I guess the fan motor is as good as any to discuss the problem. The one on my car is the original one from Dodge and has lasted 19 years and 220,000 miles. I buy my cars new and keep them until they die. This one is a 1990 Dodge caravan where all the seats except the front 2 have been removed making it ideal for transporting orchids to shows and meetings. To get a replacement from the Dodge dealer is $160, just for the stupid little motor. The car parts dealers have fan motors for about $25 to $35 but not my particular one which is a 'Dealer only' item what ever the H--- that means. It means officially sanctioned rip-off. By fixing mine they saved me way over $100. If I could get a Chinese one for $20 like you Arthurm, I would, for my car that just did not work out. My main complaint is about the radiator which was declared 'non-repairable' because it has a plastic top part. New radiators (probably made in China) were pushed on me for $100 to $150 plus $70 plus for labor. The fix it guys solved everything for $90 out the door by FIXING the existing parts. That's what I would like to see more of. A much more egrarious example was a repair I had on a Mercedes 500 SEL, about 10 years old. That car has since died and is in Mercedes heaven (Junk yard). About 10 years ago it failed smog and was declared to need a new catalytic converter. The big V8 has 2 exhaust pipes, connected in 2 places which each have 3 chambers for the exhaust treatment. From the engine backwards it starts with a pre-muffler, then the muffler and last the catalytic converter. That's a total of 6 units, one of which needed to be replaced. I went to the Mercedes dealer and asked for the needed part. They told me that the entire exhaust system is sold as one unit, both pipes with their 6 chambers for $1,800 plus about $500 for labor! Again off to Alameda street where with a hack saw they cut off the catalytic converter and welded an after market unit in place for a total cost of $120. Now it was no longer a Mercedes parts only car but who cares, it passed smog and my wallet did not take a major hit. I just simply won't stand for the kind of rip off the car dealers consider 'normal business practice'. Nick

Same here. I think the wind did alot of damage. If I remember correctly; I think she was outside in winds between, 15-25mph, with gust as high as 33mph. Or, the worst case, she is dying :( I am going to keep her in a few days until it hits back up in the high 70f's and low 80f's as the forecast shows. Going to try to get a small green house as well. Not bad for my first coconut, made it a few years. Still alive too. One thing I can say is she is a fighter, wouldn't shock me if she survives this. Other than the usual spear pull, what are some other signs that would help me determine if she will make it or not? What I can say is that the spear is snug and very green, only parts of the top is dead, just more than usual. The newst frond is still the same, the other seem to have gotten worse. The tree seemed to have gotten somewhat tighter, hope it not me imagining things though. Thanks for the replies! :) - US_Marine

Something bad happened that actually was a very, very good thing... After following breiaj's instructions to the letter, two of the floor tiles in the bathroom popped up a couple of days later and wouldn't stay stuck. When I pulled them up the rest of the way, I found a leak! If it hadn't been for those tiles unsticking, we wouldn't have found that leak until it did a LOT more damage - like made a big ole mess of the kitchen ceiling. So here's one way in which vinyl tile might actually be BETTER than sheet! A few notes WRT breiaj's instructions... I admit to dropping back to $3.99 paintbrushes because they became unworkable so quickly - the glue would start to dry up in the bristles while we were working and it would become more like a paddle than a brush! We didn't have any problems with bristle loss. 2" flat-ended paintbrushes were just the right size, a wider brush seemed like it would save time but was really more awkward to work with, especially with cut pieces. Don't bother wearing rubber gloves in hopes of keeping your hands clean, they stick to the tile's adhesive and to the adhesive you're spreading on and just generally irritate the crap out of you. :-) The adhesive - Armstrong's anyway - is kind of hard on your hands though, and contrary to the label does not wash off with soap and water! We ended up using a "painter's wipes" product we had on hand to clean up our hands about every hour because we would get too sticky to work effectively, and our fingertips were pretty raw and sore afterward. Even though it costs a bit more it's a lot easier to work with the smaller containers of adhesive using this brush-on method, because the bucket gunks up something awful. If you're laying more than about 100 square feet, seriously consider coughing up for the vinyl tile cutter (homedepot.com has one for about $50, or you can rent a superduper heavy-duty one for about the same for a weekend)... scoring and snapping with a utility knife sucks after a while, it's slow and hard on your hands. Make sure you have a comfortable utility knife no matter what though, and a LOT of blades. Stanley makes a really nice knife in their FatMax line, with a rubber-cushioned handle. A jamb or undercut saw ($15) makes dealing with those door jambs SO much easier than trying to cut the tile around them! We removed the baseboards; we were going to replace them with vinyl cove but the damn stuff just would not cooperate so we patched the baseboards with wood filler galore and put them back, and it looked SO much neater than butting the tiles up to the baseboards. deeje, I've checked around with several manufacturers of vinyl tile and the biggest deal WRT moisture is not to slop around too much water when you mop - contrary to popular belief, you don't need a gallon bucket full of near-boiling water and some vile chemical to get a floor clean! Try a well-squeezed-out sponge or terrycloth/microfiber mop instead of a sopping string or rag mop instead. Those microfiber cleaning cloths fit on Swiffer handles really well, if like me you are too cheap to buy the Swiffer cloths. :-) ctaylors6, the instructions in the Cryntel box agree with the Lowes guy - wash well-secured vinyl very well, rinse well, allow to dry thoroughly. I'd use something like TSP that would destroy any gloss on the existing floor. Our vinyl was trashed so we couldn't leave it, so I can't speak to the adhesive method on top of vinyl. We still haven't gotten the kitchen floor laid down yet. We had to tear out some of the subfloor and replace it, and then do a lot of leveling and sanding on the rest, got diverted with a day of electrical work, and to top it all off DH has been sick as a dog. :-( Cross your fingers for this weekend!

I was the original author of this thread. I ended up buying the Bosch 500 series SHP65T55UC from Best Buy at a cost of just over $950 including the extended warranty and sales tax. I bought this dishwasher after reading hundreds of reviews from various sources. Simply stated, it appeared to be the best choice for the price. I've used this product for about a month now. For me, the pros and cons are as follows: Pros: Name brand with a reputable history Stainless steel interior Available in multiple colors and door styles The third rack is a helpful feature that I would now miss if I didn't have it. Cons: It will only "clean" dishes that require a moderate wash and rinse. (In other words, a frying pan with scrambled eggs stuck to it when going in the dishwasher, still tends to have eggs stuck to it coming out of the dishwasher.) There is no heating element, so don't expect a load of completely "dry" dishes, either. If you think you might need an item again soon, you might be better off washing it by hand, since this dishwasher may need 2+ hours to complete a load. The noise level varies with the volume and placement of the load. It is not always whisper quiet. To sum up, I do not feel that this dishwasher is worth what I paid for it. I'm convinced that I could have purchased a similar level of quality--perhaps even better--for several hundred dollars less. I've attempted to follow the manufacturer's recommendations regarding both installation and operation. Yet, the performance of this product is disappointing. I'm at a loss to explain the overwhelming consensus of positive reviews that this product has received. Perhaps others have identified virtues that I've yet to perceive. I can only say that I regret this purchase and do not recommend this dishwasher to others.