No, you are not. Hope you gave him a little kiss too. It will make the boo boo disappear faster. :)

Thanks for your feedback! asolo - we were told that because the straw shouldn't have been put in the dishwasher to begin with, it's our fault that the dw broke. The idea here being that we shouldn't wash all our dishes in it, just the big ones. The burning smell is definitely an chemical burning smell - it doesn't smell like wood burning at all, very different. The technician took off the bottom panel, ran the dw, stuck his head down there and said "yep, it's the motor." I would LOVE to know what happened. It's interesting to me that you say the thing can't get into the motor, because that makes sense to me - why would a machine like this not have a screen or something to keep solids out and while letting liquids through? I am still working with the local guys, who have been pretty helpful, but they don't hold a lot of sway with the manufacturer. I can ask them where, exactly, the straw was, that they think it caused the issue. I'll let you know what I hear. Steve, I'll write the letter, but at this point - I need a dishwasher! We're a busy family and can't go without for long (I realize I'm being a baby about this, my grandmother never had a dishwasher and lived a perfectly happy life. Perspective is in order, I guess!) The interior of this machine is covered in gunk, so the idea that the filter is clogged is certainly valid - but the technicians didn't mention that. They did have me buy 4 of those citric acid dw cleaners to run through it, though. That worked for a while, then the motor started to go. I'll update more when I hear from the local guys. Thanks! Deb

Thanks... my update should be interesting. Yes the Gas Co did have a reg tag on it that I hadn't seen before. Regardless, I called the Gas Co back for another check. This time a different guy showed up. He could not find any of the issues that the first gas guy found and definitely didn't see any issues that the HVAC company found. The pilot stayed lit, the flame didn't "smother" and he could not find any evidence of cracking. He suggested that we look into a new furnace, however, this one would be fine for now. Go figure! It is an upflow furnace and I do realize that we need one rated for mobile homes. I am definitely going to start looking for a new one, but he said it shouldn't come close to 4500. Since the gas company isn't making to look money off of me, I am more comfortable with their findings than I am with the HVAC company. Thanks for your responses...it's been a very educational day for me.

I used to think that Adam was kind of arrogant until he landed in the bottom three a few weeks ago. His demeanor was exactly the same as when he was one of 'the top chosen' - a very gracious smile *instantly* and he remained gracious through the entire "bottom three" process. That really changed my perception of Adam. The same thing happened last night - I DVR'ed it and watched his exactly first facial movement in slo-mo - the same as before. An instant smile followed by an instant embrace. I thought that was quite remarkable. From Kris's initial reaction, I kind of felt that Kris felt he didn't 'deserve' to win, which is just a *shame*. Each sings in a different musical genre and I felt that each was equally as good in their own genre. However, I felt that after hearing Cook perform, to be honest I thought David Cook was better in general than either Adam or Kris. Adam sometimes screeches (to me) but he does it in key - that's just remarkable. Cook is always in key and never screeches at all. However, my preference in music is the Kris/Gokey style by far. If I voted in these contests, I honestly don't know who I would have voted for. I've never bought any song or recording from any of them. I guess I'm not their target audience *LOL*