Yeesh. I recall foundation problems at the last place I lived in due to the ground drying up, but that was largely because the landlord there was a moron and thought that paying for it in the long run would be better than just watering the yards every so often.
I'm still gonna use Skype though. I kinda no longer use YIM anymore since I switched emails, so I can go back to juggling three different methods of IM.