Bad Luck, Good Karma

Yesterday started like any other workday. Before I left, my wife asked me to start the washing machine. I went downstairs and started it. I looked over at the floor drain because our sewer backs up every so often because of tree roots. It looked OK, but I bent down to take a closer look.

I guess I bent a little too far because my 1 Gig flash drive slid out of my pocket an plopped right into the center of the drain. I watched in horror, unable to react as it was falling. It began to sink and I tried to snag it. My fingers couldn’t fit down far enough. I ran upstairs and grabbed some silverware and tried to pull it out. I couldn’t see it because the pipes are so old and rusty the water got mudded up right away. I was so fucking pissed off. The latest version of Instant Grocery List was on it, a bunch of music, and all the pictures of Carter were on it. I gave up and went to work.

I was pissed all day, but I thought I might be able to get it with some magnets or something.

When I got back home I went downstairs and took a look. The rust in the water had settled down and I could see the flash drive sitting at the bottom, maybe six inches down. (Luckily it has a 90° elbow at the bottom.)

I was able to fish it out with some pliers. It was all wet and nasty so I ran it under some clean water. It couldn’t get any more wet so why not? I lodged it into the front of a small plastic fan and left it.

It finally cooled off so I went and did some yard work. I pulled the car out so I could get to the mower, and had at it. When I went out to pull the car in from the street, a dude in a white truck stopped and gave me a honk. I figured he wanted directions.

He told me he had to get to Bloomington (40 mi away) and he was almost out of gas. He said he was a painter and just got paid by check but didn’t have any cash. He had a construction radio in the passenger seat that was covered in dust and paint flecks. He told me he had another job in Peoria tomorrow and he’d stop by and give me double what I gave him. I didn’t really believe him, or have any faith that he’d come back if I gave him money, but shit… fate had saved my flash drives so why not. I gave him 10 bucks and told him where to get the cheapest gas in town. He thanked me. Sometimes you have to do good deeds like that. I lie, cheat and steel enough that I need something to even out the Karma.

I went back upstairs and plugged in the now dry flash drive. It fired up right away and I didn’t loose any information.

Thank you Karma thank you very much.

P.S. Have you bought your copy of Instant Grocery List yet? If not you should. It will save you time, and you can’t put any price on that. Buy it. It’s good. It’s Instant Grocery List!