2007 to 2018 - My Poor Condo

Now back to my condo problem...........

I visited my neighbors and sure enough each had the same noise, only my upstairs neighbor a little lighter hum, but my downstairs neighbor - well, let's just say if I had it 100 times, she had 1000 times. The only difference was she didn't stay home 24/7 and when she went to bed she had the TV on. She thought the hum was being caused by ME!

So with this new information I again began to make some calls. I think I am talking around mid 2008 when this happened. And since that time, NO ONE has helped me. But something funny began to occur. As each month passed, the hum started to get softer, more manageable. The vibration stayed but it shrank in intensity. When it rained, it got softer still. When winter 2008 came, it was practically negligent. So much so that I began to paint more walls and think that I was going to fully move in. But then the winter would end and the noise would come back. Which led me to a conclusion.....

New buildings were still being built around me and one of the construction people had suggested that since my unit was the first to be built, all the power for the construction was being drawn from the electrical box near my building. As each new building went up, the drain increased and my hum would subside. Okay, that's one theory. But the other is more plausible.......

Construction on a new freeway began at the same time the condos were being built AND as they worked, the electrical company started installing new power lines. So in fact, there were two sets of power lines running and perhaps I was getting the "overload". Once the freeway is completed, the extra lines will come down so that only the new remain. Again, could be the problem.....

But here it is now 2023 and yes, I still have my hum but it's the lowest its been. Yes, the floor still vibrates as does my bed but I can sleep now with just one pillow over my head and no ear plugs. I can tune the noise out with a loud TV and I can tune it out entirely with headphones. In other words, I can think and I can work and I can go to bed not having cried my eyes out because it was too noisy.
Friends and family visit and sometimes they can hear "something", other times they cannot. I realize that no one can understand my problem because they have not experienced it. 

A girlfriend of mine in England sent me an article dated April of 2009, about a "hum" epidemic within a certain community. So I was proved then and there NOT to be crazy.  And now, in 2023, if you do a Google on "hum in condo" you will see just how many problems there are with new builds.  Yep, the Internet has progressed since 2009.  Anyway, a "hum" is a nasty occurrence that I hope happens to no one. It's a horrific nightmare and I pray every day that one morning I wake up not hearing the dreaded sound. We shall see. 

Till next time.....



 

 

No noise.  That's all I wanted but in the now 11 years I have lived in my condo, I do not know what the word "silence" is.

In trying to explain my problem to others I was met with skepticism.  Since some people couldn't hear it, I know they dismissed me as crazy.  To those who did hear it, they couldn't locate where the noise was coming from.  They knew it was in the walls (you could hear it if you pressed your ear to the surface) and they agreed that if it was in the walls, it was certainly in the floor.  It really wasn't until 2016 when an Ameren employee came out and turned off the power to the entire building.  Even with the power off the hum continued and he suggested that it most likely had something to do with the Fire Alarm and Sprinkler system that was put into the building since it had a back up battery that NEVER went off.  But trying to get my Homeowner Association "Management" to do anything about it has resulted in a lot of e-mails, phone calls and nothing being done about the problem.  Even after the maintenace gent discovered that the panels in Buildings One and Two were different from the other buildings and HUMMING like there was no tomorrow.  Lighting a fire under CMA to get something done is like pulling teeth - they don't want to acknowledge the problem, instead they just want to ignore it.  Well, I am not going to rest until it is fixed and so I will continue my struggles in getting my condo to "go silent" through my blog!  Oh, and if my readers don't believe me, just go a GOOGLE for a "hum" in a condo.  when I first googled in 2007 there was nothing - today, the pages of Google are fairly filled with complaints!

I will prevail - it just might take awhile longer!

It is now December 9, 2018 and Christmas is right around the corner.  I haven't been back to London in a long time, 6 years I think, but I do manage to go somewhere at least once a year to do some shopping.  I was going to Brimfield for a spell and that was doing the trick for some time.  Then the Columbus Ohio area but as the years passed, something happened to all the femmy stuff in the area - it seemed to just disappear and because of that the malls started to lose their attraction.  The last time I was there one had closed and the others were decidedly more MASCULINE than feminine.  So I stopped going.

Shopping in the Internet is still a way to find inventory but not at the pricing I like.  So I went back to estate sales and auctions and now, I am starting to mix up my inventory on my web sites - I'm not just doing jewelry, I'm doing everything - antiques, collectibles, paper, photos, silver, fabric, you name it I will be doing it.

Oh, and I will also be featuring my handiwork here on my Blog.  Yes, some stuff is in my ETSY shop, actually come to think of it, no, there's not much there now.  I closed Gypsy Madonna on ETSY and instead am listing a little more diverse array of items on Robins Nest Midwest on ETSY.  Gypsy Madonna (the website) will eventually have everything from A to Z.  But it's taking me time to fill it.  Robins Nest Midwest on RUBY LANE will also be changing a bit - it will be more eclectic and not just jewelry.  So you can see, I am making changes!

So, starting now, enough with my past - let's get down to the present.  Think it's easy making a living on the Internet?  It's not.  So in order to show people just what I do, I will try to do a daily blog - things I do each day to ensure that I can pay my mortgage each month.  And buy groceries.  And pay my bills.  And buy inventory.  And buy supplies.  And gas for the car.  In short, what I sell pays my expenses.  Forget about a salary.  The money comes in and the money goes right back out.  It's not a bad way to live but if you are thinking about doing it yourself, well maybe you can take a lesson from me.

So sit back, stay tuned and please, if you are reading this, leave a comment.  I want to know if I am reaching someone or just blabbing to "air".

Till next time!