Earthworm, a clutch really can last the life of the car. I've only had one automatic transmission vehicle in my life, and I've never replaced a clutch. Two Ford Rangers both went 100,000+ miles before I traded them in, and both had original clutches. My current F150 would have the original clutch if the slave cylinder hadn't gone out and got the clutch all wet with hydraulic fluid. When the transmission shop pulled it at 130,000 miles they said it had little wear but had fluid soaked into it, so for the $80 price of the clutch itself, they just replaced it. Now that "new" clutch has 120,000 on it and it's doing fine. Numerous other cars I've had, all kept to 100,000 miles or more, have never needed a new clutch. It's not so much hard driving that does a clutch in but certain driving practices. You can accelerate hard if you want, but you just need to get the clutch all the way released before applying a lot of power. And obviously you don't use the clutch to hold your place at a stop or leave your foot resting on it while going down the road. Now, I will say, if a person drove exclusively in stop and go traffic, it's conceivable that even with good driving habits, a clutch could wear out.

I didn't read all the responses and don't have kids so I can only talk from being one. I don't think I would force him. Your sister's comment caught my eye with "if we don't get them in early than they will never really be as good as those who have played for years." I completely disagree. My parents were athletic and involved with sports. Dad since he was wee little and Mom in high school. We weren't allowed to play sports and be in all kinds of activities as kids. We were told once we hit high school, and sports were offered through the school, we could (which was 7th grade). My Dad worked long hours and Mom worked on and off through the years. She wasn't going to run all the time dragging us from sport to Girl Scouts, piano lessons, etc. As a kid I was a little disappointed but I also want to point out there wasn't much around where we live besides girl scouts or softball. I only ever wanted to try softball because of my one friend. ( BTW, never again had a desire to play.) Anyhow, as an adult I don't blame my parents one bit for that decision. I see parents running their kids every night to something and they don't have time to be a breathe. In 4th grade band was offered and I wanted to play the trumpet. Two weeks into it I wanted to quite and wasn't allowed. I'm glad they had me stay with it. I played all the way up until I graduated. Once I hit high school I played sports. I played on the varsity team as a freshman. I was very good at everything I was involved in and it was rare for Mom to miss a game, meet, etc. Dad was there when he could be. Schedules were very crazy. There's always room for improvement but I think a kid is generally either athletic or not. If you're not quite as good and you actually like the sport, most times you'll practice and practice even on your own time until you get better. DH thinks like your sister. (Yes, even though I'm a first hand example proving him wrong.) His parents were athletic and involved in sports as well. DH and his brothers all played sports as kids. He's passionate about having our future kids in activities when they're super little all the way up through the years. I've seen kids get burn out on sports. Kids that started when they were 2 wrestling and hated it by high school. A big difference from back then to now was we were made to go outside and play. When we did get a Nintendo and Super Nintendo our time was limited. So that being said, I think it's better for a kid to be involved with something vs. sitting on the couch in front of the tv, video games, or computer. I have no idea what we'll end up doing when the time comes. If they want to, I'm sure we'll give the ok but it's very important to me that we keep a balance. I know all this depends on a bunch of different factors but that's my story.

leahcate, give it a shot, and yes it takes patience before you develop a swing. I played for years with an iron 5 off the tee, and an iron 7 in the fairway. The important thing is to make contact with the ball; if you fall in love with golf, you'll persist. I am by no means a natural talent, I had to work hard at it, but I was determined to golf, DH golfed and I did not want to be left behind. re: golf outfits, yes indeed, on bad days, when I want to quit, I remind myself I own too many outfits and shoes to quit before they wear out, lol. There's a campy aspect to golf that I love. Graywings, I agree, a new hole, a new beginning. It's a nice walk in the woods; it takes one crisp well executed shot to make you want to do it again the next day. I rarely play below 100, more like 110, so I get my money's worth. I know all the etiquette and I play fast, so I'm not embarrassed to play with strangers, that's a big part of the game.

Crooks101 I read your post and you mention that you will give Miele some time to resolve. I see that you are concerned about the dryer not being made in Germany although it is designed and made by Miele just not in Germany but in the Miele plant that makes commerical washers and dryers, but what is the issue you want resolved and what outcome will please you? I went with Miele products because of their lifetime design intent - the 15 to 20 years design life. which is much better than the current 5 to 7 year lifetime I keep hearing about for appliances. I don't want to replace anything every 5 or 7 years. I have other M appliances that have been trouble free for as much as 10 years. I did not go with Whirlpool even though I had a WP dryer because the build of their current models seems to be weak and not made as well as my older dryer, plus my experience with my last top of the line KitchenAid washer that had 5 repairs in 4 years and ended up to be a piece of trash, and finally I did not trust whirlpool because they now make several other brands so have no real competition. I have been thinking about the made in Germany phrase and wondering what I have been taking this to really mean. What do I want from this? It is made in Germany by pure blooded Germans? It is made in Germany so the design and quality will be good? Can it be designed and made by a German company in their factory in another country? Can it be made in Germany with imigrant workers from other countries who live and work in Germany and will it still be as good? What difference will result if it is designed in Germany but still made by the same company located in an adjacent country? So What does this really mean for me? Sunday/Monday was wash day and so far 8 or 9 loads have been completed. The heavy cotton towel load took about 45 minutes on the turbo extra dry setting. The normal without turbo setting does very well with most cottons and the t shirts that I wear as outter shirts and my polo shirts come out without wrinkles--I like this. I have a few perm press items. These came out great on the delicates setting. All loads have been completed within 20 to 25 minutes( of course the washer is still doing the next load) except the load of heavy cotton towels. Where is the lint? In my other dryer there was a lot of lint. There is some lint from this one but nothing near the amount the older one was creating. There is definitately more air moving and more air sound. My laundry is in the basement so sound is not too much of a concern but after runing a few loads it is not as noticeable when I am in the laundry area. Not sure but perhaps this large volume of air might have something to do with the ability to use lower heat and keep the clothes from wrinkleing as much. The air flucuation may be coming when the clothes fall in the path of the front vent. There was air flunction in my older unit because I could feel it outside, but of course there was also a lower volume of air moving. In any case most of my loads are cotton and nothing needs an iron to it so I am happy. I do think that you are going to hear more noise from flex metal or plastic pipe that is not fastened tightly because the volumn of air will move it. Also if your vent pipe is not following the diameter specified in the installation instructions you are going to have more of a problem. So far so good with this dryer. My next load will be items with a silk blend. I will wait a month or two and see what I think then.