss among people age 50 and older. Stargardt disease is a rare genetic disease that begins in childhood but has some similarities to AMD.

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Translational Research Through Teamwork

Brisbane City Council will likely approve the demolition of three 100-year-old brick buildings in Margaret Street and let a dog park be built prior to the G20 conference.

Ultimately, developer Sam Chong wants to build an apartment tower on the block of land and has engaged Noel Robinson Architects to design the tower.

Two Queensland University of Technology adjunct professors - town planner Phil Heywood and the projects architect Noel Robinson - have taken different views on the proposed demolition.

Professor Heywood said protecting the streetscape should be a challenge to the local council, while Professor Robinson said the buildings were simply not worth protecting.

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Professor Robinson is in the process of designing a luxury hotel for the site.

The exact design for the site has not yet been settled, but this is a world-class opportunity which can accommodate a 300-room, five-star hotel and approximately 500 apartments over 60 levels, he said.

A council public relations officer said councillors would not speak about the demolition application until it was processed, but provided some information which has already been published.

While Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is on holidays - Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner has written to heritage protection group Brisbane Heritage, which now has more than 1000 signatures opposing the demolition.

He told the group he has passed their views on to councils planning team.

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Margaret Street buildings likely to be demolished

Southwold Fire Station will be demolished. Picture: Nick Butcher

Kathryn Bradley Wednesday, January 8, 2014 3:52 PM

Demolition work will begin at Southwolds disused fire station on Monday.

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The towns retained firefighters moved from their former home in Station Road to a new, purpose-built base in Fountain Way, Reydon in October.

Demolition of the old building should take about two weeks and the aim is to leave the site empty by February.

The plot is currently valued at 657,000 and the proceeds from the sale will go towards the costs of the new fire station.

A Suffolk County Council spokesman said the authoritys investment in the new Reydon and Southwold community fire station had resulted in real, tangible improvements, including technological enhancements and an advanced fire sprinkler system, which is the first of its kind in a Suffolk fire station and one of only a very small number in the UK.

The new station also includes improved disabled access, better welfare facilities for female and male firefighters and a community room.

Councillor Colin Spence, cabinet member for public protection, said: The demolition of the Southwold community fire station will provide Suffolk County Council a stepping stone in acquiring the funding needed for the new station in Reydon.

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Demolition work to start at Southwold fire station