Stop me before I ruin this

Since the beginning of the week, I've been totally at war with all things technical and/or mechanical. I noticed on Monday--the first day warm enough to turn on the air conditioner--that the A/C didn't seem to be cooling properly. I tested various settings, checked the breakers, etc., and blew it off because I didn't want to think about it that day. At night I kept cool (and a little moist) with the fan on.

On Wednesday, my first workday of the week, I discovered that my cell phone had died. I put it on the charger overnight and still, nothing. Nada. Zip.

So, yesterday I faced reality. I called to arrange for a new cell phone, which should arrive in a day or two, and I called the A/C repairman and asked him to come out today when my daughter could be here to let him in.

This morning, my new toilet started leaking...just a drop every five seconds or so. My son-in-law had told me when he installed it that it might start to leak and that he would come and adjust the bolts if it did. I noticed the leak just as I was leaving for work, so I wrapped a towel around the base of the john and called that good enough for the time being.

This afternoon my daughter called me at work to say that the A/C man wanted to speak to me. He began with the dreaded "I'm afraid I have some bad news," and then talked until he reached $2,090.

Right after I hung up the phone, I realized that my son-in-law would be on his way home from work, so I called to tell him about the toilet leak. After that I started telling him about the call from the A/C man and, for some stupid reason, I began to cry about it. It took me a minute to get a grip and terminate my pity-party, and then I apologized to him for getting all weak and weepy. I said, "It's just so frustrating that all these things are breaking at one time. I'm afraid to go home and touch my computer." He suggested that I might not want to watch TV, either. He said, "Why don't you just read the newspaper; I don't think you can do anything to that."

So, I made it home safely (without car trouble), and I started thinking on the bright side of things, like how my loved ones are all well, and how I'm glad I bought the camera when I did, because if I had waited until the A/C broke, I wouldn't want to spend the money on the camera. You know the kind of thoughts I mean, all the positive, Pollyanna-ish things you tell yourself when everything is going wrong and you want to boost your spirwhextyhgbujiokm ,.[plokmutghvbkj., tyuhn l., pojhbg nm,.mnghn m, quhbmnc