Make a Move an Adventure       

A move causes conflicting emotions. A part of you experiences the thrill of the move and you look forward to a new home and life. Another part of you is sad, it is always heart breaking to leave the familiar behind and say goodbyes.

Moving does not have to be hard or tiresome. If you decide I am not going to get bogged down by doubts, regrets, or fear you can move with no heartache. Make moving an adventure for yourself and the whole family.

If you put some though into it moving can be fun :

Clear your mind and heart of the "old" set a day just to say your good byes. Visit friends, neighbors, familiar places and relive the nostalgia. Have lunch with friends or colleagues at your favorite café or restaurant. If you have kids arrange a nice party for them invite all their friends over.

On the day you are leaving buy small gifts for the family and yourself. Take pictures of everyone in the home and area around it.

 Take the kids for a last walk around the neighbor hood and say good bye to the trees, shrubs, animals, and people. Treat yourselves to a hot dog or ice cream while in the walk.

 Make choosing a new home a family affair. Let the whole family discuss options and study the new city and its areas. If it is not too expensive plan on all of you going house hunting over a holiday or week end.

 Plan to spend the last day at a hotel. Living away from home can erase some of the pain and the treat of staying in a hotel and eating out can be fun. An empty house can bring forth tears as it will echo of memories.

 Let the kids help in the moving. Assign duties for every one and packing and moving can take on a new dimension. Kids can mark boxes, maintain lists, answer phones, and send out e-mails about your moving away. If everyone is busy moving will be swift and easy.

  Think about driving down to your new home instead of flying. Plan the trip like a mini-vacation over 2/3 days. Camp out or stay in small towns on the way. Park alongside a river or brook and enjoy the silence of open spaces. Let the kids and pet dog run around with the wind.

  When you arrive at your new destination plan a memorable first day. Give each other welcome hugs and kisses, take photographs, have a new home cake cutting ceremony, stay together in the living or family room and toast marshmallows, relate stories, sing songs and begin weaving new bonds of love and joy.

Explore the new environs. Discover where the best ice cream is sold, make new friends, say "hello" to the neighborhood by taking walks. Introduce yourself and your family to the local chemist and merchant. Visit the school, library, local "Y" and pizza parlor.

 Start a whole new chapter in your life with a big grin.

 About Author:

Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for http://www.1888MovingCompanies.com, the premier website to find help on Moving including topics on moving companies search, compare movers, moving insurance, auto transport, moving tips and more.

Top 5 Ways To Enhance The Effectiveness Of Your Freeze Alarm

by: Ralph Winn

In January of 2005, the Sax family woke up to discover that the pipes in their family’s weekend ski lodge garage had burst. The garage was flooded, but that’s not the worst of it. The water then froze, encasing all 3 of their cars in a thick layer of ice. It took hours to chip, crack, pick, and melt their cars free.

Surveys indicate that “frozen pipes” ranks as the number one fear of vacation homeowners in the United States. Water damage is second only to fire damage in number and amount in insurance claims. The best way to prevent your pipes from freezing to make sure you never let your home go below 55°F. The best way to do that is with a freeze alarm.

Why Rely on a Freeze Alarm?

A freeze alarm is a sophisticated device designed to grant you peace of mind when it comes to your property, be it your year-round home or just a vacation spot. A freeze alarm monitors the temperature of your home (or vacation home) and will alert you if the temperature drops to dangerous levels. The freeze alarm alerts you by calling up to three different numbers with a recorded message announcing the risky change in temperature. The freeze alarm will not stop calling until you tell it to, ensuring that someone will be alerted to the situation.

Ultimately, a freeze alarm ensures that you will always know what it going on in your home, even if you can’t be there all the time.

But you can do more than just install a freeze alarm and wait for the phone call. You can jump into action now to enhance the effectiveness of your freeze alarm with several other preventive measures.

Enhancing Your Freeze Alarm: Before It Gets Cold

5. Insulate Pipes

Insulate the pipes in your home’s crawlspace and attic, where pipes are most vulnerable to the cold. The better the insulation, the better the protection. Be sure to use products approved by an independent testing organization, such as Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., and only for their approved use (indoor versus outdoor).

4. Seal Leaks

Keep cold air away from your pipes. Seek out air leaks around electrical wiring, dryer vents, and pipes. Use caulk or insulation to seal out the cold and seal in the heat.

Enhancing Your Freeze Alarm: When it gets Cold

3. Let It Trickle

Let a little warm water trickle through the pipes overnight. Use a faucet on an outside wall.

2. Open Cabinet Doors

Open the cabinet doors around your sinks and near appliances to let warm air get to the pipes under your sinks. Be sure to remove all dangerous cleaning supplies and chemicals out of the reach of children.

Enhancing Your Freeze Alarm: Before You Leave

1. Keep Warm

Set your thermostat no lower than 55°F (12°C).

Along with a freeze alarm, these actions will help you keep your pipes insulated and prevent freezing. When you install a freeze alarm and take certain measure to protect your pipes, you can leave your home for a ski tip and not worry about returning to thousands of dollars worth of damage. You can own a vacation home and enjoy peace of mind knowing it is safe from water damage. A freeze alarm eliminates that number one concern of property owners: frozen pipes.

About The Author

IBM puts vacuum spaces in chips

IBM is putting nothing into its chips, and that's a big deal.

Researchers at Big Blue have come up with a way to create vacuum spaces between copper wires in semiconductors, an insulating technique that will allow these chips to increase in speed and performance and reduce power consumption. Early indications show that chip performance can be increased by up to 35 percent, power consumption can be cut by 15 percent, or some combination of increased performance and power savings can be achieved.

The vacuum technique, called Airgap, will be introduced to IBM's manufacturing process with the 32-nanometer generation of microprocessors, said IBM fellow Dan Edelstein, who led the project. These chips will start rolling out in 2009. IBM's semiconductor partners--including Advanced Micro Devices, Toshiba, Sony "and soon to be others"-- will be able to adopt the technology for their own chips, he added.

Nothing insulates like a vacuum, which is space devoid of matter (including air). Chipmakers for years have used insulators to inhibit unintended transmission and chatter between wires, but the relentless march of Moore's Law has made the search for new insulating materials a difficult task. Shrinking the size of chips, after all, means that the copper wires inside chips are getting closer all the time and smaller.

Scientists have been working on porous materials that are relatively vacuum-like. Unfortunately, these porous materials are generally fragile and can break down under heat and other stresses found inside microchips.

"We think these other materials will fall by the wayside," Edelstein said.

The manufacturing technique for inserting the vacuum gaps was derived from research on self-assembling molecules, called diblock copolymers, conducted by IBM researcher Chuck Black.

A diblock copolymer consists of two types of molecules that, in ordinary circumstances, would repel each other. By designing the molecules in a particular way and controlling how they interact, they create intricate patterns through chemical repulsion.

"This is a synthetic way of trying to imitate certain processes in nature," Edelstein said. "It's similar to how seashells or snowflakes grow molecule by molecule."

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