I’m assuming that you’re all familiar with Murphy’s Law (I.E. “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong).
Well, given everything that’s gone on in my life over the past 10 days or so, I’m beginning to think that Murphy may have been an optimist.
“Why would you say something like that, Jim?,” you ask. Well, let’s start with the Sunday before last. Where we got 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours …
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Which is why the road in front of our house wound up getting washed out. Which made it damned near impossible for Nancy & I to get out in the world for a few days last week.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
But the good news was that this road was finally repaired by the time Friday morning rolled around. Which was just in time for me to drive Nancy into Boston. So that she could then catch a flight to Georgia to spend a week with her father.
So I drop Nancy off at Logan Airport. And I’m driving back home to New Boston when suddenly the “Check Engine” light comes on. What’s the problem? The transmission in our soon-to-be-paid-for Escape (We’re literally making our final car payment on this 2002 Ford next month) has chosen this precise instance to bite the big one.
But that’s okay. While the Escape’s in the shop (Getting a new transmission installed for upwards of $4000), I’ll just use our 1995 Explorer to toodle around town in.
Only I can’t do that. Why For? Because whenever I step on the Explorer’s brakes, the pedal goes straight through to the floor. It seems that — sometime over the winter — mice have chewed through the brake lines. Which is why — whenever you try & refill the fluid reservoir — the brake fluid just flows through the car and then dribbles out onto the ground.
So now I have to call Enterprise and arrange for a rental while our two cars undergo some rather extensive & expensive repairs. And given that Nancy is still out of town and I am feeling a little blue right about now, I decide to give myself a treat and order up some Chinese take-out on Friday night.
Which is how I wind up sick as a dog on Saturday, felled by food poisoning. I literally spend that entire day racing back & forth to the bathroom, as I live out that old Robin Williams joke (“Two exits, no waiting”).
Then on Sunday, lightning strikes very near to the house. Which totally scrambles our computer set-up.
Monday, I spend virtually the entire day on the phone with Adelphia. As technicians try to walk me through all of the steps involved with repairing our systems. Given that I am a technological idiot, I make little or no headway on my own at solving this problem. Which is why Nancy now decides to cut short her visit with her father. Opting instead to fly home on Tuesday so that she can then personally ride herd on all of these repairs.
Tuesday, Nancy flies home. And — even though it’s a direct flight from Atlanta to Boston — Delta still manages to lose her luggage.
Sooo … After a solid week of news like this (Which some JHM readers are suggesting that I brought on myself by writing that trio of positive “Over the Hedge” pieces last week) … Well, to be frank, Nancy & I could use a little good news right about now.
And — thankfully — there is finally a bit of good news to share. What with being the technical whiz that she is, Nancy was actually able to get 90% of JHM back up & running again last night. And once she goes out & gets us a replacement for that wireless router that got fried by the lightning strike, the site will finally be back up to full speed. Barring — of course — that a large rock doesn’t fall out of the sky & then crush our house and/or that a plague of frogs doesn’t suddenly infest our hard drive.
My apologies if today’s column comes across as rather self indulgent & whiny. But — to be honest — I find this whole situation to be kind of amusing. I mean, I really feel like I’ve become the human equivalent of Joe Btfsplk. You know, that classic Al Capp character that always went through life with a dark cloud hovering directly over his head.
Anyway … I hate to have the first real JHM column of this week to just devolve into the “Poor, poor, pitiful me” show. With no actual info and/or new news being passed along.
Sooo … Do you remember that recent Floyd Norman column where Floyd talked about the in-joke that Pixar’s animators had slipped in “Cars”? That somewhat controversial slogan that these guys had hidden in among all of Fillmore’s other bumper stickers?
Copyright Disney / Pixar
Well, the first time around … Nancy & I weren’t able to get all that clear an image of Fillmore’s “Save 2D Animation” bumper sticker. But thanks to Chronicle Books’ new “The Art of ‘Cars,’ ” hardcover (Which Roger Colton will be reviewing for JHM next week, by the way) , we can now show you a crystal-clear image of this somewhat controversial statement.
I wonder what the mainstream press is going to make of this “Cars” in-joke when they find out that Pixar deliberately slipped it into their newest picture. Do you think that this will renew industry calls for Walt Disney Studios to finally revive its traditional animation unit?
Your thoughts?