If you found the ruins of an old castle ahead of you, wouldn't you want to explore, see at least something more of it from closer up? I'm an urban (rural too) explorer. I love to see old buildings, places and things up close. I photograph them and put my photos on Flickr for other explorers, family and friends to see.

But, in the case of a castle (or something else historical in that much older way), I wonder if this is really urban exploring or am I just another tourist?

I've debated this small urban exploration issue myself a few times. Is exploring much older, even famous, ruins and abandoned sites still urban exploration? Where do you draw the line? If you go to an old castle, built hundreds of years ago, is that urban exploring or are you just being a tourist? If you travel to Greece and wander around the traditional tourist spots, are you an urban explorer or an urban explorer on vacation being a tourist? Are we only urban explorers if we explore places few people have already seen which have only become abandoned in the last hundred years?

I was looking at photos of ruins on a Pinterest account by Elaine Redstone when the question popped up again. So, I decided to write about it.

Here are the main points for debate (as I see them):

• Old ruins are abandoned, sort of, since no one has lived in them for a very long time.
• Even if no one displays ownership, most historical ruins are open to the public for tourism.
• Old ruins are old and derelict and interesting to explore even if thousands of tourists have already been there.
• Urban exploration is partially about modern/ urban sort of history. Does ancient history count?
• Traditionally there is the element of trespassing and exploring places most people will never see or even find on their own.

Places to Find Castles in Photos Online

• Pinterest - Old Ruins
• Flickr: Castles from the world
• Flickr: Castles - Castillos
• 12 Beautiful Famous Castles in Canada
• Castles of the North: Canada's Grand Hotels
• Castles of the United States
• Castles of the World

What Do You Think?

So, what do you think? Is an abandoned house the same as exploring an old historically known ruin? Is there a cut off for urban exploring or are they all ruins to explore? Are all those tourists trekking through old castles urban explorers but they just don't know it?

Maybe it's not the place you explore, but the attitude you bring to it. A tourist may snap photos and take a look around. An urban explorer will be looking at things differently, closer. We think about how to take the photograph, before we snap it. We look at the old stone, wood and iron and the way it was made and how it has weathered and kept together. I think we look at things differently and that is what makes the difference. It's not so much about where you are then, but about who you are.

The title for this article is "Choosing a Positive Attitude" because I believe it is about choosing rather than 'having' or 'keeping'. It's important to choose a good attitude and then keep it because you know and understand the importance and value of it. How can you keep a positive/ good attitude if you don't value it? The first test that comes along you will tend to fall back into your old patterns or go with whatever comes easily to you.

Even something simple like having someone ask you a question you don't want to deal with at the time. Do you snap at them? Or, do you set your mind to giving them an answer (tell them you don't want to answer) without showing them your first feeling of impatience, anger or frustration. You choose the attitude you show the world and you choose the attitude you feel strongest yourself. You can feel impatience and negative emotions but you don't have to stay there and settle into them.

If you don't choose to have a positive attitude you leave yourself open to being negative and feeling negative. We are what we feel. If you broadcast a positive feeling it comes back to you and then you feel it yourself as well. If you broadcast negative feelings they come back and you live in negativity. Which would you choose? Which would help you cope with the regular frustrations in your day? Not likely the negative attitude and feelings.

My Own Experience with Positive and Negative Attitudes - as a Department Store Cashier

As a department store cashier I experienced attitudes from many people in just one day. People tended to be busier and more easily frustrated during events like Back to School shopping sales. Over Christmas, as busy as the store would be, the customers tended to have a better attitude than I did. I was tired, feeling over burdened, and likely being asked to work a double shift after being told to start early and skip at least one of my breaks. I actually became claustrophobic in the last week of Christmas. (The cashier gets surrounded in her little booth with people leaning on it in other aisles, leaning into her to speak and be heard in the hustle and bustle. I felt trapped and would be feeling kind of desperate by the time the next cashier stepped in to take over for her shift).

So, in my own attitude, I had to choose to keep broadcasting positive feelings. I won't pretend I didn't crash and burn a few times. However, overall I did keep things on the good side. I dealt with people well, I gave smiles, eye contact, and conversation. I also kept my line moving, but when something slowed it down I had patience and... I had patience with people who complained about the slowdowns. Still the busy times were a drain. I would escape out to my car to be out of the building and feel I was able to be truly alone for whatever break time I had.

The interesting thing about being a cashier and seeing so many attitudes from other people was learning about myself and seeing how I approached and dealt with so many different people. One thing that surprised me was that I actually did not mind the angry people as much as I did those who would not look up at me, acknowledging me in some way. Being ignored grated on me far more than anger, ranting and bullying did. Yet, I knew the people who kept their head down were likely not thinking about how I felt. They were feeling their own inner battle with a negative attitude in themselves. Likely they felt inferior or upset in some way. I know this because I have been in that position myself. I am a shy person and I tend to feel negative about myself.

I have made myself choose a positive attitude many times. I know it isn't easy. I know you have to battle yourself at times. I don't always succeed and when I fail I try to let myself be human.

When I was a cashier I would take on the challenge of changing other people's attitudes. Not making it a big deal but more like something that gave me some power when inside I didn't feel I had much power at all. I became good at taking a customer who was grumpy or impatient and changing their attitude. When they left the store they left feeling lighter, with a smile. This was broadcasting a positive attitude. When you give someone a positive attitude they tend to like it, this makes them feel better, you become approachable in that case and they become even more open to your positive attitude. You can see how it works. A smile really can make a difference. It's not just a gimmick.

Focus on the Good

Focus on what is good.

That sounds so simple, but it's not.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth". You may have heard that old saying, do you know what it means? It's about being given a free horse and then choosing to check the horse's teeth. If you check the horse's teeth you are looking to set a value on the gift, likely you will find something to pick on, something that isn't as great as it could be. Instead, accept the gift. Don't look for negativity and then overlook the positive of being given a gift.

In your life how many times have you chosen a negative attitude when you could have focused on the positive? Focus on what you do have versus what could be better, what isn't going well, etc.

Stuck in a traffic jam, kids fighting in the back seat, ice cream melting in the trunk of the car... but you're in a car, you've got the kids (who will go back to being little darlings when they get home), and you've got ice cream to look forward to.

Feeling ill at work, still another four hours to the end of your shift, you're being asked to work the weekend... but you've finished half your work day, extra hours will give you more money, and you'll be feeling better once you get some lunch and sit down awhile.

You've been looking forward to breakfast out at your favourite diner but they're closed early for the day... but you're out and now you can try a new place for breakfast and see who you meet along the way.

In each case you could choose to focus on what's going wrong. Or you can change it around and see what's going right. Usually the negative things are just in the moment, temporary. Meanwhile the positive things are long term, dependable and often taken for granted or overlooked completely.

A positive attitude requires focus, to find it, and change to bring it about and keep it. However, it won't work at all if you don't make the choice to have a positive attitude in the first place.

Are you Afraid of the Future?

I don't see it that way myself. I think things will go on, changing as we evolve. Overall, I have high expectations for people to change for the better and make things work. I don't think the worst of the destruction and mayhem will really happen. Why would we let it? Why would our future people (the children now and their children after them) let things end? We all want to live, to survive. People seem to lose track of that basic fact when they get into creating end of the world scenarios.

So, I look at the apocalypse art, the end of the world stories as fiction, creative and imaginative and a warning to those who can make decisions to keep the really bad things from happening. Actually, that's all of us, in case you were in doubt. We all make big and little decisions which can cause change or leave things the way they are.

What are you Doing About It?

Are you littering or recycling? Isn't that such a small thing and yet it's a choice each person can make everyday, several times a day. On this planet we live on, are you a recycler or a litterer? Do you keep things going, care about what you're doing or do you casually throw it all away expecting someone else to come along and clean up your mess? You might be waiting a long time for someone else to clean up your mess... maybe right to the end of the world.

Think about that next time you flick a cigarette butt out the window or onto the grass. Think about that next time you throw out paper instead of recycling it. Think about that next time you're shopping and buy items you don't really need and then think about it again as you throw out all that packaging from the thing you didn't really need. War isn't the only thing that can end our world, one way or another, it's all about the people in the world and what they do with it.

I'm interested in history, the people the places and the things they used. Have you ever found an old tool or gadget and wondered what it did and how it was used? It seems the more technology we gain, the more we lose of ourselves and our past knowledge and ingenuity.

Have you ever dialled a rotary phone? Do you remember carefully placing the needle on the record player? Would you be able to sit at a typewriter and write a letter, using carbon copy paper? Do you still have cassette tapes, even after you lost track of your tape player?

Do you remember using a pay phone in a phone booth rather than a mobile phone? Spending money on film for your camera and then spending more to get your film developed at the store? Do you remember floppy disks? Do you remember paying extra for a letter to be delivered the next day when there wasn't another option? I doubt you can even find a wind-up wrist watch now. Wrist watches of any kind are falling into being obsolete as the mobile phone has that function too.

Analog anything is not so easily found. I wanted a clock radio for a Christmas gift and couldn't find one, not a well made one. The only clock radios I found were cheap-made, so cheaply made I wouldn't ever have bought one. People aren't listening to the radio as often these days.

Technology leaves so many things behind as it grows and changes. It's expensive. But, the computer is just a modern technology still, there are older technologies and crafts which have been replaced or lost before computers came into popularity. Even something which used to seem so essential as writing in the cursive script. It's not even taught in school now. My nieces can only print. They can read my cursive writing, but don't know how to create it themselves.

You can still find a blacksmith, stonemason or a bookbinder. But, you would have to look a lot harder to find a carriage builder or a lighthouse keeper. Some of those old trades have changed a lot and aren't much in use except for someone who wants something created just like it was 100 years ago.

You won't find people telling time with sundials or hourglasses now. You won't find telegraph machines busy with use either. Next up are the old calculators. Not because they aren't being used, but they aren't being used on their own, as one machine not connected or a part of something else.

Two things in the modern versus obsolete technology I don't agree with are books and landline phones. I don't own (or want) a mobile phone. I like the landline. I can leave it at home and check messages when I want to. I'm not paying a huge bill for a phone I don't really want to answer. I'm not availalble for people to phone me, unless I want to be available. In the case of books... you just can't take an eReader to bed with you the same way you can take a book to bed with you.

It's a bit sad, seeing those old friends left behind as technology changes. I like to see how people are finding new uses for some of the old things, not as a joke, but as a real use, keeping them practical. I like the term repurposing.

Links to Find and Read by the Fireside

• Low-tech Magazine: Obsolete technology
• Obsolete Technology Website
• New and Lost Crafts
• Lost Crafts
• 10 obsolete technologies to kill in 2010 | Macworld
• Obsolete Technology: 40 Big Losers | PCWorld
• 23 Creative Ways To Use Obsolete Technologies | Cracked.com

My brother has been buying, renovating and selling houses for almost 20 years here in Ontario. He began when an accident left him with a small nest egg, after lawyer and court costs. But it was something for a young man to get started in real estate buying. Luckily, he already had some connections and some second hand experience on his side. Our Mother had gotten her start in real estate a couple of years before.

The first property was one he bought jointly. He was the one doing the work, or contracting it out. Along the way he learned a lot and then a lot more. If you have no experience in real estate, house building, property management or at least home inspections, you will be surprised at how much there is involved with buying, renovating and selling a property.

There are even differences in different towns, cities, counties and of course provinces (states) and countries. If you are just starting out, thinking this is a good way to invest your own funds from a pension, or something else, do your research on the local level.

Don't Buy If..

If a house shows signs of trouble with -

• roof
• plumbing
• electric
• foundation

don't think you can buy and sell and still make good money on it. Chances are too good it will become a money pit. Even if you have friends do the work, get your materials at cost and get lucky with everything else... is it really worth going through all of that just to break even, more or less.

Structural Versus Cosmetic

The house you buy can have all kinds of cosmetic problems and still be a good choice. Cosmetic fixer uppers would be structurally sound. If the only thing you really need to fix is the street appeal of a house you are not only lucky, but you found a pretty great deal if the house is priced low for the area it's located in.

Structural problems can include anything from the foundation up to the roof. Structural problems are going to cost you money, usually a lot of it by the time you get the house done. Don't forget to figure in costs for paperwork like permits and having someone come and approve your work for building codes. Also, anything to do with the water and electric will likely need a city inspector coming out. Structure problems are expensive, detailed and take more time to finish before you can consider putting the house on the market.

Also, you must consider the cost of the original house price, factor in the money you will be putting into it and then the amount you will actually hope to get for the resale. If the math doesn't work out in your favour, don't buy the house in the first place.

Watch for Dirty Disasters

Houses which are very dirty can be cleaned up. But, find out about the history of the house. Was it owned by a hoarder, was it a rental property for a long time or was something criminal going on there? Dirt can hide a troubled past which could mean the house won't sell should your real estate person and the perspective buyers look into it.

Also, a house in distress is likely to have structural problems. They certainly are a bigger risk than a house just neglected, a little dumpy or in need of updating.

Things to Check Into Before you Buy

Be aware of market conditions in the area. Are houses selling? There is no point in buying in an area where the real estate market is stagnant.

Look into the financial aspect. Does the house have messy finances from the current owners? Are there liens on the property? Are there any legal disputes involving the house and/or property? What are you getting into if you become the next owner?

If the house is currently rented - have the tenants been notified to move? Do they have a lease? Is that going to be a messy situation you will be left with once the house is in your possession?

Does the house have construction materials which are going to require extra expense to remove and then dispose of - all at your own expense? Think asbestos as an example.

Check with the city - in rural areas a house may be in an area which is being converted from well water to city water (for example). This is a big expense which could be the reason the current owners are trying to sell the house, before the deadline for paying for the change over.