Decors business

What is AZBambi Décors all about?

AZBambi Décors is our attempt to inspire and help others customize and personalize their Airstream interiors...particularly newer Airstreams that don’t require renovation or restoration.

The whole idea was born out of the realization that by making imaginative changes to the interior fabrics and colors, the mood of the small, intimate space of our 2006 19’ Bambi Safari SE (license plate AZBAMBI, of course) could be completely transformed to fit our mood—or even our travel destination!

Greg is a wizard with the sewing machine, and we both have an eye for color and fabric coordination. Soon, a variety of décors emerged by creating custom slip covers for the dinette, with matching curtains, bed spreads, pillow shams, window valances and throw pillows.

Then we changed gears.

At first, décors were developed independently...each separate and unrelated to the next...sort of re-inventing the wheel with each idea we had for a theme. But we soon realized that if we borrowed the “basic black dress” concept from the fashion world—that is, beginning with simple, plain basic “sets” (consisting of dinette slip covers, curtains, bedspread, window valances, pillow shams and throw pillows)—that we could create a number of very different themes simply by replacing two or three components of the basic “set” using coordinating fabrics to carry out the theme...a sort of “mix and match” concept. This allows a nearly endless combination of décors without having to create a whole new set for each theme. We show you examples of this through THE BASICS link below.

What can we do for you?

Greg has a long history of décor projects for our home—which has inspired friends to seek his advice and help with projects for their own homes...curtains, drapes, pillows, etc. It was inevitable that other Airstreamers seeing his work would seek out his skills to help them customize their Airstream interiors, too. So, at the urging of others, that’s what we’ve begun to do. If you’re tired of your present décor...or you simply want to liven it up, we can help—either by providing you with a full or partial basic set with accessory pieces to mix in—or working with you to create the décor you envision.

Washing machine business

COLD, WARM or HOT WATER WASH
Whether you wash in cold, warm or hot water is your choice. Many of the laundry products are made to be effective in cold water and your experience will best measure the success of your wash and rinse combined. Refer back to previous page on Laundry to see that some powders failed to completely dissolve in water. Nearly half of the front loader washing machines do not have a hot water fitting, hence will not be able to take advantage of 'off-peak' power rates. In Armidale (NSW) in September 2006, the difference is 8.677 cents for off-peak and 16.558 cents for ordinary electricity per kWh. That means that if you cannot connect to the home's off-peak water heating, energy for heating the water will cost you twice as much as it should. Most of the front loaders on the WELS scheme have been tested at 40 deg C, and some as high as 60 deg C for cotton materials, so it appears that performance is based upon warm wash. So is energy use? Many of the top loaders were tested on cold water, so I can only assume they are effective with cold water. Maybe there's a reason that front loaders are tested on warm water and top loaders are tested on cold water that we are not being told? Maybe we should ask more questions! Is this another case of smoke and mirrors?

USING LAUNDRY DETERGENTS
What could be more simple? Laundry detergents need to be mixed with a small volume of warm water before adding to the water in the washing machine, unless the machine is equipped with a liquid/powder dispenser. Pouring detergents directly onto clothes may cause the detergent to lodge in folds in the clothes and be poorly distributed throughout the wash water, or the harsh chemicals may directly affect the clothes on which they falls. And don't think that liquids don't need premixing. Some liquids are nothing more than suspensions and the container should be shaken before pouring the liquids. Check which brand you have to see if it is clear or a suspension.

Some washing machines only make allowance for automatically adding powder detergents at the correct timing in the wash program. If you want to use liquids because they have very much lower sodium loads, then you may need to rethink the type of washing machine that meets your requirements.

Pen computer business

In August 1999, when Microsoft announced ClearType, they also announced that they planned to create their own tablet "for computing, communicating and reading electronic books." To bolster the project, Microsoft brought in (among others) Chuck Thacker, a legendary computer innovator. While at Xerox PARC, Chuck was the chief designer on Alto, the first personal computer to use a bit-mapped display and mouse for user interface. Mr. Thacker is also the co-inventor of the Ethernet local area network. His current title at Microsoft is "Distinguished Engineer, Emerging Technologies Group." Clearly there's a heavy hitter at the core of this project!

In June 2000, Bill Gates demonstrated the very first prototype of the Tablet PC during the unveiling of Microsoft's .Net strategy. However, as it was such an insignificant part of the overall presentation, it received essentially zero press coverage.

Next, during his Comdex keynote in November 2000, Gates demonstrated an ID-enhanced prototype of the Tablet PC (beneath the dolled-up housing, the hardware was basically the same as it was in June). Gates positioned the product as "a full-function Microsoft Windows operating system-based PC incorporating the convenient and intuitive aspects of pencil and paper into the PC experience." What aggravated a lot of people in the pen computer business (including Pen Computing's editor Conrad Blickenstorfer--see his editorial in the March 2001 issue) was that Gates presented the Tablet PC as if it was a brand-new concept. It was as if the last 10 years of the pen computing business had never existed.

Press and analyst reaction to Gates' Comdex demo was not very positive. Largely it boiled down to "been there, tried that, need a keyboard." In a column written for ZDNet news (extracted and summarized below), John G. Spooner offered the opinion that for the Tablet PC to be successful, it would have to offer substantially more than today's notebooks:

"Hopefully the Tablet PC will offer a multi-modal user interface that combines input from voice recognition and handwriting recognition with the option for a keyboard and mouse. If the Tablet PC is the device that the "knowledge worker" will be carrying around in 2003, it must be significantly different from my IBM ThinkPad 570 notebook. There is no reason for me to give up my ThinkPad for anything at all unless it's something that's significantly cheaper or significantly easier to use. If Microsoft nails the user interface on the Tablet PC, this device will take off and nobody will look back and wish they still had their old ThinkPad. You and I will give up our notebook PCs for Tablet PCs, which will be much easier to live with and will easily take penned, spoken or keyed-in commands. Anything less is doomed to failure" WinHEC 2001 Microsoft revealed a lot about the Tablet PC hardware in March at WinHEC 2001. WinHEC, the annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, is where Microsoft updates OEM hardware engineers and driver developers (more than 2,200 of them this year) on the strategies, roadmaps and technologies for future PCs. In his keynote at WinHEC, Bill Gates again showed a prototype of the Tablet PC. Most of the Tablet PC demo was focused on how easy it is to use ink in a new note-taking application that Microsoft will offer. Actually, the application, temporarily called "Microsoft Notebook, isn't new at all. It's an enhanced version of "InkWriter", a program originally written by "Aha Software," a company that Microsoft bought outright in 1996. InkWriter was shrink-wrapped pen software that was enjoying modest sales success; when Microsoft bought the company, the product disappeared from the marketplace.

Pencil business

PENCIL History

On April 1, 1982, PENCIL Foundation opened its doors after several months of collaborative planning by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools administrators and community and business leaders. These leaders realized that a strong public school system was essential to a healthy future for Nashville and that broad-based support and involvement from the community, including the private sector, were imperative.

Sue Spickard, President of Cumberland Valley Girl Scout Council and sustaining member of the Junior League of Nashville, and Rosalind McGee, President of the League of Women Voters, co-chaired a committee to gather information on successful school-community partnerships. This data was employed in building community support for Nashville public schools. The committee established PENCIL Foundation as a non-profit organization with the following goals:

• Creating a vital link between the private sector and public education
• Increasing understanding of and appreciation for the public school system
• Promoting community involvement in student learning
• Securing a strong commitment from business leaders to help provide materials and resources necessary for schools to meet the needs of their students

A number of business leaders, including Ed Nelson of Commerce Union Bank and Bronson Ingram of Ingram Industries, helped bring the goals of PENCIL Foundation to the business community and gain its support for the schools. A steering committee that included John Hardcastle, Walter Hale II, Vic Campbell, Ralph Mosley, Allen McCampbell and Charles Wray completed the details for forming the new organization.

Brent Poulton from Tennessee State University’s Center for Community Education became PENCIL Foundation’s first executive director. Donald McNaughton of Hospital Corporation of America was named the foundation’s first board chairman. Bronson Ingram, Edward G. Nelson, Charles W. Cook, Jr., Raymond Zimmerman, Carroll Shanks, Shirley Zeitlin, Bill Wire, Frank Warren, Dale Polley, DeWitt Ezell, Jr., Vic Campbell, Ron DeBerry, Don Williamson, Clyde Ingalls, Sue Spickard, DeVan Ard, Jr., Sue Atkinson and Byron Trauger have also served as board chairmen. Enrico J. Pennisi, Jr., Managing Director--Marsh, chairs PENCIL's 2006-2007 Board of Directors.

For nearly a quarter of a century, PENCIL Foundation has maintained strong ties with local businesses, community organizations, and Nashville public schools. Currently, the foundation administers nine programs: eight for youth designed to improve academic achievement and one that assists adults in gaining the education and skills necessary for self-sufficiency and successful entry into the workforce.

PENCIL Foundation’s major accomplishment has been the creation of PENCIL Partners (originally called Adopt-a-School). Beginning with 37 “adoptions” in 1982-83, the program has grown to include over 500 community-school partnerships that enhance the education of more than 74,000 students in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

Book business

Balancing Two Worlds … (2007) is a book about the Asian American identity by Dartmouth Professor Andrew Garrod and Robert Kilkenny. It consists of fourteen first-person narratives by Dartmouth students who came to the U.S. with their families between the ages of 5 and 12 from different parts of Asia, including Vietnam, India, Myanmar, China, Thailand etc. Students discuss issues of race, gender, stereotypes, assimilation, social interaction, family life, school, education, and challenges associated with being labeled “the model minority”. Some students discuss their childhood and early life, others focus on college life and adulthood. Some conceal their identity; others are comfortable with sharing who they are with the outside world. Professors Garrod and Kilkenny let the students speak in their own language, and if the two have any influence on students’ accounts it is not visible in the stories.

The Asian American population in the U.S. is also an invisible minority and a silent minority. Though increasing in number, the Asian American population is very small compared to the majority White population or the minority Blacks and Hispanics. Moreover, unlike Blacks and Hispanics, there is great diversity within the Asian American population, as they come from many different cultural backgrounds. Perhaps, because they are invisible and silent, Asian Americans issues are seldom discussed in public forums or policy making. Balancing Two Worlds… succesfully brings out the diversity of the Asian American population and effectively presents the issues that young people in this group are confronting.

Unfortunately, the book is only about high-achieving Asian Americans who succesfully make it to an Ivy League like Dartmouth. Focusing on this small group, reinforces the model minority image of Asian Americans- No matter how big their problems and obstacles, they will work hard and succeed. How about the experiences of hundreds and thousands of Asian Americans who never make it to college or join gangs. In all fairness to the two authors, they accept upfront that the stories presented in their book are not generalizable to all Asian Americans. I also find it interesting that Asian American students presented in this book are always using two lenses to look at the world- They look at the American society around through their Asian lens, and use an American lens to look at the Asian culture which they come from.

The book is short (about 250 pages) and can be read in a day (if you are reading in a coffee shop and that’s all you do that day!). May be a useful book for courses that discuss Asian Americans in education and school. Some of the stories are better written than others, but these are young students and I am impressed they even took the time to work on these stories.

Contact lens business

Marietta Vision Provides
Prosthetic Lenses for your
Patients

For a number of reasons, including eye injuries, one patient's eye may appear differently than the other. Marietta Vision can provide these individuals with custom-tinted contact lenses to aesthetically match dissimilar appearing eyes.

Comments: I just wanted to take a few moments to express my sincere
gratitude to Kristen, Dewey, Dr Weber and all staff that was involved with
helping me with my prosthetic lens. The process took over a year because of the complexity of my situation...severe damage due to a gunshot wound 15 years ago. But now, my life has changed.

Throughout that entire process, with almost a dozen trial lenses, all
involved were extremely patient, kind, and sensitive to how this injury has
impacted my daily life. After seeing many specialists in my quest to find a
reasonable solution, I finally found Marietta Vision.

Marietta Vision's standard of care raises the bar for how business should be conducted. They genuinely care about their customers...it's simple but
rare. With every visit, their compassion was evident. It was is if no
matter how long it took, no matter how many tries, they were willing to do
anything to help me.

It's said that "the eyes are the path into one's soul". I've lived for 15
years not looking people in the eyes when I speak with them. Now, after a
few days with my new prosthetic lens, I feel like a new person. I'm not
afraid to look others proudly in the face.

You can’t put a price on quality of life. I feel better (no headaches), I
look better (need all the help I can get), and now enjoy smiling at people.
It's truly priceless.

Shoe business

Why and How Should a Shoe Fit?

Shoes that don't fit correctly can cause plenty of problems. Shoes that are too narrow squeeze the toes together, leading to corns and even inflamed nerves (called neuromas). Shoes that are too short compress the toes and the bones in your feet. Those that don't provide enough support can cause heel spurs and plantar fasciitis.

Wearing ill fitting or poorly designed shoes can lead to knee pain, hip pain, back and neck pain, and the worsening of disease related conditions. The most common problem? -- Plain old tired feet. Your feet are the foundation of your entire body. If you don't give them the support they need you will feel discomfort throughout your entire body.

What's Important Inside the Shoe?

The environment inside your shoe also plays a large part in how your shoes feel and how good they are for your feet.

Stick your hand into a pair of shoes and feel around. You shouldn't feel anything that will stick into your feet, such as thick seams, wrinkles, or ridges. The lining should be smooth and soft. A padded tongue will allow you to tighten your laces without putting unnecessary pressure on your instep. Padding along the top edge of the shoe adds to the comfort in your ankle area, too.

Did you know that your feet can sweat as much as a half-pint each per day? A shoe must be able to handle moisture in order to keep you comfortable and protected against blisters and athletes foot. There are two considerations here, the material used inside the shoe, and the way the shoe is constructed. Inside the shoe, leather is best because it wicks moisture away from your feet and allows it to evaporate outside the shoe. Leather "breathes" too, which helps to regulate the inside temperature. This makes the shoes more comfortable while you're wearing them, and minimizes the breeding environment for bacteria.

Some shoes, such as athletic shoes, cannot have full leather uppers. In those cases it is especially important to make sure you are wearing socks that will help wick moisture away from your feet.