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Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard of Kevin Bacon, and undoubtedly the game associated with the seemingly innocuous star.

Referred to as “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, the game is to connect other actors back to Kevin Bacon by linking movies other actors share with each other and eventually end with Kevin Bacon in 6 movies or less. The name of the game is derived from “The Six Degrees of Separation”, (literally due to sounding similar enough to Bacon’s name to make a connection) which is a concept that any 2 people on the planet can be linked to one another in 6 associations or less.

The thinking behind this concept is generally summarized with “it’s a small world”. For example, I’m currently in the process of buying my first house. I’m participating in a local grant program for firs time homebuyers put on by one of the neighborhood associations and will be ready to buy something this December. While excitedly talking with a friend regarding the next step of my home-ownership process, she revealed that her uncle is an experienced mortgage officer with the bank offering the grant. That eliminates my need to scour the Internet seeking someone trustworthy and available. How’s that for a small world?

This news is in addition to having connections for many other aspects of the process, including Realtor and home inspector. My advice here is to talk to people about the things you need. They might ‘know a guy’ or ‘have a cousin who can help’ and then the hard part is finished. It might seem obvious to some, but for many this would be just a stroke of luck. I promise, I did not enter the conversation expecting to get the name of a veteran mortgage officer.

In fact, my enrollment in the grant program is thanks to a friend of my sister hearing (through my chatty sibling) that I would be in the market to buy a house in the near future.

Seeing the pattern yet?

It’s a small world, take advantage of it.

If you need help discovering more services in a new town, be sure to check out the BizConnect videos on Relocate.org for helpful tips on reconnecting with popular services in your area!

PS

(Google actually recently added a feature that caters to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, which they’ve shorthanded as “the Bacon Number”–if you type in “Bacon Number + [actor name]” into the Google search bar, it will auto-generate how many degrees from Kevin Bacon that person rests while also revealing the connection points they share. For the astute readers out there, the meaning of the title has just struck you like an epiphany made of bricks. Now go see how big a Bacon Number you can generate!)

One of my friends recently dropped a bomb on me: they were moving away. Far far away.

He and his wife were both Rochester natives leaving for a few years to attend college an hour away in Buffalo. We discussed his new plan; moving for more school, more desirable weather, a fresh start. All of the typical reasons were covered. They up and left for Florida not long after our talk. Port Orange to be exact. Since talking to him, I get the sense that he might be missing home more than he thought he would.

That got me wondering, how can you truly feel at home in a new city? From my own personal experience having traveled abroad in college it seems that the best way to feel at home is to do the things you’d normally do at home.  I stuck to my schedule. I explored the city. I struck up conversation with the natives (it was slightly easier to be interesting being an American in Australia).

Upon further investigation I did many of the right things. Jump over to this article at MovingToday.com for some other tips for feeling at home in a new city!

If you want to look further into homesickness itself MovingToday also published a related article explaining the cause of homesickness and ways to specifically cope with missing home.

If you’re not fortunate enough to live below the 37th parallel and you get distinct seasons, you’re probably lamenting the last leg of summer in 20-Doz before snow retakes your corner of the country. It’s been a good run this summer. You transplanted a tree or two, stained your deck, added some decor to your window-fixed flower boxes and built that retaining wall for your front yard landscaping.

But are there things you might be forgetting? Relocate.org can help you out!

Should you happen to be selling your home as the season changes, there are some particular things things you should be preparing before the cold arrives.

Five of the major tasks are outlined on this End of Summer Checklist. The most important tasks to complete are the ones a home inspector will be looking at when assessing your property. Some attention should be paid to aesthetics but don’t overlook important structural maintenance that will hold you back from getting top dollar!

Sprucing up your home doesn’t have to be a grueling ordeal. Growing up, my father used to take all his vacation at once in the middle of the summer to do big projects, so vacation is only a technical term for him. Most of his time off was spent building decks and patios. But you don’t have to be a part time carpenter for your home to make a splash! Here are 8 ideas to improve your home without using your vacation time. If a particular project catches your eye, the full “How To” will be linked. My personal favorite was the tree bench. Skill level is slightly higher than amateur and you need a bit of proficiency with some tools, but there’s definitely something rewarding about creating things that require a bit of know-how.

Do you know of an inexpensive project that won’t take more than a few days? Sound off in the comments section!