It may or may not be a waste of time, but not bothering to ask seems a definite waste of time. Why not call him?

I only wanted to get a better feel for things without the coloring of dozens of posts, and I simply wanted to share the results. I make no claims to expertise. One can get some kind of first hand feel when one talks to the source, maybe a little different than what may evolve from reading posts. It makes me more comfortable.

Peace!! AG