Hybrids Aren't Hotcakes

The following is reprinted without the permission of Dow Jones or the author of the piece. I got it through my Scottrade account. I've left the author's contact info off so that she won't get spammed, or worse.

Still Time To Grab Tax Perk On Hybrid Cars

By Andrea Coombes

Thanks to the popularity of Toyota Motor Corp.'s (TM) Prius, time is running out to enjoy the full $3,150 tax credit available to those who purchase that hybrid.

That's because the tax credit starts to decline after a car maker sells 60,000 hybrid vehicles, and Toyota moved past that mark almost on the strength of its Prius alone, though sales of its hybrid Camry and Highlander, and two Lexus hybrids, also helped.

Toyota sold 59,270 Prius models from January through the July, bringing its total hybrid vehicles sold in that period to 105,816, according to Edmunds.com, an auto information site, based in Santa Monica, Calif.

"Last month was the second-highest month ever for Prius sales," said Alex Rosten, manager of pricing and market analysis at Edmunds.com. "I think you can assume that a lot of that has to do with gas prices, but also most people have been shopping for a hybrid for a while - it's not really an impulse buy - [and since] there's a waiting list, people want to try to get in now to get the tax credit."

Even if you are only now getting on a waiting list to purchase a Toyota hybrid, you might be able to buy in time to reap the full credit, Rosten said - if someone ahead of you on the list decides against purchasing. For Toyota models, the deadline for buyers to reap the full credit is Sept. 30. Still, expect to pay a premium for your car. In July, the new Camry hybrid was selling for an average of $1,522 above sticker price, while the Prius cost an average of $1,812 above sticker, rising to as high as $3,000 or $4,000 above sticker in some places, including Southern California, Rosten said.

Don't forget that every model comes with a different tax-credit amount, with the Prius' $3,150 the highest. The tax credit on the 2007 Camry Hybrid is $2,600.

For more recent information, also search the IRS page for "hybrid tax credit" and sort the results by "date."

Taxpayers who pay the alternative minimum tax should realize that they may not be able to enjoy the benefit of the hybrid tax credit.

Plus, "the credit will reduce regular income tax liability but not below zero," said Michael Eisenberg, a certified public accountant and personal financial specialist in Los Angeles, in an email message. That is, this isn't a refundable credit.

And, he said, "if you're eligible for multiple tax credits, the hybrid tax credit is taken last, after all other credits [such as] child-care credit, retirement-savings credit. Any tax liability left over after these reductions will be the maximum dollar limit of your hybrid tax credit. If the hybrid tax credit exceeds this maximum dollar limit, the excess is not refundable, and is lost forever."

Car buyers can enjoy the full credit on Toyota models purchased through the end of September. After that date, those who purchase a Toyota hybrid model in the next six months will receive half the credit, and purchases after that will be eligible for one-fourth of the credit. After that, the credit is no longer available.

But there's plenty of time to enjoy the tax credit available on other makers' hybrid models.

Honda's total hybrid sales this year through the end of July total 22,757 vehicles, according to Edmunds.com. "Honda's not even close" to the 60,000 mark, Rosten said.

About 580 of Honda Motor Co.'s (HMC) Insight sold through July (eligible for a $1,450 tax credit), while 18,428 of the Civic Hybrid ($2,100 credit) and 3,749 of the Accord Hybrid ($1,300 credit if the car has updated calibration) sold in that period.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. (F) sold a total of 14,055 hybrid models in that period, 12,154 of its Escape Hybrid (the two-wheel drive is eligible for a $2,600 tax credit and the four-wheel drive for a $1,950 credit), and 1,901 of the Mercury Mariner Hybrid ($1,950 tax credit).

Edmunds.com doesn't have sales figures for General Motors Corp.'s (GM) GMC hybrid vehicles, though the IRS says GMC sold 1,388 hybrid vehicles in the quarter ending June 30. GMC models are eligible for a credit of between $250 and $650.

So despite $3/gallon gasoline, there are still plenty of hybrids out there for people to buy. That bodes well for us as my wife and I are considering retiring my 97 Civic (30-35 mpg), which she uses for work, and getting a new car.

I've insisted that said new car must be a hybrid or some other car that gets equivalent or better gas mileage. She doesn't want anything smaller than what she's in now, so there's a bit of a debate going on. I've suggested that we trade in her 2000 Subaru Outback (20-24 mpg), which I drive most of the time, because I believe that my Civic, with almost twice the number of miles on it, is in better shape. But she doesn't believe that the Civic is safe enough to drive around with the kids because it's pre-LATCH. So, if I want to keep the Honda, I've got to see if the dealership will install the LATCH, an infant car seat restraint system that goes beyond just seat belts.

I'll keep you posted.

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The Connecticut Campaign Trail

Rather than focus on any candidates in this installment, I'd like to discuss how the two majors are getting the word out.... at least to me.

Earlier in the year, the Democrats (or so I thought) were going after incumbent representative, Nancy Johnson (R). I received several phone calls that consisted of nothing more that automated messages. Being familiar with Johnson's record, I noted that what was said in these messages stretched the truth or was just wrong. This strategy backfired as it made me more sympathetic towards Johnson and increasingly negative towards whoever was going to run (at the time I had no idea who was running for the Dems).

Johnson's campaign was slow to respond. I believe that it's because Congress was in session and Johnson was busy attending to her job. Once Congress adjourned, the campaign literature came out. In one recent piece, she directly addressed the calls, which were done "by a special-interest group based in Washington D.C. The shadowy group behind this smear campaign was just exposed making false and untrue automated calls against Nancy."

So, this anti-Nancy (and pro-Democrat I assume) group shot the Democratic candidate in the foot.

The other tactic being used by both of the major parties is "propaganda disguised as survey." First off, you're given some neutral questions about how you feel about various candidates and nationally recognized political figures (like W). Then you're given statements that portray one candidate in a negative light and the other in a positive light. You're then asked if said statements make you more or less inclined to vote for said candidate. If you listen carefully, you can hear the truth distort and the propaganda blossom. I take them just to see how long it takes me to figure out which party is behind the "survey." I've had surveys against and for Johnson. And last night I had one for DeStefano, the Democratic candidate for governor.

I'm sure that my answers confused the hell out of them.

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A Lesson From Katrina

Yes, it's been a year since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Biloxi, and Gulfport. With the news channels and just about everyone else offering their anniversary specials, I've decided to take a different route. There are several lessons to be learned from how people reacted to the storm, as well as the storm itself. One valuable lesson I'd like to focus on is that infrastructure can't be neglected.

For decades, warnings were sounded that New Orleans' levees were not up to the challenge of a major hurricane. Money that should've been used to upgrade the levees was stolen by corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen. This, most valuable component of the city's infrastructure, was neglected for far too long. The suffering that ensued was catastrophic and well known. Unlike the cities of Mississippi, most of the wreckage could've been prevented had the warnings been heeded and the necessary investments been made into the city's levee system. Why a city that sits below sea level would ignore these warnings for so long is inexcusable.

I saw on the Discovery Channel's show Extreme Engineering the process of repairing the levees. The host announced that $1.4 billion was being spent on the project. Does that sound high? Well, we spend that much every week in Iraq. Talk about gross expenditures.

Re-elected mayor Ray Nagin was recently heard to say on Meet The Press that half of the city's population has yet to return. I doubt they will. Why chance it? I hope that they've learned that defying nature in this manner (a coastal city below sea level that is) is either arrogant or foolishness. But I digress.

Infrastructure can't be neglected. It's a lesson that we here in the Northeast must learn. I read in the Fairfield County Business Journal that the Tappan Zee Bridge, one of the many vital traffic arteries in the tri-state area is now 51 years old. It was designed to last for 50. While anyone of the estimated 140,000 daily users, or the hundreds of millions of people who've used the bridge over the years (a total that Ted Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere will never come close to), can attest to the fact that maintenance is ever ongoing, it may not be enough. The bridge may have to be replaced.

Capacity for the interstates that run through the tri-state area has run out. I-95 is running at 312 percent capacity. This has been a problem for as long as I can remember. There was even a survey conducted by USA Today back in the 90's that asked truck drivers where the worst roads were. Two different patches of I-95 made the top 5. It's a veritable parking lot during rush hour. Unless something is done, there's bound to be a negative impact on the local economy. Why operate in the area if your workers can't get in and your products can't get delivered. Oh wait, that already happened. Connecticut lost most of its manufacturing base already. Only service industries and big military contractors like United Technologies and Electric Boat still operate here.

I don't know if blue states (CT, NY, & NJ) have enough leverage in Washington to get federal funds for this project. I know that CT is considering going it alone to ameliorate the problem on its end, assuming that it can get the cities along I-95 to go along. While I loathe big government projects, investing in the infrastructure discussed here is something that needs to be done. It'll be expensive. Most likely in the billions. Should we continue to hemorrhage $80 billion/year in Iraq, where I have a tough time seeing any return on investment. I think the money would best be spent here.

According to the GAO, the national debt went from $20.4 trillion in 2000 to $46.4 trillion in 2005. So much for Republicans' fiscal conservatism. If we're to continue to prosper, we should at least be investing our tax dollars and debt in our infrastructure. When the money spigot finally runs dry, I'd like this country to still be able to function. Investing in infrastructure, not foreign wars naively spreading "freedom and democracy", is the way to ensure that.

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Beer In Review: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Well, it's Friday so I should keep things upbeat by writing about beer. After all of the fruity beers I've reviewed this summer, you're probably looking for something more traditional. Well, today's entry is Red Hook's Blonde Ale. It's a golden straw colored, light-bodied ale with just enough hoppiness in it to let you know that you're drinking a beer. Wheat malt is used along with the Czech hops (No, I didn't know that just by drinking it) so you're dealing with a middle of the road kinda beer on the hoppiness and maltiness spectrums. It's a good introductory beer for people used to only drinking the swill from the top 3 brewers.

I've enjoyed the blonde with burgers and hot dogs and just about anything else I've cooked on the grill. It's also good with fajitas. 5.4% ABV. Although I think the Blonde is best enjoyed in the summer, it's available year round. And thanks to a distribution deal with Anheuser-Busch (Bud), Red Hook beer can be found in 48 states.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve. Prohibition may be dead, but Regulation in the spirits industry is thriving. I don't know how bad other states are, but in Connecticut, the state determines what can or can't be sold and the minimum price at which said beer can be sold. It's bad enough that there's a "sin tax" on liquor. I'm having a hard time swallowing the increases in beer prices. I'm looking at $8 to $9 a six pack for craft beer. One can usually get a break if one buys a 12-pack, but not all craft breweries offer them.

If I had the time and the space, it would make more sense for me to just brew my own beer. My past recipes have always come out to be less expensive that store bought craft brew. Sure, I'm cutting out alot of the extraneous costs (labor, shipping, bribing distributors, etc.) but I'm paying retail for my ingredients. Economies of scale should favor the craft brewers. It certainly favors the swill producers.

What happened to letting the market decide what's a fair price? It's time to deregulate the spirits market. I'd start lobbying my state representative but he's retiring after this term and the legislative session has ended for this year. Whoever wins (I don't even know who's running) will be hearing from me. Even if they ignore me, I'm going to pester them. Beer drinkers of the nation, unite!

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So long, Pluto

The Pluto haters have won. It's now a "dwarf planet", along with everything else that's been discovered beyond its orbit in recent years. Ceres still makes out as its being upgraded from asteroid to dwarf planet.

I'm wondering if the Pluto-is-not-a-planet crowd did it because they're worried that they've run out of names or because they fear having too many planets will make their heads hurt. Well, the protests will certainly make their heads hurt and they'll have to hear this all over again in 2015 when we get our first close up of Pluto.

Astronomers have known for years that Neptune has a bit of a wobble to its motion around the sun. It's been hypothesized that there must be a massive object out there causing it to happen. Pluto and Charon are too small to cause this effect. This leaves open the possiblity of a mysterious "Planet X" floating out in the Kuiper Belt. But if astronomers find it, will they call it a planet or something else?

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Save Our Science

While the public laughs at the IAU for their brouhaha over what it means to be a planet, a more serious space science issue isn't getting any press at all.

Our esteemed President came up with a new "Vision for Space Exploration." In it, he stated that NASA should send people to Moon and then Mars. The shuttle was to be retired and a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) was to replace it. One problem: No money. In essence, W threw a party and gave NASA $5 to go out to the store and buy enough beer for 40 people. I'm not kidding here. The 2007 budget for NASA was $3 billion less than 2006 (that money needed for Halliburrr...errrr uhhh, the war in Iraq). I don't even know if I can call this a "half-assed" attempt to get something done.

So NASA had to prioritize. They chose to get the CEV done and finish building the space station, which is why the shuttle fleet wasn't mothballed as soon as Columbia was destroyed. The CEV isn't revolutionary, it's essentially "Apollo on steroids." Really. It's just a bloated version of the old crew capsule. Obviously cuts had to be made somewhere. NASA chose space science. All those cheap (at least when compared to manned missions) robotic missions and orbiting telescopes... gone.

This is stupid. In an age where we're hemorraging money in foreign wars, why would you cut the cost effective programs in favor of expensive missions which accomplish alot less scientific bang for the buck? All I can come up with is PR. Really. Putting people back on the Moon or sending them on to Mars makes more headlines. It's more glorious to have people out there than a couple of rovers running around on Mars (although millions of people have tuned in to watch). Or maybe that's where Saddam hid the WMD?

I'm not alone in feeling this way. Advisers resigned. The Planetary Society, the largest space advocacy group in the world, has launched it's Save Our Science campaign and is lobbying Congress to get the money back. They've had some success in both houses. But I've still got my fingers crossed. "The Decider" might veto it. Maybe if he can be convinced that we're spreading freedom and democracy to the planets he'll approve it.

I want humanity to branch out into space. Colonize the Moon and Mars. Mine the asteroids. Even travel to the stars. I want to go too, though after my last experience with a tilt-a-whirl I'm sure that I'd puke my guts out. It's a dream I share with millions of others, but I'm also practical. You don't eliminate your best selling product on the hopes that what you've got in R&D is going to knock the socks off your customers. And you can't expect the private sector to pick up the slack. They're still working out the kinks for (relatively) inexpensive access to space (and clearing those bureaucratic hurdles). Their budgets are a thousand-fold smaller than NASA, though that might not be the case for long as we might have more wars to fight.

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Another Senior Moment For NASA

Back in May, I wrote in this blog about NASA losing the blueprints to the mighty Saturn V rocket, the vehicle that got them to the Moon. Well, now they've gone and lost the original tapes containing the video from the Apollo 11 Moon landing. "The tapes aren't lost, insists the NASA official put in charge of the search. But he doesn't know where they are."

I don't even need a witty reply for that one.

But the private sector isn't very encouraging these days either. You've got Space Services, Inc. whose sole purpose is to launch your ashes into space: orbit and back, locked in orbit, moon orbit or landing, or deep space forever. Boasting customers like Astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James "I can't change the laws of physics" Doohan the company is sure to appeal to the families of dead people who yearned to go to space while they were alive but were foiled by the end of the Space Race and a government monopoly on space travel.

Maybe Virgin Galactic will take Burt Rutan's creation and make things a bit more promising for the rest of us dreamers. Former eBay billionaire, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Techonologies doesn't seem to be doing much, as noted by their own failure to launch.

And you may have heard about the big planet classification debate going on at the International Astronomers Union (IAU). What does this mean to the average person? Absolutely nothing. Really, it's not important at all and I'm a space enthusiast. While I think Ceres should remain an asteroid and Pluto should remain a planet, it's all semantics in the grand scheme of things. And the debate won't end here. When the New Horizons spacecraft arrives at Pluto in 2015 and we get to see the first ever pictures of that world and it's moon/companion, Charon, the debate should flare anew.

But the debate is moot. So long as we're "grounded" here on Earth, how we categorize these distant places means nothing. When we're finally colonizing these other worlds we can debate their relative "planet-ness" then.

Now where did they I put those warp drive blueprints.....

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Victories and Defeats

I probably shouldn't blog when I'm in a foul mood (as exemplified by my pit bull comments on other blogs today), but I'm going to anyway.

So, did the Brits get it right this time? After missing the subway bombers last summer and mistaking an electrician for a suicide bomber a month or so later, it would appear that a plot to blow up several trans-atlantic flights bound for the US has been foiled. The details are still coming to light. Although their tickets hadn't been purchased yet, it is believed that they were planning on doing so soon. If this investigation holds up, it will prove to be a victory in the War on Terror. I'm sure that governments on both sides of the Atlantic will use this development as a means to secure current domestic surveillance programs and, perhaps, increase their powers.

Israel has failed to break Hezbollah's back and has agreed to a UN ceasefire. The Lebanese army is headed south to maintain the peace until an international peacekeeping force arrives. While the loss of life on both sides is troubling, civilian casualties should always be expected. Alot of people in the blogosphere were irate over Israel's inability to maintain a perfect civilian death toll of zero. But none of them ever complained about Hezbollah's use of human shields nor offered alternative solution to Israel getting its two kidnapped soldiers back. Tough luck I suppose.

Negotiating with Hezbollah is a joke. They're a hate group that lives for one thing: Death to Israel. All past negotiations with them have failed and UN resolutions calling for their disarmament have been useless.

For over a century, the KKK terrorized African Americans in the South. While they didn't believe in suicide bombings, lynchings and burning down homes were quite effective. It took generations before they were marginalized, and that was in a free and open society. And yes, they even had politicians on their side. Anyone recall that Strom Thurmond ran on the Segregationist platform in 1948. If the KKK had control of the schools for brainwashing the young and rockets to firebomb towns and cities with large African American populations, they'd still be in power today. Unless someone used force to dislocate them of course.

While I agree with a call to ending aid to Israel, it's not out of malice. I want an end to all foreign aid until we get our financial affairs in order (yes, wishful thinking). Israel's economy is strong enough to stand on its own. It doesn't need propping up. They seem to have no problem buying our military equipment. Funny how the same vitriol that calls for the end of aid to Israel always seems to forget about the aid to the Palestinians.

Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran have been emboldened by Israel's inability to crush Hezbollah. I wouldn't be surprised if either one tries something else before the end of the year. I hope I'm wrong.

So what do we have? More regulations for air travel and more fodder for the propaganda machines for this year's elections. Osama bin Laden is still free and the Taliban still lurk in the mountains of Afghanistan. Iraq, which was an obvious diversion from the War on Terror, has become a haven and a training ground for terrorists despite the Neocon's hopes of nation building. Civil war seems imminent, if it isn't already happening, as local militias take sides and attack other ethnic groups or collaborators.

We have incompetents calling the shots. Congress has abdicated its Constitutional duty while the President does as he sees fit. The Judicial Branch is powerless to gauge the actions of the Excutive Branch, as evidenced by the end runs around the FISA court. I'm tempted to read the book, Fiasco, but I figure it'll just piss me off more than I need to be.

November seems so far away.

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Beer In Review: A Tale of Two Apricot Ales

You wouldn't think that I'd find two Apricot Ales to sample, but I did indeed. It's not like it's that common a flavor.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had a day to ourselves, which we used to go down to Manhattan to see Spamalot. Afterwards, we decided to hit a couple different places on our way back to Grand Central. One of these was the Heartland Brewery, a brewpub with several locations in NYC. We got a couple appetizers and a couple pints.

I had their Summertime Apricot Ale. Apricot in color with a medium body this might've been a good beer, except for the fact that the caramel taste was overwhelming. It was all I could taste. Tammy agreed. Her choice, the Red Rooster Ale, was much better. So for the first time in this blog, I've reviewed a beer that I can't recommend. For the record, it's 4.5% ABV.

A much better beer is Ithaca Beer Company's Apricot Wheat Ale. Now this is a good beer. It's smooth and refreshing and actually has an apricot taste. It's has a lighter apricot color but is no way a watered down beer. And since it's a wheat beer, the underlying esters bolster the fruity taste without making you feel like you're sucking on an apricot. 5.0% ABV.

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The Connecticut Campaign Trail

First in a series of bloggings about the electoral races which directly affect me this year.

Well, you all know by now that Lamont beat Lieberman for the Democratic party nomination for Lieberman's senate seat. Even if you don't follow politics, there was no way you could avoid the story. And Lieberman has made it quite clear that he will now run as an independent. The 52%-48% voter margin should give Joe plenty of incentive that he can still win it.

I have no objection to Lieberman running as an independent, per se. He complains that the Democratic party has been hijacked by extremists and that his devotion to the state of Connecticut demands that he run. On the surface, these sound like admirable ideals to an independent voter like myself, but Joe's either fooling himself, or trying to fool us.

The Philadelphia Inquirer does a bang up job analyzing the situation.

Issues aside, Lieberman also lost because he had too few friends at the street level. Tip O'Neill, the late House speaker, famously said that "all politics is local," and this race proved it. Local political leaders went years without hearing from him; earlier this summer, top Democrats in the town of Southbury complained - into an open mike at the state convention - that they had phoned Lieberman in January, and were still waiting for him to return the call.

Doesn't sound like dedication to the state of Connecticut to me. More likely, Joe thinks that after 18 years in the Senate, the seat is his until the day he dies. In my opinion, he's a pompous, self-serving ass. He's so full of himself, he can't imagine the people of Connecticut surviving without him. I've never liked Lieberman and never voted for him. While I don't condemn him for his choice to go into Iraq (unlike alot of Democrats), his other political views have grated me. He's out of touch with a great many of the people in this state, including me, as exemplified by his socially conservative stance.

For years, Democrats here have groused about, among other things, Lieberman's alliances with Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Lynne Cheney on conservative values; his frequent guest shots on Sean Hannity's Fox show; his pro-GOP vote to keep Terri Schiavo alive; his belief that hospitals should not be required to provide emergency contraception to rape victims; his opposition, as a '70s state senator, to the legality of living wills; his skeptical views on affirmative action; his failure, during his 2000 vice presidential debate, to get tough with Dick Cheney.

The White House had this to say (from the Hartford Courant):

White House spokesman Tony Snow, meanwhile, called the primary "a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you."

But that simply isn't true. Just ask Cynthia McKinney (D), Georgia's first black congresswoman. She's berated W for her entire political career, but she lost the party nomination for her seat. She blames the media, of course.

No, this looks like what I, and fellow blogger, Mike, have been calling for since we started: Voting out the incumbents, no matter what their party affiliation, if they're not representing you. Other incumbents have fallen: Cunningham, Delay, Ney. Many more may follow. I hope so.

So now I have to figure out where Lamont stands on all the other issues. Iraq was the one that got him the nod. Is he more than that?

Schlesinger, the Republican candidate, doesn't have much hope as his gambling problems have led to mild mannered governor Rell (R) to ask him to step aside.

And I can't figure out if the Libertarian Party is even trying to field a candidate this year. Their website sucks and doesn't appear to have been updated since Harry Browne died in March. Not very reassuring.

You know, I was going to call this segment, "A Connecticut Citizen's Conundrum", but it seemed too wordy and too long. But, given my choices for the Senate, I'd say that it was accurate nonetheless.

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Incommunicado

I apologize for my absence from the blogosphere. The storm which ended the heat wave last week, knocked out my phone line. And since I have DSL, my internet access went with it. I didn't discover this until Friday morning and was thus informed that I would have to wait until Tuesday for repairs. As I live at the end of the line, I was the only one in my neighborhood who was affected.

The repairs were quick. I don't think that it took the technician more than 20 minutes to find the problem and fix it. And that includes the time spent going up and down in the bucket to the pole. Fortunately for me, the problem was at the pole and not in my house (see below).

Nice guy. Normally, he works on networks, but because the storm was so bad, AT&T was forced to bring guys in from other departments. I asked him what they'd do in a hurricane. Bring 'em in from out of state if necessary. Apparently, a few teams of techs were loaned out to BellSouth to fix New Orleans after Katrina.

And there's trouble afoot if you work for the resurging phone company. A new techie job position was created that pays $10/hr. He expects that when the current contract expires, alot of guys will be forced into this new position or else lose their jobs (similar to what happened 2 years ago).

So let me get this straight, AT&T/SBC wants to pay technically savvy people $10/hr? That's bad enough for customer service reps but for a position that requires a fair amount of knowledge? Since the phone company charges $85 for the first half hour (if you don't have the inline maintenance contract), where's all that extra money going to go? To the guys with letters for job titles, perhaps? Pardon me for sounding like a socialist, but capitalism is hard to defend when it treats the workers like mules while the fat cats get fatter.

I thanked the guy for his work. Being appreciated for one's job never gets old.

Anyway, I'm back online and will now attempt to sort through the email from the past 5 days.

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