On Monday the problems with the brakes on my car got bad enough that I would need to take it in for service, and a new rattling noise developed that sounded like the front left tire was going to fall off. It was "billing" day and the Windows computer processing invoices froze up at the key moment where all the invoices were going to be printed.
On Tuesday I took the day off from work and all the tech support and technology management that goes with that. On my day off I ended up helping to troubleshoot a VPN connection and wireless network for my mom and an un-bootable, virus-infected Windows computer for my sister.
On Wednesday the heating and air conditioning service folks who were scheduled to show up at 8 AM didn't, and when I called they said they'd forgotten about me. The phone system at work stopped accepting faxes for no good reason just as two time-sensitive faxes were coming in, and so I had to rewire that setup.
On Thursday the heating and air conditioning service folks showed up early while I had shaving cream all over my face. When they did come in, the problem I'd reported was not reproducible ("it just started working"), and so they left. One of our database systems at work experienced some weird corruption that required a flurry of emergency troubleshooting, and we thought we had it fixed. While attempting to fix the phone system problems with the incoming faxes, I rendered the phone system inoperable for a time until I could learn about and then debug some confusing problems with loading Linux kernel drivers. This made me late for a meeting, which I initially tried to let the other meeting attendees know about by calling them on the phone, which was, of course, broken.
On Friday the database corruption came back, and the fix this time involved creating a 256 kilobyte file full of zeroes and placing it in a special directory on the filesystem to appease the database gods. The estimate for my car repairs came in at several hundred dollars, and they won't be able to do it until next week. I saw a movie by a guy named Al Gore, and apparently we live on a "globe" that is "warming up" a lot and apparently if we don't start treating that "globe" with more awe and respect, we're all going to die by fire or ice or both.
When I got back from the movie (technically on Saturday) and stopped by the office to get my stuff, barely able to focus my eyes because it was 1:30 in the morning, I heard a hissing noise that turned out to be a water main break that had started to flood the basement.
WHAT THE HELL?
This is all apparently a clever way for the universe to communicate that I should have taken up my friend's offer to spontaneously go rafting in a national park this week. I GET THE POINT, PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE NOW.
P.S. I know, I know...I've got rhythm, I've got music, I've got my health, who could ask for anything more? Blah blah blah.
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Ouch. You certainly have my condolences, but feel free to stay away from my office until this whole karma thing blows over for you. . . .
Nothing bad ever happens to a writer; everything is material.
(Garrison Keillor)
Man, perhaps a lesson in diminishing returns of complexity? Rough week...