Hi Betty, First of all, your platform Windows XP SP2 is just fine. Windows Vista just came out but I would not buy it yet as it may have a lot of bugs...wait a bit...at least this is what I'm going to do befor switching to Windows Vista. More importantly is your Office package. From Office 97, I have upgraded to Office 2000, and last year to the latest Office XP.That seems to work fine with me. You have a lot of hostas. WOW!! 770 is a lot. It may be that you have reached over the limit that your blank CD can handle. Let's pursue this privately if you dont mind. My email is ghislain@hawk.igs.net The last CD that I burned took 550megs. If we exchange coordinates, we could possible send each other our CD backups. Hoping to hear from you. Ghislain Seguin (Papou on Garden Web)

>>b-4 our new marxist regime takes over.Ummmmm. Last I checked it was the BUSH administration putting the government in the business of bank ownership? And it's the BUSH administration and the rest of the Republocrats handing over OUR tax $$$ to a bunch of their cronies like GM and Citibank whose firms are going to go bankrupt because of their poor foresight and inability to meet market demands while paying their CEO's billions? And lets see, it's the BUSH administration took a budget surplus in 2000 and turned it into a record-breaking deficit, while creating the biggest government and government debt in history, including an entire new cabinet-level beaurocracy (Dept of "Homeland Security") to suck billions of dollars towards creating an atmosphere of fear? Are you safer now than you were in 2000? Think again. And the NEXT guys are the "marxists" and crooks who will create big government and mishandle our tax dollars? What planet are you on? I'm just glad BUSHCO didn't get their hands on privatizing my Social Security. At least the money I'm losing in my 403b isn't my social security for the future, just my own damn money. Perhap I'll have something to live on in my old age, thanks to FDR. I hope that Obama can provide us with the "Next Deal" to get us out of the Great Depression II that Bush has pushed us into. World War I was just known as the "Great War" until World War II came along. Now we'll have the "Depression I" and the "Depression II" to tell our grandkids about.

It seems that some of us are retired but many are not quite there yet. A couple of tips from my own experience: - DO a budget. Even if you're terrible at that kind of thing (I am and we are). You need a good idea of what your real outgo is and what you are spending month to month on your personal 'splurges', which we all have. Accept that housing is an expense you will always have, whether you rent or own a home. Property taxes go up, water heaters go out, roofs leak, cars die of old age. Always assume you're going to live long enough to encounter major expenses of some sort. - ALLOW for inflation. Never mind the CPI, you know how prices increase and new taxes are passed that hit your pocketbook even if they never get included in the official statistics. - PRACTICE living on your retirement income. Don't assume your expenses will go down in retirement. That isn't automatic. Our expenses went up drastically in the first year, when we traveled extensively around the West. There were new casual clothes and shoes to buy, travel accessories we hadn't needed before, and a lot of very happy poor people got our expensive work clothes from free donations. We didn't even get a write-off: the standard deduction was bigger than our charitable totals. - ANALYZE the biggest risks to you NOT achieving your retirement goals. Is your health impaired? Does your family medical history send up red flag warnings? Have you budgeted for long term care costs? Is your home suitable for universal access, or would a broken leg make it impossible for you to manage by yourself for three months? Do you have sufficient retirement savings? Pensions or annuities? Social Security and Medicare eligibility assured? Did you work for any company long enough to be fully vested - because if you did, they should have sent you a letter at age 50 telling you how much you'll receive in a monthly annuity they purchased on your behalf, for which you are eligible at age 65....but they have to be able to FIND you to send you the letter. - MAKE new friends. Boomers are really the first generation to have defined themselves by their work, and to have made most of their friends in the workplace, not from community or church affiliations. It has been shown the happiest elderly are the ones who not only retain good social ties, but who develop new ones to replace old friends that move away or die. - IMAGINE worst-case scenarios. The Boomers I know who retired (or meant to) and got into financial troubles, didn't stress-test their assumptions. Playing ostrich with your retirement planning almost guarantees life will slap you in the face with a wake-up call at some point! Everyone has risks in their daily lives. It's your retirement, and therefore your responsibility, to figure out how to mitigate some of those risks. You can't eliminate all risk, but you CAN, and should, research how to lessen the bigger risks. For example, our biggest risk was the death/disability of a spouse. Being in our late 50's at retirement meant a sizable financial hit if one of us died or was disabled by serious illness/injury. Therefore, we mitigated that risk as best we could, in several different ways. Anticipating things going wrong means you will feel better prepared and more able to cope, if something does go wrong. Like being aware of the "Exit" signs in a theatre or on a plane, having a mental plan is very reassuring.

Silly me originally posted this in the wrong thread: Message to self, COFFEE first, then, post!!!: My MW is currently on the counter in an inconvenient spot since the door opens the wrong way. But it is in the least inconvenient spot in order to maximize what remains of my counter space for everything else. It would be even more inconvenient to put it anywhere else in my kitchen - under counter for me at six foot one is a total non-starter - my dishes wouldn't go there, either. And there'd be only one space to attach it under an upper cabinet (other than OTR), which would be as inconvenient as its current location - since the builder of this kitchen was enamored with 12-inch wide uppers. In my future kitchen, the MW (bought for $60 on sale at HD a couple years ago) will sit out on the counter at the right end of the countertop depicted below. I will have plenty of territory for it, and for the George Foreman and the toaster oven, which will space themselves out on this counter as well. I don't mind seeing appliances of this nature out where they can be useful. (I am, however, sick of seeing my oils, vinegars, and soy sauces out on my counters, which where I am now, I am seriously stuck with seeing due to lack of space inside anything.) Anyhow, while the MW will not be near the fridge, this will fit with the way I use my MW. I use it for heating tea water, re-heating coffee or leftovers, and occasionally I use it for one of the several ways I prepare asparagus. I never use it to melt butter or to COOK with (even frozen veggies - I toss those into a pot of hot water and go to town on the range, and now that I will be using an induction cooktop, this will be even faster...), other than that occasional asparagus prep. I don't like popcorn, so I don't even do that. Plates are immediately above where the MW will be (on the right there), and silverware in the drawer immediately below. (All one step from the DW on the peninsula you can't see.) I'll nuke, grab, and step around the peninsula to sit at the dining table to consume. (Or take it outside if the weather permits.) So, basically, where you put it depends entirely on how you plan to use it, how many people might be needing it, and occupant / user heights. I figure countertop is good if I ever get wheelchair bound, as for now under-counter for me will NOT be efficient. Those drawer, top loading ones are too pricy considering I use mine on the average of once, maybe twice, a week. Due to my usage style, keeping mine OUT of the primary prep zone is essential. PS: clutter present in the photo is GC stuff. He's allowed to do that right now... :)