Murphy's Law (s)
I hope you have heard of Murphy's Law or Laws. I always thought there was just one. "If anything can go wrong it will." Some say the origins of ML began at Edwards Air Force Base in California circa 1949. An engineer AF Captain named Murphy had coined a phrase similar to the law and another AF brass called it Murphy's law in a press conference.
My English (and Welsh) readers are just shaking their heads right now as they know Murphy's Law is an Americanization of Sod's law which dates back to dirt but most probably the English country area near Yorkshire. But I digress.
It turns out there are hundreds of laws or rules accredited to the name Murphy's Laws. I don't know why they are associated with Murphy, but here are a few worth noting.
"Sooner or later, you will spill your beer."
"West is always East, somewhere."
And one of my favorites: "In Las Vegas, wherever you want to go in a casino, it's as far as possible from where you are, no matter where you are."
Oh my gosh, I am sounding as esoteric as Alan Abelson. I've been reading Barron's too long.
The other popular but possibly more relevant Murphy Law is, "Before you do anything you have to do something else first." Ya see I have been meaning to post a note since Thursday, but before I could I always had to do something else first.
Thursday morning I was forced to work from home because our painter were doing such a good job they needed a day more time than expected. That meant we had to pack clutter mania city for most of Thursday. So in between packing pictures and plaster angels, making phone calls, prioritizing e-mails, moving a 30 pound Indian Bust my wife made in High School, and untold cables to things I will never figure out where they belong, I got a slight glimpse of the market.
Friday was not a whole lot better as that is when the carpet layers were here from about 9:30 am till about 8:00 PM. Now Devin is very protective of here stuff, and she should be as she has some pretty nice stuff. (I would never portend to think any of it is mine.) As such, we are the only two in the world who can move the furniture without destroying it. Needless to say it was a swell day of moving things. I did not see much of the market on Friday either which bummed me out as the market is closed on Monday. By 8:30 Friday night, I could care less about this blog. I was tired and grumpy.
This morning I got up and was looking forward to breakfast with the guys until I realized I had no shoes as we had not unpacked them. So I went to our prestigious Coto De Caza golf course in beach shoes. They are cool shoes called Sanuks.
The real problem was, when I arrived at the club, I chose to valet so to be near to the front. When the young man came to my door and opened and said, Good morning Mr.Cronin.", I suddenly realized I could not get out of the car as my back was basically welded to the car. I could not move. I sat there making small talk while waiting for my muscles to release. After telling him about our 14th year of marriage and two cars stacking up behind me, I was able to swing my legs out of the car and gingerly do something resembling standing.
I had left my Barron's in the car and kind asked him to get my paper and he saved my life by reaching over the side of my car and grabbing my paper and handing it too me. "Show off!" I know I should not have said it and he probably is still wondering what I meant by it, but what the hey.
After a brief breakfast and waiting for my buddies to go play golf, as they would not see me hobble away from the table, I made it back to the car and plopped my self in the car and went home. Now when I got home I said hello to my lovely wife who had put in a hellish day the day before as I had, but she was already doing things to put the house back in further order. I personally liked all things we left out on the deck from the day before. Especially the Indian head bust. He looked regal over looking the Orange County Savannahs. And lamps use a lot less energy when they are left out on a deck. But Devin had other ideas.
I had a brief reprieve as she had some errands to run, but at the last minute asked me to flatten out some card board boxes that we taking up all the room in the new dumpster (Yes we have another new dumpster.). That was not so bad as cardboard is light and it did not destroy my back anymore than had been done the day before. However, this one piece of card board attacked my hand, pulling back a well position bandage which was protecting a quarter size pre-cancer I had burnt off earlier in the week.
Let's just say, it was Saturday, but I was mentioning the Lord's name a few times. He rewarded me, as when I got in the bathroom to attend to my wound, he had given The Stigmata.
For those unfamiliar, Stigmata is the miraculous placement of wounds, sores, and pain in correlation with the wounds Our Lord suffered during his crucifixion. (Wow I spelled that right first try. I spelled suffered wrong, but got crucifixion. Who da thunk, but I digress.) Yeah right there on the back of my hand was this huge gapping ugly open wound. I applied some hydrogen peroxide, but did not cry. A lot. Then I put a big old bandage on it and did not cry. A lot. And went back and kicked some real cardboard ass.
The rest of the day was spent doing chores I could think of and running errands until my wife said to me six of the more wonderful words I could have ever heard. "Want to go to a movie?"
We saw "Larry Crowne". We ate popcorn. We laughed. We held hands as we walked out (Right hand or I would have had to kill her.). And now we are home and I have still have not read my Barron's. But life is good and tomorrow begets another day.
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, or as they call it in England, "Pruning Day."
Salve Lucrum
