Hello all from the suburbs of Detroit! I just wanted to take a few moments to thank everyone involved in the creation and maintenance of this blog. I bought a pool about 5 or 6 years ago and struggled with it the first few years, to say the least. Like most I took what the pool store people told me as gospel and really began to doubt my purchase due to expensive upkeep and excessive, time consuming maintenance. Then I happened upon your blog and wow! Talk about seeing the light! Not to sound cliché, but after completing "Pool School" and reading so many informative posts I literally am the pool guru everyone at work consults when they have an question about their own. My pool went from the literal equivalent of swamp water to a pristine oasis and my costs and maintenance time both dropped dramatically. I tested my boss's water and told him how much stabilizer to add and the sock method and he couldn't have been more pleased with the money he saves on chlorine now. My lawn guy even says our water always looks the most clean and inviting of all the pools he sees! heck, I snapped a pic and made it my background on my phone! 
To stress the importance of me finding this blog, I will leave you with this short anecdote. We have a very close friend whose young son was diagnosed with non-hodgkin's lymphoma shortly after I found the site. Part of his treatment left his immune system very weak and thanks to you, we were able to let him swim as much as he liked without fear of some rogue pathogen causing a life threatening infection and endangering the lad. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to provide him with a safe place to enjoy while he was in the fight of his young life and I just wanted to share it with you all. Now Jack is on the mend (1+ year in remission) and he can't wait for summer to get here so he can spend the day swimming with my nephew and granddaughter.
So from all of us at "The Plastic Pond" to all of you at TFP:
To stress the importance of me finding this blog, I will leave you with this short anecdote. We have a very close friend whose young son was diagnosed with non-hodgkin's lymphoma shortly after I found the site. Part of his treatment left his immune system very weak and thanks to you, we were able to let him swim as much as he liked without fear of some rogue pathogen causing a life threatening infection and endangering the lad. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to provide him with a safe place to enjoy while he was in the fight of his young life and I just wanted to share it with you all. Now Jack is on the mend (1+ year in remission) and he can't wait for summer to get here so he can spend the day swimming with my nephew and granddaughter.
So from all of us at "The Plastic Pond" to all of you at TFP:
