I went out to my dad’s house to continue helping him fix the plumbing and move some gas lines around. We were relocating a gas line because my mother wanted an electric stove. While we were working when his tenant from the upstairs apartment came down to tell us about a water main break in Downtown Pittsburgh. Since this is not uncommon, I did not think too much about it. I avoided going home through Downtown because I heard the traffic was bad. When I got home I flicked on the TV. and saw how much water was in the streets of Downtown. Turns out a 36 inch pipe burst right in the street behind where I work. The water was going everywhere. But mostly it was going down into the garages and mechanical rooms under the building complex where I work. The water stood at 17 feet from the bottom of the condensate pit by the time they got were able to shut the water off. All the mechanical rooms and fan rooms were flooded All the electric and phone lines were knocked out .I got a message on my answering machine via cell-phone to come into work. When I got into work my worst fears had occurred. I could have brought my canoe into the mechanical plant and scuba dived in there. Water was everywhere. For the next 10 days we were working double shifts pumping, flushing and cleaning water from everywhere. The water authority brought in massive pumps and later the fire department did some pumping too. While this was going on, emergency generators were brought in for lights and to run the elevators. It would take over a week to replace all the main electric switch gear and electrical circuits to run the air conditioning. Water and electricity do not mix too well. Since we were working back to back shifts and all our personal things in our lockers were ruined we were eating out a lot .I can only eat so much fast food before it starts to get to me. So I kept a container of my grains in a duffel bag and had a bunch of cans of sardines. Along with some fruit I kept a fairly balanced food intake during all the chaos. Sleep was a different matter. I think we were running around so much and burning up more calories than we were taking in. I would come home and be a little wired and take a while to drop off. I would get out of bed and down load a couple of bananas to bring my blood sugar up so that I could nod off. The first few days when the water was still being pumped out I was almost constantly wet. My personal boots had been ruined in the flood and the one’s I used had a small leak in them. This can be a very aggravating situation. I am used to being soggy when I scuba dive inside the wet suit, but the lake water and sea water is always fresh. This water had oil and sewage in it. I found another pair of boots that were leak proof but they were a little small. My size 12 feet were hard to cover. The highest building did not get elevators on for a good while and we had to run up the dark stairwells to take care of different plumbing and mechanical necessities. Then while we were handling our trials and tribulations with water, hurricane Katrina would hit New Orleans and would humble our efforts when we heard about the devastation down there. What could we do but just keep on working? For the most part nobody had been hurt or killed from the 20 million gallons of water that had supposedly leaked from the broken line. That 20 million gallons turned out to be about an 8 inch drop in the big reservoir on the east end of Pittsburgh. The reservoir is pretty big. It looks like the manmade lake that it is. I do not want to be totally negative about the way I was eating. On one of our treks to Wendy’s one guy ordered a salad and I have to admit that it did not look bad. It had the standard lettuce and tomatoes. And it also had a pile of mandarin oranges and slices of almonds. All the fast food places are changing with the times. I still have a weakness for the good ol’ burger and fries. One day when the boss was buying, we changed our pace a little bit and went to an old eatery in Market Square called the Oyster House. A bunch of us went up there for lunch. I took the tradition of what my dad always ate here. I ordered two oysters and a large buttermilk and a side of coleslaw. The combination worked pretty good. The buttermilk tasted real good with breaded oysters. They have at this place a killer fish sandwich that I have eaten many times but I was glad to pass on that selection today. I have to admit that my dad knows a good thing. There was in an article in the newspaper that said that the total cost of the flood in the buildings was going to run around 10 million dollars. When you add up all the equipment that needs to be replaced and all the walls the were ripped out you can easily believe that figure. This does seem like a pittance compared to what Katrina has left in her path. I am just glad that I have already visited New Orleans because I feel that I supported them before the storm hit. And now when I go back I can see how the reconstruction goes. I got a little taste of how destructive water can be. The aftermath of Katrina reaffirms what I already know. And that is, we should all be living a little bit like if the worst did happen to any of us, we should be ready. And keeping a 50 pound bag of oatmeal and a couple cases of bottled water around is not a bad idea. Even if we have to be evacuated from our homes you could grab the oatmeal and water. And keep a few flashlights and batteries. The times they are a changin’. A tornado hit here in Pittsburgh a few years ago. Murphy’s law tells us if something can go wrong it will. The grains have been a lifestyle thing with me for some time. I know one thing for certain. I could live almost indefinitely and share food with others, if I grab my container of grains and some water. I am not saying its going to be great cuisine but in times of trouble nobody is going to give a shit. People are going to want to stop that hunger in their bellies. Its never too soon to start thinking along these lines. Food is just a matter of habit and survival food would become very habit forming. Its always nice to have a backup plan.

Today I went out to my dad’s house with the intention of changing the front disk brake pads on my truck. It was a really hot day, pushing 92 degrees at 10 a.m. I took the wheel off to take a look at the pads and they did not look too worn. So I put the wheel back on and my dad put my sister’s husband and I to work painting his living room. Since my mother has not been feeling too good we thought that a brighter paint job might cheer her up. Scott, my brother–in–law, started painting and my dad and I moved some gas pipes around because they wanted to put a gas stove in and eliminate the electric one. Then we busted out the main cast iron sewage stack and replaced it with a 4 inch plastic one. The pipe we took out was almost entirely closed off from grease and eighty years of shit. There was only about a 1 inch diameter in the middle of the pipe for turds to pass through. When we showed the pipe to my brother in law he said our arteries do the same thing. They close off. Since my dad had rented this house out to people before he lived in it and the kitchen sink dumped into this line from above, we assumed somebody dumped a lot of grease from cooking down the drain causing this pipe to close off over the years. After replacing the pipe we went upstairs and helped Scott with the painting. We painted for a couple of hours then broke for lunch. My dad made Chef Boyardee ravioli and ham sandwiches. The ravioli from the can was pretty lame but the ham was good. After lunch we continued to paint. At 3:00 Terri Gross came on the radio and she was interviewing Paul Anka. He wrote the song ”My Way” for Frank Sinatra. At one point they played the song “My Way” and my dad, my brother-in-law and I were all singing along to the song on the radio and painting the walls. Then during the interview Terri asked Paul what was the worst version of any song he had written that any musician had ever sang. And he mentioned the same song “My Way “ sang by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. And they played that version and it was horrible and hilarious. I had seen the movie “Sid and Nancy” about the life of Sid Vicious and liked the movie a lot and his version of “My Way” in the movie. Boy did I get a kick out of my dad’s reaction when he heard Sid Vicious version on Terri Gross’ radio program. Which brings me back to another time in high school. A good friend of mine, his mother was really into Frank Sinatra and I guess my friend got tired of hearing about it from his mother. He asked her one day what would you do if you met him? Would you screw him? And his mother fixed his wagon when she told him ‘you better believe it’. I think his mothers answer to his question was right out of the movie ”Diner.” Actually this episode in our lives was better than that movie. My friend was a little depressed with his mother’s answer but that did not stop us from stealing a Christmas tree that year for the holidays.