Thank you again for all your insight! Susan, I appreciate your comments at a time like this (with the display garden craziness going on)! I understand what you mean by the sense of "open-ness," I can't describe it very well, but I think I comprehend! I will keep all of your points in mind when selecting (or doing artwork) for the portfolio. I think that they would serve as a great guideline in the selection. Shag, you're too kind! :P But there are social obligations that need to be met! I know that you shouldn't choose a university based on the social activities, but Guelph seems to have a good mixture of what I want to study, plus a fun year of events for students ^_^ They also teach how to run the business aspect of things, like preparing bids and proposals for contracts and such. I've heard that many graduates from the Guelph LA program work with the government for public areas/buildings. Mich, you're how many thousands of miles away from me? :P Unless I decided to move next door and set up shop ; ) which doesn't sound too bad, now that I think of it! (Plus you still owe me that burger from Elsies :P). Cady, I sure hope that! And I bet my parents would too! I've already got two other brothers (one in third year, the other in second) so university tuition is definitely a major strain on the household budget! Thank you all for your help! It has been extremely helpful, so helpful that it's hard to put into words! As things progress I'll keep all of you updated ^_^ -Audric

I just went outside and made a little video, for some reason I was surprised that it had sound. LOL! You can hear the birds chirping! Cool. The pictures are ok, some were blurry. I haven't figured out how to use the zoom function yet. Test picture: I can see more detail in the up close pictures with this camera than my Kodak...oh, and yes, I meant Canon not Kodak, which is my old camera. It took videos too but I never used it for that. I gave that camera to Alex today. Thanks Iowagirl, I'll go back and print a copy of it to take with me...otherwise I will be lost when I actually go to do it. Thanks Glenda, I'll go check it out.

I'm sorry, but fabrication is expensive and these countertops are expensive and so I don't see how working with a customer to make sure they like the templating is "donating time." Are you saying that people spending thousands of dollars on countertops should just take it however the fabricator decides (which would likely be whatever is most convenient for him and never mind how it looks in the end or if the customer likes it)? There are several people in the trades on this board who seem to have rather dim views of their customers. I don't understand this because you make your living off of these people. I do understand that some people are more difficult than others, but that's how it goes, right? I interact with my clients every day that I'm at work. So, I do understand how some people can be, but...there are so many threads on here with photos of stuff that's really not acceptable. My Dad worked in construction. He did work for both general contractors and for individual homeowners. He took pride in his work, did a good job and wanted his customers to be happy with the work he did. He had no problem taking time to make sure these things happened and he worked REALLY hard, often in unpleasant weather, to produce a good quality finished product. I never heard him complain about anything...not the heat that he worked in over the summers, the lack of bathroom facilities on many of his jobsites, the condition his job left his hands in, etc. He never complained that his customers wanted a good job or that he had to spend time with them. He also didn't gouge people or charge more when he was busy. He didn't call any of his customers a PITA or try to charge anyone a PITA fee or anything like that. I see many tradesmen, contractors, etc., these days, who seem to have really big egos, look down on their customers, try to take advantage of customers whenever they can, who feel entitled to be paid a lot of money for a minimum amount of work (or poor quality work), who refuse to take hard jobs because they are only looking to do what's easy, and who take no pride in their finished product. I'm not saying this is anyone here, but I am saying that you often seem pretty quick to criticize the customers, who are paying a lot of money and who mostly just want a good job in exchange for their money. Overall, I've been very disappointed with most of the people I've hired to do work on my home. No, I've not hired anywhere near the cheapest guys and, yes, I've been willing to pay for someone who does quality work. You can jump to calling me a PITA, if you want, but then we could talk about how much I've paid/been willing to pay (much more per hour than my husband or I have ever earned and we make a decent living) and I have photos to show the poor quality of work these guys have tried to leave us with. We could also talk about the way some of these men have acted in my home (regarding bathroom facilities that I provided, the use of my refrigerator/icemaker, etc.) and about the shocking lack of any work ethic (sheer laziness and lack of any pride in their work, not caring about the quality of their work and trying to take advantage of us in many ways, including by trying to pass off horrible quality work as perfectly fine/a good job) some of them have displayed. We could also talk about the various lies we've been told by multiple people we've talked to about doing jobs. Thank goodness we know enough to mostly prevent ourselves from being taken advantage of... Then, we could talk about the experiences of a good friend who is a single woman and how everyone she has hired over the past 15 years (and she's paid them a LOT and has never tried to hire anyone on the cheap) has basically taken advantage of her, charging a LOT and then doing subpar work. Things have changed, and not for the better. It seems that you can't trust anyone these days. I'd NEVER pay thousands of dollars for new countertops and then not be present for both templating and installation. If someone tried to charge me for that, I would find someone else. If I couldn't find someone else, I'd put in countertops myself (tile, butcherblock or maybe cut soapstone myself--which is what a family member did and it looks beautiful) before I'd allow myself to be treated that way.

Why is everyone so upset about gray? It’s been around quite some time and I still see it in every multi million dollar model home I tour. If people like it and still use it, it’s not “a dying trend”. And it certainly doesn’t look outdated. That said it is hard to find the right gray for your house. This is what we did - we had the painters paint 2 huge patches of primer on two different walls with different sun exposures. Then I got sample sized paints from Sherwin Williams ($5 each) and painted big stripes on the wall...and make sure you paint next to the floor too! We had about 8 grays and they were all pretty different. Live with it for a few days and decide what you like! Good luck! It’s not easy!