Home Bar Blog

How many times per day does your Internet Explorer web browser lock up, crash or freeze? Internet Explorer 7 wastes hours of productivity and is hands down the worst piece of software we have ever experienced.
When casually browsing the web, IE 7 lockups every other session. Firefox on the otherhand rarely locks up at all. It kinda makes me wonder what is going on over in Redmond. They produce the operating system, yet they can not produce a stable internet browser. Is this a problem that they are unwilling or unable to fix or perhaps a monopoly designed to hold back competition?

We have tried the new IE 7 Pro browser add-on, but the only thing it appears to do is catch IE when it falls and while it worked fine for a few days, it too eventually bogged down. This problem has been going on for far too long. IE version 8 is on the horizon, but reviews of the beta version provides little promise, as does Vista.

Symptoms of IE crashes include:
1. Hard drive starts chunking & grinding for several minutes while nothing happens.
2. Task Manager > Applications tab shows “Internet Explorer Not Responding”.
3. Entire PC freezes for extended time while it sorts out it’s own mess.
4. The words about:blank appear in the address bar.
5. Utter frustration sets in.

In a world rife with so many other problems, ain’t it great how one company can make you so incredily unproductive? Let’s hear how MS IE problems affect your work day.

We have a winner of the first official Home Bar Photo Contest.
The honors and $50 go to Robert W. of Crete, Ill.

April 2008 Winner: Northwoods Bar Theme
Field stone bar front application.

His unique Northoods Theme and use of field stone edged him out
over TONS of other great project entries. It was a close race between
his bar and at least two dozen other excellent projects.

Bob’s craftsmanship and creativity along with excellent overall
appearance of the fiinished project stood out as one of the best.
Photo composition also earned Robert the prize by capturing the entire
bar scene floor to ceiling and left to right and from four different angles.   

 

Bob tells us, “The bar is the focal point of our walk out basement, in a country setting but within 60 minutes of downtown Chicago. First time ever woodworkin project attempted.   In remodeling the entire basement ( again first time ), our motto was ‘everything twice’ and we were ok with that as long as we were learning and having fun ( and not making to many costly mistakes ). The L-Shaped bar plan was the starting point and then improvised. 
Enjoyed the project and enjoying the results even more.”
Bob also added “I defintely amazed (at learning of winning), especially if you could have seen our struggles at the onset. Everyone involved in this creation appreciates your support!”
Thanks, Bob W.

Thank YOU Bob & Congratulations!

The waters of the Wolf River near Fremont Wisconsin will soon be full of fish and fisherman for the 2008 Walleye run.
If you’ve never experienced this event, you should take a look at the photos of boats and home brew shore platforms with fully enclosed cabins with many including their own home bar!

http://www.wolfrivercountry.com/outdoors.html

The home building slump has created the prefect price conditions for home improvement projects by lowering overall demand for lumber. The result has been a steady decrease in the retail price of lumber that you’ll find at home centers like Lowe’s, Home Depot, 84 Lumber and Menards.

Lumber futures prices have been on a decline since mid 2004 when new home construction slowed with rising interest rates. In some areas, materials produced for new housing is stacking up in lumber yards , dropping prices to the lowest point in five years and forcing many mills to cut production.

If you are planning a home improvament project, now is the time to take advatage of this opportunity.

Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre announced his plans to retire after 17 years. Every Packer fan will miss him. Good luck Brett, now it’s on to Canton!

For the record books…
5,377 completed passes for
61,655 total yards
442 touchdowns
288 interceptions (doh!)
9 Pro Bowls
160 wins
started 253 straight regular-season games
3-time NFL MVP

Word is, Green Bay wants to honor Brett by renaming Ashland Avenue to “Brett Favre Boulevard”. We think “Brett Favre Pass” would be more appropriate.

Thanks 4 the memories Brett!
Maybe after a few hundred miles on the JD, you’ll come back…