Firstly let me say - those of us with a low body temperature who have always had this - it is nothing to worry about ath0ugh it does have its problems. Anyone who has only recently become 'cold' there may be another reason for it so do get it checked out. My daughter is in her final year of a nursing degree and was talking to one of the docs about this. It is unusual but not unheard of - I think most people who are colder than usual are not aware of it, nurses very rarely put down if you have a low temperature as they fear it would make them appear sloppy by not checking properly. The real difference for most people is our 'immunity' to bugs - bugs are very temperature reliant and they do not like our cold bodies. However when we come across a bug that is less susceptible to temp changes we effectively go down 'like a ton of bricks' and take longer to recover. We don't feel the cold quite as much but we feel the effects - so even if we don't feel cold we can get problems like Reynards where the fingers and toes go white and numb. Unpleasant but as long as you are aware of it and don't get too cold for too long it can be controlled. I also find heat to be a problem - I am not really sure why but I will try to find out more.

May want to read this for safety: http://www.mclaughlin-air.com/lennoxpressrelease1.htm When is the last time you had the furnace inspected? The Lennox Pulse furnaces were some pretty efficient furnaces from what I've read. For replacement there are some nice modulating furnaces out there from Rheem and York. Other than that there is always the Carrier Infinity.

Thanks guys, it was really fun and your encouragement was tremendously appreciated! I talked to my friend today, and he said that Aunt Jean was taken to the hospital at 6 this morning because she was having trouble breathing... they have her on steroids and antibiotics and are trying to prevent pneumonia... I better fly through the border tonight so it's ready tomorrow! There's going to be smoke coming from my sewing machine :o) I'm going to visit her tomorrow with my friend who is her nephew (they are keeping her overnight), but I don't really want to take this to the hospital because I don't want it to transmit germs or get lost, and I really want it to be a "just because" thing and not a "get well" thing, but I'm scared something might happen to her if I wait too long and she'll never get it...

I boiled some eggs this morning and at the end of the designated boiling time (at a setting of 5.5), I turned down the hob into the lower settings. I had to choose a setting that was high enough to cause bubble formation because at the lowest settings the induced heat just conducted away. Settings between 3 and 4 would cause effects that could be easily observed. It was evident that the power to the hob was modulating at a roughly 1-Hz rate. Hence my experience is not the same as Gary's and it is possible that my E'lux clone has a different circuit than his. There are no noises associated with this modulation, and it occurs (for the particular pot and water level) at an energy input too low for bubbles to even detach from the pot bottom and potentially make noise at the surface. I don't consider this a defect; but rather a design choice that likely results from some trade-off that wouldn't be apparent to someone who doesn't design induction cooktops for a living. Perhaps switching at a higher frequency would induce additional circuit heating. In any case, induction ready pots and pans have thicker bases with longer thermal time constants, so this effect may not be apparent with their use. Sometime I'll try a handy Emeril pan and see what happens. kas