Over the last year, I've really started to understand the valuable communication tool that social media has become.  Every time I write a blog post, a notification of the post is immediately seen by at least 1500 people.  If any of those connections comments, tweets, or "likes" the post, it is then shared with their network of connections.  One of my recent tweets was retweeted to over 4,000 people - not a big deal in comparison to celebrity twitterers, but we're talking about doors here!

Some interesting stats...if your state isn't in the Top 10, tell your friends to come visit iDigHardware!

Update:  Relay for Life is tomorrow, so if you would like to make a donation, today's the day!  Luminarias in honor, memory, or support of a loved one are available for $10 by following the link below.  I'm a little over $100 away from my goal.  I appreciate your help!

I was pleasantly surprised to open my June issue of the Construction Specifier this morning, and find an article called "Architectural Hardware Specifications," by Joseph D. Calvert, CSI, CDT, AHC of Calvert Independent Hardware Specifications.  The article does a great job of explaining the value of an AHC.  Joe describes the coordination that we manage between various trades, the complex hardware sets and riser diagrams that we produce for openings with electrified hardware, and the detailed analysis that we perform when creating the hardware sets and reviewing the submittal - including the required function, durability, codes, and aesthetic requirements.

I hope you are all enjoying a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Another blogger wrote about iDigHardware!  Check it out!

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I'm a helper.  I like to help.  I'm always organizing collection efforts for one thing or another, donating items for our local schools, pitching in when I can.  There are so many people in need, and if we all help a little, the world will be a better place for everyone.

A penny won't get you too far these days...I have to bribe my kids with at least a dollar to get them to do anything.  So I'm going to up the ante.  I'm offering a chance to win 10,000 PENNIES!

I don't ask for much, right?  But I need a little help.  I've been posting on this blog for over 2 years and there are more than 400 posts.  I know it can sometimes be hard to find the specific post or topic you're looking for.  You can search by typing something into the search box, but when I just typed "panic hardware," I got a list of 49 posts that mentioned that term.  You can also go to the index and get a list of all the posts for any given category, but those lists can be pretty long too.  As an example, the Fire Door category currently has 91 posts.

The blog has hit the big time!  American Express wants to give Idig Hardware a gold card!  :-)

I'm working on a post for tomorrow that will solve another hardware mystery (regarding closers on classroom doors), but in the meantime, a couple of housekeeping issues...

There have been lots of changes around here in the last few months...we moved the site to a new server and a new URL, and things seem to be running smoothly.  We've added an archive in the sidebar, and reformatted the search results pages and the category index pages to match.  My coworker, Lindsey Weiss, has spent many hours checking each post for broken links and posts that were missing the 2009 code excerpts, as well as updating the photo gallery.  She's in the process of checking the categories assigned to each post, so the correct posts show up on each category index page.  I'm very grateful to Lindsey for helping me clean up my act, and for Creekside Systems for working behind the scenes.  I hope these changes will help you find things and navigate around on the site more easily.

Some of the more attentive ihatehardware readers may have noticed a few little changes with the site lately.  For a long time I've been thinking about adding another domain name for my blog, indicating my true feelings about doors and hardware.  The original domain name, www.iHATEhardware.com, was chosen because almost all of the architects I work with hate or at least have an extreme dislike for hardware, so that URL is easy for them to remember.

Last week I said that as new countries came to visit this site, I'd post a door photo from that country.  Sounds like fun, right?  Well, it's not as easy as it looks from where you're sitting.

In case you haven't noticed, there's a new photo gallery tab at the top of the page.  The gallery includes thumbnails of some of the photos I've used in previous posts, and when you click on the thumbnail it will take you to the applicable post.  (If any of them take you to the wrong post, let me know!)

One year ago today I wrote the first post on this blog, regarding panic hardware on electric rooms.  I don't remember why I chose that topic for my first post,  but I tried to post answers to some of the most commonly asked questions before I introduced the site to anyone.  Since then I have published 217 posts!

It's been a while since I've given anything away, but it's a new year and I feel the need to celebrate the upcoming 1-year anniversary of this site and the approaching milestone of hosting visitors from 100 COUNTRIES! It still amazes me that hardware haters (and hardware lovers) worldwide are using this site as a resource!!  I look at the stats daily to see what people are searching for when they arrive on the site, and I can see the countries of origin for many of the IP addresses.  There are also quite a few IP addresses with "unknown" countries, so I'm sure there are other countries who have visited, but so far I've counted 95 different countries.

It's been a slow week for posts and I apologize for that, but I've got a good excuse.  For the 5th straight year, my coworkers, family and friends have provided Christmas gifts for the local family shelter - 48 kids and their parents this year!  We also provided some new items for the shelter's rewards program.

I'm not normally the type of person who would ask for fans...what if I didn't have any??  That would stink.