my father came over again today, to fix my pipes. there was nothing more he wanted to do than to cut off the broken gate valve and replace it with a new ball valve. he even brought along his blowtorch and his bag of plumbing goodies, but i thought that was unnecessary. all we needed to do was to just swap out the broken part of the gate valve with a new one. that first involved cutting off the water supply and draining enough of the hot water heater (about a bucket) so nothing would be flowing through the hot water pipe. when we screwed off the old valve we could see that the rubber plug inside had already completely deteriorated, hence the water flow even when it was in the off position. we replaced that with a brand new valve. not only did it work now, but it no longer dripped water either. unfortunately that did little to solve the low pressure problem upstairs in the bathroom. chances are bits of the rubber plug were clogging up the hot water line near the faucet knob. but we didn't have the right sized socket for the ratchet wrench so that repair will be postponed.

i spent most of the day on my back watching television. first it was the DNC's rules and bylaws committee meeting. i was surprised it was even broadcasted (i figured interparty democratic bickering would be behind closed doors) but even more surprised that it was in front of a "live studio audience" that applauded and shouted their approval and disapproval. then i watched a PBS biography on harry s. truman. that was followed by the apartment (1960), starring young jack lemmon and shirley maclaine.

when did ultimate fighting become mainstream? i remember there was a time when you could only see it on pay-per-view and congress was trying to ban the competition outright. now CBS is broadcasting ultimate fighting in primetime. are americans really that bloodthirsty? when janet jackson flashes a covered breast on national tv the FCC slaps the network with all sorts of indecency fines, but when a fighter hits another fighter so hard in his ear that it ruptures into a tattered bloody flap of skin, that's okay? can't we have more love, less war?

must've been on my back for too long today because my evening's end i grew really light-headed for some reason, only the second time i can recall this ever happening. it could've also been something i ate, because i also became nauseous and ended up vomiting a little bit. i brushed my teeth and crawled into bed (early, like midnight), opened up a window to let some fresh air in. thinking i might be hungry i heated up a slice of leftover pizza but never ate it, deciding instead to go to bed and hoping i don't wake up dead.