International Exotic Cocktail Day, October 1

Mark your calenders, kids, there's a new, totally Tikitastic Holiday and it starts this year, 2010. International Exotic Cocktail Day will commence on October 1st, 2010. It's a fantabulous holiday for everyone to recognize how lucky we are to live in a world where Rum and fruit juice can be celebrated by millions as an actual holiday.

Share recipes with your friends, gather in crowds and drink exiting concoctions around your Tiki bar, or meet up at the Mai Kai. Whatever floats your boat. Be sure to garnish everything you drink that day with a cocktail umbrella, pineapple slice and a cherry. Drink virgin frozen drinks at work and add the booze later on. Go ahead, after all, it's International Exotic Cocktail Day, so have a ball.

International Exotic Cocktail Day was conceived by yours truly, Tiki Chris Pinto of Tiki Lounge Talk and The Retro Tiki Lounge on Facebook in an effort to spread the good word about our wonderful Tiki Lifestyle.

Bathroom Remodling, vintage style

Adding a Retro-rock wall look

The old look

1970s countertop

When I was a kid none of the men in my family ever paid a plumber, contractor or mechanic for anything. They did everything themselves, from replacing rusty pipes to remodeling entire rooms to replacing transmissions on cars. What they didn't know how to do they learned while doing. There was always someone to help, a friend or family member who had done the job before and learned the hard way.

Today I only know one guy (other than me) who can fix a running toilet or do an oil change himself, my buddy Steve up in Jacksonville. All the other fellas I know don't know the difference between a valve cap and drain shoe. But I do.

So I get to save a lot of money by doing things myself. The trade-off is the time. I've been renovating our guest bathroom now since August. So far I've probably got about 25 hours in the job and it's about half finished. But the whole thing will cost me about $250 in the end including new faucets, tile floors, new countertop and new wall treatments. I estimated this job at around $6000 to have it done by a contractor.

This is a drain shoe.

This renovation includes plastering the walls with an old-style stucco look, doing a black-on-black rock wall in the tub area (including the tub itself), new plumbing including valves, faucets and drain, tile floor and tiled vanity and sink. If all goes well it should be mostly finished by the end of September. I say mostly finished because as you all know, these jobs are never really done.

Wish me luck.

The hole to hell...through the 6" thick concrete slab