January 13, 2005

NEWS BRIEFS

Airing this Sunday: ‘Trading Spaces Family,’ Almaden style

Have you ever sat in a friend’s living room and wished you could throw some well-intentioned decorating influence around by adding a splash of color, maybe recover a chair or two?

That’s what Marlies, Dave and Brandon Lee did. Only in the spirit of fair play, Ann, Shanya and Cliff Hubbard agreed to return the favor, so they swapped keys and family rooms for a weekend and welcomed the cast and crew of “Trading Spaces Family” in to document the entire adventure.

After four months, the episode everyone in town has been waiting for will hit the airwaves Sunday night on The Learning Channel [TLC], as host Joe Farrell and his hammer-wielding carpenter Carter Osterhouse take the viewers into the Lee and Hubbard homes in Almaden, where designers Barry Wood and Christi Procter pull out all the stops in the reality TV remodeling experience.

Don’t miss the red team as Proctor gives them a home theater with something for the whole family. Over at the neighbors’ house, Barry Wood is in charge of making a new space for the blue team and their pet rat Rosie. Needless to say, it’s an unusual approach to a habitrail, but will it work?

And don’t miss the next issue of the Almaden Times, where we’ll find out who’s really happy with their new room and who’s just wearing the happy face, along with before-and-after photos and a private screening for the entire neighborhood.

—By Kymberli W. Brady

New York Times best-selling author Adam Robinson to conduct free workshop at Barnes & Noble

New York Times best-selling test prep author Adam Robinson, creator of the Princeton Review, will stop by the Barnes & Noble bookstore at 5353 Almaden Expressway on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 3 p.m. for an interactive, hands-on seminar that will give students actual test-taking practice and review featuring his new book, “The Rocket Review Revolution: The Ultimate Guide to the New SAT 2005.”

Robinson, a legendary tutor whose work has been featured on “The Today Show” to the front page of the “Wall Street Journal” will demonstrate unique test-taking techniques.