The Internet Does Have Its Plusses

You hear a lot about the negatives about the onternet. I will be the first to admit these definitely exist. However, it can both also be very useful. As first time homeowner, I have really appreciated the wealth of information available for a variety of home maintenance and repair. Here is a list of a few things I have used the online resources to learn to do:

1. Paint multiple rooms in my house. I had never painted anything before. I am very pleased with the results.

2. Repair a tub that would not hold water. This Old House has an excellent video that was extremely helpful. 

3. Fix a stopper that had come detached from the lift rod.

4. Replace that same faucet later when the spout broke at the base.

5. Diagnose and repair water dripping from the freezer compartment of my refrigerator.

6. Replace a faulty toilet flapper that was leaking into bowl.

7. Diagnose and repair a leak from the bottom of the tank on another toilet. This video was my go to. 

It is very confidence building to be able do to these tasks on my own. A piece of advice: always watch more than one person's video on doing a task. That will help you make sure the advice is correct, and you may learn different tricks and tips from each person. 

Another Instance of "The Right Tool Makes All the Difference"

 Last week I had another instance of the right tool making all the difference. I am having some people over in couple weeks, and my windows were looking pretty gross. When the sun would shine in, you would see how dirty there were. Some lovely birds had also decided they needed to use a couple of them as a bathroom. I had mentioned this upcoming task to my mom, and when she was at my house recently she said "Your windows really do need cleaned." Thanks Mom.

Once I decided to undertake this task, I knew I wanted a tool to assist. I bought this squeegee from Walmart, and Sunday before last I got to work. Wow, did it make life much easier and faster. I have a one story house, and I was able to clean all the windows without using a ladder. In addition, since I have casement style windows, I could do the insides and outsides with the windows in the open position. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes. I sometimes just gaze out the windows and admire how nice they look. I would highly advise procuring a similar tool for the next time you clean your windows. 

The evidence does not support your assertion

 Last week we did two days of interviews for some positions we are trying to fill. Each day we encountered someone who told us something about them that was supposedly one of their virtues while we possessed facts that showed otherwise.

Day one, we were waiting for the candidate to arrive. Her time came and went, after 5 minutes I told the hiring team I could either try to contact her or we could wait a few more minutes and call her a no call no show. They asked me to call her. When I started with my speech of "Hi this is Blogger with XYZ. You had an interview scheduled at XX:YY, and we were calling to see if you were going to attend", she said "I'm at the guardhouse." What I wanted to tell her was "you should be in your interview right now", but I restrained. Once she finally arrived into the facility, I was expecting her to apologize for being late (just like the interview team should apologize to you if they are running late) and offer some kind of reason why. She did not. What took the cake was when we asked her in the interview why we should hire her, one of the reasons she gave is "I'm on time." I wanted to ask "For what, because you weren't for this interview?" After the candidate left, the interview team talked about how completely unaware she was. I also told my recruitment teammates this story as I knew they would appreciate it.

The next day, we were again waiting for a candidate whose interview time had come and passed. Someone who works at the facility but wasn't in the interview helped us out by contacting security to see if he had arrived. The answer was "he just got here." A couple minutes later we see him literally running through the parking lot towards us. Did he mention anything about being late? Of course, he did not. In his interview, he mentioned he lives "just around the corner," "I get to work 20 minutes early and wait in the parking lot", and as the candidate the day before, stated one of the reasons we should hire him is because he's on time. This story provided further entertainment value to both the interview team and the recruitment team.

Life lesson: when you're giving reasons someone should hire you, don't use reasons that they have evidence to know are not true. 

Don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice

While we were on vacation last week, we saw a municipal employee emptying the trash cans, then carrying bags up a large number of stairs to haul them off. We asked him about this as at every other beach we've been to, the trash is collected by a truck that drives along the beach. He said that is how they do most of them, but there are 26 locations in the area where we stayed and the next town over where they are not allowed to do that. We got the impression they are too bougie to allow that. We told him how badly we felt for him as the bags are heavy. Also, it's Florida, and it gets very hot in summer. He said it was not pleasant. This made me so irritated. People emptying the trash help your beach stay nice. Why on earth would you make their job harder?

I was reminded of when we visited Palm Beach, Florida several years ago. Heavy construction is not allowed "during season". When is "season" you ask? Why, the winter, aka the most comfortable time for construction workers to labor. But, that might disturb the ritzy folks for whom all this stuff is being built.

A little common sense advise: don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice. It's not logical and it's not being a good human either. 

The Value of Wise Counsel

This week my coworker and I somehow ended up on the topic of finances. She said several years ago she decided to surprise her boyfriend by putting him on the deed to her house after they were living together. She said he hadn't asked her to do it, she wanted to because she was in love. When she told her financial person this plan, she asked her "Are you married?". When my coworker said "No", the financial person said "You aren't doing this." My coworker said she was taken aback, but she followed the advice. When she and the boyfriend later broke up, she was so thankful she did. 

This scenario illustrates the value of 2 things to me:

1. Having wise counsel

2. Being willing to listen to wise counsel, even when it's not what you want to hear

This combination can save us all much heartache in life. 

"And get off my lawn"

 I have made it a habit to double check my receipt before I leave the grocery story. This way if there is an issue with a digital coupon, price, etc. that I missed during checkout, I can fix it right away. Sure enough, when I looked at my receipt Monday, there was an item that wasn't given the digital coupon price. I went to customer service and explained the issue. The employee asked me to show her my account online, which I did. When she asked me if I had the app, I told her I did not. She said the app has some features that are easier to access than on the website. I told her "I have reached the point where I don't want one more app, one more password, and get off my lawn.". She cracked up. She told me she was doing to use the "get off my lawn" part. I told her that's not original to me, but she is welcome to it.

2024 Goal Prograss

 As I wrote last year this time, I do New Year's goals instead of resolutions since that is more action oriented to me. Here's how I did this year.

Item 1- find a volunteer role. This is hopefully in progress. The pension system in which I participate has a board of overseeing members. They accepted nominations earlier this year. This seemed like a good fit as A. I am a personal finance nerd B. This is managing some of my retirement money and C. I am looking for opportunities to give back. I applied and will be appear on the ballot when the election takes place early next year. Hopefully, I will be one of the people selected by the members to serve on the board.

Item 2 was making some repairs (new batteries) and band adjustments to some watches so that they were usable. I bought a watch repair kit to assist in this goal, and the watches are now functional.

Item 3 was having charms attached to my charm bracelets. It had been a LONG time since I had any added, so there was quite a pile. There were enough that I got a volume discount from the jeweler who soldered them. 

Item 4 was completed yesterday- down to the wire! Earlier this year I realized that I hadn't been rollerblading since I moved (6 years ago). Where I used to live had a great spot nearby. I hadn't found a place here (probably since I hadn't looked). I was able to locate an area that looked promising. I tried going there a few weeks ago, but the access road was closed for construction. The weather yesterday was good, so I tried again. Success! It was really awkward at first since it had been so long, but I was much more comfortable by the end of my skate. Am I great skater? By no means. But, I can generally stay upright, and I really enjoy it. The spot I found worked really well, and it's on my way home, so I plan to go more frequently once the weather stays warmer.

Items 5 & 6 involved seeing friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Friend A lives 2 hours away and we hadn't seen in other in 7 years. I know, shame on us both. We ended up getting to see each of 3 times this year! It was great. Friend B lives 11 hours away. In August she had some last minute free time, so she flew here and spent a few days. We had a wonderful time.

2024 was a very successful goal year. Wish you and your family a happy, safe, health, & prosperous 2025.