• Concrete 101

   Did you Know?

The first concrete block was molded in 1882.

The United States ranks third in cement production, after China and Japan.

Domestic consumption of cement exceeds production, requiring a reliance on imports.

Ancient Romans used a mixture remarkably like modern concrete to build roads and aqueducts, as well as such landmarks as the coliseum, the Roman Baths and the Pantheon’s 140-foot-diameter poured-concrete dome.5.  The cost of shipping concrete is so high that production usually occurs no more than 200 miles from the construction site.

The manufacture of cement – one of the key ingredients in concrete – is a very capital-intensive and high-tech process.

At its height, the ancient Roman Empire had more miles of concrete roads than the United States Interstate highway system.

By adding animal blood to their concrete mixture, the ancient Romans achieved an effect very much like the air-entrainment of modern concrete.

Modern cement was patented in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, who experimented by burning finely ground chalk, clay and lime in his kitchen.

Included among Thomas Edison’s more than 1,000 patents is the invention of a concrete house, a concrete phonograph cabinet, as well as one of the first rotating cement kilns.

Attitude 101:
What Every Leader
Needs to Know

by John C. Maxwell

One of my favorite Authors is John Maxwell and one of his easy reads is Attitude 101, 97 short pages on how life is 10% of what is dealt to us and 90% of how we react to it.

Daily we all face challenges and we have a choice in life as the saying goes to make lemonade out of lemons or become a sour puss. 

Attitude 101 shares stories of those that have overcome great diversity through keeping a positive attitude.  The book shares quotes, tips to help you with your attitude and also recognize how someone else’s attitude can affect an outcome.

There is a whole chapter on how obstacles in life can actually enhance an attitude.  One of his quotes are “The greatest battle you wage against failures occurs on the inside, not the outside”

Maxwell goes through the seven benefits of adversity:

• Adversity creates resilience

• Adversity develops maturity

• Adversity pushes the envelope of accepted performance

• Adversity provides greater opportunity

• Adversity prompts innovation

• Adversity brings unexpected benefits

• Adversity motivates

It has been exciting for me to see how many of my clients are motivated, getting creative and excited about the challenges out there verses overwhelmed with them as others are.  The unexpected benefits they are seeing from their positive attitudes are helping them to sustain the bottom line.  I hope this book and our encouragement at FLCC will help you to do the same.

Suzanne Breistol

Architectural Record have just featured their annual ‘Unbuilt Houses‘ series showcasing some very interesting concept designs of green & sustainable residential single-family dwellings.

Some of these projects may remain speculative, while others will rise this year. The mkSolaire will be built and featured in the “Smart Home: Green + Wired” exhibition that opened in Chicago on May.  The Sycamore House is currently under construction on a ridge in Southern California. When completed, one will be able to stand on the house’s green roof and take in stunning views of mountains and the ocean.

Browse through the designs and tell us your favorite.

Have you ever had the same information to enter in multiple cells in MS Excel?

What did you do? Did you type the data into one cell and then copy and paste it everywhere else in the worksheet? How would you like a way to get the data into all of those cells simultaneously? You know, a method that doesn't require all the copy/paste.

There are two ways to do this:

To enter the same data into multiple adjacent cells, simply type the data, place your mouse on the right left bottom corner of the cell until you see a black plus sign.  Drag your mouse up to the cell you want to copy the data, vertically or horizontally. Once you release the mouse, your data is copied. See the example below:

To enter the same data into multiple non-adjacent cells, simply select the cells while holding down the Ctrl key. With all of the cells still selected, type in your data. When the data is typed, all you have to do is to hit Ctrl + Enter simultaneously.  See the example below:

That's all it takes to avoid a whole lot of copy/paste time. A simple drag of the mouse or a little Ctrl with your Enter key and you've mastered the art of putting data into many cells instead of just one!