Not quite as scheduled....

So sometimes a day doesn't always go as planned. Or perhaps it never goes as planned. I think it's a humbling experience and makes me mindful that I am reliant upon God for every day. Even if I don't say it, that should always be in my mind: that I am not the one who controls my life, God does.

So what happened?

Well, I'd planned on getting quite a bit of studying done. You know, finish a lab report, work on some homework, write a prelab, things like that. Things were going nicely this morning. Since it was the first Saturday of the week it was time to clean. And like every Saturday morning, my roomies were nowhere to be found ;)

I vacuumed out the top cabinets (finally!), managed to make some cookies, and start some N---- beans for supper. I heard a hissing sound from the back and quickly ran into the hallway to see what was going on. The hot-water heater was blowing water out the top. I shut off the water going to it and it subsided. After waiting for it to cool a bit I took a look at it. I didn't know if it was just hot and something was steaming or what the problem was exactly. Every time I turned the water on and it got to the top (I was draining it with a hose) it would start spraying out the top again.

It turned out that there was a small pinhole right at the top of the heater. A hotwater heater is constructed like a cylinder inside a cylinder. The inner "core" is empty and hot air flows from the burner below up to the top. Then the water is in the outer ring. Well, the pinhole had sprung in the inner ring so water was spraying out and dripping directly down onto the burner. Not good.

I thought about trying to patch it up but realized that if the wall was that thin, then it probably would just spring another leak sometime soon. So I borrowed Dan Y's truck and got a new one at Lowe's. Since I was the only one home today, it took a bit of maneuvering to get the old heater out, and the new one in. The new one was bigger than the older so I had to make a few modifications and an extra trip to Lowe's for some parts. But it's hooked up now and doesn't appear to be leaking, which is a good sign! Lowes would have installed it for another $260! That wasn't about to happen..... It was already more expensive than I'd anticipated.

Now when I turn on the hot water in the kitchen, it's almost with a sense of pleasure. It's amazing how little conveniences like that are so often taken for granted.

So that's two lessons learned today: Never think that I control my day, let alone perfectly, and be thankful for the conveniences I have.

Now I really should get started on some homework :(