PM & JAG, we are perhaps not as far apart as you seem to think... maybe you should re-read my post? If you get beyond the "leggy" part, you will find that I was referring to the effect of _temperature_ in combination with long days... and yes, with fluorescent lighting, which is widely used (including by me). It is the only feasible means by which I can light enough shelf space to start 400-500 seedlings. Granted, "floros" are not ideal... but not everyone can afford high-intensity lighting. At the scale on which I garden, it's cost-prohibitive. We are also in agreement that long light periods can - and should - be used for starting plants later than the recommended dates, because of the increased growth rate. I did say (if you re-read) that increased growth was a problem "...Unless you plan for this...". For those reading this who are accustomed to starting their plants on a particular date, they need to know that with long light periods, those dates might require some adjustment... or they could end up with plants larger than they planned for. I say this from experience, having made that mistake when I was still a newbe to seed starting. If your plants are too large for the lights & it's still too early to transplant, that could be a problem. Forewarned is forearmed. The recommendations I gave for cooler temps & air movement will contribute to stockier growth, and are accepted greenhouse practice. Perhaps for purposes of this discussion, the questions should be: - the definition of "ample light" - the optimal size for transplants

The key difference in the requirements of air cooled engine versus liquid cooled engine regarding oil useful life span is due to the normal operating temperatures in the 2 types of engines. Properly maintained liquid cooled engines will operate at temperatures ranging from about 180 F to 192 F, and that temperature will be almost uniformly constant at all points throughout the engine. Air cooled engines in contrast have a normal operating temperature that is quite hotter overall, varies a lot depending on ambient air temperature/engine loading, and.........have locally isolated "hot spots" that get much hotter than other places on the engine. Liquid cooled engines, by design, have few places where the oil actually comes into contact with extremely hot components (the underside surfaces of the piston for example). Air cooled engines expose their oil to ALL of the extremely hot components intentionally because in these engine, the oil is used not just for slickum, but as a coolant too. By virtue of the oil absorbing/collecting heat from the hottest spots..........and then losing some heat when the oil is distributed onto cooler components during its circulation, the average engine temperature is a little bit evened out............but never to the degree of a liquid cooled engine. Bottom line is this: The extreme conditions that assault the oil in an air cooled engine might be 4 times more severe than what it would face if used in a liquid cooled engine (based on a presumed arbitrary rate of heat degradation effect on the oil). So it would seem (to me) that air cooled engine oil would have a life span only 1/4 of that for a liquid cooled engine, hence the 4X more often oil change interval.

Well, the party was a lot of fun, and although the freeways were empty, Kevin wanted to take La Brea, which was also almost empty. We only had traffic near Hollywood & Highland. Kevin got confused on Cahuenga because he didn't realize that we were supposed to be on E. Cahuenga, but I finally convinced him. He's only been to the John Anson Ford Theater once (I've been quite a few times), and he's never been to the Hollywood Bowl OR Universal, and so he's not as familiar with the streets and neighborhood as I am. It took us 20 minutes on city streets, and so that wasn't bad. Paul is kind of between gigs right now, but he was able to buy his condo last year. His last job was video editing for a new reality dating show, which will premier on Bravo the first week of December. Here's his imdb profile, which oddly does not mention that he did the video editing for Blind Date, even though I have seen his name on the credits at the end of some of the early episodes. That's where he met my friend Secha and subsequently how I met him. Also in attendance, doing most of the cooking, was a friend of his named Sean, who books talent for several talk show - I don't remember which ones, but he was interesting to talk with. There was also a friend of Paul's from Boston and his wife (from Seattle), who were pleasant but live in Orange County and were a bit dull. They thought Venice was full of crazy people and didn't like. Also, Vince Ly was there, whom I met when we were making Attention Span, As for the food - Paul admits to not knowing how to cook anything (He has a copy of the book How To Boil Water, but he was in charge of starting the turkey before everyone else arrived. For some reason, the turkey was cooked with a rum glaze that contained nutmeg, and I found the nutmeg to give the turkey a very off flavor, and so I only ate a small portion of the thigh, which, however, was very moist. The breast was dry. Paul loved the mushroom gravy that I made, and the entire quart that I took got consumed, even though there was also some plain gravy that someone else made. Vincent brought a ham and a cake, and Paul gave me some of the ham to take home and Kevin took some of the turkey, which I was not interested in eating. Most of my stuffing was left over because there was another stuffing that was on the table (Mine was left on the pass-through and therefore not easily accessible) made using a boxed stuffing mix. I didn't eat any of that, but I did have mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Paul made the mistake of buying Ralphs' brand instead of Ocean Spray, and the other Paul was not letting him live that down, telling him that Cape Cod economy depended on everyone buying O.S.! My friend Paul lived in Boston before moving to L.A., although he lived in Poland until he was ten (speaking only Polish and German) and then in Austria with his grandmother for two years after that. Paul was cracking jokes constantly during the party, and he has a very dry, quick wit. His accent is more like The Bronx than Boston, and so he comes off like a NY personality. At one point he found an abandoned half consumed bottle of beer and demanded to know whose it was. Then he exclaimed, "This is alcohol abuse! Don't you know that there are sober children in India?" Toward the end of the party we started talking about the next party, and I told Paul that I would like to host it, since we live about half way between the two Pauls. Paul's birthday is exactly one week before mine, and so we decided to have a joint birthday party - or two parties one week apart. There's no telling what his schedule will be like by then, however, since his work is very sporadic. I hope it will work out because he's great at parties! BTW, I didn't make the ice cream because I forgot that the recipe calls for milk, which is something I never have on hand (except after guest leave and leave it in my fridge), and so I just took some strawberry ice cream that I had made a month or so ago. It was still good, but no one at the party was interested in ice cream, since we had cake and pecan pie. If it has been chocolate ice cream, however, it would have been good on the cake (which was chocolate), but then I guess strawberry would have been good on the cake as well, although I didn't think of it at the time. Oh, I had the idea of making Caesar Salad, but I had forgotten to ask Kevin to buy the lettuce. I should have made the salad dressing and croûtons anyway because Paul had bought the Romaine lettuce and forgot to get the dressing. I wish he had told me because there was not a single green vegetable at the meal! In fact, it was rather sparse, but still enough food and lots left over. Kevin and I were very happy that we didn't have to go to a restaurant, and I was especially happy to renew contact with Paul and hope we will see more of each other in the near future. Lars

Here is one more suggestion. I didn't read everything above so I hope this is not duplicated. About a year ago I was telling a single mom of 4 that I know how stressed i get over dinner. I felt pressure to be creative and cook sophisticated things sometimes...but it was hard to pick recipes, the kids (9,7,4) and DH are all kind of picky, and it was not fun. She said that she used a plan that would help but first I have to let go of the impression that I needed to be creative and have a lot of variety. My goal (according to her and I agree) should be first, to feed the family, and second, keep stress in the house to a minimum. Here is the plan she taught me. First, you pick a set of 4 meals that are easy, reliable, and well-received in your house. In our house, it is tacos, enchiladas, spaghetti with meat sauce or meatballs, and one chicken dish. Set a schedule using your list. At our house, Monday is taco night, Tuesday enchilada, Wed spaghetti, Thursday is chicken. Have easy veggie dishes always on hand. For us, it is always raw carrots and salad. Fruit is easy. So every night we generally have a well balanced meal consisting of a protein, 2 veggies, and fruit. It is easy to shop. With my menu being so ground beef focused, If I'm so inclined it is easy to prepare 4 or 5 pounds of ground beef on Monday and use the leftovers on the subsequent nights. This plan makes grocery shopping incredibly easy, too. We always buy taco shells, tortillas, taco sauce, shredded cheese, lots of ground beef, veggies, and salad. (RE: the cheese, I buy a ton whenever it is on sale and keep it in the freezer. no need to thaw - I just dump whatever amount I need into the pan frozen. it also melts pretty well in the micro if you need - just don't put the timer on too long). Once you have this framework in place, 4 nights are taken care of and if you want to be creative or take more time, you can do it on Fri, Sat, or Sun when (I hope) you have more time or a less rigid schedule. Or during the week sometimes I mix it up if I feel like it and had the time. One surprising outcome of this plan in my house is that EVERYONE is happier. I thought the kids or DH would object to it being boring, but at least at these ages the kids enjoy the predictibilty. Often they hated my "creative" stuff and now they know what they're going to get. Good luck to you! Oh, RE: the dishwasher, I have a lot of faith in a good husband. What would he do if you showed him your post? What would he do if you sat down with him when you're totally calm and not stressed and set a goal together of making dinners less stressful? State the problem and tell him you got a bunch of ideas from your friends here. Ask him to brainstorm with you what ideas would help make dinners better. If you approach it as a teammate with him and look for joint solutions, I would predict that the dishes thing will come up and you'll get buy-in from him. With my husband, a few years ago I had these expectations that if I was gone in the evening, he'd do everything with the kids and the house that I would do (ie, get them to bed on time, clean up the kitchen) before he moved on to his leisure activities. When I would arrive home and he didn't, I'd get mad, fights would ensue, blah blah blah. When someone is mad at you, it is very difficult to see their point :) So one day I wised up and I told him calmly that when I go out in the evening (which is rare) to relax and get away from the craziness here, I get immediately stressed again when I walk back into a trashed kitchen and a living room with crap all over the place. I'm not a neatnik by any means, but this was ridiculous! So once I told him without the anger what I hoped for, he did it. I was half amazed at the power of just being assertive and nice and asking for what I needed, and half depressed that I was so old before I figured it out! Again, good luck! anita