Hobie: the figure "8" cord you showed above from A/G is about ten bucks and it's probably excellent, as most of their stuff is, but you can get one from the 99 cents store's electronics department that will do the same thing. The one at Radio shack is around seven dollars but they all hook you directly to the outlet without any time control unless you pull the plug on insert a time in the line. Harbor Freight Tools has an independent timer that allows you to set what ever schedule you want.