When I left, the attorney(?!) who was seated a couple of seats down from me was also kicked off, but the two police officers, one of which was a specialist in their crime were still sitting?! I couldn't believe it. It must've been a strategy thing. The only questions they asked related to that were: 1) do you think police automatically tell the truth?, 2) would you weigh their testimony like anyone else's?, and 3) have you had bad/good experiences with police officers? That was it. I was speechless. I knew the area of town where they commited their crime, and all that surrounded it. That was the part they wanted you to be impartial about, and there was no way I could've agreed they didn't know where they were, or be impartial at all!!! I couldn't believe it.

The buttons were a problem, not because of how they look, but because they don't really 'seat' in anything behind the panel, so they tend to shift a little, so don't necessarily 'catch' and control things on the first try. Like spinning it and not getting any changes. Or the main button sticks and then the rest don't respond. If you try it a couple times, it will eventually work, but that shouldn't have to be the case. Just not a great design...Unless they've made a change. The one I had was one of the first of that style. As for 'clean'...It's a clean looking design, but mirrored black glass only stays that way with some work and constant attention. With the amount of baking we do and the number of kids working in my kitchen who don't pay that much attention to 'detailing' the appliances, I wasn't a fan. I can recommend it as having great baking performance, and the racks work nicely. I wouldn't recommend self-cleaning unless you don't mind the pits and chipping in the porcelain that may occur. I have to say they were great about replacing my first oven for that, and not all F&P ovens seem to have that problem, but having it happen twice to me, I'd just avoid self-cleaning. That's disappointing, since it should work and not damage the oven...but I think it's a risk. At least it didn't seem to fry the electronics as it did with earlier F&P ovens and other brands, which makes me think they learned from that and did something to make sure the electronics were protected during the high heat. I would buy the old F&P oven again (stainless front, blue interior), but one experience with the black mirror finish doors was enough for me. Too many finger prints and smears, and it doesn't take much of that to make it look yucky.

Thank you, Mush, for that suggestion! We will definitely look into getting some of that stuff. "I hope you find a remedy soon...it sure makes for not wanting to sit on your deck doesn't it!" Oh, Liz, you're so right!! We have incredibly comfortable furniture on the deck (it's by O.W.Lee - the Montrachet wrought aluminum collection), and I would so dearly love to be sitting out there reading good book on my Kindle, sipping a glass of wine and listening to the watefall into the pool... I know that when the words "redwood deck" or just the word "deck" is used, most folks envision something elevated. But our redwood deck is ground level. Because of the way the yard has to be graded (for the water runoff swale), we couldn't do a concrete patio. Well, we could, but in some places it would have to be three feet (or more) thick. So, we opted for a redwood deck (which I prefer, anyway). Here's a photo of what we refer to as the "east wing" of the deck. (It's so named because it's on the east side of the house.) There is a walkway that connects it to the large main deck, but it's all on the same level. This photo was taken in 2004, when the yard was torn up because we were putting in a pool. All that dirt that you see heaped up in the upper left of the pic is part of what came out of the hole that was created to become the pool -- that area of the yard is actually the side yard on the east side of the house. Our lot is sort of pie-shaped so the side fences really angle away from the house rather than run parallel to it. Anyway, hopefully this will help you folks to understand how our deck is constructed and why we can't just get under there to find out what's going on. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that there aren't any nails or screws showing, which is why we can't just pull up a few boards to look underneath. Each board is nailed to the board next to it by nails that are in the sides of the boards...

I would use SS finish nails myself for the nail gun or a ring shank siding nail for hand nailing.