so sorry for your DD, what a moron. she figured it out, good for her, smart girl. he didn't call and din't see her over 3 months and expects something from her. "nice" guy....

Speaking of Chinese, you may as well stop knocking their quartz. Breton or not, I examined sample after sample under excellent lighting. The finish and composition are second to none. When they rip you off, they do it right. Tip to vendors, especially the Chinese: Don't eat lunch in your booth. It is unprofessional. When a potential walks in, stop the foreign conversation and greet the potential customer. You flew half way around the world to talk to each other? Well, that's better than the guy with his head down on his arms at the desk I guess. And why is everyone afraid to touch anything? Get 'em with their ears, eyes, and fingers. This is a foldable table/chair that I sat on in the Spanish booth. It smooshes on your butt cheeks just right and is stable and comfortable. Although this may be the Euro model, they are sooo much thinner than Americans. Thanks for the red wine. 2cm stone, cut on a 200K water jet. I diplomatically let this foreign vendor know that many here may find this highly offensive, especially if used as a floor tile. It was a great show, and I got access to the Tile Council of North America's installation book, now over 500 pages. And just in time too. I landed my first tile consulting job today.

Jasdip, you are right about him being calm. It was as if he commutes this way frequently (I don't know, not driving that route regularly, so maybe he does!) That just magnified the strangeness of it all though. -------------------- marcopolo5, it was just typical necessary CA freeway survival skills. Even at high speeds, drivers will often cut in front of you with so little clearance that if you aren't prepared you will clip them, so one gets used to keeping a very close watch on surrounding cars, and those coming up beside, to anticipate their sudden moves. For most of the journey, the duck was flying directly in front of my car, and forward left after he went into the next lane, and did nothing erratic during that period. Other drivers in the three right lanes likely could see him too, and slowed down, because no one was passing us. This also served to greatly increase the open distance between us and the cars ahead, because they continued to travel at the speed limit. When he went for the HOV lane, the drivers in the cars in the crossed lanes were obviously startled, but he cut across so quickly, he was clear before any of them could really react. But they then slowed down to the duck's pace. All of the drivers across the five lanes that were cut were probably monitoring him at that point (guessing here, because I can't remember any passing through my line of sight), letting him act as the pace car for the traffic and remaining behind him. The cars backing up behind them probably assumed it was due to a highway patrol traffic break or something. ------------------ That is funny ellendl. I cannot image why a mouse would do that! Tired of running alone? :)

Stan Z: Thanks for making the point of this post. Yes, you can break cabinets out from under countertops, but just like the picture a friend of mine posted of a sunken "conversation pit" living room design of the 60s, it is proof that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. This is not only impractical, it is dangerous. I'll bet there is no horizontal support spanning between the dishwasher and refrigerator and stone has little strength in tension. It is a much more difficult job to safely move the stone from these "supports" than it would have been from the existing cabinets. I could have probably removed this stone without fracturing it at the front sink rail, the fracture that was the reason they called me. Where on earth these guys thought they were saving money and time by attempting to do this job like this, I'll never know. They did gain a firing to add to their resume, so there is that.