Aww, that sucks it wont be for quite a while
Guess that's just how it goes though. But it is pretty cool to be able to take yours whenever.
His job is to take photos, adjust the resolution and alter them to grayscale so the etching will transfer properly. It's kind of like working with sims alphas in a way: the more white something is the more it will show up. He then puts it into a program, moves the granite piece onto the bed, and the laser does it. Then you rub a special white paint which fills in the rough spots from etching, and that's it
There is also an artist they have who can color it. Man it looks beautiful. What sucks though is that they do it all in a small shop and he's the only one who does that particular job, so it can be difficult for him to take days off cause it kind of disrupts everything.
This is where he works.
Last week I think it was, Outdoor Retreat went down to $15 on Origin as part of their site-wide sale. Do you have a twitter account? I follow The Sims, Sims VIP, and The Sims Community and rarely miss any sales that pop up. Through Origin anyway. Unfortunately CD Keys doesn't have the game or stuff packs.