Murphy's Law Destroys My Day

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I have not been feeling good all week, so I took today off from work to relax, and get my strength back - under the recommendation of my doctor who said I was moments away from pneumonia when I walked into his office.  The medicine makes me drowsy, but at least I will finally get a chance to rest.

I was also jazzed over getting my Friday off from work because we've been working 14-16 hour days, of late.  The paycheck has been good, but my body is on its last leg.  I never seem to get a day of rest, especially one where I can just work on my website and book without interruptions, and without all of the other stuff I do getting in the way.

This morning I fired up my computer, pulled up my word processor, and decided the work on my book would commence right after I finished a couple posts for my Political Pistachio website.  Then, the Murphy's Law of impossibilities happened.  On my day off, the one day where I was going to be able to spend all day on my computer, early in the morning, some idiot crashed into the electricity green box (whatever the heck the real name is, I don't know) knocking out the power for our entire neighborhood.  Estimated time of completion of repairs?  Tonight between five and seven.  So I used the battery of my computer until it was whining and dimming, and I used my hotspot for Internet since along with electricity the Internet connection went down, to write the posts.  My battery lasted a few hours, and then I had to use my smart phone to finish the third post.  My book never got touched.

When my wife called me for lunch, I got a great idea to solve my dead battery problem with my laptop.  After lunch I would take my computer someplace where I can plug it in and work with a drink at my side, and a quiet mumble of discussion in the room.

On my way to her job, in perfect Murphy's Law fashion, I hit every red light, just as they turned red which means I had to wait the full cycle, and then when I decided I was going to cut across where I shouldn't down the right turn lane for a block, a cop showed up in a driveway from the mall to convince me to change my mind, and I ducked into that turn - which sent me into a maze of parking lots that slowed me down even further.  I was ten minutes late picking up my wife for lunch.

After lunch, I took my laptop to McDonalds, got myself a smoothie, plugged in, and began working.  Murphy was not done messing with me yet, however.  Two tables away from me was an old black man wearing an Obama cap.  He quickly noticed my "Right-Wing Extremist" cap that on the side says, "I'll keep my guns and money, you can keep the change."  He wanted to debate, and now hours later I am finally ready to work. . . my whole day, gone, because some idiot can't drive - and here I am at McDonalds, with the after-school kids now coming in, trying to write as the noise level escalates.

Damn you, Murphy. . . Damn you to Hell!

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary