Thanks everyone! Annie, I looked at Stanley's site and found many different sizes to choose from. Not sure about shipping outside the US though. Amazon.com won't do it and Amazon.ca only carries things that I don't care for. None of the retail/hardware stores listed on Stanley's homepage are available in Canada, but Wal-Mart. Of course, the Wal-Mart stores here in Canada are very different than the ones in the US. AM, I completely agree with you about the fact that Wal-Mart stores don't carry high quality stuff especially the ones in Canada. Anyway, after searching for an hour I finally found one local store: Home Hardware, that carries Stanley Thermal bottles. They are small, 1-L and 24 Oz are all they have. Maybe the 1-liter will work. Compare to what he eats right now (basically nothing), 1-liter of hot food will seem like a huge meal to him. Mara, I don't believe we have Chick-Fil-A in Canada, at least not in our city. Even if we did DH probably wouldn't bother to go look for Chick-Fil-A for a meal. A chocolate bar from the vending machine and a cup of coffee at the office lobby would be much easier to him. Jessica, I could never get angry with people who try to help me. I will consider the Bento box idea once the weather is less brutal. Definitely would try sushi because DH loves sushi. A salad is good too as long as the box has lot of compartment so the greens, protein, and dressing won't mix until he's ready to eat. Will off to Home Hardware next week to see if I can find the Stanley bottle. They have it listed on a national site doesn't always mean they have it in a certain store. Thanks again, everyone! I will continue to try. Al

A good finish for cherry: 1. A generous application of boiled linseed oil, applied, let sit for 20-30 minutes then wipe off all excess. Let cure for a few days. 2. An application of garnet shellac, wiped or sprayed on. Let dry 30 minutes or more. 3. Several coats of alkyd (non-polyurethane) varnish, a day apart and sanded lightly in between. 4. Give it time and light exposure to develop a patina and chatoyance unrivaled by trying to stain with a consumer-grade produce. Using this schedule will be far superior to anything you have in mind in your post. You not not need a "poly" on a mantle. Poly's main feature is abrasion resistance (as on floors). Yes, the degree of sanding does make a difference in staining. Most canned stains contain pigment that is fine particles suspended in the solution of thinner and binder. These lodge in irregularities in the wood surface. You can figure out the rest -- if you sand to the point where you are polishing the wood, there is little place for the particles to land. As far as "some sort of epoxy," there are numerous products, but none will take stain just like the wood (if at all).

Jef, As a fellow Amazon addict, I feel your pain. The answer is: "not really." There is, but you'll pay out the nose. Pine bark fines are going on Amazon for $11/quart. Offline, I get that at my local chain nursery here in Los Angeles for $3.99/1.5 cubic feet. So that's almost 1/3x the price for 44x more product. Interestingly enough, this product actually looks rather similar in composition to a 5-1-1-1 mix (it has Turface), but again is overpriced: http://www.amazon.com/Eves-Special-Canadian-Perlite-Turface/dp/B00VAQ3RNK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435781535&sr=8-1&keywords=bonsai+soil+bark. You're anti-mixing (and frankly, I was too) but if you want a quick draining soil, you're going to have to end up amending any bagged product regardless. That Eve's mix product looks surprisingly good, though if I were you, I'd pick up some potting mix from whichever nursery is nearest you in NYC, along with some fine-grade orchid bark (any nursery will have this in stock) and perlite.

"If they get approved for the loan those far more educated and experienced in evaluating finances will have made the decision." The problem with those far more educated and experienced... is that the risks to them are spread out and will likely have little impact on their day to day lives. The person who locks themselves into a loan (or situation) that they cannot handle, is likely to suffer much more. I agree that a 50% down payment is wonderful and if you were talking about somebody who knew what they wanted out of life and had demonstrated the means of getting it, the risk would be lessened. However, somebody who is still in the midst of trying to figure things out and whose income potential is limited, even a 50% down payment is not optimal.