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03/14/2004 Entry: "... and it keeps on coming."

I thought I had a little reprieve today, being at Sean's house, and playing with the children. But Sean said something that clicked, and when I got home (after spending $260 for a new replacement cell phone for Christine), I checked my circuitbreakers to find out why my laundry light didn't come on. Well, my first attempt showed that "laundry room" (as labeled by the former owner) was working, or else my washer and dryer wouldn't work, right? Sean said, "different circuits," which made sense for at least the dryer. After experimenting, two other "odd happenings" started to click. One of the things I have learned in computing is when diagnosing a problem, often that odd little annoyance you don't think is related is often another clue. So when I started checking all the circuitbreakers, I noticed one was off. I flicked it back on, and it didn't do anything. But it made an odd click, and that led me to wonder if the circuit was being tripped off again. I looked at the label, and it said, "Plugs in the guest room." I looked in the guest room and noticed my whole Seti array was off. Huh. That explained why I had so many problems pinging the gateway in there, there was no gateway. I unplugged everything, and realized that as long as it had been off, the fridge and deep freezer must have also been off! All this time! But no... they were on, and still cold. I looked back at the panel, and realized that "guest kitchen circuit" was a different circuit. I flipped "plugs in the guest room" back on, and the laundry room light came on. Huh. Did my Seti array blow? That's when I felt my foot tingle, and realized I was stepping on a damp towel.

See, we had this mysterious puddle show up in there (part of the stuff that never made my blog this week because too much had been going on). But it was a small puddle, like less than 2 feet in diameter, and it kept coming back. I put down a bue towel to see where exactly it was coming from, because it didn't trace to any wall, and the ceiling above was dry. But this time, a small stain led to the back of the washer. Then my leg went numb and BAP! The circuit breaker tripped.

Okay... I have a leak in the wall. Playing with the electricty. I traced the leak to the washer inlet, which was wet, but not spurting or dribbling. The wall around it was VERY wet, however.

Yeah, I have a pipe leak in the wall. It's not big, but it's there.

Now here's the problem. I can't shut off water to the washer, except the actual valve to the hose (which I turned off). The next valve up the line is the WHOLE WATER MAIN, which means if this keeps leaking I will HAVE TO SHUT THE WATER OFF TO THE WHOLE HOUSE. And, this gets better, my circuit breaker is very close to the leak, so I may have to shut off all my power as well.

I turned off the water at the washer, in some vain hopes that the leak will stop, but I think, judging from the water stains, that the leak is in the wall, probably at a joint. Hello digging out drywall and paying a plumber!

Did I mention that the new office chair I bought from Best Buy broke? Yeah, I mentioned the arm a while back, but now the other arm broke. Now the shaft in the middle is getting loose. Total breakage is imminent. I figure when it breaks, I'll use a 5 gallon bucket and a towel.

Fuck this...

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