The crash was eveil and took place in stages. First, I was told there wasn't enough virtual memory. The the screen/programs kept freezing and I had to use the start button on the tower to shut down the session in order to get out of the frozen screen. Things got very slow and when I ran MS security Essentials it removed several files but the problems persisted. Finally, when I rebooted I didn't have a router and last, the modem stopped working. I took the tower to a local repair shop and he was very curt when he called me and said I had a terrible virus. He was about to wipe clean the hard drive and I askede if I could come in and save some files. His reply was that he didn't have time to wait for me. I couldn't stand going without email and internet so I just let him do his thing. Oh, he also told me to get a new router and he had never seen my old router. I did as I was told and went to Staples where a salesman advised me against getting the super-duper wireless model router because my ISP, TDS is notoriously slow (boy do I agree with that!) and even if I got a very good router I still would never be able to stream movies. The repairman gave me back the tower with a version of XP slightly different from my original (no, I don't know what I had, only that the screen and icons work a little differently), Internet Explorer 8 and Outlook Express. I immediately had problems setting up OE even thgough my ISP confirmed I had used all the correct settings. I had bought a new printer with wireless capabilities and it worked only as a wireless. Then--the router stopped working!!! When the man from Staples came he sat down and opened a few programs and punched in changes while he was able to talk to me. He found that my laptop had a virus but I no longer use it because I prefer my netbook. He told me he found several settings that were incorrect even though I never changed them. He was quite a whiz, polite, patient and I am pleased I now know someone local who will come to my house if I need him. He said Staples will have some good sales around Christmas and recommended HP. One of my previous desktops was HP and I was always satisfied with the way it worked. He carefully told me he thought I would find what I want and get a better deal with an HP when I said I was considering a Dell. Lastly, he recommended I get 6G of RAM, 500 or more on a hard drive, and a quad core processor. I am about to put out a general question on this forum asking what I can expect if I pay for a quad core vs. a dual core. Before he left he asked if I wanted him to he would set me up with a gmail account. I told him TDS's POP3 and SMTP is gmail and I was going to let them set me up with their gmail for my two email addys. My mail is @ TDS, not @ gmail, but the server uses gmail. Not certain I understand this. Sorry, I am aware I said a lot but didn't tell you specifically what the tech did when he came to my home. It was like he worked magic! Nancy

Thank you for your response. I don't care about the floor being level either - I just care that we have a flat and even transition between both rooms. I just put the level up to show the difference between the two. The GC just orders his tile guys around (they do multiple types of work on his sites) and fields all questions. He keeps control of everything and questions put to subs nearly always have to be run by him (especially financial ones). The GC had a very clear understanding that we want the absolute minimum height of the new floor. I even did some research and sent him a long email asked him if he could cross-brace the floor joist for less span between joists and use 1/4 inch hardiebaker board (or something similarly thin) to drop the height if he removed the old subfloor. It didn't even occur to me that the two floors would be off-level with each other, but I have absolutely no experience in this area and I think he should have told me given all the time and emphasis put on the issue and wanting the floors to be at the same height. I actually think the new floor somehow ended up off level from the prior kitchen floor. My reasoning is that on one side of the kitchen the workmen took out two bottom cabinets and tiled to the wall (but did not take out bottom cabinets and tile to the wall on the other side). When the cabinet maker tried to put the cabinet back in he could not get it level and he fixed it totally off-square causing all of the drawers to be pushed out of alignment. I actually had to show the cabinet guy how to re-shim the cabinet (after getting in a huge fight with the GC telling me our cabinet is broken and denying it had even been removed) so it would be square with lots of diagrams of where shims should go. I have never done any kind of work of this kind... My profession is a desk job! The problem was obvious though if you are good at geometry. The relevant issue is that the cabinet was higher in the back for some reason, unlike the prior floor, consistent with the whole floor now being at an angle.

The training of the pro will always dictate the level the product will perform. Loba products are very expensive. As soon as a pro uses it exclusively then you are working with a HIGH END pro with outstanding training. No one voluntarily works with **EXPENSIVE product if they can't get it to work. The hardener is the stuff that makes things cure quickly. The faster it cures the faster it becomes 'tough'. In theory, Loba 2K Supra AT can be used without the hardener but it takes over 1 MONTH to reach final hardness (2 coats = 30 days; 3 coats = 60 days or more). If someone believes they can make something 'go further' by mis-managing the LABRATORY produced mixture is often considered a pretender. That being said, there are MANY uses for the products without the hardener...but only the very well educated high-end pros (the one's who made it through College or University but chose to work with their hands) will grasp the subtleties of 'off-label' uses.

In my opinion, Joseph Rotblats quotes should be the front page of the Sunday Newspapers and on the second page the Walter Cronkite quotes. Maybe I should have stopped reading after Will Rogers.