Grandma Claire’s Early Learning Hive, a space handcrafted to combine youth recreation & education into a single experience, has been unveiled at the New Tampa Regional Library (NTRL) on Cross Creek Blvd. About 50 people, including the family of the longtime educator and librarian the room was named for, attended the ceremony at NTRL on Sept. 22.
Claire Unnasch, whose plaque is proudly displayed in The Hive, was a special education teacher, school librarian and middle school math teacher at South End School in Cedar Grove, NJ. However, the nickname “Grandma Claire” wasn’t coined until her later career as a volunteer at local libraries, where she discovered her immense affection for preschool-age children. Grandma Claire passed away in 2016.
Thomas Unnasch, Grandma Claire’s son, spoke at the unveiling, as children raced around playing and grabbing books.
“She would be beyond herself if she could see what we’ve created here,” Thomas said.
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and Hillsborough County’s director of library services Andrew Breidenbaugh also spoke at the podium, sharing their vision of recreating Grandma Claire’s Early Learning Hive for libraries across the District in the years to come, to spread Claire’s love for children & education even further.
The New Tampa Regional Library (10001 Cross Creek Blvd.) is open every day.
Cannon Farragut, an 8-year-old Hunter’s Green resident, recently captured a Florida State Chess Championship. Is there a national championship on the horizon for this chess wunderkind?
Chess began with a key on a laptop keyboard being plucked loose and set aside.
Then another. And another.
By the time William Farragut discovered what was happening and could stop Cannon, his then-4-year-old son, every key on his laptop had been removed.
“I was furious,” William says. So, as a solution for his uber-curious son, William bought Cannon his own, cheaper laptop. He loaded it with math and science programs, and randomly ran across a chess app and installed that, too.
“I was being totally stereotypical, but chess is for smart kids, right?” William asks.
Within a month, it was the only thing Cannon was playing. By watching videos of matches, he learned not only how the pieces move, but how to “weaponize” those moves by stringing them together and outsmarting the opposition.
His father was stunned.
Four years later, Cannon, now 8, is the Arnold Denker Florida State Champion in the 1800-under division. High-level chess players don’t generally compete in age groups, they compete against others in the same ratings group. Cannon toppled adults 3-4 times his age on his way to the championship at the 1800-&-Under level (more on this below).
In November, he will represent the U.S. at the World Youth Championships in Spain.
Then, in December, he’ll travel to the National Scholastic Chess Championships in Orlando, where the very best players in the country will be on hand to prove their rankings. Cannon is currently ranked in the Top 20 in the U.S. in his age group, but is in the top 10 of everyone in the 1800-&-Under rating group in the entire U.S.
Can he win a national championship?
“I think I can win,” Cannon says.
On a typical Tuesday night. Cannon breezes through the meeting room at Compton Park, which is filled with dozens of young New Tampa chess players, members of the invite-only Champions Chess Club coached by Tampa Palms residents Mark Ritter and his wife Tania Kranich-Ritter, a former New York State champion.
Cannon is happy, polite, affable. Even during his matches, he looks around the room, smiling, rising from his seat to walk around and watch some of his clubmates. On occasion, he’ll also practice his jump shot form, as Cannon also is a skilled basketball player.
But Mark, an internationally rated chess master and one of only five Level 5-rated coaches in the country, and Tania, who coached teams at Tampa Palms Elementary and Liberty Middle School to national championships in 2005 and 2006, respectively, were skeptical when Cannon, then 5, showed up at the club hoping to join.
“When I first came in, they almost pushed me away,’’ William says, laughing.
Cannon hid behind his father’s legs. The club was mostly older kids, Tania told William, with players from 3rd grade to high school, with ratings ranging from 500 to 2100.
William tried to explain that he thought Cannon had something, and Mark told him every parent says that. But, since they had already made the trip, Mark agreed to sit down at the chess board with the youngster.
After five minutes, Mark looked at William, and said, “You know, there might be something here.”
Cannon then played one of the lower-rated players in the club, and lost. The tears flowed. When he and William left that day, Mark wasn’t sure he’d ever see them again.
Cannon did come back, however, and lost again, and cried again, a scenario that repeated itself several times the first few weeks. He was, however, getting better every visit. When he was six, he officially joined the club.
Mark says Cannon’s appetite for chess was voracious, and he devoured more and more instructional videos as his rating started climbing and the wins began piling up.
Even more pleasing was that Cannon slowly transformed from a shy kid into a social butterfly, making friends easily and becoming one of the club’s most popular members.
“Cannon’s growing social skills emphasize a much-overlooked benefit of chess,” says Mark. “While most of the focus remains on improving one’s game and rating — too much in my opinion — important social behaviors, such as sportsmanship, communication and interaction, are part of the package, too.”
Cannon has rapidly evolved from a kid plucking the keys off his father’s computer keyboard to Florida’s best player among those with 1800-&-Under ratings, according to the U.S. Chess Federation ratings. As such, he rarely plays anyone who is not much older than he is, a fact that Cannon admits has created some awkward situations.
“I think they are more nervous than I am,” Cannon says. “I don’t think they want to lose to a kid.”
But, his recent Florida State title is certainly the biggest win of his career, at least so far.
“It is a big deal,” Cannon says. “This is like my first major tournament I won and that inspires me to keep going, so I can become a Grandmaster and beat Magnus Carlsen.”
Both are lofty goals — Cannon is currently rated at 1771; when you reach 2200, you become a Master, and at 2500 you are a Grandmaster. But,Carlsen, the current World Champion, is a true chess prodigy with a rating greater than 2800.
Chess is a hard game that very few master. So, how has an 8-year-old managed to do it?
Tough to say, says Mark.
“Nobody’s answered that question,” he says. “His ability to see tactics and combinations that most players can’t is phenomenal. He has a natural ability for spatial relationships, pattern recognition, things like that. How do you define that? It’s just wiring.”
Well, there’s wiring and then there’s hard work. Cannon is a dedicated student of the game. He describes the chessboard as a picture, or a puzzle. He says he sees what to do in his mind, “which is telling me what to do, like connecting the dots. Where the line starts is my first move.”
Cannon’s tendency to move too quickly at times is one of his few weaknesses. When he sees a dot to connect, he does so, with supreme confidence, even if it only took him a few minutes to notice. Sometimes, he admits that there was a better move out there.
That didn’t stop him in Jacksonville, however, when he won his State title. That victory netted Cannon $800 and a trophy (photo) almost as tall as he is. He loves his trophy. The money, he says, “I’m giving to my mom and dad so they can have some of it.”
That should at least cover the cost of that laptop, new keys and all.
It’s easy to recognize the progress being made on the widening of Segment D of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (above). The final phase of the BBD widening is expected to be completed before the end of 2018.
The seemingly never-ending widening of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., a project talked about and debated — and even cursed — for two decades, could be “substantially” finished by the end of October 2018.
While the mounds of dirt, yellow construction trucks working behind orange traffic barrels and the winding roads with sometimes confusing lane switches seem to contradict that claim, Hillsborough County’s Public Works Department says that all eight lanes of Segment D — the last of the four segments of the BBD project — will be operational in October.
That doesn’t preclude periodic daytime lane closures, as contractors complete punch list items, but the end, thankfully, is finally near.
The final full completion of the segment is scheduled for sometime in November.
The widening of Segment D — a 1.44-mile stretch from Pebble Creek Dr. to County Line Rd. — from a 4-lane divided roadway to an 8-lane divided roadway also will include a landscaped median, sidewalks, a multi-use path and upgraded traffic signals.
The final segment of BBD widening began construction in October of 2016.
According to the county’s website, Segment D’s cost was estimated at $24 million, which was funded through the Public Works Transportation Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and was awarded $5 million from the Transportation Regional Incentive Program (TRIP) by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
Segment A, which was once the most congested area of BBD and extends from Bearss Ave. to Palm Springs Blvd. in Tampa Palms, was a $54-million project that wrapped up last year.
Segments B and C, which bracket the work that was done around the same time I-75 was widened, were considered the most difficult (and costly) of the segments geographically, but were completed together first.
The two inside southbound lanes of Segment D have been completed, and plans were to finish the two outside northbound lanes, and then shift traffic by the end of August.
When the traffic shift has been completed, work will begin to complete the two inside turn lanes, as well as the median northbound and southbound.
As we reported last issue, county engineers recently showed results of a signal-timing project they say has improved traffic on BBD (and its side roads) south of Cross Creek Blvd., and said when the construction is done, some of those same signal-timing improvements will be applied to Segment D.
Also, a new traffic signal has been added at the intersection of BBDs and Trout Creek Dr. (just north of the Burger 21) in an effort to alleviate congestion off the side roads in that area. That signal was not yet operational at our press time.
While residents have complained about perceived inactivity on BBD at most of the traffic-related townhalls and forums held in New Tampa the past year, all of the previous segments had their own challenges. The completion of Segment D has had to overcome some construction and weather issues that have delayed progress at times.
Last year, Hurricane Irma (and other lesser storms) dumped enormous amounts of rain on the New Tampa area, and the usual summer-time showers this year also have provided some delays.
“The toughest aspects of the project so far have been the weather impacts,” wrote the county’s Public Works Department, responding to questions from the Neighborhood News. “All construction projects must utilize temporary drainage measures to address the rain. This project is unique because the installation of the main drainage line must connect to the adjacent drainage lines on the south end of the project first, to allow the entire project to drain properly.”
While the Segment D project is designed with the temporary drainage measures in place to handle the rain, “unusually quick and heavy” rains can overwhelm the drainage system, making it unable to drain the water from the roadway and causing backups.
The project also has faced obstacles like locating underground utilities, which in most cases can be traced as a straight line, but there are unexpected deviations that required a redesign.
“When coordinating multiple utility companies to install, relocate, and remove, it is challenging, especially when the majority of this work is completed by other companies all trying to fit in narrow areas,” the county says.
But, the delays haven’t been enough to change the much-anticipated completion date, which remains the end of 2018. The end of a two-decades-long wait draws ever closer.
Pam Edmonson of Creative Permanent Makeup By Pam in Wesley Chapel helps women achieve beautiful-looking eyebrows without daily makeup application.
Pam Edmonson loves having new clients in her chair. Whether they’re tired of spending way too much time drawing on their eyebrows — or maybe they’ve even lost the hair on their eyebrows due to chemotherapy — Pam is excited to offer women a beautiful new look that fits both their individual problem(s) and their skin.
Pam is a permanent makeup artist who owns Serenity Salon & Spa Suites, located off S.R. 54 in the Brookfield Professional Park, about a half-mile west of Morris Bridge Rd. in Wesley Chapel. At the salon, she has a room where she provides permanent makeup for eyebrows, eyelids and lips.
Pam opened Serenity Salon & Spa Suites with a partner more than two years ago, but now she is the sole owner. She takes pride in offering an inviting place for licensed beauty and wellness professionals to offer their services, such as hair styling, massages and facials.
“I want to empower people to work for themselves and be successful,” she says, explaining that her salon provides a drama-free environment.
“Everyone who works here works well together,” Pam says. “We laugh together. When people walk in, they feel welcomed, and it’s natural. We’re not fake. Although I’m the owner, this isn’t my salon, it’s ours all together.”
She says there currently is one chair available for rent for a hairstylist. There also is a room available for a full-time massage therapist.
“We have amazing stylists and aestheticians here,” says Pam, who also emphasizes that if you try a stylist and don’t love them, try a different one.
“No one’s feelings will be hurt,” she says.
Pam’s journey to salon owner started as a second career for her, after many years of running a business in the manufactured housing industry. In 2009, Pam says she wanted to do something different, so she went to school to become a hair stylist.
While she enjoyed hair, Pam says she soon discovered something that interested her even more.
“I love detail,” Pam says. “As a detail person, eyebrows are what first drew me into the permanent makeup field.”
So, in 2010, she studied permanent makeup at the Boca Ta-2 School for Permanent Makeup in Williston, FL, and began providing permanent makeup services in Zephyrhills in 2011.
Pam is licensed in Florida as both a cosmetologist and as a tattoo artist.
“Any time that ink is implanted into the skin, it is a tattoo,” Pam explains, “and you must be licensed through the Florida Department of Health.”
Microblading Eyebrows
While Pam offers permanent makeup for eyebrows and lips, along with permanent eyeliner, her most popular service is microblading for eyebrows.
“Brows are always my favorite because of the drastic way they change how someone looks,” Pam says. “Our eyes are meant to be framed, and brows definitely complete the face.
Pam is also the owner of Serenity Spa & Salon Suites, where she offers her permanent makeup services, and other health and wellness professionals offer hair styling, facials, massages and more.
Some women look so much younger when they have them done.”
With microblading, Pam uses a small blade and ink to create individual stroke lines. She uses a pencil to draw an outline, then uses the microblade to draw each individual hair, adding a more natural look to the eyebrow.
Pam strongly recommends that anyone considering microblading “should do their homework,” explaining that some people who offer the service may only have a three-day class in the technique before they start working on clients. The person who will do your eyebrows should sit down with you and show you before-and-after pictures of their own work, Pam says.
Pam was trained in microblading in 2014, when the process was new. Since then, she says she has done hundreds of sets of eyebrows.
She requires a free, in-person, no-obligation consultation for all clients. Even for someone who is sure they want permanent makeup, Pam still does a consultation, because each person’s skin is unique.
“Although microblading is my favorite,” Pam says, “it may not be the right answer for a client. There can be a better alternative, depending on the canvas that I am working on.”
Because Pam is so passionate about ensuring that clients are educated about permanent makeup and microblading, she has started a video series on her website to help people better understand the process.
At CreativePermanentMakeupByPam.com, be sure to click on her blog, which links to her educational videos.
“I answer a lot of questions that so many people have,” Pam says. “I made the videos because I wanted to put some education out there.”
The first video shows the consultation process and answers common questions. Pam says that future videos will focus on permanent makeup for the brows, lips and eyeliner.
Pam values education for herself, too, and says she stays on top of all the latest information by attending classes whenever she can. Last December, she took an advanced lip class in San Antonio, TX. “I’m still learning,” she says.
She says that it’s especially gratifying to be able to help someone who has gone through a difficult time, such as a cancer patient who lost their hair and it didn’t grow back.
Or, if she can help someone who feels devastated after someone else has done their permanent makeup poorly. While Pam admits that she can’t help everyone — because each person’s skin and situation is unique — she does have the skills and expertise to help most people, often in difficult situations.
Jennifer Burrows is a New Tampa resident who had microblading done by Pam on her eyebrows.
“I was impressed by how long she took with me,” Jennifer says. “She’s a perfectionist and made them look as beautiful as they possibly can. She knows what she’s doing.”
Jennifer says she spent a lot of time looking online and contacted another company, but that person refused to work on her because of her red hair. She was thrilled when Pam agreed to help her.
“Now,” Jennifer says, “my eyebrows are beautiful and I don’t need to wear makeup.”
Pam says that’s the best part of her job.
“I’m extremely passionate about my work,” she says. “When someone tells me what a difference I made in their life and how they feel about themselves, that’s the reason that I love what I do!”
Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam is located at Serenity Salon & Spa Suites, at 33913 S.R. 54, Suite 101, in Wesley Chapel. For information about the stylists, aestheticians and massage therapists at the salon, visit SerenitySalonSpaSuites.com. For a free consultation or more info about permanent makeup, visit CreativePermanentMakeupbyPam.com, or call Pam at (813) 997-6302.
Owner Jason Cantin of Done Right Flooring on W. Linebaugh Ave. in Tampa, has two decades of experience in the flooring industry, but still attends training at least twice a year to stay up-to-date on all the latest techniques and best practices in the industry.
In Jason Cantin’s two decades working in the flooring industry, he’s seen a lot of things go wrong.
In fact, for the past six years, he has worked as a flooring inspector. When someone says their floor is bad and wants the manufacturer or installer to fix it, they call Jason, as a first step toward filing a claim in court.
He says bad flooring installation is so prevalent in the industry that 85 percent of all floors being installed today are being installed incorrectly. He says that nearly every retailer out there is trying to sell more floors, and install them quickly, and move on to the next job, with little concern for whether or not your floor will last.
“Not every floor that is installed incorrectly fails,” he says, “but if you have carpet pulls in the doorway, or wrinkles in your carpet, or your floating floor creaks or makes noise, you have a bad install.”
So, he decided to do something about it.
He opened Done Right Flooring & Cabinets, selling the highest-quality flooring brands, installed in your home, to give people an alternative to the options available in the flooring market in Tampa.
Done Right sells hardwood, tile and laminate floors, as well as carpet, and also offers custom wood floors, in which every piece is hand cut, hand laid, sanded and finished in place.
In addition to selling flooring, Jason has a partner in the store who can help homeowners find the perfect cabinets, following the same philosophy of excellent products and installation that is the trademark of Done Right Flooring & Cabinets.
While Jason and his family live in New Tampa, he wanted to open his store in a location that was more central to all areas of Tampa. Done Right is located at 6028 W. Linebaugh Ave., 25-30 minutes south and west of New Tampa.
“I started Done Right because I’ve spent the last six years watching floors fail, and it’s taught me the process to do it right,” Jason says. “You can’t do it right and do it cheaply. Most subcontractors get paid by the foot, so they lay as much floor as possible, as quickly as possible, to get a bigger paycheck.”
Jason calls himself an idealist, and says he wants to elevate the entire flooring industry in Tampa, focusing on doing things the right way, so the consumer gets the best possible floor installation and floors they will be happy with for a long time.
“Most retailers give a one-year warranty, and then they’re off the hook,” Jason says. “I give a 5-year warranty, in writing, for all of my work.”
He says a well-installed, good-quality floor can be expected to last much longer.
His wife, Ashley, helps him with the business. “Our focus is on the customer,” she says. “Are they as happy with their floors one year, five years, even 20 years later, as they were when they got them?”
She says they also want to ensure that if you are selling your home, your floor will bring top value and the new owners will be happy with the floor, too.
Custom wood floors are a specialty of Done Right Flooring and Cabinets. You can see this one in person, along with the samples of Carlisle Wood Plank floors (hanging on the wall) at the store, located at 6028 W. Linebaugh Ave. in Tampa.
Quality Installations
Jason says they do this by hiring the best installers, who are certified by taking hands-on and written certification tests and are required to do ongoing continuing education. He adds, however, that this approach is not typical in the industry.
“There is no license needed to install wood floors in Hillsborough County,” explains Jason. “There is no recognized body to verify that the work done is correctly.”
In the absence of recognized standards and holding flooring companies accountable for installing floors correctly, Jason says he is doing all he can to change the industry, one consumer at a time.
Done Right recently replaced the floors for Scott Miller in his Bayshore Blvd. condo in South Tampa. Scott had just renovated his condo and was already having problems with his brand new floors, so he hired Jason for a consultation. “There were gaps, I could hear glue squishing and boards creaking,” Scott says. Because the floors were beyond repair, Scott then hired Done Right to do the floors again – this time, the right way.
“I was blown away every step of the way with his service,” says Scott of Jason. “After going through the first experience, there’s really no comparison. (He) took the time to do every step of the process correctly. (He) didn’t rush it.”
Scott says Jason’s knowledge was impressive, and that he took the time to educate him. “He knew about the trees the boards came from,” says Scott, “and explained the importance of prepping the floor and more.”
And, Scott notes that his new floor, purchased from and installed by Done Right, has none of the problems the first floor did.
“Our focus is on educating the consumer, so they pick the best product for them,” Jason says. “I’m not a salesperson, but more of a teacher.”
The Value Of Proper Training
Jason adds that he places a high value on education and keeping up-to-date on all of the latest information and trends in his industry. While prefinished floors are still popular, he says, custom finishing onsite is picking up, with wide flooring, grays and French oak some of the hotter trends.
“There’s no one else in town who’s gone to more school about flooring than me,” says Jason. “I go a minimum of twice a year.” He says he originally went to inspector school, not to become an inspector, but to become a better installer.
He is currently on the bamboo committee for the National Wood Flooring Association, writing the standards and regulations that will be put in place for bamboo floors. He says that right now, there are none.
While the industry doesn’t have to adhere to standards, Jason is doing everything he can to help his customers have expertly-installed products that utilize the best practices in the flooring industry.
“We have high expectations and high standards, and we ensure our installers continue to meet those expectations and standards,” he says. “I’m not a rush guy. The process is meticulous and takes time.”
While installation is important, the products are important, too.
“I know which products tend to fail, so I hand select the items we sell in the store,” says Jason. “If I don’t believe in the product, I won’t sell it, and I don’t install anything that’s not sold in the store.”
Jason’s standards are so high, Done Right was chosen as one of only seven retailers in the country that are authorized to sell Carlisle Wide Plank floors. He says that Carlisle is an American-made, premium cut of wood. “They trust me that I’ll do their product justice,” he says.
Done Right Flooring carries other brands as well, like Kahrs, Boen and Preverco, to name a few, and also has Mohawk, Glazzio and Akua tile flooring and Mohawk and Quickstep laminate flooring.
Ashley says that Jason’s many years of experience can really help consumers get exactly the right product for them and their home. At the store, Jason asks a lot of questions to get to know his clients and their lifestyle.
“In our Pinterest world, people see pictures of gorgeous floors, but they don’t know what they’re looking at,” says Ashley. “Flooring isn’t just about the color.”
“I want to improve the industry,” adds Jason. “I want consumers to get the right information. I may be idealistic, but I’ve learned so much about the industry, and I want to make it better for both consumers and installers.”
Done Right Flooring & Cabinets is located at 6028 W. Linebaugh Ave. It is open Tues.–Fri., 11 a.m.–6 p.m., 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. on Sat., and by appointment on Mon. For more information, call (813) 548-4484 or visit DoneRightFC.com.
Grandma Claire’s Early Learning Hive, a space handcrafted to combine youth recreation & education into a single experience, has been unveiled at the New Tampa Regional Library (NTRL) on Cross Creek Blvd. About 50 people, including the family of the longtime educator and librarian the room was named for, attended the ceremony at NTRL on Sept. 22.
“She would be beyond herself if she could see what we’ve created here,” Thomas said.
