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Come on, guys.

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[music playing]

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I'm looking for
another one for you.

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I got one.

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Here we go, guys.

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All right.

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[chatter]

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A beach cottage, for me,
really, is a place to be

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of the sand and of the water.

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You know, putting
your feet in the sand

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and walking along the
beach is very calming

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and really kind of brings
you down and relaxes.

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We arrive at the deck, and
then the whole world opens up.

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[music playing]

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You see all the
cliffs in Chilmark.

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You have Menemsha Harbor.

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We have the Elizabeth Islands.

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We have Cuttyhunk in
the very end over there.

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It's like the best
of, you know, beach

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living and cottage living.

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Welcome to Flip Flop.

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These two shacks that
we were able to acquire

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were about 1,600 square feet
between the two cottages.

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We're on the island
of Martha's Vineyard,

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in a particular area
called Aquinnah, and home

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of the Wampanoag Indians.

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Martha's Vineyard
is really unique.

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And it has to do with the
glaciers and how things got

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formed.

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We have woods.

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And we have all kinds of ponds.

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So you can explore.

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And you can go to
different places.

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Get out in the boat.

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Go pick up the fish or whatever
at the fish market right

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off the dock, in the boat,
as opposed to driving around.

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I would always tell
my kids about my youth

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and growing up in
Long Island, New York,

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and spending many, many summers
in Montauk in a beach shack

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and camping out.

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My daughter, Taylor,
and her mother

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were on me for a
while about, gee, Dad,

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I'd love to have that
kind of experience again.

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And I ultimately
said to them, look,

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if you can find a
beach shack that

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meets that criteria, go ahead.

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And then they did.

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MARSHA AHEARN: I
got Taylor on board.

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Before we ever got
into the house,

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we were looking through
the door while the broker

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was looking for the right key.

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And we're like, this is it.

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We were just locking eyes.

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We knew this was it-- that view.

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I look out on that, and, like,
my blood pressure just drops.

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It just has such
an impact on me.

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It was my absolute dream.

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And I can't believe we found
a way to make it happen.

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And it was great to find
something that we could afford.

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And then he said, well,
you're going to have

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to live with it the way it is.

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But we knew.

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Taylor, didn't we know?

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We knew.

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There was no way Patrick was
going to leave it untouched.

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PATRICK AHEARN:
I'm an architect.

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I really thought of my
wife and my daughter

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very much like the client.

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My job was to establish the
architecture and the theme.

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My wife did all the
interior decorating.

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Virtually all the
pieces that you see here

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came from an antique fair.

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She has a gift
for really putting

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things together that you might
not think make any sense.

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She really brings that to
the table in a nice way.

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So the main cottage has two
ensuite bedrooms and a loft

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bedroom up above, with a
separate full bathroom that

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really serves as a powder room.

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We're able to create this
wonderful outdoor deck area.

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And the second cottage
is a one-bedroom cottage

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with a separate kitchen.

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So this is the primary
space within the cottage.

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The use of the
mahogany countertop

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was really meant to tie the
idea of a nautical or a boat

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environment to the cottage.

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Everybody hangs out
either on the island--

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people are cooking.

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People are cutting things.

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So this gets very
busy as a space.

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At the same time, there
may be a game on the TV,

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and people are coming in
and out from the beach.

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So this is really kind of the
central part of the activity

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as we're preparing meals
and things like that.

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How about an oyster?

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You want an oyster?

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You want to help
shuck the oysters?

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Go have an oyster.

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PATRICK AHEARN: This
ladder is very nautically

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inspired, very much
like you'd be stepping

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off an old sailing vessel.

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And it's the only
way up to the loft.

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So when we brought the
furniture up there,

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it was a little tricky.

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We had to take some
of the railings

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off to get the furniture up.

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And hopefully, it'll
never have to come down.

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So the former owner used
this space as his office.

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And so we really felt this
would be a VIP bedroom space.

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This loft floats
between the kitchen

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and the primary living space.

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But what I like about
it is you can look down.

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You can talk to
people down there.

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But I can look right
out the skylight.

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And I'm looking
right at our boat

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and, also, people on the beach.

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In the morning, and you
want to see the sunrise,

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you just open up the shutter.

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And there you are.

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[music playing]

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And what we were able to do
and really significantly change

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how it lives is to add this new
floor-to-ceiling glass set of

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doors, which totally fold away.

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One of the other things that's
special about this beach

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house compared to,
say, the Outer Banks,

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and things like that,
where the houses are up

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on a different level,
is that we basically

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can walk right out of
the house to the deck

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and down to the beach.

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The notion of Flip Flop--

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take your flip-flops off.

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Go into the sand.

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I put myself through college.

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I spent a whole semester-plus
living in my Volkswagen bus.

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It's actually a beverage cooler.

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That we'll drag
down to the beach.

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And it's kind of a
fun thing to use.

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[music playing]

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So you step down from
the living room space,

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if you will, to this
dining pavilion.

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And then you step
down again to the more

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private bedroom chambers.

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To the right is the primary
bedroom and private bath,

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which has a cathedral
ceiling, as well.

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So we kind of took that--
what was like a quasi-attic--

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added the fan.

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We have the high
windows above the bed.

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And then the powder room--

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bathroom that also serves the
loft-- that's a full bath--

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is over to the left.

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Going down the hallway
that we created

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to the new bedroom space.

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We brought in some old
timbers, and we kept

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them just the way they are.

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And we just painted them.

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Follow the Yellow
Brick Road-type thing.

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So welcome to the little shack.

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Now, the little
cottage was much more

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of a total gut,
gut, gut everything

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because it really
was a plywood box.

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It's very much self-contained.

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For example, somebody
could come here and never

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even go into the main
house and really have

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a great weekend experience.

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Well, we've got a very
nice full kitchen here.

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We've got the bedroom.

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So one of the other things
that we did to help reinforce

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the notion of cottages,
which was oftentimes done

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in the old days, when there
was not air conditioning,

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was to have interior windows
between interior spaces.

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So this idea that
the windows open

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between this space and
the bedroom, I think,

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is really a nice little touch.

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This is a good one.

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These are all really good.

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Yeah.

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[inaudible].

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Want to do it on my lap?

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There we go.

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[inaudible].

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Team effort.

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MARSHA AHEARN: It's just
the perfect getaway.

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And now that my kids
are all grown up,

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creating families of their
own, it's just wonderful

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when they come back here.

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PATRICK AHEARN: Having
this beach house and what

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we do with family and
friends and gathering

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and see the grandkids
grow up-- my son

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got married on this
beach last October.

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And my daughter,
Taylor, is going to get

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married up here next year.

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Those are memories
that will last forever.

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I mean, these things are
really things that make me feel

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good about life in general.

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[music playing]