Sorry Norm, I thought Id give you the benefit of the doubt and call it a Ten! Barb came in behind you and spotted us a Twenty anyway. :-) Our location is, has been and always will be free. I think that everyone will agree that thanks to Jan & Jim we have had one of the most beautiful locations imaginable for the last seven years and Im sure that you will all be thrilled with the new one as well. We dont spend any money on the luncheon as far as food or drink is concerned unless we see that there is going to be a shortage of something needed. Our Guest Lecturers are not paid (except for Captain Compost, who more or less screwed-over Jan & Jim but thats another story). Supplies are the real killer. Plates, cups, napkins, forks, knives, spoons, tablecloths, trash bags, pencils, pens, magic markers, name tags, notebook pads and legal pads for 200-300 people every year (and I know that I'm forgetting a bunch of other stuff) all adds up pretty quick. Just the plates, napkins, cups and utensils alone will run us a minimum of $150-200 a year at Costco because Lavonne refuses to buy the cheap crappy stuff. We normally over-buy too just to make sure that we dont get caught with our pants down. Now multiply that by 14 swaps or seven years worth. I have no idea what the attendance numbers are at other swaps but our spring swaps usually have between 125-175 folks and the fall swaps normally are around 75-125. That doesnt factor-in my Ms. Cheap debacle where we had in excess of 400 (which I take full responsibility for my screw-up there) so were probably looking at between 1,800-2,500 that have attended the MTPS since its inception. I doubt that any other plant swap in the country can boast those numbers. Obviously if our attendance was a third or a quarter of what it actually is then our out-of-pocket expenses would be far less. Rest assured that nobody has ever made any money and no one is paid for their hours of time, service and effort; all Im talking about is straight-up financial expenditure for supplies only. Im sure that Ive burned $100 just in gas running down to HHSP and back in the last few months to scope out the new location, make decisions on that location and meet with the principals insuring/confirming the location and working out the logistics but thats strictly all on me and I dont expect anything for it. Hey, Id be more than happy for someone to come take over the financial end of this if they could do it for $100 a year!!! To think that we could pull off what we do with the MTPS for $50-100 a year is actually pretty laughable. Ive even given money to folks that didnt have enough to buy gas get home from the swap. (Not Norm though, Id make him walk or thumb a ride BTW, that joke about the cop and the tickets was hilarious dude!) Bec has to rent her server space, she had to register a domain name, setup the server, do all the programming and graphics, she does all the updates and changes, the site hosting and the artistic logo creation for a 12-page website with a ton of different links. Ive searched the internet a multitude of times and seen dozens of plant swap websites and NOBODY in the country has a website that even comes close to equaling the MTPS site. All I want is to make sure that she gets is what she is out-of-pocket. BEC HAS NEVER ASKED FOR A DIME but Im not going to have anyone spend their own money and not be reimbursed for it even if it means that Lavonne and I have to foot the bill. She has done this out of the kindness of her heart and her love for the MTPS. Bec is donating her time, expertise and efforts just like the rest of us but the difference is that this is her occupation. There is no way that we could pay her normal pricing and service fees for what she has done for us for free! Its not even fair to try and equate what she has done for us with the MTPS site to anything else that is out there because there just isnt anything else out there equal to it and shes not even finished yet! When I look at what she has done for us it makes my piddly little excuse for time and effort look fairly lame in comparison and I was embarrassed when I realized that Ive been unknowingly stiffing her. So. I. Again, Im not complaining one bit about anything but I did want to remind everyone that (A.) we do need those donations for the time being, (B.) we need to help out Bec whether she wants it or not and (C.) that Im adamant about NOT charging an admission as long as it is my decision to make. My post wasnt about beating everybody over the head and demanding more money; Ill eat the $200-$300 a year myself if that what it comes down to and never give it another thought. II. My other concern was that as we continue to grow then we are going to want some nicer stuff and to make everyone aware that about all we are able to do right now is to break even. I understand that some folks will throw in a Twenty and some folks cant afford to donate at all; Im fine with that and always have been! But if everyone does want new, more or larger signage then its going to cost more money. If we want a nice banner or two its going to cost more money and right now we arent getting enough to pay for that stuff at all. Its entirely up to you guys, Im not suggesting that everyone has to drop more money in the donation jar either. I just wanted to make everyone aware of the situation. III. Thats why I mentioned sponsorships by local businesses; Id eventually like to completely do away with the donation jar all together so that none of us have to be out any cash at all and we may actually have a surplus to buy stuff with! IV. Ill gladly share the total donation amounts versus actual expenditures to anyone that has any questions about where the money goes! Ill even have Lavonne start keeping a ledger sheet and we can post it on the website. Geez Louise, this is why I hated to even mention it in the first place but Im not going to have Bec and Doug footing the webpage bill because it isnt fair. So thats all Ive got to say on the matter and I wont bring it up again. Anyone having any further questions can email me directly or give me a call at 615-310-4155. If you read this entire post then I'll give you a dollar. Ill be happy to answer questions that you can throw at me other than questions pertaining to the air-speed velocity needed by a five ounce swallow to carry a one pound coconut from a tropical climate to a temperate one or the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow in any climate. (Birds just arent my thing.) The Characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional. Signed RICHARD M. NIXON Including the majestik møøse Sorry, now I'm punchy and reverting back to Python

OK, thanks. ALL of that stuff should be flushing out of the machine with each drain. Since it's obviously not, I'd be suspecting two things: 1) Insufficient fill-level and/or 2) obstructed drain path. This is somewhat presumptuous at cyber-distance, I realize, but I'll place my bet here. Can you eye-ball the fill-level and describe? Can you eyeball the drain-line and verify no kinks? Can you describe manner of connection of drain-line to the sink drain? Whether connected to disposal or to sink-drain pipe, you can do a slightly messy exercise that will tell you a lot. Disconnect the DW drain-hose from the sink-drain. Inspect the end and entry into the sink drain to see if there's any obvious obstruction there. Disposal connections, for example, are notorious for accumulating gunk right at the connection-point that can obstruct more than 1/2 of the outlet into the disposal. Get a several-gallon bucket and hold or secure the drain hose so that it will empty into the bucket. Run the DW through a fill/drain or rinse-only or whatever-it's-called cycle so that the DW fills, runs for just a minute, and then drains. HOLD THAT HOSE so that it doesn't blast all over. Observing what comes out and the speed at which it comes out will tell you a lot. It will tell you the quantity of water the machine's filling with, whether or not the pump is performing at should, and whether or not there was a bunch of crap in the drain-line obstructing the flow. What you're wanting to see is a considerable rush of water with nothing in it. Notice the total volume of water expelled. The quantity you should see is different for each machine. You'll have to consult your manual or other mfgr information to learn how much water that should be. All I can tell you is that IF you're getting a complete fill and IF the pump is operating as it should and IF the filter is clean and IF the drain path is clear you will NOT be seeing residual food particles in your washer. If you're willing to do this, I suspect your problem will show up right there.

I was going to put my blood type on the helmet too, but an EMT told me he would never pay attention to what someone claims their blood type to be, he uses universal plasma and at the hospital they use a quick blood typing test. The risks of infusing an incompatible blood type are too high. Medical insurance information sounds like a good idea. Although [rant] have you checked what your "insurance" actually covers, lately? Our family of four pays about $16K/year in employee contribution. And our total family deductible is around $12K/year. We have not consumed over $12K/yr of medical care in at least ten years, probably not since the last child was delivered. Basically we pay $16K/year - and my company pays at least as much - for catastrophic coverage. On a day-to-day basis, every doctor visit and every prescription is coming out of my pocket. I'd rather we had the system they have in France. Everyone, rich or poor, has basic, no-frills medical coverage. Those who want nicer, fancier, more sophisticated treatment - private rooms, cutting-edge technology, $100K/yr drugs - have the option of buying commercial insurance policies, if they can afford it and want to. But everyone, rich and poor, has a basic and decent level of care. We may get a version of that in the US, starting in 2014. Maybe. "There's many a slip, 'twixt the cup and the lip." Who knows if it will actually happen. [/rant] After reading this http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/technology/bicyclists-using-cameras-to-capture-accidents.html I got interested in wearing a video camera, so you see on the helmet my initial experiment. It is not the $300 GoPro that a serious biker-recorder wears, but a $38 micro-cam from a Hong Kong mail order hobby shop. Meant for use in radio control aircraft, helos, etc. After experimenting with this cheap camera, I'm putting a nicer videocam on my Santa list. Aside from the "evidence" aspect, it is instructive to view a recorded ride and think about what dangers I did and didn't perceive at the time. I've been riding in traffic since I was a 7 y/o boy riding in downtown Vancouver B.C. on my Peugeot ten-speed, but I still make mistakes every day. Just like we all make mistakes driving, even though we've been doing it all our lives. I'll post a link to some video later. Here is a link that might be useful: NYT Story

It's a great idea to check all your credit or banking accounts online every day or two. It makes it much harder for anyone to use your existing accts past the first time. Kids like to order stuff with parent's cards because they might have easy access to them and the computer. If they can catch the mail and you don't know that something was delivered, they'll deny it forever. If an outsider stole your card, it's not likely, but possible that things would be mailed to your own address unless it's a neighbor's kid who thought they could pull it off. There is much good info to be found in mailboxes. Just think, when you write a check with your address, phone number, checking acct number, and possibly driver's license number, and put it in an envelope with a credit card bill, with your account number, place it in your mailbox for pickup, and send up a red flag for all the world to know that's it's likely they'll find some good stuff if they grab your mail. Outgoing mail should be mailed at the post office or handed to the carrier. If this were me, I would get online and check my credit reports right away. You can't know if any other accts. have been opened in your name without checking there. It's a good idea to go to your local police station with the evidence, and have them write a police report on this theft. If someone has your identity and commits a larger crime or skips out on bail, you can be arrested for it. The burden is then yours to prove that it wasn't you. This theft can get much more serious than a few videos showing up in the mailbox. Here's the website of Clark Howard. He's on top of all sorts of money scams and has a lot of useful info for anyone with a fraud type problem. He's a radio and television consumer advocate and doesn't charge for any help. Most of the needed info is right on the website. Hope some of this helps. Linda Here is a link that might be useful: Clark Howard's website