Posted by Nicole on Monday, 25 October 2010
Tags: : garage door – garage doors – garage door opener – garage door repair – garage door replacement – garage door installation – garage door service – garage door prices
Banks are usually in the business of making money by lending money for interest and fees. These bank loans take the form of mortgages that help people buy their own garages with garage doors, or home equity loans that help people make home improvements like garage door replacement. But TD Ameritrade and sister company TD Bank spent the summer raising money for the Special Olympics, this time to give it out rather than lend it for interest and fees.
The Special Olympics provide Olympic sports for differently-abled persons to compete. Competing in the Special Olympics instead of the regular Olympics helps even the playing field. The Special Olympics is a non-profit charitable foundation designed to run the games. It relies on donations, corporate sponsorship, and volunteers to survive.
TD Bank and TD Ameritrade recognized the need for support and funding that the Special Olympics constantly struggles with and spent the summer trying to raise more than $1 million United States Dollars (USD). The financial institutions encouraged employees to donate, and encouraged clients to donate as well. Employees also signed up to work the upcoming Special Olympics, providing a badly needed volunteer team to help pull the whole thing off. At the end of the drive, TD Bank and TD Ameritrade had raised well over the goal of $1 million USD.
This is actually the second annual TD Bank and TD Ameritrade fundraiser for the Special Olympics. The fundraiser is titled “Be a Fan!” and both institutions sold bracelets at their brick and mortar locations. The proceeds from the bracelet sales go to the Special Olympics.
Some may argue that the sister companies are only raising money for charity to get the positive PR in a time when banks and other financial institutions are viewed unfavorably by the general public. True charity vaunteth not itself, but does it really matter what the reason behind the fundraiser and volunteer drive is? Over $1 million USD was given, and over 2600 volunteers donated time and energy. That’s impressive charity work, regardless of what the motives might be.
For the employees who donated time and money, and the clients who purchased bracelets and put money in cans, as well as for the people whom the Special Olympics serves, the motive is pure and true. Helping people enjoy lifetime achievements while furthering a cause for research is not a bad thing. True, all that good PR is not a bad thing either. It likely has driven more business to the bank, allowing it to lend out more money at lower interest rates for more people to buy their own garage doors.
Posted by Richard on Thursday, 14 October 2010
Tags: : garage door – garage doors – garage door opener – garage door repair – garage door replacement – garage door installation – garage door service – garage door prices
The World Equestrian Games were recently held at the Kentucky Horse Park, outside of Lexington, Kentucky. This was the first time that these games had been held outside of Europe, although there have been various equestrian games held at the Kentucky Horse Park since it first opened. Specifically, the ROLEX Three Day Equestrian event that is held annually in the late Spring.
Holding the games at the Kentucky Horse Park shows that Kentucky offers more than just Thoroughbred racing, although the horse racing is a foundation of the Lexington economy.
The Lexington, Kentucky area is one of the places around the world where horse barns and carriage houses are still used primarily to house horses rather than having been converted to garages or apartments. In many areas of the world, the old fashioned stable and carriage house have been wired for electricity and the stable door is now a garage door, complete with automatic garage door opener.
But Kentucky is rightfully proud of its equine industry and heritage. Man of War is buried at the Kentucky Horse Park. It is from the horse farms and breeders around Lexington that many of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown winners were born. Fabled farms such as Calumet are sprinkled along the roads around Lexington, complete with the storybook white fences. Keeneland race track offers Spring and Fall racing as well as the auctions of horses, where the next Kentucky Derby winner may only be a few million dollars away for the speculative horseman.
But having the Horse Park also allows Kentucky to display its heritage with all the other equestrian games such as dressage, show jumping, and vaulting among other events. Because of the nature of the contestants who appear at events like the World Equestrian Games, the folks around Lexington are often visited by royalty, European and Middle Eastern, Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses.
The next time someone visits a place where a stable or carriage house has been converted into a garage or an apartment, the next time they open what was formerly the carriage door that was converted to a garage door, that person should pause for a bit and think about the connection between the present day garage door and the past life as a carriage house door. They should think about how the horse, although not a working animal today, is still so much a part of the everyday life. Even though cars and garages have replaced the horse and carriage and stable, folks still talk about “horsepower” as the ultimate measure of the power of the vehicle. When they open the garage door, they should think about the days when the work was just starting when the horse had entered the stable and the carriage had been stowed.
Posted by Richard on Thursday, 07 October 2010
Tags: : garage door – garage doors – garage door opener – garage door repair – garage door replacement – garage door installation – garage door service – garage door prices, tornadoes, NYC, Manhattan
There was a possible tornado in New York City the other day. The storm it came from was powerful enough that tornado warnings were issued.
New York City is not the place people first think about for a tornado. That is reserved for places like the plains of Texas or Oklahoma first and foremost. Other areas that get tornadoes are throughout the Midwest and South. The news shows and The Weather Channel are frequently showing stories of tornado damage and even occasionally have videos of actual tornadoes destroying garages and homes and businesses. In areas that have a lot of tornadoes, it is frequently more than just a damaged garage door. If it is only a garage door that has been damaged, it may well not be a tornado causing the damage, although sever thunderstorms can cause large amounts of damage even without the tornado accompanying the storm.
Depending on where in New York City a tornado might touch down, there may well not be any garage doors damaged by a tornado. A tornado that might touch down on the island of Manhattan could cause tremendous amounts of damage but damage few standard garage doors. But a tornado touching down somewhere like Queens or Staten Island might not cause as much damage but may well damage a few garage doors.
Weather itself can cause all sorts of damage to garage doors all over the country. Some areas the damage might be caused by the tornadoes while other areas the damage might be caused by snow or hurricanes or wind or sleet and ice. Because of the different weather conditions all over the country, the garage door needs are different all over the country. The garage door style used in California is probably not something that would be used in New York City or Boston or Philadelphia. If for no other reason than most people would want their garage door to match the architectural style of the rest of the area they are living in. The garage doors in places like Minneapolis of Fargo are probably not going to look the same as the garage doors in places like Phoenix or San Diego. Honolulu has different styles than Anchorage. But the differences are really just cosmetic as the basics for the garage door are going to be the same no matter where in the country the garage is located.
