Last week I went to Las Vegas to attend the
International Builders’ Show, put on by the National Association of
Homebuilders. This is the biggest trade show on residential construction &
remodeling — a good chance to see new products, have face time with
manufacturers and media folks, play blackjack and watch gondolas navigate the
indoor canals at the Bellagio hotel. I didn’t get to do those last two
things,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. but I can
report on some show highlights.
Entry doors with fiberglass skins and foam cores have reached an entirely new level of quality. Checking out the displays at Therma-Tru & Jeld-Wen, I saw an amazing variety of door styles. But the most astonishing thing about these energy-efficient doors is how convincingly manufacturers have duplicated the look of real wood. Texture, grain and color rendition are truly remarkable. The photo at top, left shows cutaway sections to illustrate how these doors are made: foam cores, fiberglass skins and solid wood edges to hold screws for hinges and hardware. Beyond the good looks, I like fiberglass doors because they won’t dent, ding or rust like steel doors. They never swell, shrink or warp like solid wood. No way I’d put anything else on my house.Our aging population of baby boomers means that many bathrooms will need to be remodeled in order to be safe and accessible for people with physical disabilities.
Our aging population of baby boomers means thatmany bathrooms will need to be remodeled in order to be safe and accessible for people with physical disabilities. I was interested to see the fresh take on accessible bathroom fixtures from a Canadian company called the Invisia Collection. Check out how the company has integrated grab bars into the toilet paper holder, shower mixing valve and corner shelf (right).
To be sure, Virginia Tech faces significant challenges in becoming an upper-echelon, NCAA tournament-competing, ACC program. In my view, the primary challenges are location, the absence of any substantial history and tradition and general lack of interest. Like all programs everywhere, Virginia Tech basketball will be defined by what it is and will become, not by what other programs have achieved or will achieve.
Seth Greenberg made the Hokies very competitive in an average (by ACC standards) conference. The ACC of the past 8 years or so was not the ACC of years past. UNC and Duke are and were UNC and Duke.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. But programs like Maryland,We specializes in rapid plastic injection mould and molding of parts for prototypes and production. NC State, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest were not as consistently strong as they’ve been in decades past, and there was no Ralph Sampson-like figure that elevated a previously obscure program to a very high level for five or six years. What Greenberg did was make the Hokies relevant again. Regrettably, the clumsy coaching change likely squandered much of what Greenberg accomplished.
Adding Syracuse and its ilk to the schedule certainly does not make things easier for Virginia Tech basketball, but it is no excuse for poor performance going forward. Other undistinguished programs have rose to the level of the best competition in other conferences that are as strong or stronger than the newly-configured ACC will be. Example A: that word from my first sentence — Pitt.
Like Virginia Tech, Pitt is a basketball program that, historically, has been short on distinction. Pitt has never played in a Final Four. It was not all that long ago that the Panthers played their home games in decrepit Fitzgerald Fieldhouse or off-campus at a hockey rink, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. And Pitt was among the least distinguished programs in the Big East from the day it entered.
But Pitt made a commitment to its basketball program and eventually stood toe-to-toe with Syracuse and Georgetown and Villanova and all the rest. It built a first-class arena on campus, the Petersen Events Center. It hired a really good coach, Ben Howland, and then replaced him with a better one, Jamie Dixon. It paid what it took to keep them from leaving for any but one of the very best jobs in the land (Howland —> UCLA). It found a recruiting niche and developed a style of play that worked against its competition. It won games. And eventually, it started competing for and winning Big East championships.
Pitt had only two advantages that Virginia Tech does not, and one of them is not a distinct advantage. The chief advantage was commitment to its program. Virginia Tech’s administration does not give its basketball program the type of support it requires. Indeed, less than a year ago Jim Weaver justified basketball staff salaries by comparing them to Clemson, whom Weaver identified as a “peer” program.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics. No disrespect to Clemson, but this Hokie does not aspire to the Tigers’ level of non-achievement, either recently or historically. “Clemson” and “ACC championship” rarely go together in the same sentence.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity. The second advantage Pitt probably has over Tech is location in a metropolitan area. From a recruiting standpoint, it is probably easier to lure recruits to Pittsburgh than Blacksburg.
Entry doors with fiberglass skins and foam cores have reached an entirely new level of quality. Checking out the displays at Therma-Tru & Jeld-Wen, I saw an amazing variety of door styles. But the most astonishing thing about these energy-efficient doors is how convincingly manufacturers have duplicated the look of real wood. Texture, grain and color rendition are truly remarkable. The photo at top, left shows cutaway sections to illustrate how these doors are made: foam cores, fiberglass skins and solid wood edges to hold screws for hinges and hardware. Beyond the good looks, I like fiberglass doors because they won’t dent, ding or rust like steel doors. They never swell, shrink or warp like solid wood. No way I’d put anything else on my house.Our aging population of baby boomers means that many bathrooms will need to be remodeled in order to be safe and accessible for people with physical disabilities.
Our aging population of baby boomers means thatmany bathrooms will need to be remodeled in order to be safe and accessible for people with physical disabilities. I was interested to see the fresh take on accessible bathroom fixtures from a Canadian company called the Invisia Collection. Check out how the company has integrated grab bars into the toilet paper holder, shower mixing valve and corner shelf (right).
To be sure, Virginia Tech faces significant challenges in becoming an upper-echelon, NCAA tournament-competing, ACC program. In my view, the primary challenges are location, the absence of any substantial history and tradition and general lack of interest. Like all programs everywhere, Virginia Tech basketball will be defined by what it is and will become, not by what other programs have achieved or will achieve.
Seth Greenberg made the Hokies very competitive in an average (by ACC standards) conference. The ACC of the past 8 years or so was not the ACC of years past. UNC and Duke are and were UNC and Duke.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. But programs like Maryland,We specializes in rapid plastic injection mould and molding of parts for prototypes and production. NC State, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest were not as consistently strong as they’ve been in decades past, and there was no Ralph Sampson-like figure that elevated a previously obscure program to a very high level for five or six years. What Greenberg did was make the Hokies relevant again. Regrettably, the clumsy coaching change likely squandered much of what Greenberg accomplished.
Adding Syracuse and its ilk to the schedule certainly does not make things easier for Virginia Tech basketball, but it is no excuse for poor performance going forward. Other undistinguished programs have rose to the level of the best competition in other conferences that are as strong or stronger than the newly-configured ACC will be. Example A: that word from my first sentence — Pitt.
Like Virginia Tech, Pitt is a basketball program that, historically, has been short on distinction. Pitt has never played in a Final Four. It was not all that long ago that the Panthers played their home games in decrepit Fitzgerald Fieldhouse or off-campus at a hockey rink, the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. And Pitt was among the least distinguished programs in the Big East from the day it entered.
But Pitt made a commitment to its basketball program and eventually stood toe-to-toe with Syracuse and Georgetown and Villanova and all the rest. It built a first-class arena on campus, the Petersen Events Center. It hired a really good coach, Ben Howland, and then replaced him with a better one, Jamie Dixon. It paid what it took to keep them from leaving for any but one of the very best jobs in the land (Howland —> UCLA). It found a recruiting niche and developed a style of play that worked against its competition. It won games. And eventually, it started competing for and winning Big East championships.
Pitt had only two advantages that Virginia Tech does not, and one of them is not a distinct advantage. The chief advantage was commitment to its program. Virginia Tech’s administration does not give its basketball program the type of support it requires. Indeed, less than a year ago Jim Weaver justified basketball staff salaries by comparing them to Clemson, whom Weaver identified as a “peer” program.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics. No disrespect to Clemson, but this Hokie does not aspire to the Tigers’ level of non-achievement, either recently or historically. “Clemson” and “ACC championship” rarely go together in the same sentence.Solar Sister is a network of women who sell solar lamp to communities that don't have access to electricity. The second advantage Pitt probably has over Tech is location in a metropolitan area. From a recruiting standpoint, it is probably easier to lure recruits to Pittsburgh than Blacksburg.
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