Running water, sort of

My plumbing has shut itself off five times today, and it probably would have shut itself off more if I had been quicker to turn it back on. You might remember it shut itself off a few weeks back for the first time, causing quite a panic in my apartment about whether or not I had been paying my bills. Well, today I finally took the time to read the disclaimer on the water control panel, and apparently the system is used to prevent the pipes from freezing, which is what I figured. It's basically a fuse for my plumbing. This might be because I grew up in Sunny Southern California (which is of course having its own weather problems), but I've never seen this system before. And it's a great idea - the last thing I need is for the plumbing system to freeze over and be incapable of flushing the toilet. But the only problem is when you turn the water back on and try to use it, air shoots out of the faucets like a bullet from a gun - with no exaggeration at all. I did an experiment and held a bowl tightly in my hands and turned the water on and it shot the thing right out of my grip. And the water that comes with the air splashes all over the room. Plus, I have to go through this process every time I need to use the water - to brush my teeth, take a shower, wash my hands, flush the toilet, wash the dishes. What a pain.

Other things that happened today:
-this ridiculous news from my alma mater

-the entire country is on sale because of New Years, meaning I bought a new jacket and a new CD for rock bottom prices. I looked through HMVs bargain bin of no name's figuring there would be one CD in there worth buying and there was. Which CD? A two pack of Phantom Planet's second and third albums. Price? $8. You never see that kind of price here. And to my pleasant surprise, they are both solid pop albums. Yatta. I'm going back out there tomorrow.

-On the way back from shopping, I was getting a little too confident about my ability to ride my bike in the winter here and got careless for one moment. While trying to pedal around a girl walking on the sidewalk, I hit a patch of ice and my bike slipped out from under me and I went skidding across the ground. I'm bruised up my right side and my shoulder is strained, but it was more embarrassing than anything else. Now I can fully appreciate those salt rocks they sprinkle all over Penn (the ones that stain the cuffs of your pants streaky white and get stuck in the tread of your shoes). Sendai hasn't discovered that yet. It would help, since half of the sidewalks here require track cleats to keep from eating it.

Overall, today was a pretty great day despite the little crappy things here and there. It's good to be back, in more ways than one.