Tennessee hotel voted to have the best bathroom in the country

 

The Hermitage Hotel has afternoon tea in the grand lobby. Down-filled duvets (that’s a fancy word for comforters). A presidential suite with 2,000 square feet. And a really nice toilet.

So nice, in fact, that it’s been voted (drum roll please) America’s best restroom.

Flush in the middle of downtown Nashville, the luxury hotel and its ground-floor men’s bathroom are definitely the head (so to speak) of the class.

The redoubtable restroom is art-deco style with gleaming lime-green-and-black leaded glass tiles, lime-green fixtures, terrazzo floor and a two-seat shoeshine station.

“You just can’t find anything like it anywhere else,” says Janet Kurtz, director of sales and marketing at the hotel.

The restroom won the honor in online voting sponsored by Cincinnati-based Cintas Corp., which supplies restroom hygiene products and services. The company says “tens of thousands” of people voted over two months last summer. Precise numbers are kept, well, private.

Criteria were hygiene, style and access to the public. The highfalutin honor has earned the restroom entry to “America’s Best Restroom Hall of Fame.”

“People see it and fall in love with it,” Kurtz said.

It has four stools, three urinals, four sinks, spotless mirrors and a Sultan telephone that connects to the front desk.

And, (how do you put this delicately?) women seem attracted to it.

Lita Esquinance of Bradley County, Tenn., guides friends to the restroom for a discreet peek just about every time she visits Nashville. One of them, Sonja Luckie, jokingly summed up her visit with this discerning observation:

“For men, it’s very stimulating.”

The hotel, built in 1910 and renovated in 2003, has 122 guest rooms and suites. The restroom, down the hall from the hotel bar and restaurant, dates back to 1939.

Do they leave the light on for you? Not necessarily, but the famous restroom is cleaned hourly.

In her six years at the hotel Kurtz has never used the men’s restroom. But just wait.

“I hope they have a ladies’ night sometime.”

Read more: Flush with class: Tenn. bathroom voted best in US

‘Bacontrepreneurs’ turning bacon into a job

Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow have re-invented what it means to be entrepreneurs. The self-proclaimed “bacontrepreneurs” have catapulted their love of bacon into a successful business.

“Everything should taste like bacon; that’s the motto,” Esch said.

Their business began as a joke over drinks. During a lively discussion with friends about their common passion for bacon, the idea for Bacon Salt, a product mixing their two favorite flavors, was born.

The duo, who both had successful jobs at a technology company in Seattle, quit and began experimenting with different flavors of Bacon Salt.

“We took a bunch of bacon and poured in salt,” Esch, 30, said. “Turns out that’s disgusting.”

Once the recipe was perfected, Esch and Lefkow, 35, introduced Bacon Salt, and hickory and peppered varieties, to the market last year.

Watch this story: ‘Bacontrepreneurs’ Building Bacon Empire

Newspapers to feature ads you can taste

 

An advertising company  is hoping that taste and smell based advertising will prove a hit with consumers. First Flavor’s Taste-It Notes resemble little sachets that can be peeled open to reveal a strip (substance yet to be confirmed) that has been impregnated with flavors and smells that match products on the page.

According to Jay Minkoff, President and CEO of First Flavor:

We believe this type of sensory experience helps companies connect to their customers in a completely new and innovative way and drives product trial – and according to research reports conducted by our past clients, it works!

Read more: Lick Me: Newspapers To Feature Tasteful Advertising

Tupperware parties but for pets: It’s ‘Pupperware’ time!

First there was Tupperware parties. Now there’s the “pupperware” party.

The concept is pretty much the same as Tupperware or almost any other product sold at home parties. Someone hosts a party and invites his or her friends and family to check out a product line. Only with these parties, the guest list doesn’t have to be limited to humans. Canine companions welcome!

The Pet Party is being offered by Shure Pets, a national pet product company based in Chicago.

Spending money on our household animals is at an all-time high. We may be in a recession, but we’re not cutting back on pampering our pets, according to figures from the American Pet Products Association. The group’s most recent statistics show that consumers in the United States spent $43.2 billion on their pets in 2008, up from $41.2 billion in 2007.

Laura Macklin, sales and training director for the Pet Party, recently held a pupperware party at her west suburban home.

“We even had a 10-week-old puppy come to visit, and we gave her a spa treatment. We put spritzer on her, brushed her all out, put paw balm on her paws and made her look really pretty,” Macklin said.

Guests at Macklin’s Pet Party were shown Shure Pets’ lineup of products including Paramount Paw Balm, the Ulti-Mutt Candy Bar, Devine Canine and Feline Breath Mints. There also were a variety of collars and leashes to choose from, as well as beds for cats and dogs. Other products being touted include organic catnip, a variety of shampoos and conditioners and dog treats.

Read more: Tupperware parties but for pets: It’s ‘Pupperware’ time!

Church holding Easter service at bar [Video]

Very interesting story and idea.

Many people spend their Sundays going to the church of their choice, but have you ever thought about attending a church service at a bar? One Little Rock Church is promoting its upcoming Easter service at a popular River Market hang out.

Just call it the Bar Church. That’s how a new church called “The River” is advertising itself. Not only will its Easter service be held at The Rev Room, the church is holding Good Friday service this week in the River Market as well.

Many churches are advertising Good Friday and Easter services, but most of them will take place in traditional settings.

“Well, we’re meeting at a bar,” says Shane Montgomery, Pastor of The River Church.  He says he’s trying something different. “If you’re going to church somewhere, you probably don’t need to come down on Easter Sunday because you might feel a little uncomfortable,” Montgomery said.

By breaking away from the norm, he hopes to attract a new audience.

“It made sense to me,” the pastor said. “How do you get people that don’t go to church to go to church? You do that by going to a place and removing obstacles that are intimidating and church is intimidating sometimes.”

A few non church-goers had mixed reactions about the whole idea.

Joe Carter liked the idea, “because it kind of joins two worlds together.”

“I don’t know about having Easter Sunday at a bar,” said Aaron Adams. “That’s just the way I grew up and you don’t associate drinking with going to church.”

Pastor Montgomery says he anticipated negative reactions, but it’s not overshadowed by the positive impact he hopes his church will leave behind. “We choose to listen to the people that Jesus called us to reach,” he said.
 
If you’re thinking about coming, leave the dressy outfits and suits at home. Montgomery says they’re not allowed.

Read more and watch this story: Little Rock church holding Easter service at bar

Photo: From Flickr user Magic Bullet Theory

KFC wants to fill potholes in your city

KFC wants to fill potholes in your city. 
 
But there is a catch: instead of streets full of tire chewing craters, your streets will be filled with KFC logos, at least temporarily.
 
To promote its freshly prepared fried chicken, KFC is sponsoring “freshly filled up” potholes in up to five major cities in the United States.
 
KFC has sent offers to mayors nationwide asking them to describe the bad shape their city’s streets are in. Four of those cities will be chosen and KFC will pay for materials and labor to have potholes filled in those cities. KFC already began filling potholes this week in its hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
 
A spokesman for KFC would not say how much it will cost to fill the potholes. But the offer comes as cash-strapped cities are looking for ways to save costs.
 
“Budgets are tight for cities across the country, and finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge,”  Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said in a news release.
 
Some of the filled potholes will also be stenciled with a logo that says they were “re-freshed by KFC.” The spokesman said the stenciling will be done with nonpermanent spray chalk, so they will eventually go away.

Read more: Pothole filling that’s finger-lickin’ good

Angels with power tools [Video]

Here is one of my stories!

One full year after a tornado ripped the Strawberry Mobile Home Park apart, many residents are amazingly still trying to pick up the pieces.

Earlier this week, we introduced you to an elderly lady who still couldn’t afford to have a damaged tree removed that threatened to fall on her trailer. But, a News 2 viewer jumped to action to extend a Problem Solver Helping Hand.

Van Atkins, the owner of Van’s Tree Service, was so moved by the plight of Bergetta Driggers that he came to her rescue.

Early this morning he and his crew removed the damaged tree and stump. Not only were they unsightly, but the tree could have easily killed Driggers if it fell on her trailer.

She said it’s been an unbelievably hard year and she is surprised someone cared enough about her to help.

The services totaled to around $800 and Driggers says she simply would not have been able to afford such an expense

Watch this story: Helping Hand: Strawberry Mobile Home Park Tornado

Re-creating the Mona Lisa with hamburger grease [Amazing Video]

This is truly amazing video of a guy “painting” the Mona Lisa using only burger grease. Wow! You’ve got to see this.

It is a part of an Arby’s ad campaign, but it is apparently legit with no doctoring.

Photo: Flikr user 10 Ninjas Steve

Company uses “smiley faces” to create good economic times [Video]

When you see the A-Nete-Idea truck coming your way early in the morning, you know you are going to receive a smile.

“Grinners are winners, we think people are sad, sad people have no confidence, happy people go out and buy, sad people go home and hide,” Nita Clark of A-Nete-Idea said.    

Every Tuesday, they donate their smiley face sign to different companies in Stark County to help spur the economy.    

“Happy people go out and buy, sad people go home and hide,” Clark said. “We are going back to the same business over and over because they enjoy it so much and their clients enjoy it so much.”    

They also pass out smiley buttons to the company employees to wear so they feel happier and the customers they see all day will also receive a smile.    

“Bad times happen, good times are created, so I know we are making good times for people. And growing up, I realized happy times are the glue that get you through the bad times, so now I get to make a lot of glue for people,” Clark said.

Come evening, they take down their sign and put it away until next Tuesday when it comes out again to make a difference.

Read more, watch this story and smile: Stark County company using smiles to create good economic times 

Wheelchair athlete featured on Cheerios box [Video]

This guy has the best attitude. You should watch the video.

Former Marine and wheelchair athlete Jake Hipps is among twelve athletes now featured on Cheerios boxes.

Hipps autographed dozens of Cheerios boxes for fellow vets and his co-workers at the Buffalo VA Hospital.

Hipps, a Vietnam-era vet, lost his ability to walk after a shooting in 1994.  Shortly thereafter, Hipps began competing in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.  He holds four national records in field events and won three gold medals and one silver medal at last year’s competition.

Hipps has also competed in skiing events, basketball, and bowling competitions.  He’s currently learning to SCUBA dive.

Read more and watch that story: Local Athlete Featured On Cheerios Box