thanks, tt - hope it goes well for your son, also! Did a little routine kitchen maintenance this AM - ran vinegar through both sides of our coffee pot, hoping to keep it fit and working for a long time! The used vinegar then gets put into the toilet bowl to remove lime. Hot water used to clear coffee machine afterwards is poured into kitchen drain to keep it from greasing up. I don't use a lot of really hot water in the kitchen sink, so that's always a concern of mine. We've never had a problem with the kitchen sink drain, and I aim to keep it that way! I try to do this every month, as life w/o a coffee pot is dark, indeed! Of course I have a tiny gas burner and a French press, and always keep coarsely ground coffee in the freezer - so we are actually covered for coffee in case of a power outage. In addition, I have a small back-up pot, plus a Keurig that I had in my office before I retired - so I guess I'm pretty safe in the coffee machine area, also! I would like a hand-crank grinder, though. Just in case. I count coffee as a frugal, because it's cheaper than therapy!