Good Things, Good People

Just when I was about to lose faith in the entire legal system, Krista sent out an email announcing Kate had been accepted by Duquesne's Law School.  I thought about how hard Kate had worked to get sober, and put her life back together.  Like a lot of people, I struggled to make sense of bad things happening to good people.  I decided I'd compensate by celebrating when good things happened to good people like Kate.

 

Today I will celebrate when good things happen to good people.

Insanity

The memo was from The Boss and The Other Ken.  All inquiries from federal agencies, attorneys, or the courts were to be forwarded to The Boss.

"What's this memo about?" I asked Josh when he walked past my office.

"So Smiley found out he couldn't sue the FDA for firing him, but he did find a lawyer willing to help him fight to keep his job," Josh said.

"He got a DUI with a stolen gun in the car."

"He's arguing that he wasn't drunk , and David gave him the gun."

"His BAL was .13 and Smiley took the gun without David's permission.  He pointed it at David."

"True, but Smiley's attorney will argue that none of this was proven in court, and the FDA jumped the gun by firing him."

"Smiley can't possibly win the arbitration," I said.

"The Boss thinks he might, even if he eventually loses over the DUI and stolen weapon charges."

"Just because the FDA didn't wait for Smiley's trial?  That's insane."

"You know the old saying, 'the whole world's crazy except for me and you, and I'm not so sure about you.'"

Today I will accept the world's insanity.

Another reason to be grateful

I was sitting in my living room with my children the next night.

"Here goes nothing," I said as I powered up my laptop.  It worked fine.

"Why wouldn't it work?" my daughter asked.  I told her about problems I'd had with the computer and my conversation with Jason The IT Guru.

"I'm glad he knows what he's doing, because I was baffled," I said.

"Hmm, maybe the computer fixed itself to make Jason look good," my son said.  "Maybe the machines want you to trust this Jason guy so they can use him as a pawn in their little game."

"Brat Boy has a point," my daughter said.  She turned to him and asked, "How do we know Jason's not part of the plan?  Pretend to be a pawn while calling the shots."

As I worked on my laptop, my children spun dark conspiracy theories that made me laugh out loud.

 

"Today I will be grateful for people who know what they're doing." 

Nothing Personal

     That night my laptop allowed me to get on the internet, but wouldn't let me access files on the hard drive.  I called Jason The IT Guru.

     "I can get online, but I can't access the files I need to send to people," I said.  "I think my laptop is deliberately teasing me.  The error messages are just its way of rubbing it in."

     "Log on tomorrow from your office and I will look online for a solution," he said.

     "You can look, but I think the problem is personal. This glorified Etch-A-Sketch hates me 'cause I never mention it in my blogs."

     "Ken, take a deep breath.  It's a machine.  It neither hates nor loves you."

     For a second I thought he was probably right.  Then it occurred to me that nobody spent more time with these machines than Jason.  Had he gone over to their side?  I made a note to see that movie about the guy who falls in love with a computer program.

     "You're right," I said, downplaying my suspicions.  "It's nothing personal, just a minor failure in some program somewhere." I wondered how Jason could have learned nothing from theTerminator movies.

Today I won't take it personally when technology fails me.