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Planning to remodel, repair or build a new home? Looking for some innovative, unusual but powerful universal design features? We can help! We started collecting over 1,000 uncommon, affordable convenience built-ins in 1998, when we first began writing books and consulting to help people have truly extraordinary but affordable homes. Here are some of our favorite ideas thatll change your life via how they enable independent living. Add any of these to your next project, and youll be on your way toward creating a home thats truly beyond the ordinary!

Motion-sensor faucets. These are especially handy where hands will often be dirty or full. They also deliver water at a preset temperature that kids or slow-to-react family members may appreciate. No more risk of getting scalded!

A single-lever faucet control, for ease in adjusting water flow and temperature with one hand. (Its especially inconvenient to have two- fisted, separate hot and cold controls at the kitchen sink.) This can help you reduce wasted hot water, can be visually marked so family members know where to position it for safe hot water temperatures, and is easy to use after arthritis has started to affect your fingers and hands.

A central vacuum system. Its parts are not as heavy to push as most freestanding vacuum cleaners.

A garbage disposal activated by a pressure-button switch thats inches away from the faucet, so its accessible without your bending to open a cabinet or walking several steps to flip a switch.

Well-planned task and reading lighting that doesnt create shadows. Dont forget lights that illuminate countertops or are mounted under upper cabinets.

Lots of electrical outlets for your holiday decorations, both indoors and outside, so everything plugs in nearby. No point in having the confusion or hazards of extension cords, powerstrips or overloaded circuits.

Magnetic drawer and cabinet locks that release and latch via a single remote-control button that controls an entire room or outdoor area. This is the least awkward and most secure type of childproof lock weve seen, especially if you mount the control unit high on a wall where adults can easily see and reach it while kids cannot. Grandparents with arthritis will especially applaud this system, compared to the common plastic door locks that require considerable dexterity to release. (These magnetic locks also secure drawers or cabinets in overnight guestrooms that you use when your guests are gone, or in any rental properties you own and store some possessions in.)

Wall-mounted intercoms in every room and outdoor living area (dont forget the garage), for talking to anyone on your property without having to physically walk over to them. This also eliminates using what might be dirty or full hands to dial and hold a cell phone you might use to call people elsewhere in the house.

A light switch or knee-level motion sensor at the top and bottom of every stairway that controls adequate lighting from above. Motion sensors are especially handy wherever your hands are often too full to easily reach for a switch. That light from above is more important for people with vision problems than light from fixtures that are down at the stair level.

A bathroom near the family entrance for quick cleanups for limiting the mess that gets tracked inside when someones coming home dirty. Itll also prevent rushing through the house and risking a fall when nature calls while youre working outside or just arriving home.

Like this article? Then youll love our books chock-full of uncommon, affordable convenience built-ins that increase your quality of life and your homes resale value! We also offer a free e-book at www.extraordinaryhomes.com: The 34 ExtraOrdinary Home Principles: Over 70 Fabulous, Affordable, Innovative Ideas Thatll Improve Your Life and WOW You!

Copyright 2005 by Carol Abrahamson/ExtraOrdinary Homes. All rights reserved.

Carol Abrahamson consults, writes and makes presentations about more than 1,000 of these fabulous features that can improve your life, add value to your home and make you the talk of the town. She spent years researching them via thousands of sources just so you can quickly and easily use them to create your affordable, extraordinary Home of Your Dreams. Learn more about her work via http:// http://www.extraordinaryhomes.com or carol@extraordinaryhomes.com.

Summer is in full swing; its the busiest season for the construction industry and painful injuries abound. More than 7.3 million people (approximately 6% of the nations work force) work in the US construction industry and painful and debilitating construction injuries are a leading source of occupational injury.

Experts say there is a direct link between effective pain management and rapid care following an injury.

According to Lawrence Gorfine, M.D., Board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management and co-founder of Palm Beach Spine & Pain institute, effective Pain Management for injuries can depend upon rapid care following the injury. It is essential that patients seek rapid treatment after an injury in order to limit the inflammatory processes that can lead to chronic pain and disability, says Dr. Gorfine.

Inflammation occurs rapidly in the acute stage following an injury, quickly building up as the body attempts to neutralize toxins and begin the repair process. Pain can escalate after the acute phase of an injury, and continue as a result of damaged tissue and other injuries, and if not treated, can often lead to inflammatory conditions known as chronic pain.

Common construction related injuries include slip and fall accidents, crane and scaffolding accidents, welding rod accidents and dangerous or defective equipment accidents. Other causes of accidents are vehicular injuries while operating vehicles and machinery or from driving to and from the workplace.

By far, the most common accident at construction sites is a fall, either on the same level or from significant height. While the most serious construction injuries are caused by falling from great heights, strained or sprained arms, legs, and backs are very common construction injuries; usually a result of lifting heavy objects. In fact, the back is the part of the body most frequently injured at work accounting for nearly 25 percent of all work-related injuries.

Effective diagnosis and pain management techniques

Over the last twenty years, many chemical and anatomic pain pathways have been identified and studied, helping to diagnose and treat painful injuries. The Board certified Anesthesiologist and Pain medicine Specialist can perform diagnostic injections, usually with enhanced fluoroscopic guidance, to isolate and confirm the source of the patients pain. Once identified, these painful structures are medically treated.

Epiduroscopy is the insertion of a fiber optic filament through a needle directly into the spine. This is connected to a television monitor to visualize the inside of the spinal canal, spinal cord and spinal nerves. This procedure has been effective in making accurate diagnosis, accomplishing precise injections, cutting of epidural adhesions and scar tissue and in the removal of toxins liberated by injured discs.

Pioneering pain management techniques performed by Board certified Pain Management physicians include highly specific injection procedures eliminating pain at its source by isolating the nerve ending to the painful spot. Medication can be injected at the exact site of the injury or compressive lesion, eliminating the pain and allowing the injured party to return to a level of previous activity.

How many are injured in Construction Accidents?

According to the National Center for Personal Injury Protection and Control, one out of every 10 US construction workers is accidentally injured every year. In 2003, 400,000 people suffered construction accident injuries so severe that they were forced to miss work that same year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2005 a total of 4.2 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry workplaces, and about 2.2 million of these required days off work or restricted duties.

Who Pays for Care when a Worker is Injured?

According to the Insurance information institute (III), nine out of 10 people in the nations workforce are protected by workers compensation insurance, which is required for nearly all employees. Injured workers receive all approved medically necessary and appropriate treatment from the first day of injury or illness.

Treatment will be provided at no cost to the injured for medically necessary care approved and provided by authorized health care providers. Approved treatment can include doctor appointments, diagnostic testing, surgery, hospital and physician care, mileage reimbursement to and from all medical providers, and any other medical items or treatment ordered by your authorized physician.

Rather than simply administering pain medication, Board certified Interventional Pain Management physicians diagnose the sources of pain and provide immediate pain relief through minimally invasive techniques. These techniques arrest the inflammatory process and limit further tissue damage, returning the injured structure to normal function. Board certified Pain Management Physicians are an important resource for the both the patient and the employer, helping the injured quickly return to productive employment and pre-injury activity levels.

Want more information about Board certified minimally invasive pain management procedures designed to get you back to feeling like yourself minus the pain? Visit http://www.helpain.com

Palm Beach Spine & Pain institute founders, Lawrence Gorfine, M.D. and Douglas MacLear, D.O. are Board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management. To contact the doctors or schedule an appointment visit http://www.helpain.com

Leslie McKerns, McKerns Development is a writer specializing in expertise in the professions. http://www.freewebs.com/mckernsdevelopment/

If I had to pick just one way to score better I'd say, "improve your putting." Because it's a simple formula. If you shot a 100 in your last game of golf and you had 8, 3 putts in that score then it doesn't take a genius to work out that if you could turn those 3 putts into 2 putts then you'd score 8 shots better.

Ok, we've worked out that you need to practice your putting, but how?

Well it's been proven that the better the putter is the better they are at long putts, so that's where you should spend most of your time practicing. And don't just practice your putting line but rather practice hitting putts a correct weight. Because it doesn't matter if your ball is on the correct line if it's 10 feet short or long. And think about how often your putts are 10 feet wide of the hole. It's not often is it?

So practice long putts and one of the best drills to improve your putting touch is to putt balls to the edge of the putting green. Get about 5 balls and start about 30 feet away from the fringe and try to putt the balls so they end up as close to the fringe as possible.

During this exercise don't worry about direction, only speed. Keep doing this and vary the distance from the fringe for each 5 balls you stroke. Do this at least 6 times so you practice at least 30 putts.

Also, to make this exercise more effective, putt with your eyes closed. And after you've hit each putt guess how close the ball has come to your target (i.e. the fringe). Once your ball has stopped rolling, open your eyes and see how correct you were.

Now here's another great distance control putting drill.

On your practice putting green measure 30 feet from the fringe. Then place about 15 balls down there. Then putt your first ball and try to get it at as close to the fringe as possible. Once you've done this then hit your second putt and try to get it to finish as close to your first ball as possible without going past it. Then hit your third putt and try to get it to finish as close to your second ball as possible, without going past it.

Keep doing this and see how many balls you can get between yourself and the fringe. But if any balls go past the previous ball then it's game over. You have to start again.

This is a fun putting game to see how many balls you can get between the fringe and yourself and it will improve your distance control at the same time. Plus you can keep record of your personal best and try and beat it.

Doing putting drills like this allows you to concentrate solely on feel and weight without worrying about whether the ball has gone in the hole. And if you improve your long putting your scores will improve and it will be easier than working on your swing.

You see, there's no point in hitting the ball great but then 3 putting. So improve your putting first and then work on improving your swing.

The professional golfer Nick Bayley has discovered from extensive analysis just one golf swing fault that could be stopping you from ball striking consistency and success. And now you can take a simple 2 minute golf swing test to see if you have this swing fault or not. To take the The golf swing test go here now: http://www.yourgolfswingtest.com