"Dilly mentioned that you can clean and disinfect the disposables- you should clean/disinfect daily regardless ifthey are disposable. However, it does not extend the life of the lens. 2 week lenses are just that, monthly lenses last a month, etc" Not true. Do you not remember the contact lens scandal back in the 90s? It was revealed that daily wear and extended wear disposables were the exact same lense - just priced differently. An optometrist broke the info to the public. "If you still need to take them out and clean them everyday, why get disposables? " Because you can wear them again instead of tossing them in the garbage. Disposables are cheaper than buying the expensive ones they sell and they are the exact same lens. Which would you rather do buy $600 lenses and clean them every day or buy $5 lenses and clean them everyday? The people that sell them used to try to tell consumers that the expensive ones "were more sturdy" and hold up for a longer time but they were the exact same lens. Soooo, some people bought *daily disposables* at a cheap price and tossed them after one use, and others bought the SAME lenses for gobs of money and scrubbed and disinfected them. http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/1999_07_09/noDOI.8539564656493553240 From article: A great example of pricing strategy being used brilliantly comes out of the Bausch and Lomb contact lens scandal. It turns out this company was selling two identical contact lenses at two completely different prices. They were selling "daily disposable" contact lenses at about $5, while selling the exact same lens as their extended wear lens, for about $60. It caused a huge scandal, but, when you think about it, who would trust an extended wear contact lens that only cost $5? And who in their right minds would pay $60 for a disposable? Read more at this site: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=207583 Here is a link that might be useful: Scandal

Oh, my gosh, no - I certainly didn't intend to start a debate. I'm a 58-year-old childless (many miscarriages) woman who worked for OB/GYNs for several years approximately 30 years ago, so although I don't have any first-hand experience, I am well aware of many pregnancy-related things, but simply did not know the present-day cost of 3D ultrasounds. My niece, as I said, is pregnant for the first time. She will turn 31 in April. She and her husband do not want to know the baby's gender before the doctor announces it in the delivery room (or birthing suite, or wherever they may be). I am not saying that I would want her to have an extra, unnecessary ultrasound. I was simply thinking that when it is time for an ultrasound that the doc would want, that it would be cool to have a 3D ultrasound, and since insurance doesn't cover them, I am more than happy to pay for it. The prices that have been mentioned, above, are much less than half a day's pay for me, so, to me, that's nothing. I can well afford it. But even if the money were tight for me, I would still find a way to pay for it by cutting back somewhere else. I love my niece very much, and she has waited a long time to be a mother. She is one of the most fabulous people I know, and her husband is incredible, too. They will be great parents. As for the comment that it would be a waste because (paraphrasing here) "once the baby is born the ultrasound photos would become unimportant and be tossed in a pile with other insignificant stuff," well, that one made me laugh out loud. If that's what you think of "stuff" like this, then why take any photographs - ever?

Costs are regionally driven, house type driven, extent of damage driven, specfic locale condition driven. Where? What construction house?, Basement? Finished Basement? Etc... I replaced around 22 ft of 4x6 sill in a brick house with a basement. Along with some joist work, stud work and second floor rim joist work. Job ran $4500.00 on LI, NY about 10 years ago. Consulted on a job in Muttontown, NY where a very extensive structural job ran around $15,000 in 1999. This was a one story ranch in a very expensive area. Ron

"You need good weather-resistant species of hardwood, properly prepared (jointed flat before planing) for door work. " Since when? Many doors are made of pine, fir, and other softwoods. Almost any solid wood door you purchase at a lumber yard is made from softwoods, including interior paneled doors. Hardwood doors are stain grade and much more expansive then the typical paint grade softwood door. They are also often special orders. It is the grade of the lumber that causes problems making doors from ordinary 2x lumber found at the lumber yard, not the species. Many softwoods have better shrinkage charecteristics than common hardwoods, especially having a closer match betwen tangential and radial shrinkage. Any larger hardwood dealer typically also carries higher grades of softwood lumber suitable for bulding furniture, let alone doors. Redwood and cypress are very good choices for exterior woodwork.