Lake Arrowhead & Crestline Communities

Hi gem4! I think that I will definately make sure we have back ups, as everyone has been saying this. Thanks for all the input! It is amazing to me how differnet it is in CA vs. FL.

It's not really a difference between CA and FL. It's about mountain living. We have mainly overhead electrical lines that go down for a variety of reasons including wind, accidents, snow, fire and because the electric company thought it was best. Cell towers are affected by elements. Cell reception is affected by where you are on a twisty turney road. There are places I drive that I know I will lose a call. Cable and cable internet goes out for a variety of reasons. Satellite TV users have their favorite ways of keeping the snow off the satellite receiver so they can get reception. Much of the redundancy needed to work at home in the mountains is not needed elsewhere. We have a UPS just for the wireless router, one for the laptop and one for the cable modem. In a long outage I've been know to start the car and run an extension cord out (using an inverter) to keep the connection to the world. We maintain the ability to sign up to a dial up account just in case all else fails.

Can some of you, if you don't mind me asking, tell me what types of jobs people are doing from home?

We have an entertainment production company and do mostly film and music projects.

I'm also a notary.

Hi fastelk,

I was just curious? My old house where we lived as a child.... I saw that the new owner owns a company such as yours when I looked it up. It is in Lake Arrowhead. I have always said that someday I wanted to purchase the house back, because I just loved it as a child. (Of course this will probably never happen) I don't know how to ask without being intrusive about any personal questions on this forum. I noticed that they purchased the home in 2001. That isn't you, is it? It was a 3 story home in the 70's. It was just beautiful. I know the address and the names, but am sure that if it was you, you would not want me to broadcast it on a forum. Anyway, I hope you don't mind me asking. Anyway, I always drive by my old house when I visit, because I had so many great memories there. The reason I ask is that your occupation seems to be different enough that not everyone is doing this on the mountain. But maybe I am wrong. LOL

Hi Simba. I'm so sorry for the delayed response. I don't tend to check emails and the like on a daily basis. To answer your question, YES! There is a need for quality, licensed child care on the mountain, and not only for infants. The key (as in any business) is in how you promote yourself. And we are a small enough community that word-of-mouth is priceless. the reverse of that is that if you are not proviving quality care, word spreads pretty quickly. I do provide infant care, and currently have two children under the age of two, along with four toddlers. The licensing process here is not difficult, only time consuming. And if done right, this business can eke out a living, but will not get you rich, so you need to really have a love for children (and families.0 if I can be of any further assistance, email me at babysteps4u@yahoo.com. (PS, I have an opening if anybody's interested.)

Hi karmaqueen! Thank you for your reply. I have thought about doing that again. But it is just very stressful. It would definately be better to have over 2 year olds. Before, I had 2 infants, and my own 2 year old at the time. And so, the infants would be crying for bottles etc, and I would have to neglect my child to make sure I could give them quality care. It seemed she always had to wait for me to do anything for her. So, I stopped doing it. Normally, it is the children that are great. It was the parents that I found to be the biggest pain in the butts. They would try and not pay, want special schedules for their child etc. They did not seem to respect that it is a business, and that I had to treat everyone equal etc. It was definately hard.

Fastelk,

I work for a musical instrument manufacturer. One of my responsibilities is to "write" final product audio test procedures for amplification products.

For this one responsibility, I don't have to interact with anyone. All I need is an amp, a guitar, a camera, a computer and a few various audio connectors and outboard signal processors. (And good neighbors LOL!)

I used to write out the procedures in text, but we have many overseas suppliers now, and I have to use graphics as important details get lost in translation, so most of it is done with graphic representation. Very detailed and time consuming.

I solve quality problems as well, but with dealing with different countries, a majority of this can be done remotely via email and sharing of pics and video, audio files.

I couldn't ever get away with full time at home work.. somethings just have to be touched and heard in person.

I will note that I just finished my first day in the dedicated office space at home. I am actually very tired.. but my head doesn't hurt, and I never once felt the urge to kill anyone today LOL!