davidr- you should check out the Inova flashlights. Well, I finally did. I was at a Target store the other day and saw an Inova Radiant on closeout at a very attractive price (not much more than the Chinese knockoffs) so I gave it a try. I have to admit that I'm impressed. I tried it with the somewhat used AA alkaline cells from one of my Maglites (I use mostly NiMH rechargeables, but keep alkalines in the ones that don't get used very often). Open circuit voltage of the AAs totaled 2.98 volts. The Inova certainly seemed significantly brighter. But how much? The bluish light that "white" LEDs emit can be a fooler. I wanted some numbers. I used my old photographic light meter to measure the relative output of the two lights. It's calibrated in unidentified units (lumens? footcandles? Lux? Ivory? ;-), from 0.2 to 1600 in two sensitivities. I measured both lights on the high scale (50-1600 whatevers). I chucked the Inova in the vise and aimed it at the meter's PV element, so that the "hot spot" covered the PV (its edges aren't very sharp, so this was approximate). It turned out that this was exactly 6" from the meter. I then chucked the Mag into the vise 6" from the meter and adjusted its beamspread to cover the PV, getting the coverage as close to the Inova's as possible. The Mag measured 300 <mumbles>, and the Inova 1600 <mumbles>. I don't know whether the light meter's scale is linear (suggesting 4x the output for the Inova), but I'm going to assume that it's pretty much colorblind. It certainly seemed to confirm what my eyes told me. I then measured the current consumed by the lights. It was almost identical - the Mag used 305ma, the Inova 308ma. Remember, this is with a somewhat used battery, just slightly below nominal voltage. Results would no doubt be different with brand new or very nearly flat cells. Thus we can safely say that the Inova's efficacy is significantly higher than the Mag's. Now, some user-level notes on the lights. The Mag is considered a top-shelf item. It's constructed of machined aluminum and is made in USA. The beamspread is adjustable. It costs about $10 (less on sale). The Inova Radiant is part of the company's budget line. It's made of polycarbonate, and is made in USA "with US and imported components" (my guess is that the LED itself is Chinese, but I don't know for sure). It costs about $20 (I paid less on closeout). I'd say the Inova is pretty solidly built for the low end of the high end. ;-) I find the bluish light color unattractive but that doesn't really hurt its utility. I miss the Mag's beamspread adjustment a bit, but it's not that big a deal. My real concern with the Inova is the switch. It has a push-on / push-off switch on the end. On other gear, I've found these switches aren't especially long-lived. Time will tell.

well, I am getting somewhere. I drew little shapes, LOL, complete w/ solid dots where I needed the tool itself to go, and a "halo" around it to show where the clearance issues would be. It'll all fit in one square, if we eliminate one baseball bat. (believe me, there's one that can go! DS isn't willing, but I'll just bury it deep in that closet if I have to) And I cut away the wires. Now I just have to try out the objects themselves to see if it'll work. (I cldn't last night bcs I finished cutting after bedtime, and I try not to disturb the kids if they're sleeping (or esp if they're just falling asleep). And I'm contemplating labeling, or something, so DS knows what fits best where. Those wire grid things are sort of a useful thing--I got the idea for this from our Guinea Pig Cage It's made of the same grids; they overlap in one spot, bcs the full size was too big, and we used cable ties there. The lid is that ClosetMaid shelving, cut to size at HD, and held in place with, well, more cable ties. hinged lid That's how I knew I could cut the shelving to size, when I wanted to add shelves in the closet (another post still tocome) We hav a cat, so we have to have the lid. People w/o cats don't bother. The floor is Coroplast (corrugated plastic normally used to make signs) Oh, and here's the current resident: Chocolate the guinea pig (His cagemate, Caramel, died last year of a tumor) Here is a link that might be useful: Guinea Pig Cages

Office Depot has a samll flashlight for sale at less than $5. It has maybe 7 LEDs, fits in the palm of your hand, and runs on 3 AAA batteries. It appears to be well constructed (for a cheap unit); the switch works good. The body is anodized aluminum and is available in several colors via anodized colors. It is not as powerful as a lagrger light, but is bright and lights up a very useable area near the user. A wrist strap is included. I do know know how long it will run on one set of batteries. I know it must be more than 2 hours. I used mine while doing a plumbing under the kitchen sink and the total on-time must have been 2 hours. It small size was handy for that cramped job. It is right sized for walking at night. It is easy to turn on and shine down in front of you to warn on comming traffic of your presence. Should work for pouper scouping as well. For larger jobs, I have a Craftsman brand flashlight sold in Ace Hardware stores. It uses 2 d-sized batteries and has a single, more powerful LED. The beam is fairly tightly focused and can light up targets 25 to 50 feet away. The body is anodized aluminum This is my light of choice to keep in my vehicles.

I loved my baby dolls and my Barbie dolls. I still have most of them. I loved playing with my plastic farm animals, Colorforms were the best. I had 4 brothers so we all played with Matchbox/Dinky cars, loved slot cars. I was the best hula hooper, played Skip-it. Loved books, one of my favourites when I was really young was a big ABC picture book. My favourite game was Tip-it. We also had Hands Down, Sorry, Booby Trap which I still have. We all liked the game Mouse Trap, I don't think we ever played it properly, we just set it up to catch the mouse. Spirograph was another favourite until the coloured ink ran out. I liked playing with tea sets always plastic until my Aunt sent my cousins and I each a porcelain tea set. I sure wish I still had that. My Mom would put tea in the tea pot and give us some sugar cubes for our cups of tea. My Dad traveled in the USA for work and bring us home the popular toys or books that weren't out in Canada yet. He would bring home Mexican jumping beans and we would put them in front of the heat register to watch the beans jump around.