Just to give everyone an update, I met with my SIL last weekend and we went over my nephew's transcript and the 504 information she has. The situation is pretty bad. Last year he only received 3 credits when he took 6 (he failed English, Math, Health, History). He is currently failing at least History and Chemistry. I also read the testing information and it was very confusing. The testing done in 10th grade contradict the testing done in 7th grade. In other words, they found LDs in 10th grade, but not the ones found in 8th grade. The school has been updating his 504 every year, but his teachers seem to know nothing about it. She was going to talk to the guidance counselor again and get back to me. I have laryngitus right now, so I haven't called her this week to see what he said. Part of the issue, I think, might be that his IQ testing came out low. I think it was in the high 90s. That makes no sense to me, he seems very bright. I wonder if the IQ testing could have biases based on his issues. I think that because the IQ is low, their expectatiions for him are low. In other words, the school views him as "dumb" rather than learning disabled. I made an impassioned argument for her pulling his computer and TV from his room. She isn't buying it. She is afraid that his "friends" online are his support system right now and she is afraid to take that away. Friends? They could be 50 year old sex offenders for all she knows. She is very computer naive. She admitted that he almost never does things with his group of friends anymore. He won't go to their houses because they aren't allowed to sit in their rooms all day and play computer games. The only time he sees his friends now is at school and when they come to his house (and they lock themselves in his room). I love my SIL, but she have a serious case of denial.

You're not crazy??? Whew! That's good to know. I have a friend who is a nurse. She had the gastric bypass several years ago and she looks fantastic. While she was going through all the counseling, etc, her overweight daughter was giving her a hard time and calling her selfish. So Debbie took her daughter to the next counseling session and her daughter decided to have the surgery too. They had their surgery within 2 weeks of each other and both are doing wonderful and looking great! I know you are prepared and will have success! Good luck with the insurance.

Hey off_ltd, I bought the JD S240 from a local JD dealer. I didn't buy the extended warranty because it's basically a waste of money. My final considerations, after much research, were the JD 155, the JD 170, the JD S240 and the CC XT2 LX46. I went with the JD S240 because of the upgraded deck and transmission, which are the same as on the X300, and the Kawasaki engine. I prefer the Kawasaki engine over B&S and Kohler engines, although I will admit the B&S and Kohler engines offered in the models I was looking at are good engines. I've had B&S and Kohler engines before and I never had any problems with them. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone with the JD D170 with the 54 inch deck or the CC XT2 LX54, even though I don't really like the boxy front ends of the new CC lawn tractors. Oh well, to each his own. The 42 inch deck on the S240 just doesn't give me a wide enough cut. I'm not dissatisfied in any way with the S240. It seems to be a decent lawn tractor, although I wish these companies would put some kind of suspension on these lawn tractors. I put a mulching kit on it, the one that has the interior deck insert and I went with a set of Gator mulching blades. It does a really good job mulching and I get a nice, uniform cut. I'm thinking about getting a twin bagger attachment for it but I refuse to spend $350.00 for a few pieces of molded plastic. I won't buy it unless it's on sale at a much lower price. I think the CC LX2 would have been a nice lawn tractor. I think I would have bought it if it had a different style but then again, as I've said, to each his own. CC offers a better warranty than JD.

Hi SBG. I don't have much real-life comment on the units, since we're not quite back in the house yet, though they've been running for several months during the renovation. The air handler unit is considerably bigger than I thought it would be, so do take that into account when deciding where to put it. The outdoor unit has been really quiet, which I like. I was initially worried that the system seemed to be always running when I went to the house, but that's what it's supposed to do--it cranks along slowly and quietly, rather than cycling between full blast and off, as the old fan and furnace did. It'll ramp up when I turn up the thermostat, but it's still very gentle. I can't comment on efficiency yet either--our last electric bill was really high, but it was for a period when our solar was disconnected and when the house was just an uninsulated, drafty shell with daylight shining in. I met with the heating company guy again, and he said that they're putting in tons of these (which I hope means they're good and efficient, not just well-marketed and lucrative to sell), and that they've been very efficient and the technology lets them heat effectively in low temps. I wish there were more product literature to tell me how they do it, but I've moved on to worrying about things like a backsplash and faucet placement . . . Good luck, and let us know if you learn more.