Hi Jane, I am 66 and have used a PC for many years. I attended a short computer class once and worked on a Mac. The biggest frustration I recall is that it responded to a single click and I was used to double clicking. I decided that although it would take time to get used to, I wanted to set up my PC to respond to a single click. Since then, I have set up any new computer to single click. I have a very difficult problem because I DO NOT intuit anything. I have to read instructions and even then, I may not understand. I have to do a lot of searching for very basic things: most recently, "how to use a touch pad" after I bought a 10.1 inch netbook. I sometimes use a cordless mouse because I still hate a touch pad. Returning to my inability to intuit anything and everything that "normal" users do without thinking, the problem is very real, constant, and extremely frustrating. I have to be very motivated to struggle through learning new concepts. Case in point: I use a cell phone only to make and receive calls. I have been unable to figure out how to send or receive text messages, I can't program functions like the clock or the list of people whose numbers I want to call, I can bring up a list of missed calls, but I can't easily call the person back, etc. I can't download different ring tones even though I would dearly love to find Allison Du Bois' ringtone--from the "Medium." I can find this information online but I can't figure out how to get it into my phone and then select the new app for my phone. I am not stupid. I was first a teacher and then a registered nurse and I have two MS degrees, both with high honors. I am simply brain dead in the area of the brain that allows one to intuit while on a computer. I think it is absolutely imperative that your husband sees a patient tech in a Mac store and has a chance to experience the differences between Mac and PC. Good luck! Nancy

From what the investment person has said so far, the interest on these floating notes is tax-free because they are government issued. Just as when you invest in municipal bonds, the interest received on those is tax-free also. Some investments are tax DEFERRED rather than truly tax-free, meaning that you don't pay tax on the interest during the year(s) in which the interest is actually credited to your account but you will have to do so when the investment (bond, annuity, whatever) finally reaches maturity and you get your principal plus interest back. I see you are located in Canada. Interesting thing is, when I inherited some money from my dad, back in the mid 1990s, it was the first chance I had to buy any stocks and after doing a lot of research I decided to put about 2/3 of it into various Canadian companies. Canadian Pacific, Canadian National Railway, Halliburton Company, and a couple of others. Turns out that those are the only ones who have really held their own in the recent years' stock market mess. Well.... except for Nortel (used to be Northern Telecom before they started aggressively expanding into the USA). I bought it at something like $17 a share. The stock split several times and just kept going up again. At one point in the 1990s it was up to $120 CDN per share. I agonized for weeks over whether to sell it all at that point and get hit with capital gains taxes on the profit, or to just follow my usual instinct and let it keep doing its rise-split-rise-split thing. Finally opted to hold onto it. Then the telecom bubble burst and within two weeks the stock price went into freefall. It was selling for $2.98 a share the last time I looked. Now there's your basic "oops". Oh well, if I ever desperately need to take a whopping capital loss, I can always sell it..... Funny story: I love Tim Hortons coffee and one day I decided to find out if I could buy stock in the company. They are starting to expand into the most northern parts of the USA now too (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and such). [Too bad there is so much competition here already from Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks] Anyway, I found out that Tim Hortons is owned by Wendys (which is all over the place down here). So I bought 100 shares of Wendys. Now if only I could buy Tim's coffee at Wendys...!!!!

snrub i am told that the wholesale price to the dealer is relatively small. however, there are big differences between the two. 1.warranty 2.obvious cabinet difference 3.noise 4.efficiency depending on system configuration 5.compressor the deed is done but i would not have accepted this. did the dealer not notice your situation when job was surveyed? IMO

Hi cotehele, i'll take pictures tonight when i get home. We did some research/word of mouth to find a good source for lumber (i think searching for lumber mill is a good start). Here is what our experience was like...we were really trying to cut costs (nearing the end and over budget! :) so we went right to the SOURCE of the wood (rather than a retail establishment/middleman). We drove about 40 minutes outside chicago to a guy who does milling. We knew we weren't in chicago anymore when our arrival was greeted by 20-30 large hens/roosters who surrounded our truck. After determining that they were probably not a threat (i'm a city girl... who knows :) we were able to find some lovely black walnut with lots of color variations/interest. We picked out our boards ourselves and for an additional 25. the guy at the mill planed them and cut the one side to make it straight (he called it "glue ready") We had a local carpenter put them together and I've been waterloxing them myself. I'll post some pics later b