Changes for the New Year
The holidays are over and we're finally back to a normal routine around our home. The New Year has officially begun and it is already shaping up to be a great one!
The town that I live in is about 15 minutes from the city and we have everything we could ever need just minutes from our home. Our neighborhood is full of mature trees and old homes and we're lucky to have nearly 3 acres all to ourselves. The one downside, if you will, was that all of the houses on the street were on private wells. Although I wasn't happy with that initially, I accepted it and we moved in. Truth be told, I've never been one to drink from a tap so in the end it didn't make much sense to have an issue with it. We also knew that there was always the prospect of getting public water on the street someday. For several years many petitions circulated around the neighborhood requesting support for public water, and each time we failed to get the required 50% needed to move the project forward. It always struck me as odd that everyone around us had public water, all except for about 4 streets in my immediate area. But, there are many residents that have been here for 40-50 years and never wanted to pay for public water.
In October 2008 that all changed, when the news came out about a woman who became sick just a few streets away. As it turns out the well water was tested and the results came back with elevated levels of arsenic. One by one, the residents in our area began having their wells tests and all came back with concerning results. A month later, a new petition went around and we received an astounding 82% in favor of public water. Last night was the public hearing in front of the town board where the proposal was made and the town board would either approve or deny the request - they approved it and we will have public water sometime within the next several months. It's very reassuring to know that we'll have safe, potable water again soon.
I'm still working on the cardiology session of my studies and I feel like I'm finally making some real progress now that the holidays are over. One of the areas I'd like to improve on is planning each day. There are times when I sit down at the computer and I know I will have to get up a half hour later to make dinner, lunch etc. Knowing that, I need to find a way to maximize that time. More often than not, I'll waste 5-10 minutes trying to decide what to work on and by the time that I do, it hardly seems worth it anymore. I would have thought that at this point in my course, I would have found my study style, but I haven't. So, trying to plan out my study time is now a priority and I'm hoping it will make the time I spend in front of my computer and books much more productive!