“Benfica n Things - Orlando Sentinel” plus 4 more

Benfica n Things - Orlando Sentinel
'Man caves' inspired by three famous Marylanders are part of fall home ... - Baltimore Sun
Philippines brings eco-design ideas to the Japan Home and Building ... - PRLog (free press release)
More Than Just a Graveyard - Voiceof San Diego
Garden City man finds breast cancer not limited to women - Savannah Morning News

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 07:42 PM PDT

Greg Dawson The Last Resort

October 25, 2009

Dear Greg: I recently bought a 2006 Sonata from Integrity Auto Exchange. Mike Miller was the salesman. Wanting to take a trip to West Virginia, I called Mike back and said I wanted to buy two new tires for the front to match the two new ones on the back. He said he could get them for me and install them for $172 in time for my trip. When I went to get them put on, I noticed they were not the exact same tires I had been promised. Mike agreed and said he would return them and get the correct tires. A couple days later he called to say they were no longer available and he would refund my $172 in a few days. That never happened, and I had to buy four new tires somewhere else for my trip. I'm still out $172.

Michael Stewart of Orlando

Dear Michael: The good news is that you had a safe trip to West Virginia! The news about the tires — not so much. Your account and Mike's are quite similar with this exception: The correct tires finally did arrive, Mike said, and the supplier will not take them back and return your money. So, you are out $172 and Mike is stuck with the tires. You have two options: take the tires and use them as spares, or wait for someone to buy them at which point Mike will return your $172. Not almost heaven like West Virginia, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Benfica n Things

An update on Benfica, the defunct Winter Garden home-improvement company that took thousands of dollars in deposits from new customers a month after it had ceased to exist. The owners, Fernando and Maria Ferreira, filed official papers with the state July 30 dissolving Benfica. On Aug. 28, they went to the home of an Apopka man and collected $3,400 to order pavers to be installed on his circular driveway.

A host of other customers were left with unfilled orders, crumbling pavers or liens against their homes when Benfica shut down and the owners went incommunicado. I have made repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach the Ferreiras for comment on these revoltin' developments. Thanks to a tipster, however, we know they still have a presence in Central Florida, albeit spectral.

On June 24 — a month before dissolving Benfica — they became owners of Hair n Things, a salon in Clermont. I called the salon Wednesday and was told that both Ferreiras were out of the country, which is where I would be if I were them.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey Bond called to offer his theory on the demise of Benfica. Bond is owner of Flagstone Pavers in Brooksville and, he hastened to add, no relation to Larry Bond, operator of the grounded flight-certification school that I've written about several times.

He wanted to supply Benfica with pavers, Bond said, but the Ferreiras gave their business to another manufacturer that offered slightly lower prices and much lower quality. Their pavers were "absolute garbage," Bond said. Ironically, Flagstone has been hired to replace "dozens" of driveways installed by the other company.

Sticky pad reply

To Kristie in Daytona Beach: No response from Dustin Huffman of Sterling Tile about not showing up to complete the $21,000 renovation job in your home. No, you shouldn't have given him the final payment before the job was done. In retrospect, your statement, "I didn't think it was a problem since his ex-wife lives across the street," should have been a red flag.

Getting the runaround? E-mail Greg at gdawson@orlando sentinel.com; or call 407-420-5618; or write to Greg Dawson, Orlando Sentinel, 633 N. Orange Ave., MP-218, Orlando FL 32801. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/ consumerfile.

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'Man caves' inspired by three famous Marylanders are part of fall home ... - Baltimore Sun

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 04:56 PM PDT

'Man caves' inspired by three famous Marylanders are part of fall home show

Susan Reimer On Gardening

October 15, 2009

The fall Maryland Home, Garden & Living Show is traditionally about getting the home and garden ready for winter, the season of hibernation.

How perfect, then, to feature "man caves" - comfy, cozy spaces designed with the hibernating male in mind.

Three interior designers were asked to choose a Maryland man of distinction as inspiration for the design of a man cave. Paula Henry chose baseball icon Cal Ripken Jr.; Laura Kimball chose author Edgar Allan Poe; and Karen Walters chose filmmaker John Waters.

Their designs, executed in identical 12- by 20-foot sheds, will be on display beginning Friday during the show at Timonium Fairgrounds.

"Even though the Orioles are not so hot these days, Cal Ripken is legendary," said Henry of Simply Put Designs in Reisterstown.

Her design will capture the Orioles' colors in black and orange. There will be the requisite bar and big-screen television. And, of course, some Ripken memorabilia will be displayed on Henry's back-lit wall coverings, which will recall a baseball diamond.

Part of the challenge is time. The sheds went up Tuesday - studs and roof only. Wall, ceiling and floor treatments, plus electricity, have to be installed "before we even get to the fun stuff," said Henry.

Kimball of LCK Interiors in Perry Hall said Poe was the first Maryland man to come to mind, and she is executing a Ravens/"The Raven" theme in her man cave, complete with the colors of the football team and a four-stanza recasting of the famous poem.

"The poem is about a guy trapped watching a makeover show with his girlfriend, Lenore. He is dying for his own man cave where he can watch football."

The poem, which will be displayed outside the man cave, reads in part: "I need a space, a nest, a cave to watch the Ravens, I implore. This I ask and nothing more!"

The television in Kimball's design will be in a gilt picture frame - it is a mirror when turned off - and the tone of the room will be dark and somewhat Victorian. The only nod to modern times is an Andy Warhol version of Poe's portrait, replicated in shades of purple.

Walters, of Interior Designs by Grace in Linthicum Heights, is a huge John Waters fan and, although she has never met the filmmaker who put Baltimore on the cinematic map, she has grilled friends who have met him and been in his home.

She saw him interviewed in his living room and describes the space as "surprisingly traditional." She has tried to capture his style in her man cave.

"It will have a cigar room kind of feel, where he would entertain friends. John doesn't watch a lot of TV. He is more about going to the movies."

Waters, she said, has a thing for fake food, and it can be found all around his house. "There is going to be fake food in his man cave, too."

And a pink flamingo.

"He is such an interesting man to interpret," she said. "And of course there would be a pink flamingo."

The man caves are the centerpiece of the home show, but there is much more for the homeowner to see among more than 400 exhibitors: digital deadbolts - no keys required; lawn furniture made from recycled milk jugs; a spray resin that binds gravel in pathways so that it doesn't get kicked or washed away but still allows water to permeate; and an iPhone application to track the performance of your solar energy system from your phone.

In addition, celebrity antiques appraiser Dr. Lori will be on hand. Visitors are encouraged to bring her those mysterious family heirlooms and yard sale finds. Nearby, landscape designers will create 10 display gardens dressed in fall colors.

The Maryland Fall Craft Show will also be going on this weekend at the fairgrounds, featuring artists working in jewelry, pottery, wood and fabric, as well as painting, drawing and photography.

If you go

Maryland Home, Garden & Living Show (and Maryland Fall Craft Show). Maryland State Fairgrounds, York Road, Timonium. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission for adults is $9; seniors, $6; children ages 6-12, $3; and children younger than 6 are free. Active military, police and fire employees admitted free with I.D. Free parking. For more information, go to mdhomeandgarden.com or call 410-863-1180.

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Philippines brings eco-design ideas to the Japan Home and Building ... - PRLog (free press release)

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 08:54 PM PDT

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 25, 2009 – More than able to rise to the challenge of evolving consumer expectations is the Philippine delegation participating in this year's 31st Japan Home and Building Show on November 11-13, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

Considered the ultimate all-professional building and construction materials event in East Asia, the Philippines' 5th year participation to the event will showcase how the Philippine brand, already reputable for reliability, exquisite artistry, and competitive price and quality, is not only about its skilled mastery of crafts but is likewise geared towards environmental compliance and green ethics in the building and construction industry.

*Breathing new life into waste
Coast Pacific Manufacturing Corporation, recipient of the Department of Trade and Industry's highest recognition for top Filipino exporters – the Golden Shell Award – in 1993, achieves the "natural wood" look for its products via plastic extrusion, thereby reducing the demand for trees. Natural debris like fallen leaves and coconut shells are fossilized and laminated in order to come up with stone tiles and laminated panels, indoor and outdoor furniture, and various home furnishings that speak of their design, functionality, quality, and product guarantee.

Naturescast, the brand Nature's Legacy Eximport, Inc. (Golden Shell Awardee for 2004) is famously known for, is produced through patented material innovations that transform agro-forest debris into designs for furniture and home accessories, lawn and garden products, fashion accessories, footwear, architecture and interior designs, and packaging materials. Pete Delantar, President of Nature's Legacy, calls their advocacy as "regeneration… we put [these wastes] into good use and extend [their] life."

*Manufactured stones for the long-term
GT Stoneworks takes pride in its over 56 different profiles of manufactured stone wall claddings, with special emphasis on its distinct Zen designs that incorporate the peace and tranquility of nature. Also included in its lineup are concrete floor stamping systems, as well as "Turfworks" (artificial grass) for decorative purposes.

EZ Rocks Co., Inc. has been supplying for the manufactured stone veneer industry since 1997, and its name is indicative of the ease with which its lightweight products are installed. In look and touch, its engineered stones are perfect replicas of their natural stone counterparts and require all but minimal maintenance.

An experienced exporter to many parts of the globe, Piedra Systems, Inc. ensures that its manufacturing process does no harm to its workers and to the environment. "In manufacturing, we don't use fiberglass," explained Vice President Alan Guzman of Piedra, "because [it's] a carcinogenic material known to cause cancer, so we don't do that. [Instead] we use high-end polyurethane rubber, [which] lasts longer."

*Nature in furniture
Demex Rattancraft, Inc., established in 1977, makes rattan furniture with designs that range from the traditional to the contemporary. Its main export furniture products utilize wood laminated with round core, or wicker/rattan and wicker in combination with wrought iron. Having been exposed to international demand from the US, Europe, and Japan, Demex now embraces a trend towards simpler designs that speak of both elegance and utility.

Beauty begets beauty in the "Venus Way" of Venus Crafts Corporation, as it produces lovely furniture that brings into being sustainable livelihood for hundreds of poor families. For CEO and President Venus Genson, their "trash to cash business" makes use of indigenous materials such as wild vine, rattan, bamboo, seagrass, and coco twigs in their specifically designed furniture, wall tiles, and panels.

*Constantly innovating
Teresa Marble Corporation is a top exporter of high-quality marble products that include slabs, blocks, tiles, splitface materials, and fabricated stones, that are engineered with the use of the Diamond Cutting Technology it has pioneered in the Philippines. As a company that keeps up with new trends and techniques in handling marble, it is motivated by an ever-increasing eco-awareness in the form of tree plantings and quarterly environmental monitoring.

With high gloss retention and superior corrosive protection, Corro- Coat/ Chemrez Technologies Inc.'s powder coatings substitute for the environmentally harmful wet paint. An advocate of green chemistry, the company is working towards optimizing resources and minimizing waste. "We are IMS Certified," Edison See, Corro-Coat Senior Product Manager shared, "and we have removed dangerous chemicals and heavy metals from our processes. By this, we are gearing towards a safe environment."

Meanwhile, Nakayama Technology Corporation will bring its insulated exterior wall panels, dubbed "Eco-Wall" to the Show. Their services also include free graphic simulations that provide customers with digital previews of their newly renovated structures done using Eco-Wall.

*About the Philippine Participation

The Philippine participation is led by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), an export promotions agency of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). For better appreciation of Philippine-made building materials and home lifestyle products, please visit Pavilion No. 1H-03 located near Hall 1 entrance of the East Hall, Tokyo Big Sight.

For more information, please log on to www.citem.gov.ph/ jhbs2009 or contact the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) Industrial Goods and Services Division at (+632) 8311268 or 8312201 locals 257 and 227, or email industrial@citem.com.ph.

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More Than Just a Graveyard - Voiceof San Diego

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 04:22 PM PDT

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 | Cemeteries are supposed to be places for the dead, the grieving, and maybe a grizzled history buff or two.

But San Diego park officials want to try something new with the city's own Mt. Hope Cemetery. They're talking about turning it into a showcase for nature, history and art. The idea is to turn a little-known but historic piece of municipal property into a destination for the public at large.

A desert garden, public art and regular tours are being considered, along with a general makeover. "It would nice if it were a place that combined respect for those who are buried there with being a peaceful location within the city where people can get close to nature, enjoy a walk, and get some peace and quiet," said Clay Bingham, deputy director with the city Parks and Recreation Department, which runs the cemetery. "It becomes more than just a burial ground."

There are hitches. The desert garden, for one, would be created directly on top of the graves of 4,000 destitute dead people in a barren and forgotten section of Mt. Hope. Legally, the city must take care to avoid desecrating the graves, although they can remain; there's no talk of moving them.

And then there's the matter of money: cash-strapped San Diego faces a $179 million deficit, and the cemetery already loses an estimated $300,000 a year.

At the moment, costs are unclear. Still, Bingham said the city can move more quickly to embrace the desert garden along with new guided tours and public art. "What is important to us is to be respectful. If we can do these other things, it can be great," said Bingham, who cautioned that the plans are in their early stages and still need to go through an approval process.

For now, Mt. Hope Cemetery, which takes up 120 acres south of Market Street near Interstate 15, remains unknown to much of the public that subsidizes it.

Mt. Hope, one of the few municipal cemeteries in California that's run by a city, is home to about 79,000 permanent residents. Some 250-300 people join their numbers each year thanks to ongoing burials.

There are many famous names here from San Diego's past -- Horton, Jessops, Sessions, Marston. Some rest under elaborate Victorian-era monuments and others are remembered by only flat memorial plaques.

As recently as the 1950s, the cemetery was the only one in the city that refused to discriminate based on race or religion, and it retains a reputation as an inexpensive resting place. Until recently, the cemetery had another distinction: it served as the burial ground for the county's destitute dead.

Many indigent dead are buried under the cemetery's lawns, some three deep. But in decades past, about 4,000 were buried in a 10-acre dirt field hidden behind a hedge near the cemetery's entrance. Only a single grave has a marker; there's no other indication that anyone is buried here amid the weeds.

It's this section of Mt. Hope, ironically known as Evergreen Cemetery, that is being eyed as a future home for a desert garden.

Bingham, the parks official, said the very preliminary plan is to turn the dirt field into a desert garden similar to the one near Balboa Park's rose garden. An underground aquifer would provide irrigation, and the city could create partnerships with an environmental group or landscaping association to get it up and running, he said.

The plan "takes a part of the cemetery that looks disused and underappreciated and makes it a real focal point," he said.

There's a precedent for this sort of thing. About 30 years ago, the city took advantage of a state law regarding new uses for abandoned cemeteries and converted a run-down graveyard in Mission Hills into Pioneer Park, which now boasts grassy lawns, a playground and a few remaining headstones.

California state parks historian Alex Bevil, who occasionally leads tours of Mt. Hope, said any new plan for a desert garden shouldn't neglect the graves of hundreds of poor people.

"They're not Marston, they're not Horton, they're not Matthew Sherman or Kate Sessions," he said, referring to prominent San Diegans buried at Mt. Hope. "But they're still people who lived lives and died forgotten. We're responsible for those individuals in a way. No one else is. No one else basically cared for them."

Turning the dirt lot into a park may be legally challenging. Sue Silver, a California cemetery historian, said it must remain a cemetery because it is city-owned, and the graves cannot be desecrated. That means no dog park or baseball field on top of them.

A garden may be permissible, she said, but pathways cannot cover or obscure graves, even if they're not marked. "They have to treat the ground respectfully."

Back at the main Mt. Hope property, park officials are also thinking about another addition: public art. There's already one piece of non-cemetery-related art at Mt. Hope: an odd statue called "Our Lady of Shoes," which sits in a section of the cemetery that is home to many indigent dead, including immigrants who died while trying to cross the border.

Cemetery manager David Lugo wants to rotate pieces of public art in and out of the cemetery, Bingham said, perhaps in conjunction with new walking tours designed to help residents gain appreciation for the cemetery.

While it sounds unusual now, the idea of a cemetery as a destination for the general public has actually been around for some 170 years in the United States. Beginning around the 1830s, cemeteries moved outside city centers for reasons of public health and superstition -- their residents being dead and all -- and "rural" or "garden" cemeteries began to appear, said Marilyn Yalom, who writes about the history of cemeteries.

People would visit the cemeteries to experience nature and gawk at the monuments to the dearly departed ultra-rich. They'd even bring picnics. "There is a certainly precedent for the cemetery as a nature retreat," Yalom said.

As for public art, cemeteries have long been home to beautiful statues, artistic monuments and stained glass in crypts, Yalom said.

What's next for Mt. Hope? The city could move soon on plans to create the desert garden and bring in more public art, Bingham said.

But other improvements that cemetery manager Lugo proposed last summer may have to wait for money to appear, he said. They include a new entrance and new signs, wrought-iron fences, replacement of missing street signs, resurfaced roads and a walkway for the disabled near the entrance.

A tot lot at the cemetery is another possibility down the line, Bingham said. "This could create a place where the kids could enjoy themselves while the parents think about their loved ones."

For the time being, even without renovation Mt. Hope cemetery continues to offer its traditional blend of nature (eucalyptus and palm trees), public art (elaborate memorial monuments) and, of course, the past.

With the exception of a bit of noise from nearby roads and the trolley, which goes through the cemetery, Mt. Hope is a very peaceful place, historian Bevil said.

"You can stand by where Horton and Sherman and those others are," he said, "and you can actually see into downtown San Diego, which most of these guys are responsible for developing."

Randy Dotinga is a San Diego-based freelance writer. Contact him directly at rdotinga@aol.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga. And set the tone of the debate with a letter to the editor.

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Garden City man finds breast cancer not limited to women - Savannah Morning News

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 09:15 PM PDT

Tollie Fussell was almost embarrassed to say the words out loud.

Men didn't get breast cancer, the then-83-year-old Garden City man reasoned.

But a red bump a few inches from his left nipple seemed suspicious when it first appeared on his chest around Christmas 2006.

"At first, I did not bring the subject up to my wife or my friends," Fussell said.

The more he worried, the more he realized he needed to say something.

"I told my wife, 'I think I have breast cancer' around Christmas," he said.

A few days later, with his children and grandchildren gathered at their home on New Year's Day, he pulled aside his daughter-in-law, who is a nurse, and asked her to check something.

"I told her, 'I got something I want you to look at - I think I have cancer,'" he recalled. "But she said she didn't want to see it. She wanted to see me in the doctor's office Tuesday morning."

By the end of the first week in 2007, Fussell's fears were confirmed. What he had dubbed his "third nipple" was indeed breast cancer - and there were more cancer cells in the glands under his arm.

"The doctor asked me when I wanted to get it out," Fussell said. "And I told him as soon as possible."

A week later, he was recovering from a mastectomy on his left breast.

'Different types of issues'

The American Cancer Society estimates approximately 1,910 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the end of 2009. An estimated 440 will die from it. The number of cases accounts for less than 1 percent of all breast cancer patients.

By comparison, 192,370 women will be diagnosed with new cases of invasive breast cancer, and 40,170 will die from the disease this year.

"There are different types of issues for male patients," said Dr. O. George Negrea, a hematology and oncology specialist at the Lewis Cancer Care & Research Pavilion at St. Joseph's/Candler. "Typically in men, (breast cancer) is self-detected and self-reported."

And while women have become less hesitant to broach the subject of unusual lumps in their breasts, Negrea said male patients still tend to withhold abnormalities from their doctors.

As a result, by the time they are diagnosed, the cancer is often more developed.

"Men will generally come in with lesions," Negrea said.

While genetics can play a role in male breast cancer, Negrea said other factors could include men with an extra "X" chromosome, excessive breast tissue, liver and other hereditary cancer factors.

Surgery and chemotherapy

For Fussell, the diagnosis meant beginning chemotherapy as a follow-up to the mastectomy.

"I lost all my hair," he said. "Then I started losing my toenails and fingernails."

Doctors told him the chemotherapy drugs he was taking intravenously were the likely culprit. They said his nails would grow back, but three years later, his nails still haven't returned to their former shape.

"It don't bother me," he said. "They're just ugly to look at."

He counts himself fortunate: While undergoing chemo, he didn't struggle with nausea or fatigue like many do.

Doctors followed chemo with radiation.

But almost three years later, he is cancer-free - and isn't shy about sharing his experience with others. Especially other men.

He lifts his shirt for curious doctors fresh out of school who have never seen a male breast cancer survivor.

He tells his buddies to get checked if something looks off.

"It's not hereditary to my knowledge, although I know certain types of cancer are," he said. "It was real weird for me. I couldn't imagine it happening to me, particularly someone who had never been sick his whole life."

Fussell said he opted not to have the breast rebuilt with plastic surgery.

"Physically, it didn't bother me, but mentally, it did," he said. "I was afraid it would go to the other breast."

And he has become an advocate for cancer screening.

"He warns everybody he talks to," said Mary Fussell, his wife since 1994. "The good Lord was with us."

Tollie Fussell is a little more philosophical.

"I figure, at 86 years old, as long as I feel good, I'm fortunate," he said.

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Home and Garden Tips

Sunday, October 25, 2009