Posts tagged Modern
Creative Kitchen Combines Traditional Styling and Modern Convenience
Jan 24th
Relenda and Larry Blair were determined to create a kitchen that would give them the space and convenience they lacked in their old 60s style confined space. Faced with the design challenge of creating an updated look that would successfully combine modern essentials and their traditional tastes, they turned to Universal Remodeling’s experienced design team.
Working in concert with Universal’s Project Manager Yani, they achieved a unique space and creative blending of styles.
“I wanted a kitchen that was classy but homey and opened the entire space to an easy flow,” Relenda says. “The finishing work looks very high end and custom-made. I can barely tell where the seams are.”
The Blairs’ old 60ish space was updated with traditional maple cabinets deepened and richened with a coffee glaze.
“Henry did a wonderful job, we couldn’t have asked for more. The cabinets are beautiful,” Relenda notes.
The Windsor style cabinets fit with the more traditional furnishings in the Blair home, and yet the space has a clean modern feeling that updates the entire home.
New granite countertops in varying tones of brown lend warmth and compliment the cupboard’s coffee glaze. Finished off with rose toned metal handles, it was exactly the look Relenda sought.
“We searched and when we saw these handles we knew they were just perfect,” she adds.
Tumbled travertine with rich quartz accents dress the backsplash and create an interesting dynamic of textures. A slate earth tone hued floor compliments the space. Area rugs add color and additional warmth while stainless steel appliances give a modern feeling to traditional styling.
Relenda says she is so happy with the way the new kitchen layout creates an easy flow from one room into another. Once confined while cooking, the open design creates a space that moves freely combining the living areas of the home.
“It seems so much larger and more open now,” Relenda says. “The whole area looks complete and unified. Extending the floor into the laundry room and adding designer touches like French doors is a complete and unified look.”
Small touches like a built-in microwave and the new Kitchen Aid oven that features three ways of cooking, convection, auto conversion or full convection have made cooking so much easier and fun. An added pantry eliminates overcrowding and allows easier access.
“Before everything was always filled to the brim and overflowing; now it’s so roomy and there’s a place for everything,” she says. “It feels like a home and a kitchen.”
Relenda praises Yani for his help in creating a design plan and implementing their preconceived vision.
“Yani gave us options that would enhance and fit in with our vision. We had ideas, but he helped us alter and conform these into our space. He also explained things clearly so we could understand why something would or wouldn’t work within the confines of our design.”
Happy with all their design choices, she raves about her new sink that features one much deeper side for easier access and brushed aluminum faucet with the removable sprayer handle. “That was my husband’s choice.”
Recalling hosting a recent Thanksgiving dinner, Relenda was impressed with the wonders of having an abundance of space.
“It wasn’t claustrophobic at all. You can look straight back into the backyard, and the whole property just flows and looks so big now. The back of the house is open and glass and can be seen from the kitchen through to the laundry room. I just love it.”
Although she had heard stories about remodels, Relenda was pleasantly surprised through their process.
“Yani was so forth right, explaining everything so clearly. We did our research and understood the meaning of good ratings and qualifications and he was very honest and trustworthy.”
During the remodel she said they dined out a lot and they barbecued. They also moved out for eleven days to make it easier.
“It wasn’t bad at all. It seemed to go by very quickly.” When Yani said he would send someone out to check something or fix a problem, they were there and there quickly. “I was impressed that they showed up for work every day, always worked on the project and never said they won’t fix something, never once. That was a big plus. When they said they’d take of it, they did. They did their job and were helpful and polite.”
Although they still need to add some finishing touches and accents, they are enjoying their new space.
“The more I’m in the kitchen, the more comfortable I get. Both Larry and I enjoy cooking and entertaining so much more now and we try new recipes.
“He’s my guinea pig,” she laughs. “He has a couple of meals he likes to fix, but basically it’s a team effort. I never imagined I’d have something like this. I took pictures before and after I saw the transformation, I was so pleased.”
Norma Zager is a famous and experience jouNorma Zager is a famous and experience journalist in California and US. Her expertise is about to write interesting articles and amazing stories. – Universal Remodeling
SCIENTIFIC WRESTLING:The Modern Day Functional Grappler
Jan 23rd
I was a farm boy. My daily life was not so different than the men I read about. My father was the son of a sharecropper and the great grandson of a slave. He pushed my brother and I to do farm work most grown men would strain to complete. But that was his way. The way it “had to be” in his day. The only way he knew. Even though my brother and I hated it at the time, we took a quiet pride in doing task like carrying heavy “slop” buckets in each hand a 100 yards or so to feed the pigs or throwing bails of hay around that were about as big as we were.
Our classmates wondered why we were so much stronger than the rest of the kids. Weight training wasn’t trendy back then. But “Evel Knievel” toy motorcycles were (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then God Bless your youth) and so were Matchbox race sets, little green Army men, and Tonka trucks. Yet, my brother and I didn’t spend as much time playing with them as we spent lifting, reaching, plowing, stretching, pushing and pulling laboring on the farm.
What does this have to do with old-time grapplers? Well, what my brother and I did as a kid was nothing compared to the daily lives of most of the men back then. If we want warmth on a cold night, all we have to do is turn a knob or flip a switch. They had to walk through the woods, cut a tree down, chop it up, carry the logs back home and make a fire…more or less.
The routines of their daily lives carved an excellent foundation for them to mold their bodies with training sessions that would cripple the average wrestler today.
My father told me his father would get angry anytime he saw him sitting down for more than a few minutes. So, he made up more work for him to do. Today, the modern grappler doesn’t spend a lot of time in their daily lives lifting, pulling, pushing, reaching overhead or walking long distances. On the contrary, we spend most of the time off the mat and out of the gym…sitting. Sitting in cars, sitting at desk, sitting at computers, sitting in front of televisions and sitting at tables. But we do walk. We walk to our cars, to our riding lawnmowers, to the garage for our leaf blowers and in the malls and parking lots.
Yet, we want to take these sedentary bodies on the mat and in the gym and do similar training rituals as men who had full active functional daily lives?
So what’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is if we want to carry “Catch” into the future we have to find ways to “condition our bodies to be conditioned”. We can rush on the mat and rush into hardcore training routines, but we’ll only find ourselves rushing to the doctor. It could be a “bad” knee, a “bad” shoulder, a “bad” hip, or neck or back. It doesn’t matter. In most case, the injury will be non-impact and due to a structural imbalance.
It works like this. You have a structural imbalance, born from a sedentary lifestyle (like it or not, 2006 technology makes must of us sedentary) or training imbalance (imbalanced muscle compensation or strength to flexibility ratio or simply you are making your body do something it’s not prepared to do), you get injured, you can’t exercise, you can’t train and your contributions to “Catch” diminish.
What can we do? First, we have to look at what we want to do. We want to be able to wrestle as much as we can…injury free!
Most of us have jobs or go to school or both. We are not training for a world championship or planning on defending a title at MSG. A few of us might consider competing, but until then what do you do? Train modestly and …injury free.
The best we can hope for is to be “the best we can, where we are, with the time and resources we have”.
Mat time is something most of us have little power over sometimes. We have jobs, families, girlfriends and sometimes we don’t have a lot places to train that fits our schedule or even preferences. Yet, we do have 30-45 minutes during each and every day we can set aside to or pry away from our busy, but mostly sedentary lives. It doesn’t have to be one chunk of time. It could be 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there and 20 minutes some other place. Often, people think just because they don’t have a clear hour or so to drive to the gym or workout at home, they should do nothing.
If you are in a situation where you find yourself sitting a lot, know that your pelvis is most likely tilted forward. This lays the groundwork for hip, knee, shoulder, neck, and even ankle problems, along with the obvious back problem.
To counteract this, go to the “bridge”! Just find a spot on the floor and bridge up to your shoulders (neck if you wish, but you don’t have to) . Don’t hold it, but move it. Do 10-20 slow reps, articulating your spine up and down. Also, “wall-walking” backarches can be done, focusing on pushing your hips forward as you arch. All of these back bending movements are also gates to an energy drug-free boost.
Also, the sitters tend to have rounded shoulders. A recipe for neck and back problems. The solution…Scap Push-ups. Scap, meaning scapula. Get in a push up position, keep your elbows locked and just squeeze your shoulder blades or scapula together and apart 20-40 times. You can also do shoulder rolls, while sitting at your desk or even driving.
We also need spinal rotation. 20-40 spinal twist should do the trick, with or without a broomstick or towel.
We need hip mobility the most as grapplers. The flat-footed squat and lunge is a simple way to release some tension there. Between classes, during a class, at a meeting or on a break, just simple squat down as deep as you can flat-footed. Try to build up to 3-5 minutes a day in this position.
Many of our knee problems stem from tight quadriceps. As you stand waiting for a class or on a break, just stand tall and flex one leg back, bring your heel to your butt. Remember stand straight and push your hip forward. Hold it for at least a minute. While you are on the floor doing your bridging, is a good time to stretch your hamstrings. We all know the basic hamstring stretch. Just keep your hips on the floor. While you are still on the floor, you can do ankle circles and point and flex with your ankles. You should do 40-60 a day.
Elbows and wrist are often overlooked. It’s an insane shame in the “catch” community as much as the Top/double wristlock are used. This is simple and can be done while you sit at the computer or walking to and from anywhere. Just do circles with your wrist and figure eights. You can tell yourself, “Everytime I walk to my car or away from my car, I’m going to do elbow circles. Watch boxers and NHB fighters before a fight. They are warming up their elbows.
Again, while sitting at a desk or computer or even in your car, you can do neck rolls and “Stevie Wonder’s”(roll your head around like Stevie) You might hear noises that will scare you, but don’t be alarmed. If you hear something, that means you need to be doing it.
Spinal curls…not crunches. With your feet on the floor, just curl your upper body up slowly and back down slowly. 3 seconds up…pause for 3 seconds…3seconds down. 25-50 of these and you are a studd! Don’t hold your breath or strain your neck. Hands by your side.
So, you have about 16 waking hours to do less than 10 exercises that will take less than 2 minutes a piece.
Aspects or all could also be done as a warm-up. For a quick “cool-down” after your normal workout or wrestling just use the Hindu push’s top and bottom position. Hold the top position for 1-2 minutes and the bottom position for 1-2 minutes.
This type of “functional fitness” will keep you on the mat and on the mat is where you need to be to carry the “Catch” legacy forward.
But remember, this takes priority over your running, your hindus or kettle bell or clubbell work. This will enable you to do the above safely and more effectively. You have to be “conditioned to be conditioned”.
I want to wrestled until I’m a 100 years old. I’m almost half-way there. I’ll be 40 in a month. I don’t want to break any lifting records, any push-up or hindu squat records. I just want to wrestle and I want to do it without any burdens of non-impact injuries. I speak from experience.
We are not wrestling for a temporary moment in the spotlight. We don’t have to abuse our bodies now, for temporary satisfaction today, only to be immobile tomorrow. We are wrestling for the future, so we have to be wrestling in the future. Therefore, we must be smart today. I want to move like Fujiwara when I’m in my 50s and 60s. I want to move like Judo’s Mifune in his 70s. For some reasons us westerns have missed something Easterners have mastered. You don’t see many western wresters moving with grace in their 60s and 70s. Dan Gable, Larry Hartsell and countless others succomb to hip replacement surgeries. Billy Wicks and Gene Lebell move pretty well, but there are only a few. Let’s change that.
For resources on “Functional fitness” see:
Warrior Wellness, Intu-Flow, Flow-Fit by Scott Sonnon
Magnificent Mobility by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson
Health through Motion by the Egoscue Method
Developing Functional Flexibility and warm-ups for All athletes by Chris Doyle
Super Joints by Pavel
Robert VerdelL is the author and creator of http://www.scientificwrestling.com where you?ll find a wealth of information on scientific wrestling. Have a look now: => http://www.scientificwrestling.com
The Recipe for A Modern Orchestra
Jan 19th
There are many other odd and interesting woods which will be found in every symphony orchestra. Drumsticks will be found made of snakewood from Dutch Guiana, a reddish-brown wood with spots in color from brown to black, similar in markings to that of a snake.
The fingerboards, pegs and tailpieces of violins are made from African ebony, brought ail the way from the tropical forests of Africa. The bars of xylophones and marimbas and often the castanets are made of rosewood from Brazil or Central America.
This wood ranges in color from reddish brown to deep purple or black, with streaks of purple through it, and it gets its name from its fragrance. It is ideal wood for the purpose, since it is hard, dense, takes a high polish and produces a brilliant, resonant tone when struck.
Then there is mahogany for drum shells, hickory for drumsticks and drum hoops, walnut for tambourines, maple for violin backs and bassoons, and basswood for “cases.
Some people find less music in the orchestra when they learn that the death of from two to three sheep is required before one violin can be equipped with strings. It doesn’t seem necessary, but such is the case, and such is the price of great music. So-called “catgut” used on violins is made from the intestines of sheep.
The average length of the sheep intestine is twenty-four feet, and it requires from ten to twelve half-intestines to spin a string only four one hundred ths of an inch in diameter, since only the fine, soft, submucous membrane is used. A set of four violin strings is eighty-eight inches long on the average, and into a set of four violin strings go the intestines of from two to three sheep.
Even old Dobbin contributes his bit, for what would a violin bow be without horsehair? Makers today use 150 hairs about twenty-eight inches long in a standard bow, although Tourte, who created the violin bow of modern times, used slightly fewer hairs. Then the pig comes in for his share, for tom-tom heads are usually of pigskin.
All fine drumheads are of calfskin, the thinner and finest heads coming from the skins of “slunks” or unborn calves. Many different materials are used for mallets of bass drums, tympani, marimbas and bells. Among them are yarn, felt, soft rubber, hard rubber, rawhide, lamb’s wool and pyralin.
Copper is the most important metal used in the construction of band and orchestra instruments. The big tympani or kettledrums are drawn from one piece of copper sheet into the half-sphere bowl.
Copper is also the principal ingredient of brass used in the bells of brass instruments, about seventy parts of copper being combined with about thirty parts of zinc to form brass. Valves, keys, braces and other parts of the brass instruments are made from a brass alloy incorporating in addition small quantities of tin, aluminum, lead or other metals, depending upon what is expected of the part.
Metal clarinets and flutes are often made of what is called nickel silver, an alloy of nickel and other metals. Nickel, chromium, silver and gold are used in plating various parts of many instruments used in the band and orchestra.
From the forests, from the foundries, from deep mines and across great seas, from desert wastes and tropical jungles come, in a real and true sense, the great music of the symphony.
If asked to give a recipe for making a symphony orchestra, the historian might start out: Take some oboes from the Orient, some clarinets from Greece and some horns from Palestine. The man of commerce might start out: Take some cane from the Var district of France, some Pernambuco wood from Brazil, and some grenadilla wood from Mozambique, South Africa.
Another and better way would be to say : To form a symphony orchestra of about one hundred pieces, make a mixture of about 40 per cent violins and violas, about 20 per cent cellos and basses, with just a sprinkling of a harp or two.
Make another mixture of woodwinds composed of flutes, single reeds and double reeds, up to about 15 per cent. Make an equal quantity of brass mixture, composed of trumpets, trombones, horns and tubas. Pour all three mixtures together and add about 6 per cent tympani, drums, bells and traps.
The recipe for a modern concert band would be something like this: Make a mixture of about 38 per cent clarinets soprano, alto and bass. Add to it about 10 per cent other woodwinds oboe, English horn, bassoon, flute.
Then make a mixture of about 38 per cent brass, including cornets, trumpets, trombones, horns, baritone horns and bass tubas. Pour these two mixtures together, stirring in at the same time about 8 per cent saxophones. Then add about 6 per cent tympani, drums, bells and traps.
Malcolm Blake has spent years of his life devoted to studying music online and off. He is currently working on projects about learning to play the guitar and how to learn guitar chords online.