The Day After the Tornado

Who decides how much confusion, obstruction, misery and misfortune to pass out to each individual on any given day? I think I got an extra portion today by mistake!

I woke up this morning at 6 am, a hot damp morning after the tornadoes last night that leveled six houses. Lots to do before work - I headed for the computer. A new payment from Ebay for an item that I haven't packaged yet - a set of 3D prints of Jesus. Jesus! You'd think I'd get a shipping break! But noooooo, even for 3DJC I must pay my karmic debt. It's an over-size package, and I don't have a box that size. So I have to hunt around the workshop, overturning everything, and when I finally got the pictures all bubba-wrapped and fit into the box, I noticed that the outside of the box is a bit moldy. I sprayed some Windex on it, which usually counteracts that sort of thing. But I didn't have a shop rag to wipe it off, and all the Windex soaks into the cardboard while i'm looking for the rag, making a large squishy spot on the box that the Postal Authorities will probably reject as a device of impending terror. It's WINDEX, for Chrissakes! I finally get the carton hung together with extra shipping tape, and i'll keep it in my mini-van all day while i'm at work, which will dry it out without melting it or having it stolen, if i'm lucky.

So, I get back to the computer, and print up the shipping label - and I find that I've over-done it a bit on the multi-item shipping break I gave the customer. And now, instead of making 20 dollars, I'm only making five on the whole works. Why does it cost so much to ship to Seattle? And then I ran out of shipping tape when trying to attach the label - another trip downstairs to get another roll of tape.

Time for a quick check on other ongoing projects. At least the roof repairs are holding after all that rain last night. However, a stairway carpet I had shampooed last Sunday was still wet, due to our excessive humidity this week, and I had to speed that up a bit. Next project -- to hunt up my box fan, last used last Winter in some remote corner plumbing fixture. I found it in the janitor's closet. Of course, the cord's not long enough! Now we're looking for an extension cord, Got one! Too easy. The whole 3-prong vs 2-prong vs odd-shaped prong thing comes down on me at once, and I'm lost in adapters and extension cords that don't fit with one another or the wall socket. Finally got the fan turning, and it's time to gulp a half-warm coffee and bolt out the door for work.

By then, my wife's up. "Why are you sweating? How come your shirt is all wet?" Probably because I have 25 miles on the odometer already and haven't left home!


Thanks for listening and contributing. For up-to-the-minute thoughts, come on over to twitter.com I'm @dimbulb52