Home Bar Blog

These days, economic worries seem to come and go like so much good & bad weather, but people are smart, right? and smart folks prepare for the worst by adjusting their way of life, or at least anticipating an economic downturn by keeping a watchful eye on global events fueled by oil prices. Imagine for a moment if the economy took a major turn for the worse, what would you do? What if you HAD to stay home? No more going out to dinner & drinks, no more vacation trips or liesurely afternoon drives and life in in general becomes so expensive, you’d have to tighten your belt & hunker down as you and your family ride out the storm. Think this notion is outlandish? What if gas really does hit four or five dollars per gallon? Things could get ugly, fast!

Let’s not forget about all the other doom and gloom predictions either. The nightly news and even the Discovery Channel is full of signs that perhaps we should be watching more seriously. Global warming, glacial melt, super tsunamis, asteroid impacts, super viruses, terrorism and let’s not forget George W. Bush hinting at World War III. Could it get any worse? If you were forced to stay home, no matter what the circumstance, wouldn’t it be nice to have all the (southern) comforts you need at hand?

Building a home bar, rec room  or home theater area is one way to start preparing for the future by reducing your travel costs, saving gas and saving the money you might otherwise spend on expensive drinks and entertainment, freeing up that money for essentials like food and home expenses, and let’s not forget, a home bar built underground in a basement area can double as a protective bunker in tough times. Sure there is a initial cost to building your own family room entertainment area, but consider it an investment in your home that will increase in value. 

A basement area is best, but upper levels or your home also serve as great areas for a private place to entertain. Of course basements have the added advantage of protecting you from tornadoes and other potentially deadly events. To take it to the extreme, you could even reinforce the ceiling to provide better protection, add a large walk in pantry for food and beverages. It’s not a far fetched idea to combine a home bar area with a fallout shelter like those of the 1950’s. The bottom line is to be prepared.  

Does this mean we should all build bars and become raging alcoholics? No, rather we can preserve happier times by bringing entertainment back inside the home the way it used to be; playing games, watching movies and connecting with family members. Once you begin into building a home bar or theater project, you’ll spend many years not only having fun entertaining, but also “adding flair” to your own private establishment.

So look around you, keep your eye on the news and start thinking about how that empty or unused space in your home, especially those with basements, can be transformed into your new home bar refuge and bunker, shielding you from an increasingly crazy world.

“I’ll tell ya what, when the big one hits, I’ll be relaxing in my home bar”. Order Plans Today - Before it’s too late!

On Sunday November 5th, we were all watching the big match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots that was touted as Superbowl 42 and a half, when after one play I heard a distinct digital skipping sound of of background crowd noise over my high definition home theater system right before a Randy Moss catch. It was quite obvious that the sound was either a digital broadcast problem or as the Patriots alleged, that the Colts cheated by piping crowd noise into the stadium in an attempt distract their opponent. Apparently it didn’t work so well because Moss caught the ball and the Patriots won the game.  The scheme was revealed after the source of the sound skipped or hiccuped. We’ve seen similar tactics used in the past by the Vikings in the Roller Dome. You’d never have that kind of problem at Lambeau field in Green Bay. Come on Colts fans, make your own noise!

Listen for yourself to see if you can detect the skipping sound.

Every once in a while, rare comic genius emerges from the out of nowhere to bless us with much needed side splitting laughs in the form of a great jokster or in this case a master comic capable of super human powers of “impersonationizing“. For those of you living on the dark side of the moon, we’re talking about the upcoming TBS late night show “Frank TV” starring the incredile comic impersonations of Frank Caliendo (MADtv), who can instantly transform into the likeness of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Robert DiNiro, Al Pacino, Richard Dryfuss, Sean Connery, Dr. Phil, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams, David Letterman, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Barkley and let’s not forget our favorite impression of John Madden.

Check out his website for video clips and teasers that are sure to make you laugh.
So grab a beer, belly up to your bar, check the TBS schedule for your area and tune into Frank TV on TBS Late Night, November 20th 11/10c.
While it’s funny, he’s better suited for standup comedy that his own TV series.
The show is a bit repetitive and probably won’t be long lived.

Modest homes line Lombardi Avenue adjacent to Lambeau Field, Home of the Green Bay Packers, but one residence recently became a mecca of sorts to one Packer fan famiy and their growing list of friends. An Atlanta businessman purchased a home directly across from the front of newly renovated stadium and turned it into the ultimate Packer fan dream home. The view from the remodeled rear of the home would be like a mountian vista for a nature lover, but in this case the floor to ceiling view is of Lambeau field and on game day the atmosphere is electric, with fans tailgating and the roar of the stadium crowd cleary audible from the roof top deck.
 The owner of the home purchased the property, then hired a builder to completely gut the interior and transform it into the ultimate pre-game party house with a fantastic view of the stadium.  The garage was trasformed into a party deck and a large “G” was etched into the patio concrete.

Inside, the house features a big screen TV, pool table in a large open area that lets in the majestic view of the hallowed stadium and the scene of tailgaters and fans gathering before the big game. It’s one giant party with a front row seat. 

 The owner says the house was “Designed by men, for men”, he said ”It is specifically to enjoy game day and the days leading up to game day.”, and there’s no worry about  missing the big play when taking your bathroom break, since the mens room is equipped with it’s own urinal complete with an overhead TV screen and includes the perfect target with the Packer Fans favorite chant “The Bears Still Suck” strategically enameled into the fixture. 
Born and raised a Packer fan in Milwaukee, the owner and his family will travel to Green Bay on weekends when the Packers play at home and open up their home to friends and relatives. They plan to use this vacation house about as much as most other people use their lakeside homes.”I’m not doing this as an investment or for any kind of commercial or financial benefit” said the owner. “This is truly a spot that we’ve picked to enjoy the Packer atmosphere.” The owner hopes his dream home doesn’t start a trend though, in which other homes in the neighborhood are sold and turned into party houses.”If somebody wants to sell out to somebody as moronic as I am, that’s fine, but I just like the neighbors, like the people here,” said the owner. “I welcome all of them to come over and have a beer with me on Packer day and get to know each other a little bit.” Safe to say a new era in tailgaiting along Lombardi Avenue kicks off on Sunday. “It’s the hallowed grounds and to be so close is pretty special”.

It’s that time of year again here in Wisconsin when on warm autumn days those red and black beetles know as Box Elder Bugs begin forming large groups in search of a place to over winter. They don’t bite, but the shear numbers are frightening and create a major nusiance. Don’t mistake these bettles with Asian Beetles that look like Ladybugs. If you have an outdoor pool or bar area, both varieties will attempt to find a crevice in which to spend the winter. The don’t harm structures and perhaps they act as additional insulation for older homes (grin).
I’m sure you are wondering how to get rid of those red and black Box Elder Bugs, and if you’ve tried bug spray, you’ve already found that it does not work. They seem immune to the stuff and just keep on crawlin’.

The only way I have found to eliminate them is using an Ortho Sprayer filled with several cups of Era Laundry detergent. Yup, you read right, laundry detergent. Set the sprayer on the 2oz setting, just so the mixture creates a foam. For some reason, this concoction will kill them in their tracks. I’d love to know how this really works and I found this by accident while cleaning some garbage cans. At 1 to 2 oz per gallon concentration, the spray does not seem to hurt plants & trees. I told a few people about this and now the whole neighborhood is in on the Box Elder Bug War. Ajax dish soap also works as will any non-phosphorus detergent. If there are any Entomologists out there that can answer this mystery, feel free to comment.

Here is the gruesome aftermath of a good detergent wash down. You don’t need the volume of suds shown in the photo, 1oz per gallon of liquid soap should kill 98% of Box Elder Beetles.

Increase the dosage if needed.
Very effective and leaves a fresh clean scent!

Or does Internet Explorer running on XP crash dozens of times per day? My old Windows 98 system never did this…could this be an intentional conspiracy to hobble our productivity? Kinda makes you wonder… Perhaps Big Brother is watching.
I find it mind boggling that MS could be incapable of writing a stable browser for their own operating system, when browsers like Fire Fox run better and are more compliant to standards. The XP OS can not even handle the crash properly. I usually have to invoke the three finger salute to open Task Manager in hopes of getting out of the crashed browser. Lock ups, about:blank page freeze, and error reports galore cut into our daily productivity, causing TRILLIONS of dollars in lost work. What gives?

Luckily, I found a solution that works, Secure IE
Secure IE will vastly improve your browsing experience, and add a extra layer of secirity that Microsoft’s vanilla browser can not provide.
Integrated with McAfee Site Advisor, you can view information on questionable sites allowing you to avoid bad sites. A major advantage is the dramatic increase in browsing speed. Secure IE  first tunes your browser setting for the best performance, then opens 10 simultaneous connection sockets as opposed to MSIE’s 2 socket connection, speeding web surfing by up to 500% on DSL and cable connections. But, by far the biggest advantage is NO MORE BROSWER CRASHES! Click the image below for more information.