Possibly one of the most offensive ads I’ve ever seen, which is why I have included it here 
The honesty in advertising is actually kind of refreshing. I remember seeing this ad back before the Wii was even released, certainly not on TV, probably as part of a viral marketing campaign.
You can’t say that they don’t know their target demographic. Enjoy!
Posted under Amusing
This post was written by Marc
on June 8, 2007 at 9:29 pm
** Update July 4, 2008 ** It seems the College Humor version of this video is no longer working (maybe temporary but I don’t care) so I found it on YouTube and updated this entry. ** End Update **
** Update June 9 2007 ** After listening to The Black Eyed Peas’ original “Pump It” again both Mich and I agree that this version with the Violin emphasis is a great improvement on an already lively song. ** End Update **
This young lady is very cute but also unexpectedly talented. I’m more of a piano fan myself but I really enjoyed this performance. Black Eyed Peas to violin. Whodathunkit?
Posted under Very Cool
This post was written by Marc
on June 7, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Scope creep hits every project…
We were so pleased with the new toilet (Gerber EF-21-312) in the master bathroom that, on impulse I decided to replace ALL of our toilets with the same model. Apparently slabs are known for their less-than-enthusiastic sewer drainage. These new ones I swear push whatever’s in them all the way to the waste water treatment plant in one go!
Also, the 1/2 bathroom next to the garage has a small window and no ventilation fan so we decided to update that too. We don’t really need one for the usual reason of removing moisture but rather to aid in guest’s vanity to try to remove any evidence of what was going on in there. Hopefully this will end that odd practice of lighting matches and other bizarre behavior folks do to hide being human… Mich pointed out (after I had ordered a new Panasonic (FV-08VF2) WhisperFitfan from Ira Wood & Sons) that we probably wanted a noisier fan just to mask any noises coming from that room
Anyway here is how the updated 1/2 bath looks
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With the fan.
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This morning we also worked with Tommy to figure out where the mirror and the new lighting for the guest bathroom should go
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The electrician came back today and wired up both the fan in the 1/2 bath and replaced our old 3 gang with a 4 gang switch in the guest bath
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The can lights were installed
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and the pancake box for the lighting fixture was installed.
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Mich still needs to find the right medicine cabinet – she had found it at Lowes earlier but had decided to get a smaller one and now they are sold out of the one she wants. Tommy has one at home that he thought she might like so we’ll check that out tomorrow.
Posted under On the Home Front
This post was written by Marc
on June 7, 2007 at 6:52 pm
**Update 4:00 pm**Â Shut down my soundbridge and doppler and then restarted iTunes. Then I attached my iPod and *presto* my audio files reappeared. Of course the “Sync movies” option was unchecked as usual so I checked it, hit the “Apply” button and now I’m synching my 17+ Gbytes of video content… again.
**End Update**
**Update 8:30 am** When I got to my car I realized that, even though iTunes was showing all of my songs/podcasts as loaded on my iPod. Nothing was accessible to be played. Of course I always keep a backup audiobook in the car for such “emergencies” but it is annoying nonetheless. This is telling me that I need to disable Apple’s auto updater so that I can run it only when I have time to fix any mess that it may create.
**end update**
My iTunes updated itself overnight. For some reason, every once in a while (I’m pretty sure it’s after an update) iTunes stops synching my video content. It’s *really* annoying since it dumps it all and then I have to re-select the video content in iTunes and it needs to copy all of the files back over again.
This morning iTunes is at 7.2.0.34 and I see that the video tab is simply gone. After synching I get the dreaded “Some of your content was not synced because your software is too old” garbage message and all video content is gone. I don’t even have the option to correct this and now I’ve got to get to work. 
If you use the apple auto updater, beware!
Posted under Tech Stuff
This post was written by Marc
on June 7, 2007 at 7:31 am
This was largely a grunt day. Larry was head down in the bathroom with no windows on a high eighty-degree day priming and prepping the walls, door and vanity.
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Finally the wallpaper is gone
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A quick view above the shower head
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and another view into the attic (never ceases to amaze me).
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Tommy was meanwhile doing finishing touches on the master bathroom and loads of finicky finishing things (Thanks for mounting the radio in the shower!).
Posted under On the Home Front
This post was written by Marc
on June 6, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I stumbled on this web comic a few months ago and have been slowly working my way through the archives. There is a little philosophy, a little insight, some playfulness and a whole lack of detail in these comics that make them very appealing to me.
The main character is a quasi-cynical quasi-loser – to over-use the “quasi” thing – who shall remain nameless (really!) encountering a rich array of secondary characters. There is continuity of experience from comic to comic which I greatly appreciate and which lends a sophistication to it that has me always anticipating the next offering.
Be sure you read the author’s note at the bottom of each comic. Often the insights are as amusing or revealing as the comics themselves.
Check it out – Minimalist Stick Figure Theater
Posted under Comic Books
This post was written by Marc
on June 5, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Arrrgh! I can’t *believe* that I forgot to take a “before” picture of the guest bathroom before we started work on it today!!!
We are not going to be nearly so bold with this aspect of our renovations as with the other bathroom. But we are removing the false ceiling, replacing the flourescent lights with can lights, updating to a better bathroom fan and replacing the counter, sink, faucets and medicine chest.
Add a little new wallpaper and paint and the project is nearly done
Here is the project just after Larry pulled out the ceiling and medicine cabinet
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Larry is sporting his camera-inspired “The Shining” look…
You can see the framework for the fan and light support over the counter here.
By the end of the day, much of the wallpaper was gone
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Here’s a nice view into the attic (above where the mirror used to be)
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A slightly more oblique view
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And here is the ceiling over the back of the bathtub (soon to receive a can light)
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and finally a view back toward the door (before it gets painted)
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Also, Sue from Atlanta Kitchen called and asked if we wouldn’t mind taking some pictures of our new master bathroom counter for them to keep in an album so I obliged and sent Hi res versions of the four shots below.
This one shows off the newly installed medicine cabinet cover that Tommy put in today. It needs a bit more work to protect the back of the mirror but it looks very attractive already.
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Pretty much all that’s left to do in the master vanity area is those medicine cabinets and to putty and stain a few nail holes in the mirror frame. Of course there are ALWAYS some other little touch-ups that need to be done but the end of the road is near.
It turns out that the mirror company ended up charging nearly 3 times what they quoted for the mirrors. Tommy will be contacting them to get that sorted out. I’ll need to get their name anyway just for my own records. I’ll let you know how that works out.
Here are the remaining pictures of the counter
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and
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and
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In my update from May 18th I mentioned that one of the Acrylic handles for the shower doors had arrived slightly mal-formed. I’m pleased to report that they (the company Maax) had a new pair of handles out to us within a week and the doors look great. Interestingly they sent us two handles which is good since one of them was slightly scratched. The other one was pristine.
Posted under On the Home Front
This post was written by Marc
on June 4, 2007 at 8:33 pm
