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VC Mom.com: Home appliance etc. chat forums. Hat tip to Michelle, a great site on questions and information on not just gardening, but kitchens and everything else.

Time once again for the regular car servicing. Some folks are finally letting you use Internet forms:

• Acura of Bellevue Service Form. Or call 888-664-7249 if you are old fashioned.
• Barrier Volvo. And again, there is 800-770-1348 for the old fashioned.

The UCDSchess.org domain, per school policy, is going away. It is a little confusing how to move domains, because you don't actually send them, but someone has to request them.

TransferInsider.pdf summarizes it pretty well if you need to do it.

Here is how it works:

1. UCDS has to purchase a domain transfer from their current registrar
2. Since this is a .org site, you need to have some magic cookie from my registrar (godaddy.com)

The rest of it I confess I don't understand.

Well, its Christmas time again, so once again, here's some holiday recommendations from Rich. Hope you all buy early:

Household

• Cusinart Classic Style 2-Slice Chrome Toaster with free shipping from MetroKitchen.com. This is $50. Interesting to see how retro is so in. Just look at what Restoration Hardware has done. Here's a 1920s toaster about 100 years later. Or if you really want to go crazy spend $280 for a hand-made British toaster.
• Chef's Choice Sharpener. Besides amazingly great Wustof knives or All Clad cookware, nothing make cooking easier than a really sharp knife. The $129 CC-320 is a great unit. Three levels of sharpening and highly recommended.

Office gadgets

Since I've been travelling quite a bit, I've been in tune with the latest time saving gadgets:

• ipod. Yes, they are expensive, but they are really so neat. The best price performance right now seems to 20GB at $280 street suffices for 99% of all people.
• Zip Linq. They have a great set of retractable cables from USB to Ethernet. The coolest thing though are the USB to cell phone chargers, so you don't need to carry a separate charger, but can just slave off of a laptop or a AC to USB charger.
• Ultra Cord. Like the folks at Zip Linq, these guys also have retractable cables. I really like their kits as stocking stuffers that cost $50 and have 13 different components including a mini-mouse. Zipzoomfly has it for $35.
• iPod sync cable. Here's a retractable cable for iPod synchronization.
• "Bluetooth Mouse". For the person who doesn't like touchpads.

. It's time once again to vote. I lost my election guide, but everything is now on the Internet, if a little hard to find. Here's the Washington State official election guide, they actually have a website called vote.wa.gov

Scouting Resources - Camping - Tents. So, what if someone has an accident in your tent. What do you do? Well, apparently, you can wash these, just make sure to use a non-detergent soap. You can get this as Nikwax Techwash which is non-detergent and won't destroy the waterproofing. Now what do you do about your thermarest's? Can't wash these, so "Thermarest":http://www.cascadedesigns.com/customer_service/faqs.asp?Action=ThermaRest#clean recommends that ou use soap, water and a soft bristle. For tough stains use Citrasolv (citrus-based degreaser).

MetroKitchen.com. Another good things for the Christmas lists. Here's someone in Atlanta that has a great selection of super high quality cookware. My personal favorites (that I thought I blogged, but can't find now): * "All-Clad Cookware":http://www.metrokitchen.com/all-clad/. Top rated in many places. The most durable is the brushed aluminum of Master Chef 2 , but Connie really likes the all stainless look even though it gets dirty after a while of LTD * "Wusthof Knives":http://wusthof.metrokitchens.com/grandprix.html. These again are the top rated knives. We've had them for about two years and I can tell you they are really awesome. Only regret is that I should have gotten a better knife sharpener (see below) * "Chef's Choice Sharpener":http://www.metrokitchen.com/store/d-mart.asp?command=list&search=chfch. Cook's Life did a review of sharpeners and Chef's Choice was the clear winner. The 320 is the lower end model at $99. You might think ridiculously expensive until you actually cut something with a sharp knife. Changes your world. I'm holding on this as a Christmas gift :-) * "Rabbit Corkscrew':http://www.metrokitchen.com/store/d-mart.asp?command=list&search=rbbt. Another seemingly crazy gift, this is a wine bottle opener that really works. Usually $100 at Williams-Sonoma, their version is $70.

Wine Press Northwest magazine online. A good web site focused just on Pacific Northwest wines.

NASA - Historic Galileo Mission Nears End. A spectacular thing. There will be a web cast as the Galileo enters atmosphere of Jupiter. Hat tip to Metafilter

BTS - Airline Information - Airline On-Time Statistics - Detailed Statistics - Results. We are thinking about going to Hawaii and I was curious about ontime departure. Man, those folks at the Bureau of Transportation really have their act together. What an incredible database. You can actually look at 5 years of data on on time departure by flight number now. For instance the flight I looked at was mainly on time but had one time it was delayed an hour. SEA