Thanks for sharing too! Our Bosch oven is similar on the timer and it is taking me a while to get the hang of that. Our Bosch 36" induction cooktop is also larger than a standard 36" cabinet and we had to upgrade on that as well. One of the quirky things about induction is that you keep turning it up because it doesn't seem to be heating visually than end up turning it way down for the simmer. Still getting used to ours after 6 months.

Odyssey, thank you! It was rough, but my hours of procrastination while studying 15hrs/day actually led me to this site, and allowed me to find some rare specimens to add to my collection! I'm sure what I'm asking is illegal somehow, but if you find some Graptopetalum mirinae or mendozae (or both) over there, I'd be happy to pay for them! I talke to one grower, and they gave me a Korean website to buy from, but google translate doesn't do a good enough job for me to navigate it well. I then found out about the paperwork involved, and gave up. niksouthafrica, I agree 100%, and as Lisa mentioned, it seems like all of their plants are grown in bonsai pots in a greenhouse where climate can be easily controlled, which helps. Those are great examples of what stress can do to a plant. I would have mistaken your stressed E. purpusorum for graptoveria 'Debbie' if you hadn't shown the picture of the happy plant as well! bunkfree, I have wondered the same about watering as well, and came to this conclusion: watering, while a very important player in the mix, doesn't seem to be as important as the other factors in achieving the compact, chubby, old growth look of the succulents originally mentioned. If you think about it, they have to water at comparative intervals that we do to keep their plants from A) dying, or B) rotting. While they've undoubtedly got much more experience than I with watering intervals, amounts, etc, I still think it comes down to the basic rule of thumb- "let medium dry completely between watering. If bottom leaves begin to shrivel, the plant is water stressed. If bottom leaves turn yellow and and fall off with the slightest touch, the plant is likely overwatered." That being said, I believe from talking with many people on this forum, and reading countless other posts, that their secret has more to do with the ability to control climate (light and temperature) in a greenhouse setting, as well as a growing medium with just the right amount of nutrients to prevent over/undergrowth. One thing a Korean grower also said to me, as mentioned previously, was "if you grow it for a long time, the leaves become small and pink." This picture of an unknown succulent I salvaged from neglect at Lowes, and further neglected for a year, seems to agree with that statement. I have no idea what species/hybrid/cultivar it is because the leaves are so small and brightly colored that it matches nothing I've ever seen again in these 'big box stores.' I'm thinking it's just an old-growth graptoveria or graptosedum. (This picture doesn't do it justice anymore. When the heat of summer came on, it dropped its more spaced out lower leaves, and added even more chubby, compact, intensely colored leaves at the top) One final thought: regarding the growing of plants individual plants in tiny bonsai pots as the Korean growers do-- I recently read a blog from someone who bought E. minima, and planned to keep it in a tiny pot with "frequent" root trimmings to keep the plant small and compact, and discourage pupping. I've been wondering about the benefits of repotting and trimming roots, and "under-potting" to achieve this look. Anyone care to share their experiences with this concept?

I just had a quartz counter installed in my bathroom and notice those dull dots all over on the top. I’ve been looking for Quartz my kitchen counters and looked at several different brands. I see the dull dots on some and not others. It seems they appear on the cheaper brands? Maybe it’s a coincidence? I asked my court supplier why it looks like that and he said I don’t know? I do notice though that there are some that say polish and I don’t see those little doll dots so I wonder if it’s a finishing process on the quartz? Anyone have any similar situation if you hold it in a certain light, it looks like a bunch of pixels on a computer.

" The mental visual is humorous, but hey, sometimes life is weird. " Good one, Sea Sea. I'm laughing so hard I can hardly see to type. Maybe somebody else will suggest draining the washer into a bucket -- after all, FL washers don't much use water, do they? Okay, I'm better now. Have I maybe made this seem way more complicated that it needs to be?. Here is how simple it is: there is no problem draining the washer if a washer's pumps are too weak to reach up to the standpipe in my basement. My basement already has a Saniflo watewater pump. It is designed specifically for laundry plumbing located in basements with drains below the grade of the sewer outflow line. (These are a standard plumbing practice, too.) The problem is how do I get from a new washer's drain over to the drain pump? Can I just extend the flexible drain hose to hook onto the laundry sink (which the Saniflow pump handles) Or, must I go to the time and expense and hassle of plumbing in new rigid piping for a drain line that will run from the wall behind the washer over to the inlet plumbing for the pump?. Extending the drain hose is far cheaper and easier. Miele had no problem with this, although they would like me to pay them $28 plus shipping to get one of their beautiful (if highly over-engineered) hose extensions. Maybe it would be easier to grasp if I rephrased my question --- was I just getting the corporate run-around from customer service at Bosch and Elctrolux because I asked a question that was not in their scripts?