Suggestions for chapatis & smooth top electric cook ranges !!

We have the smooth-top just because of the wipe clean feature.. so easy to
clean.. can use the the wire rack on top of the smooth cooktop..for the rotis..
.. set the temp to Highest and it will work.. We have the
GE touch button cooktop . it is really easy to clean..
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We are using smooth top electric cook range.
We found it better than conventional 'coil' range because cleaning is much easier.
Also we use wire rack on smooth top electric cook range and it works great.
But a friend told me if one of the stoves in smooth range break down, you have to change all stoves. Not sure if that's true.

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I have a smooth top cook range and I feel that it may not be the right option for indian cooking. If anything spills, it gets messy immediately and we cannot clean it right away as the surface is hot.
I am not able to use a wire rack for rotis and resorted to using tava.
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Use the same wire rack upside down to reduce the distance of top from suraface. We do that and succesfully make very good rotis.
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With Kenmore smooth-top and rotis puff up fine using wire rack. The auto-shut off happens frequently, but it comes back up equally fast. Shouldn't be a big problem.
I was most impressed by the easy cleanup part :)
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At least two kinds of smooth top ranges.
One uses conductivity - you must have high-quality (so that the bottoms stay perfectly flat even at high heat) conductive-metal pots and pans, and they must be in contact with the surface.
The other kind uses what are basically halogen light bulbs, and I'd think that kind would work very similarly to electric coil
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The grill type of thing can be placed on stovetop to make rotis ! This is how I do it , I too have Kenmore smooth -top electric range..
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If you're going to buy a new range, have you considered having gas for cooking? If you already have the line upto your house for water heating, you could have a line pulled to your kitchen. I've gotten it done twice. And I can tell you, for Indian cooking nothing is better than gas! And it costs far less to use than electricity.
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I too bought a kenmore smooth top stove and chucked my coil range.
I can make perfect Phulkas on the smooth top using a wire rack ..
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Suggestions for Temples near Pittsburg

Here is the website:
http://www.svtemple.org
You can get most of the info you are look for here.

As far as Pittsburg temple is concerned you only need one day. If you travel to North East , you can go to Niagara Falls (American side. this is the best time of the year). The drive is about 3 to 4 hrs from there. If you travel South East, you can visit Washington DC (About 3 to 4 hours drive. You need a couple of days there)
http://www.svtemple.org/temple/guide.shtml

There is ISKON's New Vrindaban temple in Moundsville, WV which is around 2 hrs drive from Pittsburgh, PA. They have lodging facility available inside the temple.

Honda mechanic for 90K service in Bay Area

Jim at Baycity in Milpitas .
He only takes Japanese cars, specialized in Hondas.
he won't change things if it's unnecessary and charge is
very fair.

call 411 for the number.

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I have used wally at Norfolk Auto in San Mateo .
Good, reliable, to the point.

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Charlie from Choice Auto Repair in Sunnyvale (408-749-1422). His place is
behind Lozano's on Grape.

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Raju (4088585255) in Santa Clara (Near 101 / San Thomas Expway)

Recommendatins for Hard Disk Recovery

Try knoppix!
Knoppix is the best thing out there to retrieve data from dead (or kind of dead) hard drives. Knoppix is a software that has the entire linux OS on a CD. You can go to http://www.knoppix.net to download the software and burn a CD. Once you have the CD ready, you would boot your computer (with the dead hard drive) using the knoppix CD. You would be in the linux environment at this point and you can see all the hard drives on ur computers as folders (you would need to do some figuring out of /dev/sda, /dev/sdb etc.) Once you see your hard disk, you can copy the files from that folder to any where on the network.

I had the same problem before. I had Comet Systems in South San Francisco replace a new hard drive for me. Comet is also an authorized repair shop for Compaq and many other brand name computers.

Check Craigs list for "Data Recovery". You have a lot of people in bay area that provide those services for as little as $99, depending on the type of failure you have on your disk. There are certain things you can do before you approach a service provider, but it depends on how much risk you want to take as everytime you do something on your own to recover you might be making the disk even worse at which point you might not have a way out to recover the data at all.

I have recovered few of my hard disks myself. Basically there are several softwares available that you can download over internet. There are some companies who can recover drives over the internet also.

You should definitely avoid Lazares Data Recovery in San Francisco. They took three months to let me know that nothing was recoverable from my disk after charging me $1600.00 for various parts. It's one big money lurking m/c to avoid.

Recommendation for Orthopedic Surgeon in Bay Area

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Would highly recommend dr. dillingham at SOAR in redwood city.
I had my knee surgery last month.

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Philip Berstien -> Mills Peninsula, San Mateo.

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I had two surgeries (shoulder and wrist) at www.soarmedical.com. Dr. George Thabit did my shoulder surgery. Can't remember the name of the wrist surgeon.
So far the experience has been good, everythings holding up. Dr. Thabit does his surgeries at the Waverly center, they unfortunately don't accept UHC, but they worked out something for me. Just in case your relative runs into the same issue, anyways depends on the insurance

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Dr Michael Dillingham at Soar Medical is good.. I had an ACL + meniscus tear to the right knee last year as a result of a ski injury. All is well since the surgery.

His website is at Soar Medical

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The orthopedics at www.soarmedical.com and www.pamf.org are among the very best.

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Try SOAR in Redwood City. All Surgeons in this practice are good. I would recommend Dr Wall.
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Login to MyUhc website and search for Menlo Medical Clinic. I had Dr. Allan Mishra before. He's very good, but I think he specializes in Sport Surgery. Not sure which specific field you're looking for.
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Dr. King at Palo Alto Medical Foundation. I had knee surgery with him

and it was excellent.

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Yup, I have had two surgeries ... first one for complete ACL reconstruction (long and painful ... done 10 years ago) and the second one (last October) was for MCL tears. The second one resembles closely to the one you will have ...

To answer your questions ..
1) recovery time ... basic activity: within a week. Athletic activity may take a few months. Do not be surprised if you need to undergo therapy for a few months (upto 6 months) ... this entirely depends on how good physical condition you are in. Surgeries like these are outpatient surgeries ... arthroscopic surgeries where they insert a probe into your knee area and suck out all the fragments that may be there. You will have anesthesia which will last for about 2-3 hours. One the knee is operated upon .. in any way, you lose a lot of strength in the knee .. so physical therapy after the surgery is a must.

2) Problem never goes away 100% ... but you can recover almost upto 95%
of your original strength, which is enough for most activities.

3) Side effects .. none .. other than loss of time at work and paying your portion of the surgery ... this may cost upto $10K total.
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I've had the surgery in both my knees - one a basketball injury and one a
ski injury. Torn meniscus should have surgery or else you will keep tearing away at it. Surgery they trim it up so it won't bother you. However, now you will
go bone to bone. Quick healing time with some physical therapy - walking
in 2 days, walking steady w/some pain 2 weeks, back to normal 6 weeks.
Always a chance of reinjury, but surgery makes it less likely. I also take
Glucosamine Condroitin (sp?) which is supposed to help it. They also have a
new surgery where they take some of the meniscus and regrow it to put back
in your knee - better full recovery. My knees seem fine now, lost a bit of
a step (might because I'm older and fatter), however, I seem to be getting
some arthritis now and again.
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I too hurt my left leg while swimming ~ 3 months ago and was diagnosed by
a physiotherapist as a small muscle tear on right side of the knee. I couldn't bend my knee then and couldn't walk freely. I was advised to just rest the knee and was told that injury would heal in 1 1/2 months.. But, even now, when I do exercise like brisk walking or elliptical machine or bend the knee to 0 degrees, I "feel" that something's wrong there with minor pain. I was thinking of seeing a sports specialist ASAP. Did you also wait before seeing a specialist or went to him right away? My advice about surgery is, "Get all facts, before saying yes".
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I had a surgery for torn ACL and meniscus tear 2 weeks ago. Since meniscus
was involved, Doctor has recommended 6 weeks of no weight bearing on that
leg. After six weeks I will be doing physical therapy for another 6-8 weeks. The rehabilitation period depends on the type of tear and type of surgery. My rehab period may not apply to you.
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I had a similar surgery about five years ago. I was on cruches for about 1 week, then underwent the physical therapy for about three weeks. I was about 85% by the end of the month, and within four months i was totally fine. No side affects other than a few small scars on my knee. Just be diligent about doing the exercises the doctor prescribes.
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You can try Doctor David Shurman at Stanford Medical Center. He's the
man for sports medicine (when it comes to knee problems).

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I think you must visit one of the Doctors at S.O.A.R. They
are arguably the best in the business(especially with injuries like yours). Check out their website at www.soarmedical.com. They have a list of Doctors and their corresponding specialities. The one who deals with Knee problems is Dr.Dillingham. There may be others too. They have an office at Palo Alto which is the closest to Oracle.

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When I sprained my ankle, my colleague recommended me a reputable
doctor for sports injury where she has done a surgery due to torn ligament. (Pls note that the doctor is very nice, but some of the receptionist are not)
Dr. Walter Pyka 650-342 0854, 77 N. San Mateo Drive, Suite 1.
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I had a sprain in my knee and went to SOAR. I saw Dr. George Thabit . He
is a specialist in that area. Check their website at http://www.soarmedical.com/.
I went to their Menlo Park office (phone 650-851-4900). I found them good. See the doctor first and they will help you to schedule an MRI. They accept UHC insurance. Let me know if you have any further questions.
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As far as the MRI is concerned, just discuss w/ your current doctor what your complications are and they'll have an MRI done. It takes about 30 minutes or so. They refer you to a surgeon to discuss the results.

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I just had my ACL repaired and some cartilage cleaned out about 4 1/2 months ago by doctor David Goltz at Kaiser in RWC. He specializes in sports injuries. Let me know if you have any questions. I know it's a big decision. Good luck.
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We go to a person called Sab (indian) in redwood city. He is supposed to deal with rheumatoid etc.. maybe this falls in a similar category. You can search for him in the UCP directory.

TimeShare Seminars

I'd like to get first hand experience for people who attended timeshare sales presentations (one hour long) where they offer you a free vacation package just for attending. Any catches or string attached to be aware of?

Here are the responses:
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I did this once when I got a good package for Florida. I went in with a closed mind and heard him out. When sked if it interetsed me, I said no. The salesperson was upset and annoyed and complained that I went into the sales pitch having already made a decision not to buy. I just told him this is a no obligation presentation so he should not be upset and did not fall into any further trap. As per the offer, he had to hand over the vacation package.

However, if the offer is for a 2-3 day vacation package to some place, there will be blackout dates and the package will be usable only on weekdays. So beware before you get into the presentation and end up with a week day vacation package 9unless you do not mind it, of course)

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Unless you seriously want to buy a timeshare, dont walk, RUN away from such presentations Sales persona are very demanding, as in life there is no such thing as a FREE LUNCH
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Just be prepared for a tough sales pitch. And don't expect to be there just
an hour. Theey will drag it out as long as possible (figure 2-3 hours
minimum). If you aren't really interested in the concept, don't waste your
time. And the free vacation is usually not totally "free".

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I got those free stuff but didn't go. We had a new born, so couldn't make it.
However, the free cruise in Oakland thing is good. My husband took his friends (4 people) and the price is almost $100 for each person.

If you are not interested in buying it - just say NO and leave.  Don't buy it if you can't make a commitment.

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We attended timeshare presentations twice. There is no catches or strings.
After the presentations, just let them know you do not want to buy the
properties you saw or you are considering other properties etc. Then
you will get your vacation coupons.

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We went to a presentation by TrendWest. No presure to purchase and no hidden rules. But I think there were blackout dates for the free vacation. Not sure about other company though.

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I did go to a couple of these. If you are not going to buy then just make sure that your rep understands that and gives you the gift without trying too much to sell it to you. It is sometimes difficult to do that. But the gifts you get is quite nice at times so may be worth the time.

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Just attend the program, take the goodie that they would give at the end of the session and walkout if you're are not really planning to buy one!

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I had attended one a few year back. These are hardcore sales people, they are very
confident of selling you one in addition to the free one. They will have a one-on-one
with you and you wil find it difficult to back off, as they are giving you something free.
Good Luck!!

Recos for San Diego

We went to a place called Paradise Point (we got a really good deal through Expedia). 
It's a huge complex, but I liked that it had a big big room, almost cabana-style, beaches and numerous pools. 
They had several restaurants on-site, but it only took us a few mins to get to downtown and hte Gaslamp. 
All rooms had a fridge (no microwave, though).
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you should visit the "Wild Animal Park" and Marine World. My kids
enjoyed the trip and we stayed at the Marriott in La Jolla.

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if you don't mind the cost, the Four Seasons in Carlsbad (Aviara) is
great.  Nice kids area too.  You should also do Sea World - prob more
fun for him than the Zoo (which is HUGE).

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We just went to San Diego 3 weeks ago, and we visited the Sea World,
that was the highlight for both parent and kid. We stayed in Radisson
hotel ( 3 or 4 stars), which is very nice and only costs $99 a night,
it's in Lo Jolla, right next to UC San Diego, check out thislink for details.

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I just got back yesterday from a week in San Diego with my 1 yr old and
3 yr old.  Because my kids are so young we decided to devote only 2 days
to theme parks so we did 1 day at the zoo and 1 day at Legoland. 
Although we didn't get to see everything, I think it was the perfect
amount for this age but if you have older kids you could definitely do 2
days at Legoland and maybe 2 at the zoo but I would be more inclined to
do 1 day zoo and 1 day Wild Animal park which I hear is great.  Seaworld
is also worth a visit but we missed it this trip.
As for  accomodations, we rented a  3 bedroom house  in La Jolla Shores
1 block from the beach.  It was $1500 for the week and worth every
penny.  If you want info on the rental, I'd be happy to pass along the
contact info.  The guy we rented from has a few different places to
choose from.  I found his listing on http://vrbo.com.  We had beautiful
weather last week so we really enjoyed our beach time.  The kids had a
blast playing in the sand and there was a park adjacent to the beach
with a big play structure and swings.   We could also walk from the
house to a few restaurants which was nice.  Overall a great family area
and centrally located to the theme parks.

Moving from AllState to Farmers Auto Insurance ....

Not sure if I should move to Farmers. There has not been much positive responses about Farmers. Also found this on the net ... which will make be think again before moving --> http://www.farmersinsurancegroupsucks.com/

I called up my AllState agent and discussed about my plans of moving out since I was being offered lower premium by Farmers. She tried and reduced my premium almost matching the difference by slightly more than 50% ... I think
may continue with AllState.

Make sure the coverage is the same - take a physical copy of the quote and compare line by line - I have had exp where the coverage on the phone is mentioned to be the same as existing coverage but the physical quote says otherwise.

Once u confirm this - u can take this back to your AllState agent and ask them if they can match it - normally they would be able to
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I had a bad experience with the agent Marie Woods (San Mateo). Got quoted good price but then she started adding things and then the final price was pretty high. Also, she ask me to fax tons of paper work every now and then.
Can't comment on Farmers in general, but stay away from her.

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Farmers is a big money laundry m/c. They dont fight for your accident cases. They'd rather settle by accepting your fault (even when it's not your fault) and charge you surcharges for your accidents. They have the worst claims and law departments. Lower initial premium is just a lure to get you in and that's when their cheaps tactics are visible.

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I use Farmers insurance, and was involved in an accident couple of years ago, case went to arbitration forum, and my insurance guy even got me my deductable back.

Other driver's insurance was AllState and I was quite impressed with the kind of follow up they did on the case.

Not sure, may be even my agent did the same kind of work with the other driver.

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