Wow: I am surprised at some of the responses. If it is a real good laminate it should be fine. As long as they didn't smash any of the tabs when trying to snap them together originally.If it has a good locking system, it will be fine and could save you descent money if its a good one. Remember, you can buy a 1st quality laminate 7mm at an independent store for around 1.00 /foot with 20 year warranty. If its a fancy beveled laminate or something really nice,, you could pay half a buck a foot and be fine. I buy 2nds at times from big manufacturers with known flaws by the tractor trailer load and those cost 50 plus cents plus shipping. So I wouldn't completely rule it out. Good Luck

When I got home at 6:15 yesterday I found I'd received an email from the Honda Fit salesperson, who sent me a price quote, a PDF attachment, at 5 p.m. I had dealt with him over the phone one day earlier and sent him a long email after the call. -!- Yes, the email was based on the draft above, and modified in ways that reflected comments above. I can post it if people want. His message: "Thank you for the detailed email. Here is a price." At 6:30 I emailed back and phoned (leaving message) saying we'd be available downtown around 7:30 p.m. for the test drive he wanted us to do. I live downtown. A similar story: Yesterday I called the Suzuki retailer closest to me and spoke to a salesperson. Ten minutes at 10 a.m. Before 12 noon I sent email to the manager for him to forward to the salesperson. The same long email modified as per feedback received. The salesperson called me back at 2:30; his price was $X thousand lower than the web price. He agreed with me that this was just the "over the phone" price with a stranger so the real price would be even lower than that. After calling him again at 4 he was expecting me to confirm later whether he'd see us that same evening. I sent email at 6:30 asking if it was reasonable to expect him to pick me up and drive another mile to fetch my wife who was finishing work. In other words, if the test drive could start at my wife's workplace or at my place. That email was also sent to the manager's email address, for him to see and discuss with the salesperson. Then I called and asked him the same thing. He went to get the email and consult his manager, and got back to me. No go. At 7:30 p.m. I was at his front door showing him my drivers' license while standing a few feet inside the front door. He gestured to a chair and I said "No time, remember we're driving now to go pick up my wife." He walked over to a floor model to show me things, and I said "You'll show all this to my wife when we get her into the vehicle, right? So let's get going." We left to go pick up my wife. The manager observed from the distance and did not approach. Minutes after picking up my wife, I was driving and my cell phone rang. It was the Honda Fit salesperson getting back to me at 7:50 p.m. Can't talk now, thank you for the email, bye-bye. I drove the three of us back to the Suzuki showroom, my wife drove a second vehicle, and then we did all sit down. Since he used silence as a closing tool, my wife resisted him. --- The best way to save money is to avoid spending money. (An SX-4 at $X deprec./year, plus insurance, plus gas, plus maintenance, etc) We still have our ten year old car depreciating at $1700 per year (bought used) and have never paid for major repairs for it yet. Since last year we now belong to a car sharing service. We've used it a few times. Compare A to B: A. carsharing service, regular car rental service, taxis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsharing) B. owning a car Conclusion: A is way better. My wife was frustrated with our current situation. Now she is happy. She was the one who said "A" is way better after we went for a walk around the duck pond in the park. At 10 p.m. I feel now I've come as far as I needed to on Tuesday, 48 hours ago. We'll go rent a Versa or a Fit for our vacations. To try it out. I'll look into inventories visible on the web. Thank you!

Chisue - As the person in charge of our family's investments, I say yes, go ahead and buy into an index fund. With your already good diversification and common sense and understanding of the portfolio you already own, and with your children established, you are in an excellent position to do this. You do not need any detailed understanding of how the market works to invest in something as simple as an index fund. 23 years ago I invested in Vanguard's Index 500 fund and our investment has quadrupled over that time despite some pretty significant dips. I have withdrawn a small amount of money perhaps 4 - 5 times over the duration, when I didn't want to touch cash or our IRAs. The taxes and expenses on index funds are extremely low, another reason they are so attracitve. Despite all this, four times my original investment makes me happy! Just to establish my street cred. DH and I are nearing your age group and have similar concerns. Our children are grown and gone and on their own (and I do like to gift them with cash occasionally), so we are mainly involved with concerns of retirement right now, plus health issues, travel expenses, etc. We are in a fairly good situation and we have never used a financial advisor (although we've had good discussions with our accountant). I saw what "advisors" did to my mother. No thanks. Here's another thought: Money gurus recommend that senior citizens keep some money in stocks. People are living longer and need the financial growth that stocks provide, even if they don't plan to touch the money. I would suggest an Index 500 fund. This invests in the 500 largest companies in the USA, although sometimes fewer than 500 stocks are held. That really doesn't matter. Some recommend a total market index fund, which holds every domestic stock (more or less). I like the index 500, it follows the DOW (our 40 largest companies) pretty closely, so when I check CNBC I know pretty much where this particular investment is. I would do the Index 500, because it's so easy to understand. I would not invest outside the USA right now. I have held a little money in an international fund for almost 20 years, a good fund from a solid brokerage (T. Rowe Price), and it has barely doubled in that time. You can also ask the agent if a small cap index fund would be good now. It might be good to put most in the 500 and some in a small cap. But remember - these brokerage houses - Vanguard, Fidelity, etc., - are BY LAW not allowed to give you advice. They can only explain, very thoroughly, but they cannot tell you what you should do. There is no charge for your conversations with them, and they may not give you advice. Maybe a few little suggestions, but nothing that you could hold the company accountable for. Any time is the best time to invest. Get In and Stay In. Do not panic. I have always withheld a modest amount of money in case of severe crashes, so that I could buy a bit more on a serious dip, but I never bought a lot more, because I try not to market-time. One can go crazy trying to time the market! Fidelity has a great story about this. The market crashed badly in 1989-1990, just before the first Gulf War. Fidelity's people were innudated with calls from panicked customers. One of them answered a call and there was an elderly gentleman on the line. He was apparently not aware of the crash. He said that he had put a bit of money into the Fido's first mutual fund many years before and was wondering what it was worth. The callperson looked at his chart and saw how much that fund had just lost, but also, that it was up tremendously from his initial investment. "$300,000" she replied, worried about his reaction. "Yippee!" he yelled, and hung up. It's all a matter of perspective. Anyway, sorry for blathering on. How you do this: Call Vanguard from its online number and tell them that you want to invest in a mutual fund. They will transfer you to one of their agents. It is so simple. He will explain what to do and tell you that he will send you the forms. When they arrive, you fill them out, write the check and send it all in. Or you can probably do this over the phone if you have the money in a checking account, which can be linked to your Vanguard account. You can also do everything online with a linked account, but am not sure if that's possible for an initial investment. It would probably be good for you to talk to an actual human being on your first visit. These people are very accommodating! They are used to dealing with all kinds of people, of any age, any language ability, crabby, pleasant, whatever. Apologies for the lecture. I hope it helps. If you have any questions for me, I usually go to the Home Decor Conversations forum a few times a day. I might forget that I've been here. So give me a shout-out over there if necessary. And good luck. You are thinking very wisely.

This is what I have been looking for. When I worked for General Motors I had to review these standard constantly. And the certification process is a lot more extensive now than when I retired 25 years ago. I can't imagine the work that goes into the process today. We use to have engineering changes every day and if those changes and any one of the parts was a FMVSS part it had to be certified documented and submitted to the federal government with all sequence numbers and etc. etc.. Anyway here is a link you can read and get a better understanding. https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/218/~/requirements-for-importing-a-vehicle-%2F-vehicle-parts