when you need to cut some water pipes but you can’t shut the water off to your building because the valve is in the basement and the basement is buried to the brim in concrete rubble—dry ice saves the day.

it’s so simple—freeze the water, cut the copper, find out that the valve you want to install is the wrong size, drive out to get another valve, get a flat tire, leave the car at an abandoned gas station, get picked up, wonder how anything ever gets done in this world, marvel at the beauty of sublimation, thank the dry ice again