We can say “sayonara” to November, and “Hello” to December when starting our day tomorrow. It was spitting snow early this morning, and while I was driving in the dark to the office, the headlights of my car caused the snow to appear as an undulating wave of white specks. I was trying to look past them because they were beginning to have a weird visual effect on me. I can see how people can fall asleep while driving at night during snow storms. After a while, they create some sort of hypnotic effect on drivers. At least we got past the month of November without any measurable snow and all I can say is, “Hooray!”
Most of my day was spent getting errands run for clients and customers, as well as checking on a few homes that I have listed that are vacant and the owners are living out of town. I encourage everyone who’s gone for a day or more to make sure their water is shut off at the meter while they’re away. I’ve see and heard too many horror stories of what happens to a home with even the smallest of water leaks. There’s one feature of modern appliances that I absolutely hate, and that is a refrigerator with an ice maker or featuring drinking water. Those flimsy lines that run from refrigerators to the nearest cold water supplies have failed more than anyone wants to admit. Even the smallest of leaks in one of those hoses or fittings can be disastrous for flooring, sub-flooring, and finished basements. Some friends of mine went away for a weekend some years ago and upon their return, discovered their kitchen floor water-logged, along with the drywalled ceiling of their finished basement collapsing from the weight of the water-soaked sheetrock. Fortunately their insurance covered it, but can you imagine the mess they had to deal with for weeks? Since then, they refused to purchase a refrigerator that has a water supply going to it. Most recently, one of my customers discovered a small puddle standing on her bathroom floor. After looking nearly everywhere for the leak on the main floor, she discovered it was coming from a rusted-thru hole in the “p” trap under the sink in the bathroom on the 2nd floor. Its slow dripping faucet created enough water in that trap which subsequently drizzled onto the cabinet’s base, then under it, and finally managing to find a way to run down along a wall and onto the main floor. Yes, little problems can, and do create exceptionally large ones in time. Preventative maintenance is the best bet in dodging future nightmares.
So if you think the future of internet speed has ended with 4G? Well, think again. I read an article late today regarding the proposed build-out of two European cities that will have it some time in 2018. One would think the world is moving fast enough with 4G, but it sounds like it’s more meant for businesses that use cloud computing. Of course it will be offered to the general public as well, but I still can’t see why everything has to be all the faster. Several days ago a business person shared a story about what had happened early one morning when she took her son’s cell phone away from him. She said he acted as though the worst thing had happened to him. I then said, “Isn’t it interesting how the world has changed? In our youth, we were happy to have quiet times to ourselves or even possibly reading a good book.” She nodded and said, “Yes, I’m beginning to wish for the return of quieter and more gentle times.” We’ll soon be seeing information moving all the faster when the age of 5G arrives. I’m still happiest when I can relax with a good book on snowy winter’s night.
