Current location:	starbucks
Current mood:	moody
Current music:	reggaeton

Long Time, No Post
It's been a while. I just haven't had much to say that I could post here. However, I will now entertain you (or not) with the saga of my busted waterline.

About a month ago, on a Friday, I received a letter from the water company that the meter readings showed that I had used/lost a lot more water than usual. (7500 gallons compared to 1000) Since I had not started taking day-long showers, I could only assume that I had a leak. On Monday morning, I called a company that was suppose to take care of this for me. I had to keep calling them and by Wednesday I finally had a plumber that was suppose to come out. I called that plumber multiple times, but nothing happened. Friday (1 week after I received the letter) I called a second plumbing company (CKP). They said they would have someone out first thing Monday morning. So I stayed home Monday and two guys came out and dug around the meter and I saw some water shoot up and they fiddled around for about two hours. Then they told me that they would need to get the utility companies to come out and mark and that someone would call me. A day or two later, I received a call from Debbie at CKP. She asked if I wanted an estimate or what. I told her that I had to have the work done, but an estimate would be nice. She called me back on Friday (2 weeks after I received the letter) to set up an appointment for Monday morning for someone to come out and work up an estimate. So once again, I waited for a plumber to show up. He did, and he looked around, and he told me that he didn't think it was as bad as the first two guys had said, but that he needed to come back that afternoon to look some more. Well, I had to go to work. So I did. Guess what? I don't hear from CKP. No call to me about an estimate or anything. I called and left a message for them. They called me back on Friday (3 weeks after I received the letter), and I asked about an estimate. Debbie said that the guy has not given her anything, but that she would look into it. I called her again on Monday, and she had to put me on hold while she went and asked for the info on my problem. Did I mention that during all of this time, I was having to turn my water on and off at the meter key? That my water bill will probably over $100 instead of the usual $10? That I was "using" approximately 150 gallons of water to take a shower? So, Debbie got back on the phone and informed me that they cannot give me an estimate because they do not know how long it will take to the work. Isn't the point of estimate to guess how long and how much? So I have waited 2 weeks to NOT get an estimate. I told Debbie to go ahead and schedule an appointment to fix my line. She would call me back. Meanwhile, I had been talking to my brother, the Jack-of-all-Trades, about my water problem. He wanted to come up and take care of it himself. Of course he lives in Georgia. In the end that is what we did. Debbie called and left a non-descript message on my voice mail, but made no other attempts to contact me. So my Mom and my Bro made the trip up Friday night (4 weeks after I received the letter). I went to work early Saturday morning. My brother had a section of yard dug up by the time I came home. I kept him company, in the drizzly rain, while he continued digging. He found one section of pipe that was just end to end with no connectors. He would be surprised if that was the leak, but we fixed it and decided to see what happens. Sure enough, it was not the only leak. He continued digging by the headlights of his truck and the flashlight that I was holding. It was still raining and we had the water on. Suddenly, I noticed that one section of ground was soggier than the other. We were almost to the leak. We turned the water off. By the time we got to the section that I had noticed, it looked no different than the rest of the ground. That's how well my land soaks up water. My bro cut the line, capped it, checked to make sure there were no more leaks, and repaired that section. We went to dinner with Mom, who was spending her time in the warmth of my house. When we returned, we turned on the water and Shazzam!!!!! The dial was not moving. I am no longer losing water. Woohoo. Sunday morning I went to work while my bro and Mom back fill. I arrived home and we visited for a little bit and they hit the for the return trip. Bonus: My bro adopted my spare cat. Sheldon is going to love being an indoor cat with children and a dog to play with. Monday morning I went to work. That afternoon, I checked my voicemail and there was a message from Debbie at CKP saying that they had sent some guys out to work on my water line and could I please call her. Well, first, I had told her to calll me at work during the day as I work in a basement and don't have a cell signal down there. Second, and more importantly, I was upset that they would send men to my home with my authorization. Then I got home and realized they took my water meter key that I went out and bought with MY money. I called and left CKP a polite message to express how upset I was and that I no longer needed their services because my brother had fixed the problem and that I expected my key to be returned. I used my mean voice and everything. I received an apology call from Debbie at work today. So all is good. So far. We'll see how much they try to bill me. The first two guys were out there for 2 hours, but my bro and I are pretty sure that they busted part of my waterline when they were digging so part of that time was spent fixing something they broke. Then the guy who came out to give me an estimate never gave me an estimate. And I never told them to send guys out on Monday.

Whew. probably more than you wanted to know. I guess this is what I get for living in the country, or for being too easy going. Of course, there are a few that would debate the second part.