He does tend to use the laptop bag for pads, folders w/notes, pencils, his eReader and other work paraphenalia so the slim cases won't work. I loved that Tumi you linked to dlm2000 but it only has the shoulder strap and no handle so the only way to carry it is over the shoulder. I think there are times when he's going to want a handle on top. I did see that they have a Tumi store in Center City Philly so I may go down and look to see what else if available. Thanks natal for reminding me of Wilson Leather! I'd forgotten them, it seems now that in my area they are in the outlet malls. Don't know if they're outlet stores or just in the outlet mall as regular retailer. There is one near enough for me to go look so I'll probably do that too. So far, all I've done for his birthday is make a dinner reservation and buy a bottle of bubbly. It's less than 2 weeks away! Must chip away at this very quickly or I'll be empty handed.

Thanks everyone! I do not need to learn it in a few weeks I just want to be able to speak and understand someday! I have hung out with his fam on many trips and they do speak enough English so I manage. As for the wedding, we are headed to the Courthouse. Nothing big in terms of a wedding. We both have been married before. We just want simplicity. After we are going downtown (I live in the country in between San Antonio and Austin) to the riverwalk and staying in a nice hotel and having friends and family get together for a fun dinner. We will be eating at a place called Boudro's and my new last name will be Boudreau! Kind of funny!

cynic, We have factory installed built-in GPS in both of our cars. Both units allow the user to choose the type of route they desire. Ours allow for 'Maximize Freeway'; 'Minimize Freeway'; 'Direct Route'; or 'Easy Route'. The four different routes will all take you to the same place. Since you mention "exit", is it possible your friend had a route programed that did not maximize freeways? Mary, We love our GPS units & would never voluntarily purchase another vehicle without them. We've been using marine GPS since the government released it (2001, I think?) with WAAS. IMO, there's no better company than Garmin for GPS. We've got their marine flagship model on our boat & it's wonderful. It's got radar, GPS, weather imaging, 3-D, sonar, & ties into our auto-pilot & VHF radio. We still chart our course the old-fashioned way as a precaution but truthfully it's more just an exercise to keep our navagation skills sharp. The GPS pilots our boat much more accurately than we could ever accomplish with charts. Garmin, IMO, makes the best GPS navigational equipment available & they've been at it for a long time. Best Buy is having a sale on Garmin today. The sale was just for yesterday (Friday) & today (Saturday). /tricia

The only way I know to safely restore the stone is to have it refinished. You may want to check other sources for refinishing as it's only a few hours work. If you have a hard time finding a reasonably priced company, perhaps you'll have luck asking who does the work in nearby churches, hotels, hospitals etc. If their referral is a long-time in-house maintenance staff, perhaps you can negotiate with him directly as a side-job if it seems safe to do so. Some installers do this repair as well so that's another potential source instead of the franchise refinisher I think you may have gotten the quote from. You won't necessarily have to have it honed as, if it's not too far gone, they can use a solution akin to tooth polish and buff. If it needs to be refilled and honed, that's only a bit more complicated but should be doable in a day's work. You can clean it with a steam cleaner but you may wind up taking out more of the fill. Do not use any citric based solution if you try. I don't know of any good DIY treatments for bringing back the shine, but once it is polished, be sure to maintain with the right ph balanced cleaners. Maybe others will chime in here. You can also ask in the flooring and kitchen forums as some knowledgeable stone people frequent there. Good luck!