How you feel about winning a particular medal is a relative thing. Going in to a competition expecting to win nothing, you would probably be elated to win Bronze. Going into the same competition expecting to take Gold and ending up with Bronze, that's a completely different feeling. Not that I'm excusing anyone, just that I can completely understand. It's human to feel disappointed when losing a hard fought game. On the other hand, do ya just LOVE Apolo Ohno? He got disqualified in that final round in the 500 meter when he could have won silver. I'm CERTAIN he was disappointed, and he made some remarks regarding the fact that he disagreed with the judges' decision, but he still smiled and said how he had no regrets and felt that he'd had a successful and satisfying time. And speaking of speed skating controversial decisions, the judge who disqualified the Chinese team in the women's relay received threats on his LIFE! How's that for sportsmanship? Ah well, it's over. It was great fun to watch. Congratulations to ALL the winners. Looking forward to the summer games in London in 2012.

As you already noted, the smoke comes from colder, heavier air pushing the smoke back down the chimney. The fact that you have an external chimney doesn't help either. For its use right now an outside air kit would probably not help much. I would seriously look at an insulated metal liner but only if you dump that older inefficient rather dangerously installed insert for a newer clean-burning insert, like maybe an Avalon Olympic. I have a small freestanding wood stove in a chimney like yours with an insulated liner and it drafts like a charm. I burned two cords of wood in it last year, swept the flue this past weekend and had less than a 1/2 gallon of very fine soot in the liner.

What you were told is correct. When oil based primer is dry, it will serve as a good base for any topcoat (oil based, water based, acrylic, shellac, etc). The primer bonds with the wood and then the topcoats bond with the primer. The first coat of stain should really look pretty good over the primer though, unless it is just poor color coverage.

I use Olympic paint, primarily - for many of the reasons daisyadair mentioned (plus the price!). I've never primed, as I was painting over existing paint that was in decent shape. Can't speak to matching BM colors; we had a color matched before from a printout, and it was so-so. I'd definitely recommend a test pint if you're having something matched - but personally, I'd just work off their chips. They can mix anything you find in the American Traditions (now called Valspar) colors, into the Olympic base, with good results. (Apparently there's a slight difference in how "white" the bases are - from what I was told - but I've never had a problem. But I also tend to use more-saturated colors, so YMMV). I've used Olympic "Morning Sun" and it's a nice yellow. Bright without being in-your-face, solid color without being overwhelming. I don't have a great picture of it online - but this gives you an idea (it definitely changes with the amount of daylight). I don't remember what this one was called, off-hand. It was something food-related, LOL. Curry something, maybe? (I just remember DH saying it made him hungry) It has more green undertones, sort of like tarnished gold or brass. I've also used "Gaucho Green" (though that was done in American Traditions/Valspar paint, before I switched to Olympic). It's a little more of an olive-y color. You didn't ask about this, but I always use their eggshell finish (which is one step up from "flat" - they go "flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, gloss"). There is a surprising difference in sheen between eggshell and satin, that isn't well represented on their little display board. The same color looks "lighter" in the satin than the eggshell because of the reflection. Neither is bad, just make sure you get what you want.