Rob & Mary, I was able to find your website, but it appears that you have listed your e-mail instead of your website address. The search engine did show an Arts of the Southwest which brought up your site. Really admired your use of the petroglyph images on your artwork. I have wondered why some gourd artist does not use some of the black on white and red on black geometric images found on the old Anaszi pottery. Also the images found on the Mimbres pottery from 1,,000 years ago in SW New Mexico. Course I realize that the Mimbres images went in the inside of bowls, but should still look great worked onto the outside of gourds. Thanks for the chance to visit your website. Willie

The label says it has 512 MB of memory. I'm not sure which memory this is referring to, but if it is the RAM on the motherboard, it could use an upgrade. Windows XP likes to have 2 Gigabyte (2 GB) or more. You are using a wireless router on a DSL sevice. Make sure that your wireless router is secured so that someone else within range can't horn in and ride piggyback on your connection for free. The more computers using the connection, the slower it gets for any one computer. The next potential bottle neck is the DSL service. If this is over a phone line, it may not be a large jump in speed over a standard dial-up service. A good connection does have marked improvement in speed, but a troublesome connection looses much speed advantge. Consider taking the computer to a shop or friend and try on their lines. Another problem, if over a phone line, is a noisy line. Thw phone company can test your phone line for quality. Make sure that you tell the technicam that this line will be used for internet service. If over a phone line, another bottleneck can be the phone company. It may not have installed equipemnt capable of high speed data transfer. If you have a friend who has a high speed cable connection with a wireless router, you may want to try your computer on his connection. Have the computer checked out at a computer shop to discover if it is the computer or the DSL service to your house.

I hate to ask this, but if you have no idea of what to do with the space then why are you doing the renovation? Also, when working with large, open rooms the general idea is to partition the space into smaller units using furniture. Think groups of sofas, table and chairs, etc. You will need to choose furniture which looks good from all sides (which can be difficult with case goods). And you will need to place some plugs out in the middle of the floor. Regarding books or websites, try your local library - look for books about loft interiors. Good luck! Paul

Here is another cute on for the kids and us....better homes and gardens site has a thing where you can decorate Christmas cookies and email them to people with your own personal message attached. Very cute. They have ginger bread men and women, a Christmas tree and round cookie shapes to choose from.