It seems every time you turn around there is another social media platform that becomes an indispensable marketing tool (AKA time sink) for business. The newest rage is Pinterest. Pinterest is a virtual scrapbooking system.

Last fall purchased an electronic reader. A nook color from Barnes and Noble. I had resisted for a while, after all, you can’t turn the pages. One of the reasons (justifications/rationalizations) was it might be a novel way to engage the kids with reading. In reality, I decided I just wanted it! Isn’t that enough?

Vampire Power. This is not an affirmative action slogan for the creatures of the night that populate the Twilight or True Blood series, but the name for a very real and expensive drain on budgets.

Every now and again, I am asked about “smart house” technology. It is a discussion I’ve followed through the years, sometimes with interest, sometimes with amusement.

Accounting for approximately 20% of our national electrical usage, lighting is one of the most critical and difficult parts of a design.