protected function validService()
	{
		//check if the service variable is empty
		$empty  = empty($this->service);

		//check if this service is an instance if MySQL
		$instance = $this->service instanceof \MySQLi;

		//return true if there is a valid connection and $this->service is an instance of MySQLi
		if ($this->connected && $instance && ! $empty) 
		{
			//return true in this case
			return true;

		}

		//otherwise return false
		return false;

	}