I'm of the Red bGreen/b school of repair -- I only own duct tape. Even that, I don't use much. I just go buy a replacement. Appliances for the house, no, because Mrs. S is adamant about not having clutter. Extra computer stuff, OTOH, I'm bad. b....../b As it turned out, less than 5000 workers had to burn some bvacation/b days. But it gets worse: Of course, maybe there's something to be gained by a temporary shutdown. There are so many state-provided services that we take for b.../b