Sometimes, just when you think things are lined up and going well, fate steps in and sends you a curve ball. I had everything (I thought) arranged for a week-and-something trip south to meet and interview some folks and tie up some loose ends from the earlier south and east research trip. But then I inexplicably forgot to take my car in for an appointment to check the front end. Then other small saplings started falling across the ethereal road. The topper — two nights before I was to leave, my furnace died. The temp was in the low 20s, with forecasted lows in the teens, and I lost the backup heat. Then one of my prospective interviewees suggested that with the sensitive questions I would be bringing up, perhaps the holidays was not the best of all possible times.

That’s it. The trip’s off until after the holidays. Dense as I sometimes can be, even I can take a hint when the universe gangs up on me. 

-m