In August, a plumber came by to fix the toilet and we had an exchange about the rock in the tank. He said that even though it doesn’t accomplish anything, the rock should stay right where it is: “It’s found its natural place of rest. You wouldn’t want to disturb the natural order of the universe.”

He returned last week to fix a kitchen faucet that had gone from drip-drip-dripping to emitting a steady stream of water, 24 hours a day.

My landlady, he reported, had just returned from a short vacation (who knew?) and had come down with something, probably on the plane home. “All those germs and gunk floating around in that recirculated air,” he said with a shudder. “It’s like licking a public water fountain.”

His assistant groaned, as did I.

“Too much? Maybe that wasn’t the best analogy,” the plumber admitted.

We discussed pay phones, a past source of germ spreading. You know, talking into a mouthpiece that may not have been wiped down in a long time.

I mentioned the oddity of businesses that have removed a pay phone but left behind the wooden carrel (I don’t know what else to call it) that once held the phone, with its shelf below for a nonexistent phone book. This fixture is instantly recognizable to most of us, but anyone under the age of, say, 10 would have no idea what it once was. I guess these objects are too much trouble to remove. Either that, or everyone’s waiting for a pay phone revival.

The faucet was duly fixed, the water flow stanched. I thanked them; the round-the-clock stream of water gurgling down the drain had put me on edge.

“It’s the drip that will get you,” the plumber’s assistant said sympathetically. “It’s like getting waterboarded in your own home.”

The plumber got the last word. “We’ve left you with all kinds of interesting visuals today, haven’t we?”

I was walking through LA’s Union Station after a Metrolink ride on Friday night when I saw, walking in the same direction, a familiar face, a fellow I know who grew up in Pomona and lives in LA. We hadn’t seen each other in months and stopped to chat.

On Sunday morning, I was back at Union Station after disembarking from another Metrolink trip when a fellow I know from Rancho Cucamonga came up and said hello.

What are the odds? It’s extremely rare I bump into anyone I know when in L.A., and here it happened two straight visits. What always strikes me about such random encounters is that a few seconds one way or the other and I wouldn’t have seen either of them. Another imponderable: How many people have I missed by moments?

My colleague Diana Sholley had a story that relies on timing. On vacation in Italy a few years ago, the Uplander was touring the Colosseum when she ran into the family that owns San Biagio’s Pizza in Upland. How crazy is that?

The worst random-encounter story I have, and thankfully this is second-hand rather than one I had to live through, involved a former editor of mine in Northern California. He was at O’Hare Airport when he was hailed by a local pest from back home, a guy who used to come into the newsroom frequently and waste his time. There in Chicago, with time to kill before his connecting flight, nowhere to run, he had to listen to the guy for an hour.

OK, your turn. Have you ever been far from home and run into someone you knew?

My home’s lack of air conditioning was a topic here last summer when our heat wave made things a trifle warm for me, as well as for some of you likewise in an older home.

Unlike the mercury, though, my electricity bills didn’t spike. Here’s the very light damage: June: $9.59. July: $11.26. August: $10.83. September: $10.85. October: $10.93. I don’t know what the average a/c user pays, but it’s gotta be more than that.

My utility bills will rise this winter, as I have a gas wall heater and an electric space heater. And I’m almost never warm enough. If only some of that summertime heat inside my house could be stored somehow and released as needed during winter…

Traveling in Clarksville, Tenn., Upland reader Richard Armour was startled to see the above sign. “Found out about your hidden political agenda,” he says. Today, Ward 8. Tomorrow, the world.

Productivity expert David Allen meets nonsense expert David Allen.

Friday’s column (read it here) is about my meeting a more famous David Allen…and his meeting a less famous one. Here’s his website and here’s his Wikipedia entry.

As any good Daily Bulletin reader does when embarking on a vacation, I packed a copy of the newspaper and enlisted someone to take my photo in a picturesque spot. My visit to the St. Louis area to visit to my parents included a Cardinals game.

Above, I’m oblivious to the action on the field or to the city skyline because I’ve got a newspaper to read, darnit. At right, after the Cards’ 6-2 loss to the Indians, I commiserate with a bust of the late broadcaster Jack Buck outside the stadium. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for the camerawork.

Wednesday’s column (read it here) is a reflection on my year in electrons — namely, how I got my first cell phone in January and later bought a couple of other electronic devices, as well as recently signing up for Twitter. It answers the occasional reader question of “what do you think of your cell phone?” and also craftily advertises my Facebook page, Twitter account and this blog.

Oh, yeah: Twitter. I rolled this out slowly and until Wednesday’s column have promoted it only via FB and in the fine print at the end of my column. You can find my account at @DavidAllen909.

All the writers and editors at the ol’ IVDB have been encouraged to sign up, so I decided to get with the program early(ish) rather than hold out. Wish I’d taken the plunge a couple of years ago, actually.

My Facebook page, btw, now has a name (long, because “David Allen” was taken): DavidAllencolumnist.

You’re encouraged to check out either or both, if you’re so inclined, and especially if you already use Twitter or FB.

How’s your own personal face-off with life circa 2011 going? Are you embracing, running away, holding it at bay, or what?

Fox Theaters aren’t only in Southern California. St. Louis’ Fox, part of the same original chain of movie theaters, sat three times more than Pomona’s (5,060 compared to 1,731). I admired the building from the outside while on vacation last week.

A full-length view of the theater without any distracting newspaper-brandishing columnists is below.

By the way, what did I miss while I was away last week?

It might look like I’m catching up on the latest news close to home in, say, Rancho Cucamonga, but this photo was taken in Tempe, Ariz., during a recent vacation. Baseline Road isn’t an interstate route. Arizona has its own version of the street.

Photo: Tom Gibbons

Photo: Crayton Harrison

Even amidst the bustle of Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, vacationing columnist David Allen’s attention is held by the news out of Upland, a city currently undergoing some “reforma” of its own.

Friday’s column is the first of three or four I expect to write about Mexico City. If you’ve ever been there, what did you think?