Gerald, of Syd’s Plumbing, arrived at 10:00 today to check out the leak in the water heater he just put in a week or so ago. He got it all taken care of.
Before he left, I asked him to take a look at my upstairs toilet, which I’ve been tinkering with on and off over at least the last six months—even once, with Robert’s generous help, replacing a screw-nuts-bolt set that seemed to be contributing to a slow leak.
A professional’s opinion: “John, the tank is cracked up here. And, the base of the toilet is cracked near the floor. See it here?”
He went on to tell me, that how cracks in porcelain work, is that one day it will just open up and fall apart, and on that day, if you’re not at home, the water will run out on the floor, and continue to do so until you come home and shut it off.
He recommended replacing the commode as soon as possible, and I said, “Well let’s turn off the water to it until I do. It’s not like I don’t have two more toilets in the house, and there’s anybody else living here to keep me from using those instead.”
He’s going to take care of it on Thursday.
Thank [insert deity of choice here] that that thing hasn’t cracked open to date. My next door neighbor’s hot water heater recently broke while she was gone. It was on the second floor, and she came home to find water to her ankles on the first floor. What a nightmare that was—in terms of finding it, but more so in terms of how long it took to get it fixed, and how many people were involved.
Nope, nope. Don’t need that.
On the topic of irrational thoughts, here’s one I had today, and in fact, I’ve had it enough to create a PostSecret about it:
Every time I put food in my garbage disposal, I think, “That’s really not good for the environment.”
However, whenever I’m putting vegetables down there, I always think, “Well, these are vegetables. They’re good for you.” You meaning the garbage disposal, of course, and I don’t feel bad about putting those down there.
Like I said, “irrational.”
I worked on the STC newsletter at home until 4:30, when I went over to State to get in Clark Hall before 5:00.
The place was deserted, with only Alton there, and he said, “The power in the building has been surging all day. It’s not a good idea to use any electrical equipment. I’ve sent everyone home. Facilities is supposed to come this evening to check on it.”
I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t want me to stay there, even though he technically has no jurisdiction over the Service-Learning offices and personnel.
I said, “Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know. I’m just going to boot up one of the PCs real quick, and print a few things. I’ll work on my laptop, by battery, after that.”
That appeased him long enough for him to finish packing up his things, and then he left. I left there at 11:30PM—working all night long on the newsletter. It’s very close to being done, and I’m pretty pleased with it.