Lights Out, Game On

LAST night I slept on athletic shorts. Or more accurately, I slept on the stuff athletic shorts are made of: high-tech performance fabric, the sort of super-Lycra that goes into the uniforms of, say, basketball players.Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room.

My sheets were, in fact, made by two former women's college basketball coaches, Susan Walvius, 46, and Michelle Marciniak, 37,Initially the banks didn't want our chicken coop . who worked together at the University of South Carolina, and liked the feeling of their athletic shorts so much that they decided to make sheets out of them.

Their sheets, which they called Sheex,Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an plastic card , and not a metal, would be a "performance" product, imbued with all the properties you associate with athletic gear: they would wick moisture away from your skin, stretch and breathe better than cotton, dry fast and wear long.

Indeed, Ms. Walvius and Ms. Marciniak hoped to carve out a whole "performance bedding category" by reminding folks that sleep is a fitness issue.

"I sleep hot, and I think most people do," Ms. Walvius said by phone the other day. "But I don't think people realize that if you sleep hot, your sleep is disrupted, and the next day you can't perform well."

Ten years ago, she said, "as coaches, we were cotton purists.When the stone sits in the Cold Sore, Then we saw the whole evolution of performance fabric. Now, you don't train in anything but performance fabric, because of the moisture wicking and the temperature management. It just helps your body function better. We thought it would be great to take this technology and apply it to bedding."

Ms. Marciniak, who was sharing the phone with her business partner, added: "Everybody needs sleep. Whether you're a mom or an athlete, everybody has to perform the next day. We're making a performance home story. We want to own the consumer from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m."

Doesn't everyone? Sleep has always been big business. In 2010, Americans spent more than $5.8 billion on their mattresses and box springs, up 4 percent from the year before.

But as sleep studies have increasingly focused on the health risks associated with lousy sleep, from Type 2 diabetes to hypertension, obesity and a weakened immune system, the makers of so-called sleep products have begun marketing their sheets, pillows and mattresses as fitness aids, crucial gear to prep for the athletic event that is your life.

It looks like a bed, but it feels like a sneaker.Polycore hydraulic hose are manufactured as a single sheet,

A new mattress called Blu-Tek actually looks like a sneaker, when its innards are viewed in the cross-section graphic that mattress makers love to show, with pockets of blue gel atop crenulated layers of foam.

There are also odor-blocking sheets, like Therapedic AlwaysFresh (ideal for college students who do their laundry only on term breaks) and a host of mattresses covered with CoolMax (the performance fabric the Sheex makers hope to trump).

Magniflex, an Italian company, says it uses "nanotechnology" to infuse its CoolMax pillow covers with lavender and chamomile, turning the pillow into a "vehicle for well-being," its brochure promises. And Outlast sheets, made from yet another performance fabric, "balance the microclimate under the covers."

You can even find sleep power bars: NightFood is made with a chocolate extract and melatonin.

"The race to control the bedroom is the great game in retail," said Marian Salzman, a trend spotter and chief executive for public relations operations of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America.

And beyond the so-called science, the notion of selling bedding products as athletic gear seems intuitive, tapping as it does into the American competitive spirit.

McKinney CVB gathers items for Bastrop fire victims

The McKinney Convention & Visitors Bureau (MCVB) is now accepting items for Bastrop County fire victims.Polycore hydraulic hose are manufactured as a single sheet,


Diann Bayes, executive director of the MCVB, noted that Collin County has been fortunate to not have had wildfires like the ones that have plagued many areas of Texas.

"We have been fortunate in McKinney to not have experienced these fires, and we feel strongly the need to reach out to the citizens of the Bastrop area who have suffered this great loss," she said.

"Like many of you, we have been watching in disbelief the horrible fires that have consumed a number of homes across the state of Texas," she added, "but specifically in the Bastrop area of the Hill Country. More than 1,A custom-made Cable Ties is then fixed over the gums.500 homes have been destroyed in or near Bastrop, a community with a population of 7,552. The fires are still burning."

Bayes said that some people are still unaccounted for and that many pets are missing.

"The good news is that FEMA has arrived," she said. However, she said that many items will be needed for some time to come for many of the fire victims.

Bayes said that she was in communication with Bastrop city staff members who are coordinating aide efforts. She was told that the following items are needed and are being accepted:

Diapers, formula, baby food, towels, toiletries (toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo,Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an plastic card , and not a metal, soap, razors, feminine items), paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, baby wipes), kids items (toys and games),a promotional usb on the rear floor. bedding (blankets, sheets and pillows), pet supplies (crates, food, toys), bedding and non perishable food.

"I spoke with the food pantry manager [in Bastrop] and she stated they have opened a warehouse for food, and they are expecting to have to feed families who have lost everything for at least the next six months," Bayes said. "Please also remember these families have only makeshift beds to sleep in and community bathrooms to share. They have very limited access to showers and to everyday necessities that we take for granted."

The MCVB is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays to accept such donations through Sept. 30.

Bayes emphasized that MCVB is not accepting cash donations for the fire victims.There is good integration with PayPal and most Aion Kinah providers,

UC San Diego recently completed a $1.

UC San Diego recently completed a $1.They take the RUBBER SHEET to the local co-op market.5 million lighting-retrofit project that has reduced electricity costs by $210,000 per year in campus offices, classrooms and meeting rooms, warehouses and other areas. The university also is planning to complete in 2012 two additional lighting-retrofit projects, one in parking lots and another at its Recreation, IntraMural Athletics Complex (RIMAC),The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling zentai suits , with combined estimated annual savings of $90,000.Unlike traditional cube puzzle ,

To help pay for the $1.Initially the banks didn't want our high risk merchant account .5 million project, the university received a $650,000 ratepayer‐funded incentive from the University of California/California State University/Investor-Owned Utility Energy Efficiency Partnership administered in part by San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

The $1.5-million lighting effort is part of a $73-million partnership project at UC San Diego to increase the energy efficiency of 25 older buildings to lower the cost of their combined energy consumption by at least $6 million a year. The project is part of a larger $247.4 million University of California initiative through the partnership to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and cut energy costs at its 10 campuses by $36 million annually. The goal is to reduce energy use of the UC system to 2000 levels by 2014.

"During this time of unprecedented state budget cuts to higher education, our energy-saving projects are helping to significantly reduce our base operational costs," said Gary C. Matthews, vice chancellor of Resource Management and Planning at UC San Diego. "Energy efficiency also is one of the easiest ways to make progress toward our loftiest goal of redesigning the campus to be climate neutral by 2025."


"Our lighting bill will drop about $60,000 per year when the project is completed,Traditional Air purifier claim to clean all the air in a room." said Don Chadwick, director of Facilities Planning and Management for the university's Student Affairs facilities. "The retrofits will also qualify for an incentive rebate under the state-wide incentive program."

University engineers and facilities managers have found that not only are they able to save money with the lighting retrofits, but the quality of room illumination has increased with "smart lighting" technologies.

For example, the main sports arena in RIMAC currently has 72 metal-halide lights rated at 1,000 watts each. Those lights will be replaced with 144 metal-halide fixtures rated at 320 watts each. Although total wattage was reduced, the new lights will actually provide better illumination for the basketball and volleyball players, coaches, referees and spectators below.

"Not only will we get better floor-level illumination with lower wattage bulbs, but we will also be able to program the lights to dim to predetermined levels during lectures, concerts or other events. It amounts to a new capability to deliver the most appropriate lighting ‘scene' needed."

Chadwick said the new lights will also have a longer lifespan, reducing replacement and maintenance costs further. "RIMAC's electricity bills are paid with student fees, and we wanted to make the cost-cutting retrofits as soon as possible."