Ingrid's Garden - Article

INGRID’S GARDEN: A Natural Beauty
By Sara Pentz

Creating a garden is like painting a canvas with broad three-dimensional brush strokes. Each garden has its own vitality, nature and style, thoroughly beholden to the purpose of the painter.

We found this sweet explosion of Earth tucked away near the coastline in Laguna Beach. It is a joyously dense and rambling landscape. Yet, it is pruned and orderly in its own fashion. It displays a subtle blend of secret pathways and formal outdoor garden rooms. One longs to thrust full face into the roses just to see if there’s some precious animal succumbing to the fragrances beneath while bees and butterflies flutter and romp overhead. In fact, two doves built a tangled nest to share their own safe haven in this garden.

Interior Designer Ingrid Kristensen created this breathtaking abundance out of a crumbling ruin and her fertile imagination. In the mid-nineties she inherited this half-century-old Oceanside cottage, a shell of its former self. Bare and broken its fate seemed deathly certain. In her mind’s eye, however, she envisioned a worldly life for its future.

Ingrid herself built this old forsaken house from ground up into a Southern California home to rival coastline mansions. Its interior is a blend of European 17^th, 18^th and 19^th century furnishings, each piece a memento from another life. The gently worn upholstery fabrics and antique designs inside repeat the quiet colors and delicate shapes of the garden out of doors. And in some extraordinary way, the inside complements the outside of this carefully crafted house as one room flows into another and then ventures outside to repeat that pattern.

She tore out walls to widen interiors and opened windows to the sunlight. She shattered old concrete paving to let the ground breathe. Against a backdrop of deep sepia rust and golden hues she planted ivy as a warm blanket over outside walls and around doorframes. Snow-white roses, amethyst, azure, crimson blossoms, and emerald, jade and lime-tinted greenery proliferate and waft in rhythm with the seaside breezes.

She worked it all by hand according to her vision. She tenderly planted a profusion of vegetation and let the passion of each plant grow up according to its own plan. Like a Plein Air painting, this home and garden capture shimmering light and soft shadows on a gentle palate that reflects the character of the artist.

This is what makes Ingrid’s garden so engaging.

Eliminating Sofware Downtime - Press Release

In The Business of Eliminating Software Downtime…….
WINMOORE, INC. PARTNERS WITH TWO NEW SOFTWARE COMPANIES
TO ENHANCE APPLICATION MANAGEMENT AND CRM SOLUTIONS

An estimated 40% of unplanned downtime is due to application failure – according to Gartner Research.

(Huntington Beach, CA -- June 2003) Winmoore, Inc. has added two new partnership tools to its quality assurance resources in order to enhance customized software and prevent application failure for its client base. With these tools Winmoore will be able to configure and personalize a company’s standards, systems and methodologies - and thus maximize functionality, efficiency and profits.

Winmoore has added to its partnering program a highly sophisticated application manager and the most efficient technological monitor for quality assurance on the market. This new technology, the brainchild of PATH Communication, is called P.A.M. - Path Application Manager. P.A.M. has a learning capability that provides automatic problem detection and notification without manual configuration. If events fall outside the norm, configurable alerts and recovery procedures are initiated - at the same time that detailed logs of degrading processes are being captured for investigation and analysis.

Equally important, Winmoore has now partnered with Soffront Software Inc., a pioneer in the CRM market whose core product is software defect tracking. This enterprise-wide CRM tool allows Winmoore to implement solutions for marketing, sales-force automation, customer support, defect tracking, asset management, RMA tracking and portal applications, among others. In addition Winmoore’s use of this tool will assist clients by accelerating their productivity, reducing implementation and maintenance costs, hastening user adoption, minimizing risk of failure and increasing customer loyalty.

Exlains Winmoore’s President/CEO Bruce Winsatt: “Our clients expect to reduce downtime, lower costs, increase efficiencies, and improved customer satisfaction. By incorporating P.A.M. and Soffront Software into our system of quality assurance tools we continue to be a dynamic force in our field.” Under Winsatt’s unusual expertise and guidance, Winmoore clients can only become more productive and prepared for the anticipated growth of business across the Internet.

These two cutting edges software programs, Soffront Software CRM technology and P.A.M.’s behavior management (ABM) technology, will dramatically reduce the ever-increasing number of software errors that are costing the national economy nearly $60 billion annually. An estimated 40% of unplanned downtime is due to application failure – according to Gartner Research.

Both of these programs will give Winmoore a competitive edge in quality assurance management. P.A.M.’s application behavior management platform and Soffront’s broad and fully integrated suite of CRM applications significantly lower the total cost of customizing software applications. As a result, each technology cuts application failure severity and frequency, and benefits companies that extend their enterprise-leveraging Web services.

“With the anticipated continued growth of the Internet, every company expecting to increase Web business should have access to these programs,” adds Winsatt. “The business that does not integrate our services, including these two tools, into its programming from the ground up, is not properly assessing its future. Off the shelf programs cannot compare to the customizing services Winmoore provides - because their application failure rate is almost as high as the industry standard.”

About Winmoore, Inc.

Winmoore was founded on the principles of helping companies develop, integrate and support quality in their products. Winmoore is in the business of taking the downtime out of business and putting the product control in the hands of its clients.

For almost two decades, Winmoore, Inc. has been providing quality assurance and process solutions that strengthen the capability, reliability and predictability of software products. The company has consulted with startup companies as well as leading companies in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, public safety, aircraft, telecommunications and online catalogue order and distribution.

Specifically, the company provides services for software-controlled products particularly those regulated by the FDA.

Winmoore has a 100% success rate problem-solving innovative devices on the way to market. One hundred percent of the companies implementing Winmoore’s methodologies continue using them today. Winmoore also has a100% completion rate and a zero rate of recall.

Our clients include Beckman Coulter, Organon Teknika, Cardiac Science, ScriptPro LLC, TRW, Inc., and the Los Angeles Police Department.

About Bruce Winsatt

Bruce Winsatt, President/CEO of Winmoore, Inc., has had an enterprising 17-year career developing high-tech solutions in the biomedical, aerospace and business arenas. He has comprehensive software quality assurance experience and is proficient at incorporating methodologies to increase product reliability and predictability.

As an architect of the art and science of quality assurance and product development, Bruce brings his expertise, diversity in products and industry, and problem solving techniques to the work done by Winmoore, Inc.

Bruce has first hand working knowledge of FDA regulations. He has assisted in the development of the AAMI training seminar for Software Validation – Requirements and Industry Practice, and is an instructor at the university level for a course in Software Development for Medical Devices.

For further information, please contact Bruce Winsatt, 714.596.0995. bruce@winmoore.com www.winmooreqa.com Winmoore, Inc., 419 Main Street, Suite 216, Huntington Beach, CA 92648.

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A September 11th Remembrance Poster - Press Release

NOTED PHOTOGRAPHER CLIFF WASSMANN CAPTURES
OUR ‘HEART’ AT THE TOWER OFLIGHTS
A ‘September 11^th’ Remembrance Poster
www.artseek.com/newsroom

(Dana Point, CA -- October 2002) Southern California Photographer Cliff Wassmann’s stunning photograph of the Tower of Lights, taken on the last day they lit up the sky, is featured in a dramatic “Remembrance” poster honoring the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

A collection of printing companies led by PSG, Printing Services of Greensboro, North Carolina, offers the poster free to the public. Wassmann has graciously donated his photograph.

If a photographer ever put his heart into a work, this photograph reveals the emotional passion experienced as he waited through the dark of night to capture this charismatic last photograph of the tribute lights. Shot in an early morning mist, the Tower of Lights reached toward the sky and somehow magically carved a heart-like figure against the clouds overhead.

When Wassmann traveled back to New York in April to photograph the twin beams of light that had been illuminated for the six month anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he wasn’t expecting to create an image that was any different than those done by thousands of other photographers who sought to preserve the event. But on the final night the lights were illuminated – and the only night they stayed lit all night – a light rain began falling and by 1:00 a.m. beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, Wassmann found himself alone waiting for the right moment to click his shutter. The clouds and rain helped form the stunning image, with the faint shape of a heart at the apex as the lights gently caressed the clouds. “When I saw the image,” says Wassmann, “I found it deeply poignant. It became a doubly symbolic final tribute, allowing our hearts to reach out and communicate love to all those who suffered in this tragic 9/11 event.”

“The lights made a powerful statement on several levels,” adds Wassmann. “During wartime cities were told to turn down the lights and what does New York do? It sets up the brightest lights in the country, a beacon that could be seen from 20 miles away! It was, at once, a defiant gesture and spiritual recognition of the lives lost. I believe it was the most important piece of public art ever installed.”

Thanks to Wassmann and a group of businesses and printers in the Greensboro area, PSG will print some 80,000 posters. The posters will be offered through September 11or until the limited quantity is depleted.

The “Remembrance” poster will be available at Wassmann Fine Arts, located at 34118 Pacific Coast Hwy. #1, Dana Point, CA. Visitors may pick up a poster beginning Aug. 15 and see Wassmann’s exquisite collection of photographs of the memorial at his studio/gallery.

Wassmann’s photographs and paintings can be seen at www.artseek.com/wfa.

Please contact Cliff Wassmann, Photographer/Artist at 888-278-7335, 949-240-8721. 34118 Pacific Coast Hwy. #1, Dana Point, CA 92629, USA. Digital copies of the image can be down loaded by the press at http://aku-aku.com/download.

PSG’s Web site: www.psg4u.com,

Printing Impressions Magazine’s Article: http://www.piworld.com/doc/275501955826713.bsp

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Illuminating Life - Article

ILLUMINATING LIFE
By Sara Pentz

Reality prevents man from changing the configuration of a rectangle. It is only at the hand of the artist that the edges of this harsh shape may be made soft, flowing and curvilinear. Architects have grappled with this issue for thousands of years. The best have molded solid materials, structural design and their imagination to fulfill that ‘miracle’. Such is the case with the home of Tom and Joan Riach in Newport Beach.

Faced with the problem of building their home on a confining ‘railroad like’ rectangular piece of property, deep and narrow, potentially dark and gloomy, with a spectacular watery view at one end and the street at the other, they wanted the interior to be all light and airy. They found a man who could magically transform that hard-edged, four-sided figure into a pool of light and considerable space by tricking the eye. Using semi-circled walls, ceilings that climb to the sky, cubicles and a rotunda, his design for the Riach home won him fame and respect.

Built on a solid piece of ground on an Isle in Newport Bay, this house is like the beacon of an oceanic lighthouse. Its stark white facade shimmers in the sun making its exterior configuration appear lightweight in design and surprisingly beckoning. Inside, the imposing three-story rotunda dominates the center of the home, rising in a column to a circular diamond-shaped skylight that invites the outdoor natural light to stream in, and bounce around and over rooms like a beach ball on the sand.

And, in reverse, sunlight travels in unbroken lines downward through the skylight to the basement through the hollow carved in the rotunda by the floating, steel reinforced, spiral staircase. A ‘suspension bridge’ connects the two third floor guest bedrooms on the street side of the house to the master bedroom on the ocean side allowing rooms furthest from the white glare of the Bay to echo in its radiance. Two opera house-like balconies, work areas - an office and an exercise room, - are seemingly poised in space.

Everything about this home is expansive. Nothing, it seems, is physically separated. It is open and unencumbered. It is all encompassing. It is graceful and uplifting. It is all smooth and white and honey colored. With few exceptions this home radiates the outdoor colors of white light, blue sky and maple leaves. While two luxurious and hearty red leather chairs dominate the family room, behind them on a desk stands a glass menagerie of animals as counterpoint. Refracted light is shot like sparklers from the interior hearts of these little souls.

As the outdoor light splashes onto everything in sight, one feels there is spaciousness to this home that, in reality, does not exist. The corners of the box have vanished; replaced by a freedom from confining walls and filled with sovereign arcs of light.

The magnificent view from both the master bedroom and the downstairs living room is inescapably the focus of this house. Like an animated still life watercolor, the scene encompasses the undulating waves of Newport Bay, the daily activities of neighboring Bay, Balboa, Harbor, Linda and Fashion Islands, and a sprinkling of sailboats and yachts cruising in the blue beyond.

Taken as a whole, the place where Joan and Tom Riach live has wrapped itself around them in a comforting and gentle manner. The result is a peaceful calm saturating their haven, away from the oft-disturbing events outside the parameters of this house.

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The Foundation of Dreams

By Sara Pentz

Walk into the office of Architect Richard Krantz in Newport Beach, and you instantly find yourself in an art gallery of sorts. Everywhere the eye looks you see beautiful renderings of homes in soft shades and hues drawn by the hand of an artist. On the floor, on tables and desks, on top of filing cabinets there are miniature models of homes, looking so real one wants to be invited inside to meet the owner. There are photographs of homes on the walls. There are curled and uncurled architectural drawings and computer screens flickering with engineering diagrams and scaled-to elevations. There are even original sketches drawn from the imagination of the man. It is an open sanctuary to the art of architecture and to his immense talent.

Growing up, Richard Krantz was surrounded by all things beautiful. Both his parents were artists, as were several of his siblings. “In fact, at one point in the late l970’s,” explains Richard, “my mother and father, both sculptors, two of my sisters and myself, were all showing our artwork in the Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts.” With that environment as a launching pad, Richard Krantz has become a creator of real dreams, as he puts it, molding beautiful homes from mere bricks and mortar for the past 19 years.

From the beginning this Newport Beach Architect liked things technical and mechanical, as well as artistic. It wasn’t long before he had decided that architecture would be his planned profession. Richard graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo in architecture. “That is who I am,” he states. “I was looking for a profession that would encompass all of my interests, and serve people and the environment.” As part of that strategy, he has traveled extensively to some 50 countries absorbing cultures, buildings, art, and styles, forever with his camera and sketchbook in hand catching images for his artistic bank.

Richard John Krantz, AIA, Architect, the business, was founded on some very elevated principles: To create a variety of distinctive architecture by using excellent design and business principles which provide beauty, value, purpose and drama to every project.

As a result of his commitment to these high standards, this architect has designed a variety of notable high-end custom homes throughout Southern California as well as in other states. His eclectic styles demonstrate his diversity of design. He has built homes to reflect Italian Mediterranean, French Mediterranean, Italian Villa, English/Traditional, Contemporary, Country French, Spanish/Santa Barbara, and Cape Cod styles; waterfront homes and a particularly charming log home, which achieved national attention for him and his art.

Richard and his wife Lynne, his business manager, strive primarily for excellent client relations throughout the building process. “This is what helps to contribute to a truly enjoyable experience between client and architect,” they agree. Listening to his clients' needs and desires, studying the site and the context, and synthesizing these into a dramatic and interesting design are the goals of each project. Each design follows timeless principles of “...quality of light, appropriate building materials, proportion and progression of spaces, all integrated by the inspiration of the surrounding landscape and buildings.” To achieve these goals and retain personal friendships are mighty testimonials to this architect’s abilities.

As a result of his talent and philosophy, referrals are the mainstay of Richard’s business. “I believe that’s because we care so much about what the client thinks,” he adds. Cultivating these important relationships is a necessary process. “Of course, it takes longer - more time - to create the initial designs. Each of my clients could buy a beautiful existing house, but that’s not the issue. They want to participate in the custom design of their own dream home. They want to have the home become a reflection of themselves. That is what gives them the ultimate joy and satisfaction.”

With his strength as an artist, Richard can sketch drawings for his clients during meetings. He creates quick sketches and then refines them later adding color and the perspective of three-dimensions. “I see the whole house in my mind as a sculpture. But, I have to communicate that image and process to the client, and so the sketches become part of the communication tools.”

“This is the kind of give and take or ‘conversation’,” he says, “that takes place between the artists and the owners. One of the fears people have is that they won’t understand or can’t actually see the home before it is built. By doing these sketches we can continually refine the home before we begin the building process.”

“I have a passion,” he adds. “This is their dream house. I have to listen and interpret their dream. My clients come to me because they believe I can formulate and create their dream. I have very certain goals and principles of design that take a lot of personal care. What we’re creating is more than a building.”

For Richard Krantz the one common thread is the personal care that he and his staff have for their clients and projects. “With all of our clients our relationships don’t end with the completion of the house. We continue to be friends because we have become close to them during this very personal process of building their dream house.”

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

What You Don't Know Can Be Detrimental to Your Health

By Sara Pentz

Sitting in front of his TV one day watching Oprah, Phil Voluck saw something so fascinating it immediately lured him out of his comfortable retirement life in Boca Raton. With a successful history as president of such companies as Jenny Craig, NutriSystem and Sylvan Learning Centers, Voluck knew he could become involved in the amazing new medical technology he had just learned about from Oprah. ‘I love startups,” says the now Chief Operating Officer of the company that was only a seed of an idea that day.

The company he helped form is Newport Beach-based CT Screening International (CTSi). It’s in the business of using the latest and most up-to-date 3-D medical technology available to scan the body for diseases. “We looked at the technology and thought it was an excellent tool,” explains Voluck. “Research shows that people want to be involved in their healthcare, so we put together a group of topnotch radiologists in the country and formed the company.”

The technology, computed tomography, takes a fast x-ray of three-dimensional, multi-segmented pictures of the body organs. From the neck down to the pelvis, the scanner x-rays the heart, lungs, and colon. Designed as an early detection system, the scanned information can help prevent, and even reverse, problems by implementing lifestyle changes before a disease becomes critical.

This fancy machine can locate cancer, heart disease, benign tumors, aneurysms, kidney stones and gallstones, and diseases of the lung, prostate, ovaries and back. “CTSi provides valuable information needed to help control the future of your health,” adds Voluck. “Cancer, tumors, bone disease and other abnormalities can be detected in their earliest stages before symptoms appear and before they become inoperable or incurable.”

CTSi uses the most recent state-of-the-art equipment, the LightSpeed Plus scanner from GE Medical Systems. CTSi's LightSpeed Plus offers multi-slice and multi-detector technology, acquiring images at an incredibly fast speed, which produce the clarity and detail not produced by conventional CT or by electron Beam CT. This specific industry started when the electron Beam CT became popular. This was the first time the heart could be almost frozen between beats, allowing an accurate picture. In effect, an electronic beam basically spirals around the body taking pictures with a camera as it spins.

The heart scan is an in-depth, three-dimensional view of the heart and blood vessels to determine coronary heart disease risk. The computer measures the amounts of calcium in the arteries of the heart, then calculates and presents what is called a calcium score. A high score is associated with arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. According to the American Heart Association, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States for both men and women. Coronary heart disease is the single leading cause of death in America today.

Currently, lung cancer screening methods do not detect lung cancer in the early stages. Four out of five lung cancers are not curable when found. The new CT

methodology finds cancers much earlier than ever before possible. “The majority of cancers found with CT technology can be cured if diagnosed in the early stages,” explains Voluck. By the time a cancer is discovered in the lung by conventional means, approximately 80% are not curable. CT screening gives the medical profession the opportunity to discover cancer or tumors of the lung and colon at very early stages while they still have a high cure rate.

“This is a new phase of medicine,” adds Voluck. “It is truly a diagnostic phase because the individuals more than ever demand to have knowledge and control of their healthcare. The area of medicine that we’re in is flourishing because of the great advances in technology, and because of the current state of the healthcare system, where third parties seem to be more interested in moving the patients through the system as fast as possible without giving them as much time and care as they should.”

According to Voluck, CT radiologists supplement the primary physicians, giving you test results that you can take to your physician for a follow up. This allows the patient to be part of the treatment. It’s a great wake up call to changing your lifestyle. With a CTSi scan, disease does not progress to a catastrophic level.

If you’re a non-believer, here’s a success story, as Voluck tells it. “A gentleman who had a bulge on his right side was being treated for a hernia. He made an appointment for a CT screening. At the last minute he almost cancelled. Fortunately he did not, because once the screening was completed, we found an abdominal aneurysm which was about to burst, and we got him to the vascular surgeon and saved his life.”

Currently, there are CTSi locations in Newport Beach and Beverly Hills. Encino will be the next center. Then there will be a roll out across the country establishing 15 locations by the end of this year.

CTSi is a privately owned company. But Voluck promised that as soon as this year’s centers are viable, there will be an IPO up on the big screen.

An SOS From Travelers, Expectant Mothers and Cancer Patients

WOODSIDE BIOMEDICAL COMES TO THE RESCUE

By Sara Pentz

Carlsbad-based Woodside Biomedical Inc. has recently found itself in the enviable position of holding a number of patents regarding the treatment of illnesses based on stimulating nerves with electricity. “These patented products can now be applied to a wide variety of illnesses which are currently only treated with drugs,” explains Dave Swenson, Executive Vice President of Marketing for the company.

Probably the most exciting product is the ReliefBand^® technology, the only drug-free remedy to have received FDA clearance for treatment of nausea and vomiting due to pregnancy, chemotherapy, motion sickness, and for post-operative nausea, according to Swenson.

I was introduced to the ReliefBand recently when I boarded the "Sea Ya", owned by Steve Tarantino, Commodore of Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. He had made his yacht available to the media covering the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. I was concerned that I would not be able to complete this small voyage without being overcome by motion sickness. I can report that I suffered no seasickness (much to my relief) after having donned the device. Worn like a sports watch, only on the underside of the wrist, the ReliefBand features five settings to ensure the correct amount of stimulation for the individual.

Technically, the device uses gentle electrical signals to stimulate nerves in the wrist. This wrist stimulation, according to the theory of action proposed by some researchers, causes natural nerve impulses to travel up the arm into the spinal cord and brain. It is believed that these natural nerve impulses interfere with the nausea messages going to the stomach. However it works, it is easy to use, does not cause drowsiness and has no drug-like side effects. The effects last as long as the band is worn.

Woodside Biomedical was founded to develop non-drug, non-invasive medical devices, thanks in part to Stanford-trained physical therapist, Larry Bertolucci, an avid deep-sea fisherman with a serious seasickness problem. In the late 1980’s he was trying to find a better way to treat his own bouts of seasickness. He ‘fiddled’ with electrical current stimulation used in other forms of physical therapy, and Voila! the precursor of the ReliefBand was created.

From that point on, Woodside Biomedical has been gaining patents and investor funding in staggering proportions. Woodside is a privately owned, venture-financed company. To date, Woodside has raised approximately $32 million from investors.

In mid-June 2001, Woodside announced that an additional United States patent has been issued for its ReliefBand device, covering the potential application in the regulation of blood pressure.

The ReliefBand device will be available in approximately 10,000 drug stores by the end of this summer. Many insurers nationwide currently cover it, including Aetna/U.S. Healthcare and Blue Shield of California.

“We are always exploring the possibility of additional applications for our innovative nerve stimulation technology, and we believe that our patent strategy will help us, if appropriate, to be well-positioned to do so,” explains Greg Gruzdowich, Woodside’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

The market potential for the device is considerable, with the U.S. prescription chemotherapy and pregnancy markets alone likely to exceed $400 million. Add to that the consumer marketplace -- estimated to be in excess of more than $1 billion -- and Woodside Biomedical is talking about a significant opportunity.

So what spells ‘relief’ in today’s over the counter market? The answer is on your wrist.