Wow!

What a great thing to hear after a long day. That's great! It's amazing the way things work sometimes.

You're entirely welcome and I'm glad to have been of any assistance. Gotta give you a bunch of credit and a tip of the hat too, timing is everything, and you've obviously spent some time poking around on the net and other places looking and learning as well. Congrats on the great timing.

On more than one instance, I've heard the remark made along the lines that it is easier to be an expert if you are from somewhere else. It would seem that folks will listen to the inhouse folks all day and even though they may be the best in their field, it is the outside consultant that picks up the kudos. I'm not generally in it for the glory, but still sometimes it makes one want to <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> say ARRRGGGGHHHH! and do something else that is much easier for a living...like stacking BB's while performing headstands. LOL.

FWIW getting the other half to become interested is something that seems to commonly be best accomplished a bit at a time, kind of like eating the proverbial elephant. One bite at a time.

I showed her my kits in bits and pieces, she would see me stuffing an Altoid 7 times in one evening and say, "that's nice dear" and that would be it. I didn't push it.

One evening, my boy (about 13 at the time) saw me poking around with some stuff and I pulled out a few items and asked if he had a tin. Zoooom....to his room and back in seconds flat....we spend what I think is called "father son bonding" for a couple of happy hours.

Made a point of getting more stuff for him as I saw the chance, the other half never asked about it, but watched carefully.

Subsequently I made up a basic FAK in a tin and included the STOP paper, didn't say anything to her, just slipped it into her purse one morning on the way to work. Several days later, I overheard someone at her office make a comment about how "she was so prepared &: even had stuff in a little candy box".

Down the road, I ordered some more ball compasses (and still later an ARC AAA, then a Fox 40) and just stuck them on her keychain. She has watched me wear the lanyard with the same items for a long time and never seemed interested. Lately however, I've noticed that more often than not, she has the stuff close by her side. Every now and again, I slip in a new item to surprise her.

In the meantime, I continue to try to be prepared for all of us.

Comanche7 <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />