Birth of a Blog - TRP Expands and Updates Its Website

Today we are launching the redesigned and improved TRP website. I think you'll find that we have vastly improved its functionality and user friendliness while maintaining the overall look and feel.

I encourage you to provide your friends and associates with a link to the site, and suggest that they subscribe to the e-letter, which will update them on all of TRP's deconstruction plans, special sales and other activities and antics. Well, almost all.

My commentaries (the same ones you receive in the monthly e-letter) will appear in the form of a blog on our homepage. To save paper and postage we are discontinuing our hard-copy newsletter, The Velvet Crowbar, and transferring that title to the blog. The website will also carry monthly blog entries written by TRP managers concerning happenings in various regions around the country.

Additional Features on the Homepage:

Search Function: We've added a keyword search function so that you can comb the site for specific information and items (top right-hand column).

Monthly Store Specials: You'll find a list and photographs of items being featured each month, at each TRP store.

Store Locations & Maps: Retail sales locations are listed, along with convenient links to Google maps. Holding your mouse pointer over a particular listing will reveal the store's address and contact information.

Mailing List Signup: This allows new visitors to sign up for The Velvet Crowbar. As a recipient of this e-letter, you are already signed up.

RSS Feed: Signing up for RSS (Rich Site Summary) enables you to receive information from the website as soon as it is added or changed. This is especially helpful for retail customers who want immediate notification when new materials are delivered to our warehouses.

User Login: By creating an account with a secure password, you can respond to any blog entry that inspires you to contribute your two cents.

Navigation Bar: As usual, this menu is designed to quickly take you to whatever information you are seeking on the site. Be sure to check out "Deconstruction Resources," where you'll find listings of IRS "qualified appraisers" and TRP-certified deconstruction contractors, and "Useful Links," an extensive listing of reuse and green building partners, organized by region. We've included a wealth of organizations that support and enhance TRP's mission and the goals of the green-building industry.

Other Pages on the Site

Retail Sales: This page is still a work-in-progress, but by early January it will feature inventory lists and photos of new materials available at each TRP retail location, organized by material category (doors, windows, etc.) and updated monthly. If you subscribe to the RSS Feed, you will be notified of these postings as soon as they are made.

Contact Us: We've updated our directory, organized it by region, and included not only key TRP personnel, but contact information for TRP partner retailers as well.

Media Center: We will continue to compile, in one location, the many news reports, feature articles and videos that have spotlighted TRP, along with relevant research studies and industry reports, an archive of print editions of The Velvet Crowbar, and a Press Room containing press releases and a press kit with logos, photos, backgrounders and more. Soon, we are adding a Library where you can view and purchase books germane to green building and the TRP mission.

The ReUse Institute: This new page describes TRI, the consulting and training division of TRP, whose expert outreach dispenses the art and science of deconstruction and building-materials salvage wherever and whenever opportunities arise. Information on TRI is organized into two sections: 1) Consulting and Project-management Services, and 2) Training.

That's it! I hope you enjoy our updated website.