Just decided to post an update of what’s transpired in that time. Remodeled our bathroom, sort of. It started out as a simple changing of the faucet on the sink, and when it was done we added:

• A new sink.
• A newer faucet
• New towel racks
• New mirror
• New wall-mounted cupboard

Now I’m in the process of repainting the thing as well as regrouting the tub. Had hoped to have it finished today, but ran out of paint. So goes my luck.

Speaking of luck, I also managed to break my first shovel this past week, trying to uproot some massive agapanthas in the backyard. Turns out that Vigaro makes some pretty shitty tools (in my opinion…as stated for legal reasons). That’s what I get by trying to save $8 at Home Depot. However, if you’ve seen the back yard, you’ll be happy to know (really, happy??… just indulge me here, ok) that the mound just off the patio is now gone, and come spring that newly flattened area will be teaming with rose bushes and other assorted plants. Not to mention a raised bed in the back left corner of the yard, courtesy of the 10 wheelbarrow loads of dirt I had to remove.

Also during the time since the last update, we lost…and found…our cat. No clue where she spent four lonely days, but my guess is that she wandered into a home a couple doors down that is under construction and was locked inside. Pretty crappy experience, all in all. It’s not too fun scouring the local shelters, seeing cats that look like they could be her twin, only to realize that they lacked a couple of distinctive markings. Needless to say (so why are you saying it, Bryan), she came back a bit traumatized and a bit lighter around the belly. However, she’s doing fine and is the proud new sporter of a microchip.

On an up note, I’m a great-uncle yet again. Twice-over in two days, actually. One niece welcomed her second kid, King Leonidis (or Leo) into the world, and another welcomed her first, Kathryn. Apparently, the wife and I have some catching up to do. Hopefully that will work itself out soon, though.

So yes, this was a random…and probably very boring…update. About as boring as you could possibly ask for, I’d imagine. However, I felt I owed something to my fans.

I’d decided that the headlines of each post looked rather bland in their use of just standard old Arial font. Originally I tried to implement sIFR as a means to alter the font, but found that there was a bit of a lag in the loading of each headline. Cufon cut that lag down dramatically.

The verdict on Cufon: highly recommended, two thumbs up.

Within 15 minutes it was a feeding frenzy at this trough of death. I’d estimate there were at least 500 ants were flocking to this stuff like fat people to a Cinnabon store. It was just a black, moving mass covering the bait. The next day, they were still at it, but most of the gel was already gone. So I re-applied the second half of the gel to the same area. I noticed that some ants were carrying the dead away from the house, and looked over to find a small field of ant corpses on the porch.

Within another day or two, we noticed there wasn’t a single ant in the kitchen, and nothing but a path of death and destruction across the patio between the hole and the lawn. So if you find yourself with ant troubles, definitely give this stuff a try. I’ve never seen ants decimated that quickly and thoroughly in my life.

So, for me, Combat Ant Gel get’s two thumbs and two big toes, up!!

(Also: yes, if you’re a regular or semi-regular visitor, I did change the site’s look again. Wanted to try a quasi-desktop appearance, and I think the work turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.)

Much to my dismay, most results were pretty much associated with one of two schools of thought. Either conceding personal defeat and calling the ol’ pest control guy, or the “well I use soap/mint/salt/hugs/virgin sacrifices to keep them out of the house” approach. Needless to say, I wasn’t a fan of what the great oracle of google told me, because:

A: I want them dead!
B: Pest control for ants reminded me of something from my bartending days.

A pest control guy that was a regular at the place I tended bar, back in college, basically said that people with an ant problem are essentially wasting their money by calling them. Apparently people can buy an ant bait at a regular hardware store that was on par with the stuff they used. So armed with that advice, I went up to Home Depot and picked up a couple of different products to test. Combat Ant traps, Combat Ant Gel, and Terro Ant Traps were my three selections.

The first product I used was this nifty little gel by Combat. Actually, I should correct myself. The only product I used was this nifty little gel by Combat.  The ants are drawn to this stuff like Amy Winehouse to an open bar. According to the box, it’s designed to attract ants as if it were food. The ants will feast themselves silly, carry some back to the colony for others to dine on, and then after about an hour or so the poison takes over. It’s supposed to wipe the colony clean. I can definitely tell you that this stuff is worth the $6 I paid for it.

Over the last 2 days, based on the amount of ants that flock to every new application, I must have killed thousands. I’ve definitely noticed that the number of ants that make their way onto the counter is down to just a couple, here and there. They just can’t seem to ignore this gel when it’s around. Updates and body counts will follow.

War is hell, but hopefully if this stuff works as promised, you’ll all know exactly what to use if you ever find yourself having war declared on you by an ant army.

Now I just have to wait for the discharge paperwork.

In other news, I’ve finally seen a video online that not even I could finish watching. Titled simply “1 Guy, 1 Jar”, it starts out very innocently. Well as innocent as a nude man squatting over what appears to be a glass pickle jar, could be. About 30 seconds in, though, it takes a dramatic turn for the worse. The likes of which would definitely make standing At 45 seconds in, I had to tap out. It was either keep watching and lose a good night’s meal onto my keyboard, or stop the video and keep what little was left of my hope for the future of humanity. There’s a part of me that wanted to put it up as my featured video, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that to you good folks out there. That being said, I can link to it though…haha.

Before I do, I should warn you that it’s DEFINITELY not safe for the following:
viewing at work, viewing in front of or near children & people with heart conditions, certain endangered species, or anyone with a sense of decency.

So click here if you dare. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though. Honestly, before you do, think long and hard about whether you want this image seared into your brain for the rest of your life. Believe me when I say I’ve seen enough strange things on the internet to become desensitized to most of it, but this was the first time I actually had to close a page prior to the ending.

So there you have it. Back from a long absence of posting, and providing you with a few gifts that will last far beyond this holiday season. If I don’t make an appearance prior to the New Year, have a happy holiday.

*Shameless Plug* If you haven’t taken a peek at the business site lately, I’d urge you to do so. We just got an amazing response to an article of Katherine’s that she reposted on the designer’s blog over there leading to over 2000 visitors in just 3 days. Not bad exposure for little local design company like us. We’ve completed a few more clients whose sites you can see in in the portfolio. Business is much better than we’d expected only 6 months into it. Good things are on the horizon, too. Once we get done with the wedding and get a chance to breathe, we’ll be looking at the possibility of taking on our biggest project to date. More on that as it evolves, but it’s definitely a great prospect, and a great opportunity for some major exposure. Of course, free plugs on a site with web influence as large as boroski.com has is huge in and of itself. Almost akin to being on the top page of Digg. However, this project would definitely be a great boost and a chance at some equally great contacts. *End of Shameless Plug*

Now that we have that out of the way, I’d also like to give a very happy birthday out to my niece. She’s a happy 1 year-old today. If you remember correctly, boroski.com was one of the first official newsbreakers of her birth. When she’s famous, she’ll be able to trace her success back to the staff here (me). Building on that hugely successful appearance (and to steal a bit from Stephen Colbert), thanks to the phenomena I’d like to coin as the “Boroski Boost”, she’s currently what I consider a front runner in a cute baby contest. Feel free to check it out, and just like any election worth a damn, make sure to vote early and vote often. You don’t have to sign up, just click to vote and you’ll see an option on the right hand side to ‘vote as a guest’, or something to that effect.

At this point you’re probably saying to yourself “ok, ok, what’s with that photo of you and the other guy”. Well that other guy is the one, the only, the legend: Jim Norton. We caught his show at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco and it was amazing as usual. Really, nothing I can say could do it justice, other than it was Jimmy at his best. So shameless plug for his site here. When you couple that with seeing Louis CK at Punchline a couple weeks back, seeing Rich Vos there the weekend after my birthday, Bill Burr at Punchline the end of this month, and Robert Kelly there next month, it’s safe to say we’ll be laughing all the way to the wedding. Which is definitely a good way to kick it all off.

Ok, enough of the palaver…this ought to keep you occupied for a bit. In case it doesn’t, here:

Great video that puts the world in prospective
25 very important questions
You want Obama in the White House? Think again.
Ok, this made my head hurt. This installment is now over.

If you haven’t been following the story, the wedding is falling quickly upon us. That being said, we’ve been busting our ass over at BKB Design Group to get our vendor websites finished, wedding planning, and of course the bachelor party.

The star-studded gala will be held at an undisclosed location in Lake Tahoe in mid-April. It will feature your standard bachelor party fare of booze, gambling and various drunken activities.

All photos of the debauchery will be posted in the photo gallery for you all to take a gander at. Correction, all photos that adhere to US & International Laws will be posted in the gallery. I have to cover my ass to keep from risking arrest prior to the actual ceremony.

As for other things….

If you haven’t seen this video, I highly recommend you do. It seems that some people are beginning a wonderful new trend of taking innocent Sesame Street skits and turning them into more ‘adult’ entertainment. There’s the aforementioned one featuring the Count, as well a a few others out there that offer more of the same. I mean, who could forget this classic?

Also this video showing just how fucking loony Tom Cruise really is. Just a warning, he’s apparently having these videos Cease and Desisted to death, so the odds of this link being up for longer than a few days are slim. Get it while you can. Although a simple google search will yield quite a few results should the link I provided get broken.

Speaking of loony, in the immortal words of Porky Pig: “B-dee b-dee b-dee, that’s all folks”.

See you soon.

You’ve already heard about the engagement if you come by on a semi-regular basis. Yes, she’s still holding onto me. Amazing ain’t it? As for the car, well what can I say. After 10 years and hitting 200,000 miles, it was time to trade up. The Jeep gave me quite a few memories, a hell of a lot of stories, and great road trips which culminated when I took it for one last trip to Vegas back in April. Now we’re onto a new chapter with a VW Golf. It was a steal. An ’04 with only 16,000 miles on it. Given the fact that I’m gaining about 15 extra miles to the gallon, the blow to my wallet will be softened considerably over time. Oh, and the fact that it’s got a working A/C is a huge benefit considering the hot summers. Oddly, I don’t dread driving home from work in 100 degree weather anymore.

Getting the A/C (along with new windows) put in at the house also makes coming home that much more fun. Now, Katherine and I walk into a nicely cooled 74 degree house (love the programmable thermostat). Yet another amazing part of that being that the energy bill has remained steady. Who’d have thought that two window units would suck the same amount of power?

The weddings were fantastic! Rich and Dan, two old friends finally tied the knot to their longtime ladies in two great ceremonies. They were followed by two excellent receptions. Photographic evidence is available in the Events & Happenings album inside my photo area, if you’re curious.

As for the clients, yes, we’re gaining them all the time. So much so that we’re currently up to our necks in websites to design. Gotta love it when you’re up and coming business seems to be working out better than planned. When we’re finished with the work, I’ll have them prominently featured here for your viewing pleasure.

Other than that, nothing else to report. None the less, I’ll be trying to update a little more often so as not to leave you hanging.