I think I found the answer. The technique they used (raising his thumb or hand) is called "Conventional Audiometry" and is used on children 5 years of age and older. He is not quite 4, so I suspect he was not developmentally ready yet. Or he was too distracted by the multiple commands from three adults. He's just fine! :-) Jen

Oh yes... please.... This is MASSIVE scapegoating, and no mature adult could be fooled otherwise. Puhlease.... I'll easily grant that there were/are pursuable shenanigans in the various tiers of the financial world (and of course, in government, and car parts, and maid service, and, and, and, and....) HOWEVER... that was no less true 2 years ago... 3, 5, 7, 10 years ago... The question anybody with three braincells to rub together would have to ask is; This is so screamingly obvious in its timing... why? Why weren't these "stings" and "busts" happening in 2000? Why not in 2003? I'll tell you exactly why; When everyone's happy flipping houses, and originating godzillions of mortgages... and Johnny Paycheck is watching his retirement get fat (on paper) from the high-yield "safe bonds" he's demanded of his pension managers... the hired help with the badges don't DARE call people out! They (the so-called authorities) will lose their job (if not worse.) The timing of all this is so preposterous... so ludicrous as to make it a joke. "Mob Justice" is what this is known as. The hired henchmen now that now is their time to "shine," and they get to play "saviour" to the lambs... the social "children" who want to participate without actually understanding, and have "saviour government" make it all feel better. We've all got to be ashamed as claiming to be an advanced society... We can talk about legitimacy when the annual arrest numbers do NOT correlate and coincide with emotional/financial recessions. "Justice" indeed... phht! Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

I agree that the actual saggy curtained example is a poor one, but if you've ever lived with a kitchen like this, you would understand why "just closing it off" is not always best. It dedicated floorspace solely to the kitchen, and usually not enough to make it comfortable anyway: Putting a single wall kitchen in a closet or behind screens that close up IN the floorspace allows some of that floorspace to Flex for something else. Since Marcolo brought up my kitchen: Versus the before: And people DON'T get it. The comment by potential buyers is (other than the occasional "that looks stupid') is that the "kitchen is smaller than in the other units". It's *not, it's actually slightly *bigger in footprint to the front edge of the island, and functionally it is even bigger because I can prep or stage standing on the outer perimeter of the island while the primary cook is in the main work aisle. That wouldn't work with a wall there. So the illusion is probably too successful. Some people do blow out the entire wall, but that makes some of the apartments look like a kitchen with an apartment in it not an apartment with a kitchen in it. Done the right way, screening makes sense. I am not an "open plan" type of person if the house is large, but there are a lot of small spaces out there, at least where I live.

Patience. Mine is not completely back yet in Bandera, either. We had 14 degrees twice a week apart. Up until then my lawn was still green, but then it went fully dormant. I wish mine looked as good as yours does.