I came across a quote which I thought apropos to the mass hysteria which seems to have gripped our society.
“Adversity in life is a great gift- if you have the wisdom to see it and the strength to use it.”
Alan
Tanglewood Conservatories Home > Blog
March 27, 2009
March 25, 2009
Walter’s Paintings on Display
Our good friend, Walter Smalling, a very well known architectural photographer started a second career a few years ago. He has become a serious painter spending most of his summers at his cottage in Maine painting scenes around and about the coastal area where he lives.
His paintings will be featured in a new show titled “Out of the Mist” which will be at the Krause Gallery at Moses Brown Academy in Providence, Rhode Island starting April 16th.
The gallery is located at 250 Lloyd Avenue and is open M-F 8-4
Walter is responsible for the wonderful photographs of Tanglewood conservatories, greenhouses and pool enclosures over the years.
If you are near Providence, stop by the gallery and see his work.
Alan
March 14, 2009
Odd window goes along with conservatory project
Here is a picture of a very odd window which some of our shop guys just finished building. Notice that none of the corners are 90 degree right angles! It is not an optical illusion. This would not be all that odd- except that the window opens. It is very difficult to make an operable window that does not have a regular geometry.
The top edge of this window follows the roofline of a dormer, the lower edge follows the roofline of the main house below and the short side and the side opposite it are parallel to each other.
The window is part of a shipment of windows that went along with one of our conservatory projects, but was for a different part of the house.
The client chose Tanglewood for the project in part because of our ability and willingness to tackle difficult, unusual requests such as the above window. This window took several attempts and many design changes before we could get it to work properly.
The discovery and invention of new things is one of the parts of our business that I like the most. Whether it is a funky window or a very different conservatory design or a new way of manufacturing that is more efficient, the process of continually inventing and improving upon what we do here at Tanglewood is very exciting for me.
There is of course a certain amount of risk that a company wanting to pursue a more conservative path would not incur. Sometime we get bitten, but not often. Over the years we’ve learned how to approach the unusual and we gathered people around us who share our interest and vision.
Not long ago, a potential client who wanted a really unusual greenhouse expressed his concern because we candidly admitted that we had not done anything like it before. I told him “we had never done anything like it before- but we do it all the time”. He understood what I meant- that we do what we’ve never done before all the time and he could see that we know how to do it!
Impressed with our work, which he could clearly see had the quality he was looking for, he gave us the job. Skeptical at first, he is now one of our most ardent proponents.
I hope we never stop “doing what we’ve never done before” here at Tanglewood. Many of our customers and friends do as well.
Alan
March 9, 2009
What Elizabeth said
Elizabeth Spurry, a friend of ours who is an excellent financial/investment adviser here in Easton, had some insightful suggestions for would-be investors recently. She is Senior Vice President at Wye Financial & Trust, and though her remarks mainly concerned investment strategies, I thought they were applicable to much more.
She made these points:
1. Understand from the beginning that success is attained by the minority. It is not common, and won’t be achieved by following our natural likes, preferences and prejudices.
2. In the sales profession, we don’t like to call on people who don’t want to see us and talk to them about something they don’t want to talk about. You could apply this to many work areas, especially managing people in times of change.
3. Successful people are influenced by the desire for pleasing results. Failures are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with the results that are obtained by doing the things they like to do.
4. Successful people have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don’t like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish.
5. When a successful person goes into a slump, don’t talk to them about production, talk about purpose, and they will pull out of the slump faster.
I think these principles can be applied to far more than just the work areas of our lives. I think that the ability to do what ever is required regardless of whether you like it or not or whether it is agreeable to our nature or not, is one of the chief requirements of a happy, satisfying existence on this earth.
Thanks for the tip Elizabeth,
Alan
March 1, 2009
Alan joins MTES advisory board
I was recently asked to join the advisory board of the Maryland Technology Extension Service (MTES), which operates through the University of Maryland’s James Clark School of Engineering.
MTES is part of the group of MTECH (Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute) Partnerships which were set up to leverage university innovation for the benefit of Maryland companies. There is an array of programs which include the Hineman CEO’s undergraduate program, MIPS- a research assistance program for company competiveness, TAP- an incubator for technology based start-ups and Venture Accelerator- a mentorship program for students and faculty. There is also a program called BIOTECH for Bio scale up, technical assistance and training as well as undergraduate research programs and sponsorships of productivity and quality awards.
A number of their programs are open to the general public including a great lecture series of which the upcoming special lecture is of interest.
March 4, 6-7 p.m.: Special Guest Lecturer and Inventor Michael Levine: My 50-Year Journey: From the Atlas Missile to the Invention of the Tivo Mike Levine holds more than 78 patents, among them: programmable thermostat, Tivo, LEV water distillation, PC, and microprocessor. His most recent patent applications include: a non-stop train, automatic thermostat that senses one’s needs, and a new electric car. Mr. Levine is also the founder of several businesses, including Ann ArborTerminals, Sycor, Ann Arbor Leasing, and Quad Six. He is also a five-time North American Bridge Champion.
Location: 1107 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building.
For would-be entrepreneurs, there is an upcoming open house on March 10, 10 a.m.-noon: Free, Open Entrepreneur Office Hours for University of Maryland Students, Faculty and Staff, and Regional Entrepreneurs with Tech-Based Startups or Ideas Mtech is hosting free office hours to help aspiring and current entrepreneurs with tech-based startups or ideas get advice on how to:
* build and finance a startup company
* develop and protect intellectual property
* navigate the technology transfer process
* refine your business strategy for rapid growth
* tap into other entrepreneurial resources
Representatives from the following organizations and groups are typically on hand to speak with you one-on-one regarding any questions you might have about starting a company:
* Mtech VentureAccelerator Program
* Mtech Technology Advancement Program
* Office of Technology Commercialization
* Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship
* Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center
* Experienced Entrepreneurs
* Representatives from the following investment and grant organizations are also often on campus to participate in Entrepreneur Office Hours or other Mtech events for new ventures: RedShift Ventures , New Markets Growth Fund, Amplifier Venture Partners, LP, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, HIG Ventures, LLC, Grotech, Maryland Venture Fund, and TEDCO
Location: Room 1103, Technology Advancement Program building. www.mtech.umd.edu