Sigh.
I don't know if I should even bother explaining. I'm just happy I was working from home when this happen. I was sitting at my computer yesterday when I started to hear water dripping on the ceiling tiles behind me. Since I've had frozen water pipes at all three of my rental properties in Lowell this week, I instantly knew what it was. I rushed to move the two tables full of computer equipment (4 LCDs, 4 external CD-ROM drives, 2 network switches, 16 network cables, 4 four-port KVM switches, and other VGA cables, power cables, and keyboards).
Only 5 seconds after the dripping sounds started, the water started pouring down. In my rush to move the tables away, two of the monitors fell and some keyboards lost their keys, but I managed to save all of the equipment from the major downpour. Everything was unplugged and turned off when this happen, so I'll probably get lucky and everything will still work -- after it's been thoroughly dried out (a few days, at least).
Apparently, my neighbor (the other basement apartment in this house), said this happen to her a few days ago and the landlord was a dick about it. He said he wouldn't pay for a thing, even though tons of her stuff was ruined. The plumber said I should get renters insurance, because it's cheap and they'll pay for everything even if someone robs me, or if a water pipe breaks.
I've finally figured out a good reason to not live in the basement -- if water pipes break, on any of the floors above you, your basement apartment gets hit the worst, and if there are leaks of any kind above you, you're almost guaranteed to get some of the water. If I'm still living in Cambridge when my lease is up (Jan 1st, 2008), I'm going to look for either a second floor or an attic apartment -- one with lots of light!