Home Technology

In moving out to the country, I knew that there would be several technical issues to work on. The first one, chronicled in detail on this blog, was the quest for high-speed Internet. What I learned is that you have to be very careful in terms of ensuring that you get what you pay for. Just because a service claims to offer high-speed doesn’t make it so. And although one person told me that I shouldn’t complain with a 700 – 800 kbps service, they missed the point entirely. I was not paying for a 700 – 800 kbps service. I was paying for a 4 – 7 Mbps service. Big difference.

Fortunately, Xplornet is giving me a reliable high-speed service although they do throttle downloads. Not a big deal for me as I am not a bit torrent user.

The next technical issue was with the entertainment system in the house. Being passionate about audio has its good and bad. Good is that my ears really appreciate sound. Bad is that my ears readily discern terrible sound. Trying to recreate a home theater experience with 6 inch in-ceiling speakers is like trying to nail jello on the wall. The sound experience is just horrid. Fortunately, a relatively easy problem to remedy — get some new speakers.

Sulphur in the water required a bit more engineering. We have a great source of water and it is free from any harmful bacteria. However, there is sufficient hydrogen sulfide to cause an odor in the water. The smell of rotten eggs.

The local water company came out yesterday to install an aeration and filteration system to combat the smell. The technology is quite interesting. The water is agitated with an intake of air which effectively eliminates the odor as the bacteria — being anaerobic — cannot survive the aeration. The water then proceeds to an active carbon filter system before it continues on through the rest of the processing.

And, like magic, the water is now free of any odor.

What other technical issues need to be addressed? Something about a 350 metre laneway and winter. 350 metres may prove to be a bit much for a hand shovel.