Personally I think this is a really interesting discussion. I am an engineer at Honda R&D near Columbus, OH. At my location, there are over a thousand white collar workers, mostly technical. Within a hundred mile radius of me, there are a 4 Honda assembly plants, employing around 10,000 people. At other sites in the US and Canada, there are probably another 15,000 workers. Each of these plants is turning out thousands of new Hondas per day. Nearly every Honda/Acura sold in the US (by volume) is made in the US. The engines, transmissions, every major component. Furthermore, Honda actually *exports* cars from the US, something that the Big 3 can barely talk about. Sure, there are niche cars like the S2000 roadster that are 100% Japanese, but that is a tiny part of our market. I think these are pretty impressive numbers, especially if you consider that Honda is only something like the 7th largest market share in the US. Its been here since 1979, I'd wager that in those 27 years Honda has contributed significantly to Americans and their way of life. There are a lot of secure $25/hr plus full benefits jobs available in Ohio because of Honda. The US auto industry lost their way in the oil crises. They haven't been able to turn it around since then. They concentrate too much on short-sighted markets like giant fuel-guzzling SUVs. Its not that the Big 3 makes bad cars, its that they make cars that aren't in demand. Compare a Focus to a Civic. A Taurus to an Accord. Sure, those Fords might last 200k miles, but I'd much rather spend that time in a nice Accord than a hard plastic Taurus. I would rather support the thousands of American workers who build Hondas than support a few suits in Detroit and drive a Mexican Dodge. That said, my garage: 1980 Lawn Boy 7229 1996 Stihl trimmer 1997 Honda Accord (shocking, right?) 2002 Triumph Speed Triple (mc) 1976 Honda CB400F (mc) 1976 Suzuki GT550 2-stroke (mc) 1948 Johnson Sea Horse (outboard) 1949 Evinrude Zephyr (outboard)

Thanks Ewalk. Is what you're suggesting to address the auger not moving? Because there is more going on, now. The electric starter worked, but there's a new twist: when I put it in gear or try to engage the auger, it stalls. Do you think the friction disc, etc., could cause this? Geesh. I looked at the parts diagram and at the starter, trying to find dogs, and I'm wondering if part of it broke off and the dogs ran away. It's either that or the parts diagram is of a different starter than what I've got on there. Can you tell, looking at the photo, if something is missing? With the recent development with it stalling, I'm feeling in over my head now, regarding getting the thing to work, unless anyone wants to try giving me pep talk about it not being so hard. The trick is, there's about 100 yards of snow, four feet high, between the machine and the road, where a vehicle could access it. I've spent about five hours with my shovel, since yesterday, thinking relatively unkind thoughts about this machine, which I liked pretty well until this year. (And I did replace the oil this past summer, and I think the spark plug last year.) Is this just normal periodic maintenance, or is it reaching the end of its useful life? --Jonathan

Pretty hard to say just from the price alone. We need to know how much the shop spends each month on a few things to find out if they are truly being "fair" with their pricing. If their price includes enough gross profit for this job to help contribute to; The Shops's rent, The electric bill, Heat (when required), Insurance(s), Licensing fees, Health care, (More US than Canadian), Taxes, Technician wages, Technician benefits, Shop supplies such as paper, computers, water, grease and oils, soap water and paint to help keep the shop clean and safe to work in, and it also allows for some money to be put aside for training, new tools and equipment, updated software, an information system, advertising, and it fails to have a reasonable profit left over for the management/owner to earn a living off of also then it's probably not high enough because they forgot to be fair to themselves. Of course they could make sure to pay themselves, and start skimping on things like better technicians, updated training, benefits for the employee's, newer equipment, information system, heck they could even try working without insurance, adequate lighting, janitorial expenses, and then they may not even pay all of the taxes, and licensing fees and they just might be able to give you a cheaper price! What do you think? Does that sound like a place you want to go to? They are out there, just call around and find the cheapest price for you ball joints, and you'll find one of them. One thing I don't have to do here is try and qualify what I'm saying with a "seriously though" I am serious. Price has played such a significant role for so long the auto repair industry is barely limping along. For too long we have had poor ineffective management that allowed price to dictate business decisions to the point that there was no money left over to reinvest in the future, and it's gone on for decades. What you need to do is find a good shop, with a great tech and support them. They know they have to be fair, the problem comes down to when the public forces fair to be an unattainble goal. If the shop cannot do the alignment, why are you even considering having them do your ball joints? The shop that can do the job completely and correctly has invested the money to be able to align the car by having both the equipment, and the technician trained to do so as well as doing the ball joints.

Taunia Please thank Barbieboop and thank you for posting it.Ithink you can save it to your files and then add a column. This is sure going to help me in my craft room The only thing I added was the freezer paper. There are a couple of things I'm not familiar with but will ask about them later on. ABCs and rubber stampingon Sat, Jan 18, 03 at 23:46 I thought this was cute; the list was made by barbieboop: (edited by Minnie-Tx) ABCs & rubber stamping Lets have some fun! ABC's and rubberstamping: how many stamping products are there? can we make a list of them from a-z? A adhesive, adventerous (I mean you've got to try some new things!), acetate, artistic wire, aluminum foil, amazing glaze, appliques, art markers, acrylic blocks, Anti-Static bag, Angel Dust- a stamping powder, B brayer, buying, blending, blender, book making, books, beedz, beads, baby wipes bleach, buttons background papers bone folder boxes C chalk collozzle creating crafting cutting circle cutters crystal laquer chocolate charms corrugator compressed sponges cardstock color wheel confetti cold laminate collage cutting board Carving tools and erasers COOL FINGERS Corner Pro Corner rounder Corner punches D die cuts dream weaver stencils dry embossing/de bossing diamond glaze, Dr. Martin's of course dried flowers in paper double-sided adhesive tape Duplo CS daubers (finger and mini) decorator papers decorative scisors dimension deckle scissors DOTS--the stamps and the POP kind E embossing powders embossing pens Envelopes, EVOS templates exacto knife erasers, F fun foam fairy dust fabric ink FINGERS french fry box (makes a wonderful pattern) fibers foam board Fit-It Custom Template Printing cd-rom foils flock fabric Faerie Dust Faerie Myst Paints Faerie Glass Fiskars paper edgers freeform emboss Freezer Paper Flesh color pencils by Lyra Fuschia ink & pads funtustic??? funky film??? G glue glitter glitter glue gel pens gold leaf glossy paper glue stick garanimals tags( makes a neat image on a card) gem stones glimmer glow spray glycerin, H heat gun hand made paper HALOS hole punches heart templates, I ink ink pads interference IRON, J juicy ink pads and pens junk- for embellishing jewelry (good for collage) jump rings jelly rollers (pens) Jute Joss Paper (you can find it at oriental markets) Judikins K kat trax tool-(A kat trax tool is something the radiant pearls people put out to stipple the radiant pearls with. Kind of like a wiry brush- holly.) Knives KAI's scissors kid fingers kaleidacolors Kreate a lopes, L liquid Applique loop lace liquid crystal light box, M marvey markers metallic rub ons metallic markers Memories ink pads mulberry paper Mica milwaukee heat gun marbled stone marbles mulberry paper MaGill Punches magic Melt Embossable Pearls N new techniques new stamps nail polish (for background tech.) needlenoise nylon ribbon Nesting Templates Neopaque paints??? O oval templates oval cutters orginal works of art organizers O- rings for dangly things ORGANZA RIBBON Orgami papers Oil pastels! P puff paint pearl ex pigment ink perm. Ink powdered pearls pens pencils paint brushes paper paint(tulip paint for fabric, embellishments) PolyShrink Positioner paper punches PATTERNS-COOL SHAPPED CARD postage stamps cancelled paper towels polymer clay PAPERMAKING KITS PAPERCASTING KITS PAPERPUNCHES FOR PUNCH ART penscore paper clay Q q tips for blending and chalks QUOTES FOR INSPIRATION Quick drying glue Quilt cards Quilling toolsuestions R rubber stamps rubber radiant pearls ranger ink pads rice in a balloon for a background stamp ruler rubber bands ribbon raffi re-inkers Rollagraphs, S stenciling stippling sponges sayings stamps salad spinner shelf liner sticker paper Stickles- (acid-free glitter glue by Ranger) scoring tools scissors salt!-(for watercolor resist technique) spackle Scotch tape shrink art SWAPS scraps STAPLES shaker cards and supplies scrubber-used to scrub the ink off your stamps stylus seed beeds and sugar beeds String self healing mat T tidy tray tea bag folding tranparancybeing toilet paper- (faux paper casting with tp, starch, water and bold stamps) tria tags Tape templates TOMBOW markers tack it over and over U UTEE umounteds Ultimate Embossing Powder unry paper(like mulberry) UHU glue sticks, V vivid ink pads velvet paper vellum paper velvet to stamp on Velcro vacuum (from the mess of the embossing powder) Versa Mark vinyl- for attaching ums to acrylic blocks VIDEOS FOR TEACHING, W wax seals water colors (crayons, paint, or pencils) wire water wonder under wonder tape weaving wire cutters Window card washi paper X xyron machine Xtreme Gel Pens (The BEST gel pens! They color beautifully on laminate! X-acto Knife xerox paper Xray film for templates, Y YES glue yarn yards of ribbon yard stick Y&G gel pens Z zebra pens Zenas stamps Zip lock baggies... Can YOU add to the list?