Stolen Ancient Roman Bathtub Recovered

Someone must have prayed to St. Anthony to find the missing ancient Roman bathtub. According to iafrica.com, the bathtub was stolen in 2005 and just recently found in Spain by the Italian police by coincidence.

Not only were they the Italian police, but specialists in stolen artwork, who randomly came across this tub in a Spanish Mediterranean port city while on other business . The officers were browsing in an antique shop, where the owner said he bought the tub for €3000 (4,621.31 USD) at the end of 2005, thinking it was a good deal for the oval-shaped reproduction. Little did he know he got 99% off valued price. That's a bargain!

Today, the tub is worth at a mere €300,000 (462,031.00 USD). Don’t too bad considering it dates back to the era of the Roman emperor Hadrian, in the second century A.D.

Maybe the next owner won’t keep it in a garden of a villa, which is where it was originally stolen.

This tub clearly used it's Roman decent as an advantage on St. Anthony's list.

Allan's "Escalator Pitch" at NY SES Conference

Did you use the bathroom today?

A man of many words shortens them into 25 seconds. Last month, Vintage Tub & Bath's General Manager, Allan Dick, climbed his way to the with an "escalator pitch" at the New York 2008 SES Conference and Expo. This spin-off of an Elevator Pitch , hosted by Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR co-founder, forces people to simplify their business and products even further due to the speed of Hilton's escalators.
Allan knows the industry well, as do many others because throughout a life time, people spend over a year and a half in it; the bathroom. Why not enjoy it? Which is the exact reason to buy from Vintage Tub & Bath.



If you have not used the bathroom today, please, take this time and go now!

You can check out other Escalator Pitches on the SES Conference YouTube Channel.

Get "Greener" with Paint, not color

Looking to make your house greener without painting it green?

Our customers are asking for ways to “Go Green” in the bathroom and kitchen without looking too modern. I've found a variety of tips to benefit the serious renovators as well as the quick-fixers, from easily implemented and inexpensive energy savers to kitchen altering renovations. Best part, saving energy saves money too. Go green to save green.

The first of my many tips found deals with paint, because, no matter what kind of remodel, renovation or simple update you're doing, it’s inevitable you'll be repainting and resealing walls and floors.

How can adding more chemicals to your walls improve the environment? Even after regular paint is dry, it can off-gas for up to 3.5 years. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in most paints are a major source of indoor air pollution. Look for the Green Seal on paint products to ensure only the lowest VOC paints are used in your home. Low VOC paint uses a water base instead of petroleum-based oil solvents.

AFM Safecoat's is a leader in the green-building industry. They offer a full line of paints in every finish; Matte, Eggshell, All Purpose Exterior Satin, Cabinet & Trim Enamel, and Semi-gloss. Just like regular paint, these are all tintable to virtually any color.

Stains and Seals- OSMO and Velvit Oil stains are good for both wood and concrete, starting as low as $25 a gallon

Not planning on repainting? Stop the off-gas from the current paint with Finishes & Off-Gas Stoppers.

Going "Green" looks better than you think. You'll be surprised of the many other ways to be eco-friendly during your upcoming and even already started projects.

10 Quick Fix Ideas for Small Bathrooms

After dying my roommate’s hair the other night, I managed to get dye everywhere but her scalp. Blame it on my inexperience or our small, cramped bathroom. I chose the bathroom size. If only we could ditch the toilet, tub, or sink, our bathroom would be more spacious. For obvious reasons, we decided to leave them, but plan to make other adjustments. My mission was to find the best way to make our bathroom LOOK bigger with some quick fixes. Knowing my bathroom isn’t the smallest that needs change, I hope these inexpensive, easy improvements inspire you to do the same to your tiny bathroom while you’re still in the active spring mode.

Top 10 Small Bathroom Visual Enlargements

1. Color Conscious- Brighten and cool the room in both paint and fabric. Keep the feel light and airy; use the 60-30-10 Rule. 60% Dominant Color, 30% Secondary Color, 10% Accent Color
   
2. Wallpaper- Stick with textured paper and one that uses vertical lines to add the height illusion; nothing busy.
3. See Clearly- Substitute the opaque glass shower enclosure and for a clear, frameless one. Don't hide the little room you have. Use sheer or delicate tonal drapery fabrics.
4. Merge- If you have both a shower stall and bathtub, eliminate the shower by adding a Shower Head to the bathtub. Clawfoot Bathtub are as short as 48"; giving your bathroom more room, style, a bath and a shower all in one.
5. Get in Sink- Use a Pedestal Sink to give more floor space, Wall Mount it to clear the floor or add a Vessel Sink to give more counter space.
6. Don't Cut Corners- Replace your large out-dated toilet with a small modern Corner Toilet to avoid wasted space. Corner Sinks are also available as a wall mount and pedestal.
   
7. Mirrors- Reflect the space with multiple mirrors. Mirrors make any room look bigger. Use at least one with a built-in Medicine Cabinets to help with storage.
8. Clear the Way- Only leave out what is absolutely necessary; the bar of soap. Remove the small accessories and organize to give everything a home.
   
9. Board the Floors- Light colored flooring, such as birch wood, will match the cool colors and aid in the eye trick of appearing larger. Ask a professional about the best wood and sealant to use in bathrooms. Tile is a safe alternative, working well on counter tops, walls and floors.
10. Cut the Carpet- No wall to wall carpeting. Use runner carpets to give length to the floor rather than those stumpy, rectangular bathroom carpets.

Rapping up VTB's Dinner in NYC

Here's the wrap up from this year's Vintage Tub’s Networking Dinner at the Manhattan Penthouse in New York City after the SES Conference. From wrapping sushi to an actual rapper,Allan Dick spoiled his guests with:

• 2 hours of hors d'oeuvres including mini crab cakes, variety of sushi, fried lamb raviolis, homemade guacamole and mini sandwiches

• an open bar; greases the jaw for networking.
• We don't encourage drinking here at VTB, but the first time meeting Allan, he informed me that those who drink make a larger income than those who don't due to the networking done. A fact I'll never forget.
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• Delicious dinner choices from Filet Mignon, Salmon and Pasta with volcano cake for dessert.

• Dance Dance Revolution and a Basketball hoop competition.

• A rap performance from Chuck Lewis, aka MoSerious on search engine strategies
  
  

Sponsors of the event presented gifts and give aways to the guests including;

• SEMPO Certification in Insider's Guide to Search Marketing, Advanced Search Advertising and Advanced SEO, valued at $3,197 from SEMPO
• $250 Circuit City gift card from Hitwise
• $250 Best Buy gift card from Covario
• $250 Petco gift card from RANGE
• $250 Barnes & Noble gift card from pepperjam
• $250 Banana Republic/GAP/Old Navy gift card from epiar

So who were some of the lucky guests?
Dana Todd, CMO of Newsforce, Founder of SEMPO and Jeffrey Pruitt, President of SEMPO (I even had the privilege by them at dinner).
Kristopher Jones, President & CEO of pepperjam
Mike Grehan, Global KMD Officer of Acronym Media
..and over a hundred others including our sponsors and corporations including Google,Yahoo, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, BabyAge.com, Search Engine Journal.

VTB goes to NYC for SES Conference

An opportunity of a lifetime struck Vintage Tub interns this week when the General Manager, Allan Dick, Jr., invited us to attend the Search Engine Strategies 2008 Conference and Expo at the Hilton in New York City. We woke up at 5 am on March 18th like little kids on Christmas morning to start our travel into the city for a full day of fun.

Defining Fun:

• Listening to presentations and panel discussions that cover literally all aspects of search engine-related promotion.
• Choosing between 16 different sessions all in one day, ranging from Introduction to Search Engine Marketing, Universal Search to Optimization, Analytics and Paid Search.
• Having the sessions presented by the industry's top Search experts and representatives of the Search Engines themselves, just to name a few:
• Google, Acronym Media, Microsoft, bigmouthmedia, Hitwise, IBM, Medio, and comScore.

• Learning the most innovative and current technology that even advanced search marketers were not unaware of until this week.
• Meeting and networking with people of similar interests in ecommerce.
  
• Visiting the 100’s of expo booths to stock up on pens and sticky notes.
• Searching booths for better gifts like Steak Media's purple cow, Acronym Media's hand sanitizer for “hands-on search” and delicious baked cookies from Omniture.

Although the 7 of us are all SEMPO Certified, we were still impressed by the amount of new info we learned in just one day and can only imagine being there for 4 days. I also noticed something about the environment we were in; we were the youngest people there. There were plenty of young business men and women, but they were clearly employees of their business, not college students. There were very few interns here because employers would rather invest their money for a "platinum pass" in their employees before interns (let alone seven!). I’m sure I can speak for the rest of the interns when I say that it made us all appreciate the trip that much more.

At 6 pm, when the conference sessions were complete, our day was far from finished. Leaving the Hilton, we relocated to the Manhattan Penthouse where our manager threw a networking dinner party with over 120 guests from the conference and industry. As if the day couldn’t get better, I was able to speak one on one with reps from SEMPO, 360i, ESPN, Microsoft, Google and many more, which deserves greater depth in a later post. With all this, a career experience of a life time was created.

Thank you to everyone (especially Allan, Mike and Regina) who made this day possible for us. One for the books.

Suggestions for Clinton’s “Kitchen Sink” Campaign

Intrigued by Hillary Clinton’s “Kitchen Sink” Campaign, we suggest the entire Presidential race be won through the battle of various household items.

Although the saying may be "everything but the kitchen sink," Barak Obama's 11 straight primary victories forced Clinton to use the last resort; the kitchen sink. It turns out to be her weapon of choice after winning the March 3rd primaries in Ohio and Texas.

Clinton’s Ohio and Texas primary victories are going to require Obama to come back with something bigger than the kitchen sink. An appreciate rebuttal for Obama in theme with appliances, yet adding a twist, would be to forget the kitchen and move to the bathroom. Being a specialist in the both kitchen and bathroom industry, we suggest the bathtub. Obama can show his chrome claws with a classic acrylic clawfoot tub; light weight making it easy to transport unlike the traditional cast iron. With extra hands from his supporters, he can use the Cast Iron Pedestal Bathtub to guarantee a win.

As for Clinton, if she is thinking about using her victory weapon for the remainder of the race, she should change things up for each debate. Although she has been training for this race for years, her arm is going to be tired and sore when November finally rolls around. She should consider using a lighter sink, such as stainless steel, but using a gooseneck faucet faucet to hook Obama closer so she won’t have to worry about the distance. Or she can opt to end the race early by taking Obama out with a fireclay kitchen sink kitchen sink. This adds a classy touch (as if throwing kitchen sinks isn't classy enough) and will be a one punch knock out.