Golddust, Too fun-nay! I have my very 1st Mac - an SE30 (this is an all in one with a black and white, 9-inch display, for those who need to brush up on their Mac history ;-) - sitting right next to my Mac G5 (earlier version of the Mac Pro, the current mama of all Macs), that I'm typing this on. I have no doubt I could fire that 21 year old baby up tomorrow and it would run like a top - S-L-O-W - but it would run ;-) Got the original keyboard, mouse and cable, and I bet if I looked hard enough I could find the software somewhere around here, not sure about the manuals ;-) I'm terribly interested in your BIL's baby - do you know how old and what size his monitor is? Mine is the largest sold at the time (approx. 8 years ago - yep, I'm using an EIGHT YEAR OLD, albeit top-of-the-line, Macintosh and it runs better than any PC I've ever used, period, the end), a first generation 30" Cinema Display and I use it as a TV/DVD/DVR too - is he planning on using it this way or has he already got it set up? If already set, I would really enjoy hearing the specifics or, if not, I can make recommendations based on my experience (and would provide an email addy if you want to take this off-forum, JLMK, I don't work for any software or hardware company, just so you know). BTW, all of the software I use, even the ancient OS 9 apps mostly fill my 30-inch Cinema Display. I suspect there is a display settings change needed. I'm running (an older) OS10.4.11, aka "Tiger" (so I can keep my OS 9 apps, even though most are laughable crutches at this point), but I've been using this Mac since "Jaguar" and the software has always mostly filled the screen. The current Mac OS, for those trying to keep up, is Snow Leopard, LOL! If I could justify or luxuriously afford an iPad, I'd probably get one, but I've got an iPhone, and it's very efficient for how small it is, so I'd probably opt for the Macbook Pro instead, if I could afford/needed it, even! As I said above, my 8 yr. old G5 leaves nothing to be desired except an Intel chip to run newer apps and mobility. But it won't be long now... ;-) Oh, wait, my car will be 10 yrs old next year, LOL! natal, Glad you got what was best for you - it really depends on your usage and comfort when choosing a computer, even for PC users *roll eyes* *snicker* J/K

I did all of the typical Internet research before replacing my twelve year old Sears top loading washer and matching dryer. I was tired of a dryer that took twice as long as the washer to complete a cycle---laundry room backup. I had heard all sorts of rumors about the front loaders not getting clothes clean, bad smelling clothes, mold, mildew, repair issues and so on. After narrowing it down to LG, Whirlpool and Bosch, I went with the Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer in the 9200 series. In that brand we are talking a level below the top price point. I am confident that Bosch and LG make fine machines. LG Electronics, a South Korean company has been making front loading washers for decades. Front loaders are typical in the rest of the world---only in America do we see so many top loaders. Remember: the very first automatic washers were front loaders. The more you pay, the more cycles and features you get. There is a point of diminishing returns not to mention the fact that more gadgets can mean more things to go wrong. One name manufacturer has a dispenser system which you fill with detergent and bleach and it dispenses the stuff through multiple loads. A technician who services that brand informed me that the feature is---from a repair call perspective---a weak link in an otherwise fine piece of equipment. After decades of doing so, we all think we know how to wash clothes. The most important thing I can recommend is to READ THE OPERATORS MANUAL! Secondly, do some research and if the sales person doesnt seem to know what he is talking about, go somewhere else. Ask whoever you buy from if they actually set up the machines or just drop them off in your laundry room. If they dont level the machines, hand them a level and make sure they do so, which leads me to vibration. These machines spin at a very high RPM; 1,000 RPM is very typical while the top of the line LG machines (Tromm) spin at 1,320 which is why the clothes come out nearly dry and dry so quickly in the dryer. Mounted on a concrete floor or modern trussed floor, leveled, spaced a couple of inches apart and without the pedestals, the vibration during the spin cycle will not be an issue---these machines are remarkably quiet. Each variable you add will increase vibration. On solid flooring even with the pedestals if all else is equal, the noise and vibration factor should still be less than typical top loaders. However, on wood flooring, on a upper story in an older structure with an unbalanced load, on pedestals, unleveled and too close together---the darn thing is going too shake the house. Several manufacturers make machines specifically for upper stories with lower spin speeds. HE detergent is not an option---it is a mandate! Simply using less regular detergent doesnt work. In fact, if you read the HE detergent label it indicates that you should use barely a quarter to a third of a cap for normal loads. A friend who services appliances told me to use even less than the detergent maker recommends. More detergent will not get your clothes cleaner in a front loader. Suds from conventional detergents will ultimately screw up the machine, not get your clothes clean and drastically extend the wash cycle and your energy usage because the machine has to enter a SUD cycle to get rid of the excess suds. If you use the minimum recommended detergent for most loads the HE is not more expensive than convention detergent of the same brand---it may well end up being less expensive. Cheer, Gain and Tide are all available in HE and more are being added. Many service techs recommend powdered HE detergent over the liquids and claim that powders dont leave the film that most liquids do---which forms a basis for mold growth. I cant personally attest to it but it seems to make some sense. If you use powder, you can add Borateam or Oxyclean to the dispenser with the powdered detergent. If you stick with the liquids, any powdered additives should be placed in the bottom of the drum before adding the clothes. Throw away your fabric softener! It gunks up machines worse than any other additive---it has wax in it for gosh sake! It makes towels less absorbent. It leaves a film on the outer drum that you can get to to clean. If you have hard water, consider buying Calgon Water Softener available in the supermarket and adding it to the rinse water. You might also consider adding some 20 Mule Team Borax or Borateam either with the detergent if you use a powder or in the bottom of the drum if you use a liquid detergent. Front loaders have to seal completely or the water will leak out---unlike top loaders. That means that the interior stays damp after you close the door. Leaving the door ajar for an hour or so after you remove the load will help it dry out completely---leaving it cracked open all the time makes even more sense. Consider keeping a spray bottle of something like Sams Clubs OdoBan and a rag next to the washer and wipe off the seal periodically---to include underneath and the front lip which faces inward. If your machine has a machine cleaning cycle, run it as recommended. The newer machines tend to have this cycle and it specifically jets water around and under the seal to clean and sanitize it thoroughly. If you start getting excessively long wash cycles or fault codes, it is possible that someone didnt empty their pockets and something is clogging the pump filter which also tend to preclude complete drainage and add to the potential mold and mildew issue. If you are going to spend two to three grand for a washer dryer pair, seriously consider a service contract---$120/unit for five years in my case but you can often negotiate these down with the salesman. The average service call to clean out that filter is $115. If you are handy and confident, you can unplug the machine, remove three torq or hex screws on a bottom panel and do this task in a couple of minutes. I would not buy any brand in which this pump filter is not "reasonably" accessible. If you have a service contract, then they will handle the task but you may have a deductible. Very cold water doesnt wash clothes very well; at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and below, detergents just dont emulsify as they should. Many front loaders have an internal water heater so that even if you select cold wash, it will heat the water just enough to make it work with detergent. This is a very valuable feature in ensuring proper detergent dispersion and helping prevent mildew. The typical front loader uses a quarter of the water that a top loader does. If you are using cold water to save money, youve already save 75% of the cost of heating water for a load. Warm water will always wash better than cold. Mold and mildew: if you leave a wet load of clothes in a front loader overnight or all day while you are at work, you are asking for mildew problems. Its a sealed container; unless the clothes have been sterilized or at least sanitized, the drum---and clothes---will grow mold and mildew. Use the delayed wash feature available on many machines---most will tell approximately how long the cycle will take---so that the wash cycle ends right before you leave the house or come home. Follow the recommendations in the manual for proper loading and mixing of items. Put your baby socks and thongs in mesh bags---they end up in the pump filter too easily. As with any washer, full loads are preferable but front loaders dont typically handle very small loads as well as top loaders. If you need to do a small load, consider throwing in a couple of those designer towels that have been hanging in the bathroom for who knows how long. If your family insists on throwing their wet towels on the floor or shoving them in the bottom of a hamper, you are going to start with mold and mildew problems. Molds, yeasts and mildews are very hard to get rid of once they start to grow. Short of very hot water and chorine bleach---over multiple cycles---you are fighting a lost cause. Are front loaders "harder" on clothes than top loader/agitator machines? The opposite should be true. One measure of how much of a beating your laundry is taking is the amount of lint that collects in the dryer lint filter when you wash a relatively new, predominantly cotton item. Occasionally I buy 100% cotton rags (terry) to use around the house and in the garage. I always wash them thoroughly before I use them to get all of the starch and chemicals out. Two dozen of these relatively low end, imported rags used to throw of so much lint after a full cycle in my top loader that I had to clean the lint filter several times during the initial drying cycle. The first time I did a load of new rags in the front loader I was astounded at how little lint buildup there was. I used to be in the hospital bedding and apparel business and have visited numerous fabric mills---you dont even want to know what it takes, chemical wise, to produce a sheet, towel or item of apparel. You really want to get that stuff out of the fabric before it touches your body. I digress---back to the smelly towels and such. You can try Oxyclean, OdoBan or Borateam---or all three---but on fancy, designer towels you probably wont be willing to risk either Chlorine bleach or super heated water. Drying them occasionally outside in the bright sun helps. Using soft water or a liquid water softener (Calgon ) may help. Getting all of the fabric softener residue out of the towels will certainly help. Drying them completely is essential, particularly with heavy towels. If your towels are smelly indicating the existence of mold, yeast or mildew, you may not notice it when you take them out of the dryer but probably will the first time you use them and get them damp. It is easier to prevent the mold and such than it is to eliminate it. If youve already got it, it will probably take several cycles to get rid of it. Another approach might be to explain to family and guests that the designer towels are just for show. Go to Costco or Sams and buy pure white, hotel grade towels, bathmats and washcloths. Theyre really not expensive---and they are made to be washed in institutional laundries at very high temperature with both peroxide and chlorine based bleaches at high concentrations. Run them through the washer on the highest temperature possible, often called a sanitize setting. Washer technology had improved dramatically in the last decade---dryer technology really hasnt changed much. If you have gas, consider using it instead of electric; the dryers cost fifty to a hundred dollars more but in many---not all---parts of the country gas is cheaper than electricity so you will recoup the difference fairly quickly. You should be able to get information from your utility company, from a local appliance service or on line regarding the cost differential. If you live in an area where electricity is produced using coal, than electric may be break even or even cheaper. If you live in the southwest or Texas, natural gas is generally more cost effective. A couple of companies make hybrids---top loading without the agitator---but there seem to be issues with those machines either in design---or in the fact that people dont know how to use them. In summary, assuming you can reeducate your family, the most important things you can do to prevent mold and mildew in a front loader and the resulting smelly clothes are: Read the manual. Leave the door ajar long enough for the drum to air out or anytime the washer is idle. Use HE detergent only. Stop using fabric softener. Run the machine cleaning cycle as recommended. If your machine doesnt have one, run a regular cycle with hot water and bleach---no detergent---periodically, at least once a month or more often if you do a lot of laundry. Dont leave wet clothes in the washer all day or all night. Follow the loading recommendations. If you have hard water and dont want to/cant install a water softener try using Calgon , Borateam or even baking soda in the wash water. Vinegar (white, pretty cheap by the gallon) can be an effective fungicide but its going to take more than a tablespoon; try it instead of softener in the rinse cycle. Havent tried the idea of using some powdered, enzyme based dishwashing detergent to clean the front loading washer but it makes sense. I called my friend who services all sorts of appliances and he indicated that he even recommends it even though the manual doesnt. There is also a commercial product available on line at www.smellywasher.com that many repair techs seem to endorse. By the way, if you prefer scent free HE detergent I know Tide has one---not sure who else does. We love our Whirlpool Duet front loader washer and dryer. Laundry room backup is a thing of the past. Comforters that used to take two hours to dry are dry in under thirty minutes. The clothes are really clean. Our electric bill has gone down. There is less lint in the dryer vent---because the clothes arent getting as beat up as they did by that center agitator on a conventional top loader. They are both remarkably quiet but making the switch requires some reeducation. When I read complaints from people who wont read the manual, wont allow the drum to dry after each use, refuse to use the right detergent and cant be bothered to perform a few seconds of preventative cleaning and maintenance, I throw up my hands in frustration. If that is you---dont buy a front loader! I dont want to sound like a commercial but no matter what other detergents I try---because they are on sale or whatever---I always end up back with what my mother and grand mother used---Tide. I made the switch to liquids a few years---smaller package, easier to measure, less spillage but also too easy to use too much! Based on what I have read and heard from several appliance techs, Im switching back to powder because I believe it works better in front loaders and cause far less film buildup than liquid. Also you can add powdered additives---Borax, Oxyclean, washing soda, baking soda---with them in the dispenser.

I went through this too, but will never let Katie go. She is more like a friend than a cleaning lady. My kids adore her. She was a doctor in Albania and came to this country and had to start over doing anything she could to make money, including waitressing, babysitting, and cleaning houses. Cleaning is where she found she could make the most money, but in the meantime she put herself through nursing school, while working fulltime cleaning houses. She graduated last spring and now has a full time nursing job but still comes to help me when she can. Some weeks she can't come at all and every week the day changes, but she always comes in the afternoon so that on that day my son can take his nap in his bed instead of in the car (since I have to pick my daughter up at 3 ). She loves to cook like me. She brings me recipes and I share mine with her. She lets my son follow her around the house and gives him little jobs to do. When my daughter is around she does the same for her ... she'll have my daughter pick up her stuffed animals, etc or bring laundry downstairs. I like this, because I too worry about the kids thinking they don't have to pick up after themselves. Anyway, post renovation, I researched different products and am using different things now, but it was just a one time short conversation about the new stuff we are using (most particularly, this Bonax wood flooring cleaning system). She knows that the new house is my baby and I did tell her that I would take care of certain aspects (like cleaning the Butcherblock counter). She'll move on eventually. She is still cleaning because she is saving up money for her wedding next year. She is such an impressive young woman. So personable, hard working and caring. She is so there for me when I need her. She babysits in a pinch (or gets her sister to babysit for me). I hope I won't have to do without her until I am done with the classes I am taking because she is part of the infrastructure that is allowing this to happen for me. sorry so long winded but I feel so fortunate for the situation I have and wouldn't give it up.

Seamless integrated sinks may be "dated", but I personally prefer them to undermount sinks that everyone *has* to have these days. I stayed in a few hotels recently with the undermount sink and they were rather gross. I do my hair in the bathroom, and there's inevitably long hairs in the sink. It's my habit to wipe them out when I'm done to prevent a nasty drain clog. Doing this in the hotels, I caught the underside of the counter. The rough, unfinished side of the counter. Rubbing that with damp, hairy hands every morning gave me the heebie jeebies. Now, I recognize that these sinks had negative reveals, and the undermount sink I have bought for my new house I would be sure to have no reveal. But my kitchen sink is undermount, and it has no reveal, but there's still an obvious divot where the sink meets the counter. I'm glad I don't wipe hair out of the kitchen sink. So I am strongly considering taking this sink back to the Habitat for Humanity store where I bought it and getting myself a top mount. The hall bath is getting a cultured marble top with integrated sink. So much cleaner. And really, it's more the shape that's dated than the integrated sink. The current house has cultured marble tops, and I leave my flat iron on it all the time. I have never had an issue. And just in case, my husband has bought me one of these, and makes me plug the iron into it. Therefore, the iron is never on for more than an hour at a time. Belkin power outlet timer