Useful & Important Information
A couple of weeks ago Sharon and Mike Fake experienced something none of us want to repeat.
While away on vacation the fitting connecting their guest bathroom toilet to the water supply failed completely.
Byron Gayman called me this afternoon and then sent me the following information pertaining to a piece of malicious computer software that has actually been around since 2007. The good news is that the FBI effectively took out this criminal ring this past November so the risk of being scammed because of this malware is minimal.
However, the remedy that the FBI put in place to mitigate the harmful effects of this malware on infected computers was only a stop-gap measure and not a fix. The FBI's temporary work-around will cease to function some time this July. If you are infected after July you may lose email and web browsing capabilities. Below is Byron's email and a number of links to resources for both determining if you have this malware on your computer and how to fix it if you do.
~Mike Ronayne
During nearly every home inspection, the question comes up: "How bad is the mold?" That is because mold is everywhere; it thrives in moist environments that are present in so many of our homes and it is known to cause health issues. The good news is that not all species of mold are bad for your health and only higher concentrations of some species of mold affect most people.
Mold and mildew are often misunderstood, leaving many with the impression that the "mold terrorists" move in and force us from our homes. Mold testing and mitigation is still big business. When I hear the question "How bad is it?" I hear fear. It's easy to capitalize on things that people fear. Our tool against fear is education.
The 2012 Holiday Trash pickup schedule from Allied Waste has been published. You can download and print a copy of the schedule here: 
2012 Fells Trash Schedule (9.77 kB 2011-12-15 12:57:14)
Update 4/19/2012: Several people associated with the Fells in one way or another have had their e-mail account hacked and their contact lists stolen. This results in a scammer sending folks notices in the contacts and soliciting money and other things. If you receive a notice regarding your hotmail, AOL, or other account under no circumstances give out your account password. Your e-mail provider doesn't need your password, the scammer does. Once they get your password they will go into your account, change the password, lock you out of your own account and have a party... It is very difficult to undo this mess. Never give out your password to anyone.
You should also use complex passwords of 10 or more characters consisting of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols - for example $uMMer2o12@)!@. Many hackers use sophisticated automated "robots" to execute a "brute force" attack attempting to break into an account.
I received the following email from a neighbor of mine. I don't know if it is completely accurate but it is worth checking out.
Byron
To all my "senior" friends, and those getting "close" to being "seniors". (No offense intended to anyone !).... A rather long list, which is unconfirmed for accuracy.
Since many senior discounts are not advertised to the public, our advice to men and women over 55 is to ALWAYS ask a sales associate if that store provides a senior discount.
Hot off the email scam presses comes this newest scam, which claims that "Your Federal Tax Payment ID: 010373 has been rejected." The "ID number" in the subject line may change, but other than that the variationis will be very similar.
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